Mini Vegas Vaca

Rainbow on the way to Vegas

We decided last minute at around 12pm on Sunday that we were going to Las Vegas for a few days. It had been a while since Ive see my family and there was a convention going on that we wanted to attend, so we figured what the heck lets go, approx 3 1/2 hrs later we were packed and ready to go.
Were here!!!

Grandma made meatloaf for dinner for us when we arrived and we visited with her for a while catching up on things we didn't get to talk about when we saw her briefly in Colorado and then we decided we wanted to go to the observation area at Macarran Airport to watch the planes land. It was a very windy night probably one of the windiest Ive seen in a long time there so the planes were a little wobbly and one even had to try to land a 2nd time because he just couldn't do it on his first go down. Ethan enjoyed it very much and it was a nice relaxation event the whole family could do.
Watching airplanes at Macarran Airport

The next day we just kind of hung around the house, my mom came over to see everyone for a second and we told her we'd be over to her house later to visit around 5pm, then I text my sisters to see if they wanted to meet us at the park to visit with Star and their dogs Boogie & Gizmo. We went to lunch with grandma first at Chapalas and it was delicious as always then off to the park to see my sisters. The dogs enjoyed each other well at least Gizmo and Star lol Boogie was a little stand offish and likes to bark alot lol We needed to go back to grandmas house to drop Star off before going to my moms house to visit. Shauna was having some allergy issues from being outside and because my mom and sisters have so many animals so we didn't get to stay long along with another reason that makes me grrrrrr so we will leave that alone. After visiting for about 45 mins we got Ethan some dinner went back to grandma, got ourselves ready to go out, and put Ethan down for bed Grandma Sue watched Ethan while we went out to see a movie.
Good Morning Bubba

Tuesday was a special day, we got to go to see my cousin Karli play softball for the first time ever. We had been to her practice before but never a game. She had no idea and we surprised her that we were coming. She did so well and even though she was sick and feeling like crap(when she got home her fever was 103!!!) She still was a trooper and played for over 2 hours in 70+ degree weather!! We originally were going to try to all go to dinner together but since she was sick we went back to grandmas house, Ethan hung out with grandma and Shauna & I went out to dinner at the Bellagio Buffet. The wait at the buffet was at least an hour if not longer, but after about 30 mins a worker from the bar came over and asked if we wanted to sit in the bar, still same food menu and price but we could go in right away....well of coarse we didn't mind. :o) We walked past everyone and right into the buffet to the bar, kind of felt like VIP lol anyways the food was very good and the desserts were amazing!!! After dinner we went to Excalibur to gamble alittle and of coarse lost it all, it never fails we never win lol then back to grandmas we went. It was nice to get a little date night with the wifey and enjoy some us time!
Catcher

Batter up


Wednesday was our last day, as we were going home tomorrow morning so we wanted to get some family things done but also visit with my family. During the day we hung around the house just hanging out with grandma. Then grandma made a dinner date with her friend, us, and my sisters, mom, and Callena(my sisters gf) at this little Sicilian restaurant. The food was to die for the lasagna we had was so filling and tasted great and we had a cannoli for dessert YUMMMMM as you can tell we love our food lol After dinner we took Bubba to the M&M factory and Coca Cola factory he loved the M&Ms and was so excited to be able to pick his own M&Ms and colors. The Coke factory on the other hand he really didn't have much interest in so we left and went walking just a small section of the strip in front of the MGM so he could see the fountains as well as the statues at New York New York and the castle at Excalibur. He enjoyed that also......
M&M Factory

In the giant Coca Cola bottle

Bubba ♥

Bubba & I in front of MGM

Lastly we had my sisters and mom come over to hang out for alittle bit before we went to bed, they played with Ethan and made him laugh alot. It was nice to be able to see them. After they left we went to bed, woke up early the next morning and hit the road back home. Great time in Las Vegas!!!
Auntie Courtney & Bubba

Auntie Chloe & Bubba

Spring is HERE!!!

