Viva Las Vegas!

I just got back from a trip to Las Vegas over President's Day weekend with my sisters, Stacey and Kelley. Wow, I loved that sunshine, palm trees, and flip flop weather! It was hard to come back to Spokane with temps in the single digits. Brr. Stacey, Kelley, and I made the trip to Vegas to reconnect with our father. We hadn't seen him in 16 years. The last two years he has been reaching out to us via phone calls and texting.   As he turns 70 this year we felt that it was time to visit him and to try to move forward in our relationships with him. We had talked about doing this for the last year or so but this year we finally decided to make it happen. We had a great trip as sisters and our visit with our father went well. The cherry on top of this trip was that my best friend from college, Tiffany, lives in Las Vegas and we had a whole glorious day to hang out together. It was wonderful!!

At the airport waiting for our flight.

I loved seeing that red rock!

I don't know the last time that we have taken a sisters trip together. It's been a long time...if ever. (We missed Jordin but we were visiting our father and Jordin and Kirk have a different dad.) It was crazy to know what to pack since it was snowing and freezing cold in Spokane. We arrived at the airport wearing coats and boots and then had to change into flip flops and warm weather clothes once we got to Vegas.

Kelley arranged for our accommodations...we stayed at the Flamingo. It was super slick using Lyft to get from the airport to our hotel and all around Vegas. What did we ever do before Uber and Lyft? So great!

We had a fun time that night wandering the strip and checking out all of the new hotels and casinos. I definitely logged ALOT of steps on my fitbit this trip. We had a great dinner at Yard House...tacos and guacamole. Spokane is great in many ways but it lacks good Mexican food (and Chinese). We were out and about until 2 am that first night.

This was one of our stops late that night! I have been wanting to try Pink's Hot Dogs ever since Tyler and I were in LA and the line was SO LONG and Tyler refused to stop. Finally, I got to indulge. Kelley is a hot dog lover as well so we enjoyed our delicious dogs!! Now I need to try Gray's Papaya on the East Coast.

We also got a little collagen treatment:

We all agreed it that was awesome but no one wanted to pay the $300 price tag to use it at home.

We ate a very late night dessert at the Paris Hotel and Casino. So good!

It was fun to see all of the Food Network stars restaurants. 

Around midnight Stacey and Kelley hit the black jack tables. I played a few slots won $25 and promptly cashed out for the night. I wandered over to watch the girls play. They both had a lucky streak that night. I watched them and received $80 from my sugar mama Kelley for hanging out and clearly being a lucky charm. Ha ha! We returned to our hotel room around 2 am. I was exhausted.

The Flamingo is showing its age a bit but our room was pretty glam in a Vegas-y way with its view of the strip and pink bathroom. My girls were impressed. :)

The next morning we had brunch at the Paris hotel. It was delicious. I had a strawberry creme brulee crepe and Kelley and I split a croque monsieur and pomme frites. FAB.

Then we were off to see our father who lives in Henderson. The weather was amazing! The best weather of the whole trip. We spent quite a lot of time out on his patio and we had a BBQ. We visited all day and into the night. He lives with his girlfriend of 25 years, Gayle, who was very instrumental in all of us reconnecting. We had a very nice day with both of them. We had a lot of time to talk and hear from him. It was good and somewhat healing. A door is definitely open now that hasn't been and that is good. I know that our grandparents were so happy in heaven that we were all spending time together!! We have always been super to close to them and we really felt them near that day.

We left that night with a better understanding of one another... so we will see what happens going forward. Some great progress was made and we are all looking forward to another trip in the future.

We headed back to our hotel and then back out on the strip again that night...

We don't have great pics from our adventuring around the strip. Only selfies. We had a ton of pictures taken by very helpful passerbys who volunteered their services. Unfortunately drunkards do not take the best pics!! I could do a whole post of blurry horrible photos taken by the inebriated. Ha ha. It got to the point where we would just say "Looks great! Thanks!" and then delete it!!

This night I followed Stacey and Kelley around at the casino for awhile but had no interest in gambling. I decided to lose my money another way...SHOPPING!! I did some fun shopping and got surprises for my family. I grabbed a late night snack and headed back to the room a little after midnight and enjoyed my treat and a good book. Now that is how I vacay!! I got a luxurious night's sleep and Stacey and Kelley came in after 4 am! Ha ha!

