Thanksgiving in Vegas

Instead of spending a traditional Thanksgiving with Rod's family in New Mexico, this year we decided to drive to Las Vegas and just relax. There were 8 of us: Rod, Alex, and I, Whitney, Craig and Elle, Craig's brother Stevan and his wife Leuri.

We left on Tuesday night after Alex's basketball game and drove to the Rio Hotel, the home away from home for the next 4 days.

The guys, except Alex went golfing on Wednesday morning. Alex and I hooked up with the ladies at the Planet Hollywood mall. First stop: Sephora, for make-up.


Alex and Elle at the Planet Hollywood mall.


Alex and Elle rubbing Buddha's tummy for good luck. Yes, we need good luck at shopping. Need to find good deals, for sure.


Alex and Elle on their way to the Bellagio hotel.


Alex, Elle, Whitney and Leuri on their way to the Bellagio hotel.

Alex and Elle at the Bellagio hotel garden with a creepy tree in the background.

Beautiful women, Elle and Whitney.

Elle and Alex drinking their 32 oz (1 litre) frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity. Just a reminder to those who hasn't had one...not worth the price.

Next stop was at Man's Heaven or Niketown. Alex wanted to buy a pair of "Nike Hyperize" basketball shoes, which he did. He was a happy man.

On Wednesday night we went to see the Lion King, the broadway show at Mandalay Bay. The show was simply A-MAZING! If you go to Vegas, go see it. It is a must see. The costumes, the stage, and the music, just incredible.

Elle and Alex waiting for the show to start.

Whitney and Craig are excited for the show.

Elle was so happy to be there.

The side show, "The Nostrils" were there too.

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, the guys left to go golfing again....minus Alex. Us ladies and Alex were left to fend for ourselves again. No problem. Plenty to do and more sights to see.

We started the day with a hearty breakfast. Here is Alex's sunny pancake creation.

Elle at the M&M World bagging candies as fast as she could.

For Thanksgiving dinner, we chose the Rio buffet. Because we had the Diamond Card, we had a separate entrance to the buffet, so we got seated instantly, instead of waiting in line for hour and a half.

I had the traditional Thanksgiving meal with crab legs, sushi, salmon, and shrimp. I think I was able to down a couple of platefuls of that goodness. I started feeling guilty that I hadn't had any turkey, so I decided to go and get a small servings of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy.

The best thing was that there was no cooking or cleaning involved with this Thanksgiving dinner. Just enjoying the company of loved ones and feeling sorry for the people who had to wait in line.

The whole gang at Thanksgiving dinner. Stevan, Rod, Elle, Alex, Craig, Whitney and Leuri.

Alex's dessert plate.

After the meal, we headed to the movies. Rod and Alex went to see "2012" and rest of us went to see "The Blindside". Before the movie started, I heard loud snoring next to me and yes, it was Stevan who had gotten hit by tryptophan. He was luckily awake by the time the movie started.

On Black Friday morning, the guys, including Alex went golfing and us ladies, except Leuri, hit the outlet mall by Charleston. I think there were about 1/2 million people trying to find a parking space. With my cut-throat maneuvering, we were able to follow a lady who was leaving the shopping area, and we parked in her space. Let the shopping begin!

Shoppers at the Outlet mall by Charleston.

Our loot after shopping for 4 hours. We saved so much money! Hahah!

On Friday night when the guys came back from golfing, we met them at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. This is the place where we always go when we travel to California during spring break. Remember the place where Alex and Carsen compete how many wings each can eat. Yes! That place. Alex ate 39 wings of various hotness.

After dinner, we decided to go get gelatos for dessert at the Bellagio hotel. Behind the garden area, there is a nice little chocolate shop with a chocolate fountain. I think I should have something like that in my own house. Like, right next to my bed.

After gelatos, we watched the Bellagio fountains. This picture of Alex reminds me of our trip to Paris where he was sitting kind of the same way looking at the Eiffel tower.

The Larsen's at the Bellagio fountains.

The Davis' at the Bellagio fountains.

Then it was time to say farewell to Vegas and the rest of the gang. Tomorrow morning we would leave at the crack of dawn back to Utah, so Alex and Rod can make the BYU-Utah football game (which BYU won).

What a fun way to spend a Thanksgiving for a change. Just pure fun and relaxation for all. When we walked into our hotel on Friday night, we passed some black jack tables and one of the players, while playing, was having a massage from a masseuse. Gambling is hard work. I think I have seen it all now.

