LAS VEGAS, baby!

We took a trip to Las Vegas in February with our little family. Joe had a Physical Therapy conference down there, so we make it a family occasion. The drive was quite the hairy one with a 4 year old and a 10 month old but we made it. It was a little treacherous because of the complete white out. We were going 10 mph on the freeway and couldn't see anything. We're very grateful we made it there safely.Joe attended classes during the day while the kids and I experienced Las Vegas with my friend Claudia and her little boy Jace. MacKayla was so interested in taking care of Jace, it was cute. We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino and the first night we ate at their "Round Table Buffet"...not too bad.

Claudia and I took the kids to M&M World next to the MGM Grand Hotel. The kids loved it. Who would've thought there was so much M&M parafenalia. MacKayla was amazed by the large tubes of colored M&M's, colors she'd never seen before. She picked out a cute little souvenier and little Joe got a pack of mini M&M's.
We also took the kids on the tram between the Excalibur - Luxor - Mandalay Bay hotels. MacKayla thought that was pretty cool. She tried to ride standing, without holding on which was pretty funny. We also went down to the factory outlets on the south end of the strip. They had storytime in the mall (who does storytime in the mall...isn't it supposed to be in the library?) and then rode on the carousel. Little Joe and Kayla had a blast and thought that was pretty awesome.We went down to the Mirage hotel and ate at the California Pizza Kitchen which was 3 times better than the buffet and 3 times more expensive. Then we saw the volcano go off outside. We walked over to the Venetian hotel and saw the "living" statues. MacKayla was a little freaked out because he'd wink at her or slowly wave his fingers at her. In the end she thought it was neat.
We went over to the MGM Grand Hotel and saw the Lion Habitat. They have two lions living in a glass enclosed structure and they have workers in there with them. We also took the kids to the basement of the Excalibur where they have a myriad of kids games. MacKayla could play for hours on just $20 in quarters and won so many prizes. It's so sad that our $20 on the roulette table could be lost in 1 minute.The drive home was probably as adventurous as the whole trip. We didn't have quite the white out as the way down but it was definitely scary going. Our friends car also had a breakdown on the way home so we made sure they were able to get help. In the end we all made it home safely!

Hiatus....but we're back...

You're probably wondering if we've dropped off the face of the earth since our last post was 4 months ago. Here's a quick update on all of us:

Joe is still working on his doctorate of Physical Therapy at the U. He'll be a 3rd year student starting this summer. That means only one more year!!! YEA! His internship this summer was going to be in Idaho but will now be at LDS Hospital right here in Salt Lake City. We are so glad we won't have to be without him for 10 weeks.

I (Mindy) pretty much hold the fort down, taking care of the family. I've been working on losing weight to have a long life with my husband and kids. So far I've lost 44 pounds, 78 more to go.
MacKayla turned 4 in January and also started Sunbeams. This was an enormous change for her because she still has a hard time going on her own. She is still taking dance lessons and is working on her next recital for April.Little Joe just popped out his 4th tooth, crawls faster than any baby I've ever seen (it's freaky because it's like it's a really fast spider coming up on you), and has started standing on his own and has even taken a few steps. Only 24 more days before he is 1 year old!! He also has this weird fascination for the vacuum cleaner....Our family is doing well, happy and finally all healthy. Check back again for another update.