Weekend in Vegas

A week and a half ago I went to Vegas to visit my sis and the kids. I was so excited to get away and just play for a little bit. My weeks are jam packed with work, activities, etc. so to not have an agenda was great!

Jason picked me up from the school and took me right to the airport. The flight was so nice - only 43 minutes! I think from now on I will fly every time!

Christian picked me up from the airport and took me to their house. I walked in and Kayla was was in her underwear. She saw me, and normally she would hide behind Angela for a couple of minutes until she got comfortable, but this time she yelled, "Hi Drea!" and ran right up to me and jumped up to give me a hug. What a sweetheart! We had so much fun during the weekend.

I know that a visit will never be complete without a visit to Chuck E Cheese - it's Kayla and Shawn's absolute favorite place to go. So Friday we took the kids there for lunch. There was hardly anyone there, so we basically had the place to ourselves. Kayla is deathly afraid of Chuck E Cheese, she won't go near him when he comes out from the back. It's pretty funny!

Friday night was my favorite night. We went to this gorgeous outside mall with grassy areas and park benches all around. Very quaint and pristine. We walked around a bit, and then let the kids run around in the park area. It was so nice out - a little windy, but nice. The kids loved it!

Saturday, Angela and I went shopping for a few things for her new house. We had fun getting some great deals at Big Lots, Kirkland's, and Ross. My absolute favorite thing she bought was the pictures of the apple and pear- they are from Pier One but we found them at Big Lots for a GREAT deal!

Saturday night they got a babysitter for a few hours and we all went to Lucille's BBQ for some yummy food. After dinner, I went back to the house and stayed relieved the babysitter so Ang. and Christian could go out again. And I have a funny story of when I put Kayla to bed.

So we're getting ready for bed, and Kayla is very particular about her routine at night. I promised her some ice cream earlier, so she got her pajamas on and kept saying, "ice cweam?" with a big grin - of course I had to say yes. Angela usually doesn't give her milk after her ice cream, but after she was done, she looked up at me and said, "milk?" with an even bigger grin! So, I caved and gave her just a little. (sorry Ang, her aunt gets to spoil her) hee hee

Then we brushed teeth, went potty, and got into bed. To preface this, Kayla cannot say her F's - she says P instead of F. So I was covering her up, and she was a little upset. "Drea, cover my Pete" and at first I was like, "What?" Then I got it. She wanted her FEET covered! haha PETE . The rest of the weekend, Ang and I noticed everytime she would say a P instead of and F - When she fell off the couch, she said - "I Pell... That's kinda Punny!" It is just about the cutest thing I've ever heard!

Sunday we went to church, and they needed a piano player in primary, so I helped out. It was fun because Angela is the chorister, and we got to work together! She does such a great job with the kids. There were some OUT OF CONTROL kids that were sitting right by the piano, and I got so annoyed, that by the end I told them to "Knock it off!" The boys were quiet after that.

Monday we hung out and took Kayla with us to shop a little more, and I gave Kayla a few quarters to get a necklace out of the toy machine. I think she liked that! Then it was time to head home, and we went to this cute little chinese place right by their house and had dinner. Off to the airport, and I was sad to leave. But I'm glad they are closer than VA! Thanks for the fun weekend Ang. Love you all! Can't wait for you guys to come next weekend!

Good Friday

Yesterday was Good Friday, so Jason's boss gave all of them the day off. I was so excited, since he never has a day off during the week to go and play. It really was a perfect day!

We woke up around 6:30 and we are trying to read more, so Jason said let's read for a while and then we'll go have breakfast. So I ended up falling back asleep after reading 1 page in my book until 9:30. We got ready and went to Village Inn to have breakfast which was fabulous. I really wanted a piece of pie, but decided not to be a piggie. So then we ran a few errands - bank, gas, Sprouts, etc. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and spent 2 hours browsing for books and sitting at a table. Last weekend, I watched "Becoming Jane" with my sis, and realized I have never read a Jane Austen book. It was a very interesting movie on a few of Jane Austen's experiences that influenced her writing. I wanted to see if I could find a few of her classics, and right before we left we found a hard-bound leather book, beautiful cover of Jane Austen with 7 books in one! $19.95! So that was my great find for the day. We shared a Coke, and then went to the mall and walked around. So after a while, Jason said, "Ice Cream?" But the line was way too long, so we walked outside for a bit - the weather yesterday was AMAZING!! Sunny, warm, beautiful. (Sorry to all of our fam living in the cold!) So we decided it was time to go, and yes, we stopped back at Village Inn to get that piece of pie! ha ha ha. Has anyone had the french silk pie there? Yum!

We went back home after a great day. Jason watched college basketball, and I went for a massage and had a smoothie for dinner. I came home, Jason fell asleep and I watched CSI - It doesn't get much better on a Friday than that!

6 weeks down...

I've made it through my first six weeks of teaching at the hygiene school, and I have to say, I am enjoying it more than I thought! At first it was a big adjustment for me. I was completely exhausted the first few weeks, especially on Wed. night when I would get home. I leave at around 6:00'ish and don't get home until about 7pm so it's a long day! Thursdays are great because I am in the morning clinic until about 12:30 and then the rest of the day is mine. It's a nice schedule. The students made it through hand-washing, cubicle disinfection, hydrium and LISA operations, extra-oral/inta-oral exams, and now moving on to their first instrument - the probe. This is where they actually start going what we call "sub-g" or below the gumline. Woo hoo! They are all practicing on each other at this point, and I told them all to go see the movie, "There Will be Blood." hee hee

I am noticing that as a whole, the group is very quick and sharp. But just like anything in life, there are a few who are going to make things a bit difficult at times.

I have already signed on to teach in the second semester this summer, so I am very excited that I will continue on with my group to see their progress as they start working on REAL patients.

I think the most rewarding part for me, is to see someone have a "light bulb" moment where something really clicks and they get it. It's very gratifying to know that I am making a difference to that one person in that moment. I am already feeling like a proud mommy of the students and it's only been six-weeks!

Movie Marathon!

Jason and I were so excited for Saturday because we had been planning our "movie marathon" all week. We had about 5 movie cards saved up from Christmas and birthdays, etc. so we decided to use 3 of them on Saturday. We went to the AMC theatre in Awutukee. This is the theatre that Jason used to go to all the time when he was single. He used to go to movies alone, which I have to say I have never done - I'm not opposed to it, just haven't done it. I kept asking him about it, "So, you used to just buy a ticket and come alone?" I don't know why it made me sad that he used to do that, but I just kept thinking about him going alone and I didn't like it!

Anyway, we bought treats before hand at Walgreen's, and when we got there we got a large drink and large popcorn, which came with a free refill each. Jason was really excited about that! haha We saw 2 movies first, then a break for dinner, and back to movie #3 - JUNO. If you haven't seen it yet, it's AWESOME! I loved it and I definately will own that one when it comes out.

As we were walking out of the theatre, we were approached by a guy with a movie research company who needed volunteers to watch movie trailers and participate in a movie focus group for about an hour and they pay you $75 cash! So, they were all full for Jason's age group but mine wasn't full yet so I'll be doing that this week. I'll let you know how it went. I'd say it will probably be an easy $75 though!

Needless to say, Saturday night around midnight I got pretty sick. YUCK! Not sure if it was just too much junk in one day for me, or if it was our din-din that did it. Oh well, it lasted about 24 hours so I felt bad I couldn't see my CTR class yesterday at church, but I have to say, the fun day out with just me and my Jason was all worth it!