Spoiled Rotten

Yippee, I've been looking forward to blogging about this since it happened a month-and-a-half ago.

So here's the story ... I wake up on a Friday morning to the sound of Kevin maneuvering our Master bathroom. I leave him to get ready for work, or so I think, and begin to slowly make the bed and pick up socks and water bottles that are currently decorating the carpet. It happens to be a no-school day so I'm not at my typical speed, but we (as in the boys and I) do have a morning scheduled with doctor and dentist appointments, so I'm certainly not trying to waste time either.

I hear my mother enter the house downstairs; no biggie, since it does happen to be her day off work and she is coming to stay with my littler ones for a while. Sure, she's an hour or so earlier than need be, but, hey, that's just her. What isn't usual is that she heads straight up the stairs and bursts into my room with bagfuls of shoes. Yep, shoes. Shoes, in fact, that she sprawls out all over the floor and proceeds to quiz me about: which ones do I like and could I try them on to see if they would be comfortable for a lot of walking. Well, sure, no problem mom, but it really isn't a long walk into the doctor's office.

Should I be tipped off to the idea that something out of the ordinary may be occurring? Well, maybe, but after all it is my mom--my dear, sweet, wonderful, and sometimes overly-excited mother. She has the right to be a little eager about shoes, just for shoes sake.

But of course there is indeed a purpose behind the bags and bags of shoes (some picked up in such a hurry that the pair consists of two lefties). My busy, meeting-going, network-securing husband entering the room a moment later in shorts and a t-shirt makes that very clear. And, I have to say, the shoes are a surprise to him as well.

So to make a long story short-ish, my wonderful and extremely thoughtful husband had been planning for months to fly me to Las Vegas for a trip to the Brighton Jewlery store (something of a tradition for us), a delicious dinner, an evening of the Phantom (best seats in the house), a gondola ride, and a night in the beautiful Venetian hotel ... all in celebration of my 30th birthday. I only had a moment to pack a bag and head out the door. Honey, you definitely shouldn't have, but thank you. you really are amazing!

Just a couple of hours away from my kids and I'm already lounging like a pro Gotta have a picture of the beautiful bathroom

And here he is, the husband of the year (decade, actually)
Eating yummy food!

How these people pose for hours on end, I will never know;

almost makes you want to scratch her nose for her Is this picture taken inside or outside?

More yummy food!

The big event--it was AMAZING!

And, more yummy food!

Birthday girl, happy as can be! (notice the food ... and my new necklace:))

The scene of our gondola ride

The picture really doesn't do this display justice

And a morning of window shopping (the Venetian is behind me)

We actually opted at the last minute for the Palazzo (the Venetian's sister/attached hotel)

And yummy drinks too ... of course, it may have only been us and the kiddies present going non-alcoholic:)

This one's for the kids

From of a world of excitement and relaxation, to a world of excitement and, well, more excitement. Here we are celebrating my big "30" with the fam.