Weston, Lindsay, Nathan & Ryan

Monday, November 5, 2012

PBR 2012

We love a good rodeo. Lucky for Wes, the PBR comes to Vegas during his birthday week every year. And every year we go to the PBR!

This year, a co-worker of Wes’ gave him 4 tickets for Wednesday night so at the last minute we threw the boys’ boots & hats on and off we went to the PBR! They loved it.

Every year we go without the kids one night and it’s a great time. We typically have great seats & bull-riding is just plain fun to watch. Those cowboys are remarkable.

We ended the night with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Great night out. We heart the PBR.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

During the playoffs, my dad casually mentioned that he might be able to get some World Series tickets. When Wes’ birthday week rolled around & Game 2 was on his birthday I asked my dad if he really thought that was an option. Before I knew it he was on the phone and 24 hours later he got a text confirming that we had four tickets. On my dad’s bucket list is “a world series game” so he was excited to bring my mom & come, too!

I had 24 hours to figure out what to do with my kiddos but thanks to friends & my sisters it all worked out and on Wes’ 32nd birthday we jumped on a plane to San Francisco to watch Game 2 of the World Series: Giants vs. Tigers. We had an adrenaline rush at the airport – there are a bazillion SW flights from Vegas to Oakland and Wes glanced at the wrong flight on the screen so we went to the C gates and waited for an hour instead of the B gates. Luckily he figured it out and we sprinted to the B gates and made it in time.

It was awesome.

The stadium was great . . . right on the water. And the Giants Fans were really fun, too. Overall, just a great time. After the game we went down to Ghirardelli Square and had ice cream sundaes for Wes’ birthday. I sure do love that city. We couldn’t get back to Vegas that night so Wes and I booked ourselves on the 6am flight so Sam didn’t have to spend all morning at our house after being with the kids all night!

Sometimes spontaneous trips like that are the best. And you can’t beat a baseball game – especially in the World Series! Happy Birthday, Wes. Not sure I’ll ever be able to top that birthday present!

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Adventure to California with Leslie & Millie

Nate and I were lucky enough to go on an adventure with our good friends, Leslie & Millie Andrus! They flew in to Vegas from SLC and we drove down to Southern California for a few days. Leslie came prepared for the drive with Disneyland maps & surprised them with their very own new Mickey & Minnie!

I was thrilled to be able to be there when Millie saw the ocean for the first time ever! It was a classic moment, actually. We get to the beach and the kids are walking up closer to the water and Millie turns around to run away from a big wave and stumbles and falls and the wave washes up right over her! [We weren’t planning on full on water fun so they weren’t in swimsuits. It was pretty chilly!] The beach was great . . . it’s amazing how much fun the kids have every time. They were so wet and sandy so we headed straight to the hotel to get them cleaned up before dinner.

We went to Downtown Disney for dinner - it was packed so we sat down at the pizza place because they called us first and after reviewing the menu & ordering waters we decided we didn’t want to eat there so we left & headed to Tortilla Joe’s. Good choice!

Then began our Disney adventure – it was also Millie’s first trip to Disneyland so we were up early & ready to go. After all of our Disneyland trips I feel like I know a few good strategies to the park but they didn’t work at all this trip! The first morning the area between the parks was packed with hundreds and hundreds of people who were doing a walk for charity through Disneyland an hour before it opened. So we showed up 1.5 hours early, hoping for fewer crowds like normal, and it was nuts. Leslie is our brave soul and had us all try to sneak in with the walking crowd to try to get in early but it didn’t work so we headed to CA Adventure and got in line behind the ropes to run to Cars Land and to get World of Color fast passes.

All of Day One was at CA Adventure. It was pretty busy but for the most part, we were able to do everything we wanted to do!

Day Two was at Disneyland. These kids of ours were rather interesting together – they are completely opposite children and so we split up a little on Day 2 so we could have some time with each of our kiddos but met up quite often throughout the day. Millie was a total trooper on the rides. Leslie took her on the Ghost Galaxy Space Mountain and while she said she never wanted to go again – she didn’t dwell on that scary ride at all. She was ready to ride anything! Nate on the other hand is much more timid but we made a few breakthroughs this trip. He decided he LOVES the Toon Town rollercoaster and even rode it the entire time with his hands in the air. And he also now loves Thunder Mountain. Hallelujah – we can actually ride a roller coaster!

We drove back to Vegas after Day 2 and then we got to spend a day with Leslie & Millie and Kiley in Vegas. After a leisurely morning we went to lunch at Metro Pizza and the park before they had to catch a flight back to Utah. It was great to be able to spend some time with a few of our favorite people! Thanks for coming, Leslie & Millie. And a big thanks to the husbands and siblings who watched our little guys while we went and had some fun.