Vegas, baby!

Disclaimer: pictureless post, I was too busy having fun. :D

If you know us you know we love some VEGAS! I know it sounds like we are some kind of swingers(LOL!!) or casino rats or something, but we just like to have our little getaways. We go once or twice a year. We are kind of getting a bit of a system down with trial and error. This is what we did this time. Marks main objective is eating. My main objective is sleeping, getting away from my phone and looking cute and Vegas-y. heehee.

Sunday after church we were outta here! YAY. 5.5 hour drive...BOO. So at about 20 miles out from the hoover dam (where you can't pass at ALL) we find ourselves behind this jerky nissan pathfinder that was totally punking us. Going 10-15 mph below speed limit, tapping his brakes if we got too close, etc and generally ticking us (mark) off to no end. We start to notice he was hugging the centerline, then the median, then tapping his brakes when there was oncoming headlights, and now we are thinking "impaired driver" fo SHO. So as we get to the security check at the dam Mark says to the rent-a-cop with the fancy flashlight "hey, this guy in front of us seems like a DUI" to which the security "cop" says "oh, uh-huh. Go ahead, stay to the left" WAH??? Huge eye roll and Mark mumbles a "wow, good job dude" but as we are pulling out the REAL DPS cops off to the side notices that the pathfinder has a broken taillight and scoots in front of us a pulls the guys OVER! WOO HOO! FACE! We were spared from Mr. passive aggressive DUI driver through the whole Dam and out the other side! It was a triumphant moment! LOL

We get to our hotel (Tuscany....all suites, off the strip, pretty nice) and since we were a late check in and they were sold out so we got upgraded. Sunday night was 60 bucks, and monday night was 20 bucks, so an upgrade at those prices was pretty sweet!

We head over to check out the all night cafe at the hotel, and we decide to stay for the midnight to 5 am steak eggs hashbrowns and toast for $3.99. It was REALLY good! We will be repeating that one for sure. We would have done it again monday night but then we'd be messed up again for Marks much anticipated breakfast buffet (involving the giant buffet pan of bacon, you know the one) . By 1 am we were stuffed and exhausted so we crashed on our fabulous down bed with yummy thick sheets. I don't know what kind of sleeping dust they put in that bed but I could NOT wake up the next morning! It was after 10 before I even started to stir. It was deeeelicious! We went and sat out by the pool and I read and Mark bikini watched. LOL! Ahhh what am I gonna do, right?? hee hee Since it took no time at all for our poor white bods to start to sizzle we decided to pack it up and head over to our good friends Swen and Kristi and barbecue with them and their 3 little kids and swim. It was nice and it was fun to hang out and just chat and chill. Mark and Swen have been friends since before their missions, so it was fun.

Next on the agenda.....Dun-Dun-Duuuuunnnn.......the Rio Seafood Buffet, oh yeah! I'm sure I don't get my moneys worth but I'm pretty sure Mark eats his weight in hot crab legs. SO good! I'm not as crazed about it as he is, although I like it a lot, but its like my 5th time now, and I'd like to try another place but IDK where so we stick with the Rio. I did have my first prime rib, and it was pretty amazing. Steak you cut with a butterknife and it tastes like buttah?? Sign me up! Super rich though, along with the crab. While we were at dinner this nice older couple next to us offered us their show tickets for the night, they had gotten them free for going to a timeshare pitch and had heard it was a bit much. LOL Perfect!!

So we go to this show at the Flamingo (which was much nicer that I had expected!) called Vinny Favorito. OH boy. OH boy. It was freaking hilarious. He basically picks on the audience members and makes fun of them and is SUPER politically incorrect. And raunchy. And that is putting it delicately. I thought Mark was going to laugh his face off. Even he got poked at by the comedian about his profession. HILARIOUS!!!! Thank you old people from Idaho, we have been laughing for 3 days about that show.

So we went back to the hotel and crashed for the night, and then got up just in time to check out and hit the breakfast buffet. Mark got his bacon. We just love to people watch in Vegas. It is so fun! On the way out of town we stopped at a casino that has quarter chip roulette where you can play for a loooong time on 20 bucks. Mark was teaching me how to play and it was really fun. I lost a little but he made up for it and had a couple big hits which was exciting! And we were good kids and walked away when we were up. It was seriously fun and exciting. Woowoo me and my 20 dollars LOL We headed home and besides an hour dely at the Dam checkpoint, it was a good ride back and went pretty fast. We had a great babysitter for the kids- my sister Brianna who is living with us now. She kept things on track and kept the troops entertained and happy.It was great knowing she had things so under control.

