Word World

Thought this was really cute. They are watching Word World. It's the one show that they will both watch quietly. It's 30 minutes of bliss.

Birthday Bowling

We celebrated Nelson's birthday at the Roy Sparetime. Nelson is a league bowler and we thought that it would be fun to take him and the whole family out for a night of bowling. It was a lot of fun to bowl with everyone ex specially the two little ones. It was hilarious how excited Gabbi and Ellie got when they hit a pin. Even if it was just one. I think everyone had a blast. Some even played the arcade games. We wanted to do the batting cages too, but it was bad weather that day, so they didn't have them open. I made Nelson a bowling ball cake out of cupcakes. It was fun to try and put that together. My first to use the cupcake method. Thanks for the idea Jeff and Tiff. It turned out to be a great family outing. Hope Nelson had a great 51st birthday.

I wish I had better pictures. Because of the black light for neon bowling the majority of my pictures are blurry and the ones that weren't no one was looking at me. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Potty Training update

So, still not happening. While we were in Las Vegas, mom was taking her potty while she was watching her. She went three days in panties with only two accidents. I was so excited to hear this. Gabbi even called us a couple of time so excited that she had gone potty in the toilet. Well we get home and find out how mom did it and we tried to incorporate it at our house. She fought and scram and absolutely refused to go to the potty for us. We tried to talk it up and everything. Nothing. I am at my whits end, right now, she can stay in diapers for all I care. That girl drives me crazy.

Cute as can be

We like to alternate the different items we have for Owen to sit in, so he doesn't get to boarded with one or the other. We have a bouncer, a bumbo, a swing, and this johnny jumper. Gabbi loves it when he's in the jumper because she thinks it's a giant swing for her to push him in. He's not so sure about that one. But I just thought this was the cutest picture. I put him in the jumper and I went to fold my laundry. Came back a little while later and he was asleep.

Las Vegas Day 2

After a very much needed night of sleep, we got up in the morning and got ready for the day. We had a light breakfast at the hotel because we had planned on going to a buffet later that morning. Once we hit the strip, we first went to Circus Circus. It was fun walking around the dome, but it was very dead. They didn't open up until 10 and it was 9:30 when we were walking through. When we were walking back through all their shops to go back to the car. I was a beaded jewelry store. I have a thing with jewelry, so we stopped. Ben and I made a life bracelet for me. It was a lot of fun. We have our birthstone colors with a heart and each child has their birthstone color with a token for them. Gabbi has a crown because she's a princess and Owen has a baseball because he is going to be a sporty boy with his daddy. I love it.

Once we were done putting the bracelet together and paid for it, we finally headed back to the car and headed down the strip. We went to the Luxor because that was were our next show was. Before we headed to the Titanic exhibit we went to their buffet to eat. It definitely wasn't as good as other buffets that I have had, but it was at least something to eat.

Once we were done eating we headed to the Titanic Exhibit. It was an Exhibit dedicated to those lost and those who survived the horrible night. The exhibit will run for 10 years in the Luxor Hotel. It opened up in 2008. It was one of the best I have seen. They had artifacts from the ship, stories of people on the ship, and even a section of the ship that they exhumed from the ocean. It was a very moving and touching exhibit. I found it interesting that there were quite a few people who died on the Titanic and they weren't even supposed to be on the ship. A strike at the time, closed some ships voyages and bumped its travelers to the Titanic, the captain of the Titanic was planning to retire, but the ship liner company begged him to be the Captain one last time, and even the Architect of the ship, his partner was supposed to be on the maiden voyage, but had something come up. It was very sad to hear all the different stories of many different passengers. On of the cool parts of the exhibit were replica's. They made a replica of the grand staircase, stay rooms, and even the deck. The deck room was my favorite. You walked through a door into a dark room. It was lite up by stars and they way they had positioned the mirrors, it really looked like you were on that deck that went on forever. It was the coolest thing. Overall, the exhibit was eye opening and very worth the money to see it.

After the Titanic show we had one more show to hit. The Secret Garden's at the Mirage. I love white Siberian Tigers and couldn't wait to see them. When we got there you first see the dolphin ponds. They have four of them. They actually bread and raise the dolphins right there at the hotel. They had, I think 8 dolphins all together. Maybe one more, one less. There oldest dolphin is 8 years old and was actually born there at the hotel.

They don't have choreographed shows, but the trainers work with them all throughout the day, doing different things. When they're not working with their trainers, you can observe them from the observation tunnel below the ponds.

