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| Bailey's flowers from Dada |
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Naked Elves
12 years ago
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Valentine's Day 2011
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day and wanted to share some of our photos from the day with you! Hope you enjoy!
Vegas
Ben and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate both of our recent 30th birthdays. I always thought of Vegas as kind of a "taboo" place that was only about gambling, but I learned that was far from the actual truth. There is so, so much to do in Vegas and it's such a fun place to visit. We've already talked about going back again sometime.
We flew out super early Wednesday morning and landed in Vegas around 10:30 am (going backwards 3 hours really let us enjoy a full day). We visited Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. The lake is the most beautiful color of blue and the Hoover Dam tour was cool and interesting. We explored our resort later that night....and definitely got "lost" a few times. The hotels are huge.
On Thursday we walked around the strip to some of the different resorts and visited some of the "must see" sites. We enjoyed the MGM Grand's buffet for lunch and saw the lion exhibit. These lions were cuddling and playing with their trainers - it was cute to watch, but also a tad scary. Later that evening we went to see Phantom (of the Opera) at The Venetian and it was nothing less than spectacular!! I LOVED it! After the show we had a delicious Mongolian beef dinner at Fin restaurant in The Mirage.
Ben surprised me on Friday by having made arrangements for us to get our wedding vows renewed at The Chapel of the Bells. It's the chapel in the movies: Vegas Vacation, Honeymoon In Vegas, and Indecent Proposal. It was such a wonderful surprise and I'll never forget it. After our ceremony, we explored more resorts and enjoyed the Bellagio's buffet. Friday night we went to see the comedian Frank Caliendo at Monte Carlo. He's an impersonator and he's outrageously funny. His show is really clean too which we appreciated.
Saturday we watched Clemson demolish FSU in basketball at MGM's Sports Book....and I visited the lions again. We spent a good chunk of the day at Mandalay Bay (enjoying their buffet of course) and checked out most of the other resorts we hadn't gotten to yet. We liked watching the Bellagio's fountains at night...it was really lovely. We flew out late Saturday night and landed back home in GSP around 10 am Sunday morning.
The funniest thing about the trip was most definitely watching Ben try to polish off the buffets.... only to be beaten every time. Most people know that Ben can eat much more than the average person (yet he stays thin) but he met his match with these mega buffets. I know that Ben's friend, Ryan, would have loved to see him struggling to try every single dish. Needless to say the food was amazing!
The trickiest thing about the trip was trying to keep up with my regular pumping routine for Bailey Beth. Thankfully I have our deep freezer stocked full of mommy's milk so she didn't have to go on formula while I was away, but this meant I had to continue pumping on our trip. It gets very tricky trying to pump in airports/planes. Luckily, we were on a couple connector flights that weren't full so we could move around to more "private" seats. I managed to stay inconspicuous so it was a success!
Ben's mom was so kind to fly out and babysit for us and the kids really enjoyed her company. It had been 3 years since we went on a trip together sans kids so we really appreciated it. Here are some of our favorite pictures from our trip.
We flew out super early Wednesday morning and landed in Vegas around 10:30 am (going backwards 3 hours really let us enjoy a full day). We visited Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. The lake is the most beautiful color of blue and the Hoover Dam tour was cool and interesting. We explored our resort later that night....and definitely got "lost" a few times. The hotels are huge.
On Thursday we walked around the strip to some of the different resorts and visited some of the "must see" sites. We enjoyed the MGM Grand's buffet for lunch and saw the lion exhibit. These lions were cuddling and playing with their trainers - it was cute to watch, but also a tad scary. Later that evening we went to see Phantom (of the Opera) at The Venetian and it was nothing less than spectacular!! I LOVED it! After the show we had a delicious Mongolian beef dinner at Fin restaurant in The Mirage.
Ben surprised me on Friday by having made arrangements for us to get our wedding vows renewed at The Chapel of the Bells. It's the chapel in the movies: Vegas Vacation, Honeymoon In Vegas, and Indecent Proposal. It was such a wonderful surprise and I'll never forget it. After our ceremony, we explored more resorts and enjoyed the Bellagio's buffet. Friday night we went to see the comedian Frank Caliendo at Monte Carlo. He's an impersonator and he's outrageously funny. His show is really clean too which we appreciated.
Saturday we watched Clemson demolish FSU in basketball at MGM's Sports Book....and I visited the lions again. We spent a good chunk of the day at Mandalay Bay (enjoying their buffet of course) and checked out most of the other resorts we hadn't gotten to yet. We liked watching the Bellagio's fountains at night...it was really lovely. We flew out late Saturday night and landed back home in GSP around 10 am Sunday morning.
The funniest thing about the trip was most definitely watching Ben try to polish off the buffets.... only to be beaten every time. Most people know that Ben can eat much more than the average person (yet he stays thin) but he met his match with these mega buffets. I know that Ben's friend, Ryan, would have loved to see him struggling to try every single dish. Needless to say the food was amazing!
The trickiest thing about the trip was trying to keep up with my regular pumping routine for Bailey Beth. Thankfully I have our deep freezer stocked full of mommy's milk so she didn't have to go on formula while I was away, but this meant I had to continue pumping on our trip. It gets very tricky trying to pump in airports/planes. Luckily, we were on a couple connector flights that weren't full so we could move around to more "private" seats. I managed to stay inconspicuous so it was a success!
Ben's mom was so kind to fly out and babysit for us and the kids really enjoyed her company. It had been 3 years since we went on a trip together sans kids so we really appreciated it. Here are some of our favorite pictures from our trip.
