Impromptu trip to Hardware Ranch

A couple of months ago, my sister became an Usborne Books rep. I decided to host a Book party for her yesterday. As a big surprise to me, she brought my parents with her. And I am glad she did, not only because I love my parents, but because I made a bunch of food for this party, and only one person showed up.

Seeing as the party was a bit of a bust, we desided to make the trip to Cache Valley worth wild, and went up to Hardware Ranch, which is a wild life conservation center, just up the canyon from my house. In the winter time, elk tend gather there, and you can go our for sleigh ride to see the elk. I was a little girl the last time my family had been there, so my Daddio was pretty excited to go back.

It was really cool up there. The kids loved seeing all the elk up close and personal. I thought the
sleigh ride was great.

Here we are in front of a big stuffed elk.
Lucy and Grandpa are getting a good look at the big dead elk.
Here is Grandpa and Owen, learning what different animal tracks look like.

Kendell really likes Elk legs.

Here we are on the Sliegh.And my Mom and Pop (You gotta love the cheese).

Look how close we got to the elk.

Heres some pictures of the elk.

Sledding is Fun!

Our Brother-in-law Trevor's parents live out in Avon, which is about 11 miles south of us. They have an amazing piece of land, with horse property and fields, and hills. It is so pretty out there. A couple of weeks ago, Trevor invited us out to go sledding with his family. Have you played on your own private sledding hill? It is a blast.

Our Vegas Vacation

Last week Tom had a Chiropractic Seminar in Las Vegas. We decided to turn it into a family trip. Because Tom was going to be in meetings all day long, and I did not want to wonder around Vegas with two kids by myself, we invited my sister and her family to come with us. We had a great time. And the weather was beautiful, like 68 degrees, which was much better than the 17 at home.
I will say this though, I finally understand why it is call the City of Sin. Every carnal sin is there, and very prevalent, you have Drinking and Gambling, people are passing out porn like candy, and there are ads for other inappropriate things. Then you have the buffets which can lead to GLUTTONY. But most of that is isolated to The Strip. If you get off the strip than it is a really pretty place, with a lot to offer. This was my first time to Vegas, so I was not sure what we were going to do, but we managed to stay busy, and had a blast doing it.

Here are some of the things we did:

We stayed at Circus Circus, which is supposedly the "Family Casino." My guess as to why they claim this is because they have a FREE Circus Show every hour (which Owen LOVED), and they have the Arcade, which is basically a Gambling Training ground. Here is Owen sitting with my sister Charis and her Family waiting for one of the shows to begin.
And here are some pictures of my brother-in-law Craig with his daughter Kendell, and my Owen playing an arcade game (notice how the game looks a lot like Roulette).
I guess not all of the games in the arcade where meant to train your children to gamble. We did find a Ski-ball game. In case you were wondering, three-years old have a hard time with the concept of this game.
Ok, here is a confession, I am a HUGE fan of Pawns Stars on the History channel. Since we where in Vegas, we had to stop at the Gold and Silver Pawn shop. I was really hoping to get a picture with Chumlee, but they were filming, so that was a no go. And now that I have been to the shop, while they were filming, I think a lot of the show is staged. Oh well, I am still a fan.
I am also a huge fan of M & Ms. Lucky for me M&M World is in Las Vegas. It is "Four Floors of Fun!" Seriously, It was a ton of fun, and FREE! (Well, unless you wanted to buy some M&M Merchandise). They had anything M&M. Honestly, if you could think it up, they probably had it, M&M Bed Sheets, M&M Christmas Ornaments, an M&M Race Car. They even had a 3D movie featuring Red and Yellow. The favorite for the kids was making customized M&Ms. We made some for my mom and dad. Owen and Kendell got a kick out of it. My mom put these on her Valentine blog, click here to see.
The only time Tom was available to hang out with us was at night, when a lot of kid friendly activities where closed, so we walked The Strip. I was amazed. There were some amazing buildings, and architecture, and gardens, and street performers. It was so cool. But I gotta warn you, go prepared to have your blinders on, there is pictures of scantily-clad women everywhere you look. It is to bad that all that garbage has to be mixed in with something so awesome.

Here is a Gold Statue man, who was really good, and would not move for anything, unless you were a little kid, and then he would shake your hand and give you a lollipop.
Then there was the Bellagio's fountains. AMAZING!!!! Seriously, this was the coolest thing ever. I have seen video of this, but nothing does this justice. If you have not seen this, you should add it to your bucket list.
My Dad is a Civil Engineer. As a result, he finds bridges and dams fascinating. Every trip we went on growing up, it was inevitable that we were going to stop and look and a bridge, or take a Dam Tour, or check out a Water Treatment Plant. Charis and I figured why stop the tradition, we were only 45 minutes from the Hoover Dam. It was cool to see the bridge and walk on the top of the dam, but sadly we weren't able to do my favorite part of the dam experience....the Visitor Center and Tour. Security at the Hoover Dam is tighter than the TSA. First of all, they check your car before you even drive on the road to get to the dam. Then, to get into the Visitor Center, you had to stand in line, and go through a metal detector. Once we were done with that, we came to a queue at a Cash Registrar. There was a sign that read, "Dam Tours $30.00." So no tour for us. I explain that we just want to go to the Visitor Center, and the attendant says, "Ok, that will be $8.00 a head."

What? $8.oo? Who has ever heard of being charged to go into a Visitor Center? I believe a cover charge would make it a Museum, NOT a Visitor Center. And there was no signage explaining that anywhere. Grrrr. It was rather frustrating. So we did not go visit the center, but at least we got some nice pictures.

