St. George...again

We were in St. George last weekend for another soccer tournament. I was not excited to go, because the weather was supposed to be horrible.

We left on Saturday morning, and drove through the scarriest storm ever. I am not kidding when I say I was white nuckling it the whole way down. We saw jack-knifed semi's, cars that had slid off the road and into the median, accidents...you name it. I was so scared that I told Clay we should turn around and go back. He quickly informed me that he wasn't going to drive back through that mess.

As soon as we got to 15 miles out side of the Beave, it cleared up and the roads were just wet. We got into St. George around 11:30, and it was beautiful!

Kylee was guest playing for another team, so she was a little nervous about the whole trip. They played 2 games on Saturday, and won both of them buy at least 5 goals. It was Valentine's night, and St. George was PACKED, because there was 2 baseball tournaments, 2 soccer tournaments, the arts festival, the Dixie Parade of Homes, and Alpine School District principal's conference. We ate with the whole team at the Pasta Factory, and then headed back to our hotel...

We were invited to play in this tournament 2 weeks ago, so we had little time to find a hotel. We ended up staying at the Hilton, which was nice, other than we had a room with 1 king bed, and 1 roll away...not so nice with 2 parents and 3 kids! The first night was horrid. Halle slept in between Clay and I...or should I say she thrashed in between Clay and I all night. Kylee got the roll away, and Cayden was on an air mattress, in a sleeping bag on the floor. Now for those of you who know me at all are probably thinking...Cayden on the floor of the hotel?? Worry not my friends, he had 4 blankets, covering the floor, so there wasn't a chance in you know where that his body would actually come in direct contact of the floor. Kylee woke up at around 1 saying that she couldn't sleep on the roll away, because the springs were poking her in the back. Lovely. So we switch Halle and Kylee and now I am sleeping between Kylee and Clay. I am clostrophobic, and didn't sleep a wink all night.

Sunday we planned to go to church, and then go to the visitors center of the temple. This plan came to a hault as I was laying in bed that night/morning, and realized that I had packed all of the church stuff, except for my shoes/nylons/slip. I nearly had a panic attack, thought about going out and purchasing new and still going to church...and then realized that was silly. So, we ate breakfast, and tried as hard as we could to not really "do" anything because it was the sabbath. Yeah, that lasted about 1 hour, and then I thought I was going to go insane. 5 people in a hotel room the size of my bedroom. We decided to go see a movie, so we went to see

"Paul Blart Mall Cop", um...ok, that was a super funny show. I guess you had to be in the mood to see it, but I thought it was hillarious! We then did what any real american would do...we went to Walmart and bought some snacks for the next day...much cheaper than the gas station. We did some serious people watching, and then we grabbed dinner and went back to the hotel.

This time we planned it a bit better...for some of us. We talked Halle into sleeping on the roll away, Cayden still had the best spot on the floor, and Kylee, Clay and I in the bed. A little wierd, but it was a King, and we didn't touch each other all night. Oh, other than me rolling Kylee over every 5 minutes for her to stop snoring. Fun times. Fun times.

Monday they had a game at 9am, so we were up and ready to go by 8. They played hard, but lost that game, due to some girls (most of the team) staying up too late the night before, and none of them able to focus on the game. It was sad, but we were told to come back at noon for our last game. We ran back to the hotel, checked out, went to In-n-out burger for lunch (we had to kill some time), and then back to the field to play. Oh, except someone forgot to check, and the finals were single elimination, and we DIDN'T HAVE ANOTHER GAME!!! So, frusterated that we could have been 2 hours into our drive home, we got in the car and headed home to miss the next storm coming in. It was nice, because we actually got home by 5:15, and still had enough time to relax, and un pack.

It was a quick trip, but the weather held up, and we had some fun while we were there. I didn't realize this would turn into a novel, sorry! I have pictures to post, but am too stinking lazy to upload them right now, so you will just have to check back!

I forgot

Here are the pictures of us in front of the Las Vegas Temple. It was so beautiful, you can see the temple up on the hill high above the strip. It was nice to go and walk around the grounds, and take some pictures.

