Thanksgiving 2011

We spend Thanksgiving Weekend in Reno.  Cindy, Brian and their son Rhys joined us.  We went to Lake Tahoe on Thanksgiving Day and had a great dinner at Harrah's in South Lake Tahoe.  We also toured the capitol building of Nevada in Carson City, spent a day in Virginia City and met up with my uncle and other relatives who live in Reno.  Another year to be so thankful for wonderful family and friends.

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Rollercoaster Revisited

In mid November we took another family trip to Las Vegas.  It's full of family fun and I love the weather there, especially this time of year.  We went to one of our favorite places for the kids, the Circus Circus Adventuredome.  Lindsey and Sammy rode a roller coaster that Lindsey had ridden as a toddler.  She had just been tall enough for the minimum height requirement and had really wanted to ride.  The reality of the coaster, though, had turned out a lot more scary than it looked and she cried the whole way through and SCREAMED for us to get her off.  I felt so guilty!  But it doesn't look like that experience permanently scarred her.

Crazy Fortnight

For the Fourth of July weekend, on Saturday we took our camper up to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho and had a terrific weekend swimming at the Olympic size natural springs pool and enjoying the camping experience and exploring Lava Hot Springs.  On the night of the 4th, Cindy and Brian came up and joined us for dinner at a Thai restaurant but couldn't stay to see the fireworks that night which were great and we could see from our campsite.

Then we got up early on the 5th, drove the camper home, did a load of laundry, repacked a suitcase for Lindsey and me.  Then Blain gave us a ride to the airport and Lindsey and I flew out that night to visit my good friend in Denver, Barbara.  We spent 4 days in Denver and had a blast.  We went to the Denver Natural Museum 2 days it was so good, where we saw an Imax film, a planetarium film, a special exhibit on pirates and also a lot of rocks, dinosaur bones and taxidermy.  We also went to the Denver Aquarium and had a great time visiting with each other and a couple of other friends.

We flew home from Denver on Saturday night.  Then on Monday morning I flew to Dallas to take a 2 day training class for work.  It was well over a hundred degrees the 3 days we were there.  It felt a little strange being there because I was raised in the Dallas area as a child but it has been over 20 years since I've visited the area.  It felt so familiar and foreign at the same time.  I did really miss the mountains of Utah.  The Dallas area was so much flatter than I remember.  My coworkers and I did a little bit of sightseeing while we were there.  We went to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum where Lee Harvey Oswald had assassinated JFK, very interesting and very sad.  The other interesting thing we saw was a special exhibit on Genghis Khan at the Irving Art Museum.  I had no idea what a remarkable man and leader he was.  Plus we had some great Tex Mex food and Margaritas!

Finally I flew back on Thursday completely exhausted.  A week later after a lot of extra sleeping and extra grumpiness (just ask my family and my coworkers), I think I'm finally starting to recover.  Good news, I went to my neurosurgeon and found out that my neck vertebrae that were fused at the end of 2010 have successfully grown bone.  Almost all physical restrictions have been lifted.  Yeah, I can vacuum again!  Now, I need to pack to fly to Durango this weekend to visit my mother and brother who are in Pagosa Springs, CO for a couple of weeks.  I'm sure I'll have fun, but look out coworkers, friends and family - you'll have to put up with another week of grumpiness when I get back.  If I only didn't have to work.  It gets in the way of my recovering from my travels and social life.

Memorial Weekend Trip 2011

We went down to central Utah to escape the wet weather we've been having and were rewarded with beautiful, sunny skies and warm temperatures.  Felt great!

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A Taste of Summer Finally

We made a quick trip down to Las Vegas over the weekend.  We stayed at the Palms and the Golden Nugget. At the Palms, Blain and I even made it to a couple of clubs for a date night.  And both the Palms and Golden Nugget had great pools, though the Golden Nugget has a shark tank in the middle which makes it the winner of the coolest pool ever.

Altogether we made it to the pool 3 times.  The temperatures were in the mid 90s.  That's way nicer than the 40s and 50s we're still having here.  I am so ready for summer.  It was so nice having a taste of summer this weekend.  Hopefully it will come to Utah soon enough.
 

 

Weekend Alphabet Soup - NYC & SLC FCC CNY

I had a great weekend getaway meeting up with my good friend Lily in New York City (NYC).  Meanwhile on Saturday, Blain and the kids went to the Salt Lake City (SLC) chapter of Families with Children from China (FCC) celebration of Chinese New Year (CNY).

On top of Rockefeller Center



Dressed up for the Party



Park City Revisited

Last weekend while in Park City, we rented a condo using this website, http://www.parkcitymountain.com/.  The condo was at a place called Jupiter Peak Lodge that only has 4 units.  It turned out to be a really nice condo within walking distance of downtown Park City.  The hot tub wasn't working last weekend so the owner, a really nice lady called Penny, offered to let us come back again for a deeply discounted rate for another weekend before ski season began.  We were having such a good time that we jumped on the offer and went back this weekend.

Mostly we hung out and had some relaxing family time, but we did make it to the Utah Olympic Park http://www.olyparks.com/uop/index.asp.  Walking around there brought  back great memories of attending some of the 2002 Olympic ski jumping and bobsled events.  Wow, I can't believe it's already been 8 years since Utah hosted the Winter Olympics.

Halloween Time at Disneyland

Last week I went to a training class in Los Angeles.  We decided to take advantage of this and fly the whole family out for a long weekend at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure.  We started the weekend Friday night by attending "Mickey Mouse's Halloween Party" and ended Sunday night by watching "The World of Color".  It was exhausting but so much fun.

Look who we ran into while trick-or-treating at Disneyland.

Spooky Cinderella Castle

Mickey the Friendly Ghost

Honorary Bug Girl with her 3-D bug glasses

Carley taking a snooze break while we wait in line 

Taking a much needed sugar break

This had been a Mickey shaped ice cream.  The ears were the first to go but not the last.

Day at the Amusement Park

After planning and canceling a couple of times this summer, we finally made it today to the local amusement park.  We had a boat load of fun and we made it a whole 7 hours before the meltdowns started, which is a new family record (good going Family!).  This evening Blain and I are exhausted but Lindsey and Sam still had enough energy to do my hair in a rather attractive do.

First ride of the day

Waiting in line for the "Terror Ride"

Baby on the go

Flying Aces

Sam by the Raft Ride

 New Hairdo