Hit by a truck...a moving truck, that is...

So, if there's anyone left out there checking my blog anymore, we are all alive and well. The long blog silence is due to the fact that I had to spend a week packing up, a weekend moving, and a month plus, now, unpacking and organizing our stuff. So I literally feel like I've been run over by a big U-Haul. Blah. But now I can get back to blogging, and boy am I behind. I'll be adding lots of new posts, but I'm pre-dating them (if that makes sense) so you'll have to scroll down to see if there's anything new that you haven't read yet... until I get caught up again, that is. :)

If You're Happy And You Know It

Here he his, clapping to the song:

And later he came and laid by me on the couch and was saying, "Happy, happy, happy..."

Made me pretty happy, myself.

Adventures in Babysitting

While we were in Vegas, Tyler's sister and her husband went to Hawaii. So Grandma and Grandpa were actually pulling double (well, triple) duty, since they had to not only babysit Ashton, but also Preston and Carter! By the time we got back from Vegas we could tell they might like a little break...nothing like 15 years without a baby in the house to make you forget how tired they can make you! So, on Saturday night Tyler and I watched the three boys while Carlton and Becky went to dinner, just the two of them. While they were gone we had two adventures worth noting.

Adventure #1: the wall. I was helping Preston write in a little activity book, when Ashton ran out of sight. Since Tyler was chasing Carter somewhere, I told Preston to wait for me for just a second so I could bring Ashton back--I didn't want him off somewhere alone, getting into trouble. I literally took five steps into the hallway and I heard a cute little song from behind me: "I'm DWA-ing on da WA-all!" Oh boy. I brought Ashton back to find Preston drawing all over the wall, and singing happily about it. It was actually quite funny, but I couldn't let him know it. And when I made him try to clean it off, he whined like a teenager, "But I can't! I don't know how!" Too too funny.

Adverture #2: the park. Obviously we weren't having any success inside the house. (See adventure #1.) So we took the kids to the park, and finally they were all happy! It might have had something to do with the fact that two of the three were pinned in strollers, but it was much better. It's so cute to see Ashton and Carter finally interact now. I'm glad they are friends. I always wanted to be friends with my cousins, but I was never around enough or too shy or something. So I'm glad to see them so happy together already.

Yeah, I just love how I get the camera out and Ashton closes his eyes and sticks his tongue out...Carter is just sitting and smiling so cute. I didn't get one of Preston because he was to busy going up and down the slides. It was a fun day, but holy goodness, I cannot understand how anyone can handle more than one kid! I was so tired after just a few hours! Alycia, you are now my hero...

Vegas, Baby!

Tuacahn (the regional theatre in St. George) decided to do Tarzan the Musical this year. Tyler and I both LOVE the music and the movie, and this is the only place in the whole world that is performing it right now--though I'm pretty sure a tour will be starting soon--so it was inevitable. We simply had to go. And since Vegas is just a short ways farther, we decided we should pop over there as well. Before we knew it, we had planned our first post-baby getaway!

Ashton didn't really have any clue. We told him we were going to Grandma's house, which we do a lot, so he didn't realize we would be leaving him there for three days. We packed him a little baby duffle bag. It was his first official sleepover!



He was so funny trying to carry it. It was a little too heavy for him so he would try to walk with it and then go crashing to the floor, and he would just laugh and laugh.

He got pretty good after a while, though.

So, Day 1. First thing in the morning we dropped him off with Grandma. We wanted breakfast at Carl's Jr. and we were literally two minutes too late and they wouldn't give us anything. Lame. So we continued on to McDonald's, but instead of finding it, we found a giant hole in the ground where it used to be! Double lame. So then we went to the drive-up window at Wendy's and they said, "We don't serve breakfast at this location." What? Then why the heck are you open at 10am? Whatever. So we gave up and went on our way and ate some cookies we had in the car instead. We drove and drove, and just before St. George we came to a little ghost town that tyler wanted to see.

It was mildly interesting, but let's face it, I am not the historian of the family. The stop was definitely for Tyler's benefit. :) It was nice to walk around and stretch my legs, though, and it was kind of cool to see the old crumbling town. Afterwards we made it to our hotel, and since it was SO hot, we went for a swim in the pool. We even still had time for a nap before we left for Tuacahn. I couldn't remember the last time I'd napped. It was glorious.

We ate the buffett at the theatre, and it wasn't all that great, but it was good enough. Then we waited for the doors to open while some kids from the high school did some pre-show entertainment. (No comment.) We finally got to go in and it was so cool! It's a big red-rock amphitheatre and it look so beautiful. Tyler tried to take a picture of the stage and a nice lady offered to take one with us in it. She didn't know we actually wanted the stage in it, though, so this is the best we got. Oh well, it was nice of her, anyway.

The show was amazing! It made me temporarily forget that I was melting away in the 110 degrees (maybe more) of heat. If you get the chance to see the show, don't miss it!

