Vegas#myfirstvacationin4years

I already apologize because this post is going to be filled with some inside jokes, and what may seem like obnoxious gibberish to the rest of the world. 

One thing I will put plainly is that I have the greatest friends a girl could ever ask for. We were roomies in college, and we've all stayed in touch over the years. They're the kind of frenny's who you have nothing but laughter with, love, and support for one another.

Even though we now live all over the country, we reunited this past weekend...in VEGAS!!!!! Woohoo!!!

 Night 1: at Tao #thefirstofmanyhashtags

Amy and I are usually the ones with our heads in the sand, and Jess and Kaela fill us in on all the latest#theyarethecoolones. So, that night they gave us a whole tutorial on hashtags.

This laid the foundation for our trip...and this began the first of many jokes.

From L to R (with all the nicknames acquired that weekend): Jazzy Bronze, Annie#ournewbestfriend, #Mommy, Phenomenally Pretty, and Big Hat Amy

 Annie, Jess' sis in law#thepersonwithallthehookups, was good friends with the head chef at Tao. We enjoyed one of the best meals ever - down to every last detail...I still can't get over that Amy's drink had freaking sugar cane in it as a decorative piece! Amazing! I have never seen sugar cane here in the states...not until Vegas at least.

Afterwards, we headed off for some fine dancing =)

and phenomenal self-takes that all lasted 'til 4 am. 

It was an incredible feeling knowing I wasn't responsible for anyone except myself...and that I could sleep in the next day without interruption. Life before children. Wow.

Day 2: Celine Dion Concert and The Bank night club#bestdayofkaelaslife...until the clock struck 12

(Either Amy, Kaela, and Jess are beautiful Giants or I'm the Shorty. Aw man. I'm the Shorty)

But first, we had to take one of many old-lady-meatball-face pictures...if you don't know what I'm talking about, watch The Wedding Singer, and look at the sweet little old lady's face when she puts the meatballs into Adam Sandler's hands. It's the best. And we've done this pose ever since college. We will be doing this until we become little old ladies...except that Amy might forever look like she's just throwing up into her hands =)

Amy's very own shot with Celine

5th row seats in the Collosseum#thanksAnnie. For some reason, I never listened to Celine, and I teased the girls about us being the only ones from our generation at the concert. Amy, Jess, and Kaela needed tissues before the show even began.

However, I ate my words by the end of it. I think her fist pumps and corny jokes won me over...not to mention she put on a phenom of a show. 

Fun at The Bank...thanks to Kaela and Jess' bestie who they met that day

We made friends wherever we went. Some not so serious...and some who touched my heart forever 

Day 3: Wandering the Vegas Strip#lastdayinVegas
* A pearl for Kaela* *and the lady who tried to rip us off*

                            

Old lady meatball faces in a shoe

The roller coaster at New York New York!!!! I love love love roller coasters, but I look like I'm going to cry in this picture. I was just freaking out because I told poor Amy that it was going to be mild. I completely forgot about all the high drops, loopty loos, and turns. Amy enjoyed it. Phew.

Last night, dinner at Batistas#thanksanniefortheonemillionthtime! (can you do exclamation points in hashtags? Jess? Kaela?)

And rounding off the night with friends at XS

I had the best time with you girls. I will cherish this trip forever, but mostly I will cherish the beautiful friendship that we have. 

I don't know if I ever told you guys, but during my freshman year in college, I always prayed that God would surround me with really good girlfriends. The next year, God blessed me with the three of you. 

End sappiness now. Celine really rubbed off on me.

I love you guys so so so much!!!!!

And yes, Ames, you still look like you're throwing up into your hands =)

#evencelinefalls#isthisforallwhitepeople#mommy'sfillintheblank#let'sgotothebeach#tasmania#donutnut#dinnerminusasparagus#teengirlsquad#gotothelibrary#whatshoeswouldyouwearinazombieapocalypse#amy'sfriends#dirtyflamingo#birthdayspiller#jerseytanningmom

A Bestest Friend

I couldn't have done it without you, Ames. You have always been the bestest friend a girl could have...and now the bestest Kuma to my kids. I don't know what we would have done if you weren't there to watch Jadon while we were in the hospital with Moriah.

And in case you're wondering what bestest friend means, Urbandictionary.com ;-) says it's

"Someone who is there for you day after day, no matter what, somebody better than a bestfriend, that has never left your side from day they got there, you have the most and best memories with them, fall out over stupid little stuff and are friends again with the hour, take stupid photos, talk about everything, the one you can trust with your life. Makes you smile by thinking about them, never fails too make you laugh or smile and always brightens up your day, bestestfriends is a promise not a label and you prove too eachother its not just for a day its forever!"

Aren't you glad we have these great internet references, complete with spelling and grammatical errors, and seems like a twelve year old has written it? I sure am! They tell it like it is ;-)

We love you Mike and Amy! How blessed we are to have bestest friends like you...

Back in College

Over the past week, Justin and I had several of our friends visit from Colorado. We both went to the University of Colorado at Boulder -go Buffs!- and made several life-long friends while we were there.

First, we had Brent, Thanh, and Steve-o stay with us, as Brent and Thanh are actually moving out here, and Steve-o helped them move.
Here is the lovely couple meeting Moriah for the first time. Thanh recently graduated from nursing school so she was wonderful with Moriah, and didn't let the cords intimade her =)


During their stay,we got the chance to go to lunch with M - which gave me one more thing to add to and cross off of my Ghetto Bucket List. Check!
Apparently, we weren't entertaining enough for her because she slept through the whole thing. That, or she didn't care for Baja Fresh...or it was just her nap time and she was tired =)


It was so nice hanging out with our Colorado family, but it didn't end there because Kuma Amy and Kum Mike flew out soon after.
For those of you who don't know, Amy is my blonde sister. We were college roomates, and Justin and I actually set Mike and Amy up on their first date. They are now going on five years of marriage. Woot woot! ;-)
Kuma and Kum mean Godparents in Serbian, and these two definitely live up to their titles the way they love on Moriah. They pretty much spoil her rotten!

