Thanksgiving at the Ainge's!

This was the first year we have hosted the entire Ainge clan for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun! AND we finally had enough room to do have more than one visitor.

Here is a recap of all the fun we had.

First, before anything else is said, I was in charge of the turkey and so I decided to try a salt brine. I was told to use Alton Brown's method from Food Network. It turned out amazing, and it really wasn't that difficult. I highly recommend it. I got a bucket at Home Depot for $2.89 and that is what I put it in. Next time you make a turkey, try it out, it made the gravy turn out AMAZING.


Madison helped out during the cooking process that day too, she made the rolls. Kathy had seen an idea on TV using Rhodes dough and putting them together to make a turkey with almond slivers as the tail and peppercorns as the eyes. They turned out so cute and she loved helping do something fun. They made fun place settings and you could eat them too! Doesn't get much better than that. They have a tone of fun ideas on their website for all the different holidays.



One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is being able to use my china. I love china and glassware and have ended up kinda/sorta unintentionally collecting it. I just love pretty things. I don't use it that often, especially with small kids, but any time we have a holiday meal I pull it out. It makes the day that much more special to me, and my dishwasher has a china setting so I don't have to hand wash them!





The big question on everyone's mind has to be, "Where were all the boys and what were they doing?" Watching some football for sure, that is a given, especially in this family. But mostly they pulled out Guitar Hero. Collin brought his Wii, along with all the attachments. The boys had way too much fun, but they entertained Madison pretty well. They even let her play a little bit. Later in the weekend they even started teaching her golf. It was really cute! She was obsessed with playing the drums, I think she is going to really get into music when I finally get around to putting her in lessons.

I love how any holiday of any sort has become a reason to shop, you know what I am talking about, "Come on down it's National Eat Pig Day, that means lowest prices of the year!" Are you kidding me??? Just because I think it's ridiculous doesn't mean I don't take advantage of any and all sales and Black Friday is a sacred day. We definitely got some shopping in. There are two guarantees when we see the Ainge's: one, somehow we will watch a sport of some kind, and two, we will shop. I love it! Two of my favorite things together in the same trip! We tried to hit up the Premier outlets downtown at Midnight Thurs night/Friday morning, but that did not work out too great. We spent 1/2 and hour just trying to get off the freeway and once we realized we would be waiting at least another hour and both parking garages were full, we left. It wasn't too bad though, there wasn't anything we HAD to have. We went there for a few hours on Saturday and got everything we wanted. It was fun. We definitely helped stimulate the economy on "Black Friday" and the following Saturday. We were able to get everything on our lists for the kids and plenty extra for us :) We always save up so we have some spending money for all the fun deals that weekend.


Since the family was coming in to town we waited to open Hunter's birthday presents. Like he would know that difference... It was fun watching him, he is much more interested in tearing the paper and opening the gifts than Madison was. It seemed like years before we could convince her to open more than one present. Hunter totally dug it! He loved finally getting some trucks and "boy toys" to play with. He usually ended up playing with Madison's princesses before his trucks "arrived."




During the week I had tons of great help, the best part was having someone to feed the kids while I cleaned up, put stuff away, or ate while my dinner was still warm. The simple things you miss when you have kids....Anyway, Hunter likes to play around once his belly starts getting full. One of his favorite tricks is biting the spoon and not letting it go. He just giggles and gets such a kick out of teasing us that way. I think he is going to be a practical joker when he gets older....Anything that gets a laugh becomes a common occurrence in his behavior. At least he is a happy child, right?



Everyone left us on Sunday, but Craig had to stay in LV for his yearly continuing education, so Kathy stayed with him. It was fun, they stayed at the MGM but hung out with us all day. She and Madison got to make their gingerbread house. They did this last year and Madison has been so excited to do it again. She gets to wear her apron and feel like an adult, she is so patient and exact when she puts it together, but I think her favorite part is sampling all the candy. You have to do that, right? Here she is with her finished product.


At the end of the week Craig and Kathy took Madison back to Utah with them for a fun-filled week. She had the best time talking to all the BYU kids that came over for family home evening, playing with Sophie at the ward Christmas party and while Kathy worked on Wednesday, and getting to help decorate for Christmas. It was fun for her to get one-on-one attention with her grandparents. I am a huge supporter of extended families and the importance of them in our kids lives, I love that they want to spend time with our kids separate from us. Plus, we love the break! I call my 2-4 weeks a year that our families take the kids my "paid vacation." This is my full time job after all!

