Monday, September 8, 2008

Gay & Ernie's Wedding!



THE CELEBRATED TWO!
  GAY AND ERNIE - - WEDDING DAY!!
September 5th, 2008




The "Rock Stars"


Sharon, Steve and Sherman (humm?  Why does Steve have the smile on his face?- - Sherman always does!)


Teri and John


Sharon, Teri & Sherman (with his buddy he brings along on cruises! - - STOP IT!)


Mary, Teri & Brian - - miss you guys!  


Steve and past co-worker (wedding coordinator) Bev!


Sharon, Ernie & Sperman!  (okay, that's his nickname!) 


Ernie and Gay dancing (Gay - you da bomb  - danced and danced and danced - - wish I had your energy!)  


John & Stevie boy


Steve and the Cagels!

One of our favorite eating places (eat your heart out Pat!) and YES we stopped and YES we ate and ate and ate.  



Ernie & his best man

More "rock star" with Ernie and Gay



Hey!  GET A ROOM!




The Reception - makes ya want to SHOUT!

  
Steve and Sherman dancing to "Shout" - Steve had a little problem getting up after going to "low" - haha - - Sherman did well getting "down" though!  I think this video is CLASSIC!  Watch for more views on America's Funniest Videos and You Tube.  

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Vegas!

Yes, this happened while we were staying AT HARRAH'S and were probably eating breakfast or brushing our teeth at the time. Like I have told the friends I was with (Alena & Mike) - - I think they were not the only one's robbed (joke). And like Alena said - - that's how they re-cooped their loses - - machines were not good to us. So this guy probably took all winnings we could even dream of! Steve got a little lucky on Sunday night hitting a 3 of a kind at 3 card poker. I joined Brian, Matt, Mike, & Steve for a lesson in blackjack. . . and actually it was pretty fun. I started with $100.00 and played for an hour and a half and thought my chips looked pretty good - - - so cashed in. Left with $100.00 - - so that was fun. (Anytime you can play in Vegas for an hour and a half and not be down is a good run! :)


Steve and I ventured back to the restaurant that Diane, Rose, Vickie and I went to when we did the girls Vegas thing. I really wanted him to experience it. It was WONDERFUL again. If anyone ventures to Vegas is in the mood for Italian GREAT food - - go to Battistas -- ( http://www.battistaslasvegas.com) - behind the Flamingo. It's a short walk from the back doors of the Flamingo. Wow, the food was to die for. For your $20 - $30.00 entree you get wine (as much as you want), great Italian Salad, Garlic Bread to die for, Entree, and a cappuccino to top it all off! It is going to be a "go back to" place for me. Steve loved it too.


Friday Night: While Michelle was busy watching Oz dog, (thank you!) A whole gang of people met up in Vegas and of course the first night started off at Toby Keith's bar (where Brooke and Matt met up with wedding guests who were arriving a while back). Steve and I got to visit with Brian's mom and dad and almost all that were in for the bowling tournament were there. It was great seeing all and we had a great time.


Saturday: The next morning we met up with Alena and Mike, had breakfast - - then ran into the rest of the bunch. We walked the strip and ended up at an Irish place called O'Shea's. I went directly (do not pass go) to the penny slots in the back that I had been lucky at ($200.00 winnings at this point). . . .and wow - - they were still nice to me. Another $100.00 - - and it plays great music. . (I play machines for the music - not the odds, then I can kind of look at it as a juke box! lol) Brian, Teri, Steve, Alena and Mike ended up at our hotel (Harrah's) where we just hung out for awhile, ate dinner and went to bed.


Sunday: (love Vegas) - - got up at noon - - ate breakfast at 1:00 - - and just relaxed and relaxed. Met up with Brooke, Matt & Brooke's Dad at Flamingo at which point Steve and I went to that GREAT Italian place - Battistas! We came back to Flamingo and walked to Harrahs where we were staying. I was wiped by this point (too much fun for one weekend) so I went up to bed. While laying in bed I was watching the news and the Vegas news reported that there had been a robbery at Harrah's! Well, between Alena and I we figured out we were probably still sleeping in when this happened. . . so guess we missed it. We, do (however) think that we got robbed also - - the machines just went DEAD! (making up loses from the robbery?) Okay, we really don't believe that, but we have to have some excuse for the slot machines not paying off!


It was a great weekend with the best of friends & family. A big thank you to Claire and Michelle for taking care of the Oz dog. A big CONGRATS to Lindsay Roberts on her upcoming marriage. . . (sorry I couldn't make your shower - - too busy getting robbed in Vegas. . lol)


FLY YOUR FLAG FOR LABOR DAY! Everyone have a great holiday weekend. Steve and I are off to Peoria next Thursday. Can't wait to see fam and friends!


