Family Fun!

So, being the incredibly irresponsible parents that we are, we took our kids out of school on Tuesday for a last minute, unplanned trip to Vegas, BABY! Jason had a little work to do, so the kids and I tagged along. We drove down on Tuesday and didn't get there until 8:30 or so. Needless to say, we didn't do much that night. However, we had awesome rooms!

Jason has a few connections in several towns, for unknown reasons (hehehe) so he gets all kinds of comps where ever we go in Vegas, Mesquite, Wendover, Laughlin, Misc. Indian Casinos, etc... Anyway, we stayed at MGM (my favorite because of the pools). We got a room with a king that joined with the kids' room that had two doubles! Sweet! I'm too easy to please!

Wednesday, the kids and I hung out by the pool while Jason did his business. Later that night, we went and saw the Blue Man Group. I've seen them at the Delta Center about 5 yrs ago, then we got a 10 min show from them at the Stadium of Fire last year, so we thought the kids would enjoy the whole thing. It was a blast. My  kids were laughing- out loud, from their bellies. Priceless!

On Thursday, we went to the Hoover Dam and did the dam tour. It was very fascinating. I love historical information! Jason had me convinced that there were people buried in the dam. NOT TRUE! Officially, the books say that only 96 people died, but "off the books" they estimate that ~400 people died while building the dam. They only paid death benefits to families if the worker died at the site. So, they didn't count those who died in the hospital or in an ambulance. Unfair.

Anyway, we had a WEIRD!!! tour guide. Of course, with Jason's personality, it made it hard to keep a straight face when my sweet hubby kept making jokes about him or to him. Did I mention that the guide was weird?? 

Hannah's favorite part of the tour was when at the end, with a straight and serious face (because he was so weird that he probably didn't even get what he was saying), the guide asked, "Does anyone have any dam questions? Okay then, get on the dam elevator." She busted up laughing. There was no stopping her. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Thanks, Jas, for the "quicky!" (with a straight and serious face, because I probably don't even know what I'm implying)  I love those, occasionally!

Jason never fails to amaze

I have failed to post one of the most exciting things that happened to me last week! I flew home from NYC on Sunday: Easter, April 12, my birthday! Driving home from the airport, I had this huge lump in my throat. I knew that if my Dad were still alive, he'd have a big ham dinner waiting for my Mom and I when we got home. It made me sad to think that my easter/birthday dinner would probably be a bowl of cereal.

Well, when I opened the door to the house, the wonderful smells of chicken and shrimp jambalaya filled my nostrils! And I PROMISE, the food looked just like this picture! Jason had found a recipe online, went to the store and bought all of the ingredients, and made it all from scratch! It was so delicious! This from a man whose culinary displays thus far have been noodles with V8 juice. I was so impressed!

He also had gone to Olive Garden and bought an entire lemon cake (my favorite)! I came home to all of this plus: gifts, a clean house, smiling children, and empty laundry baskets! What more could a girl want for her birthday!

I love you, Jas! Thanks for everything you do for me and our family!

A Winning Speech

This week, Taylor ran for Seventh Grade Officer for Walquist Jr High. There are three elementary schools that feed into the Jr High. They allow two students from each school to be elected into office. The students gave speeches on Wednesday, voted on Thursday, and found out today, Friday, who won. 

There were 10 sixth grade students that ran for seventh grade officer. Jason and I went and watched the speeches. Every one of them did such a great job. I knew that the students had a tough choice to make after hearing all of the speeches.

Well, the results were announced today, and.....

He WON!!

Taylor called me from his teacher's cell phone to tell me. His voice didn't sound super excited. When I asked him what was up, he said he felt bad because a couple of the girls who were running for office started to cry when they found out they didn't win. He feels so sorry for them and is worried about how they are feeling. Taylor has such a sincere, caring, responsible personality. I love him so much.

Jason and I are so proud of him. He is really excited to go to Jr High next year. This just makes it all that more exciting for him.

NYC

"We're flying first class, up in the sky." 

 How's that for a 6:00 am flight!

