WEEK IN VIEW

Jason had Scout Camp all last week. How lucky is he? They actually went from Saturday to Saturday so it seemed like he was gone forever!! Rather than bore you with Scout Camp highlights- I'll bore you with what we did here stuck at home all week.

• Saturday- Had a lazy morning then headed over to my parents house for a swim party for Maddy and Trenton's birthday(cousins) and ended up hanging out until around 10pm.

• Sunday- Woke up late for church because Jason wasn't here to pry us out of bed. Had dinner at my sister Steph's house. My mom and niece Hannah followed us home and spent the night.


• Monday- My sister Tiff showed up bright and early(like 9) and my mom and her busted out cooking French Toast- Seriously the only time I cook breakfast is when we have it for dinner. We went shopping at Pottery Barn and Gap then headed back and swam for awhile after the kids got a haircut. Later that night we hit On the Border for dinner-Yum! although I do always stuff myself to the max there.


• Tuesday-Pretty low key and boring. I think the highlight was Panda Express for lunch followed by an exciting trip to the grocery store.


• Wednesday- Cleaned up the house a bit then the kids had some friends over to swim. KFC for dinner- haven't cooked a decent meal all week.


• Thursday- Now here's where it gets good! My mom and I decided we needed a bit of vacation while the guys were gone(my dad went with his ward to the same camp as Jason), so we booked a room at Mandalay Bay. We checked in around 2pm then headed straight for the pool. Now there wasn't just "a pool" but a whole water playground. We found ourselves a couple of lounge chairs in the sand and headed to the wave pool. For those of you who fancied themselves as cool back in the day and went to Wet N Wild, you know what I'm talking about. Jace was actually an inch too short to be allowed in the wave pool, but he still caught a few waves with us. There was also a lazy river that was nice to float around in- I think that was Jace's favorite part, another separate pool, and a shallow kiddie area that connected to the side of the wave pool so Jace would sit there and when the wave would come it would push him around. Our room was on the 34th floor and we could see down the strip. It was nicely decorated too, even had a flat screen in the bathroom. After swimming we had dinner at the Burger Bar that's located in the shops at Mandalay Place. It was really good but I felt a little "fried" after having eaten onion rings, fries, and zucchini sticks. Then we went next door and had a fabulous piece of chocolate cake from the Chocolate Swan(Ithink). Seeing as we ate too much we figured a nice stroll down the strip would be nice. We checked out the Bellagio fountains and some other sights. The walk didn't look as long as it was, but we managed to make it back to our room and fall asleep in our feather beds.

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  Friday-Had some breakfast/lunch and went back to the pool for a few hours. We changed and drove over to Town Square and did some shopping. Lauren got those sassy red glasses at H&M. I know it's always about the food, but we ate at California Pizza Kitchen and it was really tasty. Worn and ragged from two days of non-stop action we drug ourselves home. Thanks mom for having the idea and coming with us!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Saturday Jason returned home and we were all happy to see him and talk about each other's adventures. The End(of a really long post)

HAIR TODAY-GONE TOMORROW

It seems Lauren has always had long hair. By the time she was 2 she was sporting pigtails. She's been asking to cut it for awhile and I just couldn't give in.

We went for a haircut on Monday, at that time I wasn't sure how Lauren would look when she was finished. Would I give in to the pleads, or stand my ground? Well as you can see she is winning.....

WAIT! STOP! Too late it's done....

11 inches later... Lauren looks great! Freedom to swim w/o tangles, hold a curl, new hairdo's to discover.

Hopefully we'll get this sent off to Locks of Love, although Lauren is having some separation anxiety. She didn't want it attached, but she's still attached to it.

SCHOOL'S OUT!!

The last day of school has finally come. The 1st grade had a bbq, singing and s'mores to celebrate. Jace loved his class and his teacher this year.He made the "A" Honor Roll and learned a lot. He's excited to start 2nd grade and will have a lot of his friends in his class next year. He's happy to be on summer break, although he was a little hesitant to leave his class on Thursday.


