4/25/12

Vegas Baby!

We had the most wonderful time celebrating Anna's 21st in Vegas!
Before I get into all the fun stuff, let me tell you what happened the day before we left for Vegas. McKenna had been on Amoxicillin for an ear infection and only had one more day left of it. It was last Wednesday when this all started. We had been playing outside that morning so when I saw a few little red bumps I just assumed she got bite by something. I washed all her sheets and clothes thinking it was chiggers. By 1am that night she was covered in hives and I realized it was an allergic reaction to the medicine.
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 So Thursday morning we took her to the doctor and he agreed it was an allergic reaction. He said it would get better on its own and didn't give us anything for it. By the time she woke up from her nap that day, it was only getting worse and her hands and feet was so swollen they were purple. I went into mom panic mode. The fact that we were leaving town the next day made me panic even more. We ended up taking her to the ER Thursday and they gave her some steroids and two other antibotics. I felt better that we were at least giving her something to control the hives. We drove to Bob's parents house to drop the kids off on Thursday night. We stayed there with them that night, our flight left Friday morning for Vegas. At 5am on Friday McKenna woke up crying and trembling. She couldn't stop shaking and again, I went into mom panic mode. Lucky for me my husband knows a little about all this medical stuff and is very patient with me:) He told his mom to not give McKenna the steroids anymore and that should stop the shaking. The hives were already looking so much better by this point too. So we left both girls for the first time and hopped on a plane. Have I mentioned that I HATE flying. Hate it. It makes me an anxious mess. I can talk myself up about it before hand and every time I think I have gotten better. I buy magazines and think how fun it is going to be to talk with Bob for 2 and 1/2 hours kid free and look through Sky Mall magazine and laugh at (but really wish I had) all the things in it. Then we take off and the death grip on Bob's arm begins. I don't want to talk or even look out the window. All I can do is lay my head down and try not to show my fear every time we have a little turbulence. And every time Bob tells me it's just like driving down a bumpy road or going over a speed bump. So all this to say, the flight there was extra nerve racking because of having to leave McKenna in the state she was in. Bob's parents are so wonderful and I knew they were in the absolute best hands. To finish up the hives story, she actually ended up getting even more hives after we left. It got so bad that my in-laws took her to a doctor in Dallas. She still had a really bad ear infection so she got some non-amoxicillin for that and two others for the hives. By the time we got home on Monday, she was back to new! Whew. 

Now, lets get onto the Vegas part!
I'll begin with the thing that started the whole trip off right. Matching shirts. duh.
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Don't let my dad's face fool you. He really did love the matching shirts. He is probably just in deep thought, thinking about how he can get away with wearing it everyday. 
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Anna wanted black shirts with neon ink and after some googling research I discovered heat transfer vinyl was going to be the way to go. Neon screen printing ink wouldn't show up enough on a black shirt without doing a layer of white ink first. That was so over my head and sounded like a lot of work. Ironing on vinyl sounded much easier and faster. So I thought. I found some neon heat transfer vinyl on Amazon. In my head I just kept thinking when it said heat transfer, that meant iron on. Not exactly. When the vinyl arrived I was so excited with the quality of it. It was bright neon colors and very thick. Professional grade thick, as in you need a professional heat press machine to make it work kind of thick. They do make iron on transfer vinyl, key word being IRON ON. The stuff I ordered was Heat Transfer Vinyl. I didn't have time to order anything different so I tried it out with my iron anyway. It didn't even come close to sticking on the shirts. My iron wasn't heavy or hot enough to go through the thick layers. Vinyls have a clear layer that you peel off after it is transferred onto the shirts. This is what makes everything so easy and straight when working with vinyl. I peeled the clear top layer off and replaced it with a thin piece of parchment paper to see if that would work and it did! I couldn't believe it! Even though this meant that I would have to hand place each and every letter and image, I didn't care. I was so excited it was actually going to work. It took a good hour just to do one shirt. It was so hard getting everything lined up straight and then when I would put the parchment paper on top, some letters would move. I still think it was all worth it though, I love how they turned out.
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We all traveled to Vegas in style with our matching shirts. Shades down and guns up is a classic Anna pose so it was perfect for the front of each shirt but I probably won't use the words "Guns Up" again if traveling by plane. We had a few security people ask about that part. Other than that though, Anna got a lot of Happy Birthdays.
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Anna's boyfriend Tyler just so happens to look just like Skrillix. Which I had no idea who that even was. People were doing double takes and you could hear them say "oh my gosh, that was Skrillix!" Someone even asked to get a picture with him. I felt like I was walking the streets with a celebrity. 
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Anna and Tyler thought it would be funny to post a pic on facebook of them in front of a wedding chapel and it was funny indeed! It got some good rumors going.
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My dad had been told about these supposedly lucky "Cherries Jubilee" slots over at MGM. It was one of the first places we went and couldn't wait to play them. We had been sitting down at them for about 5 minutes and lo and behold my mom hits the jackpot! She put in a 10 dollar bill and won 1000 dollars!!! We were flipping out! It was so fantastic! 
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Another big highlight of the trip was Garth Brooks of course. He is just amazing and gives you goosebumps the entire show! I love that it is just him on a stool with a guitar. 
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We headed downtown one night and enjoyed the light show. 
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It was to an awesome Bon Jovi mix that we rocked out to.
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You can't go to Vegas without seeing the Bellagio fountains and take pictures in front of random statues.
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We all tried to win big like my mom but it never happened again.
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Bob thought shades down and guns up would help his luck. not so much.
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I wish I had more pictures of this, but it happened so fast and I was laughing so hard I couldn't even pull my camera out. There was this group of girls having their own dance party in the lobby and Bob jumped right in with his hilarious dance moves. The girls LOVED it and then Tyler joined in to! It was so funny and the girls wanted them to have a dance off! Anna got a quick pic on her phone.
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It really was such a fun trip and I had so much fun with my family and Tyler. Thank you so much mom and dad for taking us to Vegas and thank you so much Dawn and Billy for keeping my two girls! 
I love you so much Anna and loved celebrating 21 with you Vegas Style!
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7 comments:

Amanda said...

Poor McKenna!! Hives are the worst! I hope that she never gets them again, but if she does, Aveeno makes an oatmeal bath that helps relieve the itchiness.

Vegas looks like a blast!

BrookeD said...

Way to go with those shirts!!!! Your hard work paid off! :)
Looks like such a fun time!! (minus the allergic reaction) And Garth, oh Garth....sigh...

Glad McKenna is all better!!

Lifethrualinds said...

I just LOVE all the Vegas pics!! The shirts are amazing! I am so jealous and wish I had one. Jojo winning $1000 on the luck slots...so fun...Tyler as skrillex...the wedding chapel...and of course GARTH! Love it. And poor McKenna. Her and kinley can wallow in their penicillin allergies together. Those hives are the worst! Love y'all so much!

Unknown said...

I can't believe you hand placed everything on those shirts. Actually I can. You are awesome and those shirts are awesome.

And I HATE flying too so I feel you there. We had to take a prop plane one Thanksgiving to get to Preston's grandparents' house and I cried the entire time!

Clymer Family said...

Oh my word - my daughter had the exact same reaction to penicillin and it was on the last day of dosage that it showed up! I also thought it was chiggers! It really was scary! When I look back at the pictures it just makes me want to cry! Glad your little one is okay!

Misty said...

Your shirts turned out awesome. :)

jojo said...

This was such a wonderful time with family! Thank you for getting the party started with the fantastic shirts. You are the most creative, loving, and beautiful daughter, wife, and sister!!! We love you so much!! Thank you for always making everything so fun!

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