Sisters in Vegas

This weekend my 2 sisters and their families came down for a visit. Jennette came in on Wednesday night and Catherine stayed with Stephanie (in St. George) for a couple of days first and came in on Friday afternoon.

Thursday morning was spent at the outlets shopping and then Jenn and Kyle watched Carlee and Jake while Joe and I took Clark and Kate to Tuacahn. Thanks, you two, for being so willing to babysit and hang out with our youngest munchkins.

Friday we waited for Jay and Cath and their kids to get here and then headed downtown. We checked out The Venetian and saw the live statues and the street masquerade performers in St. Mark's Square. We then watched the water show at the Bellagio. The kids were hungry so we decided to head back home for dinner and a big game of Neon Leon (see previous posts for game instructions ;)). Then we tucked the kids into bed, relaxed, talked, and watched parts of movies.

Saturday we headed back downtown for the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage, New York New York's Coney Island Arcade, and M&M World. The Secret Garden was fun and we got to see lions, tigers, cheetah, alpacas, and white tigers, including 5 cubs that were only 5 weeks old. The habitat had dolphins splashing and swimming around and the trainers were teaching them tricks. There was also a baby dolphin that was only 6 weeks old. In the indoor tank a dolphin was showing off by rubbing up against the glass and putting its nose against it. The kids were laughing and I think the dolphin loved the attention.

We ate lunch at a pizza place in Coney Island and then played a bunch of arcade games. This was definitely the best part for Joe and Clark. I personally can't stand arcade games because they are such a waste of money but Joe is always determined to win. Luckily, it was a pretty good day because he and Jay won stuffed animals for all the kids without wasting too much.

M&M World was the kids' favorite and they walked through the little M&M factory into the 3-D movie. Then they all got a package of M&M"s and we headed home.

Right when we got home, Kyle, Jay, Cath, Joe, and Clark headed back to town for the Air Force Academy-UNLV football game. Jenn was supposed to go but she was too tired so she stayed home with me to help watch the kids. We ate a quick dinner, got them into their pajames and watched Barbie and the Diamond Castle. The kids went to bed great and without any trouble and then Jenn and I just vegged on the couch watching TV. Two days walking around town hit us hard and we were tired. The rest of the crew came home about 11:00 after a great and close game with the AF beating UNLV by 1 point. We then all crashed for the night.

This morning everyone woke up, had breakfast and then packed for home. Jenn and Kyle were heading to St. George to spend a couple of days with Steph and Cath and Jay were driving back to Lehi. It was a wonderful weekend and a good visit. We missed you, Steph and Jim! Next time!

Les Miserables

Thursday night we spent a wonderful evening with our great friends--the Aikeles, Bodilys, and Swaseys. We had a yummy birthday dinner for Wynette at Texas Roadhouse and then drove out to Tuacahn Outdoor Theater for Les Miserables. The show was fantastic. It was the first time I've ever seen it. Although I'm sure it doesn't compare to Broadway it was still very impressive and the actors and set were fabulous. The older kids went with us (Clark, Katelyn, Morgan, Aubry, and Mia) and had a great time too. They loved the play but I think their favorite part was sitting at their own table in the restaurant and ordering their own food from their own server. Clark said they were treated like grown-ups and it was cool. Tuacahn was beautiful and the weather was perfect with a little autumn chill in the air. Thanks, wonderful friends, for another great night.

My Lil' Punkins

On Wednesday we took the kids to a pumpkin patch for a hayride and to pick some pumpkins. Unfortunately, the orchard only had a few pumpkins left and they were pretty small. While running some errands, we found a little harvest fun in an empty parking lot and decided to go there. There were haystacks and pumpkins everywhere along with rides, yummy snacks, and blowup slides. We bought tickets and the kids had a great time. We really miss the Hondo Corn Maze in Texas (it was the best) but at least there was a little something in Vegas.

