Stranded!

We had a great weekend in Nashville. Spent many, many hours on their boat, looking at some really nice, massive houses on the lakefront. Unfortunately we won't be moving into one of those homes right away. We need a year or two to become millionaires before we can purchase our fantastic lakefront property. :)

On Saturday Will and I drove around the different areas of Nashville so I could get a better idea of the "neighborhoods" we will potentially be living in. We both agreed that we don't want to live right downtown. I am looking forward to living in a neighborhood-like community that's still close to lots of restaurants and shopping, etc... Kind of like an urban suburb, if that makes sense. I really liked the Green Hills area. It's just a few miles from downtown and near Belmont and Vanderbilt Universities. There seems to be lots of shopping nearby, including a big mall (with a Cheesecake Factory! Yay!) and grocery stores are in the area, too. It's also relatively close to parks, which is nice. The best part about the area is that Trader Joes is going to be opening there soon! I'm definitely sold on that area!

We had some excitement on our trip back to Denver. Our Delta flight was scheduled to leave Nashville at 6:30 Sunday evening, go to Atlanta, then we had to catch another plane to Denver. When we showed up at the airport around 4:45 we were greeted by a HUGE line for the Delta counter. Uh oh. Apparently Atlanta had been hit with some big storms which in turn cancelled or delayed most flights. We were told by a Delta rep that our best bet was to get on the phone with Delta and try to get our flights worked out. Will was able to get through after holding for about 25 minutes and was told that the earliest they could confirm us on a flight back to Denver if we stayed in Nashville was the following Tuesday- 2 days later! There was no way that would have worked since I had to be at work the next day. Our other option was to take the much delayed flight to Atlanta and be confirmed for a 7:40 PM departure from Atlanta to Denver the next night. Either way, I was not going to make it to work on Monday.

We opted to get to Atlanta, so we hung around the airport and took our original flight...just 3 hours later than it was expected to depart. We got into Atlanta after midnight and headed straight to the hotel shuttles to try to get a room for the night. We were greeted there by utter chaos. There were hundreds of people crammed into a tiny area, all trying to catch shuttles to their respective hotels. The storms had stranded a lot of people. And being as late as it was, most people were grumpy. We made it to our hotel and got checked in just after 1 AM. We were exhausted, but hungry! Unfortunately no delivery services were available that late, so we shared a bag of animal crackers from the vending machine and passed out.

Since we didn't have to be at the airport until late afternoon on Monday we made the most of our day in Atlanta. Got a late checkout, ordered room service for breakfast, showered (and put the same clothes back on...always nice) and headed back to the airport to take the train downtown. I get now why that city is called "Hotlanta"- it was obscene how humid and hot it was! We went to the Underground, which is essentially an underground mall, walked through the Olympic park (where kids were playing in a water fountain...and had I had a change of clothes with me, I would have joined them!), and ended up going to the Aquarium, mainly to get inside to some air conditioning! The aquarium wasn't the most impressive one I've been to, but it was nice and cool, so I wasn't complaining!

Our flight home, surprise!, was delayed so we ended up getting back to Denver around 11 PM on Monday night, roughly 24 hours late. I'm really glad that Will is a good travel companion and is willing to go with the flow. I was so happy to get home and back to peace and quiet...I was getting really sick of being around hordes of people! Ah, the joys of traveling!

Nashville??

So in the ever-changing world of us, we are probably moving to Nashville in October. Will has a really great opportunity to take over his Dad's McDonalds franchises. His dad wants to retire in early 2011 and Will would need to work with him for at least one year before that, so our plans to move to Australia for a year are looking pretty slim. If we left for Australia next March, 2009 we would return in March 2010 and then Will wouldn't get the full year's work in with his dad before he retired.



It's not that difficult of a decision for me. I am starting to become more serious about pursuing a teaching role. I have wanted to be a teacher for a long time, but opted for a business degree in college instead of an education degree. The more and more I think about it, the more I see myself being happy as a teacher. Sure, the pay isn't always great, but I love kids and can genuinely see myself as enjoying my career instead of just working to have a job. I am looking into programs in the Nashville area that will get me a masters in education. I should be able to get degreed and certified within 2 years.