The next day was my very favorite! This was the day I met up with my college bff...Tiffany!! I was up bright and early and ready to spend the day with her!! It did not disappoint!! We have not gotten together in YEARS!! We had the greatest time!!

Did Vegas survive this love fest? BARELY!! It all began with lots of screaming and jumping up and down in the lobby of the Flamingo and it just escalated from there!! :)

We immediately located the nearest Mexican restaurant for mass quantities of chips, salsa, guac, queso, and tacos. We promptly planted our butts there for HOURS!! It was the best! The nonstop talking, laughing, crying, hysterical laughing, talking, crying therapy cycle took over. We were back in our groove immediately!!



We wandered the strip, shopped, and checked out interesting sites. We rode the big High Roller Ferris Wheel thing. Tiffany conquered her fear of heights and we proceeded to annoy the heck out of our fellow tram riders. :)

Dancing helps you overcome your fears!! Ha ha!!

Then it was off to the Ghiradelli ice cream shop for an enormous sundae for two (this pic does NOT do this sundae justice. It was enormous!!) and we settled in for another few hours of talking and cackling. You're welcome Las Vegas!!

We walked and talked for miles and hours. We saw all kinds of crazy and memorable sites. We created a few memorable sites ourselves. We had the very best day!! Later that night we met up with my sisters for dinner. Stacey had on her list of places to go a speak easy style place called Beauty and Essex in the Cosmopolitan (which turned out to be our favorite hotel/casino.)

You walk into what looks like an upscale pawn shop. (Is that an oxymoron?) You go through a secret door in the wall and enter the Pearl Lounge that has a custom chandelier made from thousands of draped pearls hanging from the ceiling and down the walls and has purple tufted banquettes.

Then you walk through the Mirror Bar where there is a DJ in a golden deejay booth. You then walk through a corridor made with a 40 foot long screened wall made of framed vintage lockets that leads you to three ornate dining rooms with very glamorous lighting. It was pretty swanky!

The food was all small plate/tapas style...and very expensive small plates at that... but it was good and the atmosphere was hip and cool. It was definitely a dining experience and the four of us had a great time!

Later that night more antics ensued!! Two suburban moms out on the town. You can take the girls out of college but you can't take the college out of the girls!! Might I say that all of our antics... which were legendary...now and then...were done 100% sober!! Ha ha!

We bid farewell to Stacey and Kelley and they got back to their Black Jack tables. Although they never did seemed to have the luck that they did when I sat there people watching and sipping free red bulls whilst they played. Just saying... ;)

Tiffany and I kept going with the talking and walking... so much to say!! Finally...with much reluctance...it was time to allow her to return to her family late that night. We hated to say goodbye. Now that our kids are older I think it will be much easier to plan time to get together. We have great plans and high hopes! Another trip with Tyler and the kids to visit their grandfather is likely and so another trip shouldn't be too far off. I headed back to the room after another late night... I didn't even hear Stacey and Kelley return but I heard it was around 2 am. I don't know how they did it?! I was utterly exhausted every night.

I love this girl so much...25 years since college hasn't changed a single thing!!

Yep, I have a couple of friends like this and they are absolute TREASURES!!

We had to be at the airport bright and early the next morning. We left sunny Vegas and returned to Spokane which was so cold and the temps were in the single digits. It definitely helped that the sun was shining when we landed and that Tyler was waiting for me in baggage claim!! I missed him so much even though it was only a few days. He whisked me off for a sushi lunch and then I was greeted at home by all of our kids...even Reilly...they were all out of school due to President's Day. It was great to leave town and it was great to come home!! A good trip all around.

Valentine's Day 2018

Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day on two different days this year. We had our family Valentine's Dinner the Sunday before Valentine's Day and then celebrated a bit on the actual day as well. We have had so much going on with all of the kids every single night of the week including Sunday nights which was extremely annoying; so that it was VERY DIFFICULT to even squeeze in our family dinner this year.

I also neglected to decorate until about a week before Valentine's Day but it all worked out since I didn't take it down until the last week of February. This month has just been a wild one.

Reilly came over that Sunday night and we didn't go to Ailey's New Beginnings and we did our usual Valentine's Day feast...with homemade pizza. My family loves this so much! We make our own dough and have all the toppings and then they just create away. We used to make them heart-shaped but now they just want to make LARGE pizzas. Ha ha. We also made our favorite holiday salad...we usually make it for Christmas...but this year we made it for Valentine's Day instead...Spinach salad with strawberries, red onion, feta, candied pecans, and with a homemade balsamic dressing. It was delicious. I opted not to eat pizza and ate tempura shrimp instead. Yum. This was all washed down with icy cold strawberry crush.