The best activity of the day was bungee jumping. There was a trampoline on the ground and the kids would stand on it while getting harnessed and a winch would pull the kids up and they would jump on the trampoline and fly up into the air. The ride operator actually had to grab their legs and pull them down because their feet couldn't touch the trampoline. Clark went first and screamed the whole time. He had a blast. Katelyn and Jacob couldn't decide if they wanted to go or not so while we were discussing it with them we didn't notice Carlee had climbed up the haystacks onto the trampoline and stood there ready to be hooked up. When we noticed her standing there patiently we asked if she could go and he said yes so there she went. I was laughing so hard. I don't think she knew what she was getting into but she wasn't scared at all, even when that stranger put her into the harness. He jumped her up a couple of times and it did scare her so he swung her back and forth and she kept saying, "Whee! No jump! I swing!" She had a ball too. That did it for Kate and Jake. They couldn't let their little baby sister go and not them so they were hooked up and had a great time. Jake went flying the last couple of times because we told him to be brave and do a "big one." He was screaming and kicking his legs. We just stood there laughing. I think we found our new torture device. It was fun.

Fall in Las Vegas

This past weekend the weather got a little chilly so it has started to feel like fall. It has dropped almost 30 degrees and was in the low 60's all weekend long. It was so fun to put on the jeans and jackets. It even got cold enough that we turned on our fireplace. How romantic!

Friday night we went to Logandale to watch the high school's Homecoming game. We had a great BBQ with even greater friends and then all 23 of us headed to the game. Of course the entire town came out so we sat on the "guest" side. I know, shame on us but we all got to sit together and the kids could run up and down on the bleachers so it was totally worth the shame. The wind was blowing like crazy but it was so much fun. Don't ask us what the score was because, like high school, we were too busy talking instead of watching the game.

Monday afternoon we went up to Mount Charleston. The kids and I had been there before but Joe hadn't so we went up there for a drive and a little hike. There was even a bit of snow (a skiff) but according to Jake it was the most he has ever seen! Apparently we haven't been to Utah for a winter trip in a long time. The kids had a ball throwing snowballs and hiking around. Carlee loved the "water" (snow on the hills) and the "cold" when she picked the snow up. The boys loved throwing the snow on everyone and Katelyn just loved posing for pictures holding it. It will be so exciting when there is a lot this winter and we get to check out the sledding hills and ski resort. Who knew there would be a ski resort in Las Vegas? I can't wait!

Conference Cousins

We had visitors for General Conference! Grandma and Grandpa Stuart, Aunt Marci, and Owen came down for the weekend bringing lots of fun and lots of meat and peaches. They arrived on Friday evening and after a tour of our house by our ecstatic children and a quick dinner, we left the kids with a babysitter and went to the show, KA, by Cirque du Soleil at the MGM Grand. It was awesome. The story is about imperial twins who are separated at the prime of their youth and undergo a journey of self-discovery and coming of age. They encounter KA, the fire that has the dual power to destroy or illuminate. I actually loved the stage even more than the story. It was a floating stage that moved and turned in every direction while the actors performed. It was amazing--up, down, around, vertical, and diagonal.

On Saturday we tried to listen to the morning session of General Conference. I say "tried" because it was more difficult with company. Everyone wanted to talk and play and snooze ;). Clark and Katelyn did just fine with their conference activity books but Jake lost interest and played in the playroom with his action figures and Owen and Carlee just wandered around getting into food and toys. Marci, Grandma, and I were chatting a little bit and entertaining kids and Grandpa was dozing off . . . I mean "listening with his eyes closed". (It's okay, we were out late the night before.) When that session was over, Joe got home from work and we headed downtown to the Hofbrauhaus for a German lunch. It was tasty and very filling. We all enjoyed it as the band was playing German polka music, people were toasting with their beer steins, and everyone was yelling German chants while toasting. We then headed home for a quick swim before Joe and Grandpa went to priesthood meeting and the ladies and kids went to the Dinosaur Park. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time.

