Hoover Dam

We took a little rest stop at the Hoover Dam on the way home.

The kids look really happy to be there don't they?

Isn't this cute?

The kids got tired of walking and I started out tired so daddy had to carry them back to the car.

Phoenix Zoo

We used to have a membership to the Phoenix Zoo. I miss it.

Ian talking to a baboon.

Hailey sitting on a frog.

Ian got to throw a big carrot to the elephant. It didn't even make it anywhere the elephant could actually get it, but Ian had fun throwing it.

Ian and mommy riding the carousel.

Ian on his sick bed after the zoo.

Finally, some pictures

Here are some pics from the museum and other random stuff.

The Youth Museum sign.

Ian and Hailey picking corn at the museum.

Hailey looks ill huh. I don't know why I didn't see it coming.

I don't know what I'm doing in this picture. Everyone else looks alright though.

Ian in the "big pink chair" on mainstreet.

Thankful Thursday.......on Sunday

1. A working vehicle - We had a couple trips in our old Chevy where we had major problems and were even stranded once. I am so thankful we didn't have to worry about our van on top of all our other problems with this trip.
2. A second chance - Poor Ian is the guinea pig, but I get to do things a little better with Hailey. She was SO sick, I think she even lost some weight, but I handled it a lot better than I did the first time I went through this with Ian when he was almost exactly the same age (also on vacation, what is wrong with us??). Maybe by the third one I'll have it down to an art.
3. Portable DVD Players - How did our parents go on trips without them?
4. My bed - There is a BIG difference between California King and Queen, especially when your husband is 6'4.
5. Cell Phones - I don't have one, but I'm sure glad everyone else does.
6. Ian - He is such a funny and sweet little boy. He introduced himself to a lady at Taco Bell and we sat at the table by her and he talked to her for half an hour. I laughed the whole time.
7. Take out - The number one thing I wanted to do on our trip was go to my favorite restaurant Texas Roadhouse. Since we were stuck in the hotel room on Friday night we got it "to go." Yummy.
8. Being a mother - It's a really really hard job, but it's so worth it and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
9. Air conditioning - For obvious reasons.

Finally Home

Well, we're finally home. Thank goodness! Hailey ended up getting sick again Friday night, and so did I. We were up all night. Adam got it Saturday morning. So we stayed another night. We all spent the entire day yesterday just laying in bed going in and out of sleep. It was the longest day of my life. Thankfully we were all able to sleep through the night last night and drive home today. Now we're home and tomorrow I am taking Adam to the airport at 5am to go to a 5 day management conference in L.A. At least we're all done being sick.
It turned out that Adam's brother who was supposed to fly in yesterday had the flu too and couldn't come anyway so it all worked out. One of my other friends said she had it last week too and she's in Idaho. I guess it's just going around. Yick.

Some Vacation

I mentioned that we were going to Arizona for a little vacation this week. We are still here and I realized I could update my blog with Adam's computer. Duh Lisa. Well, the trip has been interesting to say the least. The drive down was good but we didn't get here until 11:00 pm on Tuesday. The next day we went swimming (Ian's favorite part of the whole trip I'm sure) and then Adam went to do some business at his old recording school. The kids and I had planned to go to the Arizona Museum for Youth right by the hotel. After naps we headed off, but couldn't find a place to eat. We spent so long walking up and down the street that by the time we did eat and headed over to the museum we only had 30 minutes to play. Oh well. When it was time for dinner we headed the other direction and found out there was a Taco Bell right there!! If I had only gone that way earlier!
Adam didn't get home until almost midnight that night so I spent the whole evening stuck in the room with the kids, but at least we went to bed early. Around 3am I kind of woke up to hear what sounded like throwing up coming from Hailey's direction. She didn't cry so I just kind of went back to sleep. Later around 5am I heard the sound again, this time with crying. Uh oh. The poor little thing threw up every 15 minutes after that for more than 3 hours and then off and on after that until 2:30pm. So we spent almost all of yesterday in the hotel again with Hailey laying around and Ian getting restless. Ugh. Adam took Ian back to the museum that afternoon for a while so at least we made up for the first day.
We decided to stay an extra day to let Hailey recover and to try to salvage the "vacation" so we went to bed early last night and got up this morning for a fun day at the Phoenix Zoo. Hailey seemed to be mostly recovered so we headed off and had a pretty good time. I will post pictures when I get home. Ian was kind of whiney though, and complained every once in a while of a stomach ache. When we got back to the hotel both the kids went down for naps and Adam went off to visit some old co-workers at his old job here at KBI. Sure enough, after about an hour of sleeping Ian woke up and threw up all over the bed. Here we go again. Thank goodness we decided to stay another day!! We would have been in the car!
So we are hoping to get out of here tomorrow morning. Adam's brother is coming to visit us in Vegas tomorrow afternoon so I guess we better be there! I just hope we don't get sick tomorrow. It's times like this I really appreciate my own mother and all she has done for me. Kids don't realize everything that goes into a vacation, or taking care of them when they're sick.
Well, at least the hotel is comfortable and has a great free breakfast buffet. They were really nice about cleaning up the bed and towels and stuff after Ian threw up too. So I really can't complain about our accommodations.
I guess that's all for now. What else could go wrong? Wish us luck getting home!

Thankful Thursday

Wow, I feel bad that I haven't posted anything this week, but I am determined to do "Thankful Thursday" no matter what. This week has been, well, pretty aweful. So this is going to be kind of tough for me.

