the things "pinterest" gets me into...

pinterest makes me want to do all kinds of crafty things, like spend 3 hours making a wreath with flowers.  i am thinking of doing a different one in some brighter spring colors.  our flower beds are more white/purple/pink/green...but this was the colors on the example wreath i had, and it was like i couldn't think outside of them.  i get stuck like that.  but i was pleased b/c my little craft endeavor would have cost under $15 dollars except i had to buy some more hot glue sticks.

 a grease splatter screen is great for tracing circles.  i knew that would be dual purpose some day! :)  the spiral is the start of the flower.  

 i had pearl pins left over from wedding stuff, so i used them as centers for the flower.  by the way, that wasn't even in the example.  i like to claim good thinking occasionally. :)

 several hours later here's what i had!  

and this morning i climbed up in the attic and found my wreath hook.  

 

the end. 

Viva Las Vegas

weekend in vegas pictures!

we stayed at caesar's and enjoyed being right by the shops and great restaurants!  

 i wore another Granny Smith shirt while in vegas, this is a new find, I got more clothes the weekend before last and am loving them.  

we had lunch at serendipity's which is one of my fave NYC places.  it's good in vegas too.  

frrrrozen hot chocolate (before my lunch even came!)

 

this wonderful chocolate thing is at Bellagio.  yay!

 we did the zip line over freemont street downtown.  it was really quick, and fun to say we did it.  i think at night when all the lights are on would be better, but we had dinner/show plans both nights so we didn't make it down there.  on another note you had to weigh before you went down the zip line due to their weight limit, and fun fact of the weekend was I weighed a pound more than my husband.  (currently he's in the kitchen eating cake and i'm not.....so maybe the scale will tip in my direction:)
it'stime to stop eating stuff like frrrrozen hot chocolate.  

 

bryan isn't really into taking pictures so i just have him take mine...i told him when we're old he'll be glad i have all of these pictures.  

 they said caesar's sits on like 85 acres or something crazy like that and that the bellagio and the next casino down would both fit on their property.  i do have blisters on my feet from all that walking.  

 i love the decorations inside bellagio.  their fall stuff is my fave, but their spring stuff was fun too.  

 atrium at bellagio 

 view from the tram to city center

 

we also went to see Viva Elvis at the Aria.  i LOVE elvis!  It was really good, I am always amazed by cirque shows b/c people who can hold themselves sideways from a bar are crazy athletic...and when they start doing flips from ribbons hanging from the sky...i do get a little anxious, but keeps my attention!  :)

my airplane photography!  i'm pretending this is the grand canyon.  

My favorite parts of the weekend were all the great restaurants.  We snacked at Beso's which is owned by Eva Longoria, Wolfgang Puck's Pizzeria, Seredipity's, Cheesecake Factory, a random mexican place...and I had coffee's and fruit tarts in the morning from Payard's chocolate place inside Caesar's!  I practically skipped out of bed every morning to go down stairs and get one (not as good as my Mama Carmen's coffee though).  It was great.  We were suppose to eat at Tao friday night and Bryan came down with a stomach bug Friday afternoon so I dined on Sushi at our hotel while he was miserable in bed.  He felt much better by the next day and 12 hours of sleeping, so all was well.

Thankful for a fun trip!

Lena Beth's 1!

Sweet girl turned one on friday and we had a fun time celebrating little miss.

Give me that cake! :)

LB's birthday cake made me in the mood for strawberry cake.  Here's my layered strawberry lemon cake from today!

And since i eat and make all of that cake, I do some running.  Not enough by any means, but some.  My aunt Debbie and I did the LR 5K Saturday morning.  We had a fun time!

the zip tie antenna's on my shoes made me laugh.

i like things that make me laugh, repeatedly.

i say all the time "facebook, i will delete you" because it's such a time waster for me.  but i would have missed Hadleigh rockin' the sweatband that she apparently wore all day sunday, and even tried to wear to church sunday morning.  oh, hadleigh...you are a funny girl.  i have looked at this picture 10xs this week and it makes me laugh every time i see it.  happy tuesday.

 

partying all weekend....

i'll be glad of my blogging one day when i print all of these for a scrapbook and i can have these to reference where all the time goes. :)

headed for fort smith friday night to stay with my dad and celebrate my papa's birthday on saturday.

joe and i took a ride on his new motorcycle.  he's pretty excited that he's only spent $13 on gas in 3 weeks.  so that's a winner i guess.  i even tried not to lecture him on being careful, although i did mention it a couple of times...i figure there will be enough people to take care of that for me. 

granny made this cake per papa's request and it was GOOD, and it's probably also why my jeans are too tight.  and i'm going to be a food photographer. :)

opening birthday cards!  i failed on my job as family photographer and didn't get any other pictures.  but the birthday fella and the cake are the two most important of the day.  

celebrated shawn's birthday saturday night with an evening of bowling at fast lanes.

 

bryan, greg and paul

brandi and zeke were in town at the last minute, so they came over sunday and ate and hung out until early afternoon.  it's fun spending time with them since we hadn't seen them in a year.  but the fun part is we don't really miss a beat.  

annalyse and sabin sitting under our entry way table.

 so fun to catch up with our college besties and for me to see my "marg", short for marguerite.  i am trying to remember how it all started, but in college we started calling each other marguerite and it has stuck.  and we have shortened it to "marg" and now we have annalyse, our new smallest marg.
we love our weirdness.  

treasures...

b's granny is turning 90 years old today!  she's quite a lady, and we love her so much.  she has lots of clothes she doesn't wear any more (you get quite the collection over that many years..spanning decades.  so fun), and i have been picking through them finding some new treasures for myself!  bryan told her the other day that i have been wearing her clothes, and she said she has more for me.  yippee.  i am so excited!  here's some iphone pics of a few of my new treasures....

fun.

i think i am going to add a flower pin and wear on Easter...maybe.

i wore this one already, and added the belt.

off to work I go..in Granny's jacket :)

today's winner.  scary facial expression, yikes.

i'm so excited about my new special clothes and b LOVES his granny so much, so i think he likes that i am wearing her stuff.  he said a few of the clothes he actually remembers her wearing when he was little.  so funny.  happy wednesday!

and not that granny will read this, but happy 90th birthday, we love you!

lately...

sticker princesses have been at work.  

 my sweet and wonderful bestie came for the weekend!  

we explored my favorite places, including tea time at Mama Carmen's!

 we like pretending hadleigh is our baby

sweet lena is no longer half way around the world like in this picture, but probably less than 4 miles down the road from where i sit and type this.  such an answered prayer.  you can keep up with this sweet, beautiful girl and her family here and here.  i love anything written by either of her parents.  

and last but not least, my sweet, beautiful, "kindred spirit" friend abby and her husband are adopting!  i feel like i could type a lot on this subject so for tonight i'll just share a favorite picture and the link to her story.  it's a beautiful story.  join me in praying over their family and little girl.  our God is SO good.