Old Friends and New!

Old friends ... This picture is of my friend Jennifer and her husband Duane. I knew both of them in Lompoc when I was a kid. Duane's parents and my parents were good friends but I didn't know Duane that well. His sister twirled baton with me when I was little and then also twirled flags with me at BYU. Jennifer moved to Lompoc not too long before I moved away when I was 13. We didn't keep in touch but have had some contact over the years through family and even bumped into each other once my last year at BYU. I got back in touch with Jennifer a few months ago when I started using facebook. (Have I said how much I love facebook for getting me back in touch with so many of my friends and helping me keep in better touch with so many others?) Its been lots of fun to catch up on their lives and hear about them and their kids. So, when we decided to go to Vegas again, I suggested we meet up (since they live there). This was our afternoon/evening together! Duane & Jennifer Bickmore, me and Steve.
First, we met up with Duane and Jennifer and their 4 kids in the MGM Grand Hotel. We went to M&M World, where we watched the M&M Movie. You'd think it would be Taylor's highlight of the trip, but NO! Taylor HATES it - its 3D and it freaks her out - so she buried her face in my shirt the ENTIRE movie (she remembered how much she hated it from last year and never even opened her eyes when it started). She does LOVE the store and the big M&M statues!


This picture is by the M&M sponsored race car on the 4th floor of the store.Then we went next door to the Coca-Cola Store. We got a tray of Floats - 8 different flavors for the kids to have. I guess we don't have floats very often at our house ... none of our girls ate theirs. Jessica didn't like the flavor of her soda. The ice cream and root beer mixed together was NOT working for Taylor. And I completely forgot that Alyssa HATES all soda - she doesn't like carbonation. So, Steve got to eat their floats. :) Nice thought. Thanks Duane for buying! This picture is of Hunter, Alyssa, Samantha, Sydney and Sari.This is Taylor trying the float ... we gave her root beer, thinking since she loves root beer she'd maybe like the float ... but she decided NOPE! New friends ... As we were leaving we noticed the Coca-Cola bear and we all took pictures with him! Samantha, Sydney, Alyssa and Sari. Alyssa and Sari discovered they are twin friends ... born on the exact same day - both in Utah County (one in Provo, one in Orem). Alyssa adored Sari and has already asked when she gets to see her again. Our family with the bear. Taylor nor Jessica was very thrilled with being this close to the bear.After M&M World and the coke floats, we went to Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. The kids all sat at one end of the two tables and the adults sat at the other. They got along great the entire dinner! Thanks Karianna and Samantha for sitting with them and helping keep them entertained. back row - Sari, Sydney, Alyssa, Taylor, Jessica. front row - Hunter, Samantha and Karianna.

On our way to the car, we walked past the lion exhibit. They have 2 or 3 lions in the exhibit most of the day. It was almost 8pm so I thought it would be closed, but to our surprise, there was a small crowd and still 2 lions. We stopped to watch. This is of the kids watching the lions from behind the glass walls. While we were standing watching them sleep, two trainers came out to feed them. I've seen the lions probably a dozen or more times, and even seen trainers with them, but never seen a feeding. Its pretty impressive. They each had a 3 or 4 lb brick of raw meat formulated for lions (I think they said it was horse meat!). Anyway, the way they fed them was by breaking off small pieces of it and throwing it at the glass windows. The lions would then lick it off the glass that was inches from us - so we got to see their teeth and giant jaws! Did you know a lion's mouth can open up to 12 inches wide? BIG MOUTHS!

They also hand fed the lions at times like you can see in this picture.

I think this afternoon/evening was a highlight for me on this trip. Steve is typically rather shy around my friends and feels like he has nothing to say. As a result, we haven't done a lot with my friends on our trips or even my friends who live locally (if Steve doesn't know them well). Its been hard for me because my friends mean so much to me. I've felt like I drifted away from many of my friends and that was hard for me. If you know me really well, you know that keeping in touch with people has always been a big deal for me. I had several military friends move when I was in elementary school and I wrote to them a lot. Then when I moved, keeping in touch with Lompoc friends was a BIG deal to me. I was a big letter writer. I remember writing LONG novels/letters to friends and anxiously waiting for letters back. I remember sitting on my bed reading and re-reading letters from some of my friends who wrote me. The letters and phone calls I got from "home" meant the world to me, especially that first year as I adjusted and made some new friends. Over the years, I have kept in touch with lots of friends and am so grateful for that.

