What Happens in Vegas...

Three of my wonderful friends from Texas flew in for the weekend. On Friday I met up with them at the Bellagio to have dinner at the buffet. Traffic was TERRIBLE getting there, (thanks a lot NASCAR) but I made it just in time. The food was wonderful. Who knew a buffet would include such things as Alaskan King Crab legs, Veal Marsala, Mushroom pasta with truffle sauce, and sushi. The deserts were unreal. We made sure we ate PLENTY. Here's a photo of our dinner (minus Wynette - she's behind the camera). After dinner we drove to the Wynn Casino to see Le Reve, a Cirque de Soile show about a girl and her crazy dreams. It was so AWESOME and I think we had the best seats in the theater.

The stage changed between a pool and a real stage. I've never seen anything like it. The performers were fantastic and the special effects were so incredible. I LOVED IT. I wish I could have taken pictures during the show.

After the show we went back to the Bellagio to just walk around the strip. The fountain was so awesome. At one point we were surrounded by fog and could hardly see five feet in front of us. We also went to Caesars Palace.

On Saturday I drove up to Logandale to spend the entire day with the gals (kid free). It was the most fun I've had in a long time. We started off by making a shamrock door decoration. We all wore our matching shirts (thanks Wynette).

Several ideas were tossed around for the afternoon and we decided to skip the pedicures and go 4-wheeling instead.

Wynette could ride in the standing position. Gotta protect the little baby.

GayLyn was voted most radical driver. Deanna had to experience the speed so she hopped on back for a ride.

We could hear her screaming from far away.

After the daylight disappeared we drove to Mesquite and saw "Confessions of a Shopoholic". Perfect chick flick by-the-way. Then we drove back and finished our shamrocks and made dinner.

Our fondue dinner lasted until 11:00pm. I ate way too much.

I finally fell asleep on the couch at 2am and drove back to Vegas with Kristen early Sunday morning. I love these gals and I'm so glad they came for a visit.

SMORE!

I had the wonderful opportunity a couple of weekends ago, to spend the entire day with the greatest friends in the world. We mostly visited and ate. The kids played and when the sun set, we made smores in Wynette's backyard firepit.

I thought this photo was cool because my camera took a picture of the "heat" coming off the fire. Crazy.

Mia took this great photo of the four of us.

It was such a fun day. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

Utah Snow

So we went up to Utah the week after Christmas and had a blast. It was a short trip but full of fun. Unfortunately we didn't get to see all of our family, and some of them we only saw for a few hours, but that's what so great about living close. We can always go back.

Part of the trip was spent visiting Grandma and Grandpa Swasey in the middle of No-where-ville. Cole LOVED Grandpa's "Sand stinger", as he calls it. Check out that mug.
Drew pulled the kids on a sled tied to the back of the 4-wheeler. You can just see the excitement in their faces.


And we also went sledding on a road by their house. Normally I'd be totally worried about that, but like I said, it's the middle of nowhere.

Part of the trip was spent visiting the Clark side of the family. We went sledding in Kaysville one evening and had a blast. Here's Uncle Brock pushing Mia and Reagan down the hill.

Here's our crazy train. Yup, we sled until it was too dark to see anymore.

After all the fun we headed back to Brock's for hot chocolate (Thanks Jill).

This was the first year Mia and Cole really played in snow. It brought back a lot of memories of when I used to play with my sisters in the snow. It brings out your creativity.

The kids also made a snowman that they named "Bush" (um, Okay?) at Grandpa Clark's house. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of it. The trip was so much fun. My kids learned a lot,... like that the word "donut" isn't just a food, but an activity... (an activity that Drew just couldn't seem to get enough of on the snow filled streets). We are so lucky to have such a great and loving family.

Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas this year. Here are a few photos of Mia and Cole opening their presents. The kids were so excited that they finally got a Wii. They spent almost the entire Christmas day playing on it.

Fireplace

We found these great lounge chairs for a deal at Target, so we decided to enjoy them on our patio. It was about 40 degrees but that didn't stop us. We just lit a fire and sat around telling Christmas stories.

