Las Vegas Baby Moon

This past weekend Ryan and I took a short trip to Las Vegas. We left Maya and Brianna with my parents for two days (thank you!) and some friends for two days (thank you, too!). Maya was sad at first to not get to come with us, but I told her they were going on their own vacation, and then she was happy. 

We left on Saturday morning and arrived in Vegas about 12 PM. We went to our hotel first to drop off our luggage (it was too early to check-in) and spent the next couple of hours wandering around.

Our hotel was across the street from Bellagio so we stopped for a fountain show.

Then inside the Bellagio to look at the gardens there.

Our friends Phil and Raime Cendoma moved back to Vegas last January, and we were excited to reconnect with them! The last time we saw them was 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Brianna. They were kind enough to spend time with us every day we were visiting. 

On Saturday they picked us up and we went to an early dinner at the Wynn buffet. It was delicious!! We stayed for a couple of hours so we could really indulge in the buffet and not get too full. They had this cute dessert in their line-up. 

After dinner we went back to our hotel so we could check-in and quickly settle in to our room. We then got to experience a Las Vegas Chinese Massage. I was a little skeptical (I was worried about the whole being pregnant thing) but ultimately we decided to do it. It was very nice and I was super relaxed! After the massage it was past 10 PM so we went back to our hotel and called it a night.

Sunday morning we went to breakfast with Phil and Raime and their boys. They took us to Public Us, a local joint. The portions were huge and very good.

After breakfast we did a little casino sightseeing. The chandelier inside the Cosmopolitan is so pretty!

That evening we went to dinner at Lago, a restaurant that overlooks the Bellagio fountain. It was Italian food tapas style. After dinner we walked to MGM Grand (and got ice cream on the way there) to see Cirque du Soleil: KA. The show had very impressive acrobatics. We enjoyed it but my legs and feet were pretty mad at me after all the walking we had done the last couple of days. I felt bad for the people sitting around me because I was very wiggly and kept trying to readjust to get comfortable, but Ryan said he didn't even notice so hopefully nobody else did either.

Monday morning we went to breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi, a cute French restaurant located in the Paris casino. We got to eat outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.

After breakfast we spent a couple of hours lying by the pool sunbathing. This was the view of our hotel from the pool.

That evening we went to dinner with Phil and Raime again, this time at Carson's Kitchen. For dessert we went to the Grand Luxe Cafe for a molten lava cake. This was the only evening I got truly super super full! We enjoyed so much delicious food on this trip!

On Tuesday morning we checked out of our hotel and then had about five hours to kill before we needed to go to the airport. We did a little shopping, had lunch, and enjoyed some down time.

It was a great trip and it was fantastic to get away for a few days before we feel tied down again by a newborn. (Only 11 more weeks!)

3rd Trimester - Yay!

I am now 28 weeks along in pregnancy #3. I am still feeling relatively good. There are some things that are happening earlier this time around that aren't my favorite. Swollen feet, restless legs (oh my goodness SO annoying), and having to modify exercising to name a few.

My body feels like it knows what's up. I get Braxton Hicks all the time, sometimes they even wake me up they're so strong. I am mentally gearing myself up for a fast labor in a few months.

I am measuring right on track, which I love. I keep thinking this baby is bigger but I guess not.

He is a wiggly sort!! Yesterday he was pushing some part of his body right out at my belly button. It was funny to see it poke out. I do enjoy being able to feel limbs through my stomach with my hand and push them back in. He gets hiccups a lot too.

I still love being pregnant, but I also feel ready to have this baby. I can't wait to meet him and add another sweet spirit to our family.

Easter Celebrations

Easter was very fun this year. We started it off with an Easter Egg Hunt at playgroup.

When class was over at Maya's preschool they had an egg hunt in the gym. There were SO many eggs! It was also Wacky Day at school, which is why Maya's outfit is a little mismatched and she has two different shoes. 

On Good Friday, Ryan went on a camping trip with the boy scouts (his first one!). On Saturday the girls and I spent some time in the morning making sugar cookies to decorate.

While the cookies baked they made an Easter basket craft supplied by Nana.

After we did the cookies we got dressed and ready to go to an Easter celebration at City Park put on by Antioch Church. We were super bummed that Daddy couldn't be there with us.

I was so impressed by the event! They had a decent number of bounce houses.

They had a lot of tents set up for carnival games. Maya and Brianna tried the ring toss. They didn't get the concept at all, but still won little plastic bracelets.

Brianna's crossed arms were so funny. She was acting very serious about her ring toss experience.

We invited two family groups to join us, one of which has a little girl that is good friends with Maya. I'm so glad they could come with us!

Lunch (hot dog, chips, and water) was also provided.

Obviously the Easter Bunny was there!

We got some cotton candy. Both girls downed theirs in 5 minutes.

Finally, an Easter egg hunt...or more accurately, gather. The biggest perk about the event was that the entire thing was FREE. We will definitely be doing it again.

Later that afternoon after Ryan got back from camping we worked on decorating the Easter cookies.

Right before dinner (while Ryan made fajitas for dinner; thank you!!!!) we dyed our eggs! I was quite exhausted from the events of the day (I also spent an hour making a cheesecake) and did not want to deal with messes or stress so I did it all by myself. The girls watched, but all in all it took about 10 minutes. 

On Easter morning Maya and Brianna found their Easter baskets brought by the bunny. It was fun to hear them get so excited about them. It was not fun that they got up at 6:20 to discover their treats. Normally I don't get up with them when it's that early, but I wanted to see them enjoy their gifts!

After breakfast we all got dolled up in our Easter dresses. I love the polka-dots!

This. This is the Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake. It's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but it was perfectly flat. Nary a crack in sight. I stared at it for a while before I poured chocolate ganache all over the top of it. I was so glad I did research on creating a perfect cheesecake. I have made some before that were rather unsightly!

We had another (4th! It's getting to be as bad as trick-or-treating!) Easter Egg Hunt in our backyard right before going to church.

For dinner that evening we had the Techera and Lindsey families over. It was a great group and we had a nice time. I meant to take a picture of the food spread, but it slipped my mind. Maybe next year I will actually remember!

Happy Easter everyone!