Lakeridge vs. Mt. Nebo Game-Tuesday, 11/24/09

First win in the overtime against Mt. Nebo. Lakeridge was trailing the whole game until the last seconds when they tied the game, then took off during the overtime ending with the score 51-47.

Alex leading the team to victory.

From Lawrence Welk to Tom Jones

Before sitting down for dinner last night with Jeff, Melanie and Dana, Rod started telling us about an experience he had a couple of weeks ago in Kentucky. He started the story with "you know who Lawrence Welk is, right?" Jeff and Melanie had looks on their faces where they were trying to find a glimpse of something familiar from the depths of their memory. Jeff said:"Yeah, I think I know who he is, he was the guy with a variety show". Dana had no clue who he was. Oh boy, did we feel old. After explaining who Mr. Welk was, Rod went ahead with his story. During his business travel to Kentucky a few weeks ago, he was invited to a "concert". When he walked in, he realized that he had stepped into a Lawrence Welk show meet Grand Ole Opry meet 700 Club. The average age of the concert goers was about 70. The moment took him back to his childhood when he used to watch the Lawrence Welk show on Saturday nights with his parents. I think the text I received from Rod at the concert was:"I am in hell!"

Old Dude!

This moment reminded me of my own experience when I was at BYU, and in one of my study groups we were asking each other who our favorite singer was. "Tom Jones", I piped in. The whole group of 18 year-olds looked at me with blank faces. No.Idea. How sad. How sad indeed.

Yummy!

"I Love Lucy" in the Bedroom

Two nights ago, there she was on TV, running around the wine vat in circles and stomping on the grapes while taking huge leaps and swinging her arms with a huge grin on her face. You all have seen the scene from one of the funniest "I Love Lucy" show episodes, right? For years, Rod has thought of me as Lucy. Everytime we watch an episode or I do something funny, like water-skiing, he just starts laughing and turns to me and says:"That's you, honey, you are like Lucy."

So last night, I tried to be romantic and obviously failing miserably when Rod says:"What is that smell? Is it bubblegum?" With a huge sigh of disappointment, I utter the words:"NO, it is my perfum called "Pure Seduction".

Yep, another real life episode of "I Love Lucy" show.

Alex's Basketball Schedule

Alex Made the Freshman Basketball Team

When I walked into the gym last night I saw the boys just walking around and shooting baskets here and there. The coaches were in the office deciding who is going to be on the team. I sat with Marianne, whose son Jake was also trying out for the team. She seemed to be more calm than me. A few minutes later, the coaches came out and first the 2 other coaches thanked all the players for their hard work in the past three days and then the head coach gave some advice to those who would not be chosen to play this year. I looked at Alex and his eyes were focused on the coach, and every word he was saying.

Then came the words:"These are the following players who will come and practice tomorrow after school and who will be on the freshman team this year: Alex Larsen, Jace Hill....Jake Bingham", after that I didn't hear any other names. Alex's name was mentioned first. I looked at Alex and he was looking at me with the biggest smile on his face. I was so proud of him. Then he came over to me and we gave each other two handed high fives.

We left the gym and I texted Rod right away who was in Nashville, TN last night. Then he called Alex. Rod was extremely emotional and so proud of Alex. I heard Alex tell Rod:"Don't cry dad!"

I felt so bad for those 4 players who didn't make the team. They were sitting on the gym floor just stunned. I wonder what is next for them. How do they deal with the rejection.

Earlier in the day I had made reservations to Chef's Table, so we could go celebrate this first step in Alex's basketball dream. And that's where we headed after a quick shower at home. Just Alex and I.


Alex and his celebration meal at Chef's Table. Kent, the owner, and the waiters came over to congratulate Alex.


After sharing this German Chocolate Cake, we headed home so Alex can chat with his friends and receive his congratulations from everyone.

What a day!

Today, first practice. First game on November 24th at 3:30 at Lakeridge.

Boy is Happy-Mom is Happy

After second day of basketball tryouts, Alex made the first cut. Now there are 15 boys and the coach is going to take 12 of the top boys. Alex has one more day of tryouts. The decision will be made today at 5pm. Today if ever, keep your fingers and toes crossed. And maybe say a little prayer for Alex.


The face says it all. Alex is so happy about his performance.


