Day 2

We made it through the night.

Peacefully!

I was not sure how well Crew was going to sleep.

But this kid was so tired when we went to bed.

So tired in fact, that he came to us

asking to go get in his bed.

He was very excited about the pak n' play

that we brought for him to sleep in.

Thanks to Matt for that one!

I was not even wanting to bring it,

I just assumed Crew would not go for it.

Crew was so proud of his bed.

He kept pointing at it and telling us

that it was his bed.

Cutie! :)

Today we are checking out of our Hotel

and heading out of town.

Apparently though not soon enough!

This morning,
while Matt was out loading the van to go;
the phone in the room rang.

I thought it must just be about
our check-out time or something??

I quickly answer and hear,
Mrs. Taysom?
Yes, that's me.
I think?
Maybe they mean Elly?
That's the only Mrs.Taysom I know. :)

The guy on the line then tells me
it's the front desk calling.

They have received a  
complaint
from the room below us.

The complaint was:
  The guests below you worked all night
and now can't get any sleep cause your kids
are too noisy and stomping around.


I feel horrible and embarrassed!
I apologize over & over,
then promise I will keep my children
quiet.
  
The part that was hard on me was
that Matt & I had been constantly reminding
the boys to talk softly, no running or jumping.
We explained that in hotels there are rooms
all around us, and people are sleeping etc.

We did our best or so I thought,
to keep them quiet.

Good thing we are leaving soon!
 

But before we do; it's time to indulge on

Free Breakfast!!!

Okay, 

so I have had free hotel breakfast before

but this, 

this was really, really, exceptionally good!

They had so much to choose from,

delicious hot cinnamon buns,

scrambled eggs & toast,

sausage & biscuits,

all kinds of yogurt & fruit and

a pancake maker that this old lady described

as, "really slick!" LoL

The boys kept saying how awesome this

hotel is and how great all the food is.

They even declared it as, 

"the best breakfast ever!"

I am sure what they meant to say was,

"the best breakfast ever- except for Mom's!" ;)

The lady that was working this breakfast buffet

really was quite extraordinary.

You could tell that she cared about her job

and taking care of the guests.

Before we left 

I made a point to tell her,

Thank You!

I also mentioned to her 

what the boys had been saying

and how much they loved this place!

She made sure we left with

plenty of extras to go!

With full belly's and a good nights rest,

 Matt & I tempt our fate with a another go

at the Vegas strip.

Normally, I love Vegas and have had nothing

but good times & great memories.

I wanted to take the boys to see all these

cool Hotels and the different attractions.

Now that I am physically here with my

3 innocent little boys; I don't feel the same.

It was strange.

We decided to go for a bit.

Walked the strip a few blocks.

Checked out the MGM hotel.

All the gardens were beautiful!

Landen is into taking pictures lately. He took this of us. I love how it turned out.

Cody was loving the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty.  He specifically wanted his picture with her.

The boys were instructed to have a buddy at all times.

And of course we went to...

M&M World.

So fun! 

The boys loved it.

Naturally, I took tons of pictures.

Watched a 3D movie.

Matt let them each fill a bag 

with their own M&M's.

We checked out all 4 floors and

were tempted to buy everything!

Blue M&M's. What other colors are there???

I love this wall! Want to take it home with me.

These 3D Glasses Rock!

When were all heading down from the 4th floor

                           Landen failed to get on the escalator as the

rest of us were.

He froze at the top and would not move.

I tried running back up to him,

but as you know the stairs just keep coming.

A family behind us was with Landen

trying to help him and talk to him.

But he completely ignored their help.

 I made eye contact with him the whole way down.

I hated feeling so helpless,

even though I knew he was fine.

Matt was finally able to jump onto the

up escalator and rescue poor Landen.

I know it was very scary for him but

we all had a good laugh over it!

Including Landen. :)

..............................


Next we load up,
strap the kids in their torture devices,
say good bye to Las Vegas
and continue on.

Next stop...

Hoover Dam

Matt was excited to take the boys here.
Hoover Dam is featured in the first Transformers movie.
This makes it extra cool!!!

