Thanksgiving and cousins

Mark, Anna, and Morgan arrived Tuesday for a week-long Thanksgiving visit. We are so happy to have them here and have been enjoying our time together. Uncle Mark brought Dane his first real golf set!

Mark and Mike braved the rain (yes, it happens occasionally in Vegas!) to golf Wednesday.
Can you tell they are brothers?

Dane and Morgan have a great time playing together. This is the first time that they have been together since Morgan has been walking.

Nora got a handful of Morgan's hair.

Cute cousins in pj's.

Nora's first Turkey Day!

We didn't have much success in getting a picture of all three cousins together.

Much cuter of just the girls.

Dane gives Morgan a sidecar ride at the park.

We hope that all are enjoying the Thanksgiving weekend!

Grampy and Grammy visit

Grampy and Grammy made a quick weekend visit last week. We had a wonderful but short time together. Grammy and her girl!

Dane loves the play area at Town Square.
So sweet.

Peek-a-boo!

Grampy and Dane crossing the street to visit Santa's house.

Grammy's purse strap was Nora's favorite toy!

Dane was a bit nervous while waiting to meet Santa. Last year he was petrified, but he did much better this year.

She really loves her big brother!

Grampy and Dane colored while waiting for lunch. This place made a mean dish of mac and cheese!

Batting practice with Daddy.

Grampy makes for a pretty good pitching machine, too!

Snuggle time with Grampy.

First time atop the Stratosphere Tower for all four pictured here. Dane really was much more enthused than he looks in the picture. He always picks out the Stratosphere Tower in the Vegas skyline, so now he reminds us that he's been up on top of it!

Come back soon! We miss you already!

Bookworms

The kiddos love their bathtime books!

Saturday's adventures

It was very nice to have a quiet weekend with no work and absolutely no plans. So we made plans as we went! Saturday morning we decided to go out for a little bike ride with the kiddos. It was Nora's first experience in the little bike trailer, and she was a real trooper. We rode out on some trails that end up at a local casino/truck stop parking lot. Dane thought that checking out all the big rigs was the best part of the ride. He also ran up and down the dirt trail in the hills just off the parking lot.

All loaded up to bike back home. We added lots of pillows and padding to keep Nora from toppling over since she's not independently sitting yet.
While we were out riding, we decided that we should head down to Laughlin for dinner. Nothing real exciting there, but we had never been there before. After showers and quick naps for the kids, we hit the road. We took in a buffet and dined on prime rib and crab legs. While we were eating, Dane started talking about his dear little sister and informed us, "Baby Nora's my best friend!" So cute!! Daddy also propped Nora up to stand all by herself for a few moments. So big!!

After stuffing ourselves, we meandered along the river walk for a while before packing up and heading home.

Crop dustin' and four-wheelin'

No, we haven't been to the farm recently! Mike has recently taken to calling Nora the little pink cropduster. She likes to be zoomed around the house as if she's flying, and frequently she's wearing pink- surprise, surprise!!

Comin' at ya!
Dane takes Teddy for a little spin.

Cruisin' on the four-wheeler.

Nora now sits in her high chair at the table with us while we eat our meals. She doesn't eat any solids yet, but she likes to be close to us!!

Mom, am I supposed to be standing?! (Look at all the drool on her shirt. Workin' on some chompers, I suppose.)

Happy girl.

Little ladybug watching big brother from her Bumbo.

Daddy gives Donkey Kong lessons.

Phone time with Uncle Benny

Dane is very enthralled with talking on the phone recently. We used to have to hold the phone for him, but he's got it down. Here he discusses the blimp (there is one that hovers around the valley recently to advertise the opening of a new casino) with Uncle Benny. He also requested to talk to Grampy and Grammy on our way home from meeting this evening.

Not so bad...

If I had known that turning 30 would be so fun, I may have done it sooner! My amazing hubby completely outdid himself to make sure that I had the most memorable birthday in my life. When he said he had some surprises set up for me, I was envisioning some awful "over the hill" surprise party. (I should have known better, since he always treats me like a queen!) After Surprise #1 and Surprise #2 arrived on Friday night (see previous post), here is how the rest of the weekend played out. We had a lazy Saturday morning until Mike gently told me I should probably get showered and dressed to leave the house by 10:15. Sarah and I went to pick up Renee who directed us to the Angel's Touch Spa for about three hours of bliss. They had this chocolate fountain and goodies waiting for us between massages, pedicures, and facials for all three of us!

Best friends.
Enjoying the goodies.

We got home mid-afternoon and just hung out for a while before Mike told me to start thinking about being dressed up and ready to leave the house again by 6 pm. Wow- what next!?! I was still in the bathroom putting on my "finishing touches" when the doorbell rang. I assumed it was our neighbor Allysa coming to baby-sit until I heard Dane excitedly talking about a "limo." He wasn't confused- there it was waiting out front! He took pictures before we climbed in and headed to pick up Jeff and Renee.

How could I not adore this guy?!?

We ended up at the Mirage for dinner at Onda, an Italian restaurant.

Sarah and Ben.

Renee and Jeff.

Mike and me with a delicious birthday dessert.

After dinner, we went to see Love, Cirque du Soleil's tribute to the Beatles. One word: Amazing!

Following the show, we headed over to Jeff's parents place for a soak in their hot tub and some more birthday cake.

Before meeting on Sunday, Dane and Mike decided to bake me yet another cake that Mike's sister Melodee had sent. Dane was a big help!!

Frosting the cake.

The finished results! We had a very low-key pizza supper here last evening with Jeff and Renee, and Jason and Amy before this cake.

Ben had to fly out at midnight last night, and I dropped Sarah off at the airport this morning on my way to work. A very fun, very memorable, and very tiring weekend. Now I better catch some zzzz's. By the way, anybody count how many cakes I had this year? Four!!! Looks like the gym will be expecting me!! Thanks to my wondeful hubby, family and friends for an amazing weekend!!