I let my bosses know about the move on Monday, which makes it all that much more official. We are heading to Nashville tomorrow to spend the 4th weekend with Will's family. I'm pretty excited to check my soon-to-be town out! I know next to nothing about Nashville, so Will is going to act as my tour guide this weekend. He wants to buy a house, but we'll probably rent for at least 6 months to get a feel for the city and what part of town we'd like to live in. It's exciting, though! Will is going to have a great career (and hopefully I will follow soon after...) and it's pretty much guaranteed that we'll be in one set spot for a LONG time, instead of moving every few years. Guess I need to start brushing up on my line-dancing skills and learn to recognize country music stars...

Vegas, baby!

Vegas was great! We flew out on Thursday evening- even during the day, flying over the strip is quite a sight to see. The hotels are just massive! Will and I arrived a couple hours ahead of his sister Cari and her boyfriend Curtis. We stayed at The MGM, and they have a reception area at the airport so he was able to check in while I waited for our bags...got to avoid the massive lines at the hotel. Bonus! Vegas is hot...like super hot. Like still 100 degrees out at 8:00 PM hot. I knew to expect that, but it's nothing like actually experiencing it.

As soon as we got to the hotel we dropped our bags and headed straight to the casino. We found a $25 (gulp) per hand PaiGow table...my first Vegas gambling! I had only played PaiGow online before. I'm way better at it online...lost $50 in about 20 minutes. Cari and Curtis got in around 10 and we all grabbed a quick bite to eat then set out for the strip. Seeing the strip at night is awesome. It's one of those views that everyone should see at least once in their life. We stopped in The Bellagio (where I won some of my money back on blackjack! Yay!) and Bills then headed back to the hotel. It doesn't seem like we went that many places, but by the time we got back near the MGM it was after 2 AM! Everything looks so close, but they are in fact miles from each other. I did not wear comfortable enough shoes. Lesson learned. On our walk back we did see a (wasted) guy get pushed- he fell face first onto the pavement, and didn't move after that. He probably needed a hospital...and was definitely going to have a terrible hangover in the morning! Will and I weren't quite ready to hit the sack for the night so we stayed in the casino...long enough to each lose another $45 on blackjack in about 5 minutes. Boo. We decided it was OK to go to bed after that.

Friday we spent the day at the pool. It was nice because it wasn't very crowded with the weekend crowd so there was a lot of room to spread out and enjoy the pools, including a lazy river that has a current in it so you just sort of float along. Very relaxing. We also enjoyed many, many buckets of beer. They were on special, we couldn't resist! We had a lot of fun just hanging out and met a fun couple from Boston to chat with...she was super Italian and tan; he was super Irish and pasty white; and both were definitely from Boston, evident by their thick accents.

Friday night was the big night! Will and I left Cari and Curtis sleeping in the room and headed out on the town. We had tickets to the 10:30 Love show- I finally got my birthday present! Right outside the Love Theater was a blackjack table with a $100 minimum. We watched in pure awe as a man played $10,000 hands. Yes, that is the correct number of 0's. When he doubled down, $20K on the table. Boom, just like that. He had enough money in front of him to buy a house. I can't imagine having money like that. The dealer was making $200 tips at a time. That's about how much money I brought with me to gamble with for the weekend! I had to practically pull Will away from the table so we didn't miss the show!

Love was SO FANTASTIC! I'm such a huge Beatles fan- I had chills throughout the whole show. Watching any Cirque de Soleil show is fascinating, but you add Beatles music to it, and WOW. That's all I can say. I was on cloud 9. I'm sure I looked like a big goof- my smile was HUGE through the whole show, and I was totally that girl who whooped and hollared the whole time. Our seats were perfect. High enough to see the whole stage, but low enough to really feel like we were right there. There were a ton of parallels in the show that directly reflected events that happened to The Beatles. I loved trying to pick them out, and I'm sure I bored Will talking about them later.

