Oregon Vaughns

This has been a summer of weddings!  Well, 3 total for us.

Andy went to Garth and Bonnie’s wedding in June (in Dallas, Texas).  I, unfortunately, had to teach so could not attend.  Garth and Andy had been good friends since elementary school.  And, we had the pleasure of meeting Bonnie when she and Garth came to our wedding!

Andy, Lily and I also attended Kristy and Kenny’s wedding in June!  It was a beautiful wedding with perfect weather and Black Butte Ranch right outside of Bend.  Kristy, as most people know who read this blog, has been a friend of mine since elementary school.  We are so happy for she and Kenny.

And just last weekend, we all attended Melissa and Alan’s wedding in Dallas, Oregon at Beckenridge Vinyard.  It too, was a beautiful setting with great weather (although a little hot).  I was a bridesmaid and had a great time reuniting most of our elementary school clan to celebrate this day.  As I type, Melissa is enjoying her “surprise honeymoon” in Costa Rica for 12 days.  Alan planned it all on his own and did not tell Melissa where they were going until their wedding day.

Here is a picture of Lily getting ready for Kristy’s wedding.  She wore the same dress at Melissa’s wedding too.

In June, Andy and I got to go (with my dad) down to Las Vegas for a few days.  Lily stayed with Nama (my mom).

Poker, poker, poker…. My dad did excellent in the WSOP Seniors Event.  He got 22nd out of 3,752 entrants.  Amazing!

That was the highlight of our poker trip.

But, we also went to enjoy the good food that Vegas has to offer.  Andy and I are wannabe restaurant and food critics.  We follow chefs on certain shows (Top Chef, Iron Chef, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, anything on Food Network really).  So, we are always looking for new things to try.

Here are some notable things we ate in Vegas:

What: Coffee Macaron
Where:  Payard Patisserie in Caesar’s Palace
Why: Chef Wolfgang Puck picked this as “The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Nutty”
Verdict? Delicious.

What: 20 Vegetable Fried Rice
Where: China Poblano in The Cosmopolitan (CityCenter)
Why: A chef chose this as “The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Las Vegas.” We do not know what chef chose this because the episode has not yet aired! We will find out soon.
Verdict? The fried rice was delicious. We also ordered guacamole with fresh, hot, hand-made corn tortillas. The guacamole had a little heat to it and it was amazing.

What: Tempura Alaskan King Crab, Baked Crab Hand Roll, Tempura Vegetables, Braised Kobe Beef Short Ribs
Where: Yellowtail at the Bellagio (executive chef Akira Back)
Why: Chef Beau MacMillan chose the Tempura Alaskan King Crab as “The Best Thing I Ever Ate: With Chopsticks.”
Verdict? It was all amazing and cooked to perfection. The tempura crab and vegetables were light and flavorful. However, the hit of the meal was the Baked Crab Hand Roll. This thing was to-die-for. The sauce inside of the roll was full of flavor and spice. I would go back and just order this roll.

Bad lighting, but this is the tempura king crab and tempura vegetables

This is the to-die-for handroll.  We still talk about it:

What: Pizza Margherita
Where: Wolfgang Puck Pizzeria at Crystals (CityCenter)
Why: I was hungry.
Verdict? $14 pizza. Great value for Vegas. Great taste.

What: The Buffet of Buffets. This is a 24-hour unlimited pass to 7 of the Harrah’s Buffets in Vegas. It only costs $45 bucks. This is an unbelievable value and it allows you to try some of the best that Vegas has to offer.

Breakfast was at the Buffet at the Rio: It was OK. Fairly large in size. Classic Vegas buffet.

Lunch was at the Caesar’s Palace Buffet: Much better than it was 5 years ago, when we lived there. In fact, this was one of the best buffets we have been to in a long time.

Dinner was at the Paris Village Buffet: Awful! We were so disappointed, as this used to be our favorite buffet on the strip 5 years ago (and we tried most of them). The dessert station was messy, the meats were not as high quality or cooked as well on the roasting table. We could go on, but bottom line is don’t go there. What used to be Vegas’ best kept food secret, has turned into its shame a la Francia.

Desserts at Paris Buffet.  Not what they used to be….. Still disappointed.

Well, I know I have promised so many blog posts and updates that have just not happened.

Trust me… I have a few blog posts in the works: reviews on Las Vegas trips with pictures of delicious foods! and a few others… But, for some reason, I have not had the time to post.

