Vegas!

The first week of December found mom and I in Vegas! The weather wasn't hot but a lot nicer than the rain and cold in Seattle.

Our hotel pool...we were the only ones laying out in the sun. People must have thought us crazy.

See me in the reflection?

The amazing ceiling in the Belagio entrance, all hand blown glass.

The decor behind the check in counter.

Belagio atrium.

Chocolate fountain!!

mmmm....

Pastries of art.

Mom and Vi Brown in the Belagio shopping strip.

Caesars Palace

Ah, Paris

The Venitian water way.

The men and ladies running the gondolas would each have a turn singing as they came to this turn around spot in the water canal. It was beautiful.

Belagio.

We watched a water fountain show but it's so fast and amazing it's hard to take pictures!

I'm thinking a mom-daughter trip should be a yearly thing! It was a wonderful trip, relaxing and so fun. We saw one show while we were there, 'ICE' was a Russian troupe of ice skaters that did acrobatics and dancing on the ice stage. It was really good!!

Thanksgiving 07....first one at our house!

This picture might have been a warning photo of disasters to come, but it actually turned out wonderful!... with lots of help from others, might I add.

SO ready to eat!

And dessert was just as wonderful.
Most of us went for a walk after dinner because of the amount of food we stuffed into ourselves.

Yummy memories.

Halloween fun times.

Kevin passed these pictures along on the family e-mail and I thought they were too cute to not share! This is Amanda (Wicked witch of the West) and Alayna (Dorothy).

Ewwww! Pumpkin guts....!

Just plain cuteness.

A pumpkin of a time.

Yay for pumpkins! Tis the season to carve and get creative.

Last week we had about 20 people over to carve pumpkins. Everyone brought their own pumpkin and any carving tools they wanted and we set up and made a mess!

Some used patterns...
While others just went with what came to mind...

And there wasn't always enough table space...which seemed ok for some.

The final result was fantastic. Not one was the same.

He's so cute, and we're obsessed.

We put up a new towel hanger in our bathroom and since it looked like a good bird perch, we thought we'd let Kirby try it out. The following picture is the result. He slipped off the towel hanger and barely caught himself by his beak. Brian just stood there laughing and yelling, "Sue, get the camera! Come quick..!" Poor birdy.

And Kirby loves his baths. He's taken a liking to the kitchen sink, more room to splash...?

After his bath is the only time he'll let you come close to him with a towel, and he'll sit in one for quite a while as long as you hold him.

What a character...

Ready, set, ....chaos!

So, us girls love to shop and what better way to do it than for free?! Every once in a while, we get together with all our bags of clothes that we don't want anymore, organize them a bit, and then let everyone loose to see what fits.
As Sara's showing us, it's a pretty exciting event. :)

Before the maddness starts, everything is neatly in piles....not for long.

No, I didn't get any pictures of the actual mess but here's the pile of clothes that we went through one last time before they get bagged up and taken to the Goodwill.

Fun times!

Small get-together

Sunday evening, we had a few people over for BBQ chicken dinner. Ben Eastwood, the guy in the picture below with his hands in the air, was staying with us. He's from Australia, but has been living and working in Peru on and off for the last few years. He helps run a business there that puts together groups of volunteers that help build and/or maintain housing for the locals in Peru.

Sam and Ben eating on the front steps.

A few of the group, from left to right, Lee Ellen (standing up), Glenda, Mark, Meridith, Sarah, Robert, Laura, and Jolyn.