Vegas, baby, Vegas

As I said in my last post, Rick and I were going to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera Spectacular! It was AWESOME!!!

Let me just say my hubby did real good (I know, fantastic english). He surprised me back in June for my birthday with these tickets as a combo gift for my birthday and our anniversary (tomorrow will be 8 years!). He did all the planning and I just had to pack and find somewhere for the kids to stay. Our good friends the Blass' offered to take them for 4 days, 3 nights. We owe them...

We stayed at the Stratosphere, I would highly recommend it. It was really nice there because there was a lot to do without having to go through the casino much. Also it is at the north end of the strip and so it wasn't as busy, as well as convenient access to the freeway.

We got there Tuesday night and got checked in, walked around to check out the place and had some dinner. Wednesday we slept in!!! Then we bought an all-day buffet (one price, go whenever you want) so we ate there for the day. Following breakfast (at 11 a.m., gotta love sleeping in) we went up to the top of the Stratosphere to ride the rides. We got an all day pass there also. They have 3 rides, the Big Shot, the X-Scream, and the Insanity. NEVER, EVER go on those rides in the heat of the day after eating (let alone a buffet).

Our first mistake was to ever go on the Insanity. It has 5 arms that hold 2 people each and then starts to spin as in moves you over the edge of the tower so that you are looking down about 1000 feet to the ground. Not for acrophobics, but also not for anyone who wants to keep their lunch.

After the Insanity (aptly named) we had to go in where there was some air and get our equilibrium back, as well as let our stomachs settle.

Next we went on the X-Scream, much more fun. It is like a little rocket that shoots you off the side and then after a pause over the edge... it drops a few more feet so that you are looking down about 900 feet to the ground. The front seat is fantastic!

Our favorite ride by far was the Big Shot. You start at about 1000 feet up and then the thing rockets you up another 180 feet before free-falling up and down a few times. It's similar to the one at Lagoon, only a million times scarier. The following pics give you an idea of how it was.

We went on X-Scream and Big Shot several times (once was too many for Insanity). Then we took a nap, oh the luxury. That afternoon we went to the IMAX and saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The first 20 minutes were 3-D which was pretty cool. Following dinner and another nap we headed back up to the rides. They were super cool at night. We must have rode the Big Shot 7 or 8 times.

Thursday we went to the pool and then shopping to the Outlet Mall. It was more a mall than an outlet. But after Rick had been there 1 1/2 hours I decided that he'd probably had enough shopping (he made it 88 minutes more than he usually does). After yet another nap we went to the Roxy Diner (at the Stratosphere), it was a 50's type diner and had fantastic burgers and fries. The strawberry milkshakes were yummy too. They had some live entertainment, one of the waitresses sang to a couple that had just gotten married 2 hrs before and she was great.

Then we headed to the Venetian for the main event...

The Phantom of the Opera Spectacular

Before the show started we walked around the Venetian and saw the living statues, the Grand Canal (with gondola rides), and watched one of their shows while eating gellati. It wasn't exactly the same as it was in Venice but it was close.

The Phantom was AMAZING...I can't even begin to describe how good the show was so I won't try. We had a great time.

Following the show we walked around for a bit and then headed back to the hotel. Friday morning we headed home and though we were anxious to get back to the boys, we certainly are going to miss our naps, staying up late and sleeping in.

Rick, Thank you for such a great surprise and a much needed vacation.

Summer Update

Wow, I can't believe what a slacker I have been. My last post was May 30th, oops. I check out other people's blogs but don't update my own. So here goes...Summer has been busy for us. We have been enjoying our Tracy Aviary pass. We have gone to the zoo a few times and been able to invite TeeMarie in June, Cecily and the kids in July, and my friend Erin and her kids just a couple days ago. We have had amazing weather every time we've gone and it has not been too hot thankfully. Jace's favorite past-time is pulling all the bibs and kitchen towels out of the drawer...at least it's quieter than pots and pans!