Hope all of you had as much fun as we did! Thanksgiving and the 4th of July are my two favorite holidays, they are the only two that are not overly commercialized. They are all about spending time with family, visiting and eating and being thankful for all we are given. I am thankful for so much this past year, I feel so blessed to have a healthy, happy family and an amazing husband that does everything he can to make me happy. We are blessed enough to live in a country that has sacrificed so much to give us the unique opportunity to become whatever we dream of. I am so grateful for that, being a citizen of the United States of America is a blessing in itself, I still tear up every time I hear our National Anthem and love the reminder of the opportunities provided us.

Happy Holidays!

My baby turned 1!

I can hardly believe my baby turned 1!. It feels like I just had him. He has been such a joy to have, we actually feel like a family now. You know how when you have just one child it still feels like you are a couple with a kid tagging along? Now that we have two we are actually starting to feel like a real family, we have more of a schedule now, a system has come in to our household, and we have so much more fun. I never thought I would love being a mom so much, life sure changes perspectives. At least it does for me.

For his birthday I made him a cupcake with chocolate frosting (I know, another example of what a great mom I am-most mom's get a cake or make something fancy, my kid gets one cupcake)...That one cupcake he did get did not have a chance. Madison kind of picked at her cake a little bit and needed a little help figuring out what to do with it. Hunter needed no direction. When we were singing to him he was reaching as far as his little arms would read! If he could have gotten out of his chair he would have. He even licked his little fingers clean.

I even got a picture of the "How you doin'" face he makes. I have been trying to get a picture of it for months and I simply got lucky with this picture. There are quite a few things I can say about this picture, but it captures Hunter in all his "Hunterness." Do you see the crumbs on his tray? He tried to get every single one of them in his mouth. This was one item of food that did not get thrown of the floor.

The next question that arises when a birthday is celebrated is: "What did he get for his birthday?" Answer: A haircut!



I took him in to the girl that does my hair for his first haircut. I have no clue how to cut boys hair, eventually I will figure it out, but until then I will pay for the privilege of my child not looking like he cut it himself. He did not know what on earth was going on...poor kid! He gave me a few interesting looks when I was buckling him in to his booster and Karie was putting on his cape.

He sat still and calm the entire haircut, until she started styling it. Is he a boy or what? Little to absolutely no maintenance is his philosophy. He still doesn't like me styling it. But look how cute he turned out! He looks all grown up, and all the red that he had is gone. Looks like I might get my wish of a blondie! When I was prego with Madison I was convinced she was a boy because about once a week I would have a dream about a little blonde toddler boy-I took a yellow outfit to the hospital because I just KNEW they ultrasound was wrong. So maybe I was dreaming about this little guy-I'll say this, he is a dream! I cannot imagine an easier child. He is so calm and easygoing, nothing phases him. That will come in handy because he has one domineering, bossy older sister. (Can't figure out where she picked those traits up? Here is a hint: They come naturally from mom.)

Here is my big guy, in all his grown-up-looking glory. If only I could get his hair to look this cute. I didn't wash it for 2 days because he looked so cute and I knew I couldn't replicate it. Someone needs to teach me how to do kids hair, I am just finally figuring out how to do my own and I am almost 30.

Carrying a heavy load

Madison is such a helper with Hunter. As I have mentioned before, she wants to be his mommy so badly! When she has to get him for me this is what she does. It cracks me up, but I sure appreciate it!

Football and Doughnuts

We love football season in our house. We watch games all day on Saturdays (by we I mean Ryan watches them all day and I catch a glimpse of the score as I clean around him, unless it is a team I actually like, then I will sit down to watch the game). We also try to get up to Utah for a few BYU games each season. We always go to the first home game of the season, and then look around our schedule for one or two more. It is fun: we visit family, we visit friends, and we get to root for our Alma Mater. We both loved our time at BYU, I miss it so much. There was something really special about my time there...I am incredibly grateful that I was able to attend such an amazing University. Not only did I meet my husband, but I became the person I wanted to be.


Anyway, on with the story...We went up to Utah in October to see Reba and Kelly and thankfully there was a home game that weekend. BYU vs. UNM. It is funny. I usually only go to one UNLV football game a year and every other year it is UNM, and for some reason I usually go to the BYU/UNM game. So, every other year I see UNM play twice. How random is that? Am I being told something? Am I supposed to be a UNM fan? Or maybe always root for them to lose? I can't figure it out.