Once you've had your fill of the dolphins, you continue down the park to look at their majestic cats. The house White Siberian Tigers, an Orange Tiger, Snow Leopards, and even a White Lion. I had never seen or even heard of a White Lion, I was very excited to see something new. Also my favorite type of animal is the White Siberian and has been for the longest time. Needless to say, I was looking forward to the cat portion of the park.

I couldn't believe how much these big cats were like house cats. We were watching a trainer with twin White Siberian cubs. By the looks of them, you wouldn't call them cubs. They were 8 1/2 months old and were almost fully grown, on in height, not weight. The trainer went over and started to scratch one of the cubs back, like you would a house cat, he was trying to wake them up. The cub got up, arched its back, and even moved closer to the trainer. Probably trying to have him continue scratching all over. It was the cutest thing. I can't imagine. Being able to work with beautiful animals like those.

Once we had seen all the different cats, we decided to go. We had one more show to try and catch before we left Las Vegas. We headed back down the strip to the Bellagio Hotel. I was determined to see the fountain show, even though its not as exciting during the day. The lights add an extra kick of finesse when you see the show at night. So we made it over there in time to see their first show of the day. They started off with the National Anthem and then a song that Charolet Church swings. However I don't think this one was done by her. The song is also used in the movie Blades of Glory. It was breath taking. I could sit in front of the Bellagio and watch the fountain all day long, if I could. The best part of Vegas, ever!

Once I had finally got to see my show, we headed back to the car to head back to St. George. This time the ride felt like it went faster. Maybe because I took a small nap. Once I woke up, we were almost there. But the scary thing was, we were almost out of gas and weren't sure we would make it to the nearest gas station. The gas light was on and the meter was reading zero miles til empty. It seems like we went a miraculous 8 miles with the tank reading empty. Luckily we made it to a gas station at a small town just outside St. George. We filled up and finally made it to Grandma and Grandpa's. Once we got there, they had dinner waiting for us. Once dinner was eaten and all cleaned up, we just sat around visiting. It was really nice to be able to sit down one on one with Grandma and Grandpa and be able to visit and share stories. It was getting late, so we headed off to bed. In the morning we had breakfast, just a quick on. Ben was able to help Grandma with some computer stuff, then we cleaned up, packed up, and headed for home. About 5 hours later, we were pulling into my parents drive way in order to pick up the kids. Oh to be home. We had a great weekend thanks to all those involved. Exspeically to mom and dad and also Grandma and Grandpa Hall. We couldn't have gone and had fun without your help. A very big Thank You, for a much needed weekend away.

Las Vegas

Due to an invitation and very considerate parents, we were able to go on a vacation without the kids. Ben and I went to Las Vegas. A buddy of Ben's was getting married and invited Ben and I to come witness the joyous event. I was grateful for the invitation and even more grateful that my parents were willing to take the kids for 4 days. I know how hard they can be to handle, but mom and dad had no hesitations taking the kids for us. That meant a lot to us. We have been wanting to get away, but afraid of leaving the kids or not finding anyone who would want to watch them. This time we lucked out. We started our trip with a 5 hour drive to St. George. Grandma and Grandpa Hall we generous enough to allow us to crash at their house for two of our nights. We got there Wednesday around 11. We chatted with them for a little bit and then headed to Ben. Ben slept fine, but I always have a hard time sleeping when I'm not in my own bed. For me, its to be expected. Once we got up in the morning, grandma and grandpa hall made us breakfast while we got ready. We had planned to go to the Las Vegas Temple that morning before the wedding. Neither of us had ever been to the Las Vegas Temple, so we were very excited to be able to fit it into our trip. Once we had eaten breakfast and got the car packed back up, we headed on our way. The drive didn't have much to look at, so it felt like we were in the car forever. Once we got closer to the city, it was better. We were easily able to find our way to the Temple thanks to our GPS system. Where would we be without technology. We enjoyed our session and wished we didn't have to leave. I love the peaceful, calm feeling the Temple brings. It makes life a little easier to deal with and even worth living. The Temple was just beautiful. One of my favorites now. After finishing our session at the Temple and taking the occasional picture around the grounds, we headed to a Walmart to change into some casual clothes. We didn't want to be the only ones dressed up. Once we were changed and into some comfortable clothes, we headed into down town Vegas in order to locate the wedding chapel. One of the bad things about Vegas is the traffic and trying to find a place to park. We found the street where the chapel was and then came across the wedding chapel. The unforgettable task to find parking. Luckily the wedding chapel had two parking lots to its establishment, however one of them was down and around the corner. At least it was a spot. We got to the wedding chapel right before the wedding party arrived. It was the funnest wedding. They were married by Elvis Presley and arrived into the chapel in a pink Cadillac. Elvis sang a couple of songs and made the ceremony very fun and upbeat. I had never attended a ceremony like that one, it was a blast and so much fun. Once we had said our congratulations and best wishes, we headed on our way. We drove down the strip just in ow at how much it had changed since the last time we had been there. We drove to the Bellagio to park in their car garage. Luckily all the hotels parking garages had free parking. We parked in the car and headed down to the hotel. I love walking through the hotels, just to look at the extravagance of each one. In the Bellagio they had put together a butterfly atrium and garden. They brought in a Ferris wheel, a Mari-go round, and a ton of flowers. They even made a tree covered with flowers and butterflies. It was just beautiful. It must have taken a log time to put it all together.

