what i've been up to - a ton of pictures

It feels like years since I have posted anything on here!  SillyGrrl had a post on the new blog templates she had designed and after purchasing one of her gorgeous looks for my own blog, I have been inspired to start posting again!

It's definitely been a busy few months and I wanted to share pictures of my little world with you fabulous people.

My sister and her boyfriend had friends getting married in Vegas and since we have a lot of family there, we decided to have everyone meet up for a few days.  It was a great chance to see my parents and my sister all together, which does not happen that often.  Since we go to Vegas a lot and this would be the first time I have been there since my anxiety has calmed down, I set out to find unique things for us to do.

We had to hit one buffet while in Vegas, so we headed out to the Red Rock Casino.  I gambled a whole three bucks while my family waited in line.

I read about the Shelby Museum when I was looking up interesting things to do in Vegas.  My dad and Josh are huge car buffs, so I knew they would love it!

Those girls at the car shows need to watch their backs or my dad might steal their job!

My sister's boyfriend Josh had never been to Vegas and wanted to see a bit of the casino stuff, so we took him to the Bellagio and the Mirage.  The flower exhibits at the Bellagio were absolutely amazing.

One of the unique places I wanted to go was the Atomic Testing Museum.  My parents did not seem to excited about it, but they actually found it extremely interesting and kind of enjoyed it.  My grandparents lived in Vegas during the testing period, although my mom was just an infant and does not remember much of that time.  My uncle also worked as a laborer at the actual testing site.

Besides the items you would expect to see at a museum for atomic testing, they had a temporary exhibit on the culture of Vegas during that time period.  It's seems crazy now, but it actually increased tourism for the city.

This is one of the mannequins JcPenny's donated to the government to set out near the actual blast site to judge the effects.  It was strange to see how one mannequin would be decimated and the one right next to it was untouched.  And no, the mannequins eyes were not like that in before the blast.  Seriously creepy.

Miss Atomic Bomb 1957

 Sorry that the video is a little shaky, but you had to hand crank the video.

The Silverton Casino has a 117,000 gallon salt water aquarium in the lobby and has feedings twice a day where a diver answers questions.  Extremely cool.  Too bad we missed the mermaid show.

The Silverton Casino is attached to a Bass Pro Shop that has an actual "river" running through it.  It was full of ducks, turtles, salmon, and sturgeon.  You can see how large it was compared to the guy who had to wade in to get a pacifier that someone dropped over the side.

And most importantly, we had a lot of time with family.  My grandfather will be ninety-one on Monday and he is doing amazing!  He is so lucky to have Janet in his life, who takes wonderful care of him.

Then it was back home.

After seven years in California, I have finally tired of the flowers I plant dying on me.  It's not their fault; I am not very consistent about taking care of them.  So I have begun planting drought tolerant succulents around the yard.  Hopefully it will all come together and I will share some pics with you later.

I have also been adding shelves around the house specifically for the little devil above.  She needs more places to get away from the pups and I have been watching too much "My Cat from Hell."

Finally, it was time for a change from the pink hair.  Apparently bleaching the pink out would turn my hair orange, so I decided to go dark.  And I am still trying to grow my hair out, but I couldn't resist getting a little taken off.