So this year when we went it was supposed to be snowing and raining and just plain cold. I don't like cold weather, so I was not excited, to say the least. I debated going with Ryan and made a deal with him. He had to buy me long underwear, new gloves, an ear warmer and hand warmers and I would go (because of course I went to Utah without my winter apparel. It was still 90* in LV, so I can't imagine why I wouldn't remember to pack my snow wear?) So, off to the game I went. I wore my long underwear. I wore a long sleeve t-shirt. I wore my green fleece zip up jacket. On top I wore my BYU Hoodie. Yeah, we saw my brother-in-law when we were walking in and he asked if I was prego again or just fat. He got a dirty look. I admit, I look super fat in the pictures b/c I had been canning all day and didn't do my hair and then I was wearing a ridiculous amount of layers. But, I did not get cold (I brought a blanket to sit on and one to wrap around my legs, that helped too).

We get there and the entrance to our seats is right by the "Cougar Tail" stand. Now, what is a Cougar Tail? A long maple bar doughnut. The Creamery makes incredible doughnuts, I have missed them for years and anyone that knows me knows I love doughnuts-I don't eat them often, but I absolutely love them. Parker had promised Jessica that we could share one at the game, but he had forgotten his wallet, Jessica did not have her purse and I didn't either. So I looked over at Ryan and he said no. (Ryan is my self-appointed diet watcher. He won't let me eat sugar unless he wants to share something-this is a big bone of contention in our marriage because I love sugar, but I definitely don't over due it. I am, however, a big girl and can decide for myself if I should eat something). So the entire game we are giving Ryan and Parker a hard time about this, we both really, really wanted a doughnut. About the 3rd quarter of the game Craig (Ryan and Parker's Dad) realizes what is going on and give us money to go get one. We were giddy with joy! So we run to the stand and wait in line. We ask for one and the guy tells us that they just ran out. Now, you can imagine our devastation over this new development. It had taken us almost the entire game to even get money for a Cougar Tail and now they were out. One of the girls working there must have seen how far our faces fell and came over to tell us that she had just found one last doughnut tucked in the back of their cart. I almost jumped over the counter to hug her! So, alas, Jessica and I did get our Cougar tail to share. I even gave Craig a piece as a thank you. So of course we had to get a picture to commemorate our achievement at the game. I ate almost half of mine before I could sit still for a picture, Jessica and I did have equal pieces, I am just super impatient when it comes to treats.

The game went on, we won, of course, and it did not even get cold and snowy. I was so worried. Last year we went to one game in October and toward the end of the fourth quarter we could not even see the field it was snowing so badly. We left with 6 or so min left of the game. I really did not want a repeat of that weather-it just ruins the experience for me. So thankfully this game was played before the storm hit and we were able to enjoy it without getting too cold. A good ending to a great day.

I'm Hungry Mommy

The other day Hunter was crawling around having so much fun downstairs. I was getting dinner ready or something so the pantry was open. What did he do? He crawled in, found his food and proceeded to grab it off the shelf. He sat there for quite a while trying to open the container. He even gnawed on the outside for a while trying to get in. It was sooo cute, so of course I had to grab a picture.

What's for dinner?

More NYC posts are coming, I promise! I just haven't had time to sit down this last week. However, I have been wanting to post some of my favorite recipes. Please post yours too! I am always looking for yummy things to make, especially ones that are tried and true. Here are some of my favorites.

I have 2 that come on the back of the Stovetop stuffing box that our family loves, they are so good!
Easy Chicken Bake
Bruschetta Chicken Bake This one take about 5 min to put together- you don't have to make the stuffing or the chicken! I love it!

My mom sent this one to me, it was so easy and we really liked it
Pecan-Crusted Pork with Pumpkin Butter I didn't have any pecans, but I did have walnuts and they tasted great with the food.

This is our FAV recipe. It makes a huge amount so what I do is get the throwaway casserole pans and split the dish into 3's. Then I freeze 2 and when I take one out I cook on 375* for about an hour or so, until it is warm throughout. It looks really complicated, but it really doesn't take me that long to put together. One tip though-cut all the veggies up before you start browning the ground turkey. Turkey browns really fast. It's a great way to get kids to eat veggies-my picky little Madison will eat every bite.
Italian Shepherd's Pie I don't like peppers at all so I use zucchini and squash instead. I also use whatever kind of cheese I have on hand, but you have to use poultry seasoning, otherwise it is not as tasty.

