Las Vegas, and FarmVille

We headed out to Las Vegas last weekend and met up with all kinds of friends!

Ron Malnar & Jamie were flying in from Chicago, and Tom & Maggie Dupart flew from Detroit.  Both guys are high school friends of Rick's.  We all met at the Golden Nuggett in downtown Las Vegas.  While we have gone there on some previous trips, we never stayed there.  It was a fun and different way to enjoy the city. 

Number 1, it costs less there.  We stayed in the new Rush Tower at the Golden Nuggett.  

2nd, the casinos are very close together so we could walk around to several of them.  

We drank more than a few $2.00 Corona's.   Ate more than we should, and, the lucky ones came home "almost even".  

On Friday night we did go down to The Strip to see Cirque du Soleil's "Beatles Love".  The music and sound system was incredible.  What great music those Beatles created!  The Cirque's acrobats sure are amazing.

On Saturday Rick's nephew's Jeff and Joe came to meet us.  And then so did Jeff Johnson, whom we have not seen in many years.  (Although we saw his parents last October in Chicago.)  Jeff is attending UNLV.   All 9 of us went out for dinner that evening. One of the funniest parts of dinner was when several of us started discussing our FarmVille Farms!  (more on that later.)  Julian would be proud!

Sunday morning meant the others had to fly back home.  Rick and I hung around till Monday when we went to visit his former Ford co-worker Ray and his wife Sharon who have retired in Las Vegas.  They took us for a short drive to the Red Rock mountains.  Whew.... the wind was really blowing and the temp was only 40!  We didn't stay out of the car long.  I don't think Sharon got out at all!

Crazy Ray!  Still fun.  Cooked us a great dinner too!  It turns out we have all been cris-crossing vacations around California and so we've made plans to get them out to San Diego, and maybe even meet up in San Francisco in April.

Oh, and Ray, well he has 2 or 3 farms on FarmVille.  And his grand-daughter has 10!  I guess Julian should have a job for awhile!

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Alexis & Jon's Wedding!

Carolyn flew in from San Diego to Chicago, then drove to Michigan with Joanne. Amber took the train. Rick and I flew in Tuesday night. Joel flew in from Las Vegas, while Julian flew in from San Francisco Thursday night! People were coming from all over! And that's just OUR family! We were ready to let the celebrations begin! Here's some of how it went.

NOTE FOR SLIDESHOWS BELOW: You can click on the slideshow arrow to watch it, OR, click on the picture anywhere other than the arrow, and it will take you to Picasa Web Albums for full-screen size photos one at a time.

Girly stuff: Alexis and some of the girls got nails trimmed, cleaned, polished, and pampered on Friday morning. Oh those leg and foot massages are so wonderful and relaxing! The boys were out having fun with a day of golf together.

Friday night, Mr. and Mrs. Randy Schwarz hosted a beautiful Rehearsal Dinner in the Conservatory of the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester Hills. It is such a nice hotel and what a beautiful room! It was fancier than our wedding!

Jon's Dad expressed how happy they are to have Alexis as part of their family, and ours feels the same about Jon!

Lexi and Jon met at Michigan State -- hence the MSU cake! We captured a picture of all the Spartans - current and past!





Saturday morning began early with Alexis and the girls getting ready with hair and make-up preparations:

While Michigan skies threatened now and then, the girls arrived and the excitement was really growing. The ceremony took place at the Chapel of the Academy of the Scared Heart in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It seemed as if Alexis floated up the aisle.

Look at Alexis dance:


All her planning and choices paid off: Her dress was fabulous, with her veil, hair, and make-up perfect! Great Oaks looked beautiful with the flowers, and even tables and chairs were draped gracefully.

Alexis looked stunning, incredible!
Jon looked handsome and happy!
They danced the night away with friends and family.

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The Day After:
Here Kevin displays how we all felt Sunday morning at the brunch:

While Anna and Leah show how we felt about leaving:

The Newlyweds are somewhere in Cabo relaxing in the sand and sun, and warm ocean breezes!
We all wish them a wonderful, loving, life together!

Check back: I'll be adding more photos, and some movies!

You may leave Alexis and Jon a "hello" or any message below (click on "comments").

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RICK AND FORD:

Meanwhile, Rick is getting his fill of great Detroit food!

NANCY AND GM:

And we are getting a chance to visit with lots of friends. Here's Melinda's Blog about our GM night in Royal Oak: Mindy's Blog

And here are my pictures:
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Anna's "magic trick" - wish I could rotate movies........

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