Squinty the Chinese Cat

We had a pet for a day, or at least a couple of hours. This little kitten followed me and Alex home from the bus stop. Caleb and Leah were amused watching this kitten climb up into the windowsill. Every time it would jump up, Leah would flinch. She thought it was going to jump onto her even though there was glass there. Caleb said, "Watch mom! He follows me!" He would walk to the other side of the window and the cat would follow. When they would look at the cat's face they noticed that his eyes would squint and Caleb thought they looked like Chinese eyes. So, that's how they named him Squinty the Chinese Cat. When we ate dinner Squinty disappeared and the kids wondered if he would come back. Caleb wanted to save the cat to give to Aunt Denise for her "cat collection". Squinty did come back when Denise and Robin came over, but Denise said she didn't have room for the kitty. Maybe he'll come back and visit again.

IQ test

My IQ score is 126!

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Mommy/Daughter Day at the Salon

I decided it would be fun to take Leah to a hair salon to get a "real" haircut. After a major tantrum trying to get her to come with me to the mall (I'm sure as she gets older she'll WANT to go to the mall and will be throwing tantrums about that), we finally got to our appointment. We both got our hair cut at the same time. She did really well. She was really quiet, and was so good while they cut and styled her hair. Now her hair actually has some shape to it. Mine is short and will be easier to blow dry again.

We ate lunch then dealt with more tantrums before returning home so Leah could take a much needed nap!

Happy 7th Birthday, Alex

Alex got 3 birthday parties this year. The first one we were in Las Vegas for. On Sunday we had some friends, Ryan and Sierra, come to Alex's party at Braydon's house. I made a Lightning McQueen cake for him. He got the "UnMeltAbles" folder, notebook and pencil set from Shane and Katie (from M&M world), and a Star Wars Lego set from us. At my mom's house we had another party for him. My mom had made cupcakes that I just quickly frosted at put icing decoratons on them of McQueen and Mater.
He got transformers, gloves and a shirt from my parents. Great-Grandma and Grandpa Holt gave him a Lightning McQueen towel that he loved.

We had also taken Alex to lunch at Applebee's for his birthday. He got a birthday ice cream sundae. He enjoyed getting the "birthday boy" treatment all day. When we got home that night we had another gift for him. We didn't want to take all of his gifts to Las Vegas with us, so he opened his pirate set and Spiderman dominos when we got home. He had a fun birthday.

Our Trip to Las Vegas

We started driving Friday, January 4th, to go to Las Vegas for a long weekend. We got to Shane and Katie's house around noon. The kids were so excited to see Braydon. I think Braydon was equally excited to see them. We rested at their house for a few hours until Shane got home. Then, Jon and I were able to go to the Las Vegas temple. It was our 8th anniversary on January 5th and it was nice to be able to go on a date together, especially to the temple.

Saturday was a full day. I guess I could say it was full of walking too. We went to M&M world, Coca-Cola World, and saw the Lions at MGM. Here are Jon and I on our anniversary at M&M world. We were waiting to see the 3D movie "I left my 'M' in Las Vegas".

This is Braydon, Alex, Caleb, and Leah at M&M world. The kids all had their own M&M shirts that were different colors, so the kids all took a turn standing by "their" M&M.

At Coca-Cola world we all ordered the platter of floats. It came with 8 different flavors of ice cream floats. I had Orange Fanta, Leah had Root Beer, Braydon had a Coke float, Shane's was Sierra Mist, Katie's was a Red Fanta float, Caleb and Alex had slushie floats (one red and the other coke), and Jon's was something that had a strange name that I can't remember but it was a green slushie float.

We also walked to the Bellagio to see the water show, but it was too windy and it was not running. Caleb asked me after we started walking away, "Why did we walk all the way down here and not see any water show?" He didn't like the walking. Leah also didn't like walking and thought it would be more fun to scream and cry and throw fits while we walked down the strip of Las Vegas. FUN! I'm glad she eventually got over it, but it wasn't until after a long time and a pair of wet pants!

We went to a place for lunch that served $1.00 hot dogs that are a foot long! The kids just looked at it and didn't really know what to do with it. I got cheese on mine and Jon's was chili and cheese. Yum.

We went to church with Shane, Katie and Braydon on Sunday. It was the first Sunday of the year and the class change day. So, Leah had her first day of Sunbeams in Las Vegas. I think she really liked it. The boys all went to Braydon's CTR 6 class and had a good time together.

Monday went by really fast. Before we knew it we were headed home. It was a nice vacation for us. Shane and Katie's house looks so nice. We really had a good time there visiting with them and playing games.

Friends

My friend from High School, Rachelle, was in Utah for Christmas break. We all wanted to get together to catch up and to see each other's kids. We met at Randa and Eric's house for a BBQ dinner. It was so fun to see Rachelle and to meet her baby, Drayton. Our friends, Haley and Devin, couldn't be there because she was in the hospital having a baby girl. Now I have another little one I need to meet!

Randa, and Rachelle with Drayton.

Leah, Makayela (Randa and Eric's), Alex, Kai (Randa and Eric's), and Caleb.

New Years Eve

We went to Oma and Opa's house on New Year's Eve. Oma made her traditional Christmas meal of German sausages and potato salad. She also made a really yummy cheesecake. It was so fun to visit with them. The kids love playing in Opa's room. He has a slot machine that they enjoy "winning" the money from. He also has a lot of glass nicknacks and neat German beer steins to look at. Oma always decorates the house so beautifully for Christmas. It takes her a long time to set it all up, but it's always fun to look at all of her decorations.

After we left their house we went to the Gateway to have dinner and then went to the Jazz game. We met my parents and their friends, Frank and Clea, at the Energy Solutions Arena. It was a really good game. The Jazz won! GO JAZZ! This game broke their awful loosing streak. I'm glad they won. I hope they can keep it up.

In this picture you can see how far up we were in the stands. It was almost like watching it on TV, only louder!It especially got louder when they started to hand out the spirit sticks that the kids got to make lots of noise with!Sorry, mom, I know you don't like this picture!!