Friday, November 14, 2014

Las Vegas 2014

Las Vegas 2014


We made Layla a bed on this square couch but it only lasted one night because I was to worried she was going to climb off or push of the pillows and fall. 

Layla and I at the pool on Monday. It was to chilly to be in swim suits but warm enough to still be outside. 


Layla at the shark reef.





Layla and I at the pool on Tuesday when it was warm enough to swim. 


Shopping on Wednesday with Tanner and Caesars Palace and eating Gelato. 

I am so blessed to have a husband with a wonderful job. With his job he gets a few fun benefits. One of those is that he got to go down to Las Vegas for a NextGen (software they use at his work) convention. So, it might not have been as fun for him because he sat in classes Sunday through Wednesdays but we did get evenings together. We left Saturday morning and flew down to Vegas. The plane that we flew down on was a plane with propellers on the side. This made for a louder than normal plane ride. Layla as always did well on the flight. She is such a great traveling baby. The flight was pretty bumpy because of the wind in Vegas and just outside but it was a short flight only an hour and a half so it was okay to have some bumps. We got to check into our hotel(Mandalay Bay) early which was nice with all of our luggage and baby stuff. After that we spent that day walking around our hotel. Which we got lost once or twice but we ate lunch there at Citizens Kitchen and got hamburgers. That is one of my favorite first meal while on vacation. Then we walked down the stripe and looking at the hotels and going to the malls where we knew we couldn't afford any of it. We really enjoy any adventure with each other even if it is something we have done in the past. That night we met up with the employees of Tanner's work for dinner. We ate at Lupo by Wolfgang Puck that was inside of the Mandalay Bay hotel. It was pretty good food and the service was a little slow but it was fun to get to know some of Tanner's coworkers a little better.

Sunday, Tanner woke up and had to be down stairs by 7:30 so Layla and I just relaxed in the hotel. I still had us dress in our Sunday clothes even though I knew that we weren't going to go to church because I am a total wimp when it comes to getting a taxi with just Layla and I.  Layla and I spent the day walking around the shops at the hotel, exploring the pool/beach area and then reading and watching the Joseph Smith movie. Around 4:30 Tanner was done for the day and we were able to spend a little time together before we met up with his co-workers for dinner. Sunday night we ate at this restaurant in the hotel called the Border Grill. It was Mexican food. The service was pretty bad but the food was okay. (This is coming from me who does not like Mexican food)

Monday, Layla and I decided to see if it was warm enough outside to go to the pool. In the sun it was definitely warm enough but there was a lot of wind that day. Layla and I ate lunch and then we decided after about an hour and a half that it was time to go inside. About that same time Tanner had a break for lunch so Layla and I went down and said hi to him. It is way nice to get to see him during the day. After that Layla and I took a nap and got ready for the day. We decided since this was going to be one of the days were Tanner was getting out a little later than the other days. Layla and I decided to go to the shark reef that they have at Mandalay Bay. It was a lot of fun and Layla liked to point at the fish swimming by the window. She really liked the rays and any of the colorful fish. After we were done we had a little time to waste so I walked through the gift shop and Layla picked out a toy. She choose a stuffed animal turtle and wanted to just hold on to it.  We then met up with Tanner down in the convention center. That night Tanner's coworkers were going to dinner with Equinox. That was the company Tanner worked for before he got hired by Foothill. Equinox said that they are not going to let kids come to this dinner so Tanner was nice and stayed with me and Layla for dinner instead of going to dinner without us. That night we went to a sushi restaurant at Mandalay Bay and it was really delicious sushi. Layla was having a hard time so we did not get to stay long we ate and ran. That night we also went and got some frozen yogurt which is really nice. I like frozen yogurt and especially all the toppings you can put on top.

