Las Vegas

Phil and I got back from a 5 day trip to Las Vegas today. Given Phil's busy month of July with recruiting, his boss gave all the coaches a week off to just get out of the office to spend time with family before the hectic season starts. So, we decided to head to Las Vegas. Our good friends Hope and Dustin (see Rocho Family blog on my links) live in Vegas about 20 minutes NW of the strip. So, not only did we get to take a little time away for ourselves, we also got to visit with Hope, Dustin and their brand new baby girl, Trinity Love who was born August 6. She is healthy and beautiful. It was wonderful to hold a newborn baby again. It brought back a whole slew of memories from just 2 years ago. She was wonderful!

Hope and Dustin are incredibly generous and thoughtful. Would you all believe that when Dustin picked us up from the airport he suprised us with tickets for that evening to Cirque du Soleil's show "O" at the Bellagio. It was incredible. Phil and I had contemplated going prior to leaving Kzoo, but tickets were sold out when we looked into it and the cost was a bit overwhelming. Well, needless to say.....we went and it was amazing. I've never seen anything like it before in my life.

We were able to do and see a lot of neat things in just 5 days. We also were able to see another Cirque show, Mystere at Treasure Island. Mystere was also wonderful and we really enjoyed it. There are just so many details about our trip that I could include in this entry, but I'm already using so much space.

So....to close, I'll post a pic of sweet baby "TLove"....she is so cute!

Hanging out with Mom

Today Grace and I spent some time outdoors working in the yard. She is a good "helper" and enjoys picking up sticks and rocks for me. These are just some cute pictures I thought I'd post.

Fourth of July

This is the second year that we went to the Schoolcraft 4th of July parade. This year, Grace really enjoyed the parade! It was fun to watch all the kids. Emma and Maddie had the most fun collecting all their candy.

Photography Class

I started taking a photography class at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts last Thursday. It's once a week on Thursday evenings for 8 wks. We have weekly assignments. Tonight at class, my instructor really liked a picture I had captured of Grace. So, I thought I'd post it. If I get any other good comments on future projects, I'll continue to pass them along.

5 Random Things

Stacey "tagged" me to list 5 random things about myself on our blog. So....here it goes in no particular order :)

1. Although my taste for color has changed over the years and I've gone through several "trendy" favorite colors, I would have to say that my favorite colors both to wear and decorate with at this current time are greens, browns and reds. Now, that's not to say that I still don't love pink, especially for Grace:):)

2. I have aspirations to travel the world......who knows if it will happen but the three places I'd love to visit are Hawaii, Italy and the Western US (Montana, Oregon, Utah, Dakotas etc.)

3. I enjoy photography and little arts and craft projects. I feel that this is my way to keep my left brain active when I spend most of my days primarily using my right brain. And lets face it......primarily right brained people tend to be more boring - those left brainers are much more interesting!!!

4. I'm a carb freak - bring on the cakes, cookies, breads, pastas, crackers, potatoes, fruits and veggies. Who needs protein?....the only way I really get protein is in my dairy food. Maybe that's why I'm always craving sweets. I've tried the whole "south beach" way of life....it didn't last unfortunately.

5. To be quite honest, if I could change one thing about my physical appearance, I would really like to be taller. I'm not talking giant status here....just like 5'4"-5'5". It's really hard to find clothes that fit when you're 5'1".

Okay....that's enough.

Amber - you're up!!