Wednesday at home relaxin

On Wednesday of Spring Break week, we stayed in our jammies and waited for the pool to heat up. The Allreds joined us for the swim! Let me rephrase that the Daddy's and kids swam and the mommy's visited and took pictures with our feet in the hot tub! It was another windy Las Vegas day unfortunately, but everyone had fun. We had to drag Aspen and Hanna out at the end. The rest of us were inside trying to keep warm--those two can play nonstop for hours!

Jared got the snorkel gear out for fun. Carter and jake loved it and are ready to try it out in Hawaii this summer! Joshy liked trying the fins on but his tiny feet couldn't keep them on.

That night we all wanted to go to the Tournament of Kings, but the tickets were sold out for that night:[. So we called around to other shows to see if anything was cheap. We lucked into Blue Man Group tickets on the second row for more than half off! Carter and Hanna were soooo excited. Their music teacher at school totally loves Blue Man Group and has showed them a lot of clips in class. In fact the Spring Show case at their school was all about living in Vegas and had a Blue Man Group segment where three boys were completely dressed like Blue Man Group. We had to go to the 10 pm show was the only draw back. Jared stayed with the younger boys and took them to Chuck E Cheeses while the big kids and I headed downtown to the Venetian.
We started out by eating at the Grand Lux Cafe. Hanna had her favorite: Alfredo and pasta, Carter a hamburger, and I had sundried tomato and chicken pasta. Yum!
We had some time to kill before the show so we found some fun things to do: like pick some noses and visit the gift shop


Here we are already for the show. Yep we got to wear ponchos the whole time because we were in the crazy poncho section where you can get hit by neon paint and other interesting substances like Twinkie goo which is what Carter ended up getting hit with. Hanna and I came out unscathed!

At the end of the show there is a huge amount of toilet like paper that gets wasted (but recycled they tell us!) so Carter did his part to make sure some of it was put to good use. Is that the Karate kid? I was glad we stayed to get a picture with one of the guys. It was a fun show and so fun to experience with them for their first time. I liked it way better this time around. When Jared and I saw it we were not sure we loved it. Carter couldn't pick a favorite part, but like any 10 year old boy he loved all the messes they made and splattering the food and paint around. Hanna liked when they made the canvas art using paint balls and their teeth. What a fun night with my big kids! (if you see Hanna around ask her about the Phantom of the Parking Garage!)

The Children's Museum

On Tuesday Jared had to work, so we met the Whites, Swaseys, Reeses (with some neighborhood friends), and Hackmans at the Children's Museum. It was a little crowded, but as always....fun!
Cole, Josh, Jake, Jaxon, Wesley, and Liam fixing a car
Cole took this wrench and went right up to the tire bolts and stuck it on them

Hanna was quite proud of this building her and Mckinzie built

This builders exhibit was awesome it is on lone from the OMSI museum (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) I grew up going to that museum...when I read the sign it made me a little nostalgic

Of course we had a great time who doesn't love the children's museum! Then I dragged the kids around the outlets downtown. Good times. (not so much) They were actually really good for me and each got a pretzel and dutch ice and a trip to the Disney store where they each spent $5.00. Most importantly we got some much needed spring shopping items!

Downtown Day

Part of the reason we wanted to stay home this spring break was so we could do some of the local things with the kids. We have hardly ever taken them downtown to the casinos so we decided to check a few off our list this week. We headed straight down to Caesar's Palace to the Forum shops Monday morning. We wanted to show them the statues and mini shows and then end up at FAO Schwarz as a surprise. The only bummer part of the day was that FAO went out of business sometime in the last three months. Darn it! We showed the kids all the statues and listened to Carter tell us who he thought each one was. He's learned a lot this year about mythology from reading Percy Jackson as well as studying it in his 5th grade class.


After some snacks from Cheese Cake Factory and a trip to the Apple Store and Baby Gap, we left Caesars and headed for the Venetian. We had some extra time since FAO didn't happen.
They always decorate this lobby for the different seasons. It looked so cool with all of these umbrellas. Which color is your favorite?


Checking out the Gondola rides and canal....the line was too long. Something for next time!
The kids got gold chocolate coins from this lady who was in the courtyard of the Venetian
The kids thought this was an interesting idea.....a person impersonating a statue??

