Stuff

Before I start, let me highly recommend this video:

www.thestoryofstuff.com

Click on "Watch Now"

Then you will understand what I mean when I say that my sewing machine is (actually, was) a 100% verifiably disposable, designed-for-the-dump product suffering from a case of planned obsolescence.  My mom bought it for me last July at Canadian Tire for $50, usually sold for $150.  She bought it to me in September, and in November (yes, this past November, as in 2009) I began my first sewing project - a turtle sleeping bag for Grant.  For him to grow into, fortunately, because it's is insanely close to being finished yet sitting in a pile in the closet of our office.  That is because my sewing machine did not make it through even one project before the threads on the needle clamp screw became stripped.  Obviously, one cannot sew without a needle, and the machine could no longer hold the needle.

The part technically can be ordered from Europro, at a cost of $20 including shipping and handling.  $19.85, actually.  So let's think about this... $20 for a teensy little screw?  To top it off, somewhere along the way I lost the entire needle clamp, which, I was told by the owner of Sewing Lane, would cost around $30.  Ha!  No thanks.

So, with a broken heart, we took my sewing machine to the electronics recycling at the landfill and I said my final farewell.  Goodbye little friend.  You did not serve me well.  You got my hopes up.  You promised you could sew through multiple layers and stay straight.  You couldn't.  You promised years (or maybe at least ONE year) of happy sewing projects filling my home, then dashed my dreams on the rocks.  So long.

Also, I am going to take this time to mention how extremely disappointed I was with the service at Sewing Lane.  I am ALL for giving my business to small, locally owned businesses, but customer service has to be fair.  I called many weeks ago to see if they could order my part for me, and I was told that the owner would order it or call me back if she couldn't.  No call back.  A few weeks later, I called and left a voice mail message (they clearly don't have call waiting) asking if they had been able to order my part, if my part was in, etc., and I most definitely left my name and phone number.  No call back.
Then, when I went into Sewing Lane on Friday, they had no part for me, no record of my name, zilch.  So thanks a lot.

And while I'm typing out my beefs, I'm getting more and more frustrated by the day - we signed a lease for our current home last Sunday, and are still awaiting our copy of it.  No biggie, except I'm waiting for it in order to get renters insurance, change my driver's license address, and our car registration, which expires at the end of May.  *Impatient foot tap*

AND our former landlords have YET to send us our damage deposit for our previous rental house.  They live in Arizona and I have no idea how they plan to get it to us, as they haven't answered my latest email.  Their ten days is definitely up, but there is no penalty!  In BC, the law says that if your landlord doesn't return your damage deposit within 15 days they have to pay you double!  But sadly, not in Alberta.

So there's a cynical Monday post for you.  Happier days to follow, I'm sure.

April...

... we are moving!  I wrote to our landlords here to see if they would be willing to allow us to have a month-to-month lease throughout the summer, as we didn't feel as though we were having any luck finding anything at all reasonable to rent on the west side.  We have looked at so many places, and there was always at least one thing that was a major deal breaker - no dining room, too small, too ugly/dumpy/trashy - we couldn't find anything we could remotely see ourselves living in.

Then our prayers were answered.

Trevor was on his way home from looking at a townhouse (I really, really wanted a townhouse) that was an okay size but not upkept by the property management company that took care of it, when he saw a small For Rent sign on the front window of a townhouse.  (At this time, I was away babysitting/housesitting for friends out of town for a week).  He peeked in the windows and thought it looked great, so he set up a time to see it.  When I got back, we went to see it again and knew that we HAD to have it.  It's beautiful - the couple that own it live in the townhouse next door and it has been newly renovated, meaning gorgeous laminate floors in the dining room, a whole new kitchen, fresh paint, etc.  The appliances are also all new - stove, fridge, dishwasher, all back, and white washer/dryer downstairs.  Finally, our own laundry!

It's an open layout kitchen/living room, with tons of light and a powder room on the main floor.  The upstairs has three bedrooms and a bathroom, and the basement is unfinished.

We are disappointed that we will have to put our big dining room table in storage and use something smaller, but the rest of the place is so amazingly nice that we have to take it.  We've looked at lots of "newly renovated" places and thought they were absolutely disgusting and deserved to sit empty.  We have been disappointed in so many of our own landlords so far, and I hope we can break that pattern now!