Today was a beautiful day outside and we decided to take a family walk, blow some bubbles, and just enjoy the great outdoors. Spring is finally here!!!! I am so happy for the warmer weather however I know I will be saying I want winter back here in a few months. :o) Ethan had a really great time in the sun and I even got my first little tan of the year! woohoo

On a 2nd note: I will be returning back to work in the near future around the beginning of April and I am not extremely happy about it however I am starting to feel better and the physical therapy I have been doing at home has helped a great deal. I am considering wearing a brace on my wrists to help with my carpal tunnel and I am also taking going back with a grain of salt. I am not going to let anyone or anything get the best of me. I am looking for new opportunities in California as well as Colorado as you can see with the previous Colorado posts :o) and I know the future is going to bring a new beginning for our family regardless of how long it may take, just hoping its sooner than later. :o)

Enjoy the pics from today we definitely enjoyed ourselves!!!

Happy Birthday Mike!!

♫♫♫♫♫ Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Mike, Happy Birthday to you!!! ♫♫♫♫♫
Today is Mike's 29th birthday and his wifey, Angela had been planning a surprise birthday party for him for everyone to join and celebrate with him and all his friends and family at Guiseppe's. It was a major secret and Mom (Lorrie) had said she would make him Blackened Salmon for dinner and the plan was for everyone to go to Shauna's parents house for Mike's Birthday dinner......not anymore :o) Angela had everyone get to the restaurant around 6pm and then she told him that her mom had bought dessert from Guiseppe's and that they needed to stop and pick it up on the way to moms house. Once they arrived, Mike had noticed some of the cars in the parking lot and didn't want to get out of the car. He told Angela to go get the dessert and he'll wait in the car......well that only meant we all went out to the car to surprise him! He was extremely surprised and I believe he had a a blast! Getting to see all his friends and family who enjoy his company ring in the last year of his 20's!!
Happy Birthday Mike, Again!!!! xoxoxo ♥

The kids at Mike's Surprise Birthday Party

Getting the cake ready

Singing Happy Birthday

Present time

Day 7: Roadtrip Colorado to California

Well I cant believe that its the end of our 8 day trip already, it seems like just yesterday that we packed up and hit the road to Colorado and now were already packing and ready to hit the road back home to California. I packed majority of the things the night before so it made it easier for us to hit the road the next day. Friday morning we all woke up, ate alittle breakfast, checked out of the motel, and packed up the car. The car ride home was actually easier than I had expected. Everyone is always so excited on the way there but the ride home usually feels like an eternity; however this time it didn't. We had the luxury of nice blue skies and pretty easy roads on the return. The views were still as amazing as we saw on the way there. This time was nicer thou because it was daylight and we got to see everything all the way to Mesquite, Nv. On the way there it was dark almost until we got to the Colorado border so the daylight also helped us drive wise and we were able to do the speed limit the whole way instead of going slower. We stopped along the way for gas in Grand Junction, Richfield, and in Mesquite to get dinner. I'm sure we stopped 1-2 more times but I cant really remember where. Ethan did amazing this time as well in fact he did better because he was awake longer and still managed to be good and stay happy. He took 2 small mini naps that lasted about an hr each but the rest of the time we played, sang songs, looked for live stock, he watched movies, and played with his Itouch. We were very happy to be home and to see Abby but we also wish we could have stayed in Colorado forever. It truly is an amazing place even if you are only visiting. We will definitely return again whether it be to live to just to visit. I hope you all enjoyed going along with us day to day, it'll probably be a while before we get another vacation like this!
***for more pics of the ride home, see Facebook***

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Day 6: Keystone, Snow & Grandma Sue