The flight attendant told me if I looked hard enough, I could see Chicago. Do you see it? Me either.

Rockerfeller Center. Finally in NYC! Yes, they are still ice skating in April. 

Does that give you a clue to how cold it was there?

Radio City Music Hall. Fabulous. Too bad we didn't see any Rockettes.

Subway ride in NYC. We missed our transfer at the canal street stop (because we didn't know we were supposed to get off), and rode the subway into Brooklyn. This trip was all about the firsts.

Macy's was having a huge flower festival. That's one of about 10 flamingos they had made out of flowers. The store is nine stories and a full city block wide. We spent a little too much time and money there. :)

This Abercrombie model kept insisting on getting his picture with me. I hate to be someone's pin up girl, but he was just soo insistant! 

Truth be told... My Mom INSISTED I get my pic with him, but wouldn't get one herself. Nerd!

This is us anxiously arriving at Battery Park at 11:30 to ride the ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island

This is us at 2:15. STILL on the dock, waiting in line to board the ferry. We ended up getting on the ferry so late, that we had to choose which of the two islands to visit because there wasn't time to visit both with the ferry schedule. LOSERS! After standing in line for nearly 3 hours, we should have been entitled to  visit BOTH islands!

This is the island we chose to get off at! You can't visit NYC without visiting Lady Liberty.

All that my nephew Carter wanted Grandma to bring back to him from NYC was a picture of the Statue of Liberty. Hope he doesn't mind that we are in it!

Ground Zero. They are rebuilding. It was hard to really get a good look inside the fences.

The "Charging Bull" sculpture on Wall Street is a symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity.  I think I took an appropriate angle of where Wall Street has lead us!

Central Park. Pretty!

NBC studios backstage tour. Always interesting.

Central Park from the top of 30 Rock. It was a wee bit stormy that day. If anyone ever goes to NYC, go to the top of 30 Rock verses the Empire State Building. You get the same beautiful view, but stand in line for about 1/5  the amount of time.

If you really squint, you can see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Had we only gone to the top of 30 Rock the day before, we would have had a clear view. Oh well.

See the Empire State Building behind us. You couldn't get that type of photo op if you were ON the Empire State Bldg!

Time Square and Broadway. We saw: The Jersey Boys, Guys and Dolls, 

and a play called The Norman Conquests. Way fun!

"Singing in the Rain!" It was freezing, rainy, and windy on Saturday. That was the day we were planning on walking through Central Park. Maybe next visit!

Instead, we had a delicious dinner at Ruth's Chris Manhattan! Yummy!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We will experience NYC with all the life and vigor we can muster up! 

We know you are there with us! We love you! 

Happy Birthday!

Start Spreading the News. We're leavin' tomorrow

My Mom and I leave for NYC in the morning. Both of us are exited but anxious at the same time.  A fun vacation is definitely in order! We have tickets to see Jersey Boys on Wednesday. That is the only official thing we planned. I bought us the Grey Line Tour two day package. Jason and I did this when we went. It's a bus with a host that tells you everything you are looking at. They make stops throughout the tour for people to get off or to get on board. If you choose to hop off at a stop, no worries. Another bus will be by in about 15 min. This was super informative to me and an easy way of transportation throughout the city: uptown, downtown, time square. It gave us a good idea of where we wanted to spend our time. 

My Mom has never been to NYC, and I have only been once, and it was so cold that it was hard to fully enjoy it. Hopefully we will have a blast.

Jason is going to be Mr Mom to the kids and the dogs while we are gone. This is a big task for him. I think he takes for granted how many hours I spend doing laundry and homework in one week. Bummer part for me is he will only have the kids in school for three days because of spring break. You know their homework load wont be near what it normally is! Darn!

Summer Lovin'

Strawberry Trifle anyone?

I was asked to decorate a table for the R.S. Birthday party on Tuesday night. I took a quick pic of what my center piece was before I took it all over to the church. I didn't get a pic of the actual table though. Everyone did such a cute job decorating for the different months. My month was obviously JULY. I only am posting a pic because the dessert looked so pretty! Who cares how it tasted!