Snow in Las Vegas?

We were supposed to finish up our vacation in Las Vegas with Kevin's family, but thanks to the lovely weather we had to make some changes. We were afraid we weren't going to get out of California and had to wait until Thursday afternoon to make it out. We went to Kati's graduation from Cosmetology school, then out to lunch with the entire family. At the restaurant Logan fell off his chair and pushed his tooth straight back. He looks so sad. He looks like he is missing his front tooth. The dentist says it should eventually push itself back into place. I hope it happens soon. After running some errands we took off hoping the freeways were open, and luckily got through.

Haley and Logan looking out from the tower of the Stratosphere. They loved the view. Logan kept crawling right onto the window.

We found out Isaac likes sitting in the bathtub like a big boy. He would scream to get in whenever the kids were in. He could be an advertisement for the Stratosphere.

Merry Christmas Dan!

We wore our poor kids out walking through all the casinos. Haley looks exhausted.

In our hotel room they had an alcove window that the kids loved to sit in and watch. Isaac really enjoyed it.

Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas.

There really was snow in Vegas.

Haley had her hands in her pocket because they were cold, and started running, she tripped over the curb and slid on her face. Kevin is trying to get a picture of her injuries.

Dan, Amanda, and Lauri climbing some red rocks.

This picture is for Grandma. The one time this isn't proper foot attire for Las Vegas, I forget my tennis shoes.

Rah! Rah! Rah! Go Cougars!

Lauri was very helpful with our little Isaac.

Beautiful Red Rock Canyon.

Kevin's sister Lisa was supposed to get to Las Vegas on Wednedsday but was never able to get there because of the weather. Dallin and Katie did not make the trip because of the weather. We still met Melinda Dan and their family and Mom and Dad. It was a fun trip.

Logan's favorite part of Vegas was the Dancing waters at the Bellagio. He quite enjoyed it

Pre-Christmas vacation

Our family vacation started at the beach. It was very cold and windy, but sunny. We saw a sea lion in the water around the pier. We also took a harbor cruise around Balboa Island.

Traci enjoys her hot dog.

Papa and Boston

Olivia found her own seat.

Maddison Haley, Logan and I enjoying a tea party. Thanks Aunt Kerry for the the tea set.

Isaac enjoying his donut at grandma's house.

The weather in California was awful while we were there. Somehow we always manage to bring the bad weather with us. Monday and Wednesday the rain was so bad we couldn't go anywhere. Luckily Tuesday was very nice and we were able to go to Disneyland. It was Logan's first trip.

We started off leaving Isaac at Aunt Traci's house, but he screamed for two straight hours and Traci finally brought him to Disneyland. He is usually a very good baby, and he didn't make a sound the entire time at Disneyland, he was the perfect baby. I guess he didn't want to be left out.

While taking this picture some Japanese toursists came over and took pictures too, commenting how cute the kids were (at least that was the translation they provided to us).

Haley was able to go on every roller coaster at Disneyland except Indiana Jones. The only one she didn't like was Space Mountain. About half way through the ride she turned to Kevin and said she was done with the ride. After the ride she told me she didn't ever want to go on that ride again until she was bigger. We took Logan on the the roller coaster in toon town first and he kept saying this is my first roller coaster. He was also tall enough to go on the Matterhorn.

While Kevin, Haley, Tami, and Maddison went on Space Mountain, I took Logan on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Logan had really wanted to go on the roller coaster with the big waterfall (Splash Mountain) but unfortunately he was too short. As we were walking on to Winnie the Pooh the attendant was talking to the guy behind us joking saying he was just tall enough to go on the ride. Logan thought they were talking to him and he looked at me and said he said "I am big enough to go on the ride with the waterfall". He was so excited I felt so bad I had to disappoint him.

The kids favorite ride was It's a Small World and little Isaac was getting Jiggy with it. They had it all done up for Christmas. Issac was so cute when ever he was scared on a ride he would turn his head to the side and close his eyes and "sleep" through the ride. None of the kids liked Pirates of the Carribean. The Haunted Mansion was done neat with the Nightmare before

Christmas theme.