It is funny how when we were down there, and are in the middle of all of that garbage it is hard to feel the spirit. We had a family night on that, and how when you aren't doing the right things, or aren't in the right places it is hard to feel the spirit. Once we could see the temple, you just had this overwhelming feeling of the spirit. It was neat to feel that. I don't think the kids even realized how it was to not be around the temple, and around people doing the right things. It was a nice break to go see the temple.

Vegas & Halle's Birthday...?

Such a lovely combination!!! Vegas is one place that I can honestly say if you have never been there, (unless you are into nearly neked women, LOTS of smoking, and gambling, and pornographic freeway signs) you would not be missing out on A SINGLE THING!!! I haven't been there since I was a small child, enroute to Disneyland, and my parents snuck us in the back way in the middle of the night, so that we didn't see or experience anything!

We stayed at the Treasure Island, super nice room, for a super price, in the middle of sin, and smoking, and you had to walk through the casino to get there. Bad idea. I literally hated it. It was a horrid place to take children, and I am quite sure that we all contracted the early signs of lung cancer. Regardless, once we got out of down town, it was nice. The weather was great, we even got sunburned!!

We visited the Las Vegas Temple with another family that was down there with us, we went to Sacrament Meeting down there (I mean what else are you to do in Las Vegas on a Sunday that is G rated!) It was quite hilarious actually, we had to grab some breakfast, because there wasn't even a fridge in our room. We found the nearest Einstein Bagel's and ran in to grab a bagel before church...(hopefully we didn't just cross out our good works of going to the temple and church for a bagel!!) We got some seriously funny looks, in walks a family of 5 all dressed up in church clothes on a Sunday morning...we couldn't get out of there fast enough!!! The temple was beautiful, and it was funny the kids couldn't believe that they had a CHURCH in Las Vegas! Funny how it is when you live in a bubble like "Happy Valley".

We spent most of the time at the soccer fields, and eating...

On Saturday night it was Halle's birthday, so we ate at the Cheesecake Factory...such a non-child friendly eating establishment. We walked around the shops at Caesar's Palace, and the Venitian, and stopped outside to see the volcano errupt in front of the Mirage. The kids didn't ever see anything bad, and we kept them unaware of their surroundings for the most part. It was quite funny, every time we would go through the casino to go up to our room, the kids would pull their hoods up over their heads, put their hands over their mouth and nose, and start coughing...I got a kick out of it! It sure made people notice!

Here are tons of pictures, so enjoy!!!

Natalie, Kylee & Kenzie

The volcano errupting infront of the Mirage, it was pretty cool!

In the Venitian there were replicas of the Blue Man Group, it was pretty cool!


Halle blowing out the candles on her "fish" cake that grandma Parke made for her early party!



The morning of her birthday we woke her up, (I mean she was awake at 6am ready to open the rest of her presents)...the flash on the camera was so bright she couldn't keep her eyes open!

We didn't have a cake that day, so Clay went down and bought a hostess cupcake! She was excited about it! Saturday was her actual birthday, and inbetween the games we ran over to Smith's and bought a cake and had it with all of the families down there, so in essence she had 3 cakes. Cayden informed us that it wasn't fair, because he didn't get a cake when we were in St. George...chalk it up with another moment of being a horrid unfair mother!

Here is her loot...the only thing bad with this, is we had to haul it down and back! She got 2 barbies that weren't scantilly(sp) dressed, and some pretend food for her kitchen.

She got a new bike for her birthday, but she got it the day before we left. For those of you that have been reading my blog from the beginning know how badly she needed a new bike!

Halle posing on the sidelines of the soccer field. Apparently they forgot to water the stupid grass, and it was like straw. Kylee got taken out in one of the games, and completely tore her knee open. It was so brutal!

Cayden posing in the top of a tree. Poor kid is so sick of soccer tournaments, he was a good sport though!

Kylee on a break away, click on the picture and look at the muscle definition in her arms...lucky girl!

Her team played awesome, they made it to the playoffs, and tied the final game 0-0. It had to go to a shoot out, our first 2 girls made their shots (WAY TO GO KYLEE!!!) but the next 2 missed. They ended up losing by 1 goal in the shoot out. They took 2nd place, and boy was that an emotional thing for her. She played amazing, and did her best, that is all that matters!!! This is a picture of Kylee, her bff Kenzie, and AJ.