My grandma had been visiting with friends in different parts of Colorado for the last 2 weeks and since she was so close to us we decided to take the hour and a half drive up to Keystone to visit her and to also let Ethan & Star play in the snow alittle; because the weather had been so hot lately it had melting quite a bit of the snow that we were hoping to play in but Grandma Sue did a little research and found a small mountain side that she had seen other kids sledding down so that was out planned destination. The drive up was breathe taking again because its just so beautiful driving thru the mountains and seeing all of the amazing scenery. Once we got to Grandma's condo where she was staying Ethan touched the snow for the first time and said burrrrr lol we went upstairs met her friend Jerry Kelly who owned the condo and saw Pete, my grandma's husband. We then changed our clothes into snow boots and snow suits and hit the road.
Ethan absolutely loved the snow but I think Star loved it even more lol Ethan wanted to go down the mountain with his sled and wanted to crash, we tried to get Grandma Sue to catch him but he made sure he would lean a different way so she couldn't catch him. He's such a silly boy. We threw snow balls, and made snow angels and Star dug a burrow to bury herself in like a little Eskimo lol It was hilarious. I almost fell a few times and Shauna decided she wanted to tackle the mountain with just tennis shoes on, she almost fell too lol The snow was great, I just wish it had been thicker in some areas and more of it.
Scrapbook of Keystone, CO

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After playing in the snow we went back to the condo changed clothes and went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch with grandma. Star slept in the car while we ate and we made sure our seat was next to the window to see her and all 4 windows were down she was a happy camper comfy in there. We really did enjoy the time with my grandma and it had been such a long time since we seen her that it was a special treat just to visit.
***for more pics of day 6, see Facebook***
Ruby Tuesday

The view from the restaurant

Day 5: Interview, House hunting, & a Homecooked meal

Today is definitely a productive day on our behalf because not only was this trip to Colorado a vacation for us before I head back to work but also a trial period to see how much we liked the Denver area(which we LOVE it), to see how much housing is and what we could afford, as well try to look for job opportunities. I had an interview with Directv at 9am which the Directv call center was like 3 minutes from our hotel. The job was for a technical customer service rep and it was something I knew I could do! We completed the interview process, I let her know the restrictions as to when I could start and how much I was requesting pay wise. She told me she'd contact me in a few weeks cause they were doing interviews all week. ( I heard back from her less than a week later, she's willing to offer me the pay rate I want and hire me on. Only problem is that she wanted me to start May 14th and I don't think we'd be ready to move til the end of May early June. Therefore I held the offer not necessarily declining it but explained to her why I couldn't commit myself at thus point.) Anyways the overall interview went well, I went back to the hotel got my loves all up and ready for the day and we went house hunting. We saw some rather cute town homes and some that weren't as cute lol. There was even a moment where a complete stranger saw us looking at her town homes she lived in and offered to allow us to walk around inside her house to see the layout( yay that would never happen in California) The rest of the afternoon we just relaxed in our room.

Me before my interview

2 very cute townhouses we found


That evening we were invited to Golden, CO which is along the mountains for dinner at one of Shauna's friends house. The drive up the mountain was beautiful, a tad bit scary at times but the scenery and views were to die for. They lived in a house that overlooked a canyon and there was still snow all over the ground but in patches. His fiance made us spaghetti with homemade meatballs! Now she's a vegetarian so she doesn't taste the meat while cooking but I can say she had the best meatballs I've ever tasted. We also had salad and garlic bread. For dessert she made homemade blueberry pie OMG yum!!!! And an Oreo shake for Shauna. They were really nice people to meet and hang out with and the enjoyed Ethan's company so much and even catered to his pickiness. Lol The drive back down was alittle scary cause it was dark and the roads were so curvy but we managed. Once we got home, back to the room, we did our nightly routine of jammies and animal shows then off to bed we went.
***for additional pics from day 5, see Facebook***