So, when I got back in touch with Jennifer and had the opportunity to see her, I was really glad Steve encouraged it. We tried to connect with them in St George a month ago, but we got to town just as they were getting ready to leave. So, we tried again in Vegas. When it went so well, I was even more grateful. Steve enjoyed the evening too - and conversation was easy and fun. Over the last few months, I've really loved reading Jennifer's blog and keeping in touch with her. I really admire her. She is strong, smart, beautiful and a great mom. Life hasn't always been easy and isn't always easy now for her ... but she's strong and I admire her for that. Without even knowing, who she has become despite her challenges has inspired me through some really tough times this past 3 months. THANKS JENNIFER! Thank you for being the person you are and for being my friend again! And I look forward to seeing you again in the future. You are always welcome at our place!

Mystere!

After the rides, we took everyone to see Mystere, a Cirque du Soleil show. Mystere is one of my favorite Cirque shows. Over the years, we've seen about 6 different shows they do live plus another 3 or 4 on tv. We found a couple of them on Bravo channel a few years ago. Alyssa used to ask to watch "the guy" show which was actually Varekai - she just didn't understand what we were saying. She and Taylor would sit in front of the tv just captivated by the acts and this was no different. All three of the girls were completely captivated by the show until the last act when Jessica climbed up on Karianna's lap and promptly fell asleep.

However, you have to know that before the show started, Taylor threw up. She had been sick the night before too and thrown up in bed (thanks Karianna for cleaning that one up!). As Taylor and I are leaving the theater to clean her up (she only got a little on her shirt and the floor - the rest was in a big pile of napkins I gave her), she looked up at me with this sad little look and told me she didn't want to go. "I don't want to miss the funny guy show" (referring to some of the pre-show she had seen). I told her that if she felt ok, we could just wash her face and hands and then come back in. She nodded and that's what we did. I managed to get an empty popcorn bucket that we kept handy, but she was fine. Alyssa however, threw up that night in bed (thanks Richard for cleaning that one up! - Steve and I were out both nights the girls got sick - one night getting dessert and the other was a date night!) I'd add pictures of us at the show, but you can't take them in the theater, so I don't have any. I did find these on their website to share of acts we saw!

This act involves this guy being suspended in the air with this giant cube. He hangs from it and spins and flips from it and then even lands and flips it around. The lights reflect off the cube and its really cool to watch. The entire show is filled with some of the most muscular people I have ever seen! At one point, there are 4 guys who come out in these polynesian looking skirts and dance - its kind of a filler between acts and they help change some sets. I told Steve that if all guys looked that good in a skirt I could get used to guys in skirts! The muscle definition is amazing. You can see it from the audience. We did have great seats this time - front center, lower section. Our best seats for this show (we've seen it 3 or 4 other times - and still keep coming back).
This is the funny guy that Taylor referred to. He is part of the pre-show and also adds comic relief throughout the movie.
This is my favorite act ... these two guys are ridiculously strong and well-built!! Karianna says the one is really good-looking ... I agree!

This group climbs the poles, flips and does all kinds of stuff on the poles.

This picture is hard to see but they are doing jumps and flips off of a teeter-totter contraption including landing on the shoulders of someone standing on someone else's shoulders - thus the 3 high tower. There are also some good drumming moments, great music, some high flying trapeze artists and some impressive dancing. If you have never seen a Cirque show and you are ever in Vegas, this is a good one to see! Its less expensive than most of the others and its got the best music and overall show. Ka has more of a story and an AMAZING set. "O" has some really impressive special effects, but Mystere is our favorite. I haven't seen Zumanity or the new Criss Angel Believe so I can't say much about those.

Roller Coasters and Rides

Last year when we went to Vegas, Alyssa got sick and she and I spent a day in the condo while everyone else rode rides and played some games. She was very disappointed. So, that was the ONE thing she wanted to do this year. We arrived at New York, New York only to find out Alyssa was too short. She had to be 54" tall to ride and she is only 51". She was devastated and heart broken.

So, the next best thing at New York, New York was a virtual roller coaster. We put her and Karianna on it, they buckled them in, closed the door and when it immediately turned upside down and the ride operator said "Uh oh, its not supposed to do that," we knew something was wrong. We really realized it when we had to call for other employees to help him and 4 came running. They had to manually turn it right side up and place it back on the platform.

So after they HUNG upside down for probably 45 seconds to a minute, they managed to get it back on the platform and open it up to get them out. Karianna said that when it turned upside down and just sat there she figured something was wrong!

