David and Goliath

More photos from Vegas Trip

Beautiful Southern Utah

 

 

   When we go to Las Vegas we do not go for the gambling.  We love to go only if the weather is nice, not too hot, and we do mostly activities that kids would like or in our case "big kids" would like.  We went to the Secret Garden of Seigfried and Roy at the Mirage.  There is a training facility that trains dolphins and houses beautiful exotic animals such as the white tiger.

We love to eat at restaurants and buffets.  The Paris buffet is one of our favorites.  We especially like the made-to-order crepes and omelets.  The World Buffet at the Rio is also really good.  I love their homemade gelato.  The Cheesecake Factory at Caesar's Palace is another favorite.  I love the whole wheat bread and the delicious 6 carb cheesecake.

 

We enjoy walking along the strip and seeing all of the sites.

 

    We love Broadway Shows.  We went to Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian.  It was amazing.  We love to sit close so we can see the expressions on the faces of the actors, so we splurged for 3rd row seats. The costumes, staging, and pyrotechnics are outstanding.  We really enjoyed the play. We have seen Phantom in New York, London, and Salt Lake City.  The Las Vegas production was just as good and it would be great for 1st timers because it is only 1 and 1/2 hours.  They sing all the songs but leave out some of the dialogue.  Also, there is no intermission.  I can't believe that they do 2 shows a night.

    We also babysat Kaylin and gave Craig and Nichelle tickets to see The Blue Man Group.  We had seen them in Chicago last year and we knew that they would really enjoy the show.

      

  We stayed in a condo project about 20 miles away from the strip.  It was really nice.  It had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a full size living room and kitchen.  The walk-in closet in the master bedroom was as big as our current kitchen.  We had a great time in Vegas and it was nice to enjoy some warm weather especially since it snowed in Utah this morning.  Have a great week!

21 Day Challenge Photos and a Road Trip

Here are a few photos from the 21 Day Challenge that Rhonna Farrer organized.  I made my book very similar to Rhonna's using mostly digital images plus some "Pam" embellishments (flowers and bling!).

 

Cover for 21 Day Challenge Day 1

 

Day 2                          Day 3

 

  I also designed a 21 Day Challenge Tag Book for the Beehive Activity for Young Womens.

 

This is a view of one of the sights from our road trip last week.  It is very unusual to see snow on the mountains with the brilliant red rock contrast.  There were also some beautiful sunrays streaming through the clouds.  Usually this area of the state is pretty drab because it is mostly desert.

  Here are some photos of our trip.  Can you tell where we went?  It was so fun because we got to go with our daughter, her husband, and the baby.  My parents flew in from Kansas City and we got to spend some time with them also.  My parents are so fun to be around.   I was certainly blessed to be born of "goodly parents."  They took us to Lawry's Restaurant.  They hand carve your Prime Rib right at your table.  It was "delish!"  Thanks Mom and Dad.  We love you!            

 

    

I will post some more pictures later on in the week.  It is a beautiful spring day here in Utah.  What a beautiful day to celebrate Easter.  Well I need to get ready for church.  I hope you have a blessed Easter Day.

After Church our family is coming over for a traditional Easter dinner which consists of spiral cut ham, deviled eggs, fresh asparagus, salad, sweet potatoes, and angel food cake with strawberries.  All our favorite foods that celebrate Easter to us.

Happy Easter!

21 Day Challenge and Basketball

I have been participating in the 21 Day Challenge that Rhonna Farrer has organized on 2Peas in a Bucket.  I am doing a chipboard book very similar to the example Rhonna has designed.  It has mostly digital elements and some extra embellishments such as flowers and of course, bling.  I also was in charge of the Beehive Activity last Tuesday, so I designed a tag book with a 21 Day Challenge for the girls.

 

The premise of the challenge is that it takes 21 days to make a habit or break a habit.  The thing I chose to work on is gratitude.  I am a very grateful person but sometimes with everything that goes on in life we sometimes forget to focus on the positive.  So, each day I am writing down 4 things that I am thankful for.  A couple of Monday’s ago for family home evening I challenged my daughter, her husband, my husband, and myself to keep a gratitude journal.  I have made a total of 3 journals plus a sample tag book for the Young Women.  I want to give each of you a challenge to work on something for 21 days.  It could be eating properly, getting exercise, being kinder, reading a book, studying, or whatever you want to work on.  I think it is always beneficial to stretch yourself and try to grow in ways that are not always comfortable for you.  Tasks become easier because we are “practicing” them more, not because the task is actually easier.  Our perception of the task is that it is easier.

Also, I wanted to talk about the Jazz.  My husband has had Jazz tickets for more than 25 years.  Yes, even back in the days of the Old Salt Palace.  The tickets have been on the floor of the main arena.  No one gives up their Jazz tickets so it is very difficult to sit really close to the Jazz bench.  We are now on Row 5 right behind the Jazz bench.  They are fantastic seats.  However, they have become so expensive we can’t afford to use them. So, we sell them so we can keep our spot reserved.  Having Jazz tickets that you don’t use is crazy, I know.  So, this year we decided we would split the tickets with some of our friends so that we go to about 7 games.  We are so close to the Jazz bench that we see the players sweat and yes, we do hear Jerry Sloan swear. LOL! 

It is really fun to be right in the action of the players and the crowd.  Anyway, I took my camera to the game on Saturday and had a wonderful time recording the action.  It was an amazing game.  The Jazz played Denver and by the end of the 3^rd quarter they had scored more than a hundred points.  It was a really fun game and I’m glad I have some entertaining pictures to remember the date night we had.  Before, the game we went to dinner with some friends who also have Jazz tickets.  It is always nice to go out on the town for date night.

I will post some pictures of my 21 day challenge books a little later in the week.  Have a great day, especially since there is a real hope of spring in the air.  Happy Spring!