Surprises!

When Palmer was a work on Wednesday a man was throwing out Rock Band 2 because he had bought in for the wrong console and could not return it. The man ended up telling Palmer that he could have the game. So Palmer brought the game home as a surprise. We've been rock banding it up every chance we get.

Palmer's sister's family also surprised me by showing up in Vegas on Wednesday night rather than Thursday afternoon. Palmer and Viv had me totally shocked! I had no idea that they were coming early! At about 11:00pm, Palmer told me that he had ordered a pizza so that I would answer the door when The Stanley's arrived. When there was a knock at the door, I was ready to pay for the pizza only to find Viv and Brian's two youngest kids, Tiana and Jordan, at the door in their PJ's holding a sign that said "We need a place to sleep!" I was so surprised!!! I just should there staring at them in disbelief trying to figure it all out. Then Viv, Brian and Linnea came out from around the corner to join in on the surprise.

We had an amazing weekend with the Stanley's! I will post pictures from the weekend's adventures soon!

Palmer playing the drums.

Tiana singing.

Skin- always curious about boxes.

Me trying to play the guitar.

Palmer's niece Linnea was by far the best at singing, drumming and playing the guitar (I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of her playing.) Me and Viv had a blast "trying" to sing the Toby Keith songs and some Journey.

Spring Visitors ROUND #2

Palmer and I were lucky enough to have yet another event-filled with family. On Friday afternoon my Mom and Rob came down to visit us. (They also brought their two dogs, Hunter and Hannah, so our apartment was jam packed with cats, dogs and people!) The first place we decided we would take them was to Joe's Crab Shack! (Of course.) I have been bragging about this restaurant since we moved to the Green Valley area, so I was so excited for her to finally get to experience it. My step-dad isn't really a fan of seafood, but he was a trooper and ordered himself a rib eye. For an appetizer we had spinach and artichoke dip and crab dip, they were both absolutely amazing! For dinner, I ordered my usual bucket of snow crab, Palmer ordered a bucket of dungeness crab and my mom ordered crab stuffed shrimp. All of the food was delicious! Palmer resisted dancing along with the Crab Shack crew this time but we still had a great evening.

All of us

Palmer enjoying his crab.Rob & mom loving their vacation!
On Saturday, I took my mom to get a haircut. Her hair turned out great. Then we went back to the apartment to cook some breakfast. My mom and I cooked biscuits and homemade gravy. It was very tasty! After breakfast I took my mom and Rob to the mall to do some shopping. When Palmer got off we met him back at the apartment. Palmer and I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at Petapalooza! We went last year and it was a blast so we could not miss it this year. We were able to get there just in time for the last performance, GAVIN ROSSDALE! He was so fun to watch and he sounded great. Tootsy was beside herself getting out to see all the other dogs.

Toots & Palmer getting some water Gavin RossdaleTrying to get Toots to go in the obstacle course.

For dinner we all went to the Hofbrauhaus. Its a German style restaurant that is set up like an Oktoberfest. You are seated cafeteria style at a long table with other people. My step-dad was stationed in Germany for 2 years and has been to several fests, and he was quite impressed with the authenticity of the food and beer. He said it was just like being there. In between the band taking a break they had a stein holding contest. Palmer of course entered it! There were about 12 contestants and they all had to hold a liter stein filled with fake beer out in front of them. Whoever could hold it the longest won a stein from the gift shop. At first no one was having any problems, but shortly into the contest, people started to sweat, shake and drop their arms, eliminating themselves one by one. Palmer held on for a whole 10 mins! After 1o mins they called it a tie between Palmer and one other stein holder. After the stein contest we stayed and finished our dinners and had a few more German beers!

Mom & Me

Cheers!

Singing with the band

Beginning of stein contest

The Winners

All of us

On Sunday morning, we all went to the pancake house for breakfast and then came back to watch a movie. For an early dinner Palmer and I decided to cook his family's enchiladas recipe for my parents. In January, Palmer's sister Viv showed me how to cook em, but we hadn't practiced yet. The enchiladas turned out so good, but I still need some practice at the Spanish rice. After dinner, we went down the the Strip to see Beatles LOVE. The show was incredible! I would recommend anyone to see it and I would go again in a heartbeat! It is hard to describe it, you just have to see it. Thanks for taking us, Mom & Rob!!