After re-booting the system, it did the same thing again, so we searched for other roller coasters that she could go on.

We headed to the Stratosphere where we found a ride on the very top that Alyssa could ride! ! Its the ride at the top that shoots you up into the air and then drops again, kind of like the Rocket at Lagoon. This is Karianna and the girls at the view level before the ride.

This is the balcony view from a few levels below the bottom of the ride!

This is Alyssa, Karianna and Richard at the bottom of the ride - getting in line.
This is the ride going up into the air and then falling again (not sure if its headed up or down at this point!) They are actually on the right side so we didn't get to see their faces. From there we went to the Circus Circus Adventure Dome where the girls got their fill of rides. This is Alyssa, Karianna and Richard getting on the water ride.
This is Taylor and Grandpa Lindsey on the race/bumper cars. Taylor LOVED this ride. At the end of they day, she said that this was one of her favorite 2 rides.

Steve took all the coats and the camera out to the car because he didn't want to carry them all ... so that's the end of my pictures until he pulls the others off the video camera. So ... possibly more to come on this post.

Mix that Choc-o ... Choc-o-late

Thanks to friends for recommending Ethel M's Chocolate Factory. It was fun to experience it and to have chocolates after! We LOVE chocolates in our family and Ethel Ms was no exception ... however Taylor was an exception ... she wouldn't touch ANY of the chocolates or even the ice cream because they didn't have "green" ice cream ... at least it wasn't green mint chocolate chip like she eats. Go figure ... she only wanted M&Ms.

These displays are made of 100% pure chocolate. They were pretty cool.
Alyssa was pretending to lick her lips because of all the chocolate. The decorations were fun in the cactus gardens. It was filled with great photo opportunities too.

We went to Ethel Ms right after Alyssa's rehearsal at the stadium ... so she was in the mood to pose for the camera.He reminds me of miracles in my life. He gives me hope. He makes my dreams come true. He gives me the world! He's my Santa! I love you Steve!

The girls love having their Grandpa with us on our trip!

We are all posing like a cactus ... not sure whose idea it was, but everyone thought it was fun. Karianna's turn to pose with everyone.

Taylor really liked posing like a cactus and even made her little polly pocket doll pose!

In the Conservatory

Ok, so this Conservatory isn't in the game of Clue and its not where the "murder" was committed with the knife or rope ... its in the Belagio and its beautiful at Christmas time. Flowers, fountains, lights ... our girls love to visit it and its become tradition for us to go every year when we are in Las Vegas. We also go outside and watch the fountains. If you haven't seen them, they are very impressive.


This is of my girls with Karianna and the big huge tree.
The snowmen are some of their favorite decorations.I love this guy!!! You are my best friend Steve. Grandpa Lindsey made the little girls very happy ... a penny in a fountain goes a long way!! Alyssa was mad at the moment so she wouldn't join in the fun.

More to come!!

Ok, so I know I'm still behind ... lots more posts to come. Quick summary ... Vegas was LOTS of fun other than Alyssa and Taylor both throwing up in the middle of the night (different nights) and the "wonderful" game that BYU played. :( We did lots of fun things and got to see some friends from when I was little. LOTS of fun! More to come.

Christmas was also very nice! I'll post on that too. I got a really special surprise from Steve for Christmas!

Hopefully I'll get to post tomorrow!

Ra ... ra ... ra ra ra ... Go Cougars!

Off to Vegas we went for the Bowl Game with BYU and Arizona. We surprised Alyssa by enrolling her in the cheerleader/dance team clinic with the college teams on Friday which led to performing at half time at the game. These are pictures at the clinic on Friday (after we registered her but before it began).

Alyssa was on cloud nine ... and showed us all of her favorite cheerleading poses!

The girls all together!This is Steve showing us his "face" from Zoolander!

This is Alyssa and Grandpa Lindsey doing a little cheerleading lift!Alyssa is, of course, the one with the big Y on her chest. This is when we came back to pick her up. They were doing a couple of last run-throughs. Pics to come of her on the field!!!

School Sing ... fa la la la ...la la la la

Every year the school has a Christmas sing. Each grade sings 2 songs. Its always cute to watch all the different ages sing their songs. 3rd grade went second this year. They sang Feliz Navidad and When Santa Gets Your Letter.

Taylor (Kindergarten) went last. They sang Rudolph and Night Before Christmas.