Another favorite recipe of ours is Mac and Cheddar Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli. This is really good with left over ham. Anytime we get a Honeybaked Ham I make this and eat it for days.

I promised a few people I would post my Pumpkin bread and Banana Bread recipes. I have tried so many and these are my favorites
Banana Pumpkin Bread I will add some Chocolate Chips to this one, because really, doesn't chocolate make everything better?
Walnut Banana Bread

And guess what people are getting for Christmas this year?
Banana Nut Bread Baked in a Jar How cool is that?

NYC Part 1

I don't have 3 hours to do a full posting of our trip to NYC so I will post just one of the crazy things that happened to us. (BTW, if you are wondering, we had a fabulous time. We really enjoyed this trip)

On with the crazy story. So, I never run in to famous people. We lived in LA for 3 years and I didn't see a famous person once (unless I paid to see them at concerts, plays, etc). Not that I really cared because I am not much of a starstruck type person. They don't really do much for me, you know? Seriously, what am I going to do with an autograph anyway? But it is fun to tell the stories, right?

When we finally left Grease ( I decided to use the restroom at the end of the show) we were the last people out of the theater. We walked about 5 feet and saw a group of people exiting the show across the street. Who, you ask? Jeremy Piven (my 3rd favorite actor-hello, how can you not fall in love with him after watching Serendipity-which we were headed too. How crazy is that?) and Fergie (have you read how many times her song "Big Girls Don't Cry" has come up in my blog?). How nuts is that? We walked over there and I convinced Fergie to get a picture with me. I figured M would love seeing it since she loves the song so much. Mr. Piven was already in the car, but let me just say, she is even more gorgeous in person and soooo tiny! Plus, her jacket rocked, it was softer than any leather I have ever touched.

So, here it is, the downfall of my non-starstruckedness (like my word? yea, I made it up. I think it works in this sentence).

***PS, how awesome is my jacket? It's Amily's. I keep begging her to give it to me, I think it looks better on me - She is too skinny to pull it off. Cross your fingers for me, I think my borrowing time is up.

My little monkey in action

We go to the park semi-regularly, more now that it has finally cooled off some. The plastic burns their skin during the summer! Anyway, Hunter is obsessed with slides. He loves to climb up them, so I guess he is more obsessed with climbing? Doesn't matter, I think he figures it is the only way he can get to the top.

I watched him do this and I was amazed. He did get to the top of the smaller one when I was behind him. I won't let him get higher than this on the big one.

Cafe Rio, Yummy!

Well, Hunter finally got to eat at Cafe Rio with us this last trip. He LOVED it! Can't say I blame him, especially since I ate it all the time when I was prego with him. Usually he just gets crackers or something, but now that he can have cheese and such he got his own quesadilla and went to town. He even ate the entire meal without throwing any of it on the ground. It was a miracle.

Almost there....

This is a few weeks late, but Hunter if finally standing on his own really good and should hopefully soon start walking. He will take a few steps while he falls towards you, but other than that he is not doing much walking.

When he stands up he gets to excited and loves when we cheer for him. He looks around at us and wonders what are we doing? It is cute how shy he gets!

I LOVE Baking soda

My sister just shared this secret with me. I am not the biggest chicken fan, I just can't ever make it to where I like it. This is supposed to make chicken so tender and juicy. I am trying it tonight for dinner to see if it will do the same thing with pork. Chicken is on the menu for tomorrow.

Marinade the chicken for 15 minutes. Just kind of rub the baking soda in and pat it on. No need to add water, the juices from the chicken will take care of it. Once the 15 minutes is up wash it off and cook as desired!


A few months ago Madison had written all over her bedroom wall with pencil and I could not get it off. So I googled how to clean the wall. Baking Soda. It worked! I made a little paste and rubbed it all over the wall and wiped it off with a damp cloth. Thank goodness or she would have been dead. There was no way I was going to repaint her room 2 weeks before we moved.

Another trick I learned over the years with baking soda is using it to clean off the bottom of pans. If you cook something and burn the bottom of the pan put some water and baking soda in the bottom and gently simmer, the stuck stuff will come right off. It works!

