Viva Las Vegas

Alright I think all of the pictures and videos are here. Chris and I were getting a little bit antsy and needed a get-away. We tossed a bunch of ideas around and decided to save his vacation and just go on a little weekend trip to Vegas. We took his Grandma with us which was nice. We played all day and then put our kids to sleep with her and snuck out for some alone time. I was a little hesitant to take our kids to Vegas but after many hours of research I compiled about two pages of family friendly things to do along with location and price. I was pretty proud of my list. We didn't get to do all of it but we were busy from sunrise to well past bedtime. It was a fantastic little getaway and can I just mention it was 75 degrees in January- beautiful!

Fremont Street

Sorry this picture is not very good but it is all we got. Chris decided to take us down Fremont Street one night. LG made this huge panel that goes over about four blocks. There are so many lights it looks like day. Pretty much there are just a bunch of souvenir shops there and a few casinos. We happened upon this little Diego BOY doll in one of the shops. Aaron loves Diego. He sings the song and plays with his little Diego house all of the time. I handed him the doll and he was so happy. He hugged it all the way down the street.

Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden

This is Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden at the Mirage. It was so amazing. We went on the perfect day and enjoyed every minute. The dolphins were super active and the tigers and lions all got up and walked around for us. Even grandma found her a happy place- see the sun rays on her.

Lions

Chris and the boys went and watched these giant lions while grandma and I looked for her lost purse. The boys loved all of the big cats.

Dolphins Underground

Underground we could really see how the dolphins interacted with each other. It was so neat to see them play around and do tricks and flips that were not instructed. I totally recommend this place to anyone who is headed to Vegas!

Dolphins

We were mesmerized by these dolphins. We sat in the beautiful 75 degree weather and just enjoyed every minute watching them do tricks and just swim around. As you can see we were so close to them; a couple of times I just wanted to reach out and pat one.

Airplane Ride

Brandon on the Spinner

Check out B on this spinner. He was so cute trying to keep his arms up. It was way better on the little roller coaster but that video doesn't look so hot.

Coca-Cola and M&M's World

M&M's world has a 3-D movie for us to watch- even Aaron enjoyed it; and of course we had to pay a visit to the wall of M&M's. Brandon was happy to choose his own colors- blue and green. The Coca-Cola factory was quite refreshing as well. We all got jumbo bevs and had fun checking out all of the themed merchandise. Funny how you could decorate your entire house in Coca-Cola or M&M's and complete a wardrobe as well. I would actually like to see that- Someone decked out in themed clothes standing in their themed room.

Stratosphere

Here is another one of our favorite adventures- The Stratosphere. We took our kids to the top of the building and it was so funny to see their differences. Aaron was practically laying on the window- fearless. You can see me trying to coax Brandon to just look out the window. He was so scared. We left him alone and finally when we were outside with the big fences he went and looked out. I think the pic of Chris and his mini-me is so funny too. That was not dome purposely. Oh yeah and check out this ride. Chris talked his Grandma into going on it with him. It shoots you over the edge of the building, drops you down, and then pulls you back. She had to go back to the room after she rode it but what a champ huh! Late that night Chris and I snuck out and went up to ride all of the rides. When I rode this one I was shaking so bad at the end to guy had to help me out and then my legs were trembling and I didn't think I could walk off the ride. I had tears coming out of my eyes. I was terrified- I guess Grandma did better than I did. We went up and rode the ride on the peak after that. It slings you up and then drops you down. It was pretty neat we could see really far out. Finally we rode these swings that take you over the edge and then start spinning and flip you up so you are looking down at the ground that was pretty cool too. Great fun- never wanna do it again.

AdventureDOMe

This is the AdventureDOME at Circus Circus. We had so much fun with our kids here. Brandon ran from ride to ride having the time of his life. We taught him to put his arms up in the air and it was hilarious. He really tried but when the ride would start getting intense he would grab on the the bar. We got to see a couple 4-D movies, Diego and Spongebob which was pretty neat too. Aaron was not to thrilled with the rides and actually fell asleep in his stroller for half of the time. At night we put Aaron to bed with Grandma and snuck back down with Brandon.He was so proud to be big enough to sneak out with us.

