Thanksgiving in Vegas

We spent our Thanksgiving in Vegas this year so Brayden could play in the Pigskin Tournament. We had a great time. Bryce's parents and his brother and his family were with us, but it still didn't feel like Thanksgiving. The weather was too nice and we didn't have any dishes to do. We actually ate our Thanksgiving meal at the Palace Station buffet (picture below). It wasn't too bad for a buffet. I actually enjoyed the stuffing, which is my favorite part of Thanksgiving. We did end up cooking our own turkey on Sunday after our trip.

We went to the Bellagio one night to see the fountains. They are awesome!! I think the kids really enjoyed them. Ellie was in awe.

Brayden with his cousin Seth acting all tough.

Brayden and Tyler are enjoying their strawberry crepes for breakfast.

Ellie and Bryce sharing a smoothie.

Overall, we enjoyed our trip to Vegas. More than likely Brayden's football coach will want to make this a tradition for several more years. Oh and I actually went out shopping Thursday night until 1am with Tyler and my friend Angie and her son Ty. It was interesting!! It seemed like everyone and their dog was at Walmart.

Pigskin Tournament in Vegas

Brayden's football coach asked the team about 2 months ago if we wanted to go to Las Vegas for the Pigskin Tournament over Thanksgiving. At first I wasn't sure because I love Thanksgiving but it was our year with Bryce's side of the family and his parents were willing to go to Vegas too. His brother whose son is on Brayden's team decided they wanted to go so we decided to do it.

We left on Wednesday early in the morning to get down there for the team to check in and weigh in. We decided to stay at the Luxor in Vegas, which turned out to be a lot of fun. The team did awesome!! They only had 2 games and they won both. They played teams from California. Brayden had 2 really good games and we all had a blast. The weather was perfect-in the 60's.

Brayden after the game.
The HUGE trophy

Brayden is #8 on the bottom row.

After the game

The tunnel after the big win!

So excited

This was Bryce's job during both games. At least he had a good view.

Brayden scoring a touchdown!!

He's got his game face on.

Mini Bowl Champs

Brayden's football team did awesome this year. They went undefeated and were also the Mini Bowl Champs for their division. He was able to play on Coach Hogan's team again this year. His cousin Seth was also on his team, which made it extra fun! They both play offense and defense and don't come off the field very much. But that's the way I like it. He is on the bottom row 3rd from the end on the right.
Brayden and Seth holding their trophies.

Ellie was a real sport going to all his games. She loves watching her brothers.

Celebrating after the big win.

Getting ready to play ball. He looks so cute in his uniform.

Waiting patiently for the kickoff.

Halloween 2011

Every year I hate when Halloween rolls around. Mainly because I hate thinking of costumes for the kids. This year though, it wasn't too bad. Ellie wanted to be a witch. I found her costume at Walmart. Brayden was a hobo, and Tyler was "too old" to dress up or go trick-or-treating. We had fun doing the annual pumpkin carving. Most of the pumpkins were from our garden or the kids got them at the corn maze. Here is Bryce working on Ellie's.

Brayden did most of his by him self and it turned out great. Sorry- no picture of the finished product.

We decided to do the pumpkins in the back garage which worked out well. No messy clean-up inside.

Tyler wanted to carve one for his head. The eyes ended up being too big, but he actually wore it for a while on Halloween night.

Brayden had to try it too!

Here is Ellie at her preschool party.

Ellie and her friend Will

Brayden enjoyed getting his costume together this year.

I didn't want to post these, but at my school the 5th grade team goes all out and comes up with something for Halloween. This year - The Smurfs! Yes, I am the Smurfette in the middle.

It wasn't much fun getting the blue face paint off.

Fall Field Trips

Ellie's preschool went to the pumpkin patch and met the 'Pumpkin Man'. Ellie wasn't real sure about him at first but she actually got to wear his pumpkin head for a split second and was okay with it. (Sorry no picture-he was too fast!)

Ellie is 3rd from the left on the bottom row.



Here they are meeting the pumpkin man. Notice Ellie is standing a little farther away than everyone else.

I also got to go on a field trip with Brayden. We went up to the Environmental Center. It was beautiful up there and the weather was perfect.

Here he is getting ready to shoot his bow and arrow. He was actually pretty good at this.

They got to climb the rock wall and play ping pong while inside.
Another thing they did which was fun was play frisbee golf and use a GPS to find hidden items outside (aka Geo Caching.) That was a lot of fun.

My parents were visiting a month ago and we decided to drive up the canyon and have dinner at the Oaks. It was so beautiful up there and we had a great time.