Beauty

Nothing captivates me like the site of a Bald Eagle in the wild. I think they are the most gorgeous creatures in the world. I saw this Bald Eagle on my drive home today and I had to turn around and take pictures. I could have sat on the side of the road for hours just watching this bird do nothing. It just lifts my heart and makes me all happy inside.

Vegas

Yes! We went to Vegas AGAIN this year! This was the fourth time we've been to Vegas in our three years of marriage. We went for our honeymoon and obviously had a good time, so we just keep going back! This year, we left on a COLD day...below is the screen at the airport..the temperature in Minneapolis -11 and the temperature in Vegas 51...I think we traded up!!

Below is a picture of half of the strip from our Hotel roof. Thanks to Tom's aunt and uncle we got to stay in their time-share...the hotel was absolutely gorgeous and the rooms were FANTASTIC!!

We took a bus tour to go see the Hoover Dam. Included in the package was a tour of the inside of the dam. It was very neat and really informative!

We saw the "baby" dolphin at Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat..there were also lion cubs and a cheetah cub!

Ethel M. Chocolate factory..

Red Rock Canyon was gorgeous!..

Stuck in traffic on the way to the Grand Canyon

was the perfect time for a photo-op!

THE GRAND CANYON!

Was absolutely breathtaking!! Tom and I agree

that this was definately the best part of our trip!

Click on the below picture to make it bigger...

the arrow points to Tom and his uncle Denny

on the skywalk over the Grand Canyon.

The Colorado River going through the

Grand Canyon

No, I didn't go on the skywalk at the Grand Canyon and NO, it wasn't because I was scared...it cost a pretty penny...okay, so only $30 dollars for a once in a lifetime thing, but we couldn't take anything out there...not even my camera, so I decided (as well as Tom's aunt Ann) that we would just take pictures of them on the skywalk...They even had to wear little hospital type booties so their shoes wouldn't scratch the glass...it's apparantly very expensive to replace. As much fun as we have had in Vegas, Tom and I talked and decided we might have to find a new destination for vacation next year, cause there is really only so many things you can do in Vegas....eat and gamble and while we love doing both, it's time to see another part of the United States, haha!

We have SOOOO many pictures from our trip, we had a BLAST! While there, we got to hang out with Tom's aunts and uncles; Ann and Denny and Susan and Denny... Thanks Ann and Denny for driving us everywhere (Chocolate Factory, off the strip to casinos, Red Rock Canyon and the Grand Canyon) We had so much fun and we were glad we could experience it with you guys!! Thanks also for allowing us to use your time-share. We hope you guys had as much fun as we did!

Chelsea

Here are a few more pictures of Chelsea. I get too excited to put pictures up and don't finish editing them..so I played around with a few of her pictures and here are the final products...

Goddaughter..

I picked up my god-daughter, Miss Chelsea Grace for a couple hours this afternoon to bond and do a photo shoot. If I do say so myself, it didn't go half bad. What a sweet little girl she is...and so photogenic! Enjoy! (I think the first one is my favorite)

It stings the toes and bites the nose...

....and the fingers and the ears and the cheeks..Holy cow it's cold out...again. Tom said last night, "winter isn't even halfway over and I'm already sick of it". I think he says that every year, but I totally agree with him this year. The temp hasn't been above zero now for a couple days. Todays low, with the windchill, its -50 degrees!! I woke up this morning and here is a picture of our weatherbug on the computer screen.....
Yea, that reads 26 degrees below 0....with the windchill it is negative 48! I CAN'T wait for our trip to Vegas in a couple weeks...right now it is 110 degrees warmer in Vegas then it is here...

Welcome to Iowa...

I checked the local weather this morning because we are under a "wind chill advisory" and the weather.com read, "-4 but feels like -27"....Yep NEGATIVE 27 degrees...Holy cow! I don't even wanna walk outside! Anyways, we had Christmas with my family this weekend, it was such a fun time! I have a little story about Christmas. When I was little, we had this cheesey little elf:

Not sure exactly where it came from but we have had it for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, as soon as the Christmas decorations were out, I would take the elf off the tree and go to my room and play barbies, or house with it. When it was time to put the decorations away, my mom would have to search my room because I would hide it from her. I don't exactly know what my fascination was with this dorky decoration. Anyways, this brings me to one of my Christmas gifts from my parents this year. A big(ger) elf Christmas decoration:Apparently there is a childrens book that talks about how the elf sits on the shelf and every night when kids are asleep it goes back to report to Santa on the good and bad things that the kids do during the day. Now, I don't know if the little elf has anything to do with the story, or where my mom even got the elf 15 or more years ago....
but I have to say, they do look a lot alike....

"Great Great Great" Woman

I want to wish my mom and dad a very happy 26th anniversary today, however, I know my mom is going to have a hard day because this morning my Great Grandma died at 105.... She was definately a Great grandma and we will miss her deeply - heaven is so lucky to be getting her!

A couple weeks ago, I got together all of the jewelery that my Great Grandma had given me over the hundreds of times I visited her when I was little. My mom found the neatest idea in a magazine, so I took all the backs off of the (clip on) earings and pins and glued those and some pendants and bracelets to a frame, one for myself and one for my mom..