WE DID IT!!!

Mia and I performed in our first Christmas recital last night. It was so much fun. Mia's class did a tap number to "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus". My class did a contemporary routine to "Song for a Winters Night".



Here's Mia and I in our costumes. I wore a lot of make-up, including red lipstick. When I came down the stairs after getting ready, Cole looked shocked and said "Mom, you look brand new. Let me give you a hug." It was so funny.

Mia's favorite part was being on stage (although wearing make-up came in a close second). Katelyn is her best friend and they had a blast dancing together.

Here's the seven of us, crammed in our tiny backstage dressing room. From left to right Top row: Lindsay, Amber, Kristen, Rachel, Jen, Bottom Row: Melanie, and Me. All but one of us are Moms, and five of us had kids performing that night as well.

I would post the video of the performances, but we live in the dark ages and our video camera is still an 8mm (NOT DIGITAL). So you'll just have to imagine that they were the most beautiful performances ever performed in the history of dance. OK?

It was a crazy night. They had two shows to accomidate the 250 students' families. Our performance was at 5:30pm and our husbands raced to the theater to get a good seat. It was madness. Luckily we left Cole and Luke with a babysitter so it wasn't that crazy for us. A ton of people in our ward were in the audience, so that was a little intimidating. But we survived.

Mia's show was the 7:00 show. It was great seeing them perform. Mia did a great job. Afterwards we went to Baskin Robins for ice cream with Kristen and Katelyn to celebrate.

Cole's Preschool Party

Cole had his Preschool Christmas party last Wednesday. He was so excited to see Santa (again) and remind him that he wants a telescope for Christmas. Mia didn't have school on Wednesday because of all day parent-teacher conferences, so she was able to go to the party as well. They frosted sugar cones with green icing and decorated them with little candies. It was so cute.

Magical Forest

A few days ago we went to a placed called the Magical Forest with our good friends. They have a walking trail with beautiful lights and displays, a few rides, snacks, and even Santa! IT WAS FREEZING! Well, at least for the first hour. After that, the winds calmed down a bit and it was fine. We really had a wonderful time!

Cole had ear muffs under his hat. He was so stinkin cute.

They had a fun potato sack slide. Here's a photo of Melissa and Mia at the bottom of it.

Luke spent almost the entire time bundled up in a coat and blanket. And he refused to smile, no matter that you did. He just stared at you, looking unpleasant. It was so funny I just kept laughing when I would look at him.

Mia asked Santa for a guitar.

Cole asked Santa for a telescope.

Gingerbread Village

Last Saturday we went to the lobby of the Four Seasons hotel to see their cute Gingerbread Village. It was amazing. And it imspired our kids to create a gingerbread house of their own. So on Sunday afternoon we had a little competition. Drew and Cole vs. Mom and Mia, on who could make the cutest gingerbread house. We decided it was a tie.

Both Mia and Cole loved eating the frosting. A frosting bag - it's like a candy dispenser.

Christmas Cookies

Last week we made Christmas sugar cookies and the kids did most of the work, from start to finish. They put everything in the mixer and made the dough. They rolled them out and cut them with cookie cutters. And after they were baked and cooled, they did all the decorating. The kids were so hungry after all their hard work, that the cookies were hardly decorated before they ended up in their mouths. It was a fun night.

Christmas Photo 2008

Here is our 2008 Christmas card photo. It was taken by Kristen Stuart (thank you my dear friend!) and she did an amazing job.

Luke is FINALLY Walking

Luke finally decided to walk today. He's been walking with his walker for months and was a little afraid to let go of it. I guess he finally figured out it's not so hard. Thirteen Months old! Just like my other two kids were.

Thanksgiving

So here are some photos of our Thanksgiving table. I took some shots of the table before our guests arrived (the Stuart Family), but forgot to bring out the camera when they actually got here. So these are our only photos of Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful meal. The kids loved finding their name on the place cards And they felt so special eating at a fancy table with glass goblets. It was a lot of fun.