Viva Las Vegas

mesmorized
Happy 31st bday to me. We had breakfast at Rainforest Cafe, then hit the road for the drive home.

At the gardens inside Bellagio

Our family by the elephant at Rainforest Cafe. Carson was very freaked out by the elephant I think it is obvious by this picture.

If you look closely you can see the lion up on the tunnel. It was neat to walk through and see the lions right above us

beautiful

On our way home from Utah we stopped in Vegas. We were celebrating my birthday so we decided to take the kids to the strip. We rode the monorail (Carson's highlight of the evening) to the MGM where we saw the lions. It was so neat to see them up so close. They were very active and were interacting with their keepers. We ventured off to Bellagio to see the gardens and watch the light and water fountain show then back to the monorail to our hotel. It was a long adventure with three tired kids and one umbrella stroller but we managed just fine and enjoyed our time together as a family.

Congratulation Trevor and Shelbie

We had a great time visiting family and relaxing in Utah. We were able to be there for Shelbie and Trevor's wedding and am glad that we went. Congratulations Trevor and Shelbie, enjoy your time as newlyweds.

Zoo adventures

Elephants are so amazing to watch, we love seeing them each time we go to the zoo.
They had all of their Christmas decorations up so it was nice to see some holiday lights and decor.

Madison next to the giant Santa.

The three munckins watching the seal sleep while the other seals swam around as fast as they could. Usually they are all sleeping but today they were quite active.

Getting ready to feed the giraffes. This was the first time that the kids actually did it themselves. They usually want Mommy to help but today all they needed was a lift up. The giraffes are very large and can be frightening to little hands. Carson was amazed with their purple tongues. They are actually black but we will let him think they are purple. Madison learned from the keeper where giraffes live... in Africa.

Madison and Carson petting the stingrays. Carson wasn't able to pet one, but Madi did three times and was so excited.

Getting a good reach down to the botton to try to pet the stingrays. Note to self... next trip to the zoo in the winter bring extra shirts as they get wet at this exhibit.

Carson loves to pet the goats and brush their fur. I think that this may be his favorite part of the zoo trips.

We decided to try to go to the discovery center, but I did not know that they would not be open today. I think they are just open in the summer, but oh well. We decided to go to the zoo and enjoy our last week day of Mommy's vacation. It has been awhile since we have been to the zoo. We only had an umbrella stroller so that would be interesting. Usually Carson gets tired and wants to have a ride. Surprisingly they all did well. We were only there for 2 hours and with it being cold out this morning that was long enough. We saw birds, elephants, flamingos, fed giraffes, watched the tigers, orangutans, pet sting rays, pet goats and sheep, saw emus and kangaroos and funny looking pigs (that was from Madison.. this is what she recalls from our adventure). We will definately have to renew our annual membership when it expires. We love going and learning about all the animals that are in our zoo.

ing

Snow

We knew that we would probably see snow on our trip. We planned to drive up to the mountain when it started snowing right in the yard. We went outside to watch the snowflakes and run around and have fun. This was the kids first trip to the snow so I wasn't sure what to expect. It snowed all day and night but unfortunately my camera batteries died so I don't have as many pictures. We woke up to a snow covered lawn. It was beautiful so we had to go out and make a snowman. My mother-in-law was so nice to let us use her camera to take some pictures. I will upload those soon and post them. Here are a few of the kids enjoying the snow.

Bowling

We came to Ephraim for a wedding and decided to stay some time before the wedding. We scheduled a week off and decided to come and have fun. A trip to Ephraim would not be complete without a trip to the bowling alley. It was going well, kids were having fun but the bowling was going slow. Finally they offered a ramp for the kids and that was much easier. Our final scores:

Madison 51

Carson 57

Mommy 112

Daddy 102

Las Vegas

On our journey to Utah we stopped in Las Vegas to spend the night and get out of the car. We stayed at the Stratosphere hotel. We took the kids up in the tower to the 108th floor to see the city and the lights. They were happy to be able to look around and see the city. Carson kept telling me that he could see construction sites, which I thought was cute. We went out to the observation deck outdoors but Scott was too protective to let us take pictures. We quickly had to get out of the wind before the kids fell off the tower.

Happy Halloween

Everyone playing in the front yard
Lovin these girls, just too cute.

Riley and Madison, just too cute together. They were glad to be partners for a game.

Everyone playing games and having fun

Alexity and Madison

SpiderMan Max

SpiderMan Parker

Alyssa

We were so fortunate to get to go to Mema and Papa D's halloween party. The kids had a blast and it is always fun to see family and friends and get to make wonderful memories with family. Madison was a princess fairy this year, Carson was a monkey and Jackson was a lion. He was unfortunately sick on Halloween with strep throat and was not feeling well so I guess you could say he was a lion at heart, he never wore his costume. He slept most of t

he evening. We are already talking about next year's Halloween Party.

Momma's first half marathon

My sister and I after the race
My sister and brother after the race

I was so thrilled to get to run my first half marathon last week. I finished in 2:42 which was 5 minutes slower than my usual pace, but with bathroom and water breaks that is about right. It was so supportive to see my family at mile 4, 5, 10, and 11. My nephew Jakob met me at mile 10 and helped me finish the race. The last 2 miles were the roughest but with my nephew and supporters cheering us on it was great. This was definately the first race and not the last. I am looking forward to shopping for my next race.

Happy Birthday Lily

Lily going for the pinata
Jackson is just crazy for Grandpa lately

Lily wanted pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake.

Look at Carson's face, he was very concerned about the big blow up spider

Here he is again looking toward the spider

This is what he was afraid of

There is a smile

The birthday princess

Pretty princess fairy

Cute little lion

Happy 8th Bday Lily, We love you and had fun at your birthday party.