After Love we hit the casinos. I don't remember which casino we went to, but one of them had "Dealertainers"- dealers who were celebrity musician impersonators. They were great! They would deal some blackjack, then get onstage and lipsync. We saw Gwen Stefani sing "Spiderweb"- she looked remarkably like the real Gwen!

Friday night was a late night...we came home around 5:30, just as Cari was waking up from the night before. They ended up staying in all night. Unfortunately they had to leave town and head back to Nashville to be with Curtis' mom who was sick in the hospital. We were bummed that they had to leave, but very happy that Curtis was able to be with his mom.

Will and I spent Saturday afternoon casino hopping. I finally worked up the nerve to play craps at a $5 table in Harrahs...and proceded to lose $75 in about 5 minutes. Craps sucks. We walked through several hotel lobbies- they are incredible! I especially liked the Wynn and the Venetian. We also found a new game that we both liked- video blackjack. $7 to play 7 hands...cheaper than the table! Since it was just the 2 of us that night we decided to go see another show. This time we went to Zumanity. It was another Cirque show, also very cool, and very sensual. Lots of nekked people, and a drag queen host(ess?). The show was very entertaining. Lots of audience participation, which is always fun to watch! We got home relatively early Saturday night- around 3 AM, after a few rounds of video blackjack to end the night.

Our flight on Sunday didn't leave until 5:30 so we checked our bags with the bellmen and spent the rest of our time at the pool. It wasn't quite as nice as Friday. We were both red on our chests from our pool time on Friday (I swear no fewer than 5 people made a point to say "Someone got some sun today" to me on Saturday night...I was getting so annoyed!) so we were trying to stay out of the sun. The pools were much more crowded so shade was hard to come by. We did our best, though. Had lunch at the Cabana Grill poolside and then headed to the airport.

It was a great first time in Vegas, and I'm even more excited about my 2nd time. We leave in less than 4 months for another crazy weekend- this time seeing Jimmy Buffett! Sin City full of crazy Parrotheads. I can't wait!

My little brother, the superhero!

Shaughn's new name should be Superman. Just got a call from him and Mom. He had another MRI taken on his neck today. The same technician that took the first MRIs back in March (to confirm the broken C2 bone) took these, and apparently the newest MRIs show NO TRACE of any broken neck bones! The technician said that had he not been the one who took the initial MRIs he never would have believed that Shaughn's neck was ever broken. Absolutely amazing, possibly even a miracle??...

Thank God that Shaughny has some tough guardian angels who are obviously working a lot of overtime to get him back to his old self! We are so lucky to have our baby brother with us today, let alone (nearly) back to normal!

Next step for him is to hopefully get his brace off on Tuesday. He is seeing his new doctor, Dr. Pensick, and they are going to take his brace off and test his range of motion and such. But if the MRI results are any sign, Shaughn is going to be losing his beard and showering again in just a few days!

I'm a bit emotional about the whole thing again today, but probably because it's finally almost done. Thanks again to everyone who kept Shaughn in their thoughts and prayers the past few months. There's no doubt in my mind that you helped his recovery!

Granby, CO

Wow, have we been busy the past month...and it's not done yet! We spent the weekend in Granby, CO with Lisa and Andrew and Chi. Granby is about 20 minutes past Winter Park, which is a beautiful drive from Denver over Berthoud Pass. There is still quite a bit of snow on the pass, and we saw a few people back country skiing in shorts on the drive home yesterday. So weird to see people skiing in June...not to mention in shorts!

The weekend was pretty relaxing- we did some hiking to the top of a ski mountain just outside the condo. The hike was short, but steep and definitely left us winded, but the views from the top were amazing- definitely worth it! Chi loves being up there. She has endless energy running up and down the mountain, and then she is calm and relaxed for the rest of the day. I had to laugh at the fact that she could manage to find the one mud puddle on the mountain and roll around in it.

