valentines...

We pulled into our garage early this morning after a lovely weekend of family, friends, vegas, and a little billy joel...

Here's how our weekend went:

Thursday evening: My brother Matt and his wife Belize arrive in town. We all go see the much anticipated (at least in the Hamilton family) movie, The Pink Panther 2. After laughing our heads off, we come home to new episodes of The Office and 30 Rock. It was a very entertaining night. 

Friday evening: After getting a delivery of beautiful flowers and a very thoughtful v-day gift, we get another babysitter and head over to my cousin's birthday party to see his sweet new baby. After holding her and getting a tinsy bit baby-hungry, we say our goodbyes and reserve a table at my new fav restaurant Ottavios. A few appetizers and desserts later, we are very full and done for the night.

Saturday morning: We wake up early to pack and begin the 6 hour drive to Vegas. Of course, we leave later than we plan, get stuck in some serious snow, and stop way more than necessary...but we arrive at our friends' house in Vegas with time to spare before the big Valentines Day evening. 

Saturday evening: We get yet another babysitter and head to dinner with our friends. We had planned to go to a nice dinner, but realizing that we were running out of time to get to the big event of the night, we stop at Jack in the Box for a romantic-but-slightly-white-trash meal. After large quantities of sourdough jacks and curly fries, we drive to the MGM Grand to see the Billy Joel concert (my V-day gift to Caton). The concert was so fun and after a few hours of the piano man, we are very happy and very tired.

Sunday: We get to spend a lovely Las Vegas day  lounging about in our pajamas (except for when we went to church). Layla is in heaven playing with her best friend Shayla and Jack finds a new role model in the 8-year-old Christian (he just followed Christian around all day and mimicked his every move).

Sunday evening: We say our goodbyes and hit the road. The drive home isn't that bad but as we pull into our garage at 2:30 am, I resolve to never drive late at night again...so painful!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the weekend. Thank you to Sam and Annjeanette for letting us stay with you! We always have so much fun!