Preschool Graduation...Better Late Than Never

Jacob and Caleb had their preschool graduation the night before we left on our trip on Tuesday, April 21st. I'm grateful that everyone was so accommodating to let the date be changed from Wednesday to Tuesday night so we didn't have to miss it!
It was a little crazy that day trying to finish up all the packing since we'd be leave at 4:45am the next morning. My sweet friend Kristen took Matthew during the morning while Jacob and Caleb were both at preschool so I was able to get in a couple good solo hours of packing & cleaning. It gets tricky when you are packing for both a trip and a move.
It was nice to have a break to go to the graduation. As always it's so entertaining to watch the kids perform their songs and parts. I loved having both boys in the program. The teachers did such a great job, we'll really miss Miss Jamie and Miss Annette. They did a fabulous job during the year, and the boys absolutely loved preschool.
At the end when each of the kids got their cap and graduation gifts, they also told what each child's favorite color was along with their future career. Jacob's favorite color was red and when he grows up he wants to be an Eye Doctor. Caleb's favorite color is blue, and when he grows up he wants to be a Ninja Turtle. We have some high aspirations in our family! :) It was a beautiful night, and so fun to watch our kids with so many friends.

Last Day of Vegas Vacation

There wasn't much on the last day of our vacation. We pretty much enjoyed sleeping in a little later, got up and finished packing, and took off for the airport. (I loved this butterfly display by the elevator.) Of course we had a little bit of an adventure trying to find a gas station on the way that also had a restroom. I suddenly HAD to make a stop because of trying to drink a couple extra bottles of water since I didn't want to just throw them away. Long story short...next time I'll just leave the water bottles and spare myself the discomfort and stress! Man, I was glad when that was over! ha!
We dropped off the car at the rental place, then caught the shuttle to the airport. For some reason our names would show up, but our itineraries wouldn't print out, so we ended up getting to our gate just 20 minutes before the flight left. It wasn't a big deal except that we were flying Southwest, which meant we were pretty much the last ones to board the plane and didn't get to sit by each other. At least it was a short flight.
It was sure fun to see our kids when we got back. I don't know who was more excited, them or us! It was so fun to hug them and talk to them. We had a great trip, but we were sure glad to come back and see our sweet little boys. We sure appreciated Grandma Tanner taking such good care of them while we were gone!

Vegas Vacation Day 6

Wednesday morning we decided to take advantage of our last full day and finally went to the pool in the morning. It was fun to take a little time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sun and the water for a little while.

(I loved this mirror! It covered the whole wall)

Later on we got ready and decided to go to a buffet for lunch since Jeff had been wanting to try one for a few days. There was one in particular that was really cheap that was in one of the casino/hotels. When we got there we found out that the cheap price was only for people who have a membership card, so all we had to do was sign up. At the end of the sign-up process they give you a free spin on a slot machine to see if you win free play money. Jeff didn't win anything, but as luck would have it, when I push the button the slot machine started to light up and play music letting everyone know that I had won $20. Too bad it went to waste; I certainly wasn't going to use it. (I did get a picture for memory sakes though) If anything we ended up with a cheap lunch.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel so we could finish up most of our packing. It's amazing how much easier it is to pack when it's only the two of you! We also caught a quick nap before another late evening. That was pretty deluxe.
One thing we really wanted to do while in Las Vegas was go to a Cirque de Soleil. Jeff was able to get tickets for a pretty good price. The only bummer was that the show we really wanted to see wasn't showing at the time. We ended up going to KA. It was a pretty good show, some parts were a little slow and I'm a little embarrased to say that we both started to nod off towards the end. I guess the 9:30pm show was a little late for us old timers. It was still a fun experience and a good way to end the trip.