And to top it off, they are going to let us move in a week early!  They even suggested it without us asking, which is PERFECT - I was so worried, since I'm going away to Women's Conference at BYU, and that involves leaving on April 28th and coming back May 2nd.  I thought I would have to pack and clean as best I could and leave it all up to Trevor and Grant to move our whole house alone!  Instead, we are moving on the 24th and can be a little bit settled before I leave for Utah.

Those are the main highlights of April - moving to a townhouse that is gorgeous inside and out, and me getting some time away at Women's Conference.  I'm going to find a babysitter for Grant for one of the days, and then Trevor will take a couple of days off to stay home with him!

Can't wait to move!

Confessions

The advice in What to Expect sometimes sends me over the edge.  To sum it up, it advises you to stay home, relax, eat only healthy, bland foods, and put your feet up while your perfect husband goes to work, buys the groceries, gives you massages, makes all the meals, and does all the housework.  The advice they give men is really over the top - as if the wife becomes completely and utterly useless as soon as she finds out she's pregnant and can no longer lift a finger around the house.

So, in spite of reading WTE the entire time I was pregnant with Grant, here are my confessions when I was pregnant with him:

• I ate sushi, raw cookie dough, curry chicken, and whatever I felt like eating.
• I went on three amusement park rides at Playland, including going upside down, when I was a few weeks along.  I'm such a rebel.
• I painted my nails
• I drank a little bit of African tea at Cactus Club
• I ate cold deli meats
• I ate eggs with the runny yolks
• I ate a hot dog
• I didn't switch to organic-only foods
• I went in a hot tub
• I didn't consult my health care provider when I wanted to exercise

And now that I'm reaching the 18 week mark again, so far here are my new confessions:

• I've eaten frozen yogurt, unpasteurized cheese, sushi, cold deli meats, Pepsi, and I'm sure some other things I can't think of at the moment
• I still don't eat organic vegetables, although the apples usually are
• I rode my bike all the way to Trevor's mom's house on Sunday
• I exercise when I feel like it and don't exercise when I don't want to
• I've lifted heavy things
• I took anti-depressants for my first trimester
• I took a vasoconstrictor when I couldn't handle my migraine anymore
• I ate a big batch of cookies made with Splenda (which seems to be ok)
• I chew gum all the time with aspartame in it

That's all I can think of for now... think I'm going to make another post about the other things that are going on... also... one more week today until my ultrasound - HOORAY!  I can't wait!

March

Grant is all about business now with his walker.  He stands up on his own quite a bit too, but hasn't tried to take any steps.

Sometimes life hands him lemons.  In this case, Dad would not let him eat the camera.  He doesn't yet know how to make lemonade.

He does all his own paperwork now, and makes sure the bills get paid on time.

Back

Hello again blog world.  It has been a while.

Grant is 13 months old now and has been keeping me extremely busy, which is my main excuse for not having blogged in so long.  He is into everything and has to be at the computer if that's where I am, trying to climb onto my lap and get at the stuff on the computer desk - calculator, mouse, keyboard, papers, etc.

He is not walking yet, just alternation between crawling and scooting on his bum.  To see him crawling is extremely cute, but we have to keep our bedroom and the bathroom doors closed or he gets into all kinds of things that are off-limits.  He insists on being in the bathroom if either Trevor or I are in there, and today he threw his first toy into the toilet, a little plastic motorbike.  I am trying hard to teach him the word "yucky" and its meaning.

I have watched a lot of the Olympic events - the most fun to watch have got to be the ones where four people are on a track together racing - such as snowboard/ski cross, and some of the short track speed skating.  Last night Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue won gold at the Ice Dance, and they were extremely cute.  I think they need to get married - unless they feel like brother and sister to each other.  I can't imagine dating someone who has been with their skating partner since they were 7 and 9 years old, knowing how close they are to them.  Especially with that amazing performance of a Spanish flamenco!  Now that they've won gold together, that just seals the deal for me - time to put a ring on her finger, Scotty.

I am itching to get into a place that's a little bit bigger, or at least with more storage.  I would love to have a third bedroom, but would give that up in order to save us some money and have our own laundry, so I've been diligently checking Kijiji 2 or 3 times a day, waiting for landlords to start posting openings for May.  I'm hoping that students will be moving away for the summer and things will open up for us!  The laundry situation here is incredible irritating and I do laundry as little as possible.  It's also terribly uncomfortable knowing how loud we sound to the neighbors living downstairs.