What are your secret tips?

***FYI, keep it marinating for no more than 15-20 minutes otherwise it will taste like Baking Soda and be sure to wash it off. ENJOY!!

Want more tips on baking soda? click here

Fun with Strollers

Madison wants to be the mom of the family so bad, so when I grabbed these pictures it was all I could do to not call her mom. She is so good at keeping Hunter entertained. She was so sad when he was born and just slept all day long. I think she thought we would be bringing home a BFF for her to play with all day. At least she is not mad at him for not being able to play with her much.

After we went trick-or-treating the stroller was in the house for a few day until I got off my lazy bum and took it back to the garage. I would like to say that it was because the kids were having so much fun playing with it that I did not want to interrupt that, yeah, it is because I get lazy with the easy stuff. Anyway, H found it so quick and started crawling up to the "Big Kid Seat" and held on and had so much fun. M found him and got in his seat to walk him around the house. I about fell down laughing when I saw them doing this. At least they were having fun, but don't worry, I am not so lazy that I let them get away with it for long. I didn't want H to fall and get hurt, so needless to say, after this escapade the stroller went back to the garage for storage. But look at their huge smiles! They were having so much fun. If I could have figured out a way for them to do this and have it be safe I totally would have let them keep at it for a few more days at least.

Now, when I need to keep H out of something for a while I convince M to be a great big sis and take him for a spin in her doll stroller. I just know it will get broken from having too much weight in it one day. He is a chunk! I think M was about 20 months old before she weighed what he weighs now. But it is fun and he really enjoys it. And she always makes sure that she buckles him in tight. Yeah, like a velcro seat belt is really gonna help. Her favorite game to play with her stroller is "Going to the Mall." If she is not her parents daughter, right? She gets her stroller, her diaper bag (full of toys), her purse and puts on jewelry and then tells me she is going to the mall. I don't think she has made it to the purchasing part of mall-going yet, but I am just waiting for that after the holiday season is over. We really don't go to the mall much. I spend too much money, but they have a play area for the kids so she loves going. When it is really hot or cold we will go and get lunch and play for a bit, she just loves that.

***Oh, and by the way, you can see my beautiful new blinds in the background. They turned out so pretty I didn't even regret not getting shutters again. Only with blinds the kids end up wanting to play with them more. So now I am constantly worried about them breaking a slat.

It is purge time!

I have finally made some time to catch up on the month of October. It was so busy and it just went by so fast. My friend Cori has a cute way of naming the process of blogging when you blog everything all at once, but I can't remember what she calls it, so I will name this posting "purging." I still have some fun things to blog about but don't count on anything this coming week. Ryan and I are headed to NYC for some fun time together. He has to work one day during the trip but the rest of the time we will be able to do some fun things. Ryan has never been to Ellis Island so this trip we got tickets to go. I love Ellis Island, but each time we went together it was closed. The first time R went to NYC was November of 2001. That was an eerie time in NY history. Definitely a different experience for us at tourists.

Last time we went there was no time. We had a few hours here and there but not enough time to get out there. So, this time we get to go, I am super excited about it because Ellis Island has the coolest feeling/spirit about it. I love history and Ellis Island is such an integral part of our American history.

So, enjoy the posts I have put on and I will have fun pictures and stories to share with you all.

***Correction: R has informed me that I forgot to add Evanescence to our concert list. How did I forget that one? It was the grand opening of The Pearl at the Palm's Hotel and Casino and we sat right in front of the Maloof brothers and actually talked to one of them. I was prego with H and sick, but I made it through the entire show without having to run to the bathroom! Yeah!

It's bath time!

We have lots of bath time in our house. It is nice, our new house has the shower next to the tub so I can put the kids in and watch them in the mirror while I shower. They much prefer that to showering, they don't like the shower that much.

Anywhoo, Halloween night M picked out a stamp instead of candy at the carnival we went to. We woke up the next morning and she had stamped all over her body, including her face. So, we had a bath day that morning. I had to get a picture because this is not a new experience for us. She loves stamps. It is funny, whenever she sees someone with a tattoo she points them out and says "look mommy, they have stamps on their arm." I like the idea of them being stamps. I dread the day when she figures out they are permanent and asks me for one.