This summer has been an endless list of visits to Corvallis, visitors in Bend, and just busy go-go-go. We have loved every minute of it but have rarely had any moments to ourselves (and this means no computer time for me). It is August? Where has summer gone? I go back to work August 29th!

I will promise again. Blog posts, photos, and summer updates are coming. Just keep checking in.

Some quotes to leave you with.

Andy says: “Now I know the disadvantages to this sleek, aerodynamic hair style.”

Lily says: “Mama, can you call Shauna to ask her if Winter has 2 or 3 legs? Lily can’t remember.”

I am way behind on updates and posts. There are many coming soon, promise. One day you will check this blog and there will be 30 new posts of what has been going on.

In the meantime, here is a video of Lily that I made a few months back. She is obsessed with her babies. She has three: Stripes Baby, Pink Baby and her latest, Heart Baby with Milk.

Only two babies are featured in this video (this was before Heart Baby came along). She puts the babies nigh nigh routinely. They need plenty of blankets.

embedded by Embedded Video

YouTube Direkt- Babies Going Nigh Nigh

Andy was playing poker last night and Lily took a late nap.  So, we she awakened at 7:30pm, we decided to go out for a late dinner (just Lily and I).  She said she needed to go to a restaurant to eat some mum-mums.  When I asked her which restaurant, she replied “Tomo’s” (a sushi/bento place).  Tomo’s is on the opposite end of town, so I decided to take her elsewhere.

We ended up at Izzy’s.  A good move because Lily eats free there.  And, after I had got all of our food, Lily turned to me and said:

“Thank you Mama for taking Lily to the restaurant with pizza,” and then she gave me a kiss.

What a sweet girl.

Then, we (I) left her jacket there.  We called to make sure they found it, but we were already almost home and told the manager we would pick it up tomorrow.  After I got off the phone, Lily said: “Lily no needs to go get jacky, man mail it to Lily.”

On a side note, but also about Lily… In the past month or so, she has started drawing things.  Not just scribbling on a page, but drawing with purpose.  Good thing she is still able to interpret her art to me   She draws airplanes, houses, flowers, “LILY”, the number 2, robots, etc…. Yes, they all look the same, but her imagination makes all that drawing possible.

Lily has been waking up around 3/4am every night.  She no longer sleeps gated in to her room, so she is free to roam the house when she wakes…. However, when she wakes at 3am she walks straight into our bedroom (don’t worry, we aren’t worried that she will actually roam the house).  So anyway, she will climb into bed with us and finish her sleep until around 7 or 8am.

Well, let me preface this story by saying that Lily has never been lost (yet).  She has never been lost in a store or left behind or been in a situation where mom and dad have disappeared….

Continuing:  Around 4am, while in bed with Andy and I, Lily began to cry in her sleep.  I comforted her and she awakened a little.

Lily:  “Mama?”

Me:  “Yes honey, Mama’s here.”

Lily:  “Lily can’t find you in the store.  Lily cried.”

So there was her bad dream.  It is amazing to me that this is something she could create a fear for when it is something she hasn’t experienced.

We snuggled and she went back to sleep.

Here is an email that I received from Andy today:

“According to Lily, Shauna says that Lily is going to have a new baby soon. I asked her if it would be a new baby like “Stripes Baby,” and she said that it would be a new baby like Winter.

Also, Lily asked today if Shauna was an aunt. I replied yes. She then said, “Shauna is a little bug.”

Funny girl.”

Me:  “Lily, would you like to drink some hot milk and watch Modern Family?”

Lily:  “Yes indeed.”

I am not sure how this happened… but Lily’s new favorite movie????

I thought Spring Break would never come… It looks like I will actually survive my first year as a high school teacher.  Who knew?

We are spending the first few days of Spring Break in Corvallis visiting my parents.  This has consisted of: lots of speed chess matches between Andy, my dad and myself, some poker, and not enough sleep (#3 due to #2).  Tomorrow, we will head back to Bend to spend the rest of Spring Break relaxing and hopefully organizing the garage and getting “more moved in.”  I am sure there will be more chess and poker involved too.

I have a bunch of stuff I need to sell either or craigslist or on eBay.  I have never sold stuff on eBay, but my cousin says it is very easy.  Feedback?  Who has done what?  What would you recommend?

Shauna and Winter came out for a visit last week.  Lily loved having both of them around — we all did, but Lily especially.  She talks about them often.  I will post some photos and videos of their visit soon.

I have lots of things on my “To Do” list for this break.  One of these items, which I can now cross off, was to update our blog.  If you look below, you will see many new blog posts, photos and videos.  Enjoy!