Vegas Baby!

This vacation really starts clear back in June, since that is when is Annie called me and asked if we wanted to go to a Justin Timberlake concert with them in Vegas in November!  Admittedly we aren't huge JT fans, but we don't do many vacations and we really don't do vacations sans kids...so we decided to go for it and the planning began!

We booked flights, hotel rooms and most importantly JT concert tickets!

We were excited to travel without kids...it's been 4 years since the last time I flew without at least one kiddo!

Most pictures are of Jared and I and then Annie and Justin...here we are on the way to our hotel in the shuttle (I was a little excited to be on vacation)!

We stayed at the Vdara and had views of the Bellagio fountain.  

The room was so nice and the perfect getaway location!

We actually left on Thanksgiving night, which seemed a little odd but both our kids were with grandparents and very well taken care of!

Thanksgiving night we had planned on doing a buffet at the Bellagio, but when getting to the restaurant there was a 3 hour wait!!!!  We were shocked that anyone would actually wait that long for a buffet (there was a serious line), so we ended up at a Mexican restaurant at Aria.  It was SO good!  The chips and salsa were amazing, our food was amazing and the margaritas were amazing! I must say that Vegas is expensive though...each drink was anywhere from $15-$18!  Needless to say alcohol wasn't a huge part of our weekend, but it was fun to get an occasional drink and enjoy each others company!

We were walking through the Aria and a guy told us we could get into the club (The Haze) for free, so we decided to go and dance for a bit.  We were all glad that we didn't actually pay to get in (it is usually $20-$40 per person), it was fun but we didn't stay longer than about an hour or so.  

I should mention that right after dinner Annie and I decided to put a dollar into some penny type slots and see what happened...well I turned my dollar into $28!  I then put another dollar in and ended up walking away with $69!  Seriously...it was so crazy!  We all tried to play the same game again over the weekend and no one else won :(

On Friday we had an amazing breakfast across from the Bellagio fountains and then did some sightseeing and relaxing.  We went to dinner at a fun Italian restaurant before the concert, rocked out to JT and then went to bed!  We were not the all night party animals, it was so nice to get 3 nights of uninterrupted sleep and to not get woken up in the morning!

Annie and I were were a little pumped for the concert!

It makes it so much more fun if you are jazzed, so I decided to take pre-concert pics to show everyone's emotion prior to JT!

I think Annie and I won the excitement award :)

Who wouldn't be pumped for JT?!?!?

Our husbands were great sports though and danced through the night with us!

I'm so glad I got to share the experience with Jared!

Somewhere along the way we all thought Jay Z was opening for him and we were excited about that...unfortunately that wasn't the case but JT put on a great concert and he is a true entertainer. 

 

He didn't have an opening performer and the concert was still 3 hours long with just him.

His set was amazing and along the way it actually moved and he came out to the middle of the arena and performed for quite awhile.

He danced, 

sang, 

played the piano,

 

played the guitar

 

and really performed for us!

It would have been more fun if I knew more of the songs because the last two songs were ones we knew and it was WAY more fun to sing along!

I'm sure JT was pooped at the end of the night because we definitely were!

Saturday we spent sightseeing, riding the New York New York roller coaster, eating some more and walking around the Wynn, Palazzo, and The Venetian. 

This was the Cosmopolatian hotel...sooo pretty!

The Wynn had an amazing area where you can get drinks outside in front of a waterfall, at night the trees light up and there are different colored light shows...it was beautiful and one of the best nights!

We ended the night watching the Bellagio fountain for about an hour and then ended the night early again!  We were going to go to another show but it was so expensive that we decided against it.

We had such a great time and it was so fun being with Justin and Annie.  They are great travel friends who are relaxed, easy going, and up for anything (or nothing at all).  We laughed a ton, had great conversation and are excited for our next trip together!

I'm sooooo thankful for the time I got to spend with Jared.  It was much needed and much appreciated.  It is rare (like years and years) rare when we get that much time alone together!

And here's a video of JT himself rocking it out and serenading us at his concert!

Halloween Fun 2013!

I met my good friend Annie in grad school.  We worked on a project together at the start of that school year and since that time we have been amazing friends!  I'm so thankful for her!  We were nervous the first time we got our husbands together because we were hoping they would hit it off and they did!  It is such a blessing to have a great couple friend in them.  We have gone through grad school together, worked together, had our first kids 5 months apart and had our 2nd babies 10 days apart!  We have helped each other move, babysat for each other, helped each other train for a half marathon and been there through the good and not so good parts of life for each other! 

Fall always makes me value their friendship because there are a ton of memories!  Annie loves Halloween and for that reason I have done many things from haunted houses to corn mazes with her! One of my favorite traditions we do is carve pumpkins together!  I think we started carving pumpkins together in 2008 and missed one year after our boys were first born...that's a long time pumpkin carving tradition!

This was 2009 (the first year I started my blog)!

Pumpkin carving was much simpler then without all the kids running around, but it is so fun to keep the tradition going with our crazy herd!

Last year we added another couple to the mix!  

Kristin and Matt have become really good friends over the last year and we love getting together with them also!

This year we had 5 kids running around, with one on the way!

We had so much fun!

We laughed, ate, talked, broke up toddler fights and carved pumpkins until almost 10:00 at night...that's late for the kiddos!

All in all the year was a success!

Pumpkins this year included a design I'm not sure of, a smiley shark (Landon's), a happy face (Jared's), Mickey Mouse, a pirate, a monster, a toothy grin and a silly face!

Unfortunately Jared was the picture taker, so he didn't make the group pic!

What a fun tradition we can't wait to continue for years and years!

On Halloween Landon had a party at his preschool.  It was fun to see everyone dressed up, play games, do crafts, eat food, and watch Landon have the best time!





On Halloween we went trick or treating with good friends and then ended the night at our church's Harvest Party!



It was a great day and a great night.  Landon was really excited about the activities and both boys did so great!  No meltdowns, no fussing, no whining...just a great time as a family!

My nephew was a lion last year for Halloween so my sister in law passed on the costume for Blake this year.  I am all about coordinating costumes as long as the boys will let me, so I started thinking about what would go with a lion.  I thought of another jungle animal, zoo keeper and finally of a lion tamer!  I wasn't sure if I could find a costume but I found a DIY lion tamer costume on line.  I shopped thrift stores for about 3 weeks before Halloween finding all the bits and pieces I needed and then my mother in law helped me make the jacket and cummerbund.  I was able to put together the rest of the costume and I LOVED it!



The boys were so cute together and their costumes made me smile every time I saw them!







Thankfully, I dressed the boys up on the Tuesday before Halloween and took pictures of them that afternoon.  I got some super cute pics of them and then on Halloween I wasn't worried about taking pictures of them and we could all enjoy the night!







We got home and there were still some trick-or-treaters coming to our house but I didn't really buy much candy this year.  Thankfully Landon was more than willing to give up his candy and we ended up with very little (which these robbers helped themselves too :)!



What a great way to wrap up this season and move into Thanksgiving!