Otherwise, life is just marching along.  Trevor is happy at work, and they are supposed to be doing salary reviews this month.  His company chronically underpays its employees - APEGGA published a salary survey every year, so it's easy for Trevor to definitively say that he is making nearly $10,000 a year less than someone with his experience should be making.  He is currently making a 2008 salary.  Even a small raise would be great.

Whew - this is getting long, so I'm going to send you off on that note.  Have a wonderful week.

ONE

I know, I know, it's hard to believe that one year ago today I was in labor with my wonderful little guy, waiting so eagerly to finally meet him and welcome him to the world.

So much happens in the first year of life, it's hard to capture everything.  Here is a brief list of simply the things he does from day to day now, as I hoped I've captured most other milestones along the way in my monthly posts.

• He waves "hi" and "goodbye", and today waved "goodbye" to the dollar store as we were leaving without being prompted
• He signs "all done", sometimes on his own when he is finished his meal
• He has signed "mom" twice to my MIL - once when I was in the next room and once when she was babysitting him, asking for me (so endearing how he misses me!)
• He can also sign "more", "eat", and "milk", which I'm sure I've already mentioned
• He still sucks his thumb between bites at mealtime, when he's getting sleepy, and to help him figure things out
• He doesn't walk yet, but is quickly moving along the furniture and loves to walk holding someone's hands
• He has discovered that he can throw things between the railing down to the stairs and likes pitching stuff off the edge
• He just started getting into everything - especially my purse
• He may finally be ready for some real coloring, because he tried out a Magna Doodle last week at church and looked as though he was enjoying himself
• He is currently fascinated with putting something into something else - paper into his empty shoes, balls into his toy train, etc.  He will throw anything that fits (or doesn't fit) into his toy train and then tip the train over to try to get it back out.  Very funny to watch.
• He still loves eating baby food, and it's so easy, but we are working on that.  He has to eat some of what we are having before getting baby food.  Today he ate yogurt with Cheerios, half of a grilled cheese sandwich, applesauce, leftover pizza, baby food, chocolate cupcake.
• He scoots on his bum ALL over the place, and he's getting faster all the time.  If there is an obstacle in his way, he quickly goes around it without whining, he rushes to see who it is if he hears the front door open, and comes when I call him, or when I'm trying to get away from him in the bathroom.  
• He still gets very upset when I go out the back door to do laundry, crying and scooting to the kitchen thinking that I am abandoning him, poor guy.
• He no longer breastfeeds at all, and doesn't even want to take a drink before bed, just sucks his thumb.

He is so wonderful.  I have truly enjoyed every moment of his life so far - I loved his newborn stage and would have stretched it out by at least a few weeks longer if I had the choice - okay, maybe not the night wakings, but the weeks once he started sleeping through the night I would do over in a heartbeat.

I loved him at one month, when he never cried and made such funny faces...

at two months, when he started to be a little more like a human...

at three months, when he started to look so much older than his little newborn pictures...

 at four months, when he could sit in his Bumbo to see everything...

 at five months, when he became even more curious...

at six months, when he first tasted baby food...

at seven months, when he was big enough to sit in his highchair at meals...

at eight months, when he discovered Cheerios...

at nine months, when he celebrated his first Halloween as a monkey...

at ten months, when he rolled to get around and loved to try and say "mama", like he's doing here:

at eleven months, when he met Santa and hated it...

but still managed to enjoy Christmas morning...

and at his big twelve months,

he's the happiest, most obedient, most gentle, most loving little blue-eyed boy this side of the Milky Way...  I have really LOVED every step of the way, and how wonderful it is to get to see him grow up!  I love him more each day and can't wait to share so many more birthdays with my little Grant.  What's harder to believe than the year that has gone by so quickly is that I ever could have lived without him - life was never as sweet as it is now.

Sign!

It's almost too good to be true, I've been waiting ten months for it, and finally!  Grant is signing!  HOORAY!  He is able to wave 'bye-bye', curling his hand into a wave, and he signs eat, more, all done (I think, it's hard to distinguish the sign from his regular arm flapping).  He also understands milk, mom, dad, I love you, and the wave for 'Hi' - different from the wave for 'good-bye'.

I'm very, very excited to teach him a huge pile of signs.  I'd love to teach him 'please' and 'thank you' and have him signing those before his 1st birthday - especially so that he can say 'thank you' for his birthday presents!  I also want him to learn 'hurt', 'drink', 'banana', 'apple', etc, as soon as he can.

I am so happy that he is signing!  YAY!

