VIVAAAA LAS VEGAS!!!

While we were home for grad we decided to take some vacation time and fly out to Las Vegas. We drove to Great Falls and flew out from there because it is about 3 times cheaper than flying out of Fort McMurray. We left on Sunday and got in Vegas around 5 PM. The first night we walked up and down the strip and just took in the lights.

This was our hotel. It is one of the older ones but it was nice enough.

Here's Cody taking in everything.

This is the Volcano eruption in front of the Mirage.

On Day 2 we woke up fairly early and started our trek down the strip. We went in almost all the hotels and also stopped by Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. It was crazy how life like the wax figures are. We had a lot of fun walking through and taking funny pictures with them.

I married George Clooney while I was in the museum. It was a special day.

Cody with Chuck Liddell

This picture was for Steve. Me and Michael Jordon

Here we are with Pres. Obama in the White house. No big deal.

 There are lots of weird people on the strip who dress up and impersonate famous people. We saw Elvis, Michael Jackson, Jack Sparrow, and a Superman that we could have sworn was our bro-in-law Scott!

Cody with the sketchiest Mickey Mouse ever.

On our second day we also went to M&M World, which is massive, and continued on down the the Luxor where we went to the bodies exhibit. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibits but it was really interesting to see all the different parts of the body on real people. And a little creepy too if you really started to think about it too much. It was really neat too that by looking at the bodies facial structure you could tell if they were Asian or Caucasion. Most were Asian, the guide told us that the exhibit mostly came from China. 

M&M World

The lions at MGM Grand. They are in a soundproof habitat and there are trainers inside who feed them and play with them. It was really neat.

The roller coaster at New York New York. It was tons of fun but also a really rough ride! My head and muscles were sore after riding because you are thrown around so much! But it was sooo fun!

This is the Luxor where we saw the exhibits.

 On our third day we went to the Titanic exhibit again at the Luxor. We couldn't take pictures inside this one either but it was really interesting to see all the artifacts they have brought up out of the ocean from the ship. At the beginning of the tour you get a paper with a persons name on it that was on the Titanic and what class they were and if they were with family, etc. After you look through and experience what it was like on the ship you find out if your person survived or not. Cody's name did not make it and mine did, which wasn't a surprise as most men died because they were trying to save the women and children first. In the exhibit there is an exact replica of the Grand staircase from the ship as well as a real piece of ice to show you what an ice berg is and how cold the night was when the ship went down. It made the experience very real and put into perspective what an amazing and terrifying night that must have been.

On our third day we also went to the top of the stratosphere and the Eiffel tower at the Paris hotel. Cody didn't want to go on the rides on the stratosphere, although I don't know if I would be able to do them again either. They have a new one now too, you get hooked on to cables and then jump off the top of the stratosphere and free fall to the bottom. It looked more fun than I thought it would but I don't think I could ever actually do it!

View from the top of the Stratosphere.

Cody at the top.

Me walking through the most luxurious and modern hotel, the Wynn. Super fancy.

By the third day my feet hurt so bad and had huge blisters on the bottom from wearing my super flat sandals the first 2 days that I had to put on my runners. This is how ridiculous I looked and I got lots of funny looks from people and Cody made fun of me....hey at least my feet didn't hurt AS bad anymore!

Us in VEGAS!

A table we saw in one of the stores that was going for $30,000. It was a pretty crazy table, but a way crazy price!

The Bellagio fountains from the top of the Paris building.

 On our last day there we sat by the pool for a while, went to a buffet at the Monte Carlo, saw a show and went down to Fremont Street.

This was our pool. It was so relaxing to swim for a bit and then lay by the pool and tan! I miss it.

Our buffet here was Awesome! Really good food and cheap thanks to Tix4Tonight!

 The show we saw was Cirque Du Soleil's Mystere.  Neither of us know what the story line was or what was happening during it but the acrobatics and everything they did was so amazing and crazy! We were just mesmorized the whole time and there was so much going on you just didn't know where to look. Next time we go to Vegas we will definately be seeing another show, hopefully "O" the water one.
The only pictures we were allowed to take were of the stage before the show started then cameras were not allowed at all.

This was the stage before it started. Two baby carriages and sounds of babies crying for like 20 minutes. 

Fremont Street!

 On Fremont street there was this guy Tony Vegas who does paintings with only spray paint and crude tools like paper and old rolls of duct tape. He does each painting in less than 8 minutes and they are really very amazing. He was super cool and I could have watched him all night.

Tony Vegas doing his thing.

This is one of the pictures that he did just to show you how amazing he really is.

Every hour on Fremont they do a light show on the big canvas above your head. The night we were there they did tributes to different bands. We saw tributes to the Doors, Queen, and Kiss. This was a picture I got of the Queen light show. It was lots of fun!

Here we are with Tony Vegas and his assistant. That is the picture he painted specifically for us. It is supposed to look like Canada. The picture is Awesome! 

Vegas was so much fun! It was Cody's first time and he had a blast! We were sad to have to come home because even though we did a lot of things there was still tons we wanted to see. But we will go back one day. Now we are back home in Fort McMurray smothered in smoke and working hard. But Summer is here and I love it!