While in California Kevin and I went to the play Wicked for our anniversary. We had a really good time and enjoyed it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for watching the kids so we could go.

The weather was so bad this week that Las Vegas was snowed in and parts of the freeway in California were closed because of snow. Between the snow in Vegas and Cali and Kati graduating from college, Kevin says "Hell has officially frozen over."

We had a wonderful week and it was good to see everyone.

The Smith's Christmas Vacation Part 2 : Las Vegas, soon to follow.

I love Christmas Decorations

I love Christmas. Especially Decorating for Christmas. Much to Kevin's detriment I also love buying Christmas decorations. He is always telling me we have more than enough, (especially when he is either taking out or putting them away in the attic.) We actually got Kevin to put up Christmas lights on the house this year. I'm not sure if it was my nagging or Haley asking for lights on her Christmas house that got him out there this year. Or maybe it's that after 7 years of marriage we are having our first Christmas at home. Haley about had a heart attack when he was on the roof. She kept telling him to be careful and not fall off. Kevin wanted to take pictures of the house, but I want to wait until there is snow on the ground it makes the lights prettier.

Here are pictures of us decorating the tree.

They both wanted a chance to put the star on the tree, so Haley put it up and Logan made it straight.

The other day Logan was playing with these:

So daddy bought him these:

Funny Logan story

A month ago Kevin was talking to the kids about going to Disneyland and he measured Logan to see if he was tall enough for the roller coaster rides. Logan was a little short and Kevin said well maybe with big shoes. The other day I asked Logan what he wanted for Christmas and he went into a long tirade and I couldn't tell what he was saying so I had Kevin ask him when he got home. He was asking for big shoes so that he could ride the roller coaster with daddy and daddy could hold him.

Logan and I were dancing and I told him to shake his booty. After we were done I said Logan where is your booty and he started looking all over his body, lifting up his shirt and getting concerned and then he said I know where my booty is...he ran to the closet and got out his snow boots and said here's my booty.

Logan is a very smart two year old. He knows his alphabet and can recognize about 90% of the letters. He even knows their sounds. He loves to sing, and is really a good kid. We love the little brat.

Thanksgiving

Haley is sporting the outfit she made in Preschool for their Thanksgiving Feast. She was quite pleased with herself.
Our Thanksgiving weekend was an interesting one. For Thanksgiving it was just our little family. While cooking the turkey, I heard a popping noise upstairs and saw fire in our oven. I called for Kevin and threw open the oven door. The element in the bottom of the stove burnt out, and a piece of it broke off. We continued to cook our turkey and took it out at the appointed time to find out that only half of it was cooked. So we found some parts that were cooked really well (we used 3 different thermometers) cut those off and stuck the turkey back in for 4 more hours. Suffice it to say I'm glad we weren't having company.
Friday morning we woke up and during the course of the day realized our garbage disposal wasn't working.
On Saturday Kevin went to Home Depot to find out how to fix the garbage disposal, and his car broke down. On all this we were averaging about 4 hours of sleep, because Isaac was not sleeping well and he kept waking up the other kids.
Saturday night we went to the SLC Temple to see the Christmas lights...we heavily debated going because we weren't sure if an asteroid would fall on us or something, but we decided to go and meet Melinda and her family there. Kevin was excited because there is a restaurant in Salt Lake City that he has really wanted to go to, and we don't get up to SLC very often. We left Temple Square at 8:15 and called the restaurant and they still had an hour wait, so instead of the Red Iguana we went to The Mayan. Kevin was extremely disappointed.
The food at the Mayan isn't great but it makes up for it in atmosphere. It has a Disney like quality where you actually feel like you are in the Jungle. They are several different shows with cliff divers in the restaurant. The kids loved it and it was a good end to the weekend.
Everything works now and I have so much to be thankful for that it is hard to complain, but it makes a good story and a Thanksgiving to remember.

Dinner at the Mayan with. The Cliffs are in the background. There are giant trees, and fake birds. There is constant "jungle" sounds the whole time. Haley talks about this dinner all the time and wants to go back.