viva las vegas...and around town :)

Love love LOVE when friends come down to stay!

Thursday night Brittany and Kelli came to stay with us for the weekend. Kelli is an AMAZING photographer and was taking some pictures down here this past weekend and Britt was kind enough to tag along...and smart enough to call me to get a free hotel. :)

Brittany was really excited to be at my house...who wouldn't be? :)

Brittany came bearing gifts for my kiddos:

Brittany owns Baby Lilac...they make eye masks. Here's Xander sporting the Blue Cheetah. He was totally zonked. All I have to say is...they work.

We had all sorts of fun. The funnier pics are on Britt and Kelli's cameras. (They have a LOT nicer cameras, so we went to town taking so many pics.) We decided to do some mini photo shoots with all the red rock around. Funny, I've lived down here 4 1/2 years and have never gotten pics by any red rocks. So we decided it would be fun to do that. Good times. :)

When Kelli was taking pics on Friday night, Britt and I went to 25 Main and ate YUMMY cupcakes and chatted it up like there was no tomorrow. Loved it. Wanted to take pics, but I left my camera at home. I swear that never happens. :(

Saturday after Kelli did her other photo shoot we headed down to VEGAS BABY!

Britt, me, and Kelli making the trip to Vegas

On our way down Brittany had to use the potty ultra bad. Kelli tried to sabotage her and completely missed the exit to a bathroom. Luckily, there was another one about 1 mile down the road. As soon as the car stopped Britt had to sprint into the store. Sigh...good times.

We made it to Vegas and despite Brittany being terrified, we had a blast.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find the Old Neon Graveyard where they keep all the old school Vegas signs. But we did come to a mall I've never been to before at the very south end of the strip. Now it was my turn to use the potty. The FUNNIEST story in the history of stories happened here.
We walked into a Starbucks and went to the back to find the bathroom. Britt decided to be super nice and open the door for me. She totally did a Vanna White and showcased it and everything as she opened it. Unfortunately, and completely unbeknownst to her there was only 1 toilet...and a lady with her shirt practically up to her armpits doing up her pants in the room. When I came around the corner I saw the lady and ran to the wall, Kelli did the same thing. Brittany was standing there wondering why we weren't going in. I guess she could hear the lady trying to say something, but she was so stunned nothing but gibberish was coming out. Britt finally looked in and was so mortified. All she could say was sorry and couldn't shut the door fast enough. We were all dying and couldn't control our laughter. The lady was probably so embarrassed to come out. For the rest of the trip whenever I thought of that scenario I was crying I was laughing so hard....Ah...good times.
OK maybe you had to be there...but I am laughing just thinking about it again. hehe.

This was Britt and I after the "incident"

We met Molly at the mall, one of Kelli's friend's from high school. We did some shopping.

Here we are in a super long line at H & M

Next, we found Sephora. I got Britt hooked on Bare Minerals...(sorry Joe...but it's amazing stuff). They were doing a free makeover day so we all took advantage. After getting all sexied up we went out to the Cheesecake Factory. But on our way there we met a ... thing...

Molly, Kelli, some thing, Britt, and me. Brittany was scared this man was going to grab her butt. He didn't, but he scared Molly pretty good.

Eating at the Cheesecake Factory

Britt and me...she was saying something interesting...I guess. :)

After food we tried to make it to a boutique Molly told us about. Unfortunately, the traffic was RIDICULOUS and it took forever just to get back to the mall. So, then it was time to go. We were all so tired, but we made it home safe and sound.

Britt made it to church with me on Sunday and I'm glad she got to come for a bit, although we missed Kelli.

You guys...I had a GREAT time! I haven't laughed so hard in a while. You're welcome back whenever. :)

Happy Birthday Nat!

Yesterday was my little sister, Natalie's, 21st birthday! I know she would be sad if I didn't blog about her.

So, sorry it's a day late...I did call though...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

livin' it up

Let me just say that I LOVE getting company down here. It breaks us out of the norm and I'm happy that it happens quite a bit because we live in a great place like St. George.

A couple weeks ago my sister came and stayed and 2 weekends ago one of my friends from high school, Bethany, came and stayed with us. These are some good times.

