Viva Las Vegas

I am so tired - but it was so worth it. Last week my brother and I took Dad to Las Vegas for his very first time. The excitement started on Monday of last week when Dad announced that he was already packed and ready to go - keep in mind we weren't leaving until Wednesday afternoon! So after several trips to the store to make sure we had everything we needed before we traveled, Wednesday finally arrived and we were ready to leave. We arrived at the airport 2 hours prior to our flight just to make sure we had plenty of time to get through security without rushing. Dad has not traveled since all of the security stuff has been put in place, so everything was new to him. We were prepared though - velcro shoes for easy off and on, plastic baggie stuffed with all of our 3 oz bottles and one carry on bag. What we didn't prepare for or even know about was that he was not supposed to go through the metal detector with his medi-port that he has, so of course, the lights flashed red and the buzzer went off. After a small sidestep and pat down, everything was cool and we were on our way......only to find out that our flight was delayed for an hour. Nevertheless, we had a great flight, Dad had a window seat and was able to see the lights of Vegas when we flew into the airport.

Thursday morning - up bright and early - quick breakfast without our coupons that we got for signing up for the players club - oh yea - and we were ready for a full day of sight seeing and gambling of course. We were only into our first full day and Dad was already tired from the walkng. I was worried about how we could possibly see the strip with him trying to walk the whole way. Much to my surprise though - we were able to rent a wheelchair for the entire trip for only $30. This was the best $30 we lost the whole time we were there! We walked the strip up and down - I was so exhausted by the end of the day. We saw "everything" and he loved every minute even the moment he decided to have his picture taken hugging the "crazy girls" statues at the Riviera......for those of you that don't know, this statue is of girls naked butts with a sign saying "No ifs, ands or XXXXX". He was so cute.

Friday - more sights to see and more gambling - big time this time - He won $180 bucks playing roulette. His new favorite game. Friday night he was completely worn out, went to bed early which left me and my brother some time to play some craps - we won a little money before we switched over to the slots where I managed to hit the mystery bonus jackpot and pulled $184 from a penny machine! Not bad!

Saturday was time to go home - it seemed like it all went so fast - we were very tired though and ready to get home - we truly had the time of our life with Dad. It was so fun to see the excitement on his face and to see him laugh and "Play". He hasn't done that in a while!

Next week brings another new phase in our lives. Dad starts his chemo again and we are hoping and praying for the best. I'm just so glad that we had the chance while he was feeling well enough to take the trip. Even though at times it was a whipping, it was a trip that I wouldn't have traded for the world and definitely one that I will never forget.

Weekend Update

Lyn picked the kids up Friday afternoon on his way home to stay the night with us– we decided to go to our favorite and their favorite place…Asahi Teppenyaki – Fire Food as Deegan likes to call it…..We love this place. We had our favorite chef Hamburg and even did a special “fire” show for Deegan! But I gotta tell ya – I think we might have to frequent a little less often……the prices have gone up and the portions have gone down…..$232 later……it was still a great time and the kids enjoyed it as usual.

Saturday afternoon – Lyn and Colin headed off to the Stars game (tickets compliments of Carrie and Daniel!). They had a fantastic time getting in some much needed grandpa/grandson bonding time and doing “boy” things. Back at home – Ashley and I decided to take Cheyenne, Deegan and Shelby to the movie. If you haven’t seen “Hotel for Dogs”…..GO! It was a mixture of emotions, a few tears, lots of laughs and just a really good time!

Saturday night – we met Michael and Sandi at Hook Line and Sinker to chow down on the best catfish in the city and to return the kids.

Sunday – Lyn and I were exhausted! We’re just not used to having little kids around and it just wears us out! We did go to Dakota’s early volleyball tournament, but after that we laid around all afternoon and I think we even both took a nap!

MLK Day – what a great day – Lyn had to work, which left me time alone to do what I wanted which was to CLEAN my house! I really hadn’t had a chance to get caught up since the holidays were over, so it was so nice to be able to mop my floors, vacuum, dust, everything! Got it all done with some free time to spare. All in all it was a fantastic weekend!

Snug as a Bug........

