Dancing

The last wedding post. Promise.

I spent $25 of a dress for J. This far exceeds my limit on children's clothing. I'm such a miser, I rarely will spend more than $20 on a dress for myself. Yet when I found this dress, the perfect color, the right amount of formality, and the adorable amount of tulle, I knew it would be worth it just for the pictures.

She has a small obsession with watching water come out of spouts. Fridge, faucet, hose- all are magical.

She LOVES to dance. Techno is her current favorite.

She has also inherited her father's fascination with speakers

See that hair! I'm perfectly fine waiting if it comes out as red as it is starting to look

Her cousin Ty had the real moves though

More wedding!

Ugg, the wedding was so last month. We need to get with times here at Hazardous Undertakings. Well I spent all of March traveling it seems so I'm a little backed up on pictures. We've got pictures from exotic locals such as Tubac and Seattle all queued up. (I remember reading the word queue in a guide book for Japan when I was 16 and thinking it was a british word or a misspelling.)

Anyways, my sister in law just sent the pics from the wedding photographer so I thought I'd show you all what the reception looked like. You can contact her photography here.

The tiny flowers I made in action

Ignore the condensation caused by 90 degree weather in February

They had a friend who let them use their home in the Biltmore Estates. Gorgeous!

I made this sign as their wedding gift and for the serving table

This was next to the sign in table as you walked in

It's too bad they didn't get the whole "sign on a leaf" thing, despite examples. Ah well

This is a the little corridor you walk down to enter the back yard. I'm in love with the vines growing around the pillars

They even had a friend who plays harp

They live on a golf course so their yard looks like it goes forever

The Time I Became a Total Fan Girl

So I have this awesome cousin named Michelle who lives in Oregon. She's wicked cool and tours with her band Kiss Kill. They have some awesome tunes if you want to check out their site here. Back in January they were playing at the Nile so my Big Sis and I, along with my cousin Bree, went to go see them perform. They put on a great show.

That's right, electric violin. My Aunty is so proud those lessons paid off

Michelle and her wife Dusti are so awesome. I want them to move down here I can have more chances for their awesomeness to rub off on me. They even have chickens and a garden when they aren't touring. Anyways, their concert made me really miss my college and high school days when I'd go out to band shows all the time. All the time being around once a month, but since my husband isn't a rock concert kind of guy, I haven't been to one in years. I was checking out the posters at the Nile while Kiss Kill was getting interviewed by a local radio station and saw one for Mayday Parade and We the Kings. I got super excited. Mayday Parade is one of my favorite bands. Favorite, as in my Pandora station is Mayday Parade radio.

My sister and cousin had never heard of either of them so had no desire to go.  I only discovered them myself when a student made me a mix cd. Thankfully my college aged sister-in-law loves them as much as I do and agreed to go with me. It was the same day as Julie's sealing so we brought our rocker clothes to the luncheon dinner thing, added extra eye liner in the bathroom, and took off early.

*Fact*: When 14 year olds are your source for new music, the concert will be filled with 14 year olds.

Seriously, I felt like I should be with the moms on the sides of the room. Given, there were a lot of college kids there too, but I felt like an beanpole. Since the band members are my age, I shouldn't feel like an adult who is trying to hard, right?

Oh the woes of growing up when your music taste doesn't change.

So meanwhile, Jessica wants to get as close to the front as possible. We were in the back during Anarbor and The Downtown Fiction (both pretty good. A little more pop than punk, but still fun to dance to). We go to the middle during We the Kings. They were AMAZING performers! Worked the crowd and you can tell they still enjoy performing. Very humble and thanked the crowd, and just positive vibes all around.

How they perform with sick nasty sweaty long hair, I do not know.

We push our way up to the front and manage to only have two people between us and the stage during Mayday Parade (who seriously rocked!)

I think my cell phone camera is pretty amazing

*Fact*: When the crowd is all 14, being tall means you can touch the fingers of the lead singer, bassist, and rhythm guitarist over the heads of the people in front of you.

*Fact*: You can be 25 and still squee a little when you catch a guitar pick

 And if you would like a little taste of their music and don't mind waiting forever for it to load, here is my current favorite song

And two more favorites from their first cd

Vegas

I found airfare to Las Vegas for $40, roundtrip, out the door, including taxes from Mesa's little airport so I thought it was time for J to meet the great grandmother we named her for. Husband had zero desire to go to Vegas, but Madre Dos was totally up for it! I should note that Spirit airlines charges $25 for a carry-on. Since we were only staying one night, I just crammed everything into the diaper bag and saved the moola.

I also found a deal to stay at Bally's for $56 a night. (It is right next to the Paris and across from the Bellagio. I had never heard of it before. I just kept thinking about Bally's Total Fitness commercials from the 90's with all the close ups of really sweaty people exercising.)

Since the hotel offer included two buffet vouchers too, we got a smokin' deal. The vouchers were good at the Paris, Rio, or Planet Hollywood buffets.

 The buffet at the Paris was $30 a person on it's own. It was delicious though, filled with all kinds of French food. I had crab legs, prime rib, duck l'orange, crepes, tri-tip, roasted lamb, pesto, stewed mussels, creme brulee, black forest cake, apple tart, fudge brownies, fresh bread, sushi, and more I can't even remember. I would have taken pictures of the gluttony but J is sort of a ticking time bomb in a restaurant. Not sure if I would have done it without the voucher though. Variety is awesome, but I think I'd rather just go out to a nice dinner and have a bite from everyone's dish.

 We didn't have time to do much, but the Bellagio fountain was definitely a highlight.

 

J spent most of it looking like this.

The world's largest chocolate fountain has mesmerized her

This is the picture we were went for though.