Las Vegas...a place we never have to see again.

Oh, don't get me wrong!!  We had a wonderful week together.  We played at the pool, ate good food (hey-oh, Jack in the Box), relaxed, and played with Mimi and cousins!  All things that could be done equally well in another location.

 The mile long hallway to our room got the kids nice and tired

Las Vegas has only a couple of redeeming qualities (in my opinion), the Bellagio fountains, the Dale Chihuly art in the Bellagio, and Trader Joe's.  Oh! And Jack in the Box.  I love their tacos.  My lunchtime ritual this week was an oreo shake (the best), two tacos with hot sauce, and a Diet Coke.  Delicious.

On our way to and from Vegas we got to stay with Jake and Annie and see their girls, Nellie and Gracie.  The kids loved playing together and were sad to leave them.  Jake and Annie even came down to Vegas on Thursday to swim in the awesome hotel pool and we also decided to check out the strip (not the best idea).

 Sophie's favorite part about the pool--lounging and snacks!

Jonah discovered his fins on this trip and became quite daring in the water (for Jonah)

 It was such a beautiful big pool!

 Here we are at Treasure Island, before the obscene "Pirate Show" began.

The Bellagio gardens were stunning, especially with the Dale Chihuly blown glass everywhere!

Jonah's face here typifies his general mood for the entire week.  Tired.

A Second Chance

I love my Nikon D70.  But when I have to also carry a diaper bag, push a stroller, and worry about holding/securing the kids, it's my worst enemy.

Right after we got married, I bought Jon his first digital camera.  It's a little Nikon Coolpix.  It was at the top of its class back then (only 5 years ago, grr) but after the last couple of trips where I relied on this little thing to capture our moments, I was sorely disappointed in its ability.

As we packed up for our Memorial Day at Lagoon, I had the camera problem again.  I did NOT want to carry my big camera around a busy amusement park when I knew my hands would be full.  So I put some new batteries in the little Nikon and was prepared to have to throw away all our pictures if they didn't turn out.

Thank goodness it worked pretty well under the circumstances and I was able to get a few good shots of our day.

Waiting in line

I still want a new point and shoot.

Tall and Skinny

Who? Me? No. I'm talking about my two beautiful little children.  I took them to the doctor today for their well-checks and heard exactly what I thought I'd hear.  They're tall and skinny.  "Yes, Dr., I feed my children everyday."

They're still the most beautiful children to me!

We need a swagger wagon.

We took the kids camping last weekend. It was Sophie's first camping trip so we were anxious to see how she did. We grabbed some Wendy's on the way to the site so that we didn't have to worry about cooking dinner at the camp. We set up the tent and built our fire, trying our very best to be patient with Jonah while he asked every 2 seconds if he could roast marshmallows yet.

Bedtime rolled around and we bundled the kids in to 2 sets of pajamas each and threw an additional sweatshirt over the top just to make sure they'd stay warm. Jon and I sat by the campfire and listened to our two little nuggets laughing and talking to each other.

I think I only slept a total of three hours that night--between worrying about the kids and trying to stay warm yet comfortable. Sophie woke up at 5am when the tiniest bit of light hit the tent and the birds started singing. Her first words were, "Daddy! Daddy! Hold me. Car!!" She was done with the trip. We put her between us in our bed and warmed her up and tried to keep her quiet until Jonah could wake up at a decent hour (which ended up being 6:30am).

It was absolutely freezing in the morning. The kids were grouchy. Jon was grouchy. But I couldn't help but enjoy it all. I grew up going camping a lot with my family and have always wanted my kids to grow up loving nature as much as I do. It might take some getting used to but I know we'll be making good memories as we go!

I only had my phone to take pictures, so forgive the quality, please.

Keeping Sophie warm and content in the morning chill.

Beautiful morning

While packing up the car, it was apparent that we'll soon be needing one of these. I never thought I'd be a minivan mom but these advertisements are certainly persuading!

Colorado in April

Jon finished his first year of his MBA (hey-oh!) so we ventured to Fort Collins for a whole week to spend time with my parents. 

