Wild Weekends

Andrew has picked our weekend dates the past couple weekends. Last week, he picked fishing at Strawberry.

They wouldn't let him fish his SWEET spot. So we ended up in another spot.

I couldn't catch a dang thing. So I built a shelter--from only a tarp. I scrounged up everything else from the lake front.

It was fun to hang out in the shelter when it sprinkled and when the fishing was slow.

This weekend Andrew's pick was the good ol Hogle Zoo.

The weather was perfect and we seemed to get there just as the rush was leaving so it was great day.

And everywhere we went the animals were in LOVE. It was pretty funny. I guess we'll have to go back in a few months and see all the baby animals.

Road Trip--Part 2--What Happens in Vegas

Okay, so the main thing we did in Vegas was lay out by the pool. LoVeD iT!!! Oh, and the pool had a volleyball net so we played volleyball for at least 3 hours a day and totally ripped up the bottom of our feet and I also lost like half of my toenail polish from my pedicure. But it was SO worth it. Andrew and I are EXTREMELY competative (especially with each other) in sports, games, cards, and anything else one or both of us is passionate about then throw in Bryce on Andrew's team and Becca on mine and it's pure war!! You must understand the competiveness....picture "Meet the Parents" volleyball scene. That's exactly how it was.

Funny story---So one night we were eating at Rainforest Cafe and while we are sitting there enjoying our appetizer all of the sudden this 55ish lady at the table next to us passes out and falls to the floor. She is wearing a wig, which completely falls off and she is literally lying at my FEET, bald and out cold. Luckily, her daughter, a waiter, and a guy at the next table jumped down to her aid so I didn't have to :). So when I get up enough courage to look down at her by my feet, I see her eyes rolling around 100 mph and she's sweating. At this point, I say....is she dying? Literally that's what it looked like. So long story short, she didn't die, she came out of it but did lie at my feet for no joke 30 mins before the parametics arrived to run TONS of tests on her then lift her on to the stretcher and take her away. All the while she keeps asking where her hair is--the reply from her daugher "right here in my hand, I have your hair." HAHA And her daughter kept saying "she's done this before, she's done this before" as if that makes it less embarassing. Oh, yeah the restaurant didn't even give us our meals for free or even give us a free dessert, but they did ask us about 25 mins into the ordeal if we wanted a new table--and we said no, because we thought at this point it would be really rude to get up climb over her and go to a new table. Hopefully she learned not to mix lots of booze and lots of walking around in 85 degree weather.

We also visted the Mandalay Bay Shark Reef (note to Vegas travelers, if you want to go to a buffet--the boys really did--get the Shark Reef/Buffet combo, only like $8 more bucks to go see the aquarium)

touching the sting rays

ah, the turles star fish

really cool, neon jelly fish

Andrew, the biology boy, enjoying everything

the lion fish

Andrew's WORST nightmare...dun dun dun

And the shark that almost ate us!

We love this baby!!!!

A Little Late But Well Worth the Wait!

Linds had her baby today!!!! Jersey was born at 12:23 p.m. weighing 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long and she's REALLY cute!

New Mommy

Proud DaddyI just love this pic of my daddy--look how happy he is



3 generations of Ballantyne girlies

Happy Mother's Day to all! We love and appreciate all the moms in our life.

But I think Linds got the best mother's day present this year!

Road Trip--Part 1--St.George

After surviving another semester, Andrew and I decided to take a little trip to get away from work and school and church callings and bills and all that other stuff we have to deal with. We were able to book my parents timeshare in St. George and Vegas. We spent the first few days in St. George and then headed down to Vegas. St. George was SOOOO relaxing. Andrew and I agreed that we could have just stayed there the whole time, but Vegas was fun too (as you will see in my next post).

Andrew trying to make the best of the BORING drive down.....

Hanging out in St. George. Whenever I try to take a picture of Andrew he makes werid faces. He does it on purpose because he knows it bugs me. I usually keep taking pics until he smiles normally, but sometimes I don't. Then I blog the weird ones and he says--that's a strange pic of me. Yep it is!

Bryce and Bec came along with us on our trip. It was great to have them there. We all have so much fun together and can laugh for hours and hours.

We went to this restaurant called Samari 21 (similar to Tepanyaki) and the boys couldn't stop talking about it! They both had steak, shrimp, and lobster. I swear they kept talking about the lobster for 3 hours.

***My mom and sisters are gonna DIE when they read this next part****

I have always wanted to try sushi--don't get me wrong I am not a fish person--but I can't figure out why everyone LOVES it so much. So this place had a really fancy sushi bar so I decided to order some. Everyone was a little nervous, including me....but I siezed the day!!! I eased into sushi lightly by ordering a Las Vegas roll with eel sauce. The eel sauce scared the crap out of me so I had to have it on the side, but it was actually really good. It's like a thick terriyaki/soy sauce thingy. But yes, this is the sushi (fish, big dolop of cream cheese, the seaweed thing, and rice all fried). And........

I ate it!! And made everyone else eat it too. Bryce liked it. Andrew and Becca said it was okay. I think Andrew liked it more than he admitted though--he is an ordinary food guy. Bryce liked it lots and I loved it. I ate the whole thing!

Becca and I got pedicures and Cold Stone while the boys watched the Celtics game. We did lots of swimming, some basketball, and movie watching. Good times.