She did it!

So I thought that I should try to get a post in before I start the last first day of school tomorrow. I am nervous and excited. I am looking forward to being done. After a fun summer filled with a trip to Utah for the 4th, a trip to Vegas, shows, concerts, girl parties, birthday parties, painting and decorating the house, and spending time with family, I had just one thing left to accomplish...Getting Bella potty trained before I went back to school. I took Bella to go shopping for new underwear and told her that she would be wearing only underwear from now on. She was really excited to get Hello Kitty underwear. I veto the Dora underwear first. :) I told her that she couldn't get the kitties wet....and it worked. She has been doing great for almost 3 weeks now and I couldn't be happier. NO MORE DIAPERS!!!

Entertainment Anyone?

Card of the Day....Dinner and a Show

Then Magic by Penn & Teller

But First, we needed to eat...so what better place to eat then at the Bellagio at OLIVES, Todd English's restaurant. The food was amazing and the view was even better. We could see the water show from our balcony seats. The other thing I loved was the design of his restaurant. Black, orange, browns and coppers. Dan & I decided that we are doing our home office like OLIVES.


The water show set to music....B-E-A-utiful!


We did some more sight-seeing and then headed back to the Venetian for a gongola ride. Romantic XOXO


Our personal love song through the tunnel of love. WE were told to kiss under the tunnel of love and then we would be together forever. We kissed a few times. =)

Then off to Excaliber for our dinner and a show...THE TOURNMENT OF KINGS!!! While we were waiting for the show to open, they had these old school arcade games that we decided to spend a few dollars on. We did some ski ball, the watergun in the hole to make our horses race across. I won a small giraffe. Then we went to do the ring toss. The prizes were crazy...ipods, digital cameras, guitars, crazy stuff. So Dan bought a buckle of rings, 72. Well after his 3rd ring toss, he got a bottle, and won me my very own 1G ipod. Very cool. Then I just threw the rings to get rid of them since Dan wasn't allowed to throw any more. Now...

Let the show begin. We sat in the Russia section, the herald announced..."We have a special announcement, sitting in Russia, Happy 30th Birthday to Daniel!" He was soooo embarrassed. FUN! So we had the King of Russia. We ate with our hands and enjoyed the show. HAZA!!!


Jousting...I had to sneak pictures so the other jouster is behind my Diet Pepsi.

THE KINGS! Ours was 2nd from the right

Very entertaining!


Then we were off to see the magic of Penn & Teller.

The show was very cool. They showed us how they do some tricks and then while they were showing you how, they would do something that would make you say "How'd they do that?"

Exhibit A - this woman was real and then they sawed her in half, blood splattered, and she turned into plastic. CRAZY!


They stood around after the show, took pictures, and signed autographs.


Penn is 6'7" - I was on my tippy-toes

A very happy birthday boy...see honey, turning 30 isn't so bad as long as you do it in style.

Vegas Baby Yeah!

In morning, we were able to both sleep in, which hasn't happened in a long time. Dan & I usually take turns getting up with Bella so we knew this trip was going to be different for sure. 3 days of pure fun. I handed Dan his card that let him know what shows that we were going to be seeing that night.

We looked at the things that we wanted to do that say and where we wanted to go first. So we were off to Caesar's Palace to eat at our best friend, Bobby Flay's restaurant, MESA grill. It was sooooo good.

BIG TUNA

We did some sight seeing of the different hotels and then we took the Monorail to the MGM grand where we saw the Lion Habitat and walked around the block to go to M&M World. 4 floors m&ms chocolate, in every color, and tons of souvenirs. We got Bella a cute little pink backpack, a cup, and some ornaments for our awesome friends.

It was time for us to get going to our first show...THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

Dan had seen the production before a few times in San Fransisco, but I never had so we had to see it. Which I'm glad we did because Dan said it was the best Phantom he has ever seen. They have this show in The Venetian where they built a $40 million opera house that is staged just for this show. AMAZING!!!

The Phantom's Box

All of these people were wax!

After the show we walked around The Venetian...

got some gelato, very good by the way, and got ready for our next show...sitting in the poncho section for the BLUE MAN GROUP!!!

This was an awesome show. Dan was hit with jello and some banana. Then he was also spotlighted to sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the show. Just a bit they like to do. =)

We got to meet them after the show and also some of the band.

The day was ended by getting room service, TV, and sudoku....good day!

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...unless you have a blog!

While trying to figure out how to tell Dan all of the stuff that I had planned for us to do in Vegas, I came up with the idea of making 1 card for each day that would tell him what we were doing or seeing for the day. Dan has never been to Vegas so I thought this was a good way for him to not have to worry about what we need to do next or where we need to go. I printed off maps of the strip, the monorail stops, what stuff was located in which hotel and so on. It helped us decided what we wanted to do during the day since I had our night pretty well booked.

The first card I handed to Dan while on the airplane telling him where we were staying in Vegas...




THE PARIS


CHECK-IN


THE ARCH


WHICH ONE DO I USE?


Because they had no non-smoking rooms left, they upgraded us to their luxury suite. This room normally goes for $600 a night! The bathroom was as big as the room. We had a quick bite at Le Cafe, got some sleep and got ready for the next day.

Let the Vacation Begin!

After Dan's party, my parents took Bella home with them so that Dan and I could go on our trip to Vegas. I was emotional because Bella has only ever stayed one night away from me and that was back in September. It was hard to leave her (that's what she said) but I knew that we were also going to have a lot of fun. So we went to Utah, saw an amazing 4 hour set of Bret Dennen, Colbie Calliet, and JOHN MAYER at Usana Ampitheatre. That was Dan and I's birthday gift to each other... Or so he thought until his birthday card.

Dan's Birthday book that is family did...



After cheering for John Mayer!
The place was packed and it took us almost an hour to get out of the parking lot!


This was the perfect way to start our trip out right. This was only the first of many shows to come.... =)

Surprise Daniel !!!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY DANIEL !!!


The Surprise!

Daniel turns the big 3-0 on July 25th and I just couldn't let it go by without doing something big! So after 5 weeks of planning, getting family involved, printing invititations and hiding them until I got the envelopes I needed, and trying to cover it up when his Mom called and said that they were coming for his birthday party on the 19th...it was finally the day of surprise.

My Mom and Dad, Aunt Janet & Uncle Jim, Heather and Aaron, Scott and Sarah, and Spencer all helped pitch in to make this surprise party a success and I thank you all right now for that!

The plan....get Dan out of house by 4:30 pm

Have help arrive at 5 pm to help set up tables and finish some of the prep for the food

Keep Dan distracted at mall and Target while the party is getting set up

Arrive back to house at 6:20 pm and have Dan greeted by a display of decorated tables, balloons, food and friends as we pull up to our house!

We had a ton of food...with the help of our guests and myself...Dad & Uncle Jim were in charge of the grill...

Scott, Sarah, & baby Dallas, Aunt Janet

Food, friends, and family

The fabulous wife that planned it all :)

The cake...the gifts, and one more surprise!!!

The card said...Today you are here...but on JUly 22 you will be here...VEGAS!!!

Vegas fun to follow...