The Ups and Downs of Moving

Wow. There are a LOT of ups and downs to moving! I am just now realizing that if I hate moving as much as I have with this move, we definitely picked the wrong way to pay for dental school.:) Although, I think half my problem stems from knowing we have to do all of this, all over again in a year. And then again after that....and after that....etc. Anyway, here are a few of the ups and downs that we've discovered over the last month or so: Finding one of these crawling right across my living room carpet one afternoon just after we'd gotten back from church was definitely a DOWNER. In fact, we'd just had the pesky pest control guys come and spray like a week before, so imagine my shock when I about stepped on the little guy-- if you consider a 2 inch scorpion "little." All I could think about was one of these guys crawling into Zachy's crib. Gives me the willies just thinking about it! Jonathan is assimilating into military life pretty quickly-- definitely an UP! He's got the salutes, the "Sir, yes, Sir's" down pat, and he loves the fact that we're now getting a salary even though technically he's still in school this year. It's been kinda weird to be at Wal-Mart with him while he's still in uniform and have people offer to buy him drinks, or let him ahead in line. I think he looks particularly handsome in his uniform! Another downer? The fact that contrary to what our rental company repeatedly assures us, the house we're living in appears to have been foreclosed on back in June. Go figure. Who knows when they were planning on telling us? It could be that the owner is just milking us for rent money and pocketing it, since he's already lost his house anyways. But since no 72 Hour Notice has appeared yet, we're hoping for the best! Another up? Lucy and Zach have been forced to play with each other a lot more since neither one has really made any friends yet. They actually have a pretty good time coming up with things they both can do. One of their favorites is riding in circles around and around the counter on Lucy's bike. My mom thought it was hilarious when she saw it-- Lucy singing at the top of her lungs and Zachy holding on for dear life! An interesting downer: Because Luce and Zach have been spending so much more time together, Zach has really taken to most of Lucy's interests as well (I'm sure because she shoves it down his throat). He loves wearing jewelry, pushing babies in the stroller, and the other day when I was painting Lucy's toe nails, Zachy was admiring them very intently until I was done. Then he stuck out his foot, like, "My turn!" How could I resist? At least it was only yellow polish, right? Just ask my mom how she laid into me when I dressed my little brother Taylor up like a girl when he was 2!!:)
On final "Up": Lucy has discovered that the large counter in the kitchen seconds as a stage. One morning I found her standing on top, belting out a princess song at the top of her lungs. We love that she's discovered her inner performer, thanks most likely to some show-stopping performance vibes she must be getting from living in Vegas. In fact, maybe it's something in the water. This is her rendition of "A Whole New World." We think....

Mesa Grill

Couldn't you just admire that mug all day long?!? I certainly could. This past Friday, Jonathan and I decided to kill the fatted calf and blow our entire month's date budget by going to Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay's premiere Las Vegas restaurant, while Jon's mom is in town and was willing to babysit for us.

And I know I lied and said we wouldn't be hitting the Strip again because we were all a little "Las Begused" out, but not even a week later there we were, heading right back into "Satan's Playground" (loved that one Aunt kay!), to Caesar's Palace to indulge in some $40 a plate cuisine, Bobby-style.


I wanted to take pictures of what we ordered, but Jonathan was panicking thinking it would have been totally tacky, so unfortunately I can't show you the food. But here's a description:
I got the 5-Spice Mole "Hacked" Chicken with a Roasted Tomato Tamale with Key-Lime Butter (it was magic on a plate!), and Jon got some kind of salmon that was really tasty, but I was too busy inhaling my tamale to pay attention.

The chicken itself was pretty good, but the mole was not as flavorful as I was hoping, and honestly, one of the best parts of the meal was the complimentary bread they set out. There was a Jalapeno Asiago that was AMAZING!! For dessert we got a "Deep Dish Banana Cream Pie" that was supposed to have Pecan Whipped Cream, but disappointingly (as I had a imagined a really thick crusted luscious pie), it was only a super thin wafer hazelnut cookie, with a layer of flavorless whipped cream, some fresh bananas, and more cream on top. Totally a let down, but since they weren't Bobby's desserts (he had a pastry chef) we won't knock him for it.

Okay, so grades?
TASTE: A-
PRICE: B (I know $40 a plate is relatively cheap for Las Vegas...but Jon's piece of salmon was pretty puny)
AMBIANCE: A
OVERALL EXPERIENCE: B+