Hunter hates when I do his hair. Is he a boy or what? I can kind of dry it with the towel and then he crawls away from me, after giving me the "look of death." I got a picture of his crazy hair because I am going to cut it on his first birthday, which is only a few weeks away. I cannot believe it has been an entire year since I had him. He is just so cute!

The cutest part of bathtime for me is H and his chubby bum and legs. He was born looking like this, only they are much larger now than they were when he was born. I kept trying to get a picture that showed his cute thighs off without him being naked, but no such luck, so I colored over the "sensitive" areas. Seriously though, is that not the cutest thing ever. He has his little hips and then, Pow! Out come the thighs. He has rolls on top of rolls, and hey, there is no other time in his life that it will be okay to have fat rolls so I am enjoying them now. I will admit that he got them from the Hanson side of the family. No one in the Ainge family has big thighs.

I did it! I did it! I did it!

I taught Hunter how to take a sippy cup! Yes, I am aware that for most mom's that is a given, but honestly my kids ignore any attempt on my part to learn important skills. M learned a sippy cup on her own when she was 14 months, Kathy taught M how to drink out of a straw and my mom potty trained her for me after 6 months of disaster. She did it in one day- I had been trying for 6 months with no luck. Go figure. If I have to rely on my moms to teach my kids basic skills how am I supposed to help my own grandkids?

Enough lamenting...He finally figured it out and every time he took a sip he would go ahhh afterwards. Is he his daddy's kid or what? Ryan does it all the time. So anyway, of course I got it on video! It was so funny, M and I were cracking up so you hear us. I was trying to get him to wave bye bye but that was not happening, he was too focused on getting his cup back from M. Enjoy! We watch it all the time and laugh along all over again.

Here are the days of my life

All day long this is what I hear! It is getting worse. I shush him and he does it more. It drives Ryan crazy! We get in the car now and he goes nonstop with the squealing, I can't even hear the radio anymore much less talk on the phone. So, I do apologize to all of you that hear him in the background, just be thankful that your ears get some buffering from the octave. It gets worse when Madison joins in. We were at the park the other day and M was playing on all over the place and H was with me. All of a sudden M starts in with the screeching with another girl and H answers back. It was so funny, at least we were outside for that exercise.

***The video is dark b/c we were in the car, however, I do not think this video is compromised due to the lack of video. You get the picture (pun intended) just listening to the joyous music of children.

I heart October

***Disclaimer: I know this entry is retarded looking,

I am a technological idiot and cannot get it looking the

way it is supposed to, so I do apologize for my

incompetency.

October has become my favorite month. It has so many fun things for the kids and I to do. I would love to say that I love that it cools off, but 90* is not considered fall weather in most states. But hey, I'll take it. So, in commemoration of my favorite month here is my list of what I loved most about this year.

1. I no longer mind wearing 5 layers of clothing everyday. I still don't love it, but at least it is not 115* out when I end up wearing layers to make sure I am all covered up. For those of you not in Ut or NV, here is my favorite company for putting layers together. If you want to order through my girl you get an extra % off your complete order.

2. The Pumpkin Patch. Now, for most of the world a pumpkin patch is where you go in a field, pick out a pumpkin and I guess have someone cut it off the vine for you. In Vegas the PP is in the parking lot of the Sunset Station Casino and has rides for the kids. We have gone for the last 4 years and it is something we look forward to each year. It is usually super expensive to spend time there, you can blow through $20 in about 15 minutes, but if you get a group of 10 kids together you can do an hour unlimited for $6.50. We went 4 times this year, we love it! They have a petting zoo, a jumpy slide & house, cars, swings and buckets. It is really cute, plus your kid gets a baby pumpkin and water with the $6.50. Totally worth it!

2.5 The Pumpkin Patch at Thanksgiving Point in Utah. We went to Cornbelly's this year and oh, my goodness, it was so cute! Also, it was SO cold. You know, we live in Vegas, it was still 95* for us, I did not think about how cold it gets at the Point of the Mountain. Mapleton wasn't that bad so I figured we were dressed appropriately. Yeah, I was wrong. We were all so cold and I did not bring extra layers for the kids. I am so unprepared sometimes, it makes me think that maybe we should have to get licenses to raise kids! Oy vey....sometimes.....It was so fun though. The kids loved it once the wind died down. there were some really cute activities and an entire section devoted to Princesses. Yeah, Mads was in heaven. Although her favorite part was playing in the farmers market on the cash register. One of her favorite things to do is pick out a handful of toys and grab a snap top plastic box to use as the cash register. She then proceeds to "scan" (her word) her items and then pay, using a credit card of course. She is an endless source of amusement for me. Is she her daddy's child or what? I think she is going to grow up to be an accountant too.