What a fun day!!

Spring Break "Staycation"

Since Carter started kindergarten six years ago, we have never stayed home for Spring Break. Not once. I put my foot down this year and announced I wanted a real Spring Break without packing for a big trip, laundry from a trip, the car ride and exhaustion from a big trip! It was so refreshing and was actually a break! And we did get away to St. George for two nights so technically we didn't stay home the whole week, but two nights was a perfect compromise.




We started our break on Saturday with the ward Easter Egg Hunt at Prescott Park. It was a beautiful, but extremely cold and windy infamous Las Vegas Spring day. The kids and I got there in the nick of time for the opening prayer and the rules and then the go ahead to find the eggs!! I had to stay with the little boys (since Jared had a mandatory military day on base and wasn't there to help me) while the older three took off to the big kid section. This was the first year that Carter wasn't really into it...sad for mom....I think he even left his basket in the car. Cole seemed to know right what to do and walked right up and started getting the eggs into his basket. But then he realized it was more fun to throw them back into the grass! Josh came over with his basket brimming to which I had to inform him was a few too many. He did however get one of the eggs marked "prize" with a star on it. That meant he could go turn it in and get a fun prize which turned out to be sidewalk chalk and Mickey Mouse bubbles. He was soooo excited! Jake was green with envy that Joshy got a prize egg. Nothing that a couple of donuts couldn't fix! The kids stayed and played for an hour after the egg hunt at the park. Prescott Park is one of our favorites and so close to home!
Carter was stoked when the activities commitee came around and gave him two boxes of left over donuts to take home....


Maddie, Hanna, and Aspen
Cole, Jack, and Jake

Never thought I'd See the Day

.....Neither did my kids! We got some pets!!

Introducing "Phineas and Ferb". I finally caved in and allowed the kids to get a pet. I really don't care for animals or feel like cleaning up after one more thing in my life right now, but these aren't too high on the maintenance level scale and the kids love the novelty of it. We had to start out by getting fish to dirty up the tank, and then after 6 weeks, we were finally able to bring the Fire-bellied toads home. The fish are named Stripes, Luigi, and Lizard. Stripes is Hanna's, Luigi's is Jakes (he has a mustache like Luigi from Mario Bros and Lizard is Joshs'. The kids love to take turns feeding the fish and stopping by the tank to check on Phineas and Ferb. Phineas likes to bully Ferb and jump on his back and tries to strangle or mate with him (were not sure which??) We were a little alarmed at first, but after researching have come to realize this is very normal for them. They are a little territorial and like to be near other toads. They also are known to "bark" at each other which kind of wigged us out the first few days, but has lessened over time and rarely is audible anymore. Carter has since done a power point presentation for school on Fire-bellied Toads and has taught us a lot about them. Carter for sure is the most excited about our new additions as he has been asking for years to have a pet!

Lucky thoughts

Lucky me to wake up to five healthy, beautiful children every morning.
Lucky me to have a handsome husband who loves me inspite of my shortcomings.
Lucky me to have a husband who is a hardworker and who has a great job despite current economic hardships.
Lucky me to have a reliable car to drive each day.
Lucky me to have good health and a sound mind.
Lucky me to live in a country where freedom still rings.
Lucky me to have parents and in laws who adore and love their grandchildren and want to be part of their life.
Lucky me to be surrounded by great neighbors and friends in Las Vegas.
Lucky me to be supported by great friends and family NOT so close to Las Vegas.
Lucky me to have a knowledge of my savior, Jesus Christ.
Lucky me to be able to admire and teach 20 young women who have truly been saved for these Latter Days.
Lucky me to be part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Lucky me to know that these are all actually blessings from above and not just LUCK!

Lucky us to be great friends with the Edmonds and to have enjoyed the past four days playing with Dustin, Andrew, and Lance!

Friends

Carter's best friends are visiting for a few days, so we took them to The Dinosaur Park after a yummy breakfast at The Pancake House. (Carter ditched school for half a day)

We met all of these friends at the park!



Cole was being adorable and letting me get a few shots, but only if I played Peek-a-boo and worked really hard

Joshy came too...in his cowboy boots and cowboy shirt...what a character