Once we had walked through the Bellagio we headed outside to hit the strip. We wanted to head to the MGM Grand to sign up for some shows. The strip was packed because it was St. Patrick's Day. Everyone was wearing green and carrying large drinks around. It was a crazy. We finally got to the MGM Grand and headed to go find their ticket booth. They had a special for three shows, so we decided to take advantage of it. We signed up to go see the CSI:Experience, the Titanic Exhibit, and the Secret Garden's of Sigfried and Roy. We were very excited.

Our first show was the CSI:Experience. It was held in the MGM Grand, so we didn't have to go very far. Ben and I thought this would be really fun because we both enjoy watching the show. I love the forensic science of how it all works. I even took some CSI classes in college, I thought it was that interesting. The show had three different crime scenes that you could choose to solve. Each step of the way you had to look at a different aspect of the crime. Once you were done with all the steps, you had to solve the crime. Then you had to turn in our findings to see if you were right. It was pretty interesting. I wish they would have had better hands on exhibits, but overall, it was fun.

Once we were done we headed back out. We stopped to see the Lion's house at the entrance of the MGM Grand. They had three lion's in there and two trainers at the time we were passing by. The trainers were in there playing with the lion's. I can't even imagine playing with a lion. They were huge and even bigger then their trainers. That would scare the crap out of me to be that close.

After leaving the MGM Grand we mainly walked the strip to look at the hotels, to walk through them to see what they had to offer. The majority of the hotels house shops and food places, basically malls inside the hotel. We went through M&M Factory, The Coca Cola Factory, Ceasar's Palace, just to name a few. I enjoyed Ceasar's the most. They have fountains all through out the hotel. While walking the strip, we also checked out the free shows.

One of the shows we went to was the Treasure Island show. The last time I saw it, it was two pirate ships in a battle trying to sink on another. This time, its was the siren wenches vs. the pirate ship. It's quite sad how much the strip has changed to the ... you know what I mean. The show was entertaining and there was a huge crowd watching it. The fireworks and special effects were the best part.

Once we were done with the Treasure Island show, we headed back down to the Bellagio to catch the fountain show. Its my favorite part of Vegas. I would drive the whole way just to see that. On our way down the strip the Mirage volcano show was playing. So we stopped and watched the Volcano erupt as well. When we got to the Bellagio, there was about 5 minutes before the next show. 30 minutes go by and they still hadn't had the show. Not even an announcement was made. Then we see a couple getting into a boat and start rowing out on the pond. There were film camera's everywhere. Apparently they were filming for a reality show and they were having a special dinner on a platform that was built to be on the pond. I was so mad. We had skipped the earlier show to catch the Treasure Island show and thought we could catch it before we headed back to our hotel. No go. I was really disappointed. The Bellagio fountain looks the best as night with all the lights. Very frustrating. We sadly headed back to our car and head to our hotel on the north end of Vegas. We were both very tired and ready for bed. I was sore from head to toe. It's been awhile since I have done that much walking. But it was still fun.

Rollover

One day before turning 5 months old he, rolled over. He had been trying for a while now, never quite making it, just laying there on his side. But finally after a month or so of laying on his side, he made it all the way over. I don't have it on camcorder, but I did take a picture of him on his belly. He had rolled over and was getting sick of being on his stomach so he was crying a little. I was in the middle of vacuuming and when I came back into the front room I found him on his tummy and asleep. This had been his fourth time that day of rolling over, he must have been pretty tired from all that rolling.