Valentine's Day 2015

I can't believe Jesse and I celebrated our 11th Valentine's Day together! We went out for dinner at Cooper's in Montpelier the night before while Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids. We then came home, put the kids to bed, and enjoyed some Karmel Sutra ice cream...our tradition! Jesse got me another professional massage (which, honestly, I don't think he's going to get out of giving every year) and I gave him some Magic card deck boxes and let him go down to Utah on Valentine's Day to play some Magic. He loves it! The kids and I stayed home and had some heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and just spent the day together. I love my little family!

Life as a Stay-at-Home Mom

I love being a stay-at-home mom. I wouldn't trade this job for any other in the world. I have my days where I just need to get out of the house and take a break from the kids but it really is the best job I could ever ask for. We haven't had a typical February this year. It was in the high 50's for at least a week or so and we just loved it! We were able to play outside and go for walks and bike rides. Atreyu is still nervous riding his Bumblebee bike but he is doing better. Cambria isn't quite tall enough to pedal her "pink bike" by herself but she has fun sitting on it.

We've done a lot inside as well. Any time I bake anything, both kids think they need to help. It takes a bit longer and sometimes makes me a little frustrated but they are learning and love to help.

They've also helped me with some chores lately. They like to help clean the bathroom (probably because of the gloves) and as they were cleaning last time they told me they were The Cleaining Super Hero and The Cleaning Sugar Rush. They really enjoyed themselves and my bathrooms got clean. Double win!

There aren't many things that make me happier than when my kids play together well and make each other laugh. It really is the best thing and brings the spirit into our home. It doesn't happen all the time but I truly cherish the moments when it does.

Cambria has been a little stinker lately and gets out of bed almost every nap and bedtime. She has learned that she will get in trouble and has done a bit better the past few days. She is such a sweet girl with such a big attitude. 

Atreyu is learning so much! He recognizes almost all the letters and he is working on more numbers now. I can't believe he will be starting kindergarten this fall. He still loves super heroes and wants Dad to play with him any chance he gets.

The Hoover Dam

On our last day in Vegas we drove over to the Hoover Dam and took one of the tours. What a marvelous feat of engineering! I had no idea that they poured the concrete all day, every day for two years! That's just crazy. We went down like fifty-something levels and we were able to see how the dam works. It was really interesting and informative.

We then drove over to the parking lot for the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. We took the short walk over to the bridge and got some awesome pictures of the dam. I have always had a fascination and love of bridges and this one is truly incredible. It was finished being built in 2010.

The Grand Canyon

While we were on our Vegas trip we decided we would take advantage of only being a few hours away from the Grand Canyon and make a day trip to it. None of us had ever been there before so it was a fun experience for all of us. I always thought that the Grand Canyon was just a big hole in the desert so I was rather surprised with all the trees surrounding it. It reminded us of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone just on a larger scale. It was pretty incredible to witness such an amazing wonder and it's crazy that you can drive and drive and still see so much!

I was really glad that I didn't have to worry about having kids with us while we were there. There were sidewalks and just six or seven feet from parts of them was the canyon and the steep drop-off. My stomach would have been in knots the entire time. There were different ledges that we were able to climb down but some of them unquestionably tested my courage.

We were able to watch the sunset while we were there and it was absolutely beautiful! There weren't many people around and it was so still and silent. It was nice to just soak in the beauties of nature in such a quiet environment. It is pretty obvious that our Heavenly Father truly loves us and wants us to be happy.

Vegas Baby!

Jesse and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last October and we decided that we wanted to take a Vegas trip. Cindie's mom, Terry, and her husband have a timeshare that they let us use so we got an awesome rate. Eddie and Bernie joined us and we had a great trip. We went to a car museum that had a lot of old, vintage cars. Eddie loved it and I had a lot of fun checking out the price of each vehicle since the majority of them were for sale. There was one that cost around a million dollars!

The concierge at our timeshare told us there was a great restaurant called Ellis Island that made awesome ribs and brewed their own beer and root beer. I'm not a huge rib fan myself but I got some delicious chicken and the root beer was excellent!

Jesse and I wanted to stop by the pawn shop run by the "Pawn Stars". There were a lot of interesting items but nothing that particularly stood out. It's fun to say that we have been there, though.

We stopped by a lot of the different hotels while in Vegas and all of them were decorated beautifully. They recently open a Carlo's Bakery at the Venetian so I had to stop and try it out. Their canolli's were great and the lobster tails were amazing! There was a beautiful waterfall inside the Venetian and it was decorated to celebrate the Chinese year of the Goat.

The day we stopped by the Luxor it was really overcast and Jesse took these awesome pictures of the Sphinx in the front. They definitely have an eerie feeling about them.

We watched the fountain show outside of the Bellagio. They have their own small lake in front of the hotel and the show is pretty spectacular! The weather wasn't as warm as we were expecting but it was still warmer than Bern.

We were able to got to two different shows while in Vegas. The first was Tournament of Kings at the Excalibur. Everyone is seated in different sections and then you cheer for the king/knight representing your section. We were in the Dragon section so we cheered for the bad guy. It was so entertaining and I thought the food was great! Bernie and I were able to get a picture with the Dragon knight after the show. I would definitely go again.

The second show we went to was Mystere by Cirque du Soleil. I didn't get any pictures but it was amazing! The performers are so talented and so strong. It's just incredible and I loved it!