Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

We had a great time on our spring break in CA, and although the weather wasn't as warm as we had hoped, it was much nicer than the snowy weather (yes, another snow day for kids NOT on Spring Break) back home.  And just in time for our return, the weather in CO is supposed to be good this week.

Here are just a few glimpses of our week:

Mauri + Hannah = endless hours of creative play

Damsels (not distressed)... running through the woods...

Hannah's dress-up clothes provided hours of entertainment.  


A side note:  The dress Hannah is wearing was made for my sister by my mom.  I have a similar dress that my girls have used on countless occasions to be characters like Helen Keller (Britta), Anne Frank (Lexee), a colonial woman (Shilo)... Mauri has used it a little for dress-up, but I have also wanted to carefully preserve it for the time she will need to portray someone of historical importance.  Our mom made us the dresses back in 1976 -- to celebrate the Bicentennial.  The dresses alone have historical importance.

  They made their moms beautiful bouquets of lovely flowers from Hannah's Grandma Feil's yard (hope she didn't mind!).

They shopped... and although much of the shopping time was in stores not of their choosing, they found entertainment nonetheless.

And a small diversion:

Jill and I chuckled over how they really tried to make the mall ride as fun as the real thing.

They rode these little I-don't-know-what-to-call-'ems all over the place.  They especially enjoyed going to "the McDonalds"... which I kept thinking, "Where's the McDonalds around here?" (Not that I even like McDonalds, I just didn't think it was a fitting place for two little girls to be riding to... the people going through the drive-thru might not see them!)  It was the neighbor's house down the street.  They also wrote lovely notes to their moms in chalk on the driveway.  My note was right next to the Rest In Peace headstones they drew for a dead bug and bee.  I was just glad the R.I.P. wasn't for me.

They creatively made these ingenious baby slings out of sweatshirts...

...and these limb-supporting casts out of toilet paper.

They even composed a musical number to serenade us while we opened a gift they had made for us... each gift containing numerous items representing our "favorites" made out of popsicle sticks...    

...and later they performed on the organ.
It was fun to see Mauri and Hannah have some play time and it reminded me of the times I would drive from SLC to CA with my older kids (when they were very young) -- just to relax and hang out.  Good memories!


The older girls had fun too... We took them to get mani/pedi s,

which was a first for my girls.  It's Shilo's new favorite thing as she has requested another one for her birthday.

Lex and Shilo also used their time while Rachael was at school to sleep, read books, play air hockey, and watch many episodes of Psyche.

They got to go four-wheeling around the pecan orchard,

and Lexee only feared for her life once while Hannah was in control of the gas.


They even got a little crafty themselves, and made these:

The biggest (not referring to size necessarily, although it works) girls had fun too... just being with my sister always is a good time because we laugh at the craziest things, and talk, talk, talk until the cows come home.  We also share ideas, and I always come home with renewed energy to be better... at everything.

We practiced perfecting our cupcakes.  We shopped for new frosting tips, tried powdered food-coloring, and experimented with cupcake recipes (so we could serve the perfect homemade cupcakes at Nate's Eagle Court of Honor).

My sister, who says she is in a dinner slump (we ate so well, I don't believe her), makes the most delicious salads.  I have been inspired (as usual).  My latest dinner slump (they occur frequently) has left me to resort to Pasta Roni more times than I would like to think... no greens involved.

We made fazookies (top these babies hot-out-of-the-oven with some ice cream... and don't even think about the calorie count)...

...and talked about how we are starting a diet... on Monday.  (I think she started early, since I don't think she actually ate a fazookie.  I ate the whole thing all by myself.  I was going down the bad diet trail in a blaze of glory.)


The week ended with a big finale (literally, for my sister):

Her final Eagle Scout (3 total), her son Nate, had his Court of Honor (he is the second from the right) AND...

her last child was baptized... on the same day.  We were so glad we could be there.


So that's the long of it... Spring Break 2010.  Another one for the history books.

16.5 hours

Lexee, Shilo, Mauri and I spent our day in the car.  Literally.  16.5 hours.  
We left when it was dark (about 5:45am Pacific time) and arrived home in the dark (11:15pm Mountain time).  Somewhat uneventful.  
And although we saw 15 highway patrol officers and 1 Parker policeman, none of them were after us 
(whew!).

Some pictures to remind us of our long journey home:

Mojave Desert -- all that it's cracked up to be -- a desert

A special picture... just for my sister (and new fellow blogger) --
the hostess with the most-est

Some Nevada landscape... for some reason I love those Joshua trees 

(maybe because U2 had an album named that?)

Utah landscape... and another of those endless Ranch exits with No Services.  

Who uses those exits anyway??

From desert to snow... all within a few hours.  A fascinating attention-grabber.

And we can't forget the innumerable speed limit signs.

Still in Utah... with a variety of scene changes along I-70.  Diversity is good.

Finally in Colorado as we leave Grand Junction... homeward bound.

The moon looks so cool.