Tuesday was a nice day. Layla and I spent the day at the pool. We swam a little we played in the sand, I read, and Tanner came to visit up during his lunch break. It was such a nice relaxing day. I went upstairs and got ready while Layla got to play in the tub.  I read and watched a little T.V. Since we don't have cable at our house it was fun to see what was on T.V. these days. I learned that during the day nothing is on. Then we played while waiting for Tanner to be done with his classes that day. It was always may favorite part of the day when Tanner would come back to the room. I love getting to see him as much as I can. That is way I am so grateful I was able to join Tanner down in Vegas this year. This was our last night in Vegas and we went to dinner at a place called Burger Bar at the hotel. I have to say I really enjoy a good hamburger. These were pretty delicious. As we were walking back to our room Tanners coworkers decided to try there luck at a few casino games. I heard they actually did well. They did not lose any money and made a little. Tanner and I joked about that it how they get you when gambling. We watched three hands of 21 and got kicked out of the casino because we had a baby. I was a little glad I was very tired of smelling smoke and alcohol the whole time we were in Vegas.

Wednesday was our last day in Vegas. Tanner had a two classes he needed to go to until the conference was over. I got everything packed and ready for us to check out. Tanner came up and helped me take the bags downstairs to have them store them but then we found out you could check for the airplane at the hotel. We thought that was such a great idea. So, we check our bags and did not have to worry about them the rest of the day. Tanner went back to the hands on room so that he could play around a little with the software. Layla was asleep so I went and sat in the food court right by his room and read. He was only there for like 30 minutes and then was done so we headed to go walk to the strip, specifically Caesars Palace and go shopping at stores that we could actually buy stuff. Tanner and I love to go shopping together. Even just grocery shopping. So, this was so much fun going to try new fun clothes on and getting to buy some cute things. We ate some Gelato by the fish tank which Layla loved. We shopped and dreamed of buy some of the things we saw. We decided to go to California Pizza kitchen before we had to catch a taxi to the airport. We ate at the Mirage and catch a taxi from there to the airport where no one was. We walked right through security and right onto the plane. We had a great customer service desk worker. He was nice enough to keep the seat next to us open so that Layla could have a spot on the plane. The flight went fast and uneventful. Layla sat in her car seat in her plane seat and played with the toys we gave her while Tanner and I played ticket to ride on the I-pad together. Ticket to ride is our plane ride activity. A movie is to hard to watch when you have a baby that is a wake while flying but the game is good because we can play and watch Layla. We were finally home and ready for the holidays to begin.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

HALLOWEEN 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
2014

Every year Tanner and I talk about Halloween and what we are going to dress up as. Each year we always come to the conclusion that we don't really like dressing up because we don't want to be anything but ourselves. Added to that we dislike buying things for costumes because we believe it is a waste of money. So, that means we have to be a little more creative as what we are going to be. Since, this is our first Halloween with Layla it made it a little easier and more fun to dress up because it was entertaining to dress her up. When we were thinking about what to be for Halloween it was around the same time that Layla was learning to crawl and would crawl very slow. Because of that we decided Layla should be a turtle and that we would be too.




My sister started a fun tradition a few years ago of having a Halloween party. So, each year my sibling and cousins have a Halloween party. Now that two of us are married, one engaged and the other one single it is fun to get us all together with our "dates" and have a party. We love inviting my cousins to come especially with us getting older we have little time to get together with them so it is always great to have a reason to get together.
This year my sister let us have the party at our house. We had home made root beer, caramel apples, cupcakes, cake, doughnuts and veggie tray for food. Then we had a few games of bowling, eat the hanging doughnut, and clue. It was a lot of fun. Of course the BYU football game was on in the background.









My sister took the good pictures from this party these are just the ones I took as things were happening.
Warning: There are going to be a lot of YouTube videos of all the doughnut games! 








Somewhere I had Annalee and Chad's but I cant find it now. So when I find it I will add it. 

Also, this year I was trying to think as a mom what would be a fun but easy tradition for a Halloween dinner. Once Layla is older we will be going out trick or treating and we will need something fun and easy for dinner. Tanner and I decided home made waffles would be a fun thing to do. Especially because I don't like making "breakfast" for dinner very often if ever so it will be fun to do something different. We invited Chad, Leanne, Aubrey and Chance over for dinner this year and then we headed over to Grandma Nilsson's for chili and doughnuts. As always we love getting to see Grandma Nilsson especially with her being closer to us we can just stop by.  I love that Layla will get to see her great grandparents often!