What Happens in Vegas.........

Last weekend I had a great oppurtunity to go see my sister Tara, who lives in Las Vegas. She moved there last summer and I hadn't been out to see her yet. My other sister Kristi and her daughter Siera also came. Noah came too. We all had so much fun. I can't stop thinking about the trip and how I would love to go back. It was definitely a much needed vacation. We did a lot of shopping and eating. Tara has the American Idol karaoke game so we all played that a little on Friday night. We had fun, even though I can't sing worth crap.

Saturday, we went to the Mandalay Bay to the Shark Reef Aquarium. Noah absolutely loved this. It was pretty cool inside. They had these little remotes that you could put a number in and would tell you about the particular fish you were seeing at the time. I think the kids favorite part by far was when they got to "pet" the stingrays. We then did more eating and shopping.




Later that evening, me, Kristi and Tara went and saw "He's Just Not That Into You". We all liked it. It was a pretty late show but we had fun. It was a fun bonding weekend. I'm glad I was able to go and can't wait to do it again.

Home School Musical

So for one of Noah's birthday presents, I told him I would take him to see Home School Musical at the Desert Star Playhouse. His birthday is January 6 but we weren't able to get tickets to go until February 21. It was so much fun. If you haven't been to a play there, I highly recommend it. It is definitely fun for older kids and very family friendly. The prices are reasonable too. The characters had the funniest names like Zac Teflon and Vanessa Hugsandkiss. They even had a character in there that was just like Napolean Dyanmite but his name was Linoleum. Too funny. It was a great time. They even sang happy birthday to Noah and asked him what his favorite part of the play was. The next play they are doing is American Fork Idol. Any want to go??

Jr. Jazz or Jr. Jungle Ball????

Noah played Jr. Jazz again this year. This was his second year. He definitely improved by leaps and bounds in his skills. He was one of the better players on the team. He really has learned to love basketball and is very into the Jazz right now. It was crazy how out of control these games would get. There would be all 5 players on the kid with the ball at times. Most of the time, the referring was terrible. They only won 3 or 4 of their games but they all played so tough and gave it there all. With Jr. Jazz, the kids get to meet a Jazz player. This year, Noah got to meet Ronnie Brewer. He was so excited. He was able to go down to the court and give him a high five. All in all, it was a good experience. Noah's dad also helped coach him this year. I think we are done with sports for a while though now. We need a break. Here are some of the photos I got. Noah is #24.

Draper temple

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to the Draper temple open house with my family. Of course, it was very beautiful. I wasn't able to get very good pictures so the pictures I got are through the window of the shuttle bus. We didn't get the opportunity to walk around the outside of the temple and of course, there is no photography allowed in the temple. They had a enclosed walkway from the bus to the entrance of the temple. I want to go back when we can walk on the grounds and take pictures. I love the peaceful, reverent feeling you get while inside the temple. I loved that Noah was able to go and experience this with me. He is excited to be able to go and do baptisms when he is 12. We are so blessed and lucky to have so many temples so close to us.

Noah's birthday

Noah turned 9 this year. I can't believe he is already that age. It just seems like yesterday that he was this cute, cuddly baby boy I was bringing home from the hospital. His birthday was the 6th of this month. It was on a Tuesday and I asked him where he wanted to go to dinner and he said, "Iggy's". I love Iggy's. I think the only downfall they have is that they serve Pepsi products. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a Diet Cokeaholic. I asked Noah why he wanted to go there and he said it was because they have the huge TV that you can watch sports on. After dinner I asked him if he wanted to go to a movie and he said that he wanted to go bowling. We have probably only been bowling once together so I'm not sure where this came from. Anyway, thats what we did and it was actually really fun. We went to the All Star lanes in Sandy. I didn't do very well. It's been way too long since I played. I wish I would've brought my camera to get some pictures. Saturday, he got to have a party with his friends. I let him do a friend party every other year. We did it at the West Valley rec center. We had a room reserved off the side of the pool. The kids got to swim and we had pizza and cake. It was a really fun time.




Sunday, we had my family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. It was fun but quite chaotic to have everyone in my little condo. After dinner, we played the Wii for a little while. I'm still cleaning up confetti that I scattered all over the table trying to decorate. Anyway, Noah had a good time and a good birthday. Don't ya just love the big cheeser smile??

Christmas

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We had a wonderful holiday filled with lots of yummy food, family, friends and fun activities. Noah and I attempted to put together a gingerbread house but it didn't turn out very well. The frosting was kinda crappy so we couldn't get it to do what we wanted it to. It was still a fun time. On Christmas eve, we went to my parents house for a nice ham dinner. It was great. We really missed the Thompson family. They were at Raleigh's parents this year. We did white elephants and I ended up with a cute welcome wreath for my front door. Thanks Kristi. All of the kids brought a stocking and then each family put a small treat or toy in their stocking. The kids totally loved it. For about the last 4 years, we have had a tradition of having my parents wrap a gift over and over with packaging tape so that it is really hard to open and then we play a game where you roll two dice and if it totals seven, you get a chance at unwrapping the gift. The trick is you have to unwrap it with oven mitts. Some of my siblings get pretty aggressive but it is always fun to play and watch. The present is usually a gift card to a restaurant or store. Fun times. We also had a talent show by the grand kids. Noah did some magic tricks. Who knew my son was a magician? (: Siera sang a song and surprised us all with how great of a voice she has. Harmony also sang and also has such a cute voice. Abi danced and wore the most adorable costume. Caleb played a song on the piano that he learned off the Internet. He is definitely a chip off the old block. I truly have the cutest nieces and nephews. I had Noah this year for Christmas eve and Christmas morning. Noah got an MP3 player, basketball, DVD's and some books. We went over to my parents Christmas morning and they gave us a Wii for Christmas. It has been so much fun. We are still learning how to play everything and I recently just purchased the Wii Fit so I'm starting to use that. Noah also made me a gingerbread house for Christmas (which he still won't let me throw away) and he gave me one of the seasons of King of Queens on DVD. It is one of my favorite shows. Anyway, here are some of the photos I took.

Breakfast with Santa

I know this seems a little late but I am still behind on blogging. I'm going to try and get caught up. This year we went to Hogle Zoo for a breakfast with Santa. It turned out to be really fun. A girl at work told me she had taken her kids and how much fun they had so I told Noah about it and he wanted to do it. They had a really good breakfast. Then the kids got to sit on Santa's lap and get a photo with him and make a Christmas ornament. Later after everyone was done eating, some of the zoo workers brought in different animals for the kids to see and touch if they wanted to. They brought in a couple of different kinds of birds, lizards and they even brought in a snake which I stayed far away from. It was a fun experience and something different to do at Christmas time.