Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Beautiful Lake Tahoe

Saturday, August 28, 2010

My 30th Birthday

On August 14, 2010 I turned 30 years old!!! EEK!! I have to say I had the best birthday ever this year. On my birthday I had some friends and family over to celebrate with a party. My friend Cyndi put together some fun games for us all to play, Jeopardy and The Not So Newly Wed Game. Scott and I have a wonderful group of friends to share our time with. We had an absolute blast. Scott surprised me with this lovely cake pictured below. Oh so nice of him.
Kathy, me and Cyrilla. You can only barely see it, but Cyrilla brought me a glass that says "30 and Flirty" with polka dots. So cute.
Mika, me and Cyndi.
Traci, Gail, me and Bob.
Marc, me, Beth and Jeff.
Here is the Jeopardy game Cyndi put together. She put so much work into making my birthday night a blast. Thank you!
BIRTHDAY PART 2:
Scott's gift to me for my birthday was a weekend away to Las Vegas, just the two of us. Perfect gift! With the help of Grandma, Granny and Grandpa we were able to get away for the weekend. Thank you mom for flying in and spending the weekend pampering my kiddos and making amazing cupcakes so they didn't care that we went away. And thank you Granny and Grandma for handling our little puppy - actually she is not so little anymore, she is now 50lbs!!
Scott and I hit the road early Friday morning and when we got to Henderson, NV we each got 90 minute massages which were wonderful and the perfect start to a weekend getaway. Once we arrived in Vegas we checked into the fabulous Bellagio, just as amazing as I had imagined. As we were preparing to go down stairs to dinner Scott pulled another trick out of his bag, a bottle of 1993 Dom Perignon champagne. He really thinks of everything. We toasted...well, GOT toasted and then headed down to dinner at Bobby Flay's "Mesa Grill". Here are some pictures of our wonderful weekend.
This is an actual chocolate fountain inside the Bellagio. You can see the white, milk and dark chocolates flowing down the fountain. It was quite amazing.
The Bellagio had an indoor garden which was spectacular. There were over sized planters and shovels, ants and lady bugs, and wonderfully smelling flowers everywhere.
Here is more of the garden. These mushrooms had black lights turned on them at night time to make them glow. Behind me you can see a frog that is covered in flowers.
Even more of the garden. On the last morning we ate breakfast at the cafe that overlooks this garden, we could smell the flowers while we ate.
Here are the large ants fighting. Okay I really liked the garden which is why there are so many pictures.
So I have the goofiest smile in this picture, but I was so excited to get my picture with the singing Elvis's in Vegas that I had to post it.
Mesa Grill is in Caesars so we had to pass through it. Here is Scott posing with the Gods.
We were so excited to be able to eat at Bobby Flay's restaurant. We ended up getting there around 8pm which means the wait was two and half hours, so we sat in the bar to eat. It actually turned out really nice that way. We had a little love seat all to ourselves.
Here is our dinner. We are such goobers taking pictures, but like I said we were excited. I had spice rubbed pork tenderloin with a tamale and we shared mashed potatoes. Scott had rib eye which he said was fabulous. We both thought our meals were incredible.
After dinner we walked through the forum shops in Caesars and then I had to see the fountain show outside the Bellagio. I totally felt like we were in Oceans 11:-) We were taking a picture of ourselves with the water in the background and Scotty surprised me with a kiss. I do love that man!
Here we are at the Caramel Lounge. We stayed out until 2am. That is really late for us considering I fall asleep around 10 every night. We had so much fun
The next day I was on a mission to ride in a Gondola at the Venetian. On our way we stopped at Serendipity 3. I am pretty sure they try to kill you with food. I ordered an omelet and ended up with a six egg omelet along with breakfast potatoes. Scott ordered pancakes sausage and eggs and got two hot dog sized sausage links, two huge pancakes and three eggs, oh and a side of bacon. Craziness. Needless to say we felt very wasteful when we couldn't even eat half of the food. Here is Scott in the restaurant.
There are no words....
I regret not buying these. So funny lookin'
Okay after walking forever in the intense heat we made it to the Gondola ride, behind Scott. Well since it was so hot there was no way we were sitting in the sun so we went inside to try the one through the forum shops. Well that line was at least an hour, so I got to see the Gondola ride, not actually ride it. Oh well, we enjoyed each others company during the tour of casinos on the way.
Here we are in the Venetian's lobby.
This waterfall is inside the Venetian.So beautiful!
This is the Wynn. Those are fresh flower balls hanging down. They were so pretty.
We watch Top Chef every year so we had to go eat at Tom Colicchio's "Craftsteak" restaurant. That was the best meal I think I have ever had. The food was wonderful, the service was great, and the atmosphere was perfect for a romantic night out.
Here is a picture of our food that night. I got filet and scallops and Scott got the rib eye again. And we both finally tried a risotto - with mushrooms and snap peas, best risotto we've ever had, since it's the only one we've had. So yummy, can't wait to go back.
After dinner we went to the Cirque du Soleil "O" show back at the Bellagio. I was able to snap this picture of the clown before I was told that no pictures were allowed...oops. I will tell you it is incredible what some people's talents are. That show was insane. The way they use the water and how the stage is constantly changing the water's depth was crazy. Worth every penny on tickets, the highlight of our trip!
Thank you Scott for an amazing birthday filled with wonderful surprises and some true quality time spent together. I love you more each day that I spend married to you!
And thank you Mom, Granny and Grandpa for taking such great care of the kiddos, cats and the dog so I didn't have to take the Valium after all...lol.

