She Does Hair....

I have been trying out new hair styles on the girls off of a blog called http://www.shedoeshair.blogspot.com/ . I actually had my friend Kollen and my sister-in-law Shalise tell me about this site. I thought these two turned out so cute, I just had to take pics and share.

The Great 4th Of July Adventure!

It all started when Dustin's family decided to come to Vegas for the 4th. We wanted to do something different and Dustin came up with the idea of going to Laughlin to watch the fireworks over the river. We toyed around with the idea for months but never ended up deciding for sure until the week before. Of course all of the hotels in Laughlin were booked, so me being the great researcher that I am :), found us a motel in a little place called Searchlight, NV. On our way to Laughlin we decided to stop in Searchlight and check the motel out. Can I just tell you, that when we pulled in to that place I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. First we drove through the dumpiest trailer park I have ever seen, and then we came to the beautiful arch entrance of the "Kay Motel" or "K" as it says on the archway. After I stopped laughing, I proceeded to go and talk to the guy in the office, to ask him if we could check out the rooms. Let's just say that they were a little on the old and decrepit side. In our room, part of the carpet was being held down with duct tape, and the sink in the bathroom was really wobbly, when you turned on the water it felt like the whole sink was going to fall off. Over all, I would say that the rooms were fairly clean, except for maybe the cockroach my brother-in-law found on the floor. lol

Where's The Pool?

So, after checking out the rooms we journeyed first to Bullhead City, AZ to eat lunch at the Black Bear Diner. I had purchased a certificate off of one of my favorite websites, restaurant.com. We try out a lot of new restaurants, because we can eat for cheap. Black Bear Diner ended up being a really great place. The food was yummy and the portions were HUGE! After eating our food, we all decided to have dessert. Dustin and I got a brownie sundae thing to share and talk about HUGE again! It was giant... but boy, was it good! After we had all thoroughly gorged ourselves, we went outside and took pictures of the kids with the cute carved bear statues.

Our next stop was the Riverside Casino were we went to the Auto Show that they have there. I really enjoyed looking at all of the old cars. I have never seen so many. Dillon had fun looking at them and reading the histories.

After the Auto Show Exhibit we went out to the dock and looked at the water. I went to check on possibly taking a boat ride, but they were all booked. So, instead, Shalise, Gloria, the kids, and I took the little taxi boat across the river and back. It goes back and forth all day, taking passengers across. I'm glad that we at least did that because the kids really had fun doing it. The water is the prettiest greenish/ blue color... I thought it was so beautiful.

We then had another few hours to burn before the fireworks, so we headed over to the mall. I was laughing and excited at the same time when I realized that The Family Dollar store was part of the mall! Shalise, and Gloria, and I spent a while in there shopping. I love that place! You can get the best deals. I got the kids some clothes and I got a bunch of flowers to make hair things for the girls. After we were done shopping we went and found the guys, and decided to go to the movie. There was a movie theatre in the mall. We saw "Iron Man", I thought it was a great movie. Robert Downey Jr. was really good in it. Finally, by the time it was over, it was almost time for the fireworks. We went back to the Riverside Casino, and I was able to find a space for us to watch them along the boardwalk. Trent ended up not being able to see, so Dan and Gloria took him out to the parking lot to watch them. From what I hear, he was screaming because he loved them so much. I'm glad that he was able to see them. We ended the day with a trip to In n Out Burger and then headed to our humble motel, where we all got some much needed rest.
The next day everyone was pretty anxious to get out of there. I think Gloria was up and ready at the crack of dawn. Hee, hee. But, seeing how they didn't even want Trent to crawl on the floor, I can understand.
When we got back to our house, we rested and hung out for a while and then Gloria, Shalise, and I went shopping. We hit the dollar store, Kohls, and Albertson's. We told the kids that when we got back we would take them swimming. They, of course, were ready to go as soon as we walked in the door. So, we got in our suits and went to the Yellowstone pool. Thanks, Tara, for letting us use your key! It ended up being really fun and refreshing. The kids and Trent had a blast, I think it really cooled everyone off. I think the Utahn's were suffering just a little bit from the heat... ha, ha, ha!

After swimming, we came home and had a big dinner. I had been cooking ribs all day in the crock-pot. We had cheesy potatoes, corn, potato salad, and Gloria's yummy homemade salsa. I also made this really yummy, addictive jello/pretzel salad stuff. Oh, my gosh, it is so good, I could just eat it, and eat it, and eat it..... oh, sorry, got a little side tracked there. :) Here is the recipe-
Pretzel Salad:

1cup crushed pretzels
1cup sugar
1 stick margarine or butter

Mix and bake 7 minutes at 350 degrees on a cookie sheet. Let cool then break into small pieces.

While the pretzel mixture is baking:

Mix together 8 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and 12 oz. cool whip. I blended this with my beaters. Then add one large can of crushed pineapple.
Add the pretzel pieces to the mixture, and ENJOY! SO YUMMY!!!!

On Sunday, we had kind of a lazy morning. I think everyone was pretty worn out from the previous 2 days. Shalise and I made flower clips for our girl's hair. They turned out darling. Shawn and Shalise and the girls had to leave to go back that day, so we decided to go somewhere fun before they left. We decided to head to In-n-Out, (Yes, again) for lunch. (It is Gloria's favorite place, and she had not been able to eat there Friday night cause she gets sick if she eats that late at night). It was extremely busy there as usual, but luckily we found a nice place outside, in the shade to eat (not that shade makes a difference in this kind of heat...). After eating we went to the Bellagio Conservatory, and then watched the fountain outside. I thought it was a lot of fun, I had never been there before. The garden was beautiful, I could totally go there and make my kid's pose for pictures forever.

Shawn, Shalise, Danica, and Bryhn left after we were done at the Bellagio. It is always hard to say goodbye, especially for the kids. They always cry and then it makes me want to cry.

The next day, I woke up and Dan was not here. Gloria told me he had gone to Lowe's to get a new dish disposal for us. Ours had been broken the whole time they were there. The sink kept getting backed up the whole time, and it was pretty gross. I am so glad that it is fixed now, I don't know how people function without one of those! Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Dan. I appreciate it so much! After Jeremy installed the disposal, they were ready to leave. I expected Samantha to cry and throw fits because Nana was leaving, but she actually did okay. Samantha is very attached to Gloria, and is always glued to her hip the whole time she is here or we are there. I was glad that she did better with the goodbyes this time. It really was sad that night after they left though, Dillon was crying before bed, because he was missing everyone already. I can say that even though the Laughlin part of the weekend definitely was an adventure.... I think it is a memory that none of us will be forgetting any time soon. In my opinion, it doesn't matter what you do, (or where you stay), as long as you are with the ones you love. Thanks for the great weekend guys!