Snow Snow, Go AWAY!

We returned from Vegas to a great surprise....WARM WEATHER! I have been craving those park days and been enjoying sitting out on the back patio watching the girls run around. Yeah...well...that didn't last long. Here it is, March 25th and we wake up to snow. I'm really trying not to be bitter, but I was really hoping to pack the winter clothes away soon and have already started to plan a garden. All I can say is it better melt fast! Oh...and I guess I'm grateful for the "moisture". BAHHH!

At least the girls found some fun in this unfortunate situation.

I sure am glad April is here. She played with the girls outside while I got some things done. What a great sister she is!

LAS VEGAS!!!

WARNING: This will be a super long post. You are allowed to skim.
We arrived in sunny (and warm) Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon and checked into our suite at the Luxor before going out on the town.

Our living room

Jetted tub and pyramid window

The first thing I have to say is...HOLY COW! I thought I was pretty informed about the filth in the world, but it was a big shock to me. It was a long walk up to Treasure Island and every block was filled with Men flipping cards and magazines with very explicit pictures and commercials on them. You couldn't even look at the sidewalk when you walked because it was just littered with the filth. I was SO not expecting that! Every statue was of a half dressed women, and all the billboards and traveling trailer billboards were also covered with pornographic pictures. If we ever ordered drinks (my fav is a virgin pina colada), people looked at you like you were crazy. But fortunately we managed to get a few while we were there.

Terrence with his virgin margarita waiting for the Sirens show at TI.

"Sirens" is definately NOT the show I saw when I was a little girl. Things have changed for sure. I couldn't believe they showed it on the strip where there were families hanging out. ( you can bet my kids will NEVER go there before adulthood!!!)

We walked past the Bellagio fountains and watched for a while. More because it's just one of those have to's in Vegas than anything else.
And of course the volcano at the Mirage.....
And at last we got back to our hotel with aching feet and eyes that could barely stay open. At that point, all the good food places were closed and we were famished, so we got a light dinner at a little cafe in the hotel. We did manage to stop by the ESPN zone for a while to watch the college basketball playoff games earlier in the night. USU and UofU both won so that was pretty cool. There were quite a few fans of those teams walking around all weekend.

We were somehow able to drag ourselved out of bed in the Morning for a breakfast buffet where they served unlimited champagne and mimosas (whatever those are) and Sparkling cider for the kids...oh and us too:)

My amazing hubby enjoying breakfast.

We didn't have any specific plans for the day, so we ended up going to a 2 hour Time-share presentation and earned ourselves tickets to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay (lame) and $125 in dining, spa, or gaming. We already had dinner reservations that night at Emerils Restaurant, so we went back to the room to get dressed up for dinner.

Casually posing for a picture
And of course Terrence had to get one of me too.
What a fun night! I have never had such an amazingly delicious meal in my entire life! I have been so disapointed in EVERY dining experience since we moved to Utah, so this was a definate winner. Terrence and I could be food critics I swear. We are very into cooking and are always looking for fresh original ideas for food. If anyone in Utah knows a good place to eat...let us know. I have been VERY disapointed so far!
So you may laugh at this picture, but we were so exhausted when we finally got back to the room at 1:30am. (2:30 Utah time). I was so impressed because they had turned down our bed for us and left chocolates and filled our ice bucket. I felt the bed calling out to me. I slept better than even a rock could that night. There is something refreshing about knowing that you can sleep in, and that you won't have to wake up to take kids to the potty, or wake up to them poking your face, or anything else.
The day we left was a nice 77 degrees so we took the last few moments there to do some souvenier shopping for the girls. We went to M&M's world first and bought them some girly colors of M&M's.

Then we captured some of the beautiful landscaping around the hotel. It was so hard to leave all of that green, and palm trees.
What a great vacation! I don't know that I'll be going back to Vegas anytime soon, but getting away without kids is a definate must in my future. I feel rejuvinated, and missed our little girls so much.

This is our last Vegas picture in the cab on the way back to the airport. Our girls had so much fun spending the weekend with Grammie and Papa. The second I walked in the door late Monday night, I raced up the stairs and took turns holding and rocking them. They were out like bricks and didn't even move, but it felt good to have them in my arms again. Couples trips are great!

Mini Update

What a month! Terrence and I were throwing around the idea of moving into a bigger place and in the matter of two weeks, we signed a lease, moved, sold his car, and went on a trip. We only moved a few buildings down, but we now live in a 3-bedroom townhome with a garage. It is SOOOOO much bigger and I am loving it so far. The problem is...I've had the same decor for almost 6 years and am pretty sick of it, so I haven't put anything on my walls yet because I'm gonna re-decorate....slowly....So you may eventually get to see pictures, but not for a while.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to drive to Denver with my sister Andrea to go to "Time Our For Women". All 6 of the Pabst girls were there to enjoy the experience and it was amazing! The photographer Mark Mabry was there and I absolutely had to buy his book and CD. His work has had such a profound influence on me and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have seen it. You can find his website at http://reflectionsofchrist.org/ . Make sure you click on the multimedia link and select video to watch the slide show to "Come Thou Fount". I also was able to be there just in time to join Kathy in visiting our good friend Valerie and her new baby girl in the hospital. It's so nice to go back and know that I have so many friends there.

The last part of my update involves the picture above. Terrence and I have never had a night alone since our girls were born. We never went on a honeymoon, and haven't ever gone on a "real" trip together. On Saturday morning we will embark on our first trip as a couple. We're going to spend the 3 days at the Luxor in a deluxe spa suite in the pyramid. I am so excited! Now if I could just find my camera in one of these boxes I might be able to take enough pictures while we are there to make an interesting blog post! Thank goodness for a fantastic Mother-in-law who gets to watch our girls while we go!

