Friendship

 April was rather quiet.  I like it that way.  I spent time running with my friend Pam Martinez and she was training for a half marathon.  Halfway through the month, though, she hurt her hip so we slowed our running down a bit.  

 

I flew to Denver to see my bestie Melanie Iverson.  We just hung out and talked all day.  We went on a fun bike ride, out to dinner in Boulder, and then served food at a wedding.  I flew home early Sunday morning just in time to lead the music in Sacrament and then pick up groceries.  

 Monday evening, my best friend my high school, Nikki (Taylor) Anderson flew in to go to the Wall flowers concert with me.  We went on a nice walk Tuesday morning, and then out to dinner that night.  The concert was at the Kimo Theater and across the street a building had collapsed the day before.  The Wallflowers were so fun to see live.  I cried when they played my favorite song "One Headlight".  It was so amazing to see it live.  Nikki and I used to drive all over town listening to that song over and over and over again.  Such fun memories.  It was a short trip for Nikki and she had to fly home early Wednesday morning to get back to her family.  I am so grateful for the friends I have made over the years and that I still get along with all of them.  

 

Airsoft in Wisconsin

 This was Edward's second year driving 20 hours to Wisconsin to play airsoft with my friend Andrea Landaker.  She is so kind to organize the trip and drive Edward.  He LOVES airsoft and he loves the trips with Andrea.  He spends all his money on stuff for airsoft.  They drove through Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri.  I told Edward to make sure he grabbed a photo in each of those states because we needed proof was actually in them to complete our 50 states adventure this summer!

 

Easter

 Every single holiday with out my Mom is impossible.  I miss her every single day.  We had a good quiet Easter this year.  It was general conference so it was nice to just stay home and have no where we needed to go.  My dad made dinner and we just played some games with the boys. No more egg hunts.  I guess we are finally too grown up for that now.  

 

A visit from Grandma Susan

 I am so blessed to have Stephen's mom living just a few hours away.  She came to watch my boys while we were in Vegas this year.  She brought along Jonah and Sariah.  I think they ended up having a fun time with my boys.  I always try to snap a photo with her and the kids just for myself and the memories.  

 

10 Years in Vegas

 TEN YEARS celebrating our friendship and love of family in Las Vegas, Nevada!

This year was extra special because we celebrated our 10th year of visiting Vegas with all of my siblings.  We try to do a fun sibling trip once a year and the easiest place to gather is in Las Vegas, Nevada.  We started the trip off with meeting up for an Illusion Museum near the Bellagio.   It was mostly lights and was really cool to walk through.  

Stephen and I checked in to our hotel after we landed.  We stayed in a hotel off the strip because I had a free room for the week.  I had purchased a package from Princess Promotions last year for my cruise and I only had one year to use it, so this was the trip.  We were about a half mile off the strip so it was a little bit of a trek to meet up with the group, but overall not too bad.  I do enjoy walking and getting exercise so this helped.  We had a two room suite with a dinning room, kitchen, and living room.

After the Illusion Museum, we headed to dinner at Yard Bird.  We were really lucky and got a room all to ourselves.  We had a few extra people join us this year so it was a big group.  Dinner was good, but I think the bill got all mixed up. Sometimes that just drives me crazy when restaurants can not separate the bill correctly.  

 After dinner at Yard Bird we went to see Shim Lin.  I actually did not think he was that great.  He is a magician and he was extremely stiff.  He had another magician that came out between his acts and he was hilarious and really fun to watch.  

Monday morning I got up early to run and lift weights, and then, Stephen and I headed over to Sidelle's in the Bellagio.  This is my favorite restaurant on the strip BY FAR!  I love their french toast.  I could eat it every single day while in vegas! 

I booked us a fun family outing to "The Greatest Gameshow" after breakfast.  It was really fun to play all the games against my siblings and their spouses.  My team lost, but that's fine.  We truly had a blast!

 

After the Game Show, we split up and the girls went shopping while the boys went to gamble.  I found a few fun things while out shopping but I didn't really spend much money.  After shopping we went to dinner at Gymkhana.  Go ahead and skip that place.  It was WAY over priced and the food was not good.  We spent $2500 for 10 people.  Gross.  After the WAY over priced dinner, we headed to the Sphere to watch the Wizard of Oz.  It was pretty cool but yet another experience I could live without.  I am glad I have done it once, but, again, it was overpriced for what you actually got.  There was a live orchestra so that was really cool and the effects were awesome but the AI was terrible.  

Tuesday morning I woke up and headed went for a walk with Craig, Blair, Kendra, and Mike.  It was a little breezy in Vegas in the morning but not bad.  Tuesday was Spa Day so after our walk we met up at the spa at the Aria.  All the rest of my family stayed at the Aria so most of my walking was back and forth from there.  The spa was relaxing but again, over priced for what you actually get.  We all hung out in the out door pool for a few hours and then I got ready in the spa alone.  We went to dinner at Din Tai Fung at the Aria and it was actually really good!  I enjoyed the food.  We went to Carrot Top after dinner and laughed and laughed.

 

Wednesday was cabana day.  We also did cabana day at the Aria.  Sharla and Jon were the only two people to actually get in the pool.  I snoozed in the shade and just relaxed.  We played a really heated game of "would you rather" and I think I won.  HA! I would try anything once.  We just watched Craig gamble away $1500 on a machine that night so it was rather boring.  We had planned to do Karaoke but Craig really wanted to do one of the expensive machines so we did that instead.  

 

I really enjoyed my time with Stephen this Vegas trip.  We usually don't spend a ton of time together because he is with Craig gambling a lot.  We don't have a lot of money this year because we are moving to San Fransisco so this was a good time to just spend less money and more time together.  It really was relaxing and beautiful.