Vegas Vacation

The secret is officially out! Justin and I are having a baby in July. We are getting more excited, especially the more I show. It has been an interesting first go with the whole “being pregnant” thing. My first 12 weeks were from November – January and I was SO TIRED. Exhaustion was my major symptom with the regular nausea, but I was able to keep the nausea at bay through snacking often. I feel like I have never been healthier.  I eat lots of protein all the time and have discovered new foods to love like Greek yogurt and kale. Like I said – healthy! I have a few epic barf stories: around Christmastime we went to a concert for Jon’s daughter. I had a buffalo chicken pita before the show. It took everything in my power to keep that stuff down until we got home when I threw it up in the most ferocious way imaginable. That was the first time I've ever had “stuff” come out my nose. And it was buffalo chicken! Of all things to come out your nose…it was horrible...and hot. Another time I had just had breakfast of whole wheat toast and eggs and was walking out to my car. Right as I opened the car door I knew it was ALL coming up and it certainly did and it was CRAZY (this has actually happened twice)! So much puke everywhere. Other than that I barfed pretty often the first 12 weeks and now it’s just when I get up really early. My energy is back and I've been exercising again – I move and groove on the elliptical before work every day for 30 minutes. I feel like a rockstar! And now I have this cute baby bump that I get to show off. I’m 19 weeks along and we don’t know if we’re going to find out gender or not. If we find out we’ll let you know. If not, we’ll see in July.

I have "blooper" pictures to post because it took a hilarious amount of time to get this perfect shot, but they are on our laptop - I'll add them when I get home. 

Last week I had a “galentines” ladies night at my house. I got materials to make these cute mason jar valentines to give to people. I ended up making a bunch for gals that couldn't come that night and delivered them. I think I’m going to start a ‘ladies night’ movement in our ward. I am feeling the need to make some better friends in the ward.

This week in Washingtonland we have what is called “mid-winter break.” What that means for teachers and students is we get a whole week off for no apparent reason other than to perhaps get through the rainy winter blues. Justin and I decided to come to Vegas. We flew into town Tuesday morning and checked into our hotel first thing – we stayed at the Bellagio. We had Café Rio for lunch which was AMAZING. They do it so well down here – the ingredients are so fresh and delicious and you just can’t beat it. We went to a park to enjoy the beautiful weather and sunshine, then swung by the high school where my former students attend now. I got to say hi to a bunch of those kiddos. They are my favorite! It was really good to see all of them. We visited my mentor teacher Alaine from student teaching at her new school, and then our good friend from our old ward Leo. We had a really good visit with him. We went to Green Valley Ranch and walked around until dinner time for my most favorite food in the world – Lucielle’s BBQ. I had amazing baby back ribs and Justin had tri-tip. Yum. The sides there are amazing. My baked potato was the best I've had in my life (certainly the best of my baby’s life). We crashed early at the hotel that night.

75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky ... heaven!

Wednesday we had breakfast at our old favorite place – The Cracked Egg. We split eggs and bacon and went to visit my dear friend Rachel Haymore. We spent the majority of the day with her. We walked in the park for an hour just talking, then went out to Café Rio AGAIN (because when it’s this good you are sure to take advantage). We got our toes done for the most ridiculous price we’d ever paid – little did we know those nail ladies were up-selling us the whole time! I guess we got the ‘ultimate pedicure deluxe’ – woops. Buyer beware…I’m so grateful for the friendship I have with Rachel and the time I got to spend with her. Love you friend!

We headed back to the hotel and got ready for our show – we had tickets for the “O” show by Cirque Du Soleil at the Bellagio. It’s their acrobat show that’s all in water. It was very…interesting. I felt kinda weird about it but thankfully Justin appreciated it enough for the both of us ;) Don’t get me wrong – there were some amazing stunts – I guess Justin just has a more sophisticated palate than me.

We made reservations for a restaurant in the hotel for after the show. I had the most amazing steak of my life! My mashed potatoes had lobster whipped into them – what? Justin had risotto with chorizo and seafood. Our favorite thing to do together is eat – I’m pleased that this trip we treated ourselves to some amazing dinner both nights.  

This morning we were up early like normal, but we found it to be quite stormy. The wind was blowing up to 65 mph. Our original plan was to drive out to Red Rock and do a hike. Instead we dropped by Rachel’s house to give them tickets to the “O” show – we had extra so we gifted them to Rachel and Dean – and did the scenic loop in the car at Red Rock. We had an early lunch at In N Out and wasted away the afternoon until it was time to go to the airport. With the winds like they were, doing anything outside was torture. Bummer. We got to the airport three hours early which we NEVER do – we always show up an hour to two hours early max – ha! But This way I had time to write my blog and we had nothing else to do.

Overall we really loved our trip together. It felt a lot like coming home. I love that we lived here for a year and made so many great friendships. I would move back if the opportunity ever presented itself. I miss the desert. The sedimentary rock here is amazing! THAT I have definitely missed. Too much vegetation where we live…give me the rocks! We fly from Vegas to San Fransisco, then on to Seattle tonight. We left Jackson with Justin’s parents and Rocky is staying with a friend in the ward. It will be good to get back and have a weekend left to rest until school again next week. We are well into second semester now, and I’m teaching my favorite subject of all – astronomy.

In other news, our puppy is not so 'puppy size' anymore. He's growing into a dog before our eyes! He has gotten so big already. He's only 3 1/2 months old but he is almost too big for me to pick up. We gave him his first bath last week and he loved it which relieved us - Rocky hates water and we didn't want that to happen to Jackson. I took him to my classroom last Friday as a surprise for my kids and also as a reward for their amazing behavior and he did so great! The kids loved him too. We love him so much!

For now we are in San Francisco until 11:00 tonight and won't get home until probably 2:00 tomorrow morning. Our 3:00 flight was delayed until 5:00 so we missed our 6:30 connecting flight. Oh the joys of traveling!