Eating at the Hofbrauhaus

Playing at the Dinosaur Park

Sunday we had a great breakfast, watched Conference, had a great dinner and just relaxed for the day. Grandpa, Grandma, Joe, Marci and Owen went to visit Grandpa's aunt for a little while and had a good time seeing her. I stayed home with the kids and played Speed.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we love having visitors. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for the fun visit and yummy things you brought. We love you and appreciate all you do for us. Thanks, Marci, for visiting us without your hubby, and Owen, for playing with Carlee and sharing toys. We love you guys too and can't wait to meet Owen's new brother in a few weeks.

Owen and Carlee, just 2 weeks apart

Heading for the "terrible two's"

Super Singers

Clark and Katelyn auditioned for the school choir last week and made it! Congratulations, kiddos! We are proud of you and look forward to your performances. Sing those little hearts out!

Reliving Childhood

When I was younger, Cath and I made up a lot of games. Steph and Jenn would play Barbies and dolls but we weren't into that. We were Charlie's Angels, Nancy Drew, and any other thing that we made up. Our favorite game was "Neon Leon" and we would play this game for hours and hours. Growing up we lived in a split-level home so the top floor was my dad's office, my sisters' room and the playroom. My sisters, Jenn and Steph, shared the room and it was in the roof area so the ceiling was slanted and it was long and skinny. At the end of their room was our playroom. There were no windows in these rooms so the game Neon Leon was born.

For Christmas one year, one of us girls (there were 4 of us and my little bro) received some glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces in bright neon colors. These were even better than the ones you can buy now because they were rechargeable. One Sunday afternoon, we chose to play regular hide and seek upstairs but noticed those bracelets glowing. Thus they were added into the game and became the name of it. One sister would be "IT" and stay at the front of the bedroom with a lamp on charging the bracelet. The other sisters would run and hide in the playroom. When the lamp went out, the game was on. The object was to sneak past "IT" and get back to the bed without getting caught. Since it was pitch black in those rooms we could only see the glowing bracelet so we knew where "IT" was and could crawl, run, tiptoe, etc. to Home Base. The last person back was "IT". We loved this game so much and would seriously play for hours.

I have introduced it to my children. The first time we played was in St. George with my sister, Stephanie, and her family. It was a little difficult because Carlee kept talking to me while we were hiding, Jake kept telling everyone where he was, and Madi kept gooing and babbling. So we had to improvise and the young ones are now "IT" every time and do the seeking. Now my kids want to play this all the time. Our house is very open and we have a spiral-type staircase that goes up with a catwalk-type hallway connecting one half of the second floor to the other half so it is really fun. While "IT" is in one half of the house, we can sneak down the stairs to homebase. It is now our favorite FHE game and we play it on the weekends.

Another fun childhood memory is watching the movie, "Bye Bye Birdie". When my mom rented it and made us watch it we laughed our heads off and made fun of the entire thing. When it was over we watched it again and probably watched it at least a dozen times before taking it back to the video store.

My children were introduced to this movie today. I told them about it and the boys were NOT going to watch it. They wanted to go upstairs and play Pokemon. So I said, "That is fine. Katelyn, Carlee, Dad and I will watch it." I turned it on and they walked upstairs. Pretty soon, I see their heads peeking over the loft down at the TV and a few minutes later they came downstairs carrying all their Pokemon stuff with the excuse that they would play downstairs so they "could be with the family". I don't think Pokemon was played once. Every time I looked over at them, their eyes were glued to the TV. I have turned into my mom. She said we would love it and we did, eventually. I told my kids the same thing and when the movie was over, Kate and Jake were heard humming and singing, "One Last Kiss."

Awwww, memories . . .

Scary Store

I love to shop at craft stores. I don't always buy but I love to get new ideas and just look at stuff. It drives my husband (and sisters when I'm in Utah) crazy. I find it very relaxing and I like to just wander around and look. One store that my kids can not stand to go to is any fabric store, mostly because I love to mix and match fabric colors and patterns and I take FOREVER choosing cute fabric. When they were younger and could sit in the cart, I would make up games to entertain them. In the fabric stores, we would build forts with the fabric bolts. When they could sit in the back of the cart, I would pile the bolts of fabric on top and make a "roof" over their heads and they were stuck in "jail" with only their sippy cup. I would feed them snacks through the bars of the cart but they could not escape until the "roof" was completely gone. This was great because they were entertained and all of my fabric got cut without too many fits and tears.

