We tore it up...Vegas style

We’re officially back from Vegas. We made it through…I was seriously concerned Ash & I needed a vacation so badly that we might not come back alive. It was really really fun to spend so much time with my brother & sister too…we hadn’t all gone on vacation together for 7 years!!! And late October seemed to be a great time to visit…it was still warm enough to sit by the pool and not that busy.

Some highlights from our trip:

--The rides on the top of the Stratosphere are AWESOME. Very scary and not for the even slightly faint at heart…the best part was my brother’s friend Brandon FREAKING OUT when we were riding everything. But he was a good sport. It’s really entertaining to see a guy with biceps 4 times as big as mine scream like a girl and pray to god at the same time.

--Celebrity sightings: My sister met Holly Madison from The Girls Next Door at the Palms. (I missed the encounter for reasons I can’t admit to on this blog). She also saw Criss Angel with Holly Madison and swears they are definitely dating. Jess & I also saw George Maloof, the owner of the Palms and he even said ‘Hi’ to us. Here’s a sweet pic of my sister retelling the story of seeing Criss Angel…who she said was the freakiest person she’d ever seen.

Her impression is pretty dead on, don't you think? :) Oh, and she hadn't been drinking at all when we took this picture.

--My brother-in-law Justin saying inappropriate things to every single taxi driver we encountered. My favorite (taken completely out of context, but really funny…) “I’ve got a super snake!”

--I’m going to play trip review now…
Best club we went to : Moon at the Palms
Best meal we had (and also the most expensive): Fix at the Bellagio
Casino I wasn’t so impressed with: New York New York
Most Ghetto Casino we went through: The Sahara…only to get to the monorail. But they did have Fat Tire, so that was a plus.
Casino with the best shops: The Wynn. I actually touched a Manolo Blahnik.

I'll try to post more pics soon. Oh, I wish I had more time to blog. :)

-Emily :)

Moment of Truth

Tomorrow Ash takes his Professional Engineering (PE) test. It's 8 hours long and the material goes back to stuff he hasn't done since college. I'm currently staring at the LARGE SUITCASE of reference materials he's taking with him to the test. Funny that they're allowed to take all of those books, but they can only take a $10 calculator. A TI-34xls for all you nerds out there.

He's been studying a lot this week and one day he showed me this table from his main reference book:













Yes folks, the title's not lying. That's a table of random numbers. How incredibly useful. And no, it's not a weird engineering thing. Ash has NO IDEA what it is.

Anyway, think good thoughts for him on Friday. I know I'm really nervous for him, so I can't imagine how he feels. And I sure am glad I don't have to take this big of a test 5 years after college. I wouldn't pass.

The best thing about the test is afterwards we're heading to VEGAS! WHOO HOO!

-Emily :)

Crossed off the List...

After several months, the renovation on our master bath shower is finally complete. I have to say, for Ash's first tile project, it looks pretty damn impressive. Definitely an upgrade from the standard white tile that was there before.

I had the honor of taking the first post-remodel shower in it this afternoon and holy cow...if you don't already have one of those rain-type shower heads, GO OUT AND GET ONE RIGHT NOW. I think 2 months of stress just washed right down the drain. I seriously felt like I was on vacation in there just now. How will I ever go to work in the morning after having such an experience?

OK, shower story turning creepy. The End.

-Emily :)

Just call me Macaulay Culkin...

I'm home alone this weekend. Ash & Helena are in KC for a wedding and to visit Ash's family, but I had to stay here for work. Bummer, huh? Anyway, I'm enjoying having some peace and quiet and will hopefully be able to get over the sore throat I've been fighting off for a few days now. This is the longest I've been away from Helena ever...4 days...and I already miss that little booger!

Today there's snow floating around in Salt Lake. It's currently 38 degrees at our house. I'm not sure I'm ready for the long winter yet, but I guess I have no choice.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to do some Vegas clothes/winter clothes shopping by myself. Neither Ash OR Helena are usually very good mall companions. Hopefully I'll find some cute stuff. Only 14 days until we leave for sin city. WHOO HOO! Ash & I have both been pulling 50-60 hour weeks at work the past couple of weeks and I tell ya, I don't think I've ever felt I needed a vacation more than now.

Hope everyone has a good weekend, too. I'll try to blog more than I have lately once my work life slows down a little.

-Emily :)

3's a Party!

Today Helena turned one year old. Pretty crazy it's already been a year...Ash & I both agree that the time has gone by very quickly once we became not quite so sleep deprived. And by 'we' I really mean me. :) And what a year we've had, too. Helena's been a Utahn almost as long as she was a Kansan!

We started the day off going out to breakfast, skipped our Little Gym class (probably not the last time she'll skip a class on her birthday, ha!), opened presents, had cake, played with all of her new toys...good times! Poor kid was exhausted by the end of it all.

Here's a video of her eating cake today. (It's sideways again...sorry!)



And....another one of her opening her presents. And hoarding them.



It still amazes me how much babies change in the first year. I remember when feeding her two spoonfuls of cereal was a big deal and now she's eating/throwing/chewing most foods. And taking steps on her own...and trying to say the words that I say (her word of the day today was 'SHOE'!)...wow.

Next thing you know she'll be able to mow the lawn. After all, that is the whole reason we decided to have kids...so they can do chores around the house. She's already pretty good at sorting laundry.

Happy Birthday, booger. We love you! Thanks for being such a great kid.

-Mom & Dad :)