Departure time 7:05 am

Wednesday night we got the kids to bed at a decent time and we finished packing things up around 10:00. Wynden wasn't sure when exactly our plane left, so he went to the rental van and checked the paper that we had left in there. 7:05 am, so he thought if we were up at 4:45 we would be fine. I thought maybe a little earlier, but he's the boss right :) We actually woke up a little before the alarms went off and things were going so smoothly. It was almost time to wake the kids up and Wynden was going to take the rest of the stuff to the van when the craziness started. He couldn't find the keys. Where oh where could they be...I was pretty happy because I knew he had had them last. We searched high and low. He went back out to the van and retraced his steps, called the front desk for lost and found, and nothing. Remember we didn't get up too early. Time was ticking away and there we were still at the hotel. We should have been to the rental car place already. Lexi and Hunter were up now and they were looking, I was looking, and Wynden. I started to take everything out of the suitcases and didn't see them. It's about 5:20 now Wynden checks the suitcases again and found them in a side pocket, oops my bad! No idea why he put them there. We are on our way now. We get to the rental car place and the shuttle wasn't there, the lady at the desk is like oh you have plenty of time. So we wait oh about 15 minutes there. Remember Wynden is cheap, so this car rental shuttle can't actually take us to the airport because they are a no namer and so we have to change shuttles at a different location onto a shuttle that is allowed to go to the airport. I am now stressing. It is 6:10 we have four carry-on suitcases, 2 car seats, 2 backpacks, and 5 kids to check-in, ride the tram, and get to our gate and on the plane for take-off in less than an hour. We get to the check-in and the line is forever, so I go up to lady who is calling out names (I am hoping she is looking for us). She informs me they closed our flight a while ago. I give Wynden the head shake we missed it look. He says try again. I go to the lady and say we'd really like to make that flight, so she takes us to the counter cutting in front of probably over 100 people. The lady at the counter was grumpy and said we stop checking in 45 minutes prior to take-off and Wynden says its not 45 minutes yet and she says OH yes it is and at that time the clock reads 6:23 (3 minutes over), she hastily agrees to check us informing us security is 2 hours long and there is no guarantee that we will make our flight. We are running now. I am carrying a backpack, Hallie, and Diesel. Lexi has a suitcase and a backpack, Hunter has a carseat, Karlee has a suitcase, Wynden has two suitcases and a car seat. Security is a mess, but just as I'm about to give up, a security lady opens a gate and says you're a family take the handicap entrance, I could have kissed her, but no time. There were about 10 people in line for the handicap entrance, we make it through after about 15 minutes. Now the tram, a little of a wait, we are exhausted. Both Wynden and I are sweating, so glad I showered that morning, whatever. We get off the tram and are literally running to our gate and of course it is at the end of the section of gates at which time we hear over the intercom Last call for allegiant flight to Bellingham we are closing the doors to the aircraft. Yikes! WE rush up to the lady and she says we barely made it. YEA! As we are going down the ramp to the plane a flight attendant meets us and says there is no room for our bags because the overhead compartments are full, so we get to leave them for gate check, which actually would work out great because then we don't have to worry about them until we've landed and everyone can exit the plane easily. So we board the plane and you better believe there was a lot of counting and looks of thanks for making us wait for you crazy people with a lot of kids. We sit down so excited that we made it. Come to find out that another family was still in security and we had to wait for them because they were checked in before the 45 minute rule, so there we sat on the plane for another 30 minutes enough time to have everyone go potty and get a bottle for Diesel ready. Now I am just glad to be home again. Vacations are fun, but it is always nice to be home.

Part Two

When we first got to Vegas we stayed at Tahiti Village, which is off the strip, so that was nice. They had a great pool with sand to make you feel like you were at the beach, which the kids loved! We visited the strip took some pictures, but mostly for the first part of the trip hung out with a friend of Wynden's from his mission. Our kids love their kids. They have four children ages 8, 5, 3, 1. You can imagine the looks we got when we ate at two different buffets with them (9 kids under the age of 8). We had a great time just catching up and relaxing. On Sunday we left for Williams, Arizona. We met Wynden's mom and stepdad there. On Monday we rode the train to the Grand Canyon. It was amazing. The kids did great. The train ride was a lot of fun. They had a pretend US Marshal on the ride for entertainment and to catch the train robbers that hopped aboard on the ride back. He gave Hunter a hard time cracking us all up especially Hunter. The train robbers wanted something from us, we offered Hunter, they declined. We headed back to Vegas the next day. Our next "home" was a World Mark resort (which we have stayed at before and we love). We really enjoy taking advantage of my sister's ownership in trendwest. At this hotel, we have two bedrooms and a lot more room. The pools are amazing. They really are heated like they say. The weather was so warm, we just spent Tuesday soaking up the sun. That night we went back to the strip to eat at PF Changs :) It was a bit of a wait, so by the time we got our food it was after 8:00. It's amazing how well kids will eat when you starve them to death. It was so good!!! On the way back to the car I saw a glass elevator that went up pretty high to go to the Outback restaurant I thought it would be cool to go on, so we did. Hallie's face is hilarious in the picture. On Wednesday, our last full day there we saw the lions at the MGM, went swimming, and watched the volcano at the Mirage. It was a great week!!

Viva Las Vegas!

