The Lion King in Vegas

It's been a number of years since we've been back to Vegas as a family and my parents have made many, many trips to SLC. So, it was our turn and it was fun!

Shane wanted to try a really good restaurant, so we tasted a bit of Vietnamese food. It was delicious. We got Lex to try a shrimp that still had the head on it! He didn't eat the head, but the rest was yummy!

Good ol' Caesars Palace. This is one of their animated shows they have inside the mall. It hasn't changed in over 10 years!



A little something for everyone (this one was for Shane!)

This is a wine & spirits store that has aisles and aisles of choices.

Water Tornado Tubes

Gardens at The Bellagio

Chinese New Year

Year of the Rabbit

Springs Preserves at Summerlin

(Hint: They're pretending to eat these mushroom chairs)

And, the highlight of our trip...

The Lion King at Mandalay Bay!

We had front row balcony seats and they were perfect as was the show!

Wyoming Snowy Play Day

It was snowy and it was COLD! But, the kids had fun and, well, we had a bit of fun even if only for a little while. We first tried sledding down the hill in Grandpa's backyard. It wasn't packed, so it was difficult. Lex went down first and made somewhat of a path. He didn't get very far, though. Isabel went next. (Try to picture this, it's funnier that way.) She was very excited. We give her a little push and she gets to the bottom of the hill where the path ends and her sled comes to an abrupt stop. She basically came flying off the sled to a head first dive into the snow. All you can see is the bottom half of her sticking out. Luckly, Shane was already down there to immediately pull her out. Needless to say, she was in tears. But, no fear! We take the snow toys out to the fields of Alpine and she has no hestitation to go down more hills. Oh, it was so funny!

Lex in Granda's hand me down snow shoes! He was a natural and loves his new snow toy.

These were supposed to be bigger...

Good ol' Grandpa & Grandma having fun, too!



Brighton- Our Once A Year Visit

Hopefully not really just once a year, but it is mid-February already and the sun is shining!

Isabel was old enough this year to join us up the mountain and we were worried about how she would do. Little did we need to worry about! She was saying "weee" all the way down! She also threw quite the tantrum when it was time to go. I think she likes this new winter activity.

Lex will be the snowboarder in our family, for now. Shane & I tried it last year and went back to skiis this year. I know, we're so old! Maybe Isabel will try boarding when she is old enough. Lex has improved through his lessons and was able to go down backwards!

 Our friends, Matt & Shannon & their daughter, joined us again this year. They go as often as we do :)

Token BFF Photo of Shane & Matt



Play Audition

A little background. I took the kids to see a play last year put on by the University of Utah's Youth program. It was "James & The Giant Peach". We all enjoyed it. Lex has always had an interest in acting. So, when I received an email about upcoming auditions for their spring play, I asked Lex if he wanted to try and he was all for it.

There was only a 10 day notice given, so we hurried and picked out a monologue and he's been practicing everyday. The memorization part came really quick. And so he really worked on speaking clearly, not so fast, and his movements. He chose his lines from "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs". It's something he enjoys and was easy enough for a first time audition.

I'm pretty sure Shane & I were both 10x more nervous than Lex was.