3. Lily's Birthday Party. This was so fun. We went to the District and rode the carousel. The kids loved being able to run around and carousels are always a hit. I got the absolute best picture I have ever taken that night. These kids are SO grown up looking. It blew me away. I also go the cutest video of the kids playing with Lily's ball from Brado. I will spare everyone with the video but basically one of the kids would throw it and all of them chased after it and would tackle each other. The little girls in their princess dresses playing football with a bouncy ball. It is hilarious. Seriously though, is this picture not incredible? They look like they should be in high school with the pose they took.

4. Trunk-or-treat. I had never been to one until we moved to Vegas. It is so fun! The parents get to say hi and visit, the kids get tons of candy (which promptly gets put in the garbage once the week of halloween is over), and I get a night off from making dinner. Life is good. We had fun this year in our new ward. We were able to meet a few new families and the kids love dressing up. I could not find Madison's old bee costume for Hunter so I ended up having to use the sheep costume from our live nativity last Christmas (see picture at the top of the blog). Ryan did NOT like it. He compared Hunter to the bunny in the movie The Christmas Story. I thought he looked adorable. The funniest part of the night was when Mads fell asleep on the way home with her sucker in her mouth. This picture proves that on occasion I do allow my children to eat sugar. I am not a complete nazi, just somewhat.

5. Ryan's work party. Once a year I go in to Ryan's office with the kids for their Halloween party. It is so cute, the office is decorated and some of the employees dress up and the kids go from desk to desk and office to office for their candy. It is fun, plus I get to say hi to the wives and catch up with them. Since Ryan did not care for the sheep costume I borrowed a bat costume from a friend (I am way too cheap to buy one for his age. Please....I will save the money for next year when he will remember). He was the cutest bat I have ever seen. I got two thumbs up from Ryan for that. Thank you Cori! You saved my marriage!

I gave Hunter a piece of candy IN A WRAPPER to chew on and the little stinker chewed through the wrapper and started sucking out the chocolate! So yes, Hunter did end up with some candy this halloween. Stinker...but how cute is he? Oh he just melts my heart sometimes!

6. Halloween. This year we went to the Candy Chemist on Pecos by Deseret Book for their carnival. It was so fun! Madison got to go on a Pony ride and the balloon maker was incredible. He made her a Snow White balloon person. I was in awe of his talent. They also had a few carnival games and some food for the kids. It was fun. We were there about an hour or so and then came back home and went door to door. Mads finally got it this year. She hasn't really understood or really enjoyed it in years past but this year she asked to do it. What could we say? Of course we did it!

I had to post these pictures of me with the kids because, Hello! I actually don't look chubby! See what a good haircut and black can do for a person? I like to think this is what I look like in real life vs. all the other pics I have posted of myself on the blog. I also will add that my kids look so cute and I almost never get pictures of myself with the kids. One of the problems with always taking pictures is that I am never in them.

Jersey Boys: A non-professional's review

My dad was in town last month and so we ditched the kids and headed out for a night on the town. Now, a night on the town for us is not that wild. We had dinner at Dan Marino's restaurant in the Hooters Hotel & Casino. If you haven't been there before I highly recommend it. It is the only one outside of Florida and it is a favorite of ours. Whenever we have company we take them there. I think Ryan is starting to catch on to the fact that I invite people to come visit with the hope that I can convince Ryan to take us all there. There food is so good and the Chocolate Chip Cookie dessert rocks!



We are slowly getting through all of the reasonably priced places on the strip. We did Margaritaville for a while then moved on to the Burger Bar in Mandalay Place. If you like burgers you HAVE to go, the food is amazing. I get an Angus burger with an onion bun with zucchini, portabello mushroom, asparagus, caramelized onions, and blue cheese. It is sooooo yummy! And, better yet, it is under $20. Oh, and lest I forget, they do have sweet potato french fries. For a girl from the south it doesn't get much better! I love sweet potatoes!!