Eleven

Wow, I literally feel like it was just a couple days ago I was sitting typing Grant's ten month update.  In fact, I've only done ONE blog entry between that one and this one - oops!  I have been quite busy, with a couple sewing projects, hanging out with good friends, decorating for Christmas - although those excuses still aren't very good, because I've mostly been sitting on my butt at home avoiding going outside.  It's absolutely ridiculous how cold it has been this month.  Yesterday, here in Lethbridge, it was -42 degrees with the wind chill at one point.

On to Grant.

I am THRILLED to say that he has starting signing.  In fact, I am going to give that tidbit a post all it's own, coming up right after this post.

He does the bum scoot to get around, no crawling yet.  He thinks he's bigger than he is - when he's standing, holding on to my or Trevor's hands, he tries to let go with both hands, and then wonders why he starts to fall over.  He's a serious goof.  He's pulled himself up to standing on a stationery object once, in his bedroom.  I was in there with him and he pulled himself up on an open dresser drawer.  He's going to create ALL kinds of havoc when he can walk!  He's not moving along furniture yet though, so I think I get a couple more months of peace... we'll see.

He is very sweet and full of personality.  He will scoot over to the Christmas tree and reach to touch the branches with his little bitty pointer finger.  I don't want him to eat the needles, so I say "Grant, no" and he turns and makes a little throat noise in retort.  If he starts playing with the presents, I say "No, Grant, it's not Christmas" and then he goes back to picking at them.  I have to keep telling him it's not Christmas- he says it should be Christmas NOW.

He is finally getting a third tooth, a right incisor on the top, which might look very silly if it comes in before any other top teeth.  It's coming in very slowly, like his two bottom teeth.  It would be nice if he had more teeth, so that I don't have to keep buying and he doesn't have to keep eating so much mushy baby food.

I am very excited to say that Grant said the closest thing to a real word this past Saturday, the 12th.  We were on our way home from Superstore with Kyle and Lindsay, and Lindsay was feeding Grant some banana.  He looked like he might be done, so I said "All done?" and he said what was clearly "All done."  It was extremely cute, and Lindsay even gasped.  All of us in the van were excited!  Way to go, Grant!

Now, to post about his signing!

Wonderful

Here's a test to see if you really know me - because if you do, you'll know that more than ten years later, I still know where, dig out, and listen to my NSYNC Christmas album.  In fact, at one point I had two of them, because one slid under my passenger seat and after a few days of missing it one December, I went to King of Trade, where I found an abundance of unwanted NSYNC Christmas albums.  If only I could have given a home to all of them.  (Just kidding).

But really, my message is, this CD brings back more than ten years of memories for me.  I still like the songs, the words, the beat, even the too-high falsetto Justin does on the a cappella 'O Holy Night', and moreso, it reminds of how far I've come.

When I was fifteen I received a great Panasonic portable CD player from my older sister for my birthday, my first one, and I thought it was awesome.  It looked really cool and high-tech, and I used it and used it until it nearly didn't work anymore, and I had a hard time parting with it a couple years ago - but I gave it a good home at my old friend, the King of Trade.  (Life goes in circles, it really does).  A lot of play time on this player was spent listening to the NSYNC Christmas songs.

This particular Christmas I spent in California with my mom's parents.  There was no rush on Christmas Day, just a regular slow, slow waking up to a bright, sunny, summer-like day in Sierra Madre.  Time changes things far too fast - my grandparents are gone and so is their amazing three acres of land in those beautiful hills.

Except when I was sleeping, and even some time when I was sleeping, I was listening to that CD.  Now when I hear those familiar songs, the desert foothills, the waterslide up on the hill that dumped you face first into a concrete driveway, the million-dollar view, the collection of signs on the side of the house warning you about alligators and train crossings, and the comfort of grandparents comes back to me and I picture the little 'guest room' off to the side of the living room where I slept that time and many other visits.

The lyrics of the songs talk about being in love on Christmas, celebrating family traditions, and brings to mind happy, picture perfect couples having a perfectly romantic holiday season, topped off with a sweet New Years kiss and an exciting future waiting.  That's what really reminds me of how far I've come - when I was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen - I dreamed of the time when I would have the life that I have now.

Here it is:

Our third Christmas together as a married couple, a real Christmas tree in the corner that we decorated ourselves.  A little baby that we love so dearly playing at our feet, and presents already under the tree long before Christmas.  A handsome husband who comes home smiling and gets up early on Saturday mornings to make me my favorite kind of pancakes, and days filled with all the regular life things:  groceries and laundry and diapers.  And that's what Christmas is about - how each of us can become much more than we ever could by ourselves, thanks to the supernal gift of His Son, our Elder Brother, who came to earth and showed the way.

