Sunset Park- The Gift Of Lights

As soon as the kids went on Winter Break we had Samiu and Toakesa sleep over so we decided to drive out to Sunset Park to check out their Christmas lights. I heard that there was a fee per car and here I am thinking it would be like $5 per car to get in.... nope! Fifteen freak'n dollars per car! There was no turning back because the kids were already hyped up so we forked over the cash and headed in with HIGH expectations. Las Vegas Christmas lights aint got nothin on Salt Lake Christmas lights that you can see for FREE!!! sheesh! Anyways... the kid's had fun - I guess. And the money went to a good cause- or atleast I hope it did. Each of the sponsers had their own displays up to match their company's theme. I liked the Shark Reef the best.

Siope could see a glimpse of this dragon from the street and begged me from the beginning to take a picture of it.

Aria Opens It's Doors To the Public

CityCenter's Aria has opened its doors to the public. Fireworks exploded over the centerpiece of the $8.5 billion CityCenter project, and people eagerly awaited to be the first inside Aria, which is a partnership between MGM Mirage and Dubai World.

Aria Resort & Casino: Revealed to the World 12.16.09

Lumina 2 at Aria's main Porte Cocher. The fountain show was designed by Wet Designs, who are the designers of the Fountains at the Bellagio.


Revealed to the world on 12.16.09 Kicked off the night with fireworks!

Dec 1-5 in the City

I started my first day of training on Tuesday and it's been a little chaotic trying to adjust to the new schedule. I haven't had much time to hop on and blog, so I thought that while I had a minute I would give a brief overview of what's been happening at work.


The first day of orientation we got to tour the casino and restaurants. I couldn't believe that in one day we saw less than half of the hotel- it's a little overwhelming. The property is HUGE!!! And beautiful to say the least. Throughout the week each of our sister properties within the City Center have been opening. My property (Aria) is scheduled to open to the public on Dec 16. We won't be full occupancy for the first couple of weeks... and our GRAND OPENING will be New Years Eve. I haven't really had time to watch TV or hop online, but there's no way that you can avoid hearing about the City Center right now. It's a big deal and certainly the talk of the town!

Actor Orlando Bloom @ Vdara Grand Opening

Actress Rosario Dawson @ Vdara Grand Opening

Eva Longoria-Parker @ Crystals Grand Opening
Crystals is our shopping venue at City Center. They feature shops like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., and Roberto Cavalli. Eva Longoria-Parker has her own restaurant there called Beso.

We got to tour our hotel rooms on Wednesday and they are not only gorgeous, but they feature state of the art technology- it's mind blowing! The panoramic views from the suites gave me goosebumps! Before we started I seen all of the computer generated images of the hotel and to see them in real life is absolutely incredible.

Thanksgiving '09

Wednesday night while we were at the car dealership I get a call from Neo telling me that my parents are on their way... what?!! They were aboard their plane and were about 5 minutes away from departure. We had already made plans to have Thanksgiving dinner with Toa and a couple of her cousins so the news of my parents coming caught me off guard. I hadn't even had time to clean up the mess in the kitchen from the late night baking ordeal, so I made Ti Tonga pick them up while I scrambled to have the house presentable. The kids, like always, were thrilled to see Grandma and Grandpa. They came in with their usual cooler in tow filled with Tongan food for Ti Tonga. We talked a little then called it a night. Ti Tonga called Mote and told him that we were going to have to cancel our arrangements because we were now going to have dinner with my parents. I felt guilty, but everything seemed to work out fine.

Thursday morning me and Ti woke up to find my Mom in the kitchen- going to work on her Lu Sipi. My dad and the boys were no where to be found... nothing out of the ordinary. Grandpa had taken the boys to pick up donuts for breakfast. My dad later told me that when they were at the supermarket he asked one of the workers for an empty donut box. She asked him how many donuts he was planning on getting and he answered- a dozen. She looked at him confused and insisted that he get the preboxed dozen because it would be cheaper. He pointed to the 3 messy haired, pajama wearing boys and said "I know, but they want to pick out which ones we'll be taking home."

In the meantime me and Ti headed to the store and bought our turkey, gravy, stuffing- pretty much all the American food we would be eating. Everything turned out wonderful. The food was ready by 1pm. We had our traditional Thanksgiving food and were blessed with a taste of home goodness thanks to my Mom. Her Lu Sipi, Ota (ika), and Manioke were a hit amongst the adults. After pumpkin rolls and pumpkin pie for dessert we took a nap. Everyone served themselves to rounds 2 and 3 at their own pace. We decided to go out that night so we got dressed and headed to the Bellagio. My mom LOVES plants so she was really impressed at the Botanical Garden. I thought they would have their Christmas display up, but it was still their Thanksgiving set-up... so it was perfect! We went out to the front after and watched the fountain show. I'm surprised that after how many trips to Vegas my parents had never seen the fountain show there.

My parents with the boys at the Botanical Garden

There were HUGE pumpkins and gourds throughout- all of which were real!

This had to be the coolest display there. This tree's eyes not only moved, but he spoke to the guests as they passed by!

A closer look at the talking tree. Kinda reminded me of the the trees on Lord of the Rings.

I knew there was no way I was going to capture how beautiful this piece was. It had water trickling down from the top to each branch and leaf.