1st enchiladas by ourselves!

At Beatles LOVE!

This morning Mom, Rob and the dogs had to go back home to Hawthorne. We are sad that they are gone already, we had an amazing weekend with them. We can't wait for them to come back so we can do it again! Now I'm busy getting ready for our next round of company, THE STANLEY'S!!! Stay tuned....

SPRING BREAK!!

Ok it is official... I am now on my spring break. I don't have to be back to campus for 11 days. I still working, but moved around some days so that I get a few days off in a row. I'm so stoked to have a little break from school. Classes are overloading me right now. This is the the calm before the storm because when I return I will only have 2 weeks til my finals! Way to cut it close UNLV!

Look at Our Garden Grow

Spring has officially sprung in our house. We decided that we are going to grow a few veggies and herbs this spring. We could only grow a few items on account of limited counter and patio space at our apartment. We are growing bell peppers, jalapenos, snow peas, chives, parsley and cilantro.

Tootsy was very interested in what we were up to.

Had her nose in all the pots

Even the cats wanted to know what we were doing. Hopefully the don't eat the plants, or dig up the soil, OR WORSE pee in the pots!

First watering

Spring Visitors

The whole crew at Joe's Crab ShackTrying to make Dan eat crab. (He ordered a Burger.)Black & Reds at BWW (Guinness and Killians)The Boys enjoying the beers and wings. Mike showing off his black and red.

Warren, Sally & Mike all came down to visit us for a few days. Palmer has a really crappy work schedule right now and his days off are Thursday and Sunday. So we decided it would be best if they came down on Wednesday night so that Palmer could we could spend all day Thursday with our visitors.

On Wednesday night we met Dan, Jessica, Ronn and Tonya at Joe's Crab Shack. Joe's Crab Shack has become one of our favorite places to take people when they come and visit us. We LOVE it there. On Thursday morning, Palmer took everyone to the Pancake House. The breakfast there is absolutely amazing. I had to stay home and finish some online homework, but Palmer was nice enough to bring me some bacon pancakes. After breakfast, we went to Sunset Park so that we could show Warren and Sally the frisbee golf course. We also wanted to all get out in the awesome weather. Its been in the mid 80's here lately. Tootsy loves Sunset Park she runs all over and eats sticks, rock, pine cones or anything else she can find. Boozie (Warren's Dog) was not as excited about the big city, not even in the park.

Later that evening we went to Buffalo Wild Wings, Palmer's favorite restaurant. Mike and Palmer had conquered the Buffalo Wing Challenge a few months ago and wanted to show off their winning photos that are posted on the wall there. And they of course wanted to enjoy some of the tall beers during happy hour. After dinner we went back to our apartment to watch Gran Trino.

This morning Warren, Sally and Mike had to go back home. We had an awesome time and got to eat the greatest food (and beer) the last two days. I'm sure Boozie is happy to be going back but we wish their trip wouldn't have gone by so quickly. Tootsy has been moping around by the door since they left.

We Celebrated Early

Palmer and I both LOVE St. Patrick's Day. (Who doesn't?) This year we celebrated it a little early because it fell on Tuesday, which does not really work for me or Palmer with our busy schedules. Thanks to David we were able to have our St. Patty's Day on the Saturday before.

Green eyebrows

Green BEER

Green Hair

Green Team

Spring break?

Last week I had 4 midterms, so I spent the entire week trying to balance out studying for each one and still doing assignments, ect. This is my third semester at UNLV and usually midterms are survivable because Spring Break follows right after them. So you work your tail off but then get a nice long break. This semester UNLV has decided to try and kill all its students by making spring break 3 weeks after midterms! WTF? UNLV spring semester started Jan. 12, why the hell is spring break so far away? At UNR and TMCC its next week! Why cant all the Nevada schools be one the same schedule? Does this sound completely ludicrous to anyone else?