5 year Wedding Anniversary trip to Vegas

5 years already?! Some days it feels like more, but the majority of the time, it doesn't feel like 5 years has passed since we said "I Do". Our anniversary is Aug 28, but because of Jason's schedule he had the week of the 17-23 off, so we went to Vegas then, instead of on our actual anniversary. It was a great time. For me this was my third time in Vegas, but it was Jason's first time being there since he has been 21. He did mention several times that Vegas is much funner when you are of age. Our flight and hotel reservation gave us free tickets to a show. With some persuasion on my part to Southwest Airliness, I was able to get us 5th row, center stage to Criss Angel. To gage how well my skills are, the man that owns the Luxor sat in the row immediately behind us. They were 200.00 a seat which was about the same price of our flight and hotel total for the week. These were free seats. Sometimes it pays to get mad about something and complain. :) It was the highlight of the trip for us. We watch his show on TV all the time and have been a fan for years! He was AMAZING!!! I would highly recommend this show to everyone!! We did the typical tourist thing and walked around and snapped pictures. Jason had the dream of eating at a "Las Vegas Buffet". We did an all you can eat for 24hr buffet at Excalibur.....I have to admit that it was quite delicious! What a deal!! We stayed at New York, New York and it was wonderful. We shopped, strolled down the strip and gambled. We both found a new love while we were there.....roulette. We stayed up into the wee hours playing roulette, black jack and slots. What a wonderful vacation. All of the previous years that we have taken a trip it was always so sad to leave. This year it wasn't so hard knowing that Emersyn was waiting for us at home with Nana & Grandpa (my parents). She stayed the week with them and got spoiled. Here are a few typical tourist shots of our trip. Enjoy!

Getting ready to leave. Sitting in the airport.

The Lions at MGM


Fountains outside of Paris.

Jason looks enthused doesn't he?

Eiffel Tower.

We noticed after we took this that we have an almost identical picture in front of fountains at DC in 2003.

These were the BEST Margaritas we had while we were there!!! Waiting for the show at Treasure Island.

Part of the display in the botanical garden in the Belliago. They had love birds. These birds were nuzzling in pairs in this display. How cute is that?

Everything in the botanical gardens is made out of flowers. Couldn't pass up a picture in front of the ladybug for our little Love Bug back home.

One side of our hotel. We were in the tower to the right of the ROK building. It was the century tower. We were on the 20th floor.

Getting ready to start the day.

Another NY, NY shot from the front.

Yet another angel of our hotel.

After the show. In the hallway of the Criss Angel theatre.

I think I might have a minor crush on Criss Angel.

After the show, we strolled the strip and watched the Belliago fountains and gambled.

The fountain show.

This might be Jason's new inspiration for the backyard fountain he is planning to build. This was at the Wynn.

Outside of Caesar's waiting for the Deuce to pick us up to go shopping.

Getting ready to go to the outlets.

Inside the Wynn, it was beautiful. These parasols went up and down.

One of the gardens in the Wynn.

Shopping in Caesar's. Had to stop by Jimmy Choo. :)

Jason wanted to relive his past and stop by the statue show at Caesar's Palace.

Waiting for the show to start.

End of the show.

If you watch Criss Angel Mind Freak at all, you would have seen the episode where he had a girl sign a card and so did he. He put the card in the deck and threw the deck at the glass doors in the lobby of the Luxor. The card they signed somehow got in between the glass of the doors. It is still there and you can not get to it at all. It is in the glass. How did he do that???

The MGM, across the street from our hotel. The first time I went to Vegas with my sorority pledge class we stayed there.

Love this one, some foreigner took a picture of us, and this is what we got. Maybe we should have found someone who spoke English???

On Saturday before it began to rain and pour!!

Emersyn is 1

Okay.....Here we go, I'm not even going to attempt to catch up from May! I'm just going to start in August. (I'm back to part time now that school has started, and fully intend to keep up on this now). On August 7, 2009 our baby turned 1!!! Whewww....it was the fastest year of our lives! We still don't know where it went! Seems like just yesterday we were coming home from the hospital with the most beautiful baby girl in the world. Now she's all grown up and becoming very independent. She is walking, but still prefers to crawl, because she can get there faster! We started off the Birthday Celebration, by taking picts at JCPenny's. They do such a good job. She did well, she wanted to crawl and walk instead of sit still and get her picture taken. Then mommy and Nana (Ashley's mom) took her through the mall and let her ride the Quarter toys for the first time. Her eyes lit up when those cars began to move. She thought she was "hot stuff" driving them! I will have to have quarters with me every time I go to the mall now, can't imagine leaving without riding a toy. Then we ran some errands to get ready for the party. That night we opened presents with my family. She got a kitchen and all sorts of goodies from my parents, hokey pokey Elmo from Levi & Emily and a table, bracelet and clothes from mommy and daddy. She was so interested in the kitchen and kitchen utensils (yes she takes after me), that she could have cared less about any of the other toys! She had a wonderful day! It was bittersweet. It was yet again, another reminder of how wonderful God is! There were many days that I never thought this day would happen! God's blessings are AMAZING!! On Saturday, we had a birthday party with about 25 friends and family and 5 children and a week old baby Lucy. We had a Lady Bug party. It was pink, green and yellow. We spent all night and morning setting everything up. The wind was ridiculous, so the plans with the gazebo and jumper got put on hold. We resorted to a craft table with various lady bug activities, decorate your own cupcake, catching ducks in the pond and getting a prize, basketball, baseball, sidewalk chalk, a slide and a mini bouncer for the little ones. We also had a lady bug book corner where the little ones could read about lady bugs. Thanks to my family and Aunt Emily for decorating an endless amount of hours. Emersyn got many things and it was such a wonderful day!!! I know she won't remember it, but I wanted her to have such a special day! She did well and was very sociable. Thanks to all that came and shared in such a special day in Emersyn & our lives! She is such a joy in our lives and we are beginning to realize that we need her more than she needs us :) She has promised us to not grow anymore!! (However, she just had a doctor apt and she is still 97% in height at 32in and has dropped to 70% in weight). Emersyn we love you more than anything in this world! Happy Birthday Love Bug!!

The Kitchen

Checking things out. This is one that grows with her and will adjust taller someday. It makes noises and all!

The new table.

Not interested in unwrapping gifts, maybe next year.



Walking around.



Riding the car at the mall & loving it!




What a NUT!!

Family pict toward the end of the party...she was exhausted!

The kids getting ready to decorate their cupcakes!

She was NOT interested in wearing this crown I made for her!

Chocolate Chip cake...Yummy!!

Her own personal banana cupcake. She was soo tired instead of taking the cupcake to her mouth, she took her mouth to the cupcake!

Thanks Aunt Emily for the AWESOME background!! My mom and I decorated her highchair, even though she eats at the table with us and doesn't use it anymore.

She almost finished the whole thing.

Cups...YAY!!

She has got this train figured out, I love watching her play with it!!!

The Smith family "catching Ducks" These girls came to party even dressed in Lady Bug attire!!

It was sooo HOT outside! Next year....pool party!

This is Sadie & Maddi. I worked with their mom and we were pregnant at the same time. Sadie is a couple of weeks younger than Emersyn. They will be great friends.

Playing in the bathroom with Great Grandma Tryon. Because why wouldn't you play in the bathroom??

Some of the presents.

Trying to get some of the decor. I'm sad that I didn't take a picture of the party bags or the house all decorated up, even the garage was decorated. Ohh well....there's always next year!

Playing with Aunt Ashley!