Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

Steve and I just returned from a one-week vacation in Oregon this evening. We had an absolutely fabulous spring break with Julie, Sheldon, and Jace. Thursday we drove to Woodburn, Oregon which is very close to Portland. We went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. There were acres and acres of beautiful tulips. Even though it was cold, damp, and rainy every day in Oregon while we were there, we bundled up and enjoyed tromping around the tulips posing for picture after picture. We stayed in a hotel in Silverton after the tulip festival and an afternoon of shopping at a nearby outlet center. What a gorgeous state! I'm really going to miss vacationing in Oregon after Julie and Sheldon move.

Look Who's in My Tree

When I came home from church on Sunday, I was surprised to see Natalie's car parked in front of the house. I quickly observed Cali sitting quite comfortably perched on one of the limbs of our plum tree. I've never seen anyone climb that tree let alone Cali! It was so cute, and she was so proud of herself. She even tied red ribbons on some of the limbs. How fun to have such a sweet granddaughter who didn't let Sunday attire stop her from acting like a monkey!!!

A Quick Trip to Missouri

Over President's Day weekend Steve and I flew into St. Louis so we could spend a few days with Melanie, Heather, and her family. We had a great time. It was sooooooo cold. Temperatures were in the 20's, but we had lots of fun building snowmen and having a snowball fight. We spent time shopping for Kyra's birthday presents at our favorite store, "Kohl's." We went to church, and I was once again shocked at how many women go to Relief Society in Heather's ward. I think there were at least 50 sisters in attendance. We don't have anything close to that in our little ward here in Vegas. Heather planned a fun Valentine's Day dinner and party. I also got to see where Melanie works in Jeff City. Tuesday morning everything fun came to a screeching halt because Heather had her tonsils removed. The surgery went well and finally Heather's frequent episodes of strep will soon be a distant memory. It's been a long ten years; they should have come out much sooner. Now, she just needs six weeks to recover. Ugh!

Saturday Night on the Tracks

Friday night Natalie invited us to the Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix located on Rainbow near their house. Cali had fun riding a few rides; and as you can see from the video, I enjoyed racing with Steve. Although I got a better time with each lap; unfortunately, I never did beat his time. I guess I'm just not brave enough to punch it on the gas even around those corners!

Disney on Ice

Today we took Cali to see Disney on Ice at the Thomas and Mack Center. It was our first official grandma/grandpa date with her. All three of us had a great time. We saw acts from Mickey and Minnie, Cars, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Tinkerbell. What more fun could a person ask for then seeing beautiful costumes, graceful ice skating, and enjoying it all while munching on cotton candy and popcorn?

Proof That It Snows in Vegas

This last week has been so cold. I've wondered if I really lived in Las Vegas. However, I have to say that one of my favorite things about teaching at Sierra Vista High School is the view I get of the mountains either early in the morning as I arrive for school or late in the afternoon when I find myself wandering out to my car at the end of the day. Today when I left school I couldn't help but marvel at the beautiful mountains. In fact, I thought it was so pretty I went home and asked Steve to drive back with me so I could get some pics. I think the pictures say it all!

The Happiest Place on the Earth

Linda's granddaughter was participating with her gymnastics team at an exhibition Saturday at Disneyland so Linda asked Becky, Pam, and me if we would like to make a quick trip to California, watch her granddaughter, and then play at the theme parks. We all decided it sounded like great fun, so we arranged our weekend so we could go. We ended up spending hours and hours at Disneyland and the California theme parks. We had a great time. I went on rides I don't usually go on like Space Mountain, Star Wars, Hollywood Tower, and California Screaming which was a huge roller coaster that had more ups and downs and circles than I want to remember. We also went on some tame rides like the new Woody ride, Soaring, Mattehorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, and Thunder Mountain. We had a great time, and we even managed to get home for church today!

Let The New Year Begin

The entire Christmas holiday was wonderful, but I'm just including here a post about New Year's weekend. Julie and her family were still here from Oregon, and Natalie and her family continued spending time with us. We had a great dinner on New Year's Eve, and then took turns trying on the "2010" hat of the year. I bought some fireworks at Sam's, and we enjoyed playing outside with our little show. As in previous years at midnight on the 31st, we found ourselves down by the railroad track near the Strip watching the sychronized firework show staged by various hotels. It was a fun show even though it was quite cold. Our "last meal" of the holiday was on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010, when we set the table with my special tea party dishes and enjoyed a delicious meal after church. Monday I was off to school and Julie, Sheldon, Natalie, and Thomas drove to Brianhead for a two-day snowboarding trip before heading back to reality in Oregon. All in all, I would say this holiday season gets a "10" rating!