...through the mountain...

(those I-70 tunnels give me tunnel-vision... seriously!)

We drove almost a fourth of the way home in darkness... on winding mountains roads... without discernible lines.  
Stressful to a person who can barely drive at night anyway.  Thankfully, we did not drive off a cliff.

I saw the sign... and it opened up my eyes, I saw the sign...

it just makes me want to sing.

Home at last... to a clean house and happy husband 
(who has kindly agreed to get up with Lexee for seminary in the morning -- what a great guy).


Lexee helped with the drive (which was awesome!),

but slept most of the way home.  Happily, she didn't sleep as she drove.


More Spring Break pics tomorrow... I'm hitting the hay.

Cute Girl, Special Day

My sister took my niece Hannah out to get some pictures of her in her baptism dress.  

The pictures turned out awesome.  She is such a cute girl!

Leaving Las Vegas

My first time ever on the strip in Vegas was interesting.  In my numerous ventures through Las Vegas (always on the way to California), I have only stopped along the edges... for gas and In-N-Out.  My kids have always marveled at the cool buildings as we slowly drove by on the freeway (there's always been road construction and rush-hour-like conditions).  Wow, it looked impressive.  Now I was here... on the strip...

After checking in at the hotel (which was directly below the airplane flight path to and from the airport... a Things I've Learned notebook entry for sure), we drove over to the Bellagio to check out the fountain show while we waited for my sister and her family to arrive.  After checking out the World's Largest Chocolate Fountain (apparently there is a "fountain" theme at the Bellagio),

and catching the tail-end of Celine's My Heart Will Go On fountain show outside, we decided to walk down a couple of blocks to the M&M store we had passed on our way.  We still had a good 30 minutes before we could meet up with our cousins, so off we went.

Can I just say.... Big Mistake?

There were so many people walking around I felt like I was at Disney World... on a day the park is at capacity (and yes, we have experienced Disney World under such circumstances).  There was a little difference, though.  Maybe it was how more than half of those people were walking around with their cocktails, beer bottles, and fancy drinks.  Or maybe it was the oober-crude T-shirts being vended on the streets.  Or the porn pictures on the ground.  Or the people trying to shove disgusting pictures into your hands.  Or the constant cigarette smoke.  Or the vulgar language.  Or the repulsive billboards and flashing advertisements.  I told my kids, "Don't look up, and don't look down."

We made it to the M&M store.  We saw the designer colors... oh, and they only wanted $12.99 a pound.  No thank you.  The truly unfortunate part was that we had to walk back.  Back to the fountains to meet our cousins.  Needless to say, Bill and I felt like we were walking through the mists of darkness... with our children.  

We regretted our decision to take a walk.  Never again.

The next day we went here:

What a difference.  Peaceful.  Serene.  Joyful.  We saw two couples who had just been married taking pictures outside.  And the fountain here is more than beautiful.  The contrast was huge.  We wanted to stay... to linger... basking in the light.

Later that day we headed back to the strip to attend The Lion King.  We made a quick stop here:

We had to wait a few minutes to get a picture because a couple was getting married... right under the sign.  Their wedding guests had beers in hand as they stood around watching the jean-clad bride and groom exchange vows.  Like I said... contrast.

We headed off to the theater (of course... through a smoke-filled casino) and really enjoyed the show.  Afterwards we said good-bye to Britt and Sam as they headed back to Provo, and I kissed Bill good-bye at the airport before we headed out for our drive to California.  I wasn't sad to leave.

Good-bye, Las Vegas.  Next time I will avoid the strip.  I no longer have a desire to see it, be there, or experience what it has to offer.

Stops for gas and In-N-Out are more than sufficient.

Just My Luck

No "luck of the Irish" for the Syddalls this year... the Spring Break curse has struck again.  
Yesterday was a balmy 69 degrees, and today will be mid 60s.

Then the storm will roll in... around midnight.  We can expect up to 10 inches by morning, 2 feet in the mountains.  YUK!

Last year we just wanted to take a quick trip to Moab... the day before our scheduled departure, the weather reports were not good.  So we made a last-minute decision to head out that night and at least get through the mountains to Grand Junction.  We chose wisely, as the snow came as predicted, but we pulled into the hotel around 2 in the morning.  After checking in and getting everyone settled in bed, we immediately fell asleep... to the tune of innumerable semi trucks driving by on the slushy I-70 literally right outside the window.  Then at 4am the fire alarm went off.  No joking.

Once again, the weather is going to play havoc with our plans.  Again we have made a hasty decision to head out today instead of tomorrow.  The storm is supposed to roll in around midnight, so we plan to leave by 7pm to get through those treacherous Rocky Mountains.  Track meet:  not going.  Swim practice:  not going.  Parent/Teacher conference:  only if everything else gets done first.  This time we will try a different hotel in Grand Junction.  One not located on the edge of the freeway.  We'll be staying in one room -- cozy, huh?  But then... tomorrow... Las Vegas, baby.