Hair and Tears

What a day! I have been so so tired today, so during Madison's nap, I put a movie on for Kylie and told her that I was going to take a nap on the couch and to wake me up if she needed anything. Then, I set the alarm on my phone for 30 minutes and fell asleep. So what went wrong you ask? For starters, Madison woke up extra early and Kylie decided to go open the door for her so she could get out of her room. Then, I am awakened by a cute little 2 year old saying "Mommy! Hair!" and notice that my 2-year-old now has a pixie haircut. I can't even tell you how upset that makes me. Kylie has been trying to act so grown up lately, so I'm sure she was just trying to be like mommy, but it didn't turn out so well for her. She also ended up taking a pretty big chunk out of her own hair as well. Maddi's hair was just getting long enough to really have fun with, and Kylie's hair is past her shoulder blades now.
Instead of reacting harshly, I put Kylie in the corner and called my good friend and cosmetologist Sariah to come rescue me. Not much could be done about Maddi's hair and it will take months till it looks good again, but Kylie recieved a very cute bob cut. She cried herself to sleep tonight because she wanted long hair like her aunt Lysee. Maybe she'll learn her lesson. GRRRRRRR!!! As for me, I am just spending my night trying to hold back the tears:(

My camera was in the van, so the lens was foggy when I brought it in to take pictures. Excuse the fog.

You can't really tell in this picture how badly butchered the back is, and the hole near her bangs, but it is pretty sad.

Mardi Gras Countdown!

Mardi Gras is just around the corner! To anyone in Utah, this doesn't mean much...in fact...you have to really search to even find any beads or Mardi Gras decorations. But....Terrence and I will be sitting at home on Mardi Gras dreaming of all the festivities and parties going on in Louisiana and wishing we could be there. I may get ambitious and make a king cake or something, but I'm just not sure yet. I decided to post every few days till Mardi Gras to summarize our wonderful 1 1/2 years of living in the south.
This picture was taken in Pensacola, Florida during Thanksgiving. I was 8 months pregnant, but it was so beautiful, and the water was so clear.

I miss crawfish so bad! You can't find it here in Utah, and if you do, you have to catch them yourselves and they just don't taste the same. Besides that....Utahn's call them cray fish. What's up with that?

Terrence became our master griller in LA and was always cooking yummy things for us there. One of my favorites was grilled guava tenderloin with papaya/avacado salsa. MMMMMMM!!!

One day when we had the sister missionaries over we went to walk them out to their cars and this little snake was right in front of the door feasting on a frog. It was pretty disgusting, but we somehow dared to get close enough to snap a photo. The entire back wall of the house was nothing but windows, and at night before bed, Kylie would count how many little bright green frogs were stuck to the windows. I even found one hopping around in the kitchen once. TALK ABOUT A HEART ATTACK. Who expects something like that? I have to say after living in the west your whole life and being used to skunks and deer lying on the side of road, it is quite a change to see armadillos, snakes, and alligators as road kill.

This is my daily shpeel on Louisiana. Keep tuned for more throughout the next couple weeks!

A New Favorite!

I LOVE to cook, and although this recipe is a little bit involved...it is so so yummy! It's the perfect comfort food on a cold winter day! This is also so rich with flavor, that you can really minimize the amount of salt you add and make it a "little" bit more heart friendly:)

Italian Chicken and Dumplings

5 Tb EVOO

2 lb. chicken tenders, diced into bite-size pieces

5 Tb. butter

12 lg. white mushrooms, sliced

1 c. shredded carrots

4 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 lg. onion

1 fresh bay leaf

salt and pepper

3 Tb. all-pupose flour

3 c. chicken stock

1 c. fresh basil leaves

a generous handful of fresh flat-leaf parley leaves

a handful of pine nuts, lightly toasted

a couple handfuls of grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

zest of 1 lemon

2 (10-12 oz) packages fresh gnocchi

Heat a pot or deep skillet with 1 Tb. of the EVOO over med-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until lightly browned on both sides, 3-4 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate and add another Tb. of EVOO and 2 Tb of the butter to the pan. When the butter melts, add the mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, and bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes to soften the veggies, then sprinkle in the flour and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in 2 1/2 c. of the stock, slide the chicken and any juices on the plate back into the pot, and simmer until the sauce has thickened and the chicken is cooked through, 5-7 minutes.

Place the remaining 1/2 c. stock in a food processor with the basil, parsley, pine nuts, cheese, and salt and pepper. Turn the processer on and pour in the remaining 3 Tb. of EVOO with the motor running.

Melt the remaining 3 Tb of butter in a skillet over med. heat and add the lemon zest.

Salt a pan with boiling water and add the gnocchi. Cook the gnocchi until they float to the surface, then drain and add to the lemon butter. Toss the gnocchi in the lemon butter for 2-3 minutes, until lightly golden at edges.

Remove the chicken from the heat, discard the bay leaf, and stir in the pesto sauce. Serve the chicken topped with lemon-butter dumplings in shallow bowls.

KITCHEN NAP!

Kylie has been so so sick the past two days. She had a burning fever last night and cannot breath enough to sleep with out the humidifier on full blast. Today she had to go to her Aunt Lysee's house while I did Joy school at our house without her, so when she got home...we did our own little joy school session and then I started dinner. I made a gigantic pot of Jambalaya because I'm taking some to a friend of ours whose husband is in the hospital. Well...Kylie decided to join me in the kitchen but was so weak, she needed to lay down and before long.............

she dozed off into a deep slumber. Poor girl. She's past the whiny stage and has drifted into the glazed over expression pure misery stage of her cold. I hope this doesn't last long...and hope it doesn't spread to the rest of us.