Saturday, December 5, 2009

Festival of the Trees

Last night Eric and I went with our really good friends Kirsten and Aaron to the Festival of the trees. We went last year with them too. We started the night out by going out for our traditional dinner: Five Guys! It was delicious as ever. It took us forever to get there though. We ate at the one up in Sandy because it's right by the Expo Center. Apparently everyone and their dog was going to the Festival of the Trees too, because there was a lot of traffic. Well we finally got there after our delicious meal. There is so much to see there. They have little performances by dance groups and things, gingerbread houses, wreaths, quilts, Christmas trees, and small trees. We stick to the gingerbread houses and the big trees. It took us two hours to get through those, and I was tired. Last year when we went, Lincoln was just a couple months old. He is now 15 months or something like that. He was so good. He just sat in the stroller looking at everything around him. He especially likes the trees that had Mickey Mouse. There were actually a few that did. He is such a cute little kid. Anyways, we walked around looking at all of the pretty trees. Some people come up with some pretty cute stuff. The whole point of this event is to raise money for the Children's Hospital. People decorate the trees, and then donate them, and some things that go around the tree to the festival, and then they sell them and give the money to the hospital. I think it's a great way to raise money, and it's fun! Thanks for the fun night guys!

Vegas

So as I mentioned in my two previous posts, Eric and I went down to Vegas with my brother Jason to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We had a good time. We ate LOTS of food, watched football, ate LOTS of food, went shopping, visited with family, went down to the strip, oh and did I mention that we ate LOTS of food? It was great. I didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving Day, but my grandma and mom made a delicious meal. My sister and I helped a little bit too. It was a success. Oh, and I learned how to cook a turkey. I was really intimidated before, but I now realize that it is not all that hard. Thanks for showing me mom and grandma! I also realized that yams are not all that bad. I would NOT eat that growing up, but recently I have liked whipped yams. I guess your tastes change as you get older. Anyways, on Friday night my family went down to the strip. IT WAS CRAZY down there. I have NEVER seen so many people. We had a hard time finding a parking spot. Here are some pictures.

The Bellagio:



Gambling (we each put in a whole dollar. We were only going to do quarters, but they only accept cash:)


Me at the Bellagio water show:

Birthday Continued

So I said in my last post that I would go into more detail about Eric's birthday, so here we go. For about a couple of months, all Eric said he wanted for his birthday was Joe's Crab Shack. We were going to be in Vegas on his actual birthday, so I took him there two days before. My little brother came with us too. The food was delicious as always. Eric got to get hush puppies, which made him very happy. They sang him happy birthday, and every time they were supposed to say his name, they made him say, "I'm a pretty, pretty princess" while wearing the following:


It was pretty amusing. On the day of his actual birthday, we started out in St. George. We had stayed at the Baker's house. They are good friends of ours. Eric taught them on his mission and spent a lot of time with them. Sister Baker make Eric a delicious casserole for breakfast. Then we left to get on the road to Vegas. Before we got to my grandparents house, we had to take a little side trip because a certain two people got in trouble with the law, and got sent here:




I had to go bail them out. It was quite interesting... Yeah, kidding. I'm sure you got that though. Actually Brother Baker has been the assistant superintendent over a detention center that was being built in Vegas. It's pretty much done, so on our way down to Vegas, he had us stop by to give us a tour of the center. I had never been to "prison" before and I never plan on it. It was pretty interesting to see what everything was like, and to see how much "privacy" the inmates get. It was also interesting to see how they control the doors. Those suckers are thick!

Later that day, after we got to my grandparents house, we sang to Eric. My mom, grandma, and aunt made Eric a cake that looked like a target. It was cute.


Then Eric opened some of his presents. It was a pretty fun day. Happy Birthday again Eric. I love you!