Beautiful views of Golden, Colorado

Day 4: Denver Zoo

Today was going to be a day at the Zoo. We told Ethan it was a surprise so he had no idea where we were going. We arrived at the zoo and Ethan was oh so excited. I didn't bring any summer clothes and I figured we would be ok however it was in the mid 70's and was sooooo hot in the zoo with no shade cover. The animals were mostly sleeping or hiding and there was some animals that we couldn't even find. Our favorite part was the seals, the brown bears, and the monkeys. For as much as the zoo was which was nothing compared to our zoo prices we we rent that happy with the outcome. It was hot, very little animals were doing anything, and the fact that some of the exhibits didn't even have any animals in them was kind of dissatisfying. Ethan thought it was a great time and he enjoyed himself but I can definitely say we had more fun yesterday than we did today. After about 3 hours we were ready to go back to the hotel and just rest before dinner.

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We planned another dinner date with my friend Tiffany and her family but this time at a restaurant in their city of Aurora. We went to Old Chicago and the pizza was very very good. They also had some good beer, and mozzarella sticks. The kids did amazing again which was awesome and we all enjoyed ourselves. This was the last time we were going to get to visit them because of the plans we had for WED and THUR so we made sure to make it a great one! I love her little girl so much, she is so adorable and is such a good little girl!!
Old Chicago

Ethan, Shauna, Me & Olivia(Tiffany's daughter)

Day 3: Butterfly Pavilion & Children's Museum

Ok so last night I decided to make a plan of events by day that we were going to conquer so that we were able to get everything completed while we were there. Today was filled with things to do......
We woke up and got ready and headed off to the Butterfly Pavilion. This place was amazing I think Shauna & I enjoyed it just as much as Ethan did if not more. :o) When you first go in there is a bug section that has everything from hissing cockroaches to tarantulas. There was a working sitting with a tarantula on her hand and people were able to hold them. Ethan actually did it, without hesitation or anything he held Rosie the tarantula so of coarse mommy and babe had to try as well. Holding it was neat but kind of creepy. The next section that we went to was the underwater world with salt water tanks, crab, lobsters, and upside down jellyfish they were pretty cool looking. Ethan also touched a starfish but was scared to touch the hard shelled sting ray. Now time to enter the rain forest.....and when I say rain forest I mean rain forest. It was so humid in there but so beautiful. They have over 1,200 butterflies in the exhibit as well as turtles. You cant touch them but they land on you and are super close to you always. The turtles are hanging out in the exhibit to not in cages or anything they are blocked by just little wooden fences. It was a very interesting place to visit and I had never been to something like that. It was great!!!

Butterfly Pavilion Slide show.......

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Now it was time for lunch!!! CRACKER BARREL!!!! I have to say that this is my all time favorite restaurant pretty much ever! They are a country cooking style restaurant and have so many different kinds of food and even a little country store. We all got something different, I had chicken and dumplings, Shauna had chicken fried chicken, and Ethan had pancakes and bacon. We also got different flavored canes for dessert which we still have some. Lunch was amazing and now onto Ethan's next surprise! I swear thus kid is spoiled rotten lol
Cracker Barrel

The best Chicken & Dumplings EVER!!!!

Ethan loves Cracker Barrel...

Our last kiddo stop for the day was the Denver Children's Museum, we had been to the children's museum in Las Vegas and it is fun also but I will say this place was quite impressive and so clean. There was a real fire truck with tires and all there for the kids to play fire fighters. Then upstairs there was a mini grocery store, a train area, an outdoor animal setup, and Shauna's favorite part- the bubble section! The museum overall was very fun and we enjoyed ourselves, after the museum there was a park in front of it that we let Ethan play around, walk on the train track, and go down to the river.
Denver Children's Museum Collage.....