We had a bonus visit from Jeff, Audra, and Eva and my Grandpa Herran and his wife Mo even came up for a delicious dinner comprising various meats which my dad smoked all morning.  It was so fun to visit with them.  I don't get to see them often enough.

The weather was uncooperative with our plans to visit Estes Park and participate in other outdoor adventures but I did get to run a 5k with my mom on Saturday morning which was a lot of fun.  It reminded me of the years my whole family would run the Bolder Boulder together.

We did a little shopping at Flatirons.

Jon was embarrassed that I was taking pictures inside the mall...hehehe!

 

We also did a little fishing on the boat as soon as the weather warmed up a bit.  It was Jonah's first fishing trip and he got to use his brand new Spiderman fishing pole.  He even got to real in his first fish (or his "shark", as he now refers to it while telling his fishing tales).

Practicing in Grandpa's pond.

 Lessons from Grandpa

Reeling in the big one!

The Shark

Trophy

 

Other perks of the trip:  Panera Bread, Sophie with Spriggy, and baths in Mimi's big bathtub.

Needless to say, the kids were exhausted by the time we went home.  Sleeping in the car was inevitable.

Jonah's Prayer

This was Jonah's bedtime prayer tonight:

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.  Thank you for our so many blessings.  Thank you for that we could get the sticks and put them in the holes.  Thank you for our so many dreams.  Help us to be nice and to not get the sticks.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

He has recently grasped the idea of thanking Heavenly Father for the good things about his day and its usually something to do with playing golf (insert any other sport here), eating something good, or reading his favorite books.

Jon and I thought this one was particularly good because he was thankful for something fun but also knew he probably should never do what he was doing again. (and I'm not even exactly sure what the stick game was but I'm sure I'll find out tomorrow when I look around the yard)

Sophie's Haps

I finished Sophie's Easter dress in time for her to wear it the week after church.  I only brought dry snacks to church, nothing sticky or chocolate and I watched her like a hawk.  I was so afraid it would be ruined in one wear.  I guess it wasn't the most practical outfit for a toddler...but it sure was adorable!

 

Mad because she can't play in the sandbox in her dress

Sophie's other news is that she had her first haircut this week!  By the time Jonah was this age, he'd already had a couple of haircuts (and much more substantial ones) but all we needed to do was get rid of her wispy mullet (which I thought was pretty cute).

As you can imagine, it was somewhat scary taking scissors to a toddlers neck while they slide around and play in the tub.

Sorry for the blur of the moving child

We love our little beauty!

Easter Fun

Our Easter weekend couldn't have been better.  Despite the frigid temperature Saturday, the kids got to participate in their first Easter egg hunt with our ward!  There was a 5 egg limit per child which means that by the time we got to Jonah, he had to throw back more than half his eggs and this kid wasn't happy about it.  Sophie caught right on and meandered around the field picking her eggs ever so carefully.

Pre-hunt instruction...very focused.

 Sophie was just content to have her pretty basket!

I love this face!!

 Goofy Grin

We stayed in jammies for most of the day and enjoyed the wonderful messages of General Conference.  It was difficult to listen with the kids but Jonah recognized President Monson each time he appeared and would say, "Look, it's President Monson!  He's my favorite guy." 

I always enjoy the talks about family and strengthening our children so that they'll be self sufficient and learn to rely on their own testimonies.  What a challenge we have as parents today.  Our children have such great work ahead of them and it is our responsibility to nurture and care for them in every way so they'll be ready.  I'm grateful for modern day prophets and apostles that know the world we live in and provide direction for us.

My talented egg artists

Generations

Last week we went down to Springville to visit one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants, La Casita.  The restaurant has been there forever.  In fact, a few years back, we found this picture up on their wall (their walls have Polaroids of customers from years past) and I always make it a point to find it:

This is a picture of my dear grandparents (my mom's parents) eating at La Casita many years ago.  I'm sure it was nearly 30 years ago. 

The man working at the front desk asked me who I was taking a picture of and I told him that it was my grandparents.  He looked at the picture and said that he remembered them and that they came often back then.