Vegas

We just spent the weekend in Vegas with Mark's family.

The kids have a new favorite uncle. Because Uncle John has a pool!!! (And Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.) All they ever want from life is to go swimming and watch TV in the summer.

To sum up: The kids and Mark went swimming right when we got there and took advantage of the extra daylight hour we gained crossing over into Nevada from Utah. I was ridiculously exhausted so I just read a book.

Next day:

After dragging everyone to Target to go school shopping, we went to Town Square (always the highlight of my trip) and went to H&M. Then Madelyn and I found this Sanrio store that was floor to ceiling Hello Kitty. We were both squealing with girly happiness. Hello Kitty was popular when I was a kid--I felt like I was 8 years old again.

Madelyn got this itty bitty gumball machine. It's the CUTEST THING. Mark was just like, "Ughhh....there's too much pink everywhere....."

Then the kids got back in the pool. Mark and Madelyn were in charge of packing for themselves and Luke, which is why Luke had no swim trunks and why we had to go out and buy clean underwear for Madelyn.....

We decided to take the kids out to see some Vegas lights that night, since they'd never been.

 

 We had just watched the classic music video of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, which was filmed right in this spot. Mark wanted to go there because of that.

 

We didn't have much time, so we just went to the Fremont Street Experience. It is a wild and crazy place! And LOUD! And it was still 99° out, even though it was past 9:00pm. Ah, Vegas.

There's one of the Elvises we saw

 

The real Elvis' last car he owned. This same casino had a big pile of cash equaling 1 million dollars on a table that I tried taking a picture of, but it turned out blurry.

 Bumblebee and Optimus Prime

 

Ironman, Spiderman and Wolverine really wanted to get a picture with Luke (who happened to be wearing a Green Lantern shirt). Weirdos characters like that are all over the place, who will pose for pictures for tips.

It happened to be Free Concert Saturday, and The Presidents of the United States of America (a band) was playing. Did I mention it was loud?? Luke actually got a bloody nose right when we arrived on the scene. I wonder if it had anything to do with the 400 decibels.

We got something to eat at the Fremont hotel and Luke desperately wanted to go play some slots. All the buttons and lights! It was like a big arcade! Haha. They were so tired by the time we went back.

The next day (Sunday), Mark's sister Sumi, her husband Mike (manning the grill) and her two coworkers flew out from North Carolina and we had a big family get together.

Mark's folks drove up from Hurricane along with Sumi and Mike's daughter Amber who goes to BYU. Frank Sr. ALWAYS wants to play cards when his kids are around.

(photo courtesy of my sister-in-law Rose)

  Luke impressed everyone with Uncle John's word tiles (he used to teach 4th grade) because he could read almost all of them!

Madelyn and her cousin Autumn are always so excited to see each other. Autumn had brought her swimsuit, which meant my kids wanted to get back in the pool, too...

It was 107° out and completely miserable outside, I guess I can't blame them.

Kathy, Frank and Sumi (their oldest child out of 10)

Frank Jr. Mark, Kathy, Frank, Sumi, Amber and Mike Cosgrove

 

Frank Jr., Mark, Kathy, Frank, Sumi and John. Their brother Mike and his wife Diann were there earlier, but we didn't get their picture. They also live in Vegas along with John and Frank Jr.

 Everyone had a good time. We don't get to see the east coast sisters very often.

 

Luke (who was reduced to swimming in his underwear) was not happy about having to get out of the pool to go home.

But when we did get home, it was a whole 20° cooler!

Meg and I go adventuring in our ballet shoes

So, this just happened.

My friend Greg Mauger, whom I met at dance/Pilates class at the first of the year, is a professional photographer. A couple of months ago, he expressed interest in taking some dance pictures with me, and I said it would be even better if my sister Meg could do them with me. Since she's moving on Monday (frown), we decided to take them yesterday.

But not before I had a few weeks to get really nervous and try and find something to wear, and shoes that would fit, etc. Let me tell you, the knowledge that you will have to be parading around in a leotard and tights is STRONG motivation to stop eating cookies and get your heiny in gear. Ugh.

It has been eight years since I last danced on pointe shoes, and my old shoes were very ugly and beat up and I could barely squeeze my geriatric feet into them. So I ordered another pair--same brand--different model. Pointe shoes are sized differently than street shoes, and each brand has a different sizing chart. It is maddening. But I thought I'd be fine ordering from the same brand I always had.

 

Even though they are both size 4.5 B, the new pair was 3/4 inches shorter! PANIC

I had to hurry and order another pair, a size and a half larger and one size wider.

Those ones fit, thankfully. They also hurt like a mother. My feet aren't as tough as they used to be.

 

 On went the ribbons the night before. I had been putting it off because I didn't want to face the fact that I needed to break in these shoes.

Megan showed up yesterday afternoon and we tried on leotards and I did her hair and makeup, and mine.

I did a crown braid on Meg to keep her overgrown bangs out of her face. She said she felt like Elrond (the elf lord from LOTR, haha).

Greg drove us all the way to the top of Cedar mountain, about a half hour drive from Cedar City.

Then we started hiking...

It was really pretty, but there were a lot of steep ledge/loose rock situations that made me nervous.

Sneak peek! (That's Megan.)

Greg didn't appreciate me taking pictures of his subject, so I said, fine, I'll take a selfie.

But then I took this one anyway. It's more photo-journalistic.

We weren't prepared for it only being 65 degrees and windy at the top of the mountain (we were at 10,000 feet) but for most of the photo shoot we were fine.

Then we did some shots in this field until the sun went down.

And THEN we went back to Cedar City and took some more photos at the SUU campus till 11:00pm!! It was a 6 hour shoot. We didn't stop to eat or use the bathroom the whole time, but amazingly, we didn't really feel the fatigue set in till around 10:00pm. When we finally got home, we were completely exhausted, dirty and sore.

Greg said he's going to give me a CD of the pictures soon. I know there were some amazing shots, I can't wait to share them!

I'm done, hallelujah and huzzah

Y'all, I am sick to death of this jewelry. The past six weeks, I've just been drowning in it. I've spent the past four days making 56 new listings (there are 20+ steps to each etsy listing, so that calculates to over 1,120 steps to get there) and now have 170 items listed in my shop! PHEW!!!

 

 

 

 I really want to keep this bracelet for myself...

 There's a ton of fabulous stuff, check it out at Brighton Jewelry Co.!

Summer Spinach Salad

I feel weird posting a salad recipe. Like, this is just stuff I always like in a salad and I assume other people make theirs the same way. But I guess they don't.

Last week, I brought this to a church activity and it seemed to be a hit. I guess a better indication of that is that the following day, Madelyn pulled out all the ingredients again, chopped her own tomato and made everyone this for lunch. She loves it! Thumbs up for kids eating healthy! It has a nice combination of fresh, salty, sweet/tart and nutty.

 

This salad turned out to be enormous, and I put too many toppings on (which sank to the bottom of the bowl), so this recipe isn't going to have specific amounts. Just use the amount you'll need for your family.

 Summer Spinach Salad

by Melissa Yoder

baby spinach

crumbled feta cheese

toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts

cherry tomatoes, halved

dried cranberries (Craisins)

chopped green onions

To toast the nuts, heat on medium in a dry skillet until fragrant and golden brown. Set aside to cool. Toss the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl until well mixed. Serve with your favorite dressing. My suggestions:

Delish!

Other yummy things to toss in:

diced avocado

chopped cucumber

slices of this chicken