Vegas, Baby!

Matt turns 40 this year and we wanted to celebrate BIG!  We talked about several different things to do and finally decided to go to Las Vegas over Fall Break.  John and Jessica came too and we had a fabulous time!  We left early from O'Hare Airport in Chicago and with the 3 hour time difference, arrived in Las Vegas Friday morning.  We checked in, upgraded our rooms, and went to walk the Strip.

We stayed at the MGM Grand.  It's about the Southern most hotel, so it took a LONG time to get down the strip.  Everywhere looks close enough to walk, but...it's NOT!

One of Matt's favorite comedies is "The Hangover" so of course we had to go to Caesar's Palace and ask someone if Caesar really lived there and if it was beeper friendly (lines from the movie! 🤣).  This employee was great.  She laughed along.  I'm sure those employees hear those lines all the time!!

The first night, we went to the Cirque Du Soleil called "Love".  It was a variety of Beatles music.  It was pretty awesome.  I'd never seen a Cirque show and I loved it.  Matt even said it was entertaining.  All the acrobats were amazing!

The next day, we rented a car (a mini red car with the smallest tires ever) and drove to the Hoover Dam.  It was an awesome site to see.  We walked the bridge across from the Dam.  It was a beautiful day!

Beautiful Lake Mead

Most places around Vegas and the Hoover Dam are desert so these big horn sheep come down from the mountains beside a local playground to eat the grass certain times of the year.  You can basically just walk right up to them.  It was pretty cool.

We had to try an In-N-Out burger joint.  It was really fresh, small menu of burgers, fries, and shakes, but really good!

The show Pawn Stars is filmed at a pawn shop in Las Vegas so we had to stop in there and see the place.

We walked to Downtown (Old) Vegas to see the original strip.  We saw the original casino (a little redone!!) called the Golden Nugget.  Overall, I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the strip (trash and people) But when we went to Old Vegas, I could see what people were talking about.  There were several ladies standing around to get pictures with very little clothing on.  We didn't stay there long!

We also had to go get pictures with the iconic Vegas sign.

All around the sign was a make shift memorial for all of the people who were shot during a country music concert a few weeks earlier.  A shooter broke out the windows in his Mandalay Bay hotel room and shot and killed 58 people.  It was really sad to see all of the memorial and the crime scene with police tape around it. #VegasStrong

That night we went to see another show, "Absinthe".  It was in a small tent with the acrobats in the middle.  It was neat to be so close to the action.  The show was adults only and some of the jokes were a little much, but the acts were really cool.  On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at the Bellagio to watch the fountains in front that are set to music.  It was really neat!

Our final day, we sat by the pool.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Matt played in a poker tournament for a few hours.  We just took it easy at the hotel.  We spent the whole day there playing slots, swimming, eating.  It was really relaxing.

We went to a fancy Italian restaurant where I'm sure the waiter thought we were ridiculous when Matt ordered two appetizers and John ordered a ribee!  We had a good time, though!

What a great getaway with wonderful friends.  Can't wait to do it again for another 40th birthday!

Football weekend!

We had a great weekend cheering on the Boilers and Landon in football games!🏈  On Saturday, we went down to Purdue and met Nate to do some tailgating before the Kids Club football game.  The weather was gorgeous (a little windy 🍃, but nice).  We had good seats and got a good view of the game.

 The 1997 Boiler team was there to honor their coach Joe Tiller (who passed away last week) and celebrate the 20th anniversary of their season.  We got a good view of Drew Brees as he made his way onto the field.

 Everything was going well until the 4th quarter when dark clouds rolled in, then the rain, then the crowd was evacuated for lightning.  There was a 90 minute weather delay while we waited in Mackey Arena (the basketball arena).  We decided to head home instead of going back to the game (it was close to 8 pm by then) and we missed an awesome ending where Purdue came back and won the game. :(

watching the storm on the Jumbotrons

 Then on Sunday, Landon's flag football team played in the Panther Bowl on NorthWood's high school football field.  They played the first game against the Packers and won.  Played the next game against the Lions and won a close game.  Then played a third game (all in a row...good thing they are young!) against the Bengals and lost.  Landon had a great season and so did Matt as coach.

The girls (Kenna, Lola, Vivi, and Emmy) cheered on their brothers!  "Let's go, Titans, let's go!"

 The Titans 

Front Row: Ryan, Landon, Ryder, Tyler, Wesson  Back Row: Coach Matt, Sloan, Jayden, Brycen, Mason, Kike, Greyson and Coach Scott

So fun watching these boys play together!

New truck

Matt has been wanting a pick up truck for years (it must be every guy's dream!😄)  So our red car finally pooped out on us and Matt went on the hunt.  He searched all over looking for the perfect black truck with perfect wheels.  We settled on this 2014 GMC Sierra.  Hoping we can keep this for many years to come.  I'm sure it will come in handy pulling the RV and for lots of odds and ends.

We have a 9 year old!

Hard to believe that this guy is 9 already.  Time flies as the kids grow older and older each year.  Landon continues to amaze me with all he can remember and figure out.  He scored in the 96th and 99th percentile on a national test!  He LOVES all sports and can remember crazy stats and figures.  He remembers the scores of games we have gone to together.  He still gets upset if things don't go how they are supposed to or someone doesn't play the way he thinks they should.  He is sensitive and gets his feelings hurt easily.  

We got him a LEGO Star Wars ship to build, puzzle game, and a wallet.  He chose to go to Steak 'N Shake for dinner and got a birthday cake milkshake!

 Every year, we have the kids stand beside the tree that we planted the year they were born.  This is Landon by his oak tree.

Happy Birthday, buddy!

Landon's birthday parties

This kids LOVES all things sports, so when he mentioned having a baseball birthday party, I wasn't surprised! 🏈⚾🏀  Also, it was a super easy theme.  We had friends over on Saturday afternoon and family on Sunday.  Can't believe this kid is 9 already!!

 It was a GORGEOUS day for a party.  The boys spent most of the time outside playing football and baseball.  Coach Matt helped keep the games moving. :)

 Brayden, Dakota, Brendan, Greyson, Kyler, Landon, and Micah

I think they all had a good time and I'm sure they were all tired by the end of the afternoon!

Then on Sunday, we had Landon's family party.  It was another great day to celebrate Landon!

What a blessing Landon is to our family.  I can't wait to see how God's plans unfold in his life!