Las Vegas ~ November 7-11, 2010

Once again Josh had a business trip in Las Vegas to attend a conference, but this year was different, I got to come but Abi stayed home with both sets of grandparents.  Josh flew out on Saturday morning and I flew out on Sunday night.  By the time of this trip I was about 9 weeks pregnant and not horribly sick but enough that Josh felt better about me being there with him and not having to take care of Abi by myself for a week.  Even if I spent the whole week sick at least I just had to take care of myself.  Up until that point I hadn't been that sick just a little queezy but the flight over there was a bit rough.  It was raining in Fresno and Las Vegas had high winds.  The whole flight was bumpy and I spent most of the time in the bathroom trying to not get sick.  I eventually had to make my way back to my seat and when we started to land that's when my body decided to get sick. . . .need I say more?
Our room was nice same as we had last year but facing Red Rock Canyon instead of the strip.  While Josh was in meetings I had freedom to roam Las Vegas.  I drove to Primm to a huge outlet center and spent the afternoon shopping without a toddler!  Another day I spend driving and walking around Red Rock Canyon, I was able to do this last year but had Abi with me and couldn't do as much.  One night Josh was able to get me into the night club where they had dinner and entertainment but I unfortunately had to leave early because I was feeling very sick.  I went upstairs to our room and ordered room service, it was 9:00 and all I wanted was raisin bran and an English muffin :-( but it was delicious and hit the spot.  I then enjoyed the HUGE soaker tub, took a bubble bath and watched cable on the flat screen tv mounted to the wall of the bathroom, i was sure spoiled for a few days!

Red Rock Canyon:

On our last day in Las Vegas Josh and I drove to Mt. Charleston.  It is about 45 minutes north-west of Las Vegas and has a ski resort during the winter.  It was pretty quite and we would have done some hiking but didn't have the whole day since we were flying out that evening.  We drove around and even found some snow!  It was a beautiful area and it would be nice to hike there in the future.

This trip was fun and relaxing at least for me, we both missed Abi but it was nice to get away just the two of us!

Zoo ~ October 29, 2010

I love the Fall!  The weather is amazing, the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees is beautiful and it is a great time to hang out with my best friend and our two awesome kids!
The Friday before Halloween has become a tradition of visiting our Zoo.  This year was very different though, the kids are much more mobile and LOVE to run, run, run.  We decided to bring a wagon so the kids would have a little more freedom to roam the zoo and explore all the things within their reach.  We started int he bird exhibit by the entrance and met some new and interesting looking birds the most unusual was this blue bird with blood red eyes, see below.

The red-eyed bird got a little close and kinda freaked Abi out!
We made our way to the seal and the newer dino dig area.  It's this great big sand box type area with "dinosaur bones" that the kids can dig up and brush the sand away.  The kids had it all to themselves and had a blast playing in the sand and dirt.

As you can see from the pictures below Abi and Ethan loved their freedom to run around and took advantage of it.  They stayed pretty close to Jolie and I but enjoyed their independence.

We ended our morning/afternoon with the rain forest, which i think is my favorite part of the zoo.  Besides all the cute pictures of Abi that i took my favorite picture i took was the back of a beautiful parrot, the green and blue one, sooooo pretty.  I got the picture in an 8x10 to frame for my living room.  This was a great trip to the zoo and having a zoo membership makes trips to the zoo even easier, i also can't wait to see all the changes and growth the zoo is going through in the next few years now that their plans have been approved!

Pumpkin Patch ~ October 26, 2010

Way, way, way, back in October Jolie and I took the kids for some play time at the Pumpkin Patch.  We love going before lunch time, it is pretty quiet and the kids have the place to themselves.  We started with a photo op at a area they have set up for a professional photographer to use on the weekend but since it was a weekday we got to use the cute backdrop!

As you can see Abi and Ethan don't like each other very much :-)
The kids loved running around in the hay bail maze and carrying pumpkins around.

 I love my little girls amazing smile!  These pictures make me smile every time I look at them.
At the pumpkin patch this year they had a great collection of funky pumpkins, all sorts of colors and shapes.

We had a great time playing this last Halloween and can't wait to take Abi and her little brother Tanner next year!