Friends' Gift Exchange

Rather than our customary "Big Bang Theory" night, our friends got together today for a Christmas Party/Gift Exchange at Jen's place. Deana got there early, so her and Jen were playing Mario. Brayden didn't even bother to take off his coat before he joined them. He loves Mario!

Once we were able to drag him away from the TV, we started with the exchange. Craig got an awesome hooded blanket from Jen. This "Angry Bird" suites him perfectly. 

Deana gave me a wonderful Mickey Mouse clock! I absolutely love it. I can't wait to take it home and put it up. This is too cool to worry about preserving in the box.

Jen gave Brayden a cute stuffed toy. Brayden calls him Angry Yellow. He had to work to keep it away from the dogs, Teeko and Lucky.

Deana's gift to Brayden was extra thoughtful. It is a personalized "Toy Story III" book. It has his name, the names of his friends, and his address embedded into the story.

We finished off the night with Jen reading Brayden's new story to all of us. It is so cute! I love Christmas. I'm so excited to have a little girl join us next year with the festivities.

Pioneer Day

Since Craig doesn't get Pioneer Day off work Brayden and I spent the day at the Matiyasic's with Deana and Jen. Brayden spent most of the afternoon playing in the water with Lucky and Teeko. At one point Deana kinked the hose so the pressure would build and startle Brayden. Well, he catches on very quickly. Now he's obsessed with kinking the hose and stopping the sprinklers.

After getting Brayden dressed and dry, Deana, Jen and I took him to the concrete in their backyard so we could throw Pops at the ground. His arms are getting pretty strong so he was able to get most of them to pop on his own. There were still a few that he had to stomp on.

Vegas 2011-Part 2

This trip was quite different from last year because our group split up a lot. Charles, DJ and Joe spent the majority of their time gambling and sleeping in. Jen and Casey had other friends vacationing in Vegas at the same time, so they hung out with them a bit. Deana wasn't feeling great so she usually went to bed early. It was different, but that didn't stop Craig and I from having an amazing time.

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I was the only one there who was a mother, so Craig was sweet to help me celebrate that day. He told me that the day was mine and we would do whatever I wanted. We invited everyone to join us. Deana, Jen and Kaylyn took us up on our offer and off we went. our first stop was the dolphins!

We went to Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. I don't think I've ever seen a dolphin in real life before. It was so much fun to watch them play.

We were even lucky enough to see some trainers come out and have the dolphins do some tricks. Right after this, Brayden called from my parents' house to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. It was so sweet. I really want him to come with us next year so he can see all of this. I think he'd love it.

Next, we went to the Secret Garden portion of the exhibit. It wasn't nearly as large as the area with the dolphins, but we saw some really cool cats.

I was starting to miss my little boy, but I really loved spending my day with my wonderful husband and awesome friends. Once we had finished up at the Mirage, we drove ourselves to the mall just south of the Strip.

Before we left Utah, I had mentioned that I really wanted to try an oxygen bar someday. I had heard that they were rather interesting and really relaxing. Well, we found one at the mall. None of us had every been to one before so we tried it out.

It wasn't quite what I had expected. First off, it wasn't the most glamorous thing I've ever done. No amount of jewelry could have made that nose piece look good. And the air was kind of cold, but the variety of flavors was great! Jen and Deana did this with me and we had fun sampling the different flavors until we each settled on our personal favorites. The lady running the booth had a few other relaxing toys that she shared with us while we sat there. the head scratching one was my favorite.

Meanwhile, while we were hooked up to oxygen, Craig and Kaylyn tried the water massager. Once you lay down on this thing, a piece a plastic is the only thing separating you from the deluge of water spraying at you. Craig said it was pretty awesome. Next time we go, I want to try that one!

On our way out, Jen bought me a cookie that said "Mom" on it. It was so sweet of her. For not being able to see my son today, I had a really great Mother's Day! When we got back to the hotel, Dorothy and Gary had arrived so we all met up with them to show off our room and then enjoy the last few minutes of Happy Hour and the Margarita Bar.

This morning, we met up with the rest of the bowling league to officially finish their season. It was fun having Craig on the Matiyasics' team this year. I felt like I was supposed to be there rather than just being a tag along.

After bowling, most of the group went to the New York, New York to ride the Manhattan Express, but it was closed. After goofing around at one of the little shops inside, we went back to the Orleans for swimming, dinner and gambling. It was a really great evening. I learned two new games; Let It Ride and Texas Hold 'Em. Well, I've played Texas Hold 'Em before, but this one was played between each player and the dealer. Craig had a lot of fun at the Blackjack table with Joe. We had a great time and it was a great way to end our vacation. Now I'm ready to go home and see my boy.

Vegas 2011-Part 1

Here we are, back in Las Vegas! That means it's time to start having a good time.

We all drove up last night, but with a combination of people getting off work at different times and needing enough room to drive DJ and Kaylyn (the Matiyasics' cousins from Florida) back to Utah after, we rode up in three different vehicles. Deana rode with us and we got there first. Joe rode with Charles and they arrived next. Casey and Jen rode up together and got there last.

We were staying in style on this trip. Last year, we hated having to move to a different hotel in the middle of our vacation, so this year we stayed at the Orleans from the beginning. But we didn't stay in just any old room. We got ourselves the Louisiana Suite complete with two separate bedrooms and a living room/kitchenette in the middle. It was great having so everyone in the same room.