Brandon has decided that every yellow car is bumblebee- yes, including yellow taxi's. He saw this one in the parking garage and wanted to take his picture with it. Check out Spider-man- I guess there has not been a lot of crime in Vegas lately.

Yummy Vegas Buffets! I was so glad to not have to cook for a few days. I don't know why I thought it was so funny to watch Brandon cut his steak. I think it was because he was concentrating so hard. Oh, and you gotta love Aaron's ice cream for breakfast.

This was the cutest park we found. I should have taken a picture of the whole park sorry. There was a cute little hedge maze for the kids to run through, slides, a few different little houses, a merry-go-round, and lots of other cute little things. The best part is that it was in the center of a huge shopping center. Chris and I took turns running to our favorite stores while our kids played.

Help!!!

Hey we want to get a new camera because ours has had its day. What do you recommend?

Discovery Gateway

Last year we bought a pass to Discovery Gateway for our kids. When we lived in Bountiful we went all the time, but since we moved to Springville we had not been in awhile. It was so fun to see how much Aaron has grown up. Last time we went he was pushing a little car around trying to walk. Now he was running around playing with everything. He loved to go in the doghouse and ride around on the little cars and trucks. His favorite was a red fire engine that I pushed him on for about 30 minutes. Brandon enjoyed every minute as well. He made a little friend and they had fun running around pretending to be cowboys. They would say things like "Come on partner." He was so cute in his little class too. They did a science experiment with snow, ice and magnifying glasses. It was great until he got snow on all the other kids and made all their moms mad. We had to talk about indoor snow fights. They were really sad to go and so was I. I miss Bountiful/SLC so much. It was so nice to have so many great things so close. I tried to talk Chris into going home and just packing our stuff up but he is not convinced yet. Oh well only one more year of school left.

Our Cutie Penguin

I got Aaron this little penguin hat and he loves it.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. We had so much fun being together and enjoying our wonderful traditions. I couldn't wait for Christmas this year. I ended up pulling out the decor the day before Thanksgiving and the boys and I went to work. My tree looked lovely, especially the bottom two feet of it. After we finished decorating it I asked Brandon how it looked. He was not satisfied. Somewhere he learned that you must have a YELLOW star on the top of the tree. So we journeyed to the store and he chose the perfect star. When we got home he informed me that I needed to put him on my shoulders and let him put the star on top. So, I got a chair and put him on my shoulders. The tree was perfect. I was a bit hesitant to wrap the gifts and put them under the tree but more worried the boys would find them and I was running out of hiding spots. To my surprise they did a great job leaving them alone. I told Brandon I was worried about Aaron opening them and he said, "maybe I might open them" with a big smile. We had a little talk and it must have worked. Christmas eve we opened jammies and used skype to video my parents. We all opened their presents with them watching. What a wonderful creation. The boys were so excited about their new toys from grandma and papa we could hardly get them to go to bed. Brandon got a Handy Manny building set and Aaron got a McQueen car garage. We set out our cookies for Santa (the ones Aaron didn't eat) and Chris told us the story of Jesus birth. I think Chris and I were both surprised at how much Brandon knew. I had been trying to do things to teach B the true spirit of Christmas but sometimes I wondered if anything was sinking in. I bought a little nativity that the boys loved playing with. The pieces were glass but they had little holes on the bottom and the boys would stick their fingers in a play finger puppets. At one point baby Jesus went missing, i found him in my boot, and Mary was gone for about a week, found her under B's bed. Luckily they all made it back for Christmas. Christmas morning was everything I hoped it would be. The boys ran to each others Santa's before they went to their own. It was kinda funny because they both did it. They tore open all of their presents and I am pretty sure from that point on they believed they were back in heaven. We made strawberry waffles for breakfast- another tradition, the boys didn't eat a bite- starting to be a tradition. After that we headed to Grandma Hess's for more presents and Christmas lunch. Great Grandma makes the boys an ornament every year. This year it was a snowman- super cute. Brandon made his grandma's snowman picture frames at lowes. Grandma Hess got the boys some cute books. Aarons came with a little CD player which he loves. He carries it around and bounces. He loves all music. She also got Aaron some squeaky shoes and Brandon a monkey and a monkey book which he has already memorized and reads to us every night.