Welcome Home Weekend!

We had the most AMAZING weekend!  Drew's best friends from his home town, came for a visit to celebrate his homecoming.  Dave and Jaime and Cody and Nikki, have been close friends of Drew's, as long as I've known him.  And I must say, they are the funnest people in the world.

They drove down Friday morning and arrived in the early afternoon.  At 5pm we headed to the movies and saw "Crazy Stupid Love".  Next it was off to dinner at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris.  We love this restaurant and were lucky enough to sit out on the patio to watch the fountain at the Bellagio across the street and do one of my favorite things ever...people watch.  The dinner was FANTASTIC!  Then we just hung out on the strip, checking out the different casinos.

I took all the photos on my iPhone at night, so the quality isn't the best.  Oh well.  Here's the group outside of the Sugar Factory.

The guys played some games and the girls went dancing at Studio 54 for a little while, because ladies always get in free ;)  We stayed up late talking and laughing and didn't get to bed until around 2am , so the next morning was a little crazy, but we managed.  Drew, Cody, and I got up and ran 4 miles (because apparently we are now doing a Ragnar...hmmmm)  Then the guys went golfing and the ladies went shopping for a couple of hours.  We came back to the house and had a BBQ for lunch, then we went to our community pool to go swimming for an hour.  The babysitters came back at 5pm and we headed downtown once again.  This time we went to the Venetian and had dinner at the Grand Lux (one of my favorites).  Dinner was amazing, of course.  Then we walked all over the strip, checking out different casinos.  One of our stops was in Treasure Island at Gillies, a country swing bar.  We didn't do any country dancing, we did have some fun with their mechanical bull though.  Cody was our willing participant and we had a great time watching him.

Drew and I in Treasure Island

We ended the night at Tabu, dancing and having a blast.  I'm so glad that Drew is home again.  We have so much fun together and life just isn't the same when he's away.  

Here are a couple of photos of us old married people, dancing our hearts out at Tabu.  Thanks to our wonderful friends for the best weekend EVER!

Drew's Return!

Drew finished his 3rd deployment and arrived home from Afghanistan at 1:47AM.  Yes... in the middle of the night he called me to tell me that he was in the garage.  I can't believe I didn't hear the garage door open, but I DIDN'T.  Anyway, he didn't have his keys and the door between the garage and the house was locked, so he had no choice but to call me to unlock it.

The kids (and I) thought he was going to arrive today around noon, so they had no idea.  They woke up that morning and went downstairs for breakfast.  That's when we surprised them.  A little groggy, but still thrilled to see their Dad.

We took the kids swimming in the morning, then to Chilis for lunch.  We are so glad to have Drew home again.

Ella on the Slide

Mia taught Ella how to go down the slide at the McDonald's PlayPlace this afternoon.  She can climb the stairs herself, and goes head-first down the slide.  Here's the video.


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Mia's 9th Birthday

Today is Mia's 9th Birthday!  It's been a really crazy and busy summer, so planning a big birthday bash was not something I was looking forward to.  That being said, my wonderful and sweet daughter Mia was kind enough to agree on a smaller celebration, to help Mom out a bit.  It was an impromptu lunch date.  And it ended up being a huge success.

She wanted to invite lots of friends, but I told her that two would have to be the limit.  So she invited her two best friends to join her.  Yesterday we picked up Aspen and Katelyn (and dropped off the little kids in the process) at 11:00am.  We headed to BJ's Restaurant for lunch.  All three girls ordered Fettuccini  Alfredo with a salad and it was wonderful!

The server brought out a Pizookie with a candle in it.  Basically it's a warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream on top.  So yummy.  We sang happy birthday to her, then all three of the girls shared it.

Mia opened her presents at the restaurant.  She got some wonderful gifts and was really exited!

 Then we headed to the nail salon for pedicures.   This was a first time experience for all three of them and they LOVED it!

 I couldn't stop laughing because the massage chairs were making the girls look like they were having seizures.  It was so funny!

 The end result!  So beautiful!

I took the girls to Target and they picked out a nail polish to take home.  Then we went to the frozen yogurt shop and had dessert.  It was such a fun day.  Happy Birthday my beautiful baby girl!

