Con/Agg Expo 2017

Brandon and I were able to sneak away for 5 days to Las Vegas for a construction expo that happens every three years. His parents picked us up at the airport curb and handed over the keys to their brand new corvette - not a bad way to locate your hotel! ;)

We checked in after having traveled most of the day. Our room was absolutely beautiful!

Don't worry, I put that jacuzzi tub to good use

We stayed at Ceaser's Palace and were on the 34th floor - normal non-suite elevators only went to the 35th floor!

Our view was to die for, too!

We spent most of our first night wandering around our hotel and the ones near us, trying our hand at some penny slots and heading to bed early after a big day of travel.

Tuesday morning we got up and got ready to hit the show!

Brandon had tried to explain to me how big this show really was, and I just couldn't fathom until i got there. And even then, it was incredible and hard to wrap my mind around. 

I wanted really badly to see a D10 dozer, one of the biggest that CAT makes, but all they had was a D8 so I settled for a pic with that instead. ;)

We saw Parker Schnabel from Gold Rush from a distance, but my in laws crossed his path later and were able to get a pic and have a quick chat!

We got dressed up and headed out of town to Pahrump, NV and enjoyed dinner at a beautiful winery!

Wednesday we spent the day together with no agenda whatsoever. We walked around the strip, did some shopping, enjoyed lunch and even snuck in a quick nap. We met up with the other couples for another walk and some dinner. There is just SO much to see in all the hotels and casinos!

Thursday was back to the show and the ladies and I had fun with some tattoo sleeves at the Hitachi booth! :P

After the show we got ready for a customer appreciation dinner with Caterpillar. This called for an obligatory elevator selfie, for sure

Before dinner we quick watched the NASCAR hauler parade down Las Vegas Blvd. So neat to see with all their lights, and loud horns!

The CAT dinner was in our hotel, but it seemed like we had to walk for days to get there. They had these great silk dancers for entertainment as well as a band. The food and drinks were amazing too, of course!

Our group, including my in laws and their great friends the Gambee's from CAT who helped us experience the Con Expo like none other! We had a great time!

February recap

We were able to enjoy a bit of snow in February...snow seems to be a rarity for us this winter! The kids had fun sledding down the hill next to the house.

We also got to snuggle a new friend, Baby Bentley. Evie and our Bentley just love babies, if you can't tell!

The boys and I had a date day and went to get fitted for their tuxes. The end of April they get to be a special part of Kevin & Casey's big day, and were pretty excited about it.

Valentines sillies with my littlest love

Special Helper day with this builder dude

We skipped church because the kids had colds, so we spent the morning exploring Mother Nature on some trails near our house. So refreshing and such a great reminder of God's beautiful creation!

"A waterfall, mom, like in Hawaii!" I love his passion for the outdoors.

A 60* day and miss thang seemed to thing she needed all the snow clothes on.
apparently shes as confused as this Michigan winter!

I was able to spend an evening and a full day at church with some girlfriends, attending a women's conference. So grateful God has blessed me with such amazing sisters in Christ to learn and grow with!

An extra day at work and a daycare conflict resulted in a coffee carrier for me. She is pretty cute! ;)

Night at the Hotel

A couple weekends back we spent the night at a local hotel with some friends! The kids were so excited when we told them! :)

They wasted no time getting into the pool!

Our stay was to celebrate Willa's 5th birthday

we got them out of the pool long enough to eat, have cake and open presents and then right back in they went!

Gramma Nellie even got in on the post dinner fun. She's the best

We had a pretty short night (which we expected!) so we got up early and had breakfast...a real quick breakfast...

and it was back to the pool before checkout!

 

Evie swam a little in the morning, but she was pretty tired (like her mom was) so she relaxed and just watched, too

after some tears, we packed our bags and headed home. so hard to let go of such fun times, sometimes!

some showers and lunch, and the afternoon was a pretty quiet one. Bentley fell asleep just laying down to watch TV!

We had a fun weekend, and the kids can't wait to do it again soon!

Bentleys 1st tooth

Much to all our surprise, the tooth fairy visited us this past week for the first time!

We spent Super Bowl Sunday with some friends, and upon arrival and in all the excitement, Bentley got bumped, resulting in a loose tooth.

(He told Grandma that Uncle Alex punched him. While it makes a good story, its not true!;))

As he jumped out of the car at the curb Monday morning at school, he told me "it'll be out when I get home, mom!" I wasn't sold...but boy was I wrong! He got off the bus less one tooth.

The tooth fairy came to visit, after a small scare. In the night, his pillow fell off his bed (the top bunk) knocking down all his loot and his note. He came into our room crying at 4 am, so upset that the tooth fairy had taken his tooth and not left him anything!

We turned the light on to find that she really had stopped, and it was back to bed for all. ;)

I found this on pinterest  She even left this adorable little report!

She was also very generous this time, which we are sure was just a one time thing...

Nevertheless, for $5 Bentley thinks he may be able to handle a couple more hits from Uncle Al. ;)

January recap

We enjoyed a pretty lackluster month of January, which was just perfect for us.

The kids had fun playing in the snow when we had snow, after being in the sun for so many days in Maui! :)

We celebrated Daddy's 34th birthday with dinner at China Inn and some R&R before bed.

We also celebrated Christmas a bit late with the Posma family. It is always so much fun to get together with the cousins!

A "snow" day (that was actually 40* and rainy) brought us our first 3D movie experience. We chose to see Monster Trucks, and while it was a hit with some of us, some of the others were a little scared. We left halfway through but will probably have to rent it on demand when we can!

We enjoyed a 60* saturday which brought us great opportunity to clean up our quads!

A day off school spent bowling with some friends thanks to Aunt Sarah while Mom worked!

Post church lazies on a Sunday!

Christmas Eve & Dayy 2016

Traveling around Christmas was oddly refreshing (as I mentioned before), but it did require lots of planning. Thanks goodness I've got the best momma ever! I did most of my shopping online, and had it shipped to her while we were gone. My intent was to get it all when we got home and wrap it, but she already had it done - stocking stuffers included!!! Thanks mom! 

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents, like we always do. We had so much fun being together...the kids sure missed their G&G!

Great Gram won big with all the kids, gifting them each a Bruder truck. Evie even got one - she has to keep up with the boys you know!

 

Daddy got new kicks for golf league - much needed for him! He and I dont typically get each other Christmas gifts, but I drew his name this year so it gave me a chance to spoil him a bit ;)

We came home and get ready for the next morning, as a family of 5.
(our christmas tree base gave out while we were gone, and we can home to find a tipped over christmas tree resting on the entertainment center. whoops!)

Our Elf, Clark, had painted everyones noses red while they were asleep, so we had lots of laughs when everyone woke up. We kept our Christmas very small this year, since we are in need of nothing, and our hearts were so full from our trip!

the kids each got one gift along with some stocking stuffers. Harry and Bentley had asked Santa for what they got (such a smart guys he is! ;)) and Evie got Rapunzel's horse! We had the most perfect day relaxing, building legos and just being together!