vegas!

this past weekend we were able to check off another item on our to do list :)



we celebrated our one year anniversary in the city with my 5 favorite numbers. which happen to be the zip code of the hotel we stayed at. im tricky i know. our hotel was one block from the strip. which turns out to be A LOT bigger/longer of block than im used to. turns out vegas was a lot more walking than i had anticipated. and we all know how much i love walking. especially in the heat. a mere 100+ degrees each day.

friday we walked the strip and headed over to freemont street. which is the old strip. it had souvenir stores and some older casinos. friday night they put on an awesome light/music show on the ceiling. the show we saw was a little tribute to queen. these pictures dont do it justice but its an attempt.

did you know that the hubs loves coupons and anything free? (i know, surprising) well...at pretty much each casino if you signed up for their players club they would give you $5 reel rewards to use on the slot machines. and then each casino had daily free options too. you could pull a slot or something like that and win a million dollars, more reel rewards or a bunch of other things. well one day i won $10 reel rewards. being the awesome wife i am, i split the money with the hubs. he lost his. however, i decided to turn my $5 into something a bit bigger.

i know that cashout amount is a bit blurry...in case you can't read it it says $109.35 :) turns out a little fish slot machine was my lucky game. who knew?!?!

on saturday we walked the strip a bit more and even found time to visit m&m world & the world of coca cola. we were able to taste test 16 different coke products from around the world. some of them were pretty good. others not so much. one tasted exactly like mouth wash. but a bit sweeter. i can't imagine drinking that instead of my typical mt dew. eew!  it was called sunfill mint from djibouti.

and of course we had to check out M&M world. this wall of all the different colors of m&ms was by far my favorite. 

we also were able to take a peek around the bellagio (and many of the other hotels---but we liked this one the best) we saw their fountain show and their indoor conservatory. we were amazed by all their flowers...especially the ones in this "canvas" on the easel.



later that night we saw another show. we saw this cirque du soleil show:

this is the only picture we have. not only because they didnt allow cameras in there, but there wouldnt have been any time to look away and find a camera---it was that mesmerizing. i dont even know what my favorite part was. there were people climbing up  poles, trampoline acts, bungee/high bar routines, and two brothers who were simply amazing, balancing one brothers weight on one arm while moving and changing positions. seriously words cannot even begin to explain how amazing these people are. they definitely have crazy talent. if you wanna see pictures, check out the website here. Seriously if you ever get to see a cirque du soleil show. GO. its expensive. but definitely worth it.

so overall, we had fun in vegas. but i think the hubs said it best when he said "i think we are too cheap for vegas" we dont like spending tons and tons of money. and in vegas its easy to spend tons of money quickly. like $25 for a lunch buffet. um no thanks. but we are glad that we went there and experienced the vegas strip. will we go back? probably not. but thats ok.

stained glass

my dad rocks. at a lot of things. like raising 3 children with my mom. and teaching us great and wonderful things. like sarcasm. (what would my life be without sarcasm?!?!) and how to be decisive. he taught us that one by example :)

but in all seriousness, he does rock. one thing he does amazingly well is stained glass. hes even converted a room upstairs to be his stained glass workshop. the room that used to be mine. and then kenzies. and then mine. and now its a workshop. 

but seriously i feel like he could pretty much do any sort of design. hes done sail boats, light houses, a skeletal hand, flowers, geometrical designs, nature scenes and oh so much more. (check out his facebook page to see more)

but by far my favorite designs he has done have been this nativity collection of 4 different designs. hes made a few sets for the hubs and i, mom and a good family friend. technically these are pictures of my moms set...because we havent gotten time to hang em up...(yes i know, bad daughter) but they are the same design.  so check it out:

like i said, he rocks. but dont be getting too many ideas...hes got a waiting list.

wedding week - 2

i remember seeing the bridal party slowly disappear into the chapel. and then it was just my dad and i. i remember looking into the back of the chapel and seeing my aunt. thats when the tears started. i remember walking down the aisle, trying to see the hubs through all my tears. i honestly dont remember anyone in the congregation at that time.

i remember singing. and hearing the message. and just loving every word of it. how it seemed to just fit us perfectly. and again, the time flew by. so quickly. before i knew it we had our first kiss. as hubs and wife.

i remember walking down the aisle. finally seeing who was all there supporting us in this happy day. i remember escorting them all out and then heading to the reception.

i remember that the hubs was nice enough to stop on our way there to get me a dew. silly reception hall only carrying coke products.

i remember bits and pieces of the reception. i dont really remember from beginning to end, just pieces of time. i remember in order for us to kiss a couple had to come up and we would copy. seemed like a good idea. but man, if i woulda known what those family & friends from wisconsin were gonna do, i mighta re-thought that one. but it was a lot fun, made for A LOT of laughs and good memories.