Team picture

One last piece of information...the last day we were there, our car nearly got broken into. Some dip crap shoved a screwdriver underneath the handle on the driver side, and jammed a hole in the side of our car. Apparently someone must have scared them, or something, because they didn't actually get into the car, they just caused $500 damage. There were 5 other cars broken into that day. If I could just find the punk that did it, and I would kick him in the shins...

I do need to be thankful that the little pukes didn't actually get into the car, because everything we owned was in there, we had already checked out of the hotel!

Disneyland '09

Ok, ok...long time overdue! Here is the low down on our recent trip to Disneyland. We left on the 7th of January, we left 2 new feet of snow...and arrived in sunny California to 65 degree weather! It was so nice, and seemed so HOT! We stayed at the Paradise Pier hotel...this is the "cheapest" if you will of the Disney hotels on Disneyland proper. It was really clean, really nice, and plenty of room. We were within walking distance of California Adventure...we basically just walked out our hotel, and across the little walk way, and we were there.

We haven't stayed on Disneyland property since I was a senior in High School... and it is definately worth it! We haven't been on a "real" vacation that didn't involve soccer in over 3 years, and we were so looking forward to this. I will say this, however, 5 days is 1 day too long! It was the perfect time to go, not busy at all, the weather was beautiful, hardly any humidity...(thank the high heavens, or I would have looked like Kramer from Sienfield), and just the perfect temperature to wear jeans, and a short sleeved shirt. The kids had a blast, we rode everything like 500 times, and they went on anything and everything they wanted. I do think that we spent our life savings on food...sweet nibblets, that place is a rip off! But...you have to just suck it up, unless you want to pack in your own cooler full of food, and this was the first year we didn't have a stroller, so that would have been miserable to carry around! We (my parents and Clay and I were laughing the whole time we were there, because here are 2 unemployed families spending a week in Disneyland...HELLO!!!!) (disclaimer, Clay isn't unemployed, it is just his slow time of the year...) Here are some pictures of the trip, I didn't really get any "great" pictures...I suck when it comes to taking good pictures. So, enjoy!!!

Cayden posing for the camera...this is the best picture I got of him, for some reason when we take a picture, he poses...weenie!

Halle on the last day, eating her beloved pink Mickey Mouse sucker. I think she looks so cute, becuase she isn't posing either!


Grandpa and Grandma Olsen, and the kids


We told them we were celebrating Halle's birthday, because it happened to be the week after we were there. The first night we came back to the hotel, they had this "birthday cake" made out of wash cloth's. It was really cute, and then they left her a plate of Mickey Mouse rice krispie treats. She also got a pin that you can see on her shirt that said it was her birthday. She was in heaven, because every ride she would go on, or every employee that saw that badge would wish her a Happy Birthday!!

Ok, I know...horrible picture, but there is a really funny story behind this picture. My parents were trying to talk Clay and I into going on this Grizzly Rapids ride. EVERYONE that came off of it was soaked. I kindly declined. My mom made the biggest stink that you don't even get wet if you wear the rain ponchos. I kindly encouraged her to go then. When they got off the ride she was SOAKED from head to toe. Apparently her rain poncho was a little small, and she wanted to keep the tops of her pants dry...so the rest of her was soaked...!

Here is Kylee pointing to some Lovely swimming suits on this painting in the lobby of the hotel...!

In Downtown Disney they have this huge Lego store, Cayden was in heaven...not only was it a Lego store, but they had a life sized Darth Vader made out of Lego's!

The obligatory family picture inside the "C" in California. Yes, Kylee is posing with a Diet Coke...bad dad for buying it for her!

At the end of the main street in California Adventure, they have this painting on the wall that looks like it goes on for miles.

The first day we got there, we bought a little book for Halle to get the characters autographs. It was so cute, because she wanted to get as many as she could. I thought this was a cute picture of her and Minnie Mouse.

We did go to a "Princess Luncheon" at Ariel's Grotto on one of the days, however the pictures didn't turn out the cutest, but she had so much fun. Each of the princess' come around to your individual table and talked to Halle, signed her book, and took a picture with her.

All in all it was a great trip, we had fun, and got away from the craziness of life for a short while!