I love Crew's little finger pointing up. :)

Every time Crew saw the water he would call it the ocean.

Landen wanted this pic on the blog. I solorized some of the Vegas pics like this, he thinks its cool and wanted this one of him done like that. :)

Beautiful Lake Mead  {aka the ocean}

The last time we were here
Cody was 18 mo. old.
The bridge was not here either.

This is a spectacular sight to see!
It was amazing to view this up close.
I could not believe how massive this bridge is.
The amount of concrete used????
It was awesome. :)

.........................................

After our last escapade,
we are truly and finally on our way to
Arizona

No more stops,
we just drive and drive.

All these beautiful scenic shots
were taken from the passenger side window.
Aren't they breathtaking? LOL

At some point we do arrive in
Phoenix Arizona
I don't remember when,
it was dark, I do remember that.

We checked in at the fabulous
La Quinta Inn.
Peed, dropped off our bags
and.....you guessed it!
Back in the van.

Not a long ride though,
just a quick trip down the road to
Great Grandma Ferrin's home in Tempe.

After we arrived,
I was telling Landen about this house
and explaining that this is the home
Grandma Elly grew up in.
He looks around then says to me,
"well that is kind of weird."
I asked him why?
His reply,
"Because there aren't any toys here."
Makes me laugh :)

 This wraps up day 2.
We hung out for a time with
Grandma Elly and
Great Grandma Ferrin.

Then back to Hotel for a good nights rest!

Spring Break Family Road Trip
April 11th-15th 2011

 Spring Break has finally rolled around.

This week has been much anticipated by us all!

Mostly for Matt.

Who has absolutely no life, except for work.

We left Sunday morning, April 11th.

Matt rented us a most awesome MINI VAN!

Or Swaggin' Wagin' 

{as I like to call it}

After my last post, I am sure this comes as a shock

but for these kind of circumstances it is allowed.

We have never used a mini van and 

I will grudgingly admit it was rather nice! :)

To clarify...

it was great for vacation however,

we in no time soon plan to purchase one.

Back to the trip...

So as I was saying, we left Sunday morning

and drove strait to Vegas.

The drive went relatively swell.

The boys watched movies,

ate tons of food.

Good thing I prepared as much food as I did

cause, man those boys can eat!

I think Cody is a bottomless pit right now.

What will it be like when I have 3 teen boys

eating like this?!?!

Yikes!

 On our way! Can you tell who is not having fun? :)

Now for the part of the drive that did not go so well...

Crew, 

the poor little guy, 

had had enough of his restricting car seat.

 The last 45 min. or so of our drive into Vegas

was spent listening to this little boy scream!

The minute the car stopped and I unbuckled him

he was all kinds of smiles & giggles.

No sign of the trauma he,

and we, had just endured for the past hour.

We happily checked into our Hotel.

 The Holiday Inn Express

just off the Vegas strip.

Very nice. 

Dropped off our bags, 

took a quick tour of the place,

then forced our children back into the van.

So horrible, I know.

What our Hotel looks like at night. :)

See, I just felt we did not have time to chill.

I was so excited to go and show them VeGAs!!!!

Plus we needed to feed them some dinner.

We made it about half-way down the strip

and then.....

Crew decided enough was enough!

So much for a fun evening exploring.

We did not want to eat at a resturant

on the strip with Crew acting like this.

So we kept driving a few blocks over, 

Everyone wanting something different and 

Crew still screaming in our ears,

The next place we saw was Wendys.

And that was it. 

Nothing awesome or fancy 

like I had envisioned 

but by this point........

who really cares!

After our anything but relaxing dinner,

we took one more cruise down the strip.

By now it is dark and 

all the Vegas lights are glittering!

Crew thought every taxi cab he saw

was a police man. He would point this out

very loudly. Then say, "So Cool!!!".

Our wild night ended by 9pm.

The kids all happy & tucked in their beds.

 

Matt and I lying there, 

wide awake!!

We had one room

and it's really 10pm Utah time. :)

This completes day one of our trip.

And what a day it was. :)

Matt & I are pondering if this was really the best idea?!?!

