De-virgin -ed concert go-er

I am no longer a concert virgin! Finally, at 28 years old.

Thursday evening, our best friend Dawn called me up before Nick got home from work. She scored (because she is full of awesomeness!) some very hard to get Garth Brooks tickets for the following evening. She had 3 extras and wondered if Nick and I would like 2 of them. I told her I would ask Nick and let her know as soon as he got home from work. I assumed he would say no. We all know what you make out of yourself when you ASSume things! I admit, I wasnt all excited to go. At all.

But Nick got home, I asked him and his response was, "Well, if its with Chuck and Dawn of course!"

So I called her back and let her know we would go.

(our tickets)

The next evening we were there. And it was AWESOME. Im not a country fan, Im not a fan of going to concerts, Im not a fan of staying out late. After all, I have TWO toddlers and I am in bed BEFORE 9 pm every single night...for the past 3.5 years.

 (The Wynn)

 (Us before the show)

(The view from our seats)

 (My view with the hubster next to me)

 (More of our view)

 (The friends behind me and Nick)

Im not one of those people who get 'star struck' at all. I even admit, before the show started when there were fans around who were all gung ho, I was just sitting there like no big deal...I felt a little guilty and thought for a moment that someone who was a big fan should have been in my seat. But after the show started, I was enjoying myself. ( I wish we were allowed to take pictures during the show.)



And I was really enjoying myself when he surprisingly introduced his wife onto the stage....Trisha Yearwood. And she sang a few songs along with a duet together that was fantastic.

After the show, we walked back through the Wynn, and while the ladies were taking a potty break Nick decided to toss ONE dollar into a slot machine...and he won $17. Nice. Free concert, Free cash.

Then we all decided that it was about 10 pm and we were all hungry. First thought was a Las Vegas buffet. But then we ended up on Fremont Street. And Freemont Street that late at night brings out the freaks. The weirdos you see on TV....We ended up in a little bar/pub type place tucked far back into a casino and the food was wonderful! I ended up getting Free Dinner because they forgot my order!

(View of Freemont St from the parking lot)

It was close to midnight when we walked out. Just in time for the Freemont Experience...the light show. And some more freak watching..LOL.

(Be glad I didnt get pictures of the other 'freaks' to torture you with. Next time folks, next time.

After that we all decided it was time to go. And we left the parking lot without paying for it! So, Free concert, Free cash, Free dinner, Free parking. 

It was a GREAT night with the BESTest friends, ever!

Alessi home progress!

As of 3March2012!

Now with utility poles. Going to drive by tonight to check out if anything has changed!

 FRONT:

 Where the front window and dining room will be.

 Garage area:

 Big pile of dirt in the front yard right in front of where the front door will be:

More craftiness!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Im a ditz and put the wrong year on here. Ooops.

And Im not a fan of that A. I want to get a wood A and paint it white and glue it on. So it still needs some minor adjustments. But overall, I am very happy with it.

Physical work has begun!

After 2 weeks and 2 days of pulling contracts, and permits.....our house has begun being built!

What a surreal feeling to stand there and look at it. To SEE something there in the dirt on the lot.

For our entire marriage, almost 10 years, we have moved from house to house. Not just base to base, but each base we have had at least 2 homes. Guam we had 3. We moved there, had Kayla and then upgraded a bedroom when Caden was born then moved again to enjoy life on the beach.

I am so happy to plant roots some place. Some place to call home. Some place that when our kids are asked, "Where are you from?" they can answer. They can have the privilege of being military brats but also have a home.

So its not just an area of dirt, but now it has the start of a home where many memories will be made.

                                 
                                       Aliante. Our town.

                                      Driving to our neighborhood.

                                     

                                      On the drive to our neighborhood, a sign by our builder.

                                        Here it is! Looking down our street.

                                      Future home!

                                   This would be looking at the garage.

                                          This would be looking at where the front window would be.

                                       Kayla playing around the side, and where our front door will be located.

                                       Kids playing around the side, our neighboring lot is still empty.

                                          Houses across the street almost finished.

 
                                      View looking down our street.

Family blocks

I got these ugly blocks from a local Mormon owned thrift shop that we now love, for only $1 each.

And with some paint I turned them into this. Im not happy with how the 2002 looks and if it continues to bother me, I might re-do it.

And yesterday's run time, 2 miles in 17:44.

