Burgers, Barry, Bellagio, & BYU Football or What Happens in Vegas Gets Posted to my Blog

I recently took a typical mormon Vegas Vacation with my hubby and his family. After dropping off our kids with my family (thank you thank you thank you, and sorry about Lilly's diapers!), we drove straight through and stopped at the quintessential In-N-Out Burgers. For the first time, I tried the protein-style burger (lettuce wrap instead of a bun). It wasn't bad. Not quite as satisfying as a bun burger, but still good. I'd like to say that I went protein-style because I'm health concious, but if you were there and saw me down the chocolate milkshake and animal-style french fries, you'd know better. Then, we went to the strip and headed straight for the Barry Manilow show, which was AWESOME! That man has written the most romantic songs ever created. Here is the man himself in yellow!
After the show, we left the casino without once pulling a slot machine (you'd be proud of me, Mom!) and headed straight for the Bellagio Fountain show. We hung out there for an hour, gawking at some of the passerbys in between shows and cheering when we saw other BYU fans. It was around midnight when we finally got to the car and headed for the hotel. I zonked out within minutes of the car ride. I don't quite have the stamina for late nights that I used to. (Who am I kidding? I've never had stamina for late nights.)

The next morning, we hung out at the luxurious resort hotel, playing a little pig and horse on the basketball court, swimming at the pool, and watching cheesy Adam Sandler movies on cable. We made it to the BYU vs. UNLV game with plenty of time to watch the pre-show. We cheered loud whenever BYU scored one of its dozen touchdowns and when one player ran a 92 yard kick-off return. (I hope I got that term right). Mac ran into his boss from work and a former mission companion. (Typical, right?)

Here am I with Mac, our cheesy grins and all. And Dad, Mom, Shea, and Kent. And here is Mac, Rhett, and Dad again, who is responsible for the great trip. Thanks Dad!

Our wild and crazy trip to Vegas for BYU football was, as always, a hit. We'll see you again, Vegas, in two more years.

Grosgrain: Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Super cool giveaway, and perfect for two of my girls. I'm always amazed when I see what people can make with a needle and thread. Depsite the fact that anything beyond sewing a button on seems amazing to me, these costumes are truly amazing and beautiful!

Twinkle Toes

After her nap today, I went into Lil's room to get her, and this is what I saw.

That's my 18 month old! Just old enough to start nursery, which I can't believe. She doesn't seem old enough, not even close. She's been a difficult baby, but a very cute one, and I've wanted to hold onto that cuteness for as long as I can, but it seems she's growing up despite my best efforts.

My favorite place in the house

We bought a piano this summer, and I love having it in our house. No one can play it just yet, not unless you count dinking out the right hand melody as "playing", and I'm not even very good at doing that. Luckily, at least one of these three will turn into a budding musician.

Kate starts lessons in a week, and I am so excited for her. I always wanted to take lessons when I was young, but I never got the chance. Now I'm living vicariously through my daughter and getting so much joy from it. Hopefully, she'll like piano lessons and appreciate what we're doing by giving her this opportunity (yeah right). You want to know what she said when we bought the piano? She said, "I want to play a different instrument."

I furrowed my brow and asked her, "A different instrument? Like what?"

"The violin," she told me. (There's a girl down the street who plays the violin.)

"Well, you have to start on the piano," I told her. "And after two years, then you can start lessons on a different instrument if you want." (If we can afford it, I wanted to add, but she wouldn't have understood that at her young age.)

Seven Years & Three Kids Later . . .

Seven years ago, my young husband and I got married and went on our honeymoon to the exotic place of . . . Jackson Hole, Wyoming! It really was kind of exotic to me because I had never been there. However, if I had known that just two years later we would be moving within 60 miles of this exotic destination, I might have suggested we go somewhere else. But, we didn't know that we would be moving to Idaho Falls at the time, so we went to Jackson and Yellowstone Park and had a great time.

Don't we look young? And carefree?

Here we are at the famous arch in Jackson. Again, don't we look young and carefree? Now look below.

Not so young anymore, and definitely not carefree.

We're smiling, but we're exhausted. Taking three kids under the age of five for an overnight trip anywhere is A LOT of work, as we found out.

I'd like to say that we hiked up this mountain, but when your two oldest girls cry that their legs hurt when they're only walking around the block, you know your limitations. We took the tram up above Teton Village to enjoy the view.

Lilly kept trying to escape from the carriage ride.

Kate tried to do it too. But we talked her out of it.

I told you we were exhausted!

If Only . . .

If only I had a spare $1200.00, I would buy this.

Instead, I picked up some old student desks for free (thanks to freecycling), but they aren't pretty in the slightest. My kids don't care, though. They think the desks are the coolest thing in the world. They love to color, do worksheets, and other independent stuff at their desks (which I think is GREAT!). But I hate how they - the desks, not my kids - look, and I really want to refinish them. The only problem is, I think the tops are made out of formica, and I don't know where to begin, or if I can even do anything about them. I really want to make them pretty. Can I paint over them? Could I sand them down? I've never been into crafts, and I'm about as clueless as you can get when it comes to stuff like this. But I'm willing to work at it if I only knew what direction to head in. Here is a photo of one of the desks. The other one looks similar, only the top is a brown, wood-looking surface, but it feels like formica too.

I know the metal part I can spray paint, but it's the surface I need the most advice about. I really think it would be cool if I had crushed flowers or something really pretty on top, with a smooth varnished surface of course. Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, offers of help would be great. The blogger world can be pretty amazing, and maybe someone out there knows something that can help. Here's hoping!

Mistaken Identity

July has been the month of mistaken identity for me and Mac. First, I get a facebook message from a woman, pleading with me "as a wife, mother, Christian . . . " to break it off with her husband and rethink my plans to run away with this man and break up the families involved. Part of me felt really bad for this woman and her situation, but another part of me thought who in the world would send a message like this and not know to whom they were sending it? So I blocked her. Then this week, Mac receives a letter from a local business offering condolences on the passing of his mother. They thought we may like a copy of the obituary, so it was included, and it was for a woman with our same last name, who happens to have a son with almost the same name as Mac's.

Wierd. And this video clip, kind of about mistaken identity, is even more bizarre.



How do you make that mistake?