Dave's old wrestling coach, and our pastor, showing me Dave's wrestling skills.

i remember playing the shoe game. and auctioning off that "beloved" panther picture. and dancing. there was a lot of dancing. especially with our beautiful flower girl.

i remember the cupcakes. man oh man were those cupcakes delicious. i dont even know what my favorite flavor was...but they were all so so so good.



theres a lot of other stuff i remember about the wedding and the reception. who knows maybe next year ill reminisce some more. about the dancing. and candybar. and speeches. and show you some of the great photobooth pictures. but i wont bore you with too many wedding posts right now. 

to sum it up for this year: i look back and am just so happy. we were surrounded by friends and family who loved us so much. some traveled 6 hours to be able to share in our day. some just down the block. but either way we felt loved, supported and so much more and we had such an amazing day. so thank you for all who celebrated with us.

heres to completing wedding week re-caps. and to celebrating our one year anniversary. with my favorite 5 numbers. (anyone remember those?!?)

wedding week - 1

i remember waking up that morning and feeling ready. excited. happy. and i remember getting ready with my girls. just getting ready and having fun. and having time fly by. so so so quickly.

i remember being nervous to see the hubs for the first time that day. i just wanted to be able to finally see him. to talk to him. to have him finally see the dress. and i of course started crying pretty much immediately. but after he saw me for the first time, those nerves were gone and i knew the fun was just starting.

i remember taking pictures out at the golf course. the weather was good. i remember it being sunny, i dont think it was too hot. but if it was oh well we all survived. the photographer got a lot of great photos and the bridal party held out for the "hours & hours" of pictures i  requested of them. (thanks!)

i remember sneaking a peek into the reception hall after the pictures were done. and finally being able to see what i had been envisioning in my head for the past how many months. everything looked perfect.

one year ago today...

one year ago today i married my hubs. the one who loves me more than i can fully understand. the one who makes me laugh. the one who is more patient than i ever thought was possible. the one who sticks with me even when im crazy. the one who supports my love for stupid tv shows. the one who is so much more than i can even begin to write about here.

i cant believe its already been a year. where has the time gone? seriously?!? its been fun to remember the wedding and all the festivities surrounding it these past few weeks. if you are lucky i might even put a post or two up about it. :)

so even though we are 280+ miles apart today...and im jealous that hes celebrating our favorite nephews 2nd birthday without me...and im busy working...i still love him so much and its still a pretty awesome anniversary.

18 months ago...

about 18 months ago we asked friends and family to do something for us. to save the date. for what turned out to be one of the best and happiest days of my life.

it already seems like ages ago when we were packed into an old apartment assembling these, one of the first wedding projects we tackled. seriously, its crazy how fast time flies.

twins game...

august resolution: complete. the hubs and i went to our first twins game of the season last night. the weather was nice --- so "nice" in fact i ended up wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.



 the only downside to this game (besides losing) was my allergies. apparently they decided it was perfect timing to strike back up, possibly for my annual fall allergy stretch. (and people wonder why i dont like the outdoors) anyways...we had a fun little date night down at target field.

relay for life

this past weekend was the annual relay for life. this years theme was: 

 and the fundraising goal was $127,000 (last year they raised over $125,000)

my mom has been on a team for about 10 years, and my dad has been a "battle-er" for 4 years now. so we have lots of memories of the relay down by the river. the team my mom was on sold rootbeer & orange floats this year. i volunteered to be the official taste tester and both were good, but i think rootbeer floats will always be better than orange or creamsicle or whatever you want to call em.

ive never been to a different city for their relay for life but here we have plenty of different entertainment and activities, from bagpipes to the drumline, to a butterfly release, speaker, survivor (or as dad prefers "battle-er") picture, silent auction and then of course lighting the luminary bags. im not exactly sure how many bags there are but id say at least a thousand. and then of course going to all the stands to buy things...from the floats, subway sandwiches, desserts, games and so much more, theres definitely a lot to do and see. 



Kenzie & Dad

luminary bags. thats one of my favorite things. each team/team member decorates the "in memory of" or "in honor of " bags differently so i love to walk to the lap and look at all the different decorations. i might be a BIT biased, but these were my favorite. mom got creative and used pictures of stained glass my dad has done & used them for his bags.  

another one of my favorite parts is a different part of the luminaries. the pathway is down by the river and at a certain point theres a hill across the river. a few years ago (well it seems like a few years but it could be more---ive learned this weekend im getting old) so anyways, a few years they created a message on this hill.



simply: HOPE. and halfway through the night its switched to LOVE. simple but yet memorable.

the relay goes from friday night to saturday at 5 am. so it can be a very long night, especially for the best emcee ever. who was that you ask? ya-ya mary of course. (fyi she also makes a great friend and personal attendant/organizer/planner if you were by chance getting married last summer. just sayin.) she once again did a great job.

we however did not stay that late.  we left around 1 to a musical medley of  a car alarm. but thats a different story for a different day. feel free to ask mom about that one ;) this years relay, just like years past had a lot of great memories and raised a lot of money for research. hopefully that research pays off soon. until then, you'll find my parents (and me if i get the weekend off) down by the river the first weekend in august. 

p.s. in case you were wondering, it takes 4 people to clean & sanitize the ice cream machine. heres the proof:

new friends...

so i've recently found some new friends.
five to be exact.
let me introduce you.
lily, marshall, ted, robin & barney



aka how i met your mother. id seen a few episodes here and there before and thought it was good so i decided i better start from the beginning. so thanks to netflix, season one was just completed this past weekend. only 5 more seasons to go to catch up. i just wish netflix could send  these dvds a lot quicker. cuz im gettin obsessed. slightly.

wanna know something else im slightly obsessed with? it also has the number 5 in common. instead of 5 new friends, ive got 5 new favorite numbers. 8-9-1-0-9. just sayin...

its august. whoa. where did the summer go? not much house work planned for the rest of the summer...because of a little thing called money. and being burnt out. and we've got plans. lots a plans. we've got work. and bachelor parties. (ok really thats just the hubs but you know). and weddings. and our first anniversary. and relay for life. and hopefully an august resolution = twins game. and probably somethings im forgetting. so moral of the story there wont be as many posts. and they most likely wont be house related. but such is life i guess. and thats what this blog is about. our everyday lives*. or something like that. *dont worry we wont bore you with our actual everyday lives...like laundry, cleaning etc. i will try to keep it interesting. key word: try.