Cali Trip Pat I

Vegas Baby!!!

Finally, after three years, we took a family vacation that was longer than 3 days. Bec and I have been planning to go to California for about a year now... Last time we went, Kailee was two, and Tylie wasn't even a thought in our minds (so hard to imagine now)! So, with the car loaded, kids buckled, and games & snacks in tow-we headed southbound on I-15!

First stop-VEGAS. The kids were so excited to get there and see all the hotels, especially Excalibur (they thought it was pretty cool to stay in a castle). We walked the stip, saw shows, had dinner, and just had fun! 

 

Before we started our walk back our hotel, Kailee and Tylie had knocked out, but Dallin was still wide awake (surprise surprise). He didn't want to miss out on the M&M Factory. The next day, he told K all about it, and we made one more trip for her to experience it also.

We all had fun in that store. However, it can get a bit crazy, and congested. Ifyou're planning on going there and have children in a stroller-HIGHLY recommend NOT taking the stroller; the elevators take F-O-R-E-V-E-R!

  

Somewhere along the line, I snapped this picture of Bec and Ty. Do they look alike, or what?!

 

Each time we've visited Vegas, or just driven through, I've wanted to stop at the "Welcome to Vegas" sign, but for some reason it never quite worked out. We hit the stop on our way out of town. I have to admit, it was a lot smaller than I expected. Either way-we had our picture taken... it'll last us a life time...

 

Some confusion

Apparently, I gave the wrong impression! I was going through old pictures and saw one of Tylie's ultra sound pictures and thought I would share it. Sorry for the confusion :). I hope you all had a fun April Fool's Day! Our family did. If you know us, then you know that we thrive on this day. Gus' pant legs were sewn shut, cotton balls in his shoes, his co-worker had things done to his computer, his mouse was in Jell-O (thanks to Jim Halpert!!), and my poor children didn't know what they were eating for dinner. It was actually pretty comical. I told them that if they were good all day that I would make cupcakes for dinner. Well, we all followed through. 

I made cupcakes (meatloaf with mashed potatoes) for dinner and for dessert...

baked potatoes (ice cream rolled in nesquick with whipped cream and a starburst). 

Dallin has caught on to the pranks and has been trying to come up with something to do to me...too bad he has to wait another year. 

BABY!!!!!!

Twilight DVD Release Outing

Yes, I went to Walmart at midnight to get the Twilight DVD. Yes, I saw it already. And no, I am not obsessed (promise!). A few of my girlfriends and I got ready and left for the South Jordan Walmart a little before 11:00pm. After waiting in line for an hour, and after going through the SLOWEST cashier, we made it out alive. It really wasn't bad. One of our friends got sick, (so sorry Chaunda!!), so we sadly took her home. After dropping her off, we put the movie in the car dvd player and off we went to the Riverton Walmart, where it was rumored that a cast member was going to be there. Needless to say, we got there and sure enough someone WAS there...

If you look behind us, you can see the line. This part was the last 1/4 of it!! It wrapped almost around half of the store!

Posing with my dvd I was going to get autographed. The cast member's head is right above mine. And the cast member was...

Beautiful Bad Vampire Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre). She was even more gorgeous in person. We didn't get to take pictures with her, but they did let us take pictures of her signing our things.

Happily leaving the store, wired, with our autographed dvds. Thanks girlies for the fun night!!! (or should I say morning??) 

O' the Luck of the Irish

Another St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, and we have yet to catch a leprechaun! Knowing that they like to play tricks, we decided to set a trap! The kids worked hard on the hat. They colored shamrock after shamrock. We were so very determined to catch a leprechaun this year!!

The finished product. We placed a green and gold cookie and a gold bell on top as bait. The top was just a piece of paper. The whole point was for the leprechaun to climb up the ladder and fall in!  We for sure thought it was going to work!!

We woke up and found lots of things the leprechaun did!! First thing we noticed was that he kissed all the kids on their brows. We knew we had a nice one this year, but also knew that wouldn't stop the tricks! He turned our toilet water green, our milk and drinking water green, we wrote on our eggs with green crayon...  

...and every time I would make the kids something to eat, I would turn around for 2 seconds and he would turn all of the food green!! So we had to eat green eggs and ham with green milk for breakfast! For lunch, it was green food again!! We looked all over for him all day! The kids say they heard him laughing at us, but I didn't hear anything.

For dinner, we had to eat green food once more! We were all in the kitchen together, and some how, the leprechaun did it without anyone seeing!! He even was able to turn our caramel corn green while we were all sitting on the couch watching our leprechaun movie!! Those leprechauns sure are tricky!

While we were outside playing, he took our green and gold cookie AND our gold bell, without falling in! He did leave us a note thanking us for the fun he had. Maybe we can catch him next year! 

O' tis fun bein' IRISH!

2 Down, 18 To Go...

Yesterday we had another wiggly tooth come out. Becky called me at work to tell me that Dallin's tooth was just about ready, and that they were going to try and make it the day without tooth falling out. First things when I got home, we started wiggling and working it out. The tooth was ready, it just needed that last little push (or pull). My fingers were a bit too big for D's little mouth, and the tooth was so small that I could barely get a grip on it. Becky was able to get a good grip on it and got it out! In the video below, you can hear Kailee in the background making sounds as if it were her tooth being pulled, and adding to D's emotions!

Afterwards, all was well. He walked around with a paper towel, dabbing the void in his gums for a while. Yet, still sat down and ate dinner, as if nothing had even happened! 

Making Good Use of Santa's Gift

Just this past Christmas, we received a family membership to Thanksgiving Point from "Santa". The nice thing about it was that we didn't have to activate the membership until we were ready. And with Becky and the kids spending most of January down in LA, it was nice not loosing a month of it. Well, in the last few weeks we've been twice, and have really enjoyed it. The first time was on a holiday, when TONS of people were there. The second time was on a Friday night when it was COMPLETELY empty. We were able to let the kids roam (a.k.a. run) as they wanted, play, discover, and best of all-we didn't have to confine Tylie to a stroller (which meant Becky and I were actually able to hold hands while walked)! We all had a blast, and can't wait to go back.

Needless to say, the sand boxes (both wet and dry) are the biggest hit with the kids. 

Tylie loved being free form the stroller, and played her heart out. With no other kids there, it was really nice to just let her have fun, and not have to worry about her getting lost in the crowds.

Dallin loved the sand boxes as well. He tried his best to cover his legs with sand, and in the process got quite dirty... boys and sand... who knew???

Kailee... don't know how many of you know, but we have the hardest time taking decent pictures of this little cutie. She either doesn't look at the camera, gives us this really fake smile, or both! That night, I kept asking her what made her happy, thinking it would produce at least ONE genuine smile; and nothing... IF she smiled, she was looking down at the sand and I couldn't take a picture of her. I had just about given up when she asked me, "Daddy-do you know what makes me happy?" Getting the camera ready, I said, "No, sweetie. What makes you happy?" She slowly raised her head and said, "Eating my boogers!" I couldn't help but take a picture of the oh-so-genuine smile that followed that remark. Hey, you do what you need to, to get a good picture of the kids. 

D and K on the rhino statue (K with a fake smile)

Mom & Dallin with their scary faces, Kailee with a nice smile-looking off to the side...

Gotta love them!