Our Las Vegas Trip

So we took off and made it almost all the way to Vegas before Ryan threw up! But that was the last of the vomit! We haven't seen it since, knock on wood! The ride would have only taken 5 1/2 hours had it not been for the MULTIPLE potty stops! Luckily they can pee on the side of the road! But still, takes about 10 minutes each stop and we stopped 6 times! But we finally did arrive! We stayed at a friend of ours we knew in Elko. We appreciate them letting us crash their home and are glad they had a big home for us to crash!
So, if any of you have seen "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (WAY funny movie!) the mayor orders up a "Las Vegas style buffet". So that is what the kids wanted! They are use to "Reno style" one. So we went to the Excalibar's buffet. Kids thougth it was GREAT to be at a Las Vegas style buffet. Me, I just noticed the price difference! But it was still yummy! Lacey and her 2 boys came with us, so we had quite the table full!

Here we are in our seats before the play began. Daniel, Comptyn and I are WAY at the top of the picture. Not great lighting in there! Probably should have changed the setting.

Here the kids are afterwards! They were SO good during it! Some of them were literally on the edge of their seat. 1 1/2 hours first act, 1 hour second act. They were great! It was such an AMAZING show! The cosumes alone were unbelieveable! Scar and Mufasa have a lion mask above their head. They have a button in their palm that allows for the mask to drop down in front of their face putting them into their character more during certain times in teh plays. It was cool! (I had to look up how they did the mask thing) Pumbaa had actual hair on his body! (We had good seats so we saw details!) AMAZING! The music! The costumes! The props....floor opening and closing to allow Pride rock to come out of the floor. Anyhow, I would HIGHLY recommend taking kids to it! Twins just turned 4 and they were glued the whole time!


On our way thru the casino, followign the signs to the theatre, we could hear this really loud song of "Push It" by Salt 'n Pepper. Interesting song to be playing so loud in a casino! Well, we turned the corner, following the sign to the theatre, we could see it in the distance, but then our eyes focused on the source of the music.....A POLE DANCER!!!! So instead of going point A to B we went point A to G to M to B! HOLY COW! Thank goodness our boys were short and watching the slot machines!

When we were waiting for hte play to start, we got here about 20 minutes before it started, Kevin said, 'I think that is Andrei Kirilenko!' (Plays for the Utah Jazz) Anyhow, this tall man, kindof his features, longer hair, woman and a couple of kids, walked up to about row C or D. Kevin looked up the Jazz schedule and they were off this weekend. Anyhow, I googled what his wife looks like and I think Kevin was right! The lady sure looks like his wife. They didn't come back for Act 2, however, so maybe they got our sick bug! YAY! We passed it on!


This is a replica of Scar's costume that was in the souvenir shop. If you click on it you can probably see a little better picture. I held the camera above my head to get a shot! there were LOTS of people there!

The whole family after the play!

Sunday we went to church. Monday we got up and drove over to the Las Vegas Temple. Such a pretty temple!

Andrew, Lacey and Brandon.....the brave souls who took us in for the weekend! Her husband is in South Carolina working right now. They are moving there next month. Thanks for the fun time, Lacey! Hope your boys don't need too much therapy after we visited! :-)

Our family. The boyz loved the palm trees.

There were flowers all over the grounds and they smelled SO GOOD! The temperature was in the high 60s and it was gorgeous!

All the boyz hanging out together!

There are these places around the temple that are brick layed in circles. When you stand in teh center of htem, they echo. It was cool!

Andrew and Daniel holding hands in teh van! They were cute!

We then went to a park and played! It was a really neat park!







It was a great weekend! I am glad the boyz liked the play so much! The Little Mermaid comes out this fall.....might have to get another christmas present like this one again! Mary Poppins is playing right now, but I don't know how engaged they would be in that one. Thanks, again, Lacey for putting up with us! Great to see you and visit. We'll miss you when you move out east. We'll see you in 5 years, maybe!

SICK & TIRED update

Today is the end of week 4! Kevin got it over the weekend. Ryan has had it since Monday. I have yet to get it.....lone surivor! Leaving for Vegas tomorrow after school for Broadway's "The Lion King" with barf buckets in tote!

SICK OF SICK! TIRED OF BEING TIRED!

