Lake Tahoe - Friday, Day One - Part Two

After driving into town and checking into our hotel room, we decided to relax a little bit before dinner and the concert.  It was nice to just lay around for a little while.  Then we freshened up and we were off for a night of fun!!

We drove over to the casino that was holding the concert and walked around some.  We decided to go to the Hard Rock for dinner.  It was yummy!  (I've been to so many Hard Rocks in Europe that it's always kinda weird to eat at one in the U.S.  Just feels different somehow.)

 
After dinner we went over to the concert and checked everything out.  We were surprised to not see any booths to buy memorabilia but we were ok with saving our money too. :)  We hung out next to the stands for awhile before heading up to our seats.  Since the arena was so small, we weren't so very far away even though we were in the back.  It was awesome!

 
First up was Chris Young ... he sounded great!

Then it was Kelly Pickler's turn.  She had a really fun set.  We liked it.

Then it was time for RASCAL FLATTS!!!!!!  I could hardly contain myself, I was so excited!!  They were so amazing.   The set started with their first album and went through to their current one.  They sang a few songs from each.  We even got to hear one of the songs from the album they hadn't released yet.  It was such a great show.  John really liked it too.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat!!

Here is some (bad!) video of Bless This Broken Road: http://vimeo.com/17716761

After the show we saw that they had finally set up a memorabilia booth, so I had to buy something of course!  Then we got to spend some quality time in the car trying to get out of the parking structure.  It was packed!

We had such a great day and were excited to explore Lake Tahoe the next.

Lake Tahoe - Friday, Day One - Part One

John surprised me for my birthday with a weekend get-away trip to Lake Tahoe to see Rascal Flatts in concert.  I was so excited!  My parents agreed to keep Nala for the weekend.  Friday morning we got up and did our last minute packing before my Mom came over to pick us up to go to LAX.  After throwing our luggage, Nala's stuff, and Nala in the car we were off!!  The drive was uneventful and luckily the airport was pretty deserted.  We got to check-in in the American Airline VIP section because of John's miles.  It was nice skipping the longer lines.  It's always kind of nerve-wracking when we check in because every time I'm afraid of going over the weight limit on my luggage.  It was just a weekend trip so I shouldn't have been worried about it ... but I was.  No problems though!  While we were getting situated John overheard a VIP escort say something about waiting for Heather Locklear to show up.  We were on the look-out for her but didn't catch a glimpse.

After we were checked it and made it through a very speedy security line, we were on the lookout for something to eat for lunch.  We were hungry!  Pickin's were slim in the terminal but we opted to got to On The Border for some Mexican food.  It was really good!

John checked out the AAA guide info on Lake Tahoe while we waited for our food to come.

Burrito and tacos ... yummy!!!

After a quick bathroom break we headed for the gate, only to find that our gate was in a whole different building!  We had to take a bus along the runways to get over there.  If we had known that we would have eaten faster and got their earlier!!  It turned out that we enough time though but I'm going to remember that the short "puddle jumper" flights leave from the other terminal in the future.

Cruisin' along the runways

There it is!

Since the flight from LAX to Reno is a short one we flew on a regional jet ... aka large mosquito.  There were 2 seats on one side of aisle and 1 seat on the other - tiny.  Luckily I don't freak out about these types of things.  I don't necessarily love flying because turbulence scares the crap out of me, but as long as my tummy's full and I don't get motion sickness, I'm fine.

Here we go!

As passengers were loading on and I was getting situated, Heather Locklear just happened to walk by and go to a seat farther back in the plane.  John was very excited.  I didn't see her until later when I glanced back but he saw her as she walked past us.

After a fairly uneventful flight, we landed in Reno, got our luggage, picked up the rental car, and set off!

 

There was a huge bridge being built outside of Reno

As we were driving we saw a bunch of very ominous clouds coming in and heard emergency broadcasts on the radio for flash flooding.

We saw some lightening but never any rain.  Thank goodness!  After some twisty windy roads and going up up up, we finally got a glimpse of this ....

Lake Tahoe!!

Debbie's Birthday

My birthday started off immediately with a surprise.  I opened my eyes and saw this from Deanna:

Apparently it had arrived the day before and John someone managed to stash it away without me knowing.  He waited until I fell asleep and then placed in on my bedside table.  It was a great way to wake up!  I then proceeded to eat a yummy breakfast in bed.  After taking a shower and starting to get dressed, John decided it was present time, and who am I to say no!??

What could it be?

No way!

We're going to Lake Tahoe!!  Woohooo!

I was so excited about our little weekend get away.  John made me a little booklet that included info on our flights, hotel, car, driving directions, dinner reservations, and pictures.  This obsessive planner thought it was beautiful!

Not too long later, it was time to go to an engagement party for one of John's cousins.  It was hot out there!  We stayed for some good food and visiting with family.  After getting back home to cooler temperatures, we hung out until dinner time. 

John had decided to take me to a local Italian place called East Side Mario's.  We really love their food.  We always get the same thing because we like it so much!  Eggplant Siciliana for John, and Chicken Parmigiana for me.  Well, I was in for quite a surprise when they took us to our table and it was full of family and friends!!  John had planned a surprise for me!  Because of an email mix-up I thought that his parents might be joining us, but it turns out there were a lot more people that wanted to celebrate.  I loved it!!  They even decorated the room.  My parents were traveling in Europe and I missed being with them on my birthday, so this was a great surprise.

After chit-chatting and eating a yummy dinner, it was time to open presents.  There were lots of gift cards and lotion and purses and pajamas and wine.  It was perfect!  Everyone knows me so well. 

There was also another gift from John that I was not expecting.  (It was obviously from him because the box didn't have any ribbon or bow on it.  That guy never puts one on.)  When I opened it up, I found 2 tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert in Lake Tahoe!!!  Our weekend get-away had a purpose .... we were going to see my favorite group who I've been dying to see!!  (This amazing gift made up for the lack of ribbon or bow.)  He planned it all out months before my birthday.  Isn't he awesome??

After presents it was cake time and it was delicious!

Thank you so much to everyone for a great meal and a wonderful birthday!!

Of course we couldn't forget that it was also Deanna's birthday, so we took a few minutes at the end for her to open her present from me.  She easy to shop for ... Kohl's never lets me down!

Even though that marked the end of my birthday, I got another surprise the next day when I got home from work.  The Vaughn's send me a cake from Creative Cakery!  It was delicious and so cute!!

Independence Day 2010

We had a relatively quiet 4th of July this year.  My parents were in Europe so we invited John's parents, cousins, and some friends over for dinner and fireworks.  The city of Lakewood allows safe and sane fireworks so everyone was happy to come over for home celebrating!

Prepping the food

Scared puppy - She hates loud noises so she was shaking like a leaf!

Fireworks

John got his camera out and took pics of us playing with sparklers.

We had a fun time with everyone and look forward to doing it again next year.

Nala says "Thank goodness that's over!"