LoL!!!

Well...............

It's official.

I am a Soccer Mom!

Sounds so weird to me.

Since when did I get so old,

have 3 kids and now this???

However, I can tell you this.....

I will not be a Soccer Mom sportin' a mini-van

with my awesome crooked "Soccer Mom" bumper sticker!

Sorry people!

That is just not me. :)

At one of Matt's indoor soccer games

Landen expressed that he too wanted to play Soccer. 

Of course Matt is thrilled to hear this from one of his boys!

Cody has never been that interested in playing sports.

So I singed Landen up for Spring Soccer.

His team name is- The Eagles.

There are ten kids on the team.

They practice just around the corner

from our house. So nice!

He had his first practice the other day.

Matt even woke up early so he could be there.

Landen was super excited for this day.

His coach is amazing.

I am so glad that he has such an awesome,

dedicated coach.

It was so cute to watch Landen.

He seemed to really enjoy it

and he has his first game in two weeks.

Later that evening Grandma Nette asked

Landen what his favorite part of practice was.

Landen says,

 " I loved kicking the ball into the goal!"

All ready for his first practice!

Dad took Landen on one of their Daddy dates to get all his new soccer gear. These are his awesome Addidas he picked out because they have green on them. :)

Stretching.

Running 2 laps around the field.

Practicing their kicking.

Dads vs. kids scrimmage.

Dads vs. kids

Dads vs. kids

Lando wrong way!!!

Dads vs. kids

If anyone touches the ball with hands you drop & do push-ups.

Cutie Soccer Boy!!!

Here we go again. 

Trying to make up for lost time. :)

I still have not even blogged Christmas.

Sheesh!

But...on to Birthdays we go.

We recently celebrated my 30 something Birthday

and even more recently, Landen's BIG 5!!!

This year Landen had his first ever friend party.

You know how middle kids always get the shaft?

I don't know, but according to Matt this really happens.

And guess what?!?!

Poor Landen has been getting the shaft!

But we made up for that big time this year.

Phew!

Landen decided about a year ago he wanted a

Lego Power Miners themed party.

I don't know either???

Well, I really do know, but that's beside the point.

See, there is NOTHING out there for this kind of party.

That meant me trying to get all creative and... 

so I convinced him to change his mind. :)

It worked!

Landen had an awesome Lego Party instead.

It was not too far off what he asked for so it

was a win/win situation.

I still had to get creative cause I was not

about to shell out the big bucks for 

licensed Lego party products.

This was fun and much easier though then Power Miners.

We held the party on Sat. the 29th.

I really wanted Matt to be there.

The party turned out awesome.

We played games like: 

pin the Lego head on the Lego guy,

drop the Lego in the bottle,

guess how many Legos in a jar,

popping balloons to find the green Lego.

Followed by opening presents & eating cake!

Landen is one satisfied 5 yr. old.

And I have to say Matt was a huge help, 

I think I thanked 500 times. :)

I had the kids draw their own Lego faces.

Cody made a Lego village for the party.

Cheated & made cupcakes instead of cake.

These are the party favors I made for the kids.

Getting ready to start the games.

Luke won pin the head on the Lego guy.

The kids seemed to enjoy trying to pop the balloons. We had to help it along cause no one was having success.

Opening presents.

Dropping the Lego brick in the bottle.

Pin the head on the Lego guy.

My home-made decorations.

My super not fabulous cupcakes.

The Birthday Boy!!!

Lando & Daddy

Proud Grand Parents!

FIVE

The party crashers!

I could not believe all the gifts he received.Thank you all so much!!!

And in closing I will include Thanks to you 

all who made my Birthday so enjoyable.

Thank you Matt for taking time off of work for me,

and for loving me regardless!!!

 Thanks Mom & Dan for my dinner.

Thanks to Nikki for taking me to lunch.

Thanks to My Dad & Tammy for the Olive Garden GC.

Can't wait use that with Matt.

Thank you Jay & Elly for the Target GC.

Thanks to Melinda for another great lunch date.

And Thank You to anyone I have failed to mention.