I forgot to take a picture after the table was completely set with treats and gifts and everything. This was when it was half way done. Not sure who took this picture. But glad I have it. Yes, that is cereal on the table. Reilly requested Special K with Red Berries instead of candy this year. :) All of the love notes are my favorite! I love that tradition. It seems that we have had an extra amount of bickering going on lately between the kids so it was nice to hear what they loved about each other. Tyler and I opted to exchange our gifts on the actual holiday.

This was our dessert and it was FABULOUS!! A huge platter of cream puffs and strawberries drizzled with chocolate and powdered sugar. So good. We had a fun family night together...lots of laughs...and dancing. Oh yes. It was pretty great!

On the actual day...Bryn was ready to go in her pink and red outfit. Again, no picture. I am slacking this year. She had found some awesome scratch-and-sniff Valentines to hand out to her classmates that were exactly like the scratch-and-sniff stickers that my sisters and I used to collect in the 80s. I loved those! This year she didn't have to make an elaborate Valentine Box. Hallelujah. Have I mentioned how over elementary school projects I am? This was true last year and it is even more so this year because Bryn has had an absolute ton of elaborate and time-consuming projects and more are on the way. Ugh.

I made traditional red lunches for the kids. Stapled shut so that they could be surprised. They really love this. Sometimes I wonder why I even started this tradition...like this year...when I totally forgot to make them and had to get up at 4 am to put them together when I remembered. That is love for you. But the kids love them so much and look forward to them every year so I will continue. :)

This was also the first elementary school Valentine's Day party since the beginning of Valentine's Day parties that I didn't attend nor volunteer at. I was heading out of town later that week and just couldn't squeeze it in. Well...no one died. Bryn did fine and had fun without me there. Who knew? I guess I can let that guilt go.

Tyler brought me my favorite tulips, a box of hand selected Mrs. See's chocolates, a gift card for a mani/pedi, and the world's sweetest valentine card. He did well! I love that guy!

Ailey was complaining that morning about how Valentine's Day isn't fun in middle school. They don't do anything special and she didn't want to see all the girls with boyfriends walking around with their flowers and candy while she wasn't getting anything. Well...what did she find stuck in the slots of her locker that morning but a long stemmed hot pink rose!! A secret admirer!! She decided Valentine's Day in middle school wasn't so bad after all!!

That night the kids ALL HAD A BUNCH OF ACTIVITIES!! Ugh... school and church activities don't care about parents and Valentine's day dates apparently. Tyler did bring home Taco Bell so that I didn't have to cook and we ate it together in the kitchen by the light of a red heart-shaped candle while we waited to pick up the kids from all of their activities. Romantic. Ha ha. Tyler's birthday is the week before Valentine's Day and we usually do our big celebrating then but this year Tyler was sick on his birthday and then all of the rest of us got it and I was sick on Valentine's Day. We got gypped this year.

But despite our crazy holiday... I couldn't ask for a better Valentine!! I love that man of mine.

Picture taken by my friend, Cary, at the Mad Hatter show in September. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

January: Things I am Loving

1.) Goal Setting

I explained all of this in my year end review post. I love setting goals and am busily working on all of them. It's a sickness. But I love it just the same.

2.) Poldark (all seasons)

In January, Tyler and I finally got caught up on all of the seasons of Poldark. We love it! We watched the first season two years ago and really liked it but wanted to wait until more seasons were out to watch again. It is so good! I think we are in the minority though...we are not Demelza fans. She bugs!! We like Elizabeth even though she is frustrating too.

3.) Lights and more lights!

Once all of the Christmas lights were down things seemed pretty dark around here. I went out and purchased two more lamps to flood our home with more light. It has been great! I am on the hunt for yet another lamp too. I now have two lamps in our kitchen and three in our living room. I am loving it. Everything looks super cozy!