Thanks for bringing me all this way, NSYNC.  You can stay in the CD player until January, when I'll have to put you away until next year.

To all of you out there in cyberspace - make your life what you've always dreamed it could be, if you're not there yet.  Life CAN be happy, happier than you think you deserve.  And you don't need Christmas to remind you of that, but you do need CHRIST.  Come unto him, this season, and every season - seek, and you will find.

Ten

A few days late, again, but the point is:  Grant is 10 months old!!!!!


He is growing up way too fast for my liking.  Lucky for me, he is still not crawling yet, but rolls and scoots on his bum to get around.  He would really like to be able to crawl or walk, and sometimes he gets really mad about it! He has now switched to drinking from a straw instead of his little sippy cups, which I think is great.  Supposedly, some of the sippy cups with the valves in them are no good if the child learns to do a tongue-thrust motion to stop the flow and it impairs their speech as they get older.  I'm so proud of him - it's as if I can actually see his hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity getting better every day.  It's so amazing!


He still only has his two little bottom teeth and they are not yet all the way in.  He has learned how to clap but still loves to wave his arms in a chicken-flap sort of way.  He still uses his Jolly Jumper and loves it.  He is close to waving good-bye when we wave to him (hopefully).  He is very interested in any type of sound, and loves looking at the trees out in the backyard when he is supposed to be eating.


Eating is still quite a chore, but the improvement is steady.  The good news is his communication is improving as to what he wants or doesn't want, but the bad news is that means that when he's done, he clears everything off his tray onto the floor.  If we are encouraging him to eat/drink something he doesn't want, he tries to insist on grabbing it so that he can throw it onto the floor.


Everything still goes right into his mouth.  I tried to show him how to color today, and he wasn't at all interested in the actual coloring, but, boy, did he want to eat the crayons!  They were probably the best thing he's ever seen.  The coloring project lasted less than ten minutes, but hey - I tried.


I am busy working on Grant's Christmas present, which is going to be a turtle sleeping bag.  It will definitely be extremely cute, although he will technically be too small for it for a while.  We might put it in his crib as a lower sheet to give him some insulation underneath his little body.  Speaking of which, we have a nice white crib which we bought used, but I accidentally got rid of the hardware to put it together with a bag of stuff for the Salvation Army - so he is STILL in his little Pack 'N Play, AND there is an unassembled crib in his room waiting!!!  Boo!


Back to Grant.  He's not really making any new noises, but he has outgrown size 3 shoes.  He is not outgrowing his clothes too quickly, actually.  Clothes that I started putting on him when they were a bit big we are getting lots of use out of!  He is still a very, very happy baby and continues to set a high standard for all our other children.  In fact, he even has a head cold right now so he's stuffed up and has a cough, and he is still bursting with happiness nearly all day.  He is such a good boy, and he acts even more well-behaved for babysitters than with me!


In other news, Trevor left this morning for Medicine Hat and won't be back until the 30th, including weekends!  It's going to feel like a long time until he's back.  To keep me company, he gave me my birthday/Christmas present very early - the new iPhone!  I LOVE IT!!!  And, as always, we squeezed Telus to give us a great plan - instead of the standard $50 plan, we were able to get 100 more minutes, unlimited Telus to Telus mobile calling (all my calls to and from Trevor are free!), unlimited incoming texts and 1000 sent texts, free evenings and weekends starting at six instead of nine, 500MB of data, and call display and voicemail at a discounted rate!  I am very happy with our plan - it's a jump from what we were paying before, but a lot better than the standard plan.


If you need a good cell phone plan, call me.  Our last plan was $17.30/mth, with 350 daytime minutes (I had to add 100 minutes for $10 when we moved here, and the $3 text plan), unlimited evenings and weekends starting at six, call display, and voicemail - it was a student plan, but they never confirmed we were students.  Let me help you get a good plan!  So many plans aren't on the various companies' websites, and you've got to have the inside scoop, so send me a message if you're renewing your plan!


That's all for now!  Grant and I have to be at the church tomorrow morning at 10, and I'm up way too late as it is!

Face

I can't even say in words how much I love my little man.  For some reason, he makes this face nearly every time I'm feeding him, but not at any other time.  He loves making it, and I love watching him make it.  It's a huge laugh for both of us.