On Day 2 we woke up and drove to Vegas! We parked at the Palazzo, and wandered through it and the Venetian. They are two of my favorite ones, I think. So pretty. While there, we scored the last two tickets to a taping of Wheel of Fortune, so we were excited about that. It didn't start right away, though, so we wandered through some more hotels (the Wynn, Treasure Island, Mirage). We ate lunch at the Bellagio's buffet. Pretty fancy. And of course we tried every one of their fancy desserts. Mmmm... We also went through the gardens while we were there, and it was really cool.

Then we headed back to the Venetian for Wheel of Fortune! It was pretty cool. They taped two episodes--the ones for March 31, 2011 and April 1, 2011. We were way in the back for the first one, but it was still cool. Then in between the episodes there was a break, and half the people got up and left! Maybe they were tired of sitting there or if they forgot there was a second one...I don't know. But we were able to run and get some seats near the front! It was cool. So look for us on April Fools Day! I'm sure you'll see us cheering right in the middle.

Once it was over we went and saw the volcano erupt at the Mirage and watched the fountains at the Bellagio. Then we went to the MGM grand and saw a Cirque du Soleil show called KA. It was SUPER cool. It's the only one with a story line and it was just crazy to watch all the stunts and tricks they could do. There were times when I literally was having a stress attack because I thought they would plummet to their deaths right before my eyes. But they didn't. It was so so so cool.

That night we were exhausted! We stayed in Excalibur, which was a pretty cool, albeit not as fancy, hotel.

We of course booked the cheapest room in the whole place, because that's how we are. But thanks to a lovely friend of mine, I remembered to tell Tyler to ask for any free upgrades. Well, long story short--we got upgraded to the fanciest suite they have, on the top floor of the hotel! For FREE! Woohoo! So always ask for upgrades. Always. So here is the first part of our lovely room...the living room and study area.


And here is the front bathroom...for any guests we might invite to our room.

And here is the kitchenette/dining area.

And this is the fancy bedroom. Probably as big as our other entire room would have been. And definitely more fancy.

And last but not least, the deluxe master bathroom, with a jetted hot tub big enough for a whole bunch of people to fit in. It was ridiculous. And amazing.

The only sad thing was that we were so exhausted that we didn't even get to enjoy it all. Oh well. The next morning, Day 3, we got up and checked out. We headed over to enjoy the breakfast buffet at the Paris hotel. And oh my goodness, it is my favorite place in the whole world!

Not only does it look like a Disneyland version of Paris on the inside, but it also had the most amazing breakfast food ever! Everything from bacon and eggs, to eggs benedict, quiche, and made-to-order crepes and omlettes. SO YUMMY! If you had to eat one breakfast in Vegas, that is the breakfast I would tell you to eat. Period. After that, we went and checked out some other hotels (New York-New York, Planet Hollywood, MGM Grand, and our own Excalibur). We gambled away a whole dollar, or something like that. And it was pretty much the most boring thing ever. I don't understand the addiction to slot machines at all. Sorry, but I don't. We also went and did a screen test for CBS, where we saw parts of the new shows "The Defenders" and "Hawaii Five-O" and then we took surveys on them and got Starbucks gift certificates for it. It was cool. We also got to go on some 4-D rides at our hotel and drink pina coladas and strawberry daquiris (virgin, of course!) at the hotel bar. We felt so worldly. :) All in all it was pretty cool. On the way out of town we took a last peek at the Luxor hotel, and then headed home! We made four stops on the way: one to see my friend Leah (who lives in Vegas, but sadly was on her way back from MT just as we were leaving--but it was great to see her anyway!), another to get the pillow we left at the hotel in St. George, another to fix our car when it mysteriously died in mid-interstate driving (still don't know what was wrong, still runs like nothing ever happened--figure that one out), and finally one to eat at the best restaurant in Beaver. Seriously any excuse to drive by Beaver means we will eat there. It is the greatest!

So anyway, now we're home, and now I've written this insanely long log of our travels. Hope it was worth reading, because it was certainly worth going!

Bottoms Up

Stadium of Fire

Love Stadium of Fire. Love Carrie Underwood. Love that she was there this year.

I am so glad the Stadium of Fire people got over their lame Disney Channel phase...Ravin, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers...BLAH! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for someone just as awesome as Carrie Underwood next year!

P.S. My brother is a ninja...

Really. He takes Tae Kwon Do, or whatever it is, and he has some serious skills. Look if you dare...

Running up trees...

...kicking me in the face...

...and ninja flipping.

Told you so.

Patrick is a Senior

I know, it's strange to me, too. I still think of him as 7 years old sometimes. So I guess this means I'm getting old. Sad day. But happy day for Patrick, because he will graduate from high school this year! Woohoo! As the proud big sister, I forced my wannabe photography skills on him for his senior pictures. And I think it turned out pretty well for never having done this before. (Luckily he's a handsome dude, which makes up for the times I had the settings or lighting or anything wrong...) So, without further ado...my brother!

Good luck on your senior year, Patrick!