Viva Las Vegas!!!

Brent and I snuck away for a long weekend to Las Vegas! This is on our way to dinner in front of the "Trevi Fountain" at Caesars and below is my first view of the lights :)

Brent and I got to Vegas around lunch time on Thursday, and spent the day shopping, eating and seeing the shops at Caesars Forum. Wow- the most amazing and upscale shopping I have ever seen. The Levins finally made it just in time for dinner reservations and we ate the first night as the most fabulous Italian restaurant I have ever dreamed of. YUM.

Friday we ate breakfast at Caesars at this little French bistro and I had the most fabulous Nutello crepe with bananas that I have ever dreamed of YUM. Then we spent the morning at the pool, ate at the most fabulous Chinese restaurant I have ever dreamed of. YUM. (This train of thought will continue ;) ) and then shopped a little. We had dinner up in the Stratosphere (modeled after the Seattle one). As we settled in for steaks (YUM) the sun set behind the mountains and we watched the lights come up in Vegas. I highly recommend it!

Look at that view for dinner!!!! You may be too distracted by the view of my huge hair, as I was unaware of how huge it actually was. That is what you get when you travel with a hairdresser.

We took a taxi back to the middle of the strip and after we played a little blackjack, Corbin and I settled into a balcony of the Paris overlooking the street and the fountains at the Bellagio.

So, I have seen the final scene of Oceans 11 and I knew there were fountains in front of the Bellagio. I was completely unaware of how amazing and beautiful and awe-inspiring they are!!! The fact that they were set to music (like Celine Dion, Faith Hill, Phantom of the Opera, God Bless America, etc.) doesn't hurt the sentimental value either. Our final night in Vegas we enjoyed sunset and dinner at the Bellagio and were blessed to sit right outside overlooking the fountain and "The Eiffel Tower" at the Paris Casino. Of all the highlights- this was my favorite moment!!! Romantic, relaxing, breathtaking and fun!

So I officially have the "Vegas Bug" and I already want to go back. It was so many of my favorite things rolled into one: beautiful buildings, amazing food, great friends, making a little money at the blackjack table ;), and did I mention the world's best shopping?!?!?!? Just in case you are wondering, Sydney stayed with my mom and step dad and was such a wonderful angel. It didn't hurt that she was the PRINCESS of the universe the entire time. Thank you Mom and Joe!!! We had such a relaxing and wonderful get away!

Full of wonder at the Wonder Place...

Sydney and John Austin got to explore at the Wonder Place. I wish that was my idea and business. Parents and kids need a cool (focus on the temperature) and safe place to play and explore and there is so much there to explore and play with. Sydney got brave and went down the slide on her tummy. Except that she griped on with her hands and keds so tightly that she literally inched down. What a brave girl ;)!

"I spank you bottom Cinderella!"

Last Sunday morning, Sydney woke up early and seemed to be a little cranky, but I pressed on towards the day (because what are my options? I would have LOVED 15 more minutes of sleep at 6:00 am though!). We ate breakfast and took a bath and got dressed for church when Keri called. We had been trying to get the kids together all weekend and so agreed the Walkers would go to the 11:00 church service and they could come over and play around 9:00 for an hour. Now, I try and be transparent on this blog, so if you are offended by spanking then please stop reading and catch me the next post. Normally, Sydney is a really good "sharer" and we have had numerous play dates here with no problems. But for some reason, she was OUT of control that morning! She cried and whined and snatched away toys at everything Caroline and Carlee did! Yikes! Needless to say, she sat in time out 5 times and got 3 spankings with the spanking spoon!!! A new record!!! And yet, after dramatic tears and an apology, she would come back in the playroom and start over again! Literally, I was at my whits end but tried to be consistent and kept at it. I left the spanking spoon on the dining room table after our last "issue" and in a few minutes Sydney came into the playroom with it. She calmly walked over to the dress up box, pulled out Cinderella's dress, and proceeded to spank her bottom with the spoon while saying "I spank you bottom Cinderella- timeout!". Yikes. She then stomped over to our timeout rug and left her there. I tried to not die laughing but also was thinking "Oh great! Everyone will think they need to call Scan when my child models what her Mommy does at home!" :)

PS. I am NOT making excuses for her behavior, but I do want you to know that her top two year molar broke through that afternoon and she is back to her sweet (with a lot of sassy on the side) self.

Catching up August!

Water Park fun! Sydney and I have been several times this summer but Brent finally came with us yesterday. Could there be anything more fun than water slides on a hot August day???

Erin's Surprise 30th Birthday Party!!! Surprise!!!

And I got a copy of the pictures from us White Water Rafting taken by the Outfitter we went with. I zoomed in and the faces crack me up! I want to go again soon! Brent is the front right paddler and I am sitting to his left. My dad is on the front left with Doris to his right.

Toot Toot- Chuga Chuga- Big Red Car

This is what Sydney did for most of the show!!!

Lights- Camera- Action= WIGGLES!!

Self proclaimed "Wiggle Groupie"

So Wednesday was the big day- The Wiggles!! Sydney was so excited and loved every second of it! We met our sweet friend Sybil Curran. She and her creative mom Samantha made the girls Captain Feathersword hats! So adorable!

The Curran family

This face says it all before the show

Here they come! Toot Toot Chuga Chuga Big Red Car!!!

Sydney's favorite- Captain Feathersword The Friendly Pirate

OK so this picture says it all- she wouldn't take her eyes off the action, especially for a picture with Mom!

I am a little sad though. I guess since we drove there in such a short time and had so much fun, she doesn't understand why we can't drive there every day. As soon as they left the stage, she said "Bye Wiggles!" and waved and then turned to me and said "More Wiggles- where da Wiggles go? Where Murray go?" and has not stopped asking me to go back to the Wiggles. This morning when she woke up, I heard her singing in a high voice "Let go see da Wiggles!" I keep explaining that they had to get on a bus and go see other kids :( but it isn't working! Oh, and the red Wiggles shirt- we wore it during and after the concert, slept in it, insisted on wearing it all day yesterday and cried when I took it off before bath. OF COURSE my child's first clothing item she insists on wearing is a Wiggles shirt!!!! Not cute pink cowboy boots like Caroline :).

Sydney's First Airplane Trip/Jackson Hole, WY/Grand Teton National Park

Sydney's first airplane trip was really pretty easy (it didn't hurt that we had 4 adults to 1 child to help). We flew with her car seat because I knew we would need one when we arrived and it helped her take 2 naps during the flights, an umbrella stroller, a backpack with snacks, books, games, and of course Wiggle dvds. We arrived in Dallas on time but sat on the runway waiting for a gate to open and missed our connection to Salt Lake City. After several hours of waiting, we hopped on a plane to gorgeous Jackson Hole, Wyoming! It was a great flight there and then we landed as the sun was setting on the Grand Tetons. SO GORGEOUS. The fact that our luggage was in Salt Lake was a little hard, but overall it ended up being a great 24 hours in Jackson Hole and well worth the trip. We exited onto the runway by stairs and felt the cool, dry mountain air hit us as we stepped out.

No bags but a gorgeous sunset!

This is the next morning after breakfast, we shopped and ate around the Jackson square. There are 4 famous arches around the square made of thousands of elk antlers.

GORGEOUS Grand Teton National Park- don't know who the dorky girl posing is.

We finally got our luggage and hot showers, and headed through the mountains headed south towards Lander (where the wedding was). Sydney enjoyed mountains for about 10 minutes, the dvd and headphones for about 10 minutes, and took a long and peaceful nap during the drive- thank the Lord!!!