One of the first things on their list while in California -In n Out! If it would stay fresh, I would probably mail a Double Double to Amy every week.

Spending quality time outside with M. We did lots of walks while they were here, and Kum Mike pushed Moriah all around in her wheelchair. They are planning on decorating M's wheelchair with lots of pink studs, a Tinkerbell flag, and spinners on the wheels =)

One of the sweetest moments was when Moriah was waking up from her nap, and she snuggled right up to her Kuma. She just slept in her arms, and knew she was loved.

We spent our last night in Santa Cruz with Amy and I going all out silly. Our poor husbands have to put up with so much when we get together. Luckily, they knew what they were in for before they married us. ;-)

Sigh. It was nice to feel like we were in college again and to experience the familiarity of "old friends." The most amazing part this time was to have our daughter healthy enough to be apart of it. Thank you God.

More Trips Down Memory Lane

I decided to stay here last night with Justin because it was late and I was too exhausted to drive home. In the wee hours of the morning, M's ventilator decided to cause us trouble and we were up until 4:30 am with the RT and Nurse, bagging her and troubleshooting. Instead of getting super grumpy about this no-sleep-streak that we've been having, we decided to have some fun and watch Homestar Runner's
Teen Girl Squad
one of the most random/dumbest/funniest cartoons ever...one that we would watch during our college days...thanks to Kaela and Jess, who got me started on it. *haven't seen it since, 'til last night...i promise you, I have matured over the years =)*

Kuma Amy was the only roomate who hated Homestar Runner, and whenever she left the house, we would put it as her homepage on her laptop...sigh. i have to one day write down all the house pranks that we pulled on each other...amy swithching out my toothpaste with acne cream, signing amy up for the britney spears fan club - repeatedly, putting butter on 'mean boy's' car until he chased us back to our apartment and we hid behind the door, taking packages of clothes that we ordered online and replacing them with awful looking outfits...again, I promise you I have matured over the years! =)

This is such a random post, I know, but it puts a smile on my face recalling the fun times I had with my friends...

Me, Amy, Jess, and Kaela at Jess' wedding in Boulder 2008 (Jess, I still feel so bad that I couldn't commit to being a bridesmaid - things were so crazy with Moriah at the time...you know how much I love you though)
Tori, Kaela, Ashley, Jess, Me, and Amy at a Roomie Reunion in Seattle 2007

I absolutely adore these girls!

Memorial Weekend 2009

As you all know, Kum Mike and Kuma Amy flew in from Colorado and Auntie Kaela flew from Washington to be with us this past weekend. Amy and Kaela were my college roomates, and have become some of my closest friends over the years. From being in my wedding to lots of calls and prayers when Moriah was born, these girls are friends for life. I had so much fun with them as they definitely bring out the goofy side in me (Kaela will say that it's mostly Amy who does this, and usually she doesn't want to be associated with us when we get as silly as we do...actually neither do Mike and Justin...but that's okay...we had fun! =))

Mike, Amy, and Moriah


Kaela and Moriah.
Kaela knit this beautiful blanket for Moriah, and also bought her Ox, the blue monster. Years ago, we had a roomie reunion in Seattle and Kaela bought this same monster from a random store. We teased her about spending/wasting ;-) her money on something like that. When we were in downton Palo Alto, we came across another random store that carried it, and now, Moriah has Ox too - like her Auntie Kaela. It's "their thing." =)

After church on Sunday. We went to Abundant Life Christian Fellowship in Mountain View with Pastor Paul Sheperd. It was amazing, and we had a great time in the Word.


**We did the TOURIST things**

Downtown Palo Alto at Patxi's (justin's favorite pizza place)

University Street

They have these random pictures on the side of buildings throughout downtown. I decided to pose next to this one since we were waiting for the guys to pick us up.


Golden Gate Bridge

We asked the lady taking the picture to get the bridge behind us. This is what we got.

Can you tell it was FREEZING?


Lombard Street. It was so cool! I remember going down the street when I was a little kid and being scared. I was good this time around ;-)



Union Square. Of course we visited Justin at work, and did some shopping.

Okay. There is a story behind this. When we were in college, we watched the Wedding Singer, and couldn't get over the part when the old lady puts the meatballs in Adam Sandler's hands. Her face was classic, and we have always done "our old lady" pose everywhere we went. 75 % of our college pictures consisted of us doing this.

We ended our day going to Old Pro, in Downton Palo Alto, eating really healthy food and watching the rest of the Lakers/Nuggets game. It was such a sad night with the Lakers losing. I was sitting at the table with three Nuggets fans. Get outta here! =)

The only reason I took this picture of Mike and Amy was because the girl behind Amy was wearing one of those BumpIts in her hair (I didnt want amy to be obvious and turn around). we had just seen it in the beauty shop the day before and we were wondering what it would really look like. We decided they were not for us. Good thing you didn't order it from the infomercial Ames. =)

Back to the hospital, getting in our Moriah time.

Amy, Kaela, and Moriah doing sensory play with water. Moriah was still not totally herself at this point, but you can tell she enjoyed it nonetheless. It was obvious that having everyone around to love on her helped her with her recovery.


What good Aunties.


Before taking them to the airport, we walked around the Stanford campus. It was beautiful, and we enjoyed their delicious frozen yogurt at the student union (thanks for the suggestion Robin!).




We had such a good weekend with our friends. It totally lifted our spirits. We love you guys. Thank you for EVERYTHING.