Of course I didn't cook again today, so we went to Mimi's for dinner so Alex can get his tummy full of Chicken Fried Steak. I love his face. He looks like a rapper.

And you ask why I am so happy? Well, of course I'm really happy for Alex, but when I got home today, the guy who had been installing our gutters all day was done. I HAVE GUTTERS!!! I think my life is now complete. No more water coming in from the non-existing eaves. I can sleep well again. Happy day! The roof job is completely finished.

After First Day of Basketball Tryouts

I was waiting nervously for Alex at the school parking lot yesterday evening after his first day of basketball tryouts. I saw him walking slowly towards the car and he didn't look happy, but mostly tired. When he sat down, his first words were "I was on FIRE". Those three words painted the perfect picture for me. He had succeeded and he was happy about his performance. He told me that in Seminary he had learned the story of Sampson, and he wanted to look up the word "strength" in the bible dictionary and topical guide to get inspiration from. Alex said that it helped him a lot along with a lot of prayer. I'm so proud of him.

Two more days of tryouts. Keep your fingers crossed.

We went to Golden Corral (Buffet) for dinner so Alex could get enough food to eat after 3 hours of constant running.

Basketball Tryouts this Week

Alex will be in the midst of basketball tryouts after school this week. Keep your fingers crossed that he makes it. If he does, he will be a player on the 9th grade (freshman) team. GO ALEX!

Happy 23rd Wedding Anniversary to Us!

We celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary last weekend. Because we just went to Vegas and there again for Thanksgiving, we decided to stay close to home.


When we left the house, I got this hankering for donuts. Before I could say it, Rod looked at me and said:"Do you feel like donuts?" It shows that 23 years together, we think alike.


Our box of Krispy Kremes. The weekend was starting off right!


Because Rod plans the anniversaries, I had no idea what he had in mind (alright you people, I didn't mean it that way). So the first stop was to the Family History Library to find out how we start doing my genealogy. I have done some over the years but I have basically just gathered information into a folder but now I get to put it into an organized form on the computer. The first guy who helped us was about 80 years old who started telling us about his ancestry and then moved onto telling us how to decide on a sign-in name and password. I looked at Rod and said with my eyes "you gotta be kidding me". Rod hurried the guy along and we got the basic information and left to go to the Scandinavia desk. There we received information on how to find church records on microfilms etc. I must say, the library was a hopping place on a Friday night.

Then onto dinner.


Rod and I at the Temple Square with the Salt Lake Temple in the background. Aren't we gorgeous!

While we waited for "The Roof" to open for dinner, I took some pictures. Majestic Salt Lake Temple.

This is all new along South Temple. The whole downtown is changing with brand new buildings.

While we were having dinner, we listened to the piano player entertain the diners. One of the songs she played was Aaron Neville's "Don't Know Much" and Rod had to make it authentic with the mole (in this case a pea) on his forehead while he sang.

"I don't know much, but I know I love you, and that may be all I need to know..."

The resemblance is uncanny.

I was telling Rod about "The Biggest Loser" show and wanted to tell him about one particular contestant who has triangle man boobs. Rod couldn't really picture them so I had to do a "show and tell".

I used my black napkin as the man boob and my dish of creme brulee as the nipple. Rod got the picture and couldn't stop laughing.

We are a funny couple.


Here is Danny with his man boobs.

23 years of happiness!

Let's pause for a beautiful sunset over the Oquirrh mountains when we were driving towards Park City. Ahhh, so beautiful!

We decided to drive to the outlet mall in Park City but to our own surprise we only drove through and didn't even stop to shop. Unbelievable!!

We had reservations at the Blue Boar Inn, and we got the William Morris room.

Very flowery and lacy. Yes, that is a 3-step stool next to the bed. The bed was quite high. Notice the chocolate covered strawberries on the bed. There were also balloons in the room wishing us happy anniversary. Rod did good!

My absolute favorite!

Need I say more?

How old are we getting when the OATMEAL is the highlight of the whole weekend? Pathetic, yes, but so delicious. We discovered this dish of goodness two years ago when we stayed here for the first time. We had other food too, but left the oatmeal as the "dessert" to fill all the nooks and crannies in our stomach. Best oatmeal in the world!

Irish Steel Cut oatmeal with brown sugar and cream. YUM!!!

It is hard to believe that we have been married 23 years already. It seems like yesterday. We are blissfully happy together and in love and can't wait to share my life with my perfect companion for the next 23 years. I love you, honey!