If you have kids, or a husband, and go to Las Vegas, I would highly recommend paying a visit to the Silverton Casino. First of all, they have one of the large Bass Pro Shops on their campus, and what man doesn't love getting lost in an Outdoor Sportsman Store. Secondly, they have a Fresh Water aquarium, with huge fish......and a Salt Water aquarium, with a really live Mermaid. She was awesome. I think that she was the Tal's favorite part of the entire trip.
Here is Kendell and Owen trying out the 4-wheelers at Bass Pro Shop.I know that Vegas has a ton of rides, that are supposed to be awesome, but this is the only ride we could afford:
And of course we ate at the buffets, well, some of them, the MGM's Grand Buffet, and CiCi's Pizza buffet. And Tom got to go to the Hilton Buffet with the seminar, lucky guy.I really enjoyed this trip. It was my first time to Vegas, and I would not be surprised if it were my last, but than, maybe it wont be. Only time will tell.

Joined the Club

Well, it is official, we have finally joined the rank (and have done something that as I teenager I swore I would never do). We are the new owners of a Mini-van.

We have been looking into getting a second car for almost a year now. The more we thought about it, a minivan made the most since. After a bunch of research, we decided that the Kia Sedona was what we wanted. It is ranked right behind the Odyssey and the Senia, but still $10,000 cheaper.

So we have been looking at, and test driving the Sedona for a while now, and yesterday was the fateful day, the price was right, the miles low, and the color...well it is blue.

I am so excited!!

Happy Birthday to Tal, Happy New Year to You!

It does not seem like a whole year ago that we were having a New Years Eve party, and Talmage decided to interrupt it. But Here we are one year later having a Birthday/New Years Eve Party. I can not believe how quickly this past year has gone. Wow, the older I get, the faster time slips away, and I am not even that old.

We had a pretty fun party. I thought it was so much fun to celibate both New Years Eve, and Tally's Birthday. We had a great spread of food, all the yummy finger foods, a great cake, presents, a New Years Countdown. How could it get better? I always like to make a creative cake for birthday parties. This time I made a Cookie Monster cake. I was so proud of it, and my boys loved it, especially Tal.

After we did all the Birthday festivities, we decied to do the New Year Countdown at 9:30 (Midnight is just a bit too late for my boys, and their cousins). Holy Cow, I think it was my favorite count down ever. Kids just make Holidays fun. They all ran through the house yelling and screaming, tooting on horns, and dancing around.

After the 9:30 Countdown, we figured that there was no way a Midnight Countdown would even compair, so everyone went home. And I fully intend on being in bed by Midnight.

Happy New Year!!!

My Big Brave Boys

My boys are growing up. They are venturing out, trying new things. Talmage started walking last night. I gotta say, it happened a bit earlier than I expected, Owen did not walk until 13 months, and Tal is not yet one. He has been taking a few small steps between Tom and me for a couple of weeks. But last night, Tal was standing up, holding on to the couch, and Tom was sitting in the chair across the room. He just looked at Tom,put his hands up in the air, and off he went. He hasn't stopped since.
Here is an action shot of some of his first solo steps:
Now, Owen, is doing his own kind of growing up. He has been a bit hessitant to play with his new bike. I think the whole Two-Wheel thing is stairing him. So I desided to show him some videos of other little kids playing on their bikes, in hopes to incourage him. So this is what I showed him (these are videos from the makers of his balance bike):





Man, that did the trick. He loves his bike now. He still doen't quite sit on it, but he loves running with it between his legs, and his favorite thing is to do "jumps." It is so cute, he just pulls up on the handle bars, making the wheels bounce. Love it!

Merry Christmas to all!

I love Christmas! I loved the Christmas magic when I was little, and now I love trying to create it for my boys. I started Christmas chopoing this past summer, which I used to think people that Christmas shopped in the summer where crazy, but now I did it. Hey, sometimes you just find the coolest things, and if the price is right, why not. Mostly, I found things at garage sales. I figure, if it is in pristine condition, why should it matter where it came from. Anyway, most of my shopping was completed by the end of the summer, which made me happy, I figured I could spend December actually focusing on having a Christ centered Christmas.
Then I went to the Big Sale at Joann's the day after Thanksgiving, where I got struck with all these brillian ideas of thing I could make for my boys for Christmas. Suddenly, December turned into a month of frantic sewing. Hooded towels, blankets, crayon rolls, matching shirts for Tom, Owen, and Tal, I-Spy Bags. Yep, Lots of sewing. Don't worry, I think we still had a fairly Spiritual Christmas, but I deffinately felt the Christmas pressure this year.

Santa was really nice to the boys this year. Tal got a Fisher Price Noahs Ark, and a tool box, and Owen got an Elmo Chair and a Balance Strider Bike (Awesome!). It was pretty funny when we went to see what Santa left. I asked, "Owen, what do you see?"
He got all excited, "A Boat!!"
Tom asked, "What else?"
"Oh, tools!"
I ask, " Do you see anything else?"
"Elmo Chair!!!"
Really? Come on, the bike was leaning infront of the chair. Come on, it was totally the elephant in the room, and he was completely missing it.

Finally, he saw the bike, and I think he likes it, but he is still trying to figure out the whole two wheeler thing. And Tal loves his Noah and tools.

We also had a some wonderful family parties. I love spending time with family at Christmas. My brother and his family came to visit from Maryland. Tom's brother came down from Idaho Falls. My mom made nativity costumes, and had the grandkids dress up. We got to go to Tom's sister's Chior Concert down at Temple Square.

I just love this time of the year.