Italian Festival

The day after the Bite of Las Vegas, we decided to go across town, to Henderson, to the Italian Festival.


We ate alot of really good italian food, and Ady and Aly participated in a Spagetti eating contest. We were just getting ready to head over to the grape stomping contest when Brylee starting complaining of a stomache ache. I felt her head, and she was burning up. So we headed home. We didn't get to stay for to long, but we had fun in the time we did have!

Bite of Las Vegas

On October 17th, our family and a bunch of our friends and their families went to the Bite of Las Vegas Food and Music Festival. I had bought my tickets about a month and a half in advance (for half price - only $4 a piece) and had been not-so-patiently waiting for what seemed like FOREVER!

The Bite of Las Vegas is a huge concert in the Desert Breeze park. Katherine McPhee, Parachute, Uncle Kracker, Blue October, and Train were playing. The girls and I were super excited to see Uncle Kracker and Train. We LOVE Uncle Kracker's song "Smile". Ady, Alysa, and Bry were all dying to hear Train's "Meet Virginia". I was really waiting to see Train's "Drops of Jupiter".

One of my favorite things about these outdoor concerts (Like the Bite of Las Vegas and the Petapalooza) is that there is no seating. We just bring a big blanket and sit on the grass. And there are a ton of free games for the kids, and food vendors that sell food for pretty cheap.

Unfortunately, Train did not end up playing because their lead singer was sick with the flu. Bry was really mad because she REALLY wanted to hear "Meet Virginia". She says that that song is about Grandma James. lol!

Even without Train, we still had ALOT of fun! Uncle Kracker was great!!! They had Blue October play last, in Train's slot (a local band, that was pretty good, played in Blue October's slot). That actually worked out better, because Blue October isn't a band I was dying to see. So we only stayed to hear "Hate Me", their one song that I really like, and then we left ahead of the traffic.

On the way out, we saw the cops asking some guy to leave. Well, he refused to go, so the cops tackled him down and arrested him. This all happened right in front of us, as we were walking out. The girls were freaking out. I thought it was a good learning experience for them. I asked them, "Did that look like fun? Do you want to be tackled to the ground and handcuffed by the cops?" They all yelled, "No!!!" at the same time. "Well, then you better not EVER break the law!" I told them. :) I can be such an evil mom sometimes! But in my opinion, all kids need a good healthy fear of being arrested to keep them out of trouble!

I have added some songs from Blue October, Uncle Kracker, and Train to my playlist on the sidebar of my blog, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the bands.

me and Brylee

Ady

Alysa and Brian

Scarlett and Kris

Dustann, Adam and Baby Ashton - Brian, Alysa, Ady

Showing off their face paint

Uncle Kracker

The Fab Four

One of the benefits of giving blood here in Vegas, is that they give you free show tickets for donating. Brian and I both went to give blood on Saturday the 26th of September and left with 4 free tickets to see The Fab Four - a Beatles impersonation group at the Planet Hollywood on the strip.

We decided that since the girls are such huge Beatles fans, that we would take them. I got online and bought one more ticket, and we headed over to the Planet Hollywood.

The show was awesome! Everything was live, so I was completely amazed at how much they sounded like the Beatles.

The girls LOVED it. They were singing along, and dancing in the aisle. It was so cute! It was all they could talk about for days. It was really right up there with Disneyland for them! The only complaint came from Brylee. She was super mad that they didn't sing, The Yellow Submarine, because that was her favorite song!

After the show, the girls wanted to go get their tickets signed by the band. The band members were all so cute with the girls! They told them that they saw them dancing in the audience, and they loved it. They asked them each what their favorite Beatles song was, and were really impressed that they each had a couple. They promised Bry that they would sing The Yellow Submarine the next time she came!

If you are a Beatles fan, and are ever in Vegas, I highly recommend that you go and check out The Fab Four!!!

waiting in line for the show

Tribute to John Lennon

Meeting "Paul" after the show

Phoenix...again

Over the weekend of September, 18th, we went to Phoenix to visit Brian's brother Mike, and his wife Misty, and their kids Kelsy, Conner, and Zoe.