Over Father's Day weekend we drove up to Bear Lake for Fri and Sat for the boys to play in a Father's Day golf tournament. The boys took 5th or 6th place and my dad won a shirt for closest ball to the hole. I hear that the shot he made hit a golf path and took a couple hops toward the pin. It was nice to relax and let the boys play with their cousins.

At the beginning of July we went to the Aviary for a member's only night and got a little tour. During the tour a bird trainer came up and showed us a horned owl that had imprinted (meaning it thinks it's human). The bird began begging making a sound that Levi immediately imitated (and sounded just like the bird). Usually owls make a hoo-hoo sound but when it was begging it made a aaa-ooo sound. Our group stood there and was entertained for several minutes by Levi and the owl. The next morning Levi wanted some of my breakfast and began making the owl begging sound, it took me a minute to figure out what he was doing. He's a sharp little guy.

Levi has been super funny lately. I've been trying to keep track of some of his sayings. Here are a few... At our nephew's wedding his Uncle David asked "Levi, what are you doing" Levi replied "I being good." A few days later Levi grabbed Rick by both cheeks and said "Look at me when I'm talking to you" On the 4th of July he was saying good-bye to Grandma Cook and said "you go home, sleep all night, you get money, yeah" (Yes, we bribe our child to sleep all night) Just tonight Levi brought an apple to Rick and asked him to take the wrapper off (the skin?!?). We get a kick out of both our boys. Just the last week Jace has been scrunching up his nose and breathing hard through it. It is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. When I try to get it on video he won't perform.

On the 4th of July we helped TeeMarie move in to her new home in Woods Cross, just a few weeks prior Jared and Tera bought a house in Washington Terrace. Wow, we are all adults now. It's hard to believe that my baby brother is as big as he is, this Sept. they are having baby #2, another boy. My poor mother is granddaughter deprived. Jared's boy will make 7 boys and only 1 girl in the grandchildren department.

After helping Tee move the majority of the day we brought the boys home for naps and then met our friends Erin and Nate and kids for the fireworks at Fisher Park. Jace was amazed and totally captivated by the fireworks, Levi was scared and hid on various adult laps. He started to enjoy them the last few minutes.

Our next adventure was to Yellowstone National Park for the Cook family reunion. We stayed at my parents timeshare condo in West Yellowstone, MT. It was so nice!!! Levi got a little beat up every day scraping some body part or another. We didn't see any bears but did see a lot of bison and a few elk. It was crazy how close you could get to the bison. We stayed >100ft away at all times but some people were within 10 ft. We got there on Thursday, the reunion was Friday at a park and then spent Saturday with Rick's brothers David and Jon and their families at the geysers and hot springs near Old Faithful. I'd been there before but don't remember seeing all of the other geysers. Sunday we drove to see the Upper and Lower Falls before heading home.

On the 24th of July we had some friends over for dinner and then lit fireworks in the driveway. The kids had a good time.

That's an update on our recent activity. I'll try to update more often.

Rick and I are leaving Tues through Fri for Las Vegas...alone. I'm a little nervous to leave the boys that long (our first time ever to both be gone overnight). We are going to see Phantom of the Opera Spectacular!!! We're looking forward to sleeping in, laying by the pool and not having to plan our day around naptimes.

Life as usual

Not too much has happened over the past few weeks, thankfully. Everyone is healthy finally and the tonsillectomy recovery is pretty much over (Rick still isn't 100%).

My boys continue to shoot up like weeds. Jace has his 9 month appointment in a couple weeks and I'm sure he'll be at the top of the charts as usual.

On Memorial Day we took the boys to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. For Mother's Day I got a pass to the Tracy Aviary which includes access to the Zoo, Dinosaur Park, Thanksgiving Point and other places. It was only $40 for a year!!! There are some limitations but it will give us a bunch of things to do that we will all enjoy.

