What happens in Vegas, deserves a blog!

Wow, Vegas was FANTASTIC! One of my coworkers invited me to come to Vegas with her and a bunch of her friends. I ended up inviting several of my friends and barely saw my friend from work. It was still great.

Me, Rach and Mer in front of the ship for the show "Sirens of TI." This was the first night.


Treasure Island, the hotel that we stayed in the first three nights.Our first shot of the weekend. We were playing video poker at the bar and the bartender was apparently trying to get us intoxicated.

First night out.


The little bit of time we spent with Rhiannon.


We spent a lot of time by the pool during the day.

At night we enjoyed the night life of Vegas. I always love to go out and shake the booty, but this was way fun. I had someone ask me if I got married when I was wearing that dress. I was definitely dancing with a stranger at that point.


We had a good time getting all dolled up.


This guy looked like this a lot. I think it might have something to do with that almost empty bottle of SoCo sitting next to him.


Toby Keith's I Love This Bar was a great time. I for sure needed to have a drink out of a Mason jar there. If you don't know the song you should listen to it. They had a live band that was quite good.


The bartenders in Vegas are excellent. I'm not talking about how they mix drinks, which is also very good, but more how they serve them. It is almost like going to a show. Flippy was the man balancing all those bottles on his head.

Ash wearing my sunglasses.

Ash breaking my heart with that wedding ring.

We don't drink alcohol.


Mig mixing it up.


Mig, you are the only bartender on this side of the bar that I haven't taken a picture with.


The gun show.


We were having so much fun we decided to stay an extra day. There were three different conventions going on and so we ended up staying in the nicest place ever. This is the view from our balcony.
Seriously super nice.


Kitchen in our hotel room.

Wow, good times.

Hey, my mom was here.

I thought I would post a few pictures of what I did with my mom when she was here. My cousin bought a house and we spent several days helping them paint and make it their own.


We painted one wall brown in the great room. There is also a pink accent wall in the den.


The biggest task was the dining room and kitchen. There are stripes along that entire wall. I think it turned out very nice. We also painted the nursery. The walls are a light green and the ceiling is blue with clouds on it. They are decorating with Pooh. Congrats on the baby! He or she is due in February I think.

Starting over

So, to all who were wondering: this is the deal with the house. We are starting over. We are not going to get the speck home with all the upgrades. Instead, we are going to wait, save our money and pay for upgrades. We are getting the same home and floor plan on a different lot that will be completed in January or February. This means that we will not be able to get as many of the nice things, but our payment will be reasonable and we have time to save and put more money down. The lot that we now have is bigger. This is both good and bad. Good because a bigger lot is better for resale, not so good because landscaping is going to be a little more expensive. And, I don't know anything about landscaping, especially in AZ. One fun thing about starting over is that we get to see the house come up from the VERY beginning. Here is a picture of our dirt. The pink lines are approximately our lot. The back fence is at an angle so the fence is deeper on the left side than the right.

Hold your horses...

So we got some information from the loan officer in the mail today. Remember how I said not everything is set in stone. We might have a change of plans...stay tuned.

Holy Crap

Rachel and I signed papers for a house today! It is very exciting. We got a great deal because it is a home someone backed out of and we got a ton of upgrades at no cost to us. We still have to work out all the financing details so not EVERYTHING is set in stone, but we are on our way to being home owners.

Here are some pictures.

It has just been framed.


Of course our house has to be the one with the dumpster in front of it.


Not our best photo but it is in front of our house!


The back of the house close up. Eventually there will be a house behind ours but now we can see it.


Far away.
This is what our house will look like from the front.


This is the color scheme that our house is going to be.


Here is the floor plan. I think if you click on it you can see it bigger.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Ok, so maybe not so much the tears part, but there was definitely blood and sweat involved in this project.

Here is the latest update on the chairs. The only thing I have left to do is hem the bottoms. It has been a lot of work. I would get frustrated and then put the project down for a while and then pick it up again. I think they have turned out pretty cute.

Before. I remind everyone we bought these chairs and ottoman for a total of $12.


Here they are with the striped pillows.


Here is one with the red pillow. There are two sets of pillows: red and striped. I haven't decided what I like best, but they are easily switched out. What is everyone's opinion on the matter? The other pillows will end up on our couches, so it doesn't matter which ones actually go on the chairs.

So does anyone want to hem these beasts for me?

Again?

Proof. Rachel and I do this thing where we get ready in our own rooms and bathrooms come out and see that we are dressed alike. One we be surprised at how often this happens. This morning was another one of those times. Here is the proof. Rachel ended up changing her shirt.

New Hair

Wednesday night I spent some time with my friend Lisa and we saw this woman with super cute shoes. They were black with white polk-a-dots and bows. ADORABLE! So I asked her where she bought them. She was not so helpful, she remembered that they were from a store in the mall. But we kept running into her the whole night and actually ended up talking with her some. This woman had great hair. It was long and beautiful and the color was great. So I complemented her on it. She said thank you she did it herself and that she is a hairstylist! I have been looking for one. Amie gave me her card and she cut an colored my hair. I think she did a great job.

Lisa, Amie, Me

New hair! You know I always have to take pictures. The cut is not that much different. I am thinking about growing it out so basically she just cleaned it up. She added some great low lights and some highlights. I think I have found a stylist! Woo hoo!

Shoes

This post is specifically for my grandma to show her the shoes that I was talking about. Rach and I went shopping a couple of weeks ago. We both bought a practical pair of shoes and a fun pair. That is not to say that my practical pair is not fun, but you see the difference.




Believe it or not, the red shoes are Rachel's!

Slideshow!

A collection of recent photos.

Kinsey Lynne's Birthday Video

White boy can dance

I don't know this guy, but if I did I am sure that we would be great friends. SO MUCH fun. You got to love a guy that can have a great time. I mean seriously, think of all the terrible things he could be doing but no, he is blowing off some steam by breaking it down. More power to ya.

Strange Creatures

Seriously. I do not understand what is going on. The last 24 hours have included a couple of creatures that have scared the daylights out of me. Yesterday afternoon I was sitting out by the pool. (Side note-LOVE AZ for the pool.) I got in to cool off and got out and was talking to a friend on the phone. I saw something in the pool that looked like a branch from a plant. Then I began to think that it was moving on an awefully lot. When I took a closer look I saw that it was a snake. There was a snake in the pool. Of course I had to take a picture. It was bright orange and about a foot long. Gross. Needless to say I did not get back into the pool.


Then, this morning I got on the 51 and I saw this creature through my window. Understand that I was going about 65 and this thing was still hanging on! I am pretty sure it was a grasshopper of some sort, but I am used to those being green. Then again, not much is green here.


I'm kind of frightened by what could pop up next.

Pictures from Tara's Wedding

The Bride and Groom taking their first steps at Mr. and Mrs. Avina


After cutting the cake

Megan and I with our cousin the beautiful bride.
Good times with Mom. You can't tell that we are all related right?


The Grandparents all four of them from the Bride's mom's side, all the way from Iowa.

Princess Kinsey before getting into her dress.


In her pretty dress with one of her favorite people.


Neither the ring bearer nor the flower girl was big enough to walk down the isle, but don't they look so cute in the wagon!


Very tired after a busy day!


I loved my dress.
Megan calls this my element picture. The photographer called me the wedding planner.

Grandma helping with something blue.


Last touches.
Rach and Megs having a good time at the reception.


Me and my date



Yes, very old I know. Better late than never right?