We spent Saturday afternoon in Grand Lake, sitting by the lake and enjoying some beer and wine while asking ridiculously funny questions. Some examples:
"Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible for a year?"
"Would you rather be a rock star or a movie star?"
"Would you rather have $25 million and live to the age of 50 or die at 85 but only make $30,000 a year?"
"If aliens suddenly offered to take you to outer space for a year, but you couldn't talk to anyone on earth the whole time, and you are not going to be part of some weird science experiment, would you go?"
We ended the afternoon doing some go-karting. Well, rather, everyone else go-karted. I opted to sit out and take pictures. I got some really good ones, too, so worth the sacrifice!

Saturday night we went to The Devil's Thumb restaurant for drinks and appetizers. Lisa and Andrew were engaged there last year, so it was cool to get to see where everything went down. It is such a neat restaurant. Lots of organic and free range food and awesome views. We even saw a moose walk through the horse stables and hop over a fence to get to the woods. I couldn't believe how he could hop the fence with zero effort. Cool animals. And big. Very, very big.
We headed back to Denver early yesterday afternoon and actually got to enjoy being home! And alone, too! I can't really remember the last time we've had a lazy Sunday afternoon. We watched Tiger tie Rocco Mediate to go to a playoff for the US Open, then watched the Lakers squeak out a win over the Celtics to stay alive. We also watched a terrible movie, The Eye. I don't recommend it.

Next stop on the crazy train- Vegas, baby! We leave Thursday night!

Mountain Mamas

Our cabin was soooo cool. We had everything there- pretty views of Pikes Peak, comfy couches, cable (a plus for Will and I!) and an air hockey table! Friday night we made dinner and relaxed at the cabin...and Ella kept us entertained with her funny sense of style- Grandma's shoes and Andy's Indiana Jones hat.


Since that was our view all weekend, we decided to head to the top of Pikes Peak on Saturday. We took the tram up to the top- to 14,110 feet. Mom and Andy got altitude sickness on the way up, which was too bad because the views at the top were awesome! They waited in the gift shop while Dad, Will, and I braved the severe temperature change to get some pics from the top...

We spent Sunday exploring the Cripple Creek area. We went on a tour of a gold mine that took us 1000 ft below the ground. I thought the tour was really interesting. And we all looked great in our hard hats! :) Then we stopped by the Pikes Peak Heritage Center, which is kind of like a tiny museum about the area and what used to be there- dating back to when the dinosaurs roamed around! Ella found, what else, a phone to play with! We had a quick lunch in Cripple Creek (where I got a random, severe bloody nose), played (and lost) our obligatory money in the slot machines, and then headed back toward home. On our way back to Denver we stopped by the Garden of the Gods to take some pictures. Seems to be a trend with Will and I. We have yet to explore the park, but we have taken pictures there!

Sunday night was bathtime for Ella! She is so stinkin' cute! I love how crazy her little bit of hair is. When she was a baby we called her shark fin...you can see why the name is still appropriate for her! :)

Off to the Mountains...

Hilton Head was wonderful! It was great to get to spend time with Will's family. Lots of lazy days by the pool or the ocean, drinking beer or daquiris, eating lots of seafood, and sweating! It's amazing how quickly your body forgets about humidity. But it's also funny how the humidity and sweat drives me crazy in the midwest, but doesn't bother me in the slightest when I'm near the ocean. :) Will's nieces and nephew are such cute kids. They say the funniest things- I was laughing the whole time! My favorite spot in HH was definitely the Tiki Hut, which was right next door to our condo. Nothing's better than a pina colada on a hot, sunny afternoon while you watch beach volleyball players and listen to a man play Buffett covers. I can definitely see why the Masons have been going there for so many years. What a perfect place to vacation!

My family (minus Mom, who was already here) got in yesterday and today we are heading to the mountains to stay in a cabin near Pikes Peak. What a rough life I lead...beach vacation to a mountain cabin for the weekend. :) Mom and I bought enough food and drinks yesterday to last us a week...should be a fun weekend!

I love having my niece out here! She is starting to talk so much now. She loves my exercise ball, and taking pictures. I snapped these this morning and had to share them. She's such a cutie, even with crazy morning hair! Amazing that she can actually have crazy morning hair since she's such a baldie. Hope everyone has a great weekend!