Girls Only!!

Mom, Me, Amanda, Erika, Whitney, Devin, Aunt Debbi, Lynn, Aunt Connie, and Rachel wanted to have another "Barlow Girls" weekend.  Instead of NYC as our locale, we had a "staycation" in Las Vegas.  We had an awesome day!!

 

It began with a yummy brunch at

The Cracked Egg.

We had appointments for pedicures, but had an hour and a half to kill before then.  Mandy & Erika went home to check on Baby B.  The rest of us decided to go to another nail shop and get manicures.

As soon as our fingernails were dry, we raced over to the other shop for our pedis.

I should treat myself to a mani-pedi more often!  Yes, it's nice having cute polish on all 20 of my nails, but it's mainly the relaxing massage of my hands and feet that I love!

I thought it was cute how Mom and her pink toes got turquoise flip flops and me and my turquoise toes got pink flip flops, ha ha!

Coral and turquoise, one of my favorite color combos.

That evening we met up at Brio for dinner (I adore their Sliced Steak Salad!) then went to the Smith Center to watch the musical Beauty and the Beast.

The musical was absolutely fabulous and I had the best time with these ladies that I love!

Nothing Bundt Love

I flew to Las Vegas to spend some time with my family there and to just be "Jennifer" for a week.  (By the next morning, I was ready to be "Mommy" again!)  The night I arrived Mom picked up some lemon and red velvet Nothing Bundt Cakes for us to share with everyone at her house.

Aunt Debbi, Mom with Bennett, Aunt Connie, and Rachel.

Mandy, Eri, and me.

This was the only day I got to see Aunt Connie and Rachel.  Poor Rachel was in a car accident and got both of her wrists broken.  Thank goodness she wasn't hurt worse!

Later that night, Brent's family arrived.  All 3 of his children have their birthdays in April, so they got to open their presents from Gramma and Grampa while they were there.

Isaac and his Star Wars Lego set.

Cadence and her pink Lincoln Logs (or as she adorably called them "Pixie Sticks").

Jackson got a cute car to drive around on, but his Winnie-the-Pooh coloring books were his favorite.

One week later, before I left town Aunt Debbi, Scott, Lynn (and baby-to-be) stopped by to visit.

So did Kris, Devin, and Charlotte.

Charlotte is just a doll, but she doesn't know me (yet) so she had "stranger danger" fear.  She can make the most precious and heartbreaking pouty face I have ever seen!

Literally minutes before I had to check-in for my flight, Erika arrived back in town on hers.

Bennett celebrated his first birthday the day after I left (so sad I missed it).  He is such a darling boy with his mom and dad.

I didn't get a pic of Brent & Whitney's family so I'm using their last family photo.  They're so cute!

I also missed getting a picture of Poppa (and George & Lily with their new haircuts), so here's another older one  :).

 

I love spending time with family.  I just wish my whole family could see the Lee, Pittl, and Reil families a lot more often!!

PB & H

The kids were just so cute at lunch one day eating their peanut butter and honey sandwiches, that I had to snap a few pictures.

Forgot PB & H, I want CHEESE!

I'm not sure what she was irked about, but it could be that her pajamas were on backwards (otherwise she'd just strip naked, ha ha) or that she was still in her pajamas at lunch time.

 

(You might have noticed in some other pictures of her on here that her onesie shirt is snapped over her pants.  Again, we do this or she'd strip naked.  And since she doesn't know how to use the toilet yet, she's just like a little puppy going potty all over the house, ugh!)

There's a cute smile to match her 3 cute ponies.

His face is just so precious to me.  Look at those eyes (and his little pinky that's up)!

This has to be my favorite one from the whole session though.  Yummy!

 

*I have to make a note about their sandwiches.  They don't call them peanut butter and honey, or even PB & Hs.  They call them double-doubles.  As in they like double the peanut butter and double the honey.  I have to put peanut butter on each slice of bread first, honey on top of that, then put the slices together.  I prefer whipped honey on my own PB & Hs, but their method is pretty genius since the honey won't absorb into the bread this way.  Clever kids!

Sergi's

What to do on a Tuesday night?  How about drive down to Canton, New York for some delicious pizza at Sergi's?  Sure!

 

That's exactly what we did to meet up with Uncle Kevin!  He was only in the state for a little more than 24 hours for his work with the Physics department at Stanford University (yeah, he brought his own Geiger counter with him to measure the radioactivity of a ball of glass that will become a 24-foot diameter lens.) 

You must try the Mikey's special!  They bake the cheese directly onto the dough, and then put the sauce on after the cheese has melted.  It was SO good!

 

The EBA (have no idea what those initials stand for) was really good too.  It was topped with pepperoni, sausage, green peppers, mushrooms, and onions. 

We went to Dairy Queen afterwards, and Uncle Kevin treated us to some ice cream delight!

My kids love Uncle Kevin (he's our only family member that has visited us in every city that we have lived in- six cities to be exact), but...

 

these pictures make me laugh!  Poor Teague got kicked in the head by Hiram accidentally, oh no!

 

I hope my children would each drive 3 hours to visit their sibling or sibling-in-law whenever they could!

The BEST Holyday

Easter is the best holiday there is!  Because Jesus was resurrected ALL of us will be too.  Because Jesus atoned for our sins ALL of us can be forgiven when we repent.  What a beautiful gift!  We celebrate with the pagan traditions too, but I think there is room for both. 

 

The Sunday before Easter we went to our Stake's devotional at which Noé sang with our ward young women.  I love the 4-day weekend in Canada.  We normally celebrate Easter Bunny stuff on Saturday, then focus on the Savior on Sunday.  This year our Saturday was booked, so on Friday the kids had fun dyeing the eggs vibrant hues...

...but of course, little Ali fell asleep again.

(She fights naptime and bedtime, but then crashes out when she's restrained in her high chair or car seat or when she finds a quiet spot all to herself, silly girl.)

We kept our eggs pretty simple this year, but we did add some shrink-wraps to a dozen of them.

Sunday morning the kids woke up to simply-filled candy baskets, new church outfits, and either a DVD, CD, or book from Deseret Book.  (I got a gorgeous canvas print of the Salt Lake Temple that will count as my birthday present this year too.)

Of course, it was freezing cold outside, so the kids wore other clothes to church and we'll save their Easter outfits for when the warmth returns.  I can't forget our traditional pictures with our baskets though!

We had a nice time at church.  A young man getting ready to go on his mission was one of the speakers.  I'm so thrilled with each of the youth that have served missions from our ward.  They have set such a great example for my kids and I hope Len and I can serve a mission together in our senior years.

 

After church we had the Montminy's over for a delectable feast.  We had ham, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, rolls, coconut cake, and Rita's divine Brussel sprouts and melt-in-your-mouth fruit salad.

The kids then went on a scavenger hunt.  They found 6 different clues that led them all over the house, until they finally found their treasure in the dryer.  Nine big chocolate bunnies were devoured in no time flat. 

Jesus Christ is my favorite.  I fall short of the expectations I have for myself daily, but I try each day to live as one of His disciples by keeping His commandments and loving my fellow man.

 

Happy Easter!