Day 337, Friday, December 3rd, 2021
Homemade Ice Cream
One of my birthday gifts last year was an ice cream maker. It’s surprisingly easy to use and since my mother likes ice cream more than anyone else I know, it’s an easy treat to make for her when I think of it. I mentioned in passing that I just forget to put heavy cream and whole milk on the grocery list… and next time I went to the store, guess what was on mom’s grocery list? She’s so cute. She really does love ice cream more than anyone I’ve ever known. And that’s saying something because I really love ice cream too!
Day 337, Friday, December 3rd, 2021
Oreo Ice Cream
My favorite flavor of homemade ice cream to make so far is Oreo. I keep tweaking the recipe and now I think I have it just about perfected. I take just the outer chocolate cookie part of the Oreo and crush up about 2 cups worth of cookies in my Vitamix blender. Mom snags the cream filling to use on graham crackers for a treat the next day. I add the crushed Oreo powder to the ice cream base after about 20 minutes in the ice cream maker. After putting the ice cream into a container to freeze, I swirl in another cup of crumbled Oreos to get the bigger cookie chunks. Yum!
Day 338, Saturday, December 4th, 2021
No photos today.
Day 339, Sunday, December 5th, 2021
No photos today.
Day 340, Monday, December 6th, 2021
First Family Christmas Shoot
Jenny and Wyatt recently got engaged (yay!!! congratulations!!!) and Jenny wanted me to take some pictures of them for their first Christmas card together. She and Wyatt came down on her birthday and brought their dogs, Granger (Jenny’s) and Sonya (Wyatt’s). They all changed into Christmas pajamas, yes even the dogs, and we took some photos in the backyard. So cute!
Day 340, Monday, December 6th, 2021
Newly Engaged Jenny and Wyatt
This was my favorite picture of the series. My sweet little Angel on Earth is getting married. Aren’t they adorable?
Day 340, Monday, December 6th, 2021
Happy Birthday Jenny
Jenny wanted cupcakes for her birthday treat so I got a variety of chocolate and vanilla from the H-E-B bakery. They have the most delicious cupcakes! I put all of the cupcakes into a pan so that I could decorate the tops of them with a happy birthday message and 30 individual candles. It’s not every day that your little girl turns 30!!! We also celebrated with Jenny’s dad, Robby, and his wife, Denise. It was so nice to have a full house. I made Chef Boyardee pizzas for our main meal, a blast from both of our childhood’s (hers and mine!). OhEmGee so delicious!
Day 341, Tuesday, December 7th, 2021
Splat Fail
Dominic really wanted to have his hair colored bright vivid pink so I picked up some temporary hair color called Splat. It’s supposed to wash out over 10 washes. The packaging said to leave it on for a short time for light pink and a longer time for dark pink. However because his hair was already a little dark and already red, the color really did not show up at all. Oh well, Splat fail! (Except for his scalp… that turned bright pink, lol!)
Day 342, Wednesday, December 8th, 2021
Bemused Shopping Partner
Curtis and I did some panic shopping on Wednesday before leaving for Vegas on Thursday. (If I haven’t shared yet, Jenny and Wyatt invited us to go to Vegas with them to celebrate her 30th birthday.) He really needed some comfortable walking shoes and new jeans. I needed some comfortable walking boots and some new shirts. I struck gold at Penney’s and he had good luck at Men’s Wearhouse. He wasn’t too thrilled with me snapping a photo but he’s a good sport most of the time when I pull out my camera.
Day 343, Thursday, December 9th, 2021
Wyatt and Jenny Dressed for Dinner
We had a direct flight out of Austin to Vegas mid-day on Thursday. It was so cool to see Jenny and Wyatt at the airport and get to be on the same flight with them. Once we got to Vegas, we checked into the Bellagio, and unpacked. Jenny and Wyatt were on the top floor (26th) and we ended up on the 22nd floor. We got ready for dinner, had a drink at one of the Bellagio bars, then went over to the Venetian for dinner. Wyatt and Jenny looked so nice!
Day 343, Thursday, December 9th, 2021
The Crew at Lavo
Jenny had made reservations for 8 at Lavo restaurant, a highly rated Italian restaurant located at the Venetian. Joining us was Jenny‘s best friend Selena and her husband Tucker (on the far right) as well as Jenny‘s friend Laura and her husband Tommy. They were all very welcoming of us joining them! The food was good, the service was excellent, and the company was incredible. We had the loveliest meal.
Day 343, Thursday, December 9th, 2021
SlotZilla Zipline
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and changed clothes. Then we met up with everybody on Fremont Street for one of Curtis’s birthday gifts… the SlotZilla Zip Line. Fremont Street is so cool. They created an arched roof over 5 blocks of Fremont Street connecting the two sides, and the roof is a giant screen where the Viva Vision Light Show is projected. There are multiple casinos, restaurants, and even live music stages!
Our SlotZilla flight time was 11:20 pm and we got there early so we had a drink to calm our nerves. There are 2 ways to zip line, seated or super hero style. We did the super hero style which starts 4 stories up and goes the entire length of the indoor section of Fremont Street. Selena and Wyatt went first with two other people then Jenny, Curtis, and I got to go together. I purchased the digital photo package so these next few pictures were provided by SlotZilla.
Day 343, Thursday, December 9th, 2021
Holly Near the End
I’m not a terribly adventurous person so I was really proud of myself for trying this! Jenny and I both got a little nervous the higher up we climbed (4 stories is high!) but the safety harness and checks were very thorough. Watching others take off was reassuring too. They had us lay down flat on our stomachs on a bench that went up and down, then they hooked us up to the equipment, lowering the bench until we were dangling. There was a gate in front of us that lowered then we took off. Our body weight determined how fast we went. I kept my arms out the whole time! I felt more like an angel soaring over the crowd than a super hero.
Day 343, Thursday, December 9th, 2021
We Did It!
When we finished our ride, all three of us were full of laughter and adrenaline. It was so much fun!!! I would totally do something like this again (but maybe not 100 stories high) and Curtis wished it was longer. I highly recommend this adventure to anyone visiting Vegas.
Thanks for looking!