Anyway, on with the story. Is anyone really surprised that I got sidetracked with the thought of food? Yeah, me either. So, we got tickets to Jersey Boys. Oh my goodness, it was amazing! I wasn't sure what I would think. I have heard mixed things about it. Everyone that saw it loved it but there was always a comment about language so I didn't know if I would be offended during the show. I wasn't. There were a few words here and there, but honestly I was expecting something like The Sopranos (not that I watch that show, I have vetoed HBO, but I have heard rumors). The story was amazing and I loved how they put it together with each person getting a chance to tell their part of the story. It was really neat. The show finished and I wanted to stay and watch it all over again. Most of the time we wait for shows to go half price and then we get tickets, but this one was completely worth the full price. Go see it, we loved it.



So, on that note I thought I would give a (brief?) rundown on all the shows we have seen in the last two+ years. Not all of them were in Vegas. We have flown to see some of them. Ryan jokes that I got lucky snagging the only straight guy that likes musicals and shopping. I don't disagree, I just complain that his love of shopping cuts in to my shopping budget. Yep, call me selfish, but I love clothes, shoes and purses.



So on with the list, here we go. There have only been one or two that we have seen that I didn't like and wouldn't recommend. One is the Blue Man Group. We got half priced tickets and I thought we paid too much. I didn't get it....The other is The Producers. It got all these Tony awards and people just raved about it, but I didn't like it at all. I didn't laugh, I didn't much care for how the story was executed. When I read the overview of the story I thought is sounded hilarious. Nope, didn't like it, and we saw it in LA (when we lived there so I guess it has been 4 yrs since this one) with Jason Alexander and Martin Short as the 2 leads. I was profoundly disappointed.

Mamma Mia (we have seen it 3 times now and still loved the movie. Our first time was on Broadway about the 5th row center. I couldn't stop dancing!)

Ka (twice. It is still our favorite Cirque show. The stage is phenomenal)

La Reve

Mystere

Stomp (I didn't know if I would love this but I did. I would highly recommend it! I was surprised by how well done it was)

Jersey Boys (only once so far but if anyone else wants to see it call us! We are there!)

Gordie Brown (we saw Danny Gans and really liked him, but I liked Gordie better. My cheeks and tummy hurt from laughing so hard. When we gets back in Feb go see him, it was awesome)

Blue Man Group (thumbs down for both of us)

Danny Gans

Steve Wyrick

Celine Dion

Mac King (he does a daytime show and it is like $20 and locals get discounts and it was so good! He does a variety type show and it was very enjoyable)

Jim Gaffigan (he is our favorite comedian next to Brian Regan, but BR hasn't come to Vegas even though he LIVES HERE!!!)

Phantom of the Opera (Ryan has seen this 5 times I think. I have only seen it twice. But the first time was in London and the Phantom was incredible. He gave me chills)

V (in the old Aladdin)

Sweet Charity (Christina Applegate was the lead and I am not a huge fan of hers, but she was so good and totally carried the show. It was really good)

Wicked (We saw it on Broadway for the first time, we flew to Atlanta to meet up with my family a few months later just to see it again, and we have tickets to see it one more time next week when we are in NYC. YEAH!)

Spamalot (We saw the traveling show in Memphis last year. It was so funny. The only problem is that the entire crowd was laughing so much that I missed a lot of the show. I really wanted to see it on Broadway with David Hyde Pierce b/c he is my absolute fav actor, along with Edward Norton-they are both so talented! But, alas, no such luck, we saw Wicked instead)

I think that is it....I know, once again, I know I am spoiled. I also know why I do not have the $400 Marc Jacobs bag I covet, we use the money for entertainment. (Sigh) Oh, how I do wish Santa would bring it to me...but I know it won't happen. I do know what my present is this year and I will not be complaining about not getting a beautiful purse.....

So, you ask, what is coming up for us? Well, we are headed to NYC on Sunday for 3 days. We are seeing 3 shows in 2 days. Life just doesn't get much better. We have tickets to Grease on Tuesday night, a matinee for Boeing, Boeing (which according to the reviews we read is the funniest show ever on Broadway) and Wicked on Wednesday. We would do more but Ryan has to actually work for a day on Monday. We are also going to try and hit up Serendipity 3 twice. Wish us luck!

As far as the home front goes we are getting tickets to LOVE, the Beatles Cirque show here in Vegas, for Christmas. I am excited, I love the Beatles and I have heard good things about it.