Another year......

Come and gone. I can't believe we have lived here in California for a year now. Time really went quickly. We have all grown so much since we moved. It was difficult for us to leave our friends and family, but we are finally feeling settled here. The kids are doing really well and have adjusted as much as any can I guess. Laney still misses her friends from Friday's Station, but all in all enjoys the weather. Max on the other hand keeps asking me when they can go to Utah to play in the snow. I told him Monday would have been perfect since they got so much over the weekend.  Oh well. 

Spring break is next week and I am trying to find some fun activities to do with the kids for 7 and 1/2 days. The weather is suppose to hold at around 75 so we should be able to spend most of the time outdoors. Which is great because when it is cold, my house gets TRASHED! So if anyone has any great spring break ideas, pass them along. My kids have already vetoed cleaning. But I might be able to persuade them to help me organize closets....... in exchange for time at the beach or zoo.  Here's to me keeping my fingers crossed!  :0)

VEGAS BABY!

Last night we got back into town after a fabulous weekend. Huge props and thanks to my amazing sister and brother in law for housing my husband and kids for the weekend. Lemuel went to St. George with the kids while I headed to Las Vegas with some pretty great girlfriends! Melinda, Katie, Kahea and I all had an AMAZING time! Kahea scored a spectacular deal on a hotel room and then because our room was occupied (when we arrived at 1:30 in the morning) they upgraded our room to a poolside suite and gave us $75 for dinner and free drinks!  Plus we had 6 free buffets we could use with the hotel deal!  It was AWESOME! We stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton, just off the strip. We laughed, we ate, we danced, we shopped, laughed some more, ate some more, slept a little, lounged by the pool, tortured guest servies, played games, watched TWILIGHT, and then ate more! It was a spectacular weekend and just what I needed. 

Me, Melinda, and Katie doing some people watching while Kahea did some shopping. 

Las Vegas is the perfect place to do serious people watching. Boy did we see some interesting characters!  

All the married ladies dolled up for a night out!  

Lounging by the pool with our FREE virgin pina coladas!  

We strolled the strip but didn't get too far. We realized that we don't need to do much of the sightseeing to have a good time. We just had heaps of fun talking and laughing. We only got as far as the Venetian before we called it quits. 

Great memories were created this weekend. Three nights and 3 days just wasn't long enough. Can't wait for next time!  

BNP Paribas Tournament!

This past weekend Lemuel and Max were invited to attend the Paribas Pro Tennis Tournament in Indian Wells (southern California). It was a dream come true for Lemuel. He has wanted to watch a pro tournament since I met him!  They had a wonderful time and Max loved being able to see all the players and get their autographs on a giant tennis ball Lemuel bought for him.  This is a view from the suite they were in all day Saturday. 
Max loved the gigantic tennis balls and raquets. They watched, Andy Roddick play, along with David Ferrer, and other top players. They said that Roger Federer was really nice and very willing to sign autographs but that Nadal wouldn't. 
This is one of Lemuel's favorite pictures from the whole weekend. (He took heaps of pictures)

Max got Roger Federer's autograph and Lemuel was in awe to be that close to him!  (he is going to be embarrassed when he reads this) He couldn't wait to come home and show me all the video clips and pictures he took. He said he was like a kid in a candy store. He really enjoyed the whole time they were there. I am so glad he got this opportunity to spend some quality time with Max and relish in one of his dreams. 

March?

I can't believe that we are half way through March already!  The past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy around this house. I was really busy all of last week with stake leadership meeting, our tri-ward birthday celebration, and then a relief society board meeting breakfast. Once the week ended my house was TRASHED!  So I spent most of Saturday afternoon and early evening putting it all back together and doing some deep cleaning I neglected during the planning of the enrichment. Since then it has been pretty stable other than typical family things. 

I had a wonderful afternoon on Monday. Aidan fell asleep in the car on the way back from Costco so I put him in bed, grabbed a book and headed outside to relax and enjoy the sunlight. It was a beautiful afternoon. After a crazy couple of weeks it was nice to just enjoy the outside. 

Now I am busy trying to get laundry done and housecleaning done so that tomorrow I can pack for my little trip to Vegas with some girlfriends!