Grad

During May long weekend we were able to drive home and watch Cody's sister Sasha graduate from high school. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera with us so I don't have any pictures yet but she looked beautiful and we are very proud of her for completing this milestone in her life. It was a lot of fun to be home and visit with her and our families and we wish her the best of luck in her bright future! We love you Sasha!

NO SMOKING!



As many of you know Cody's biggest vice in life was smoking-make note of the word "WAS" It has now been 12 days and 12 hours since his last cigarette and as shown above he is now SMOKE FREE FOR GOOD!!! I couldn't be more proud of him! He had a small non-invasive procedure done called laser therapy to help him quit. Basically it uses laser and electric impulses on your acupuncture points in your ears and hands. The point of it is to take away the symptoms of withdrawal when you quit. The first few days were pretty hard for him as he has had to re-learn how to be bored but he is doing very good! The cravings still come but instead of staying until they are satisfied they go away in just a minute or two and life goes on. He was so nervous and excited to get rid of this nasty habit and couldn't be happier to have been successful at it. So as of now Cody is smoke free and will continue working hard to stay that way. As I said before I am very VERY proud of him and love him all the more! So to celebrate we are heading out to Vegas in the morning for a little vacation! Stay tuned for updates on our trip!

Goodbye Blockbuster

For those who don't know, I have been working part time at Blockbuster for the past few months. At first it was just something to get me out of the house and to have some extra spending money but as time went on it wasn't about that anymore. It became all about the FREE MOVIES! I love watching movies and as an employee of Blockbuster I was entitled to 10 free rentals a week, which never went wasted and came in real handy for my nights shifts at the hospital. And I got to take home all the new movies a week before they were released.

Today was my last shift. I am getting too busy working at the hospital to try and juggle a shift at Blockbuster in too and though I am relieved because I really didn't want to keep working there, I will greatly miss the benefits of never having to pay for movies. So goodbye Blockbuster...you have treated me well!

Home Sweet Home

     Last weekend Cody and I were able to go home for a few days to visit. It was a lot of fun and so nice to see everyone but three days is just not enough time. Unfortunately though I didn't take any pictures...
     The first day we spent all day travelling home and when we got there we decided to stay in Lethbridge at the Sandman Inn. We were excited to get Denny's room service because we don't have a Denny's here and haven't been in about a year at least! It was pretty awful. The food was all cold and they used fake cheese, which I don't eat...But the room was nice and cheap! The next morning we got our taxes done, Cody got a much needed hair cut, and we ate at 5 guys burgers and fries. It was pretty delicious!
     That afternoon we stopped at Cody's mom's house to visit for a while and then we headed into Magrath so Cody could pick up his new stereo for his truck that he bought off a friend. This was actually the main reason for the trip home. Cody was super excited so he took off into Lethbridge to get everything he needed to install the stereo and I went over to Britt and Jay Court's to meet their little baby Fin! He is so adorable and I was so happy to finally hold the little guy! We were able to see their new house too and it was really nice! I have missed being able to visit with Britt every day! That night I went to visit my family for a couple hours and then Cody and I headed into Lethbridge for bowling and pizza with his sister and our good friends Bryce and Catherine. It was a lot of fun! The bowling alley up here in good old Fort McMurray unfortunately only allows league bowling apparently, so we were a little out of practice! But it was so fun to go again!
     On Sunday we went out to church in Welling with my family and then went back to the house for Sunday dinner and visiting. We spent the night at my parent's house. On Monday we spent the morning visiting my grandparents and the afternoon out at his grandma's house. It is always nice to see our grandparents and hear their stories and see how they are doing. When we got back to Welling Cody went over to visit him mom and I went in to Lethbridge with my sister and mom to hang out and spend some time with them. The next morning we had to leave really early to come back home because I had to be back to work nights at 7. It was a long drive and an even longer night shift...Let's just say I spent the majority of it dozed off at the desk!
     Cody and I both really miss being home and having the luxury of visiting with our families whenever we want to. It was fun to be home and look forward to coming back in May!

Cody's Winter Fur

     This winter Cody thought it would be fun to grow out his facial hair all winter. A couple weeks ago we, mostly me, decided it was close enough to spring that he could shave it off. He was kind of sad to see it go but had a lot of fun creating different looks while he shaved it off. These are the pictures of him going from a full beard back to the clean shaven man I thought I'd never see again!

Mini-vacation

    This past week I got to take a little trip down to Edmonton to see these two cuties!

Dex is Jacie's little boy, who is not so little anymore! I can't believe he is already 1 year old. He is a busy boy and has a ton of energy but is so much fun.  And on the right is Erin's little girl Quinn! She is adorable and a really good baby. I was so happy I got to go visit and meet her! I also had the opportunity to be at Quinn's baby blessing on Sunday. Tyler did such a great job and gave a beautiful blessing.

While I was in Edmonton I had lots of time to spend with Erin and Jace and I also got to meet up with Janna for lunch who I had not seen for a very long time. She also has a brand new little baby boy Balian who is super cute too! It was a ton of fun to catch up and just sit around chatting with all the girls. Thanks for a fun mini-vacation! I wish I lived closer so I could come see you all more often!