One store that my kids actually like to go to is Michael's. Another game we would play when they were younger was walking through "the jungle" (the floral department) and trying to spy wild animals. When we would find a tiger it would chase us down the aisle and we weren't safe until we got to the next one. Now that my kids are older (except Carlee and sometimes, Jake) I still have to come up with different games in stores but at Michael's they are pretty good and just like to shop and try to convince me to buy crafts and projects for them.

The other night we went to Michael's as a family. Joe took off with the boys to check out the model cars and such and I was looking at scrapbook paper with the girls. We then met up and were looking at all of the Halloween decor. Now this is sometimes scary because they have the moving vampires, brides of Frankenstein, skeletons, spiders, etc. Carlee was very wary of these figures and leaning away from them with her big eyes wide saying, "Scary!" So we went down the aisle with the cutesy Halloween decorations. I felt something on my shoulder and I looked down and there was a bloody hand resting on my shoulder! I screamed, of course, and Clark laughed his head off. Because I screamed, Carlee started to cry and scream and he began torturing her with the bloody hand waving it in front of her face and trying to put it on her. We were causing quite a scene. I was trying to calm Carlee down and scold Clark all the while trying to shake that crazy feeling of that hand on my shoulder. EEEEWWW!

As we were heading out to the car, Carlee looked at me and said, "Scary Store!" I guess I better avoid that section of the store and just stay in "the jungle" with Carlee.

Fatal Attraction

My 21-month-old daughter is attracted to poison. That or we just do not feed her enough! When she started walking at about 13 months, she would dig for food out of the kitchen garbage can. She has also eaten a dishwasher soap tablet, and squirted Windex in her mouth. I don't know how she gets into these things because I'll hide them or tie the cupboards shut but she is a sneaky little thing and very determined. To top it off, she and her cousin, Tyler, decided to down half a bottle of pills last weekend.

My sis and her kids came down last weekend because Jim was out of town and Steph tends to get bored. Since she lives only 1.5 hours away, it is easy to make the trek. Joe and I decided to take advantage of her and go to the temple Saturday night. When we got home about 9:30 p.m., Steph was just beside herself asking why we didn't listen to her messages. We told her that we didn't take our cell phones and asked what was the problem. She told us the story . . .

Clark and Jake were playing the Wii and Kate, Tyler, and Carlee were playing in the playroom. Steph was nursing her baby, Madi, and listening to all the kids. A few minutes later, Katelyn came down and told Steph that Ty and Carlee were just playing with blocks. Seconds later, it got really quiet and Steph got a little concerned. She sent Katelyn up to check on them. Katelyn came down with an empty bottle of pills. Steph freaked out because it used to be half full! Somehow those two little munchkins got the lid off and just popped those pills into their mouths. She thinks they each ate about 20-30. Since she doesn't know anyone and we didn't leave any info for her (She is very responsible so we didn't need to ;) Now we know better!) she called her cousin-in-law who is a family practitioner and read him the ingredients of the vitamins. She also called poison control. Luckily they were children's vitamins and not pre-natal pills because there wasn't any iron in them. If they had gotten a hold of the prenatals, they would have been at the E.R. having their little stomachs pumped. Kate and Clark were also freaking out crying and asking if they were going to die and what was going to happen. All was well when we got home but those two rascals sure wreaked of vitamin smell! All in a day's work, Steph!

Big Birthday Weekend

Saturday, September 6 was Katelyn's 7th birthday and Monday, September 8 was Clark's 9th birthday. With their birthdays being only 2 days apart, we let the kids plan a big activity to celebrate and since we live closer to family now, Grandma and Grandpa Holt came down for the weekend to help us. They arrived Friday afternoon and that evening we went swimming after dinner and had our weekly movie night with popcorn.