We had a great time at the Dinosaur Park. Levi liked the playground best of all, suprise, suprise. He kept talking about how the dinosaurs were going to eat him.

Quick update

Rick and Levi had their tonsils out yesterday. Everything went well and both are home recovering. Levi was bouncing off the walls yesterday (I thought pain meds were supposed to knock you out). Today he is a little more subdued, one minute he looks like he's about to pass out, then next he's running around.

Rick has had a rougher time, as we expected. But today his pain and nausea seems to be under control. Thanks to all our family and friends who've helped and called to help.

Easter and I Lied!!!

So I'm starting to feel like Typhoid Mary (If you're not familiar with her, she was a nurse back in the day who spread typhoid fever to thousands of people). I thought we were all better, I thought we could go out in the community, I thought that we had "turned the corner". Not so much. Over the weekend my babysitter called and she and her little boy had strep, from us (as you can tell from the following). They were on vacation in Arizona for the holiday weekend (SORRY).
Easter morning we got the kids up, fed, bathed and ready for church. Since we have the 11-2 p.m. time (right during lunch and nap time) I usually bring snacks for Levi, you know, grapes, string cheese, less messy stuff. I looked over to comment to Rick and began to panic as I thought Levi was choking on a grape. No, he just had swollen glands... The size of GOLF BALLS!!! I whisked him out, looked in his throat, called my brother (a physician's assistant) and then sent Levi home with his dad. I would've gone too but had a lesson the next hour.
When I got home Levi was still awake so I grabbed a flashlight and looked down his throat again. Sure enough, he had strep.
Then on Tuesday, Rick finished his antibiotic and by Wednesday morning his throat hurt again. Long and the short of it, we took them to a specialist, Levi has tonsilitis and had to get bloodwork done because the doctor thought he might have mono as well. Rick has chronic tonsilitis and now they will be getting their tonsils out this coming Thursday . Hopefully we'll be all healed to go to Bear Lake the following weekend. At least Levi doesn't have mono like we originally thought. If he had, we'd have been Typhoid Mary of the Wedgewood ward.

The Zoo

Since we've finally been healthy we decided to take advantage of Good Friday (Rick has it off work) and go to the Hogle Zoo. We got up and took our time and had a yummy breakfast of Orange Rolls and bacon. Then we packed up and headed out. The weather couldn't have been better.
The kids enjoyed being out and about and loved looking at the animals. Jace was very entertained (more by Levi than the animals). We took the double stroller but Levi walked most of the time.

Turning the corner

I think that we have finally "turned the corner". Since March 13th, we have had one illness after the other. First Jace came down with pink eye. Next (while hosting a St. Patrick's day dinner for our parents) my brother DJ diagnosed Levi with impetigo and myself with Strep throat. A day or so later Rick wasn't feeling so great. Then came the RSV weeks. On a Tuesday Jace started being a little conjested and the next day (at daycare of course) he was really lethargic and conjested. Being the mother of the year that I am, I thought it was just a cold and waited until Friday to take him to the doctor. Sure enough, RSV. That Saturday night I ended up taking Jace to the emergency room for the RSV clinic. Luckily he didn't have to stay, they just deep suctioned him, did a breathing treatment, suction again and then we got to go home. Since then there were ups and downs and I about took him back to the hospital a few times but over the past 2 days he has made remarkable improvements. He's happy, taking fabulous naps, and in general is pretty happy. I even got to sleep in my own bed (the first time in 1 1/2 weeks. Not only that, but Jace slept all night long. (I still checked on him a few times) Ahhhhhh. What a mostly full night of sleep will do for you. Rick had to go to the doctor again and he had strep throat yesterday and started antibiotics. So as of 9 a.m. he will no longer be contagious!!! As I said before "I think we've finally turned the corner" (hopefully I'm not speaking to soon.
Levi has also been letting his little personality shine and cracks us up. The other night I told him it was time for bed and he looked at me and said "I said NO!" Oh really.