Can I just say how much I love my getaways with my guy?? He is so fun, and we had a great time. Thank you baby, I love you!!

Random Crap I made.....:D

My mom and sisters and I are going to be crafting for the next 2 days and also getting ready for Sadie's summer birthday bash so I figured I better post some stuff I did already so that I don't get too behind.

I made this runner with tassels (it ended up on my entryway table) I love it
And this pillow to match......my first experience with fringe :D

This is my first attempt at the Mango Tango Apron from the A is for Apron book. It has a few flaws so it gets to be mine....all mine! :D It is pretty easy, the skirt is on the bias so it flares a little, its so cute!! I can put one together in about 2 hours start to finish.

This is my first attempt at "Cakeland", also from the A is for Apron book. Not as practical, but SO stinkin cute!! I heart pompoms!!

And then there are THESE::::::

Can I just mention how incredible these cupcakes are?? I'm so sad that the pic is terrible, but these are just tooooooo goooood!! I know they look pretty average, but no. They are the Pioneer Womans Sheet Cake as cupcakes with the best frosting EVER......made with 5 tablespoons of flour, of all things! Also found on the Pioneer Womans site, tasty kitchen. My friend Wendy made them for me before I had a chance to try them, and lets just say I've made them 3 times since then! I seriously want to go make some of that frosting right now. It is really light and super creamy, almost like cool whip, but not. Its not too sugary, it is perfection!! You know if PW says its the best frosting she ever had, run, don't walk to the kitchen to make it!! The sheet cake is so moist, and even better in cupcake form (I tried it both ways :) The link to her site is in my inspiration list on the right hand side.

I did make a couple of other things, but they are not quite finished and I have a couple of adorable aprons that I actually have pre sold that I have to produce :D Fun stuff!

Shabby Bright Headboard

I redid Sadies bed a couple months ago, I never did a full after post, and I wanted to link to SNS at Funky Junk so here it is!

I got this bed from my parents, its a full and my daughter is turning 12 and really wanting a "real" bed. Here is what it looked like when I got it, I had already put the medallions on when I remembered to take the pics. Oooooo, ahhh a nice DARK 70's finish on solid wood. Score for me!!

Since it had the ugly, yet pristine finish I lightly sanded (I'm super lazy) and wiped it all down. Then I spray painted the whole thing with 2 coats of Krylon Key Lime from Walmart. I took a medium grit sandpaper and roughed up all the edges somewhat heavily. I mixed glaze and some brown paint (from the oops paint section at walmart) and just went to town and got it all in the cracks and creases and kept wiping off the excess. I probably should have moved to the shade for this part, but being it was a put together bed, and I was still super lazy I just worked as fast as I could.



Here it is in here room as of now (which we repainted from a dramatic purple and pink to a nice neutral). This room is taking me forever to finish! I edited the gobs of pillows (except the sweater one I made :) so you could see the headboard better.

It looks super yellow and blah in this lighting, the above pic of the footboard is much more accurate. It is so bright and whimsical, just like my daughter :D

My little Seamster

Ya know how I mentioned that Dayton has been wanting to sew alllll the time, and the other night I was finishing up a project and he was just chomping at the bit to do something.......anything. I had seen this bib tutorial so I found the perfect boy type project. The kid was determined to do it all on his own. I drew up the pattern, and he cut it out perfectly....FYI this kid has some mad small motor skills, he always has. We always joke that he will be a great surgeon someday :D

Then he pinned in to the fabric and the terrycloth and cut them out...perfectly

He reallllllllly wanted to do the sewing machine all himself, but I let him run the foot pedal and taught him about backstitching and helped guide the fabric.....a little



He turned it inside out, and I tried to do the topstitching for him, but after one side he said "Mom, I can do the topstitching! I can do it!" So he did. He did let me help a little more with the ties though :D

And here is the adorable little bib that he made for his new little cousin Aiden :D I think he was pretty proud, and so am I !!

And if that wasn't enough, he wanted to make a denim flower pin for his teacher. I cut him a strip, and he did the running stitch all on his own. I didn't take a pic, (I know, bad mom!!) I was so tired but it was a cute yo yo style denim flower with a big pearl center and a pin on the back. His teacher loved it and he was so excited to give it to her to put on her 100 pin jacket.

The concentration is so cute :D

I have so many more projects to share, I have been doing lot of sewing and it is so fun! I'm trying not to make my posts so long so I'll save it for another time soon :D