 

This picture is showing off two things. First, we were listening to Dane Cook on the drive down yesterday and his bit about old fashioned pictures really stuck with us. He mentions that no one is ever smiling in those pictures. They just look stoic and creepy. So that kind of became the theme of our weekend. This picture is our attempt at all looking stoic and creepy. Second, one of Deana's coworkers mentioned that you could buy liquor at the Costco in Vegas therefore saving yourself a ton of money. So we hit the Costco this morning after picking up DJ and Kaylyn from the airport and loaded up. Here, we were also showing off our plethora of alcohol. Now that everyone was there it was time for the party to begin!

Easter Egg Hunting at the Matiyasic's

After dying all of those eggs last night we had to come back over to the Matiyasic's to hunt for the eggs. Everyone pitched in to help provide all the candy filled eggs and toys that Brayden would hunt for. I think Deana and Jen were more excited than we were. They went into the backyard to hide everything while we kept Brayden in the house.

Brayden was finally old enough this year to go hunting by himself. We helped when he got stumped, but he did a really good job on his own.

Once everything was found and gathered, Brayden wanted to play with his toys. I was glad that he was more interested in those than with the candy.

First, Jen played catch with him.

Then Brayden and Craig played basketball.

Finally Lucky popped the bubbles that Brayden blew. It was a wonderful day! I really love relaxing with friends on the holidays.

Coloring Eggs at the Matiyasic's

Because the holidays are so much more fun when kids are around, Deana invited us over to her parents' house so we could all dye eggs. It was so much fun! All the adults joined in, even Charles and Jen.

Since Deana bought the coloring kits from the store, there were a few nifty new tools that he had to teach Brayden how to use.

It didn't take long before he wanted to do it all by himself.

Deana had quite the spread for us. There were about 2 dozen mugs with different colored dye inside. Considering how many eggs Dorothy had for us to color it sure sped up the process.

Brayden was struggling with this flimsy piece of metal when he tried to pull the eggs out of the mugs. Apparently it is much more effective at dropping the eggs in...

...So we grabbed him a spoon. Much easier.

Now we are all ready for the Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow!

Welcome 2011!

In order to welcome in the new year, a bunch of our friends met for dinner at Virg's. It was one of the few places that wasn't wildly crowded and their food was delicious.

After that, we hung out at the place where Charles was house-sitting. We got in our pajamas and played until midnight finally rolled around. We spent most of the night playing King's Cup and Disney Sing-It. It was a great night!

I don't remember what time we finally went to bed, but it was a great New Year's Eve! Bring on 2011!

Christmas Party with Friends

Christmas is only nine days away. It is time to party! We kicked off the party season with friends. We got together at Jen's house for an excellent turkey dinner and gift exchange.

Each person that came contributed something to the dinner. I made the turkey all by myself and it was delicious! Once dinner was cleaned up, we handed out the gifts. Just before Thanksgiving we picked names out of a bowl for our Secret Santa. We tried to keep things as much of a secret as possible and I think it was a huge success.

Charles bought Craig a bowling ball bag and he is getting a green sinister bunny (from the game Killer Bunnies) embroidered on the side. Craig has been joking about wanting to get that bunny tattooed on him somewhere and I think this is a great alternative.

Brayden couldn't let Deana open her gift on her own.

Deana bought me this gorgeous picture frame and to top it off, she had already filled it with pictures. I absolutely love it. All of my favorite memories with friends is represented in this frame (Vegas, camping, etc.). I can't wait to hang it up.

Jen was sweet enough to buy a gift for Brayden. It's a puzzle of one of his favorite cartoons.

I really love our friends. They keep us smiling, even when life gets hard. I'm so glad that we got to celebrate Christmas with them. Merry Christmas, everyone!



Kelsi's Final Hurrah

Craig and I are planning on trying for another child soon, so we planned this camping trip to celebrate my last few days before pregnancy. We planned on leaving as soon as everyone got off work on Friday, August 13th, but it took longer than we thought. That's not a big surprise considering it was Friday the 13th. By the time we got to Soapstone, it was already dark and pretty full. We stopped at the first site we could find, even though it had no shade and tons of ants.

We spent Friday night setting up camp, eating dinner and s'mores, and looking for shooting stars.

We woke up on Saturday to a beautiful day. There was an awesome rock slide nearby that we climbed up after breakfast. Craig, Charles, and Jen had some stuff that they needed to buy, so they went to the grocery store in Kamas while Deana and I stayed behind with Lucky. We played cards and chatted until the others got back. That night we ate yummy tin foil dinners.

Kelsi feeding Lucky some of her tin foil dinner.

Nom Nom Nom...

Deana patiently waiting for us to finish eating.

Craig taking care of the fire.

 Saturday night was my favorite part of the whole weekend. After a delicious dinner, we cracked out the drinks and started laughing. I'm kind of glad I don't know what time we finally went to bed.

Charles and Jen trying to avoid a hangover.

I know I look like I'm dancing, but I'm trying to catch my balance after tripping on the chair.

Craig showing off his battle wound from his fight with a tree. Believe me. The tree lost.

Deana looking gorgeous while taking down camp.

Sunday morning, Charles experimented with cooking bacon over the fire. It had an interesting taste, but it was delicious! Then we packed up an come home. It was so dirty there that Craig and I went to the Matiyasic's that evening so we could sweep out our tent. While we were working, Brayden was playing with the hose.

Dorothy was kind enough to supply dessert after we were done cleaning. Here is Brayden thoroughly enjoying his first ice cream cone. It was a great weekend. I can't wait to do it again.