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We had an indoor pool at the hotel and it said that it was heated so I decided that during our downtime I would take Ethan to the pool and let him play for a little bit, well lets just say if it was heated it wasn't heated enough lol The water was so cold but Bubba still wanted to play for a little so we swam, played with sea creatures and after about 45 mins decided it was time to go back to the room.
Pool Time

Dinner was a bit of a challenge today because we were so tired from all the things we had done for the day that we really didn't want to go to a nice restaurant but we also didn't want fast food. We had heard the there was a 50's diner that had pretty good food so we thought what the heck well try it. The restaurant was very nice we went about 45 mins before closing so they weren't busy at all. The environment was great the workers were really nice also. We had fried pickles which might have been better than Buffalo Wild Wings fried pickles and they we all had our own meal. I made sure to get a special kind of french fry which they said was Elvis Presley's favorite way to eat fries. They were covered with sausage gravy and shredded cheddar cheese, and OMG they were delicious....at this point only at day 3 I thought for sure I was going to gain 10 lbs being here lol
Gunther Toody's 50's Diner

Ethan thought the bike was cool

The night is now over, in the hotel room we went put our jammies on and watched alittle animal planet before bed. Another day down, wishing they didn't go by so fast.....
***for more pictures of day 3, go to Facebook***

Day 2: Meeting new friends & Sight seeing

We got an amazing full nights sleep last night!! Woohoo Ethan slept on the sofa sleeper and thought that it was so neat that his bed came out of the couch. In the morning I went down to the complementary breakfast and got Ethan some pancakes and turkey sausage as well as some fruit, I do have to say that the complementary breakfast was quite delicious and that for something that is offered for free they really do outdo themselves. Ethan enjoyed his food and really liked the sausage. The rest of the morning was just relaxing and figuring out plans for the day. At this point we did not know exactly what we were doing or when we just knew that there were many things that we wanted to do and see while out here so of coarse being the planner that I am, I started to think about the things we could do and at what time.
Good Morning Denver!


Cuddling with Star Bar

We did already make an early dinner plan with a really good friend that I had originally meet on a website called themommyplaybook.com when we were trying to conceive another little one about 1 1/2 - 2 yrs ago. We then became facebook friends and started talking little by little and then once we starting thinking of moving to Denver this past October we started talking more and got to know each other quite well. Anyways back to the story. Our plans were to meet them at a restaurant called Rock Bottom Brewery in Lone Tree, CO which was like 3-4 mins from our hotel. The restaurant had a great environment inside and was a cute little place, however the waitress we had could have been better. We all went to order our drinks and I of coarse wanted a BudLight, I mean why not......but little did I know they only sold the local beer that they brew right in the restaurant so like an outside I had to ask dumb questions lol like do you have any light beer like BudLight, she of coarse did help me there so I got a nice light beer which was very good it was more wheatier than the normal beer I was use to but very good. Our meals were good besides Shauna's being wrong and it having to be sent back to be made right grrrrrrr I learned that if you buy beer in a grocery store or at a gas station it is only 3.2% alcohol and to actually buy "REAL" beer you have to buy it at a liquor store, also they only sell it til I think it was 10pm which was crazy to me lol We meet Tiffany's husband Zae and also meet their beautiful little girl Olivia who liked me very much she was such a cutie!! We ended up staying at the restaurant for about almost 3 hrs and both kiddos were surprisingly good :o)
Rock Bottom Brewery

Ethan & I at Rock Bottom

After dinner we decided to go sight seeing in downtown Denver! We went over by the 16th St. Mall and got to see lots of tall buildings, the lightrail(their public transit besides the bus, kind of like a subway but above ground) we even saw several different medical marijuana dispensaries lol and could smell them just by driving by it was crazy. Sight seeing was fun we also saw the Denver Broncos Stadium, and the Capital building!
Sight Seeing in downtown Denver

Since we had such an early dinner we had to go to Steak & Shake tonight lol so we got Ethan his 1st ever hamburger which he enjoyed as well as some amazing food and didn't even have to wait that long!!! The day was very fun and eventful but we were ready for some good ol' family cuddle time and alittle National Geographic til bedtime!!
***for more pics from Day 2, see Facebook***
Steak & Shake for dinner.

His first official cheeseburger!