Lake Mead
Hoover Dam
new Hoover Dam Bridge
our resort - we were in the Seagram Building (2nd from right)
on our hotel's crosswalk
view from our room
Venetian lobby
After Phantom
Fin
back at our resort after our vow renewal
Bellagio lobby
Monte Carlo
Frank Caliendo doing his Bush/Yoda impersonation
sports book
lion cuddling with trainer
Luxor entrance
Luxor lobby
Bellagio at night
the strip at night
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
SNOW
Believe it or not we've already gotten snow twice this winter!! Ben's plant closed down for two days and the schools were closed for the entire week. We enjoyed having Dada around and of course playing outside.
Tyler's 1st Emergency
Tyler had his 1st official emergency on January 4th. He fell while running and injured his mouth. I didn't see him fall, but I was in the same room. He busted his upper lip, cut his gum pretty bad, and slightly loosened a tooth. I panicked when I saw blood rapidly flowing out of mouth and heard his screams. I called Ben at work and told him he needed to come home.... so he did. Ben took Tyler to the dentist and our dentist said he didn't need stitches and told us to give him pain meds every 4 hours....so we did. He also said the tooth wasn't loose enough to require attention and that Tyler should be healed within a week.....and he was. Tyler seemed to bounce back with no problem and didn't seem too uncomfortable during the recovery process. Now we just have to wait and see if the tooth will "live" or not. The dentist said that if the tooth "dies" it can take up to 6-12 months for the tooth to discolor and turn brownish gray. We are praying that there is no permanent damage from his injury.
Here's a picture of the poor little guy after his injury.
Here's a picture of the poor little guy after his injury.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Christmas 2010
We went to Greenville for our annual Christmas Eve Party with all the Gaines family on Friday afternoon. Santa stopped by our house late that night, and we enjoyed Christmas day as a family at home. We made a traditional ham dinner and enjoyed some baked desserts. We spent the entire day opening gifts and playing with all the new stuff. Ben and I finally got around to opening our gifts to each other at 10:30 pm after the kids were in bed.
We went down to my parents' house in Greenwood on the 26th to celebrate even more with Nana & Papa. Mom made 4 different dinners all in 1....corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes, homemade veggie soup, cornbread and hash, bbq pulled pork sandwiches, oh and we had a little korean food too....whew we were stuffed! Nana & Papa had the house decorated nicely and the kids left with bags of new toys and clothes.
We went down to my parents' house in Greenwood on the 26th to celebrate even more with Nana & Papa. Mom made 4 different dinners all in 1....corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes, homemade veggie soup, cornbread and hash, bbq pulled pork sandwiches, oh and we had a little korean food too....whew we were stuffed! Nana & Papa had the house decorated nicely and the kids left with bags of new toys and clothes.
all the Gaines cousins...Tyler, Chloe, Bailey, Sam, & Kaleb
Baby's 1st Christmas
Santa stuff
stocking time
her favorite gift!
Bailey Beth - 6 Months Old
Our sweet Bailey Beth turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve! She is just such a joy.....always so mild mannered and happy. She flashes her beautiful smile all day long. She may possibly be the best baby in the world....just ask her Daddy!
Bailey went to the pediatrician for her check-up and she's still growing and developing well. She weighed 17 pounds exactly which puts her in the 75th percentile, and she was 27" long which is in the 95th percentile. She slimmed down a tad from her 4 month visit, but is holding steady at the top of the height chart. She can sit up unsupported for brief periods of time. She said her 1st word, of course it's "DADA", the day before Thanksgiving which was her 5 month mark. Her 2 lower front teeth actually broke through sometime while she was sleeping last night. She is beginning to grab everything and seems to really enjoy scratching at different surfaces She's still our little champion sleeper too....what a perfect little angel.
She eats a couple stage 1 baby foods each day. Her favorites are squash and bananas, but she can do without peaches - guess it's too tart. She takes 4-5 pumped bottles per day now and only nurses sporadically. This move was primarily to get her prepared to be away from me when we take out trip.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Bailey went to the pediatrician for her check-up and she's still growing and developing well. She weighed 17 pounds exactly which puts her in the 75th percentile, and she was 27" long which is in the 95th percentile. She slimmed down a tad from her 4 month visit, but is holding steady at the top of the height chart. She can sit up unsupported for brief periods of time. She said her 1st word, of course it's "DADA", the day before Thanksgiving which was her 5 month mark. Her 2 lower front teeth actually broke through sometime while she was sleeping last night. She is beginning to grab everything and seems to really enjoy scratching at different surfaces She's still our little champion sleeper too....what a perfect little angel.
She eats a couple stage 1 baby foods each day. Her favorites are squash and bananas, but she can do without peaches - guess it's too tart. She takes 4-5 pumped bottles per day now and only nurses sporadically. This move was primarily to get her prepared to be away from me when we take out trip.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
doesn't this just make you smile?!
playing in the floor with some new toys and Tyler
told you she smiles all day!!
Mama's 30th Birthday
I turned 30 years old on December 22nd. Oh well, not too much I can do now, huh?! My good friend, Heather, came over and hung out with me and the kids on the 21st. When Ben got home, Heather and I went out to dinner together. It was so great to catch up with her. After dinner, we came home and watched Twilight Eclipse - yay! Ben and Heather made me watch the clock just before midnight so I'd see it hit 12:00am and I'm pretty sure it was the fastest I've ever seen a clock move...lol. The next day Ben made me breakfast, lunch, a cake, and we got my favorite Japanese take-out for dinner. I opted out of going out to dinner. We'd been so busy the weekend before and the Christmas craze was merely hours away so I wanted to stay in and chill. I opened gifts and we watched another movie. I enjoyed my nice, relaxing day with our little family.
Ben and I have a trip planned to Las Vegas to celebrate both our 30th birthdays. We are very excited and will post a blog all about it.
Ben and I have a trip planned to Las Vegas to celebrate both our 30th birthdays. We are very excited and will post a blog all about it.
Heather & I
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