Halloween

Here's the little monkey!

Also, here are our neighbors who live downstairs, Zac and Jacey.  They are really nice and so funny!

I made the cake pops I mentioned earlier - they were tough, and my stuff never turns out as well as Bakerella's.  She's GOOD. (And no, I'm not pregnant, just fat, and wearing a shirt that is now going to the Salvation Army).

Finally, our pumpkin.  All the credit goes to Trevor for his self-proclaimed high manual dexterity - aka amazing carving skills!

We didn't take Grant trick-or-treating, instead he went with us to a great party and was very well-behaved.  He stayed up very late, went to sleep in a spare bedroom, and was still happy when we woke him up to take him home.

Happy Halloween!

Vegas

At the very beginning of this month, from October 1st until the 10th, we drove to Utah for General Conference, stayed in Salt Lake for the weekend, left Sunday and drove all the way down to VEGAS!  It was a fabulously good time and we CRAMMED as many sights as possible into the four days we were there.

Grant was very well behaved on the drive down, although by the end of the first day when we checked into a hotel in Idaho Falls, he was ready to get out of the carseat!  Fortunately he was able to sleep at the hotel in his Pack 'N Play in spite of sleeping most of the day in the car.

Here he is in the hotel room in Idaho:

Then, here we are going to the Saturday Afternoon Session of General Conference!  The great couple we were staying with, Eli and April Jones, who Trevor knows from his mission in France, offered to take care of Grant so that we could attend our session!

Here is a view of the Salt Lake temple:

We made a stop in St. George to take some pictures of the beautiful St. George temple on our way to Vegas:

Finally....

VEGAS!!!!

We arrived Sunday night, and Monday we hit up the Luxor, Excalibur, and Mandalay Bay, as well as shopping at Town Square, where we bought Grant's halloween costume at Old Navy.

If you've ever seen Criss Angel, he has a show at the Luxor, and we've seen the episode where he's casually out among the crowd at the hotel, has a random girl sign this card as her own, then he throws the entire deck at the door and the autographed card gets stuck between the two pieces of glass that make up the door.  This is still a mystery to us how he did it, and Grant actually got very upset that he couldn't touch the card from either side!

At the Excalibur, Trevor got to meet his favorite cartoon (after He-Man, of course)

Here is a view of the inside of Excalibur

And here we are at Mandalay Bay.  We shot a funny video of me throwing Grant up in the air and catching him, which you can watch in High Def here.

Tuesday we spent most of the day in a timeshare presentation, waiting to get our free meal vouchers and tickets to Shark Reef and the Bodies exhibit.  Then we headed over the far north end of the Strip and had lunch in the Stratosphere!

After that, I needed to relax by my aunt and uncle's pool.  We stayed at their house for the week and it was great!  They fed us VERY well and we loved their company.  We need to visit again soon!

And, of course, they got to meet Grant!  Here is Uncle Mark hanging out with Grant at breakfast.

Wednesday we spent all day going to the Hoover Dam.  It was amazing, and at least as impressive is the huge bridge they are building way up high above the dam.  It's incredible.

Thursday was our last day there!  We wanted to fit in as much as possible.  We went to the Bellagio, where they have a great indoor atrium, extremely elaborate check-in desk, and beautiful casino.

Quick drive-by of Paris:

Quick stop in Rome for me:

And Grant:

Amazing French cafe in Caesars Palace, where we ate a Croque-Monsieur (yum!):

The pool view of Caesars Palace!  We weren't actually supposed to be out there, but we didn't know where the doors we were going out of led...

Finally, after many hours of searching, found Elvis!  He was shopping in the mall at Caesars Palace.

Thursday continued:  Shark Reef!

Trevor petting a sting ray

Lionfish:

Great pictures that I took of the jelly fish.  See now why we bought the camera?  Once I took these pictures, I realized it was worth every penny.

Thursday evening, we went to the buffet at the MGM Grand with Megan, Mark, and their houseguest Mike, and ate ALL we could.  It was very good.  Then Trevor, Grant and I raced off to see the Bodies exhibit back at the Luxor.  I LOVED it.  We couldn't take pictures, but it was absolutely fascinating, and extremely well done and respectful, as the lighting was done just right, there was nothing flashy, and I'm sure that everyone who leaves that exhibit can't help but marvel at the wonder of the human body!

Hopefully we'll be back before too long!

Thanks again Meg and Mark!  We miss you already!