4.) Prescription Migraine Medicine

I get migraines and they suck. Normally I get one the week of my period if I don't feel it coming on early and am able to stop it. For years ibuprofen and rest in a dark room would get rid of it. But in the last few months that stopped working. I finally resorted to buying over-the-counter Excedrin Migraine and that was working pretty well. Then in January I got a terrible migraine that wouldn't go away with anything...ibuprofen didn't work...Excedrin Migraine didn't work...sleep didn't work. It was horrible. I went into my doctor and was prescribed a prescription migraine medicine and it worked like a charm. I finally got some relief after a week and a half of a nearly constant migraine. I am so grateful for medication!! Just a couple of doses got rid of my never-ending-migraine and I have been feeling fine ever since. 

5.) Crepes

We are all about the crepes right now! We have a delicious creperie near our house. We have been going there for several years but kind of forgot about it. Kameron and I were going out for breakfast and he chose to go to breakfast there and that opened the floodgates again. They are so good!! So many amazing flavors: both sweet and savory. Plus I love the mini-Martinellis!! 

January 2018

I chronicled New Years and the following week in my previous post...so onward to the long (and often dreary) month of January. January is my month to think about what I want to accomplish in the New Year. The one thing that I really love about January is the fresh start.

Speaking of a fresh start... I was released out-of-the-blue from being the 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency and got called to be the PRIMARY PRESIDENT! Gulp. This will definitely shake things up around here. I love Primary and I am happy to serve there. I also have an awesome presidency that I am really excited about!! That makes it even better.

One of the family goals that Tyler and I made this year was to spend more one-on-one time with the kids...or two-on-one time. We are already pretty good about this but as the kids get older and busier we definitely have to be more intentional about it. Things got off to a pretty good start in January.

Tyler had a fun movie night with Reilly and Kam. The three of them have very similar tastes in movies and they have a great time going to the movies together!!

Ailey and I had a lunch date at Starbucks!! This was during the school day so it felt extra fun and special!

Bryn and Tyler attended the big Daddy/Daughter Dance at the high school. This is a tradition that Tyler does every year. He has taken all of our girls. They love it! Bryn requested that they both wear her favorite color...purple.

They went out to dinner too! Bryn requested going out for Mexican food.

They danced the night away! They always stay until the very end of the dance. All of our girls love to dance and so does their dad. Tyler said that he was so sore the next day! Ha ha! Bryn said that what she loved the most was that he actually danced with her instead of sitting on the bleachers looking at his phone like a lot of the dads did. How sad. Tyler said that it was crazy with little girls just dancing with their friends while the dads were sitting on the sidelines or on the bleachers looking at their phones.

Tyler texted me this video of Bryn doing the whip and nay nay. Ha ha!

Normally this is the time that Kameron and I have our Mother/Son Date which I love and look forward to all year. Unfortunately he had to work and couldn't take it off. We had just had a mother/son breakfast date so I was okay with it. Normally Ailey has other plans on this night but she was home so we hung out and binge watched all kinds of TV and ate homemade caramel popcorn. It was fab!!

So good!!

Ailey is in the Cooking Club at her middle school. It started in January and she is loving it!! They are learning to make all kinds of delicious things. They work with one of our local food banks and will be helping to cook food for them and for those they serve. I love that! Teaching kids to cook and to serve those in need in our community! Win-win.

Drill Team is also in full swing! (Had to block out her school name on her uniform). Since Ailey is a team captain she has extra practices and long days. I pick her up from school four days a week at 5:15 pm. She loves it though and does such a great job with the girls!

Tyler taught Reilly to change her own tires. She is learning to be an independent woman and is doing a great job adulting!! It's nice to have her close so that we can help her with things like this and I know that she is so glad to have her dad nearby when she needs him.

Bryn had a Donuts with Dad Breakfast her elementary school. They had fun and got to hang out with the basketball players from Gonzaga. Always enjoyable.

Sadly this month, the prophet and President of our church died... President Thomas S. Monson. He was such a great man and lived such a life of service to others and to the Savior. I am so grateful for the life and example of this wonderful man!! This wasn't totally unexpected as his health has been declining. Still it struck Ailey and Bryn pretty hard. This is the first prophet that Bryn knows to die and Ailey was very little when President Hinckley died so they were pretty sad and full of questions about what happens now with church leadership. We have had some great family discussions. I love that President Monson was able to connect with the children of our church in such an amazing way. He will be missed.

We got a whole ton of snow on the day of his funeral which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. We decided to call it a snow day and we kept the kids home from school so that they could watch the live stream of President Monson's funeral and procession. The. Best. Decision. Ever.

