Las Vegas Thanksgiving Tournament

Savannah has recently complained that when I blog about her tournaments, I don't say much about her and playing soccer- just what the rest of the family did. So let me begin by saying... it was quite a tournament! It was the first one we've ever played outside of Utah. The competition was stiff and we lost EVERY game. But amazingly enough, although we were playing teams ranked number 1 and 2 in their state (Nevada and New Mexico)- they only beat us by one or two points. In other words... we played our hearts out and it was great to watch. I don't think any of the girls felt disappointed in their performance and much of our losses could have turned to wins if we hadn't recently lost so many players on the team.

So the rest of the family did the usual... hung out at the soccer fields and played on playgrounds. Tucker was amazed to find that his preschool language (Spanish) was not only spoken at school- other people speak it too! He really enjoyed making friends on the playground.

We only had time to do the strip one night and pretty much focused on the M&M factory.

Had to get a souvenir stretched penny, of course.

Emmaline made a sack with the colors of the Young Women's Values.

It was a quick trip and Georgia was sweet enough to make Thanksgiving Dinner for us beforehand so we could rush off to Vegas right after.

The Great Salt Lake

Emmaline went on a field trip with her school to the Great Salt Lake, but they didn't let the kids get near the water. She was pretty disappointed since she had even brought little containers to bring home brine shrimp. We decided to take a little family trip out since it was kind of fun to show the kids where I started the marathon. We spent some time at the Fielding Gar Ranch. There are about 600 head of Bison that roam around freely there and a little ranch house with lots to do. The kids had fun trying their hand at roping,

ringing the dinner bell,

and watching the Bison.

Although it was cold, the kids couldn't resist a dip in the Great Salt Lake.

Emmaline was finally able to get her brine shrimp!

Tyler's Birthday

Tyler always LOVES a party for his birthday. Sometimes that is a little hard for me to swing, but since LaVar and Judy were also in town, I thought it would be a good excuse for extended family to come for a visit. When we starting talking about it, the girls decided they really wanted to rent a cotton candy machine a bounce house. I think maybe the bounce house was for them, but the cotton candy machine?

He was like a kid in a candy store. Literally! He loved it. And he had a few helpers to eat it.

How do you like the band aids on both sides of his mouth? His lips got really chapped and he had cracks in the corner, so he said his "smile hurt." Band aids make everything feel better.
Our friend, Shukri took some pretty amazing pictures. This one says it all.

It was a good night.