Snug as a bug in a rug........errrr.....a Snuggie that is! The snuggie has arrived! For those of you that don't know the story....the commercial has been on tv for awhile now and everytime it would come on, Lyn would say (jokingly) "I need to get me one of those".....so I ordered him one for christmas. It ended up on backorder because of the overwhelming response from the tv commercial, but so as not to disappoint, I wrapped up a picture of it and put it under the tree. He was so excited when he opened up and found out he was really getting one! So here he is all SNUGGIE'd up and comfortable....he even matches the couch!

Time Flies

Wow - it's been forever since I've posted! Been busy playing catchup from the Holidays......I'll hit the highlights and move on.

Christmas was really good - everyone enjoyed themselves, had tons to eat and lots of presents!
New Years Eve was spent with Shawn and Lori in Shreveport - didn't win any money but did manage to catch a "bug" and spent all of New Years Eve sick! Not so fun!
New Years Day we took down all of the decorations and ate blackeyed peas of course!
January 3rd - Transiberian Orchestra concert - AWESOME!!! and the twins birthday.
January 5th - back to work and back to a routine.
January 6th - Shannon's 26th birthday!
January 7th - received some not so great news - Dad's cancer has re-surfaced again! We are in the process of making a decision on a treatment plan, but it looks like he will try a milder chemo this time to make sure he doesn't get to the point he was at before. We've got to focus on the situation at hand, continue to rely on our faith in God and move forward.

So Much Fun!

What a great time we had! We celebrated Christmas this past weekend with the Davis clan - the entire Davis clan - 31 to be exact. It was really a lot of fun. All the stressing of the last several weeks paid off. We all watched and enjoyed the excitement as the little kids all opened their gifts from the aunts and uncles. I was so glad to see that my little nephew loved the "Texas" book that we gave him. He lives in Virginia, but it is a true Texan at heart and Lori (his mom) says that he loves to learn about history even at only 5 years old. Wonder what he will do when he grows up (teaching runs rampant in his family). After the kids finished up, it was time for the adults to partake in the traditional gift exchange, i.e. Chinese christmas, white elephant, whatever you want to call it. The funny thing was no one was stealing anyones gift until the very end with only about 3 people left. I got to keep what I opened and it was awesome....a Texas star with a snowman painted on it! I love it. I did think at one point I was going to have to take Kenneth down when he tried to steal it from me, but turned out he was just kidding! We had tons of food, lots of wine, bunch of beer (just ask charlie) and a really really great time! Oh yeah, forgot to mention our niece that lost 126 pounds since last Christmas - we thought Josh had picked up a new woman! She looked amazing! And how could I not mention how stinking cute Shelby looked...all dressed up in her fancy dress!

That was Saturday day, then Saturday night all the kids and grandkids spent the night. Now THAT is a true family Christmas - we had blow up beds laid out everywhere! Lyn and I slept in the living room so that we could keep an eye on Santa to arrive. We had made a special deal with him to come early to bring gifts for everyone, so we wanted to make sure we greeted him face to face when he showed up! He brought tons of stuff (notice the red Santa bags in the picture)!

The highlight of the night was the gingerbread houses. We only had 5 kits, so we coupled up and all gathered around the table to make them. It was a blast. Mine and Shannon's became more of a contemporary style home complete with solar panels and a "gummy lifesaver" chimney after our icing wouldn't hold the house together. Surely it couldn't have anything to do with the wine and beer that we were also enjoying! I thought we were pretty clever to come up with our new style of gingerbread house!

We had some awesome designs - the tree made by Dakota and Baylee was very nice! They did so good! Ashley and Cheyenne were a little more patient that Shannon and I, they actually got their house to stick together.

The little kids did an amazing job also - Deegan's had a little candy cane on the roof!

Carrie was the expert - she has obviously done this many times before - her's looked like a REAL gingerbread house that a pro had done! Cheater!

We really had a fantastic time and started a new tradition as well!

Sunday morning was reserved for donuts, coffee and SANTA gifts! Oh yeah! Sleepy eyed but definitely "bushy tailed" the kids were so excited to see that Santa did really come early just for them. The next few hours were spent opening gifts and enjoying being together! There is nothing better than the look on a childs face when they open up christmas presents! The rest of the day was filled with fun as well - we stayed in our pj's most of the day, played Rock Band, sang like true Rock Stars (karaoke style), ate everything in site, from fajitas& tamales to cookies, candy and pie, drank more wine and stayed inside in the warmth of our house! It was soooooo cold outside! Another family Christmas - what a great time and so much fun!