My mojo is back!

Since our big life changing move I haven't had time, patience, or energy to exercise, or do crafty things. 

From the Aurora in Guam, we went into a hotel for our last 5 days there and the hotel had no treadmill although their website claimed they had a gym. Not cool. I did run outside once a couple days before we left. It was not easy. Running outdoors in Guam with such high humidity made it extremely difficult for me. So, I ran once and that was enough for me.

Then we got to Las Vegas and stayed for 10 days in the TLF, Temporary Lodging Facility where I only ran once outdoors. Not being used to the cold weather HURT. It hurt to breathe for hours after the run. 4 days later I became sick. (3 weeks later I still am) Between being sick, trying to get our bodies adjusted to the HUGE time change, trying to adjust to the dry cold weather (which I am still having problems with) and trying to house hunt, then building a house, then car hunting, then moving out of TLF into our friends house for 2 nights, then apartment hunting and moving into there....just had no time at all for anything for myself.

Now that we are a couple weeks into our apartment and finally getting a routine back, I am getting adjusted.

2 days ago I started running in the resort's gym. I DREADED going thinking it was going to miserably struggle since it had been so long since I ran. BUT, just the exact opposite. I think my body needed the long rest because now I am back at it better than I have ever been. My first run I did 2.2 miles and was not even tired. I ran at 6.6 mph the whole time, nonstop. Then yesterday I was back on the treadmill and did 2.5 miles, again EASILY at 6.7 mph. I hate to jinx it, but how the heck is it so easy for me to run this distance? Weird. Great! But still weird! 

Now that today is Monday and Nick is back to work, I can no longer run first thing in the morning while he watches the kids. Morning is my best. Now I must wait until he gets home from work to go run so he can watch the kids, which wont be until around 5 pm. I dont know how that is going to go...

I havent done any ab or arm workouts either. Shame shame shame. But today, that will begin again. Maybe just like running, it wont be as bad as I imagine? I hope.

Also now that our household goods are here, unpacked, stored and organized to the best that they can be in a 1,100 sq foot apartment...I have time to get back to crafting. I am currently working on several projects that I will share once they are finished. It feels nice to get back to these things.

A small catch up! LONG over due.

Sorry blog readers and friends and family. I am so behind on this blog! Between hotels, and not having internet, and being so super darn busy, I just haven't had the time or energy to put into blogging. I will just do a quick straight to the point catch up here. 

We left Guam. Kids did great. All except one flight Caden cried for 20 minutes before falling asleep. Poor kids couldnt get comfy. The cat....not a single peep from him from the time we left the hotel until the time we landed and drove 20 minutes to our  base hotel and got into there. Seriously. People didn't even realize our carry on bag had a 20 pound cat in it. He didn't pee or poop either! Dont know how that was possible on a 20 hour trip. Thank GOD for a perfect cat.

Hello LAS VEGAS!

                                                              3 days after arriving Caden had his 2nd birthday. I don't know what we would have done without our best friends. They threw him a party, from decor, to cake to presents, to food, to pinata. Lucky boy.

                                               
                                                      Our first weekend in town we must have looked at 15 houses under foreclosure. We had a couple favorites. We bid on one that we loved. We didn't get the bid after 5 long days of waiting to hear back. It was agonizing. Right then we decided we would build our own home. Brand new home to build put us back $211,000. The house we bid on was obviously not brand new and it was $212. Plus we got 14 grand in free upgrades for our home to be built. We didn't want to go this route because of the 4 month wait time to build but in the end decided the wait would be worth it.

                                    Here is our lot, pre house. Building should be begin anytime. This week is 2 weeks since contracts have been signed and a week since permits to build have begun being dug out. And its about 8 houses away from our best friends house. Things worked out better than we could have dreamed. We used to joke with them long ago when were stationed in Italy together, back in 2002-2005, that we would retire and live next to each other. Well folks, here you have it. Another dream of ours that we work hard for and make come true. That is what us Alessi's do :)

Sp our 3,125 sq foot, potential 6 bedroom home will sit right here on Pink Desert St in North Las Vegas and should be done early to mid June 2012. 

 Not sure why some picture uploaded out of order, but here is Guam upon take off. BEAUTIFUL!

                                                        We have been here 24 days now, and have had time once to explore a little of down town Las Vegas.