One Last Trip to Utah

On July 13th, I drove back up to Utah for one last summer trip.  At least I think it will be my last.  It was two weeks of fun reunions.  

On Thursday July 14th we had the Clark Family Reunion at a park in Murray.  It also happened to be my niece Aurelie's 1st Birthday, so we celebrated with her.  

I spent a lot of the time catching up with family members and didn't get as many photos as I would have liked.  But it was wonderful to see almost everyone again. 

 

 Luke, Whitney, and Aurelie enjoying some pizza.

Ella still healing from her head wound.

We were able to get a photo of all the Clark cousins that were able to attend.  From left to right it's Julie (Dave's daughter), Melissa (Richard's daughter), Jill (Richard's daughter), Jennifer (Richard's daughter), Loretta (Walt's daughter), and Angela (Walt's daughter).

 And here are our kids!  Huge age range.  Gavin is in his second year at the University of Utah.  I used to babysit him and we would watch Barney together.  Time flies!

The following day was Drew's Birthday (July 15th) and we celebrated at Lagoon.  It just so happened to be Lagoon's 125th birthday as well, so we got free cake and soda.  AWESOME!  We always try to get a photo of the kids eating their ice creams in Pioneer Village.  

The next day I was lucky enough to visit with my college roommate Melanie.  We met at the park for lunch and it was so wonderful to catch up.  She's so beautiful and amazing, and I'm so glad we're friends!

On Sunday I headed out to Drew's parent's house.  It was a really crazy week.  I spent the first part of the week renovating their basement bathroom with Drew's talented cousin Jared.  The weather was NUTS that first half of the week.  On Monday Mia, Cole, and Luke helped Grandma move the sprinklers and got stuck in a downpour.  When they came back home they were DRENCHED!  Then on Tuesday we experienced a crazy hail storm, with hail the size of large marbles.  Luckily they weren't any larger, or my new minivan would have been dented for sure.  It was crazy!  By Thursday, most of Drew's siblings had arrived for Longhorn Days.  On Friday we went up to Moon Lake and hung out on the beach.  It was a lot of fun, now that Ella can walk and doesn't want to eat sand all the time.

 We had a tailgate picnic out of Rhett's new truck.

 Mia built this awesome raft out of drift wood, then launched it into the lake.

 Rhett, Scott, and Jesse visiting.

Saturday July 23rd, was the big Longhorn Days celebration.  It started off with a 5K race around town.  I decided to do it, even though I hadn't run in a month due to a terrible cough.  The elevation was enough to kill me, but I'm glad I did it.  It was a fun one!  And I was able to do it with Meleena and Scott.
Meleena won the 5K walk.  First prize was an awesome pair of sunglasses.  I was so jealous.

 Meleena, Me, Jaime, and Nikki.

The big community breakfast was at the park.  Then we headed to the parade.  The kids had their bags ready to collect the candy!

 Brecon loves his stuffed dragon and takes it everywhere.

 Ella took Marie for a walk before the parade started.

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These two cousins were fast friends.  Luke and Evan didn't fight once.  So it's safe to assume that Evan just did whatever bossy Luke said.  

 Grandpa and Ella playing around.

 Our good friends Todd and Kayla sat by us.

After the parade we headed to the park for a Pierce Family Reunion.  

 Whenever Ella gets nervous she puts the backs of her hands against here eyes.  Almost like she can hide from the people talking to her.  She did it a lot, and it makes me laugh every time.

 Paula organized a T-shirt craft.  Write on the shirts with markers, then spray them with rubbing alcohol and the colors bleed.  Like a controlled tie dye shirt.

 Adam showing off his masterpiece.

 Someone brought a really fun game to the reunion, called "Dingle Balls".  Silly name, I know.  But everyone loved it.  Cole loved it so much, we might just have to get one.

 A water-fight broke out at one point.  Gary was chasing Dave with a water balloon.

That night we went back to the park for the auction and fireworks.  The best firework show to date!  I had a really wonderful trip out there.  I got to know Drew's family a lot better.  And on Sunday I went back to Jill's house for a couple of days.  We went to Lagoon for one more exhausting day, then we headed home.  It's good to be home.