Las Vegas Bowl Trip

After 13 years of marriage, Jason and I finally decided to go to a BYU Bowl game and went to the Las Vegas Bowl last weekend. We went with our good friends, the Forsyths and the Bruecks. We left on Friday during a major snow storm and were worried that we would be caught in bad weather the whole way down, but after Nephi, it was smooth sailing. We arrived in St. George around 6:30 p.m. and went to The Pizza Factory for dinner, then we stayed at Jason's parent's vacation home for the night. We watched some T.V., played games, then eventually went to bed. Saturday morning we headed to Las Vegas and here are some pictures of the day.

We parked on the strip and went to Mandalay Bay to go to the Aquarium. It was pretty fascinating.

They had these cool handsets that were programmed to tell you about each of the fish in the exihibits. (The men liked them a little too much!)

Jennie, Me, and Jamie

Darren

Dave

Darren used Jamie's handset on his other ear so he could have surround sound. He said it worked really well, but I couldn't help but giggle a little at how it looked (hence, the picture).

We couldn't disappoint all of you and not include another Zoolander pose.

The M&M Factory was awesome!

We had just arrived at Sam Boyd Stadium and were so excited for the game!

We asked a lady to take a picture of us with the "Sam Boyd Stadium" sign in the background and this is what we got - a crooked picture and no sign - oh, well.

We had fabulous seats - thanks to Jennie! (40th yard line, 16 rows up!)

David Hasselhof sang the National Anthem and boy did he have some serious energy!

The traditional pregame Haka dance.

The coin toss

The game, itsself, was a major disappointment (as you already know), but the men that were sitting behind us were an absolute hoot! They were making us laugh the entire time!

I'm so glad we got the opportunity to go on this trip. I did not care for downtown Las Vegas at all (too many naughty pictures!!), but the overall trip was a lot of fun. I look forward to making this a new tradition every year (so BYU better make it happen!)!

Talk too much??!

Sometimes reality hurts. I was told today, by a young child, that her friend's mom doesn't like to talk to me on the phone because I talk too much - that's why she didn't answer the phone the last time I called. Hmmm . . . I really didn't need to hear that today! I never wanted to be the annoying lady that people avoid, because I talk too much - but there it is! I guess I'll try to keep my mouth shut more often.

Concert at the Mall

All of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Grade Spanish Immersion Students at Kelsea's school sang in a Christmas Concert at the Mall. It was a lot of fun.

Annual Barker Christmas Party

Every year we get together with all of Jason's family for the Barker Christmas Party and the kids had a great time this year.

Great-Grandma Barker

Amber and Grandma Barker

Kelsea loves playing their piano!

The younger kids enjoyed the play room

Amber and her cousins loved hiding in their hut under the stairs

Mariah, Nick and Landon

Nick played a mean game of pool

Great-Grandma Barker gave the children little gift bags

Santa's Lap

It's Christmas time and what would Christmas be without a chance to sit on Santa's lap? We had a neighborhood Charity drive in our neighbors garage and Santa Claus came for a visit. The kids loved it and actually got to spend a good amount of time talking to Santa.

Landon was not nervous at all - yeah!

Amber

Brianna

Corbyn was so pleased to talk to Santa

Kelsea talked to Santa for about 10 minutes. Isn't Santa great?

Noodle Art

I was making spaghetti and Corbyn came up to me and asked for some noodles. I wasn't sure why he wanted dry noodles until I walked over to the table and saw this:

Clever!

Christmas Tree

For 13 years I have been the sole Christmas tree decorator for two reasons: 1- I enjoy doing it and 2- I want it done MY way. This year, the children begged to decorate the tree and I finally gave in and let them. Boy, have I been missing out over the years!!!! We had such a fun, festive time together and the kids were so pleased at what they had done. This is the most beautiful tree we have ever had! Way to go, kids! Mommy loves you!!!!!!!!!