For the past week we have been in Vegas. We left last Thursday and got back this Thursday. We had a great time. We took all the kids, which means the plane rides were quite interesting. On the way there we left at 8:00 pm, so we knew that the kids would be a little tired. I tried for two hours to get Karlee and Hunter to take a nap, but much to my dismay they would not go to sleep. The airport was a zoo, but the kids did great. We boarded and took off. It was a two hour flight and things were off to a wonderful start until we were almost there and the turbulence got a little crazy. We were on the worst roller coaster ride of our lives. The flight attendant comes on and yells for everyone to get in their seats and buckle, which I have never heard said so out of control before. I was getting a little nervous so I look over at Wynden and give him the are we going to die look and he goes "it's fine" (later I learned when Darin picked us up when we got home he told him he said a little prayer, I was like What!?) Anyway I guess Hunter has a weak stomach like his mom because before too long he was using the little white bag. And then Karlee says my tummy doesn't feel very good I need to throw up and as I'm grabbing the bag for her I'm grabbing one for myself. I throw hers at her and said here you go while opening mine and the rest is history. So to give you a good picture of what our neighbors on the plane were seeing Wynden in his row was holding Hallie on his lap and the bag for Hunter while he experienced the joys of plane sickness. In my row, Lexi is trying not to watch while Karlee sits there white as a ghost, and I am holding Diesel while he is climbing literally all over me all the while I am losing my dinner in a little, very little white bag. Boy were we glad to get off that plane.

Makes you want to eat an Oreo huh

It's funny how some kids are amazingly clean eaters. My niece who is almost 12 now, use to be so neat when she ate. Her face was hardly dirty no matter her age and she would get so upset if she spilled or got her hands dirty. My kids are quite the opposite. If their face is clean after they get down from the table you can bet your bottom dollar that they didn't eat a thing. I don't know if they are just enjoying their food that much or what, but it is sometimes embarrassing. I go and eat lunch at Lexi and Hunter's school with them and usually it is pizza when we go and both of their faces are covered in sauce. Luckily I am there to say you need to wipe off your face, but most the time I am not there... Diesel is even worse. I got so tired of changing his clothes after each time he ate something that I went and bought a bib with full length sleeves on it. I wish I could say that I think they will grow out of it or it will get better with time, but I don't think Wynden is any better :)

Poor Lexi!

Not! Our kids are so spoiled. Wynden often times reminds them of how much more they have than he did growing up. They have more clothes, food, and toys. Wynden tells everyone about how their stockings for Christmas were filled with cans of soup instead of toys. His mom would place one pan of lasagna on the table to feed eight people (four of which were growing boys). I can always see the violin playing for Wynden when he reminisces about his childhood. I had it pretty good remembering back. I knew somewhere I would find that money tree in our backyard if I looked hard enough after my mom told me to go find it. Checks were just free money right :) Anyway getting to my story, (which right after it happened my oldest sister, Heidi said you have to blog that), I took the three oldest kids to Lynden's got talent, which was put on largely by my other sister and my niece and they did a fabulous job, it was intermission and they had announced that there were cookies and water being served in the foyer area (2 cookies for a $1 or a bottle of water for a $1). Lexi and her friend were sitting up front by my sister and so they stood up to see where I was and what I was doing. Lexi of course was wondering if they would be getting in on the cookie action. To be honest with you I was debating whether to get them cookies or go and get ice cream instead. Anyway my sister says to Lexi something like "I wonder what your moms doing" and Lexi replies something like "are the cookies for money?" and my sister says "yes" and Lexi says "well then she is sitting". Oh Lexi you have it so rough.

Confessions of a Walmart Shopper

I love to shop and I love to find good deals. I use to run around Bellingham twice a week while Hunter went to preschool. I had a lot of time to figure out where I would find the best deals, how much things cost at one store and how much it cost at another. I have been a Walmart shopper and a Target shopper. I like them both for different reasons. At Walmart though, you get the added bonus of the shopping cart greeter, you know who I am talking about, he greases his hair to his head with some black slimy stuff and he is pretty creepy the way he stares at you as you grab your cart, he told me the other day "don't spend too much money". Walmart also has cheaper diapers, cold cereal, and toiletries. Let's face it though Walmart is pretty dirty. I've been ok with this up until the other day when leaving the parking lot I spotted a guy who had just finished relieving himself next to his car. The crazy thing was that he wasn't trying to be discreet. He did it like no big deal. That is when I started questioning my loyalty to Walmart. I have always thought people who won't shop at Walmart sound a little stuck up, like they are too good for the biggest white trash store in Bellingham, but I'm afraid I am going to be one of those people now.

Who Knew

A vacuum cleaner can entertain in many different ways:

1. Actual cleaning as long as Karlee keeps it on the carpet instead of about two inches away from it

2. Hallie thinks that the vacuum is chasing her no matter who is controlling it or what room it's in.

3. Diesel thinks that the vacuum is something he's suppose to follow and try to climb on when it stops.

What does this mean you might ask. My house gets cleaned and all kids at home are entertained while I just sit there and watch. LOVE IT.

Swiper learned his lesson didn't he.

It is amazing what people have time to create and put on the Internet. Wynden got an ipod touch a couple of Christmas's ago from the MLS and Karlee loves to play on it. She watches anything from Hannah Montana or High school musical music videos to "charlie bit my finger" clips. She loves to watch anything Dora and she knows how to find things on it by herself, so I let her just have at it. One day she comes to me and says this is funny mom watch this. It starts out like any normal Dora cartoon does and then of course here comes Swiper (a naughty fox that takes things unless you say "Swiper no swiping"), ready to take something special from Dora and out of nowhere sweet, little Dora pulls out a semi-automatic and blows a few into swiper. Next it shows Swiper on the ground with blood gushing out. Karlee says "pretty funny huh" and actually it was.