Saturday morning Kate opened her gifts--a brand new purple bike and a salon chair for her American Girl doll, Emily. Then we all headed to the outlets so that the grandparents could take Clark and Katelyn shopping for a birthday present and a new school outfit. The kids were pretty excited to shop alone without Mom and Dad's opinions and restrictions. Clark talked Grandpa into some Pokemon balls and more Bakugan and Katelyn talked Grandma into a Barbie kitchen set, some dangly clip-on earrings and some bangle bracelets (Thanks a lot, Grandma and Grandpa!). Jake and Carlee got to shop with Joe and me and they were great while Joe spent money at Adidas and I spent some at Ann Taylor. After some shopping, we went home for lunch and Hannah Montana cupcakes and ice cream.

We then got ready for the Tournament of Kings dinner show at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. Jake and Carlee were with a babysitter so it was pretty special for Clark and Katelyn (Thank you, Drew and Melissa!). They loved it. The knights jousted and fought with swords. The evil Dragon knight tried to take over the kingdom but good prevailed and so did our king, the king of France. We ate dinner with our hands and yelled and cheered for the knights. Katelyn was a little wary of the dragon's blood soup but after watching the rest of us "drink" it decided it was pretty good. Clark just loved raising his Sprite and toasting to the knights. When the show was over we took the kids out on the strip. It was the first time they've seen it in the dark and they were amazed. It was fun to see their reactions to all the lights of Vegas. We took Grandma and Grandpa to M&M World and the Coca-Cola factory. (Coca-Cola . . . so refreshing . . . Aaaah!)

Clark's birthday was also a great success. They sang to him at school and when he got home, he opened his gifts--a set of "real" golf clubs, and a new Wii game, Lego Indiana Jones. He got right to work on the video game while I made his favorite dinner, egg salad sandwiches. After dinner, we had Charmander Pokemon cake and ice cream and a night-time swim. The kids went to bed happy after a great weekend and good celebrations.

I think that last picture says it all. Happy birthday, Katelyn and Clark! We love you so much and are proud of what you bring to our family. Thanks for being such sweet kids!

Joseph Stuart, M.D. and Kristen Stuart, P.A.

Monday night was the usual routine . . . We got the kids to bed, I cleaned up last minute things, Joe was surfing the internet and watching T.V. I was just settling down to sit next to him when we heard the pitter-patter of little feet AGAIN!

We have a problem in our household that has been a problem for a few years now. Our little rugrats can not stay in bed! We have taken away privileges, made threats, given them spankings, separated them, grounded them, screamed and yelled at them, etc. For some reason, they think bedtime means sneak around and play in each other's rooms thinking that Mom and Dad don't know what they are doing. Unfortunately, for me, bedtime means I lose my patience. I am done being a mom at 8:00 p.m. Then it is "couple time with dessert and tv/movie" or "Mommy's projects without interruption". After yelling upstairs a few times and trying to ignore them, we heard the bang and the screaming. Kate and Clark came yelling downstairs that Jake was bleeding all over the floor. Joe went upstairs and they were right. A huge gash on the left side of his forehead. Great, another scar on Jake's face. (This makes 3 including his plastic surgery)

He needed stitches and rather than going to the E.R. Joe did it at home with me as his assistant. Jake was hysterical and we gave him the choice of going to the hospital or having Daddy and Mommy do it. He chose us and we just told him that Daddy was going to glue it closed. We had to keep the shot and stitches secret or we never would have made it. Jake laid on a towel on the counter and I had to sit up there holding Jake down with my legs and arms. Of course as soon as the lidocaine went in, Jake went beserk kicking and trying to pull out the needle. He finally calmed down and Joe was able to put in three stitches. The entire time Jake was asking if he was done yet and we just told him "2 more glue dots . . .1 more glue dot" "You're so brave, Jake!" "You're doing great." When we were done, it looked great and Jacob conked out in his bed. Five days later, Joe took the stitches out and Jake could go swimming. Dr. Daddy did an excellent job and it sure beat 4 hours in the emergency room.