Kylee and Nathans first day of school 2010

We moved the kids to a new school this year. They are going to a charter school in the town we live in. I am quite excited because it seems as though they will be exposed to a lot more than the school district can offer them. Their style of teaching I believe will truly benefit our kiddos. Fortunately both kids knew a few of the kids that go to that school so the transition wasn't too difficult. This school will take them through high school if we like it which is great. When you look at the pictures you will see that they are in a temporary building for now. In December they will be moving into a permanent building, which we cannot wait for. This school started two weeks after the district so the kids were very anxious to get going. It is so nice to here "I can't wait for school to start" now of course I did not hear this from Nathan, just Kylee.

Here is Nathan before walking into his class. He has a wonderful teacher with a very kind heart and a passion for education that will surely rub off on Nathan...at least we hope!

Nathan with his best buddy Peter. Peter has exposed Nathan to the world of bug exploration. They search for bugs at recess and lunch. Boys will be boys.
Daddy is photo bombing Kylee's beautiful picture as we arrive at school.
Kona Kylee and Nathan as we prepare to go to school. Scott brings Kona out on her leash every morning to say goodbye to the kiddos. She loves it. Then once inside she sits at the door depressed because everyone left. Poor thing.
Silly Kiddos!!
I can't believe he is in 1st grade!! He is growing way too fast.
When we got to school she was actually taller than my friend. She is getting so grown up and beautiful. Gotta love the bright pink laces.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Kona's Puppy School Graduation

After 8 weeks Kona has graduated from puppy school. She had a rocky start, hiding from everyone and not socializing, but she ended up doing great! We are so proud.
Here she is in her cap.

This is her friend Zena. They had a ton of fun playing.

Snowy Kona's BFF has Kona pinned to the ground, even though she is only 1/3 Kona's size.

Snowy is attacking Kona. She is so stinkin cute!

The girls hanging out.
Our family at graduation. I am not sure Kona loves the cap, but she kept it on.
More Kona and Snowy time.

Who wouldn't love that face!!!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Visiting the Cannons and Prescott

After our trip to Flagstaff we drove down to Prescott to visit our friends the Cannons. We had a wonderful time. Prescott reminds me a lot of Lake Tahoe when you travel by the lake. The weather was perfect there. We got to visit the square in downtown Prescott. The town is really neat since it has a mixture of Victorian and new homes. Too bad they don't have anywhere for Scott to work or I would like to move there. Kylee and Nathan went to school with Jim and Lisa's two boys Jake and Justin. They all get along so well and have so much fun hanging out together. We were really bummed when they moved away.
Scott asking Kona for kisses while we head to Prescott.
We got a flat tire on the road to Prescott. I was so glad that Scott knew how to change the tire and that we found a safe place to pull off right by where the tire blew. They are brand new tires so I am not sure why that happened.

Jim and Lisa have two dogs, Olive, pictured below and Foxy. Kona loved playing with Olive. They wore each other out! They ran and played the whole time we were there.

Here they are squaring off. Who is going to pounce first?
We went to the Prescott Brewery for dinner with the Cannons. The kids had so much fun, and the adults had even more fun.

We had such a silly crew with us, it is amazing we didn't get kicked out. The good thing was the restaurant was so loud they didn't mind our kiddos too much.

The busser may have minded the concoction that the kids came up with. I dare you to try it!

We went to the lake on Sunday with the kiddos. They stood by the water and skipped rocks. Kylee and Jake did really good, Nathan and Jake were struggling. It was sure fun to see them try.

Getting geared up to go in the ever so powerful battery operated boats.

The whole crew right before we jump aboard.

Our handsome captain.

So cute!

Kylee and Jake really enjoyed each others company. They played so well together and were just plan goofy the whole time.

Captain Kylee

Hurray!!!

Our usual self portrait. Such a beautiful day.

Loving on Daddy.

Loving on Mommy

Check out those muscles! Oh and the Scotty photo bomb