I have a lot of catching up to do so if you, my loyal blog readers, only scan the pictures I won't blame you in the slightest.
I just had an amazingly fun few weeks. My parents came down to celebrate Christmas with us in Las Vegas this year. I was so stressed about making sure we had enough planned and that every moment would be filled with fun so they wouldn't regret making the long drive down. I think all my planning worked... though they could all just be good liars.
They drove in Saturday afternoon and the boys (Jon, Bryan and my dad) headed to the BYU vs. UCLA game. The girls made a stop at Cafe Rio and then saw Mamma Mia. We had terrible seats, the absolutely last row, but the theater isn't all that big and they were really cheap so nobody complained too loudly.
Sunday, I got to cart all my family to our ward and my sisters almost doubled the population in Young Womens. There is a guy in our ward who is the head of lighting for Mystere (the Cirque de Soliel show) so we asked him if he could get us in. Turns out he had the whole week off except for later that evening... so we pulled the "hey, were on vacation!" excuse that isn't all that true and went to the show. We got there at 5:00 and got a backstage tour. We got to see all the costumes and props, we even got to walk around the stage. It was so awesome and made the show even more exciting for my brother and sisters. Not only that but we had amazing seats. It was such a blast.
Monday we took my family on a hike at Red Rock. It basically turned into one giant photo shoot...
Notice how I had to go butt-towards-camera so Scarlet could look good?! The sacrifices of motherhood...
Our "Lion King" impression.
Then Christmas was here. We got to talk to Brad soon after we woke up. It was so great to hear from him. It is a pretty tough mission, he knows every member in the country by name, but he just sounds so confident and mature.
We opened presents next. Jon got me a new bedroom set which I absolutely love, I gave him a nintendo DS and a few games. Scarlet got a few presents from us but my mom bought her a ton of toys. I really expected her to enjoy a bit of the paper ripping and then proceed to ribbon chewing and general disinterest in everything given to her. I was totally wrong. Turns out Scarlet is the best present receiver I've ever seen.
For example, Jon got Scarlet one of those big bouncy balls with disney princesses on it. She opened it while sitting on his lap and when she saw it her face lit up in a big smile. She hit it a few times to make it bounce then gave her dad a hug, then hit it a few more times, smiled at Jon and gave him another hug. Might be the cutest thing I have ever seen. She played with every toy she opened until we gave her a new one. It was so fun to watch.
I gave my parents tickets to Beatles Love for Christmas so they went and saw the show that night. The rest of us lounged in our pajamas and ate a lot of chocolate.
Wednesday we spent most of the day on the strip seeing some of the sights but we headed home early to get ready for Vegas night.
Vegas night was actually Jon's creation but it involved dressing up as gaudy and flashy as we could, going out to dinner, then going to see yet another show. Everyone looked fabulous! Courtney and Kylie wore some of their formal dresses and Kendall wore one of Kristy's and they looked so darn beautiful.
We went to eat at the Venetian and then we took some pictures around the hotel. For every flash of Jon's camera there were 5 other flashes behind it. There were SO many people taking our pictures! At one point Courtney and Kylie were off to the side when a large group of Chinese tourists walked by and almost every single of them asked if they could take a picture of them. It was too funny.
And then we saw Phantom of the Opera that night which was absolutely fabulous.
Thursday mostly involved shopping and eating good food as did Friday. We also got to see 27 Dresses, the movie with Kathleen Heigl. Totally enjoyable. Not necessarily one that needs to be seen in theaters but enjoyable. And James Marsden... great eye candy.
Happy 2008!
Oh P.S. we missed Kristy on Christmas day but we got to talk to her on Wednesday and she is also doing so well. Can't wait to go see her in April!
10 comments:
is it in the earl blood that we have to take every opportunity we can for a photo shoot? i love it! sounded like an amazing time, your family definitely deserved it. "vegas night"...love that idea. may need to do that sometime.
I was so jealous when your family was telling us about all they did. They said they had such a great time. Oh, your butt is smokin'!
Yeah I would have to agree with Angie...I love the idea of vegas night....maybe with all need to come to Vegas and have our own vegas night. That would be a blast! Sounds like you had a really good Christmas.
I decided that I need to come visit you in Vegas!!! :o)
Happy New Year!!!!
*LW*
Um, hi! All those tall, beautiful people in one place, dressed like that? Who WOULDN'T stop to take a picture! You all look fabulous and famous! And I agree with everyone, Vegas night sounds fun to me!
I agree with Kim you're Butt is smokin' I love that you all got dressed up for Vegas night -great stuff! It sound like your family had a great time- ps I love your family picture in the previous post!
Awesome pictures. It looks like you guys had a lot of fun! We were stuck for Christmas & new years but still enjoyed ourselves. You have such a good looking family. Happy new Year!
The pictures of you and your sisters all dressed up remind me of back in the day dance trips when we'd be crammed in a hotel room for a camp or competition and you would give us "make-overs." Oh the good ol' days!
K you look like you guys had way too much fun!! Glad you guys had such a great Christmas!!! Call me when you can!! If you have a land line let me know and I can call you on that.
Vegas night!!!! Brilliant!!!!! I can't even stand how much I love that idea! Your family is too fabulous for words! Why are asian tourists so funny?
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