I have such a special memory of this morning as we watched the funeral and tributes to President Monson. There were tears and so much gratitude for him and for the gospel in our lives. He has left behind a wonderful legacy.

We have been hitting the gym...along with every other person in Spokane in January. This particular day Kam was annoyed with me and refused to work out beside me. Moving down one machine down was his act of rebellion. Ha ha! Go for it.

17 is precious.

Reilly had Ailey and Bryn come and spend the night at her house for a sisters sleepover! They had the best time!! I love that they want to do things like this together. They had a weekend of cooking, crafting, watching movies, doing facials, beauty treatments, making hilarious videos, and snap chats.

They also did a bunch of hammocking at the park. They were so tired when Tyler and I came to pick them up. They had so much fun hanging out with Reilly at her house and meeting her roommates. They are already planning their next one.

Bryn had some dental work done. She needed to have two teeth *shaved* down to make room for the other teeth that were coming in. She had her first experience with numbing and laughing gas. She was a trooper and had a great sense of humor about it!! She wanted some yogurt from the grocery store afterward and we were laughing all through Albertsons. Can't you tell? Ha ha!

Brynnie smiling with her numb face. I have an epic picture like this of Reilly from about this same age. Man, whenever I need to laugh I whip it out. It's a gem. Here's another one for the collection. Ha ha.



She kind of looks like she is about to cry but really she was laughing so hard and that was her crazy smile.

One day when I was in Kam's bedroom gathering up his dirty clothes and I found this written on his white board:

I love it! That smile more kills me. Ha Ha! He is a bit on the grouchy side these days. Again, seventeen. He is very easily bugged by his parents!!

But despite being a bit on the grumpy side; he is an excellent cook! This was a Sunday dinner that he prepared for the family. Two kinds of spaghetti...a vegetarian sauce and a bolognese, angel hair pasta, teriyaki edamame, and brownies for dessert. He's not going to starve on his mission!!

Another family goal that Tyler and I set for 2018 was have each of our kids take turns preparing a  Sunday dinner. They get to plan the menu and prepare the food. This was something that Tyler's family did when he was growing up and he and his siblings loved it because they got to cook all the things that they liked and didn't have to eat anything that they hated. Kam went old school with spaghetti. Ailey is next and she has been pinning things up a storm on Pinterest; as has Reilly. The girls are definitely going more elaborate. Ailey's delighted to think that there will finally be a Sunday dinner at our house without any vegetables!! She is thrilled. Ha ha. Bryn will get to pick a meal too but she will get help with the cooking although she really is a pretty great cook at eight years old!

On another note...Perimenopause is kicking my butt. It is official. I am in the thick of it...confirmed by a doctor. Good grief. Can my period just end! Do I have to have all of this other garbage AND a period! Here's how it has been going down...turn forty...gain weight...look at a donut...gain 30 lbs...hair gets brittle and thin...eyes crap out...get reading glasses...cluster migraines start...husband has a health crisis...stress causes even more hair to fall out...although weirdly only on one side of my head...have small emotional break down due to thoughts of impending baldness...make an appt to get hair extensions...get the good news that I am not balding...just hormones and stress...told I have tons of new growth...shout hallelujah...now onto my period...which is either early or late...and either super heavy or super light...hot flashes begin...they are sheer hell...good times ensue....find out that said good times can last for ten years or more... Now you are up to date. I am sure there will be more excitement to come...stay tuned.

Perimenopause is a real botch!

I have been busy planning for show season which is about to begin. It is always nice to have a break after Christmas but January is when we get all of our vintage shows lined up for the next year and start working on projects. Our first show of the season is in March.

Projects, projects, projects!

One afternoon when the kids were out of school and Kameron and Ailey were busy with friends...Tyler and I took Bryn on an outing to the park and the conservatory. We were dreaming of Spring! It was cold and gray outside but inside the conservatory it was full of spring flowers and it smelled amazing!!

We also pretended that it wasn't 40 below outside and went out for ice cream too!

Things have been busy and in full swing after the holidays around here. A new semester has begun with new classes and big projects. Bryn has had some huge projects due and she has been working on her science fair project. In other news, my brother Kirk had surgery and is doing well now. Kameron spoke in church and gave such a great talk. I'll post it on the blog. I had book club. We read the YA novel The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. It was great!

That was our January!!