We didn't have alot of time to spend there - we got in late Friday night, and left Sunday morning. But we did have alot of fun Saturday, just hanging out a catching up. Mike and Misty's new house has a pool and a hot tub, so we really enjoyed that!!! Brian is now thinking that we need a hot tub too!

On the way home from Phoenix, we decided to stop by a little town called Chloride, about a hour outside of Vegas. They have some cliff murals, and Indian petroglyphs that we wanted to see. Unfortunately, the road was washed out, so we weren't able to make it up the canyon. We will have to go back a different weekend with the truck. So, we just drove around the town for a little bit, and then headed home.

Overall, it was a good weekend though! It is always fun to hang out with family and friends!

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Hair identity crisis

So, for the last four years I have been growing my hair long. And it got long. Really long for me. It was also getting really hard to take care of. So I decided to cut it shorter.

I went to the salon the Thursday before labor day weekend (and our death valley trip). It turned out hideous. It was some weird shoulder length mullet looking mess. I kept it pulled back into a ponytail for the entire weekend. There is no pictures of this cut. It was really bad.

So, Tuesday, I went to another hairdresser (at Salon Indigo) to get it fixed. She cut it in a cute, chin length layered bob. I liked it, okay. I kept it cut like that for about two or three weeks. But, I wasn't really happy.

I went to the hairdresser (Salon Indigo), and had her whack it all the way off. Super short. It was so weird. I have had short hair a majority of my adult life - but still, I couldn't get over the feeling that four years was gone in about 45 minutes. It gave me some crazy anxiety - which is even weirder. I was always the girl that was willing to do anything to my hair. My hairdresser in high school always used me to "try out" new haircuts. I had realized what a security blanket my hair had become to me.
Anyway, I am not sure that I like it now. I wanted more of a short "messy" pixie style. But my hair is too fine, and just won't do that. I am not sure that I like it. But I am still glad I did it. I am thinking I am going to grow it out - but not grow it out just for the sake of growing it out. I want to try lots of different hairstyles in between. And maybe I will find one I REALLY like in the process. I think it will be fun and exciting!

I plan on posting pictures of all my new hairstyles. So please leave comments. BE HONEST! If you like it the best long. Tell me. I promise that you are NOT going to hurt my feelings. If you like it, tell me - if you don't, tell me. I really appreciate honestly!!!!

Long hair

Medium Hair


Short hair
Okay - not the best pic. And for the record, I am not really that weird. Maren always makes a "mean face" in her pics, and I was trying to copy her. It didn't work out so well.

Happy Birthday Adalyn!

On September 14th Ady turned nine years old! I can't believe that my baby is nine already! It has gone by WAY to fast!

In other Adalyn news: Violin lessons are going great! Her teacher is amazed at how fast she has learned to read music. After only a month and a half, she reads the notes, without even pausing to think about it. Violin is really hard! It has been alot of work for her, but she is doing incredible. Most importantly, she loves it! I never have to remind her to practice - and lately she has been practicing twice a day. She wants to be able to play a "mini concert" for Maren and Matt when they visit Utah in December.

School is going great as well! Ady is getting straight A's (of course), and she is loving the 3rd grade and her teacher Dr. Muench. At the beginning of the school year, Ady's teachers referred her to be tested for the Gifted and Talented Education Program at her school (GATE). It is pretty hard to test into the program, but she did it! She was one of only two students in her class to be accepted into GATE! So far, she has been loving it! School comes really easy for her, so it is really nice that she now has something a little more challenging.

We are so proud of our Ady! She is such a beautiful, smart, outgoing girl. She is such a hard worker - she always does her best in everything! I know that she will be able to achieve any goal that she sets for herself, and will accomplish alot in her life!

Mt. Charleston

I have slacked off really bad on keeping the blog updated this last month! So I am trying to catch up.

On September 12, we went to Mt. Charleston. Brian organized a big party with a bunch of our friends. We got rained on, but it was still fun! We also took our dutch ovens and made some potatoes. They turned out good, and we were quite proud of our first attempt at dutch ovening - which is sad since we have had the dutch ovens for about 9 years now.

We really are lucky to live where we do. We have the hot desert climate (which I love, especially in the winter when we have NO SNOW!), but if we want to escape the heat the mountains are only a 1/2 drive away.