Vegas Vacation Day 5

Tuesday morning we hit the gym again, (this was the only hotel that actually didn't charge you to use the gym- so we tried to take advantage of it!) and then went to the St George temple. It was a great way to spend the morning together. Once again it was a beautiful sunny day, a perfect one to be there at the temple. After our session, we had fun walking around the temple grounds admiring all the beautiful flowers and plants.
After the temple, Jeff arranged for a special treat. We had a couples massage at a great little spa/salon. It was actually my first 'professional' massage and it was awesome! Probably in part due to the fact that we had been hiking the whole day before. I can easily see how it could be addicting, and was already trying to think of an excuse to return.
We stopped for lunch at Cafe Rio before starting our return drive to Las Vegas. Once again, we used the time to call family and talk to our boys- they were having so much fun it was hard to get them to take a break to talk to us, but it was fun to hear their little voices.
When we got to Vegas, we checked into our final hotel, the Wynn. It was another awesome, 5-star hotel that Jeff had gotten a killer deal on. It was fun to see the room, we were up on the 38th floor and had a beautiful view of the golf course right behind the hotel. The whole side of the wall was giant windows. It was a pretty plush place. We had a huge flat-screen television, a deluxe king sized bed, and there was even a television in the bathroom. I loved the set-up. Other than a few 'nickel & dime' factors, it was awesome!
After checking-in and getting settled, we headed out to the Strip to walk around, do some sight-seeing, and a little shopping. Some things are definitely more worth-while to see than others. I get tired of having to avert my eyes, but fortunately our hotel was at the upper end of the Strip and it was kept pretty clean in most regards.
It was an enjoying evening out together. We found a few fun little souvenirs for the kids and enjoyed seeing some of the sights. It's always fun to walk around in the hotels looking at all the little shops and stores. We didn't buy anything there, too expensive, but it's fun to look. The fountain show at the Bellagio has always been one of my favorites, we also stopped to watch various painters, and semi-intoxicated tourists trying their hands at karaoke. We made a stop for ice cream at McDonalds on the way back.
It's funny how the night life in Vegas really doesn't even get started until about midnight- I completely lost track of time and didn't realize how late we were out, you wouldn't be able to guess by the amount of people out and about. Needless to say it was a late night for us but we had fun.

Vegas Vacation Day 4

On Monday Jeff and I hit the gym at the hotel and then headed out to Zions National Park for a day of hiking and enjoying the outdoors. It was the perfect day; sunny and beautiful but not too hot.
The park has a nice little set-up for hikers. You park your car and then you can take the shuttle buses all over the park. They'll drop you off at the start of each hike, and when you finish with one, you can take the bus up to the next one. It was great and gave us the chance to do a bunch of different hikes.
We packed food to take along with us, so we were able to spend most of the day there. Some of the trails were closed because of high water, but we were still able to do quite a few. I think our favorite hike was Hidden Canyon, it was about a 3.5 hour hike up and back, longer than some and shorter than others. The views were awesome! The pictures really don't do justice of just how high up we were.
We met some fun people and had a great time enjoying the outdoors. It's been a long time since we've been able to do any real hiking. There really isn't anything out East to compare to these awesome national parks.
We got back in the early evening and had a gift card to Olive Garden that we received at Christmas time that we still hadn't used, so we got ready and went out to dinner. I think my favorite part of the meal was the ice water! After dinner we went out to catch a movie, but didn't see anything at the theatre worth paying for so we went back to the hotel and 'ordered' a movie to watch in our room. It was a fun day of vacation.

Vegas Vacation Day 3

Day three of vacation was also a relaxing, laid back day. We had check-out at 11, and after loading up our things, we set out to find a chapel. It's funny how easy it is to spot those white steeples against a desert Las Vegas background. We found a nice ward and were able to enjoy sacrament meeting. It was so nice to be able to sit there together and listen to the meeting. It felt so strange not trying to entertain and keep kids reverent; we almost didn't know what to do with ourselves, but I did eventually find a cute little baby who was making faces at us; and he eventually crawled back to me for a little while. It was a nice meeting, and I'm grateful that no matter where you are, you can usually find a place to go to church; it makes it seem so much more like Sunday when you can go to sacrament meeting. Another thing I really enjoyed was seeing all the lizards! They were everywhere and it brought back a lot of memories of catching them when I was little. These little suckers were fast!
After church we headed up to St George, Utah where we would spend the next couple days of our trip. It was a long drive, but fun to see the beautiful scenery and have a nice visit along the way. We were able to call our families and talk to them; I loved talking to the kids, it's amazing how much you miss them! Even Matthew was a good little talker.
We made it to St George around 6pm and checked into our hotel. Jeff has a resident co-worker whose family owns many hotels around the world, particularlly Hilton hotels, so we got a great deal on a room at the Hilton. It ended up being a great place and they didn't 'nickel & dime' like the last place. We didn't do much that afternoon, there's not much to do on a Sunday, but it was awesome to be able to take a fabulous Sunday afternoon nap!