Until then - - I'm signing off. . . . scroll down for pictures of Vegas (sorry - - only took a few) and video of Ozzie's new tricks - - lol - -NO REALLY!


Good bye until next time


Sunday:

Harrah’s robbery suspect sought

Mon, Aug 25, 2008 (3:08 p.m.)

Surveillance video image

Surveillance video image

Metro Police are asking for the public's help after a man robbed the main cashier's cage at Harrah's at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

The man took an undisclosed amount of money, police said.

The suspect is described as 35 to 40 years old, 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-8, 160 to 175 pounds, very short hair and last seen wearing a white and brown striped, short-sleeved shirt, light-colored shorts, black and white tennis shoes and prescription, wire-framed glasses.

The man was last seen on Las Vegas Boulevard South, flagging down and getting into a white cab with red markings, heading southbound.

Police said the man should be considered dangerous.

Anyone with information can call Metro's robbery section at 828-3591 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 385-5555. A cash reward may be available to the person providing information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspect.


Steve and Teri outside of Harrahs


Mike & Alena with the "big joker"
Steve and Brian at Harrahs
Alena and Mike in front of Harrahs
Teri & Steve again at Harrahs
Mike & Alena outside Harrahs
Mike & Alena
Mike & Alena

Teri & Steve out in front of hotel

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Returning to Peoria and stuff

Steve and I will be returning to Peoria for Gay and Ernie's wedding. We are really looking forward to the celebration. The wedding is September 6th.

Summer has found us lounging around the pool with family & friends. As seen on earlier posts, we recently replaced our front doors and they look great. We now have "invisible" screens on the front door, which allows a nice breeze to go through our house. Our living room used to be the warmest room in our house and now it's more comfortable watching TV at night without having to run air conditioning.

UPDATE ON PREGOS: Heather Nelson (my sis-in-law, Eric's wife) is due any day - as is Claire Adams (Michelle's good friend) . She's ready to pop! Brooke is next in line with an expected due date of November 28th. . .then comes Michelle who is due on December 1st. Then Courtney (Michelle's friend) and I can't remember her due date. So babies, babies, babies - all over the place. (Guess it was a boring winter?) Other than the normal aches and pains of pregnancy (ribs hurting, back hurting, indigestion, tired, going to the bathroom all the time) - everything seems to be moving along for all. Michelle & Brooke are majorly feeling the activity in their bellies and I even felt Michelle's baby when I put my head near her stomach to sing to him. (I don't think he liked it - he kicked me in the cheek! Kind of like Simon on American Idol saying "Get a real job").

We will venture to Vegas this weekend for the annual bowling tournament. This is always great fun because of all the people going. Alena & Mike Raby, Bob and Linda Elrod (Brian's parents), Doug & Debbie (Brian's aunt & uncle), Mark & Nick Roberts, Lindsay (Nick's fiancee and Brian's cousin), Matt & Brooke, Brian (no Michelle this time, she opted out knowing that she probably wouldn't have any fun in Vegas while pregnant - so she's watching our dog). Dan King, Steve Adams (no Claire - she's ready to pop! We just hope Steve is there for the whole weekend and doesn't get called home because Claire is in the hospital.) So, as you can see it's a big group of people and we always have so much fun. I'll try to capture some of the moments in photos and post to this blog later.

We received an e-mail from Anna (our former exchange student from Iceland) and she is trying to plan to come stay with us next March or April with her family. We can not wait! We had such a wonderful time with them the last time they were here. Nothing written in stone yet, but she said they're looking into tickets.

REST OF THE FAM: Matt remains working for Enterprise and Brooke remains layed off from her former job doing mortgage lending. Michelle continues to work for University of Phoenix as a Enrollment Trainer. She positively loves her job and it is right down the alley of her degree in Speech communications. She is often training students in a class and speaks in front of them for most of the day. Brian remains at Elrod Fence (his Grandfather's company) as a crew supervisor. Steve and I do our daily grind at Rey Nelson Printing, Inc.

For those in Peoria - we'll "See you in September" (if you're old enough, you'll remember the song!) Can't wait to see everyone. That's our news! Please e-mail to share yours!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Michelle & Steve say HI!

Here's Michelle, Steve and Grandson to be saying hi!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Boring Day at the Dickerson home



Chelsea doing the whole "text thing" while Steve sleeps in the background

Guess I wasn't good company on this night.  Jokes didn't go over so well!