Unfortunately, I was kind of a picture slacker when these friends came to stay. :( Sad times.

So, this weekend, when the ever fabulous Brittany and fantastic Kelli came to stay with us I decided pictures would be a must because we have such good times.

Pics are coming, because the weekend is still young and there is much to do today. I just want to tell everyone that you are ALWAYS welcome at my house...whenever.

Funnies

Yesterday we were visiting Jace's cousin when Xander went potty in his pants and smelled so bad we had to leave.

When we got in the car Aliyah says "Mommy, Xander's butts reeks. Change him."

{fun things}

Well, let me start all the fun things that are going on by backing up.

I love my ward. (I think I've said that before.) But I really do. I love all the people in it. Because of this wardly love a couple of us got together Saturday night for a pool/pizza party. It was a lot of fun. We ended up staying for about 2 1/2 hours and then going over to one of our houses and chattin' it up til the kids couldn't handle it any longer.
Then yesterday Jace finally convinced me to go to the gym. Apparently Xander was crying the whole time...luckily the day care workers didn't find us so we could work out. Teething is just no fun. (He's getting a molar.) So, Jace stuck them in our tub when we got home. After playing for a while Xander grabbed the shampoo and dumped the whole bottle into the tub where the jets were on. Pretty soon you could only see the kids heads above all the bubbles. They had fun with that.

Until...

Xander got bubbles all in his eyes and when he tried to wipe them off it made it worse because he was covered in bubbles. I grabbed him and put him in the shower.

All better.

And then there is today...

We have family pics later today and I decided that Aliyah needed a trim. Jace was good enough to cut Xander's last night, so today was Aliyah's turn. Now I have previously cut her hair only one other time. I still remember...it was Jan 1, 2008. That was her first and only hair cut until today.

Now, I'm not the best hair cutter in the world...let's face it I never went to school. And my scissors weren't fantastic either...but I think it went fairly well. Aliyah wasn't very happy about the process and having to hold still. She was moving through the whole thing, but we got it pretty straight.

During this time I didn't hear a peep from Xander. It concerned me a bit, but I was busy and knew he had to be busy too. I knew he had to be getting into something, but I really didn't care because he wasn't crying at my feet. It wasn't until he came running into the bathroom telling me he was funny that I looked down and saw this:


Yep...he found a pen. Yippee for him. And it was a good thing it was the kind of pen it was because it came right off.

So, these have been our fun times the last few days. I'll have to show you my pics when they get done. :)

Hope you're all having fun times too. :)

Happy Birthday Great Grandma!

So, Saturday March 14 was my great grandma's birthday. She turned 99! I called her to wish her a happy birthday and she told me she never thought she would make it this long. And let me tell you, we are all glad she has. :)



Some things I remember most about my grandma were our sleepovers. Her husband died when my mom was a baby, and she has stayed single ever since. So my sisters and I would have sleepovers with grammie when we were off track. She would spend one on one time with us which is absolutely priceless. We would stay up really late too. :)

When we would visit as a family Amy and I would get bored with "adult talk" so we could be found outside "painting her fence" with water in our buckets and paint brushes. We thought that was awesome.

She had a pinball game that Amy and I could play for hours. We would also spend time threading buttons. She has millions of buttons of all shapes and colors, so we enjoyed doing that.


There are just a couple reasons I love my Great Grandma so much. I am so glad I've gotten to know her. AND I'm SO glad she has gotten to know my kids. Not a lot of people can say they know their great great grandma.

Thank you for everything and I hope your day was FABULOUS!

LOVE YOU!

Little Ya-Ya is Sick

Ya-Ya is my little Aliyah. (Xander has a hard time saying Aliyah, so he has nick-named her Ya-Ya.) She woke up super early this morning (5:00 am) and crawled into my bed. She was whining and sad. She slept on and off until 8 when we got up. She wouldn't eat any breakfast...she did have a couple swallows of water...and her vitamin. But nothing else.
She has been like this on the couch all morning.

:( Does anyone know if something is going around? She has a slight fever and she's just mopey. She is so sad to look at and it breaks my heart.

Get better soon, Ya-Ya. :)

I love spring!