Since I was at the school, Jace and I went to the playground to wait for Lauren. When her class finally came out, this is how I found her(picture). All the kids around were celebrating their summer freedoms, but not Mr.Friedrich's class. They were all sobbing buckets. "I don't want school to end, it's not fair, I want to stay in that class" to name a few of Lauren's pleads between sobs. I have to admit I even teared up for a moment- thank goodness for sunglasses. Mr. Friedrich told them to line up for the last high 5's, but it turned into last hugs. It's not often you come across a class like that. Lauren also made the "A" Honor Roll. Thank you again to all the teachers that help Lauren and Jace learn everyday at school.

ACTING OUT

I have to say that sometimes my kids surprise me with what they accomplish. Lauren got a great teacher this year, he focused a lot on manners, respecting others, complementing your peers, being leaders, and working together. They also did mini plays in the class, which helped Lauren a lot to get over her shyness. Over the course of the year they worked to write a play focused around the time of the Revolutionary War. They had to try out for parts and everything. Yesterday all of their work paid off when they finally got to perform it. They performed twice for the school then had parent night last night. They all did a fantastic job, but I want to take a moment to gloat on Lauren. I knew she could memorize her part, but how well could she perform it- especially in front of PEOPLE. She was AWESOME, her personality came through and she was really into her character which was General William Howe, a British General who was quite vain. She even had the snobby accent down. I wish I could post the video, but my skills haven't evolved that far yet. I will however post some photos. Great job to everyone and especially Mr. Friedrich for being a teacher willing to go the extra mile.

TOOTHLESS

The tooth fairy was quite busy around our house last week. First, Jace lost one of his bottom teeth that was quite wiggly. Of course he waits until after bedtime to mosey on down the stairs because he knew it was ready right then. It was, I popped it right out. Then Sunday night we were at my parents house and Jace comes running in the living room to show me something in his hand, and it was one of his front teeth. He and his cousin Clark had been wrestling or something and Jace got it in the mouth. There were no tears, pain, or blood so it was all good! After two tooth fairy visits Jace has enough money to buy Optimus Prime or Megatron, so everyday he BEGS me to go to Target, so I guess I'll be giving in and taking him soon.

4th OF JULY WEEKEND

Why do 3 day weekends always fly by? It all started Thursday night when Lauren and I went to visit her friend Brooke who had moved to Utah but came down for the holiday. The kids swam and her mom Karen and I caught up with what's going on.
Friday seems like a blur, then Friday night we gathered up the goods and headed over to P.P.P. That would be the Pisciotta Party Palace where we swam the night away, barbecued some yummy carne asada, and finally lit off a mountain of fireworks. The kids had a great time and the adults seemed to enjoy themselves too. The kids thought they were hot stuff because they got to do some Roman Candles. Everyone survived and there were no trips to the emergency room. Success!!
Saturday we slept in and did some work in the backyard that is refusing to get done. Then we headed across town to my nephew Jake's baptism. After that we headed back home to swim and watch the UFC fight with some friends. I was pulling for Forrest and he won! Sunday we headed back across town for my twin Nieces baby blessing and their brother Jake's confirmation. The we basically hung out over there and had dinner at my parents, as usual.When we finally got home I checked to see if my final grade for my Communications class had been posted yet, and it was, I got a 94%. Yes that's an "A". Yea me!!

OUTING AT DICK"S

Monday was our friend Donald's birthday so we all decided to take him to the infamous Dick's Last Resort. For those who aren't familiar with it it's a resturaunt with very bad taste and offensive servers, but it's all meant in fun. So having heard horror stories from those who had gone in San Diego, I prepared myself for the worst. I was ready to be made fun of,hear a bad joke or two,be put on the spot- anything. Sadly I was diappointed. Yea we had to pass down food and our waitress looked like she just stepped out of a trailer in West Virginia, in fact I think Donald almost got slapped by her hanging arm skin, but nobody grabbed a fork from another table, wiped it with their shirt and gave to me or came and tried a bite of my food, you know the good stuff. The only highlight was that it was Donald's birthday so we ordered him the free lap dance from Taco. I captured some great shots up above. If we wouldn't have had that I would have left just feeling like I paid too much for chicken fingers. Being the forgiving person that I am I am open to giving it another try- someday.