Viva Las Vegas!

This year for New Years Eve and my 30th Birthday, we went to Vegas! Every year we ring in the new year with my brother and bestie Allison and her boyfriend Chad - so it was only appropriate that they join us in Vegas. We had a great time checking the city out but wow! there were a lot of people!

The first night that we were there, we ate at an AMAZING restaurant, Capital City Grille, there food was great, our table was next to a window that over looked the strip and their service was top notch. It was by far my favorite meal of the trip. It was just perfect!

They brought out this amazing dessert for my birthday - the cheese cake was homemade and oh so good and creme brulee, the best that I have EVER had! The chocolate cake was good too :-)

The next day, the first thing on our agenda was lunch! Since they are two hours behind us on time, by the time we got to eat it was 12:00 their time (2:00 our time) and we were starving! We wanted something quick and cheap since we would be eating at a nice place for New Years Eve dinner that evening. So what did we pick? In and Out Burger - it hit the spot! We had some good entertainment too - Matt met this guy from California and immediately he started singing country music songs when he found out that we were from Arkansas and Matt started singing rap songs - it was hilarious! People starting gathering around watching them - it was too funny!

Matt and his buddy

Some pictures of the strip.....

New Years Eve night we ate dinner at a restaurant at our hotel - The Nine Steakhouse. The food was good - but the service wasn't anything to get excited aboout. One of Matt's buddy's from college who lives in Idaho was in Vegas for the weekend and met up with us for dinner. It was great to see him - it had been six years since he had moved and we hadn't seen him.

After dinner, we headed out to New York, New York to hang out and ring in the New Year!

The battery on my camera died Saturday night - I will have to get some pictures from Allison and post them.

We had a great trip and so thankful that we got to celebrate New Years Eve and my Birthday with some special people that are near and dear to my heart!

I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

Christmas Day - Part 2

The second part of Christmas Day, we were at my parents house. This year we had a Christmas dinner and opened gifts in the evening - which was new for us, but worked out good. We had the whole crew; my parents, brother, Debbie, Mama and Papa Bussey and Papa Henry and Linda. It was a fun evening and had some great food and snacks. I didn't get too many pictures from this evening - mainly just pictures of the boys opening their gifts.

Christmas Day - Part 1

This year we started Christmas day off with Matt's family. We went to Church with his parents to the Church that he grew up in and the Church that we went to when we were dating and living in Neosho. It was nice to visit and see some familiar faces - it had been a long time since we had been to Church there.





After Church, we headed back to Nana and Grandpa's house for lunch and gifts. The kids were so excited to see each other since they don't get to hang out as much since they are in school. Here is our attempt of a group picture - trying to get four kids to all smile and look at the camera at the same time can be a challenge.





Nana and Grandpa got the older boys, Lance and Kaleb, new bikes to keep at their house. The boys are a little rough on their bikes and new bikes were just what they needed!

Grayson helped me unwrap my gifts too - such a little helper!

Grayson got a fireman jacket made by Nana - he LOVES it!

Lance loaded up on Wii games, LeapPad games and a helmet to go with his new bike.

A great start to a great day! Loved spending time with family!

Christmas Eve

For as long as I can remember, we have spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents house. We enjoy snacky foods and hanging out visiting and watching the kids entertain us. And each year, Santa makes a visit. This year, the boys were just giddy waiting for Santa to get there. Lance just knew that he was going to come anytime - he kept a close eye on the front door all evening until he arrived.

Here the boys are visitng with Santa as he just arrived - he was telling them that he had to park his sled and reindeer at the Neosho airport and borrow a truck to get out the farm. (The boys couldn't figure out why Santa drove up in truck).
When it was Grayson's turn to set on Santa's lap, he made himself comfortable and talked and talked. I think he was planning on sitting there for a while and just visiting.

Still talking.......

Lancer's turn - he was trying to get in a few last minute request of things

he didn't receive at our house :-)

Santa brought the boys a special gift

Bike helemts! He forgot to leave them at our house with the bikes ;-)

GG and Papa with Santa

Mimi with SantaUncle Blake and his favorie nephews

Finally - it was time to unwrap presents!

We were blessed with another wonderful Christmas - it was nice to have some family time and enjoy each other for a few hours, it doesn't happen often enough!

Santa!

At our house, Santa visits our us the night before Christmas Eve. We wake up on Christmas Eve and Santa has already made his visit to our house. Santa does this because he knows that we have to leave on the afternoon of Christmas Eve to travel to Missouri to celebrate with our family.

Here are the boys getting their cookies ready for Santa. They both were SO, SO excited for Christmas this year - they were so much fun this and so cute to watch, they were bursting with excitement. I loved it!

Lance thought that Santa needed his red, curly straw to drink his milk with. He even left him a note telling him that he could keep the straw - so sweet!

After the boys got their cookies ready, Matt read the Christmas story from the Bible. This is a tradition that Matt has carried on from his family. It is so sweet and a great reminder why we are celebrating this special holiday.

Santa came! Lance was the first one up this year at 5:30am and boy was he excited! He came running in our room yelling Santa came! He came to my side of the bed and said Mom, Santa came and brought me a bike, WITH a kick stand! Love that boy!

Santa brought the boys matching Razorback uniforms - they both loved them! Now they both have football uniforms for their games against Daddy!

We had to give our new uniforms a test run.....look good!

We are blessed beyond measure - so thankful to celebrate the birth of our Savior! It was a great Christmas!