Viva Las Vegas!!!

It has been almost 5 years since I have gone anywhere with just Spencer. (Unless you count the over-nighter in SLC. I don't because on our way there we were rear-ended and spent the entire night stiff and in pain! Doesn't count.) Anyway, he had a work conference at the new hotel in Las Vegas, the Palazzo.




I've never stayed anywhere so nice!! I was so excited to have a vacation it was ridiculous! My mom was so great to watch the boys. She was pretty nervous at first to be completely responsible for Mason, but I wasn't one bit worried. Mason's not scarey, but if you aren't used to the routine - it can take some time! (They did great by the way and she even said herself that "once you get past the medications and things, Mason's the easy one!!")

Our room was incredible.

The entire place was incredible! I loved it. Spen had to work a lot, but I just wandered around, spent time at the pool, and relaxed!

We saw two shows while we were there. . .

The Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian
Go here for a teaser of the show!
http://venetian.com/PHANTOM.aspx

and Le Reve at the Wynn.

Go here to see a teaser for the show!

http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/index.cfm#Entertainment/leReve

~Cans~

So Ethan has decided that all of the pleading for us to go back to Disneyland isn't working as effectively as he had hoped, but he is a smarty, he has asked if he can earn money to pay for his ticket and then go. Well, we thought about it and it seemed reasonable enough, but really in the long run we do end up paying for the ticket!
While we were in Phoenix he noticed that his cousin collected soda cans for money. We are now in the soda can collection business! Two or three times a week he 'trick-or-treats' the neighbors for cans and then we go to to dad's work to do the same thing there.
We took the cans to the recycling center today and he has earned $2.55. On the way he was sure that he had enough to pay for the ticket and maybe Mason's ticket too, but when they cashed him out all he could say was, "that's it!!" It was a bit discouraging, but he is still focused on the goal!

Timber!!!

Yesterday was an exciting day! We started it out by purchasing our very own chainsaw! Something every family should have.

When we moved into our home we called an arborist to come and look at the trees. They had been neglected for years and there was a lot of work and care that needed to be done. There are also quite a few extremely large pine trees that like to completely cover our yard in 4 inch needles every week.

Today we went to work. When we moved in there were 10 aspen trees in the front yard, now there are two (they won't be there for long!) This actually makes me sad because they would be so pretty and great were it not for the bores and disease that is completely hollowing them out. One of them actually had mushrooms growing from the trunk, yuck!

Our we have six 25 year old pine trees that are no less than 80 feet high. These (at least most of these) will also be going. We will be left with only 8 trees when we are all finished. We started with 24! It's a good and bad thing for me. I love the shade and the forest-like feel that you get when you are back there, but with all of the sick trees and the needles, I would like for the kids to be able to play in the grass without their shoes if they want to!

It was quite a day. I can't believe how fast those trees can come down!

One of my Favorite Things . . .

I have to say that one of my very favorite things is when Ethan is watching TV in the mornings or when we are in the car going on a trip and something that he sees strikes him funny, (especially when he is in the car with headphones on and we don't know it's coming!) The giggle that comes unexpectedly is so adorable. I wish that I could wrap it up and keep it forever!

A Family of Welders

This past week or so we were able to go down to Peoria, AZ to spend some time with Spencer's grandpa. He lives in the most beautiful area, I was almost convinced to just stay! He has 2 horses and lives on 3 acres. He has all sorts of fruit and pecan trees that he has planted on his property. We ate oranges and grapefruit straight off of the trees for every meal!

Just imagine waking up and before you are even dressed, you walk outside to the ruby red grapefruit tree and select your breakfast. Maybe on your way back to the house you stop and grab a few oranges to squeeze for your fresh juice! I can't think of a better way to start the morning!
We did all sorts of fun things while we were there. Spencer broke (not really his fault, but it was the joke) the gate for the horses, so grandpa got out his welder and taught him, and then me, how to weld. It was SO much fun. We rode on the tractor and swam in the freezing cold pool and got to brush the horses down. I think that the horses are missing the kids because every time they went out to visit them they would feed them! It was a wonderful week there with grandpa and the rest of the family that was able to come. I have an entire refrigerator full of oranges and grapefruit that we brought back if you want to come over for a sample!

Happy 1st Apricot's Day!!

Ethan and I had a blast playing April Fool's day pranks on each other and for some reason he didn't quite grasp the "April Fool's" part, but instead coined, "Happy 1st Apricot's Day" whenever he would do or say something 'April Fool's'-ish.
There are some things that you just don't correct!
Our best prank was going to dad's work and moving his car!! I think that the anticipation of how funny it was going to be was hands down better than the reaction that we got from it... Ethan could hardly speak he was laughing so hard when we were driving home. The phone call from Spen when he couldn't find his car was pretty funny too . . . Definately worth it!