1. Adam's job - Any of you who talk to me very often are probably surprised to see this on my list. I am not a huge fan of the long hours and high stress and the fact that we are going to live in Las Vegas for the rest of our lives, BUT we have fantastic medical benefits and enough money to live comfortably. Adam has also been able to be home a lot more lately and he hasn't had to work weekends in a long time, which has been absolutely wonderful. We are also going on a trip to Arizona next week and because he is going to do some business stuff there his company is paying for most of the trip. Success!
2. Hailey's naps - Hailey is such a good sleeper. She always goes down without a fuss and sleeps for 2 or more hours per nap 2 times a day. As long as she gets the sleep she needs she is a very mellow and sweet baby.
3. Good days - This might be hard to explain. Lately, we have been having about 2 bad days to one good day. I have been so tired all the time and I have sleeping problems and I have been going to the doctor but there doesn't seem be any real reason for this. It seems when I am really really tired the kids act up more than usual, so those are what I consider "bad days." The other day we had a really good day. I wasn't as tired and Ian cooperated really well and we did some fun things. I am thankful for the good days and try to remember when I am having a bad day that another good day will come.
4. Free babysitting - Our babysitter watches our kids for free when we go to the temple. It is a great service and makes it so we can go more often.
5. Pizza Hut - Sometimes it really saves the day.
6. Photos - Looking at pictures really lifts my spirits. It is fun to remember fun things we did and how cute the kids were when they were smaller (they're still cute).
7. A schedule - Adam and I sat down the other night and wrote out a rough daily schedule for me and the kids. It helps a lot to know what is coming next in the day and Ian has responded quite well to it.
8. Thankful Thursday - I know this was on my list last week, but I really am thankful for "Thankful Thursday." I had a hard time being positive this week because I have really been struggling with my sleep problems, but I do still have a lot to be thankful for and it is good to focus on that instead of my hardships.

Well, I think that's it for today. It's not 10, but pretty close.

Thankful Thursday

I have thought about following one of my friend's example and doing a "Thankful Thursday" but just haven't gotten around to it. I decided that I am going to start today finally, so here goes.

1. Good friends - I have a lot of good friends who are great examples to me and help me to have a better attitude about life.
2. Thomas the Train - I don't know what it is about that train, but little boys across the world love him. Ian loves anything that has to do with Thomas, and I mean anything. Today we printed some Thomas crafts off the internet and Ian was "soooo happy!!" (according to him).
3. My mini van - I don't know how we ever survived before with just one car.
4. Vitamins - I have been having major problems lately with sleeping and being tired all the time and I just bought some really good vitamins that I think have already made a difference. I am feeling much better after just 2 days of taking them. Who would have thought?
5. Thankful Thursday - I have been reading my friend's blog for a while and she has invited her friends to do "Thankful Thursday." I think it is a really good thing to sit down and count your blessings each week. It kind of helps to put things in perspective.
6. A backyard - My backyard is small and half rocks but it is my sanity a lot of days. I am so glad we found this townhome with a yard, however small it is.
7. Music - I have been teaching piano lessons for about a month now and I have realized how grateful I am that my parents gave me the opportunity to learn how to play the piano and flute. I love music and it is so nice to sit down at the piano and play, and to teach others how to play and appreciate music too. The other day I played primary songs for Ian and he guessed what songs I was playing. It was really fun and uplifting too!
8. Funny kids - Ian is sooo funny. He talks to his toys, his food, his imaginary friend "E.E.," strangers, anything. Basically, he likes to talk. A lot of times I catch him saying "Good idea E.E.!" or "That's not very nice to hit me in the face, ball." I crack up all the time. Hailey likes to bend over and put her head on the floor and her bum in the air. She'll stay like that for a few minutes. I don't know why, but it's funny too.
9. Earplugs - If you can learn to sleep with earplugs, you can have a happier marriage......hehe.
10. Adam - He provides for our family, makes me laugh, brings me flowers, puts up with me, lets me talk his ear off, feeds the kids and puts them to bed (when he's home), organizes the house, and much much more.

Monster Cookies

I have been trying to do something fun with Ian each day. Yesterday we went to the "butterfly park" and today we made "monster cookies." Ian got to pick any cookie he wanted out of my Monster Cookie book and we went to the store and got the ingredients and made cookies. He had a blast loading up his cookies with M&M's and marshmallows. Each cookie was only done when it had a mountain of toppings. We'll have to do something less messy tomorrow....

I wanted to get a picture of Ian making the cookies, but every time I took the picture he snitched a bite of candy.

Ian and the finished product, and the picture he picked out of the book.

Ian's favorite cookie.

Can you tell which ones Ian did?

Mmmmmm, yummy!!

Spring is in the Air!

It has been such wonderful weather lately, we have been trying to take advantage of it before it gets blistering hot. In Las Vegas we only really get a few weeks of nice weather in the spring and in the fall. It has been in the 70's the last week (it was in the 80's the week before!). Ian and Hailey play in the backyard almost every day, especially when I am trying to make dinner in the evening. It's amazing how much better they get along when they're outside, I can finally have some peace and quiet!

Ian's Great-Grandma Nelson sent him some branches from her pussy-willow tree. He decided to plant his own tree in the rocks in the backyard.

Ian and Hailey sit and dig in the rocks for hours. It's so nice!!

This was Hailey's first time playing in the backyard (Yes, I know her outfit is weird).

Hailey with her Easter bunny.