Oh what do you do in the Summertime?

Here's what we do...

We go for an evening drive. 

We visit friends in Arizona and eat delicious food.

We swim with cousins.

We relax and watch a show.

We eat popsicles.

We walk around the Temple.

We take a break on the steps.

We roast s'mores with friends.

We visit the splash pad.

We eat snow cones while Dad's at mutual.

We visit more splash pads.

We play with friends. 

We stay inside and play with toys.

We go bowling.

Family Reunion

Last weekend we headed to Northern Utah for a little family reunion for my mom's side of the family.  We ate, we visited, we had a talent show, and we shopped at "grandpa's store" (which they used to do when I was a kid and the tradition still continues... everything costs a penny!)  It was also fun for Claire to get to know my family a little bit better.

Us!  I chopped my hair off... got sick of baby pulling it!

Sweet Claire baby

Danny (bro-in law) and Tim (brother) sharing their skills

More sweet baby.  Love that face!  Her hair looks so red in this pic.

The kids were supposed to wear superhero costumes... here's Cal, the cutest little Clark Kent/Superman I have ever seen!

My Dad on the guitar... my family is so talented.

Cute parents!

Nephew Chase and his new gun.

Katie & Riley aka Captain America!

Me and my sis, Noelle, with our babies!

Croquet game!  Dan got 2nd place.

Cousins getting to know each other.  They are both so cute!

Claire and Great Grandma Western.

Claire and my sister, Jannifer, they match!  So cute!

Claire with Grandpa Hemingway.

4 Generations!

Dan showing off his amazing piano skills.

Claire in the car.  She did awesome on both drives!

* Thanks to Jannifer & Jared for letting me use some of your pics :)

Another Vegas trip

The day after school got out we headed down to Vegas to meet up with Dan's brother and his wife for a quick trip.  It was an awesome way to start off summer break!  In some ways I feel like we've done everything there is to do in Vegas (well all the clean things), but the two things we still needed to do were visit the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and go to a Cirque du Soleil show, so that's what we did!

We started the day off by eating lunch at Claim Jumper, which we love.  We then headed to the Shark Reef, which was really cool!  Made a quick stop at NY NY arcade (can you guess why?). Ate dinner at the crepe place in Bellagio (highly recommended), and finished the night with the Cirque du Soleil show Ka (amazing!!!).  Went to bed that night and headed home the next morning after a nasty breakfast buffet at South Point (will never stay there again).  All in all, minus the nasty buffet, it was a really fun trip!

And now for the pics...

Shark Reef tunnel!

Ben, Rachael & Dan

By the shark tank!

Jellyfish!

Sting rays.

Did you guess right?  Back at the NY NY Arcade for some giant claw game action.
Nope, still didn't win!  Maybe next time.

Yummiest crepes ever!

Mmmm... chocolate @ the Bellagio.

The fountains are always a must see.  Especially beautiful at night.

This show was literally mind blowing!  They did things I didn't think were humanly possible.  We really loved it!

In the Ka theater.  I don't think you're actually supposed to take pictures in here, but after the price we paid, I think they owed it to us :).

 I now want to see the Cirque du Soleil show "O" next time.  I've heard it's the best!  Hmmm... maybe for our anniversary in August?

Summer!!!

It's here!  I survived the whole school year!  There were days where I wasn't sure I would make it :).  I am soooo excited.  Time for vacation, relaxing, flip flops, popsicles, pool days and finishing up all of my projects.  Hooray!

City Creek

Last month while we were up in Northern Utah for our twin nephew's baby blessings (wish I had pictures to share) we also got to visit City Creek!  Seriously amazing!  It really made me wish it had been there when I had lived up there.  Especially when I worked downtown at Zions Bank.  I would have loved to be able to walk around it on my lunch breaks.  But no, back then I just tried to avoid the construction of what would one day be City Creek.

We first ate lunch at the Blue Lemon, which I thought was delicious!  Then we perused the stores.  I told Dan he should buy me a present at Tiffany's, but that didn't happen.  Still fun to window shop!

Here are my few photos of City Creek.  As you can see the place is filled with awesome water features.

Aside from having to wear jackets in April, we truly enjoyed the outdoor mall.

My sister, Jannifer, was our tour guide.  She works downtown and has been there a lot.  I was grateful she showed us around, that place is huge!

We'll be back, City Creek!

Vegas

This past weekend we enjoyed a little getaway in Vegas with our good friends, Lacey & Ryan.  Lacey was my roommate in college and we have stayed good friends ever since.  Luckily our husbands get along too!  We met up in Vegas and stayed at the Cancun Resort.  It is officially my new favorite place to stay in Vegas!  It is awesome!  The best part is no smoky filled casino!  It is a much more family friendly atmosphere.  It is not right on the strip, just a couple of miles south, which is fine by me!  I liked being in a quieter part of town.

At the Cancun!  The pool was amazing.  On the other side of that pyramid are water slides!

We got there Friday and spent the afternoon swimming.  That evening we went to an outdoor mall called Town Square where we ate at Claim Jumper (which was SO good) and then got my favorite frozen yogurt ever, Yogurtland!  I like it so much I even looked up how much it would cost to franchise one, just so I could have it in St. George.  Unfortunately my frozen yogurt shop owning dreams will have to wait for now.

Yogurtland! Seriously, the best!

Saturday morning we hit the Outlets and then headed to the Strip for some exploring.  Lacey had never really been there, so we had fun showing her around.

First stop: NY NY, just so Dan could play the giant claw game at their arcade.  Didn't win anything this time!

Next headed to Aria/Crystals where they have these cool twister things in the floor. 

Also at the Crystals, large pillars made of ice (and lots of shops we will probably never shop at)!

Lacey & me on the awesome Crystals stair case.  This mall has some of the  neatest architecture!

Flower garden @ the Crystals (the large flower is not real, fyi).

We then made the guys take a manly picture together by this dragon.

We of course couldn't miss the Bellagio fountains!

Love these gardens at the Bellagio.

Found this picture at the Bellagio.  It is made of flowers!

After Bellagio we made a stop at the m&m factory and then headed home to St. George where we played games and visited our favorite Mexican Restaurant.  We had such a blast with Lacey & Ryan and look forward to many more future trips w/ them!