Vegas Vacation Day 2

Day two of vacation started out a little less eventful than the first, which I was grateful for. I woke up feeling refreshed and happy with the warm sun streaming in through the window. I had woken up at 5:30 feeling like I had to get up, but then I looked around, remembered where I was and happily went back to bed.
It was fun to see Loews Resort in the daylight. We had a beautiful view right out our window overlooking the reception area and the lake. There had been a wedding reception the night before, but now the area was open. There were beautiful walking paths along the lake, and a golf course right there. The hotel was beautiful, but I soon realized that there are disadvantages to staying in an upscale resort as well. They delivered a breakfast menu, but I didn't have much of an appetite when I realized it would cost $11 for a simple bowl of cereal with milk, an omelet was $20, and a simple blueberry muffin was $8. Good thing I had eaten a good dinner the night before, and I still had an apple from my trip.
With Jeff still not there, I decided to hit one of the pools in the morning. I had a good book to read so I was able to go out and enjoy the sunshine, water, and 85 degree weather. I wasn't out for too long before Jeff called to say that he was on his way to the hotel, but apparently long enough to get a bit of a sunburn; my stomach and legs took the brunt but fortunately it wasn't too bad and ended up turning into a nice tan eventually.
When Jeff got there, he got everything settled then we went out to do a little sight seeing and shopping. The first thing we did was to get some lunch! I only had an apple, and Jeff had been flying all day so we stopped at A&W for lunch. The rootbeer especially tasted awesome! Then we did a little shopping. Jeff hadn't been able to get all his summer things since they were packed & his time was limited; so he didn't have any shorts. We went out to get him a few more seasonal appropriate clothes, and also got some groceries. With it being Sunday the next day we wanted to have enough food that we wouldn't have to buy anything.
We stopped to pick up some dinner and dessert on the way home, and watched a movie that night. It wasn't the most exciting vacation day, but we were just glad to finally be reunited after a week. It's amazing how much fun you can have just being together even doing something as simple as grocery shopping. We were just glad to be back together.

Vegas Vacation Day 1

Jeff and I planned a vacation to Mexico 4 months ago. We spent lots of time researching and planned what would have been a dream vacation; pretty much the first trip for just the two of us since our wedding. Unfortunately, things come up and plans change. The swine flu outbreak started gaining worldwide attention just days before we were scheduled to leave. After much debate, we figured it would probably be better to cancel the vacation. Not so much because we were worried about the outbreak, but more because family members wouldn't appreciate us going and taking the risk. We were pretty bummed about the whole thing.
Jeff ended up staying longer to finish working the rest of the week, and finish packing and moving since our lease was ending, and we tried to hurry and find a 'Plan B'. Unfortunately, when it's so last minute everything is much more expensive and we were already out money from plane tickets that the airlines refused to refund.
Eventually we ended up planning a vacation to Las Vegas; not glamorous or as exciting as Mexico, but more than anything I just wanted to be somewhere warm and somewhat cheap, enjoying time together. It ended up being a pretty good option.
I left at 7am on Friday morning and arrived in Las Vegas around 11:00. When we got our hotel, Jeff got a great deal on Priceline, but it ended up being pretty far away from the airport. To take a cab from the airport to the hotel would have been $65. We had rented a car for the week, but I couldn't pick up the car without Jeff since it was under his name and I'm still under age 25. The hotel had two shuttles a day that would pick up from the Strip area, but they were only at 10:45 am and 7:45 pm. So I hung out at the airport for about 6 hours reading a book. During this time, I got a phone call from Jeff. He was supposed to arrive in Las Vegas about 11pm, but it had been a busy day at the hospital with several emergencies, and he ended up missing his flight because of an emergency surgery- a boy had ruptured his eye when another boy threw a colored pencil and it hit him in the eye. It wasn't the most celebrated phone call, Jeff wouldn't be able to get another flight until Saturday afternoon, which meant I would get to spend the first day of our vacation all by myself. Fun. :)

Around 5pm, I took a shuttle bus to the strip, so I could finally get something to eat. (the airport food was so expensive that I refused to spend money on it) It was interesting that on my ride from the airport to the Strip, I met a guy who just happened to be from my home town. It was funny that we happened to meet up in the same area, so we had a fun time visiting during the short ride. After picking up some take out at PF Changs, I spent a little time walking the strip -probably looking interesting as I dragged my luggage behind me. (My view from the Pick-up Location)

Eventually I made my way to the pick-up location for the hotel. It was still only about 7pm, so I made a few phone calls and talked with a few friends and family members while I waited for the hotel pick-up. He made it there about 8pm, and we headed back to the hotel.(Wish You Were Here!)

It was a very nice resort out by the lake. The only thing that would have made it better was if Jeff had been there with me. It's not much fun being by yourself on a vacation. I was just glad that I finally made it to the hotel, it had been a long day and I was ready for sleep!