So today is day 21 of our boyz being sick! Ryan (knock on wood) has avoided it so far. And so had Daniel & Sammy until last night! I was so tired I heard nothing of it, so daddy took care of them during the night. Why do they always get sick during the night? We did have a couple day reprieve over the weekend to at least get to church this weekend. But it started up again that night! They don't share toys, they don't share bikes, but they happily share germs!
On an up note, I now know EXACTLY where ginger ale, chicken and rice soup, chicken and noodle soup, popsicles, pepto and mints are located at Wally World! And it costs me $27.27 EVERYTIME! So tomorrow we are heading into week 4 of this.....I hope 21 days is enough! Off to put in a movie and take a nap. (The kids....I need to switch laundry and make their beds!)
Hope you are all healthy!

This is one of my favorite things.....

So one of my favoritest things in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD (and that is pretty big!) is when I see or hear my children laughing because they are playing together! Most of the time it is because they are ganged up against a brother, but last night I was back in my room reading (good book this month for book club!) and I heard the twins laughing and laughing! They stopped, of course, when I came out with the camera, but I told them to show me what they were doing. Daniel said, "We are wrestling. This is our wrestling mat (he pointed to the Matchbox car floor mat) and we shake hands first. And you have to stay on the mat or you lose!" Then they were off! This is what transpired and you can see who the winner was!









Who knew they were paying so much attention at the wrestling matches with daddy at the high school! And YES! I was nervous of Daniel's little kidney, but as you can see,he was usually on top!

My birthday boy and a delicious recipe!

Nathan's birthday was on Saturday. He is my big 6 year old! I can't believe he is so old! Just seems like yesterday my deepest desire of carrying my own child came true! Poor little guy was sick, however! Here are some pictures of him laying on the ground with his barf bucket. The picture of him by his cake.....he blew out the candles and then went and threw up. Dumb thing was.....we all cut the cake and ate it! Hopefully we won't get sick. Of course, 3 other kids were sick all weekend, too!





So regardless of his sickness you can still see Nathan's ready smile, which lights up the room! He is such a big helper and still LOVES to cuddle on my lap! Happy Birthday!

OK so here is an AMAZINGLY delicious recipe we tried for the first time the other night! I am not exaggerating when I say that it is as good as dishes from Olive Garden! YUM!

Ravioli Casserole

1 pkg (25 oz) frozen cheese ravioli
1/4 C butter, cubed
1/4 C flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg (I thought about deleting....but it is really subtle!)
2 C milk
1/4 C veggie broth (I used chicken)
1/2 C mined fresh basil (I used dried and about 1 T)
3 C (12 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
3/4 C grated Parmesan cheese, deivided
2 1/2 C marinara or spaghetti sauce

*Cook ravioli to pkg directions. Do not overcook.
*Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour, salt and nutmeg until smooth; gradually add milk and broth. Bring to a boil; cooka nd stir for 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in the basil, 1 C mozzarella cheese and 1/4 C Parmesan cheese.
*Drain ravioli; toss with sauce mixture. Transfer to a greased 9x13 baking dish. Top with 1 C mozzarella cheese adn marinara sauce; sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Serves 8.

I doubled this and it made a HUGE 9x13 and HUGE 9x9! VERY DELICIOUS!!!!

2009 Medical

Every year I like to see how much our insurance paid out on us. Kind of makes me feel a little better when I see how much was paid compared to all the money we spent. So here we go for 2009.

Insurance was billed: $490,691.62
Insurance wrote off: $313,840.57
Insurance paid out: $191,170.59
We paid out: $5078.62

SO! When I see it in that perspective, I am grateful for our insurance! It wasn't even transplant year! Two other kids had medical issues last year, thought, too. Well, off to work more on taxes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAKE!

So my all time favorite missionary (Elder Ortiz) came back to Nevada to visit for a week. We got to spend some time with him! THANKS, Jake! Today is his birthday so we had a little celebration yesterday for him. I can't believe I only took 2 pictures! Anyhow, we already miss you! Have a great trip home tomorrow! We love you!


Here are a few pictures of the kids in their PJ bottoms I made them for Christmas and Daniel in his apron I made, also for Christmas. He was helping me stir strawberry freezer jam. I seriously made 4 gallons one day! YUM!