Me and Nic at the entrance of the garden. Had to stand in line to get a pic here and by the time I got to the front, my entire group disappeared.
Grandpa, Grandma, and Nic getting ready to watch the fountain show

Timote

The boys with Grandma and Grandpa at the front of the Bellagio

The Thanksgiving display behind the front desk

The fountain show that night was "Singing in the Rain"

The next day before my parents left they took the boys on their ritual trip to McDonalds. My mom did everything she could to leave the house in better shape than when she arrived. Which meant cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom and sending my Dad to the store to buy a needle and spool of thread so that she could sew up my couch cushion that was leaking white "stuffies".

I am so thankful for my family. I am thankful for my husband, for our 3 wonderful boys and the health we've been blessed with. I'm thankful for my parents and siblings. For the unconditional love they have for us and for the endless support they offer my little family. I am also grateful for flight benefits and the opportunity that my parents have to hop on a plane at the spur of the moment just to see their grand kids. I'm grateful that my brothers and sisters who were left behind without a Mom to cook a turkey for them were understanding enough not to harbour any bad feelings. I have the best family in the world- for that I give thanks.

Nici's Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

I was up all Tuesday night baking pumpkin rolls for Nic's Thanksgiving party. I was tempted to bake everything Wednesday morning, but Ti kept pushing me to get everything done that night. Good thing he did cause I wouldn't have had enough time to do everything Wednesday before school. I went to Smiths Tuesday night and got all my ingredients. When I got home and started setting everything up I realized that I left my jellyroll pan at my Mother-in-law's house when we went up for the holidays last year. So I made yet another trip to the store. This time I went to Walmart. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Walmart? Besides being open 24hrs, they have almost nothing good to offer me! They had NO jellyroll pans, so I had to settle for a cheap cookie sheet. I bought new tupperware to haul the goodies in and... their tupperware section
SUCKS!!! When I got home it was after 1am. What I wouldn't do for a double oven when the holidays come around! I had to bake 1 pumpkin roll at a time and was limited on mixing bowls. I don't have that many to begin with, and Ti was using 2 of them to marinade meat. So I had to get creative with my resources. I got done baking around 3, wrapped up the rolls, threw them in the fridge, and left the kitchen a complete mess. The next morning I woke up early to get Mote ready and off to school. Got the 2 little ones dressed and headed out for soccer practice. After soccer, dropped of Palmer, got Nic dressed and loaded our drinks and Thanksgiving treats in the car... all while I was fighting to keep my eyelids open! I was so tempted to drop Nic off then come home and take a nap. I had already told his teacher I would come in and help with the party and up until I pulled into the school was considering coming back home for a nap. Nic was so happy that I baked pumpkin rolls for his class and was excited to share them with his friends... so I parked the car and headed in to Kindergarten. I am so glad I went!! I swear Nic's class has little to no parent participation- the complete opposite of Mote's Kindergarten days. Mrs. Higa had lots of craft stations set up and looked relieved to have help with the kids. There was one other mother that showed up and together we had so much fun with the little Kindergartners!! They had a brief lesson on the pilgrims and Indians and made LOTS of crafts.
I got to help at the stations and got to know each of Nici's classmates- they were all so sweet! After recess we had our Thanksgiving Feast.

My pumpkin rolls were such a hit!! One of the little boys yelled out "This is the BEST thing I have ever tasted!" It made me so proud and made all the sleep deprivation worth it! It was also a great opportunity to see Nic in an educational environment and also to get to know his teacher... I LOVE HER!!! I am so glad they opened up new classes and that Nic switched over to her class. She is super patient, loving, and enthusiastic!- not to be rude, but the opposite of his old teacher. At the end of the school day I was very proud, full, and happy.

WWJD?

Siope: "Mote can I have your wristband?"

Mote: "No."

Siope: *pouts* "Man, you're mean! Jesus doesn't like when you don't share"...



.... "so I'm gonna punch you!"


The kids say the craziest things sometimes. Siope especially! He's been saying a lot of unkind things to his brothers. It's like he doesn't even realize what he's saying is mean, and that he's completely contradicting himself. I know he probably says things because we let him get away with a lot more being the youngest. I'm trying not to turn a blind eye as much when it comes to him. When I tell him that what he says is not nice he pauses and looks at me like he honestly didn't realize what he did was wrong until I just pointed it out. Today I asked him, "Do you not want anything for Christmas? Is that why you say mean things? Cause Santa's not going to bring you anything if you keep saying naughty words." I think it actually hit home for him. He quickly apologized and said that he wants to say nice things so Santa can bring him something for Christmas. Hopefully it works.

Outdoor Checkers

Wednesday we were surprised to not only have Heber over, but Palmer as well. Cheryl dropped them off in the morning and when we got to the park Siope, Nic, and Palmer got to play on the playground until it was their turn for practice. I thought it was adorable when I found the boys playing checkers. They had set up the game board with rocks as their checker pieces while Palmer attempted to teach Nic how to play. Aren't they so cute?!

DH Trunk-or-Treat '09

We got done with our pumpkins just in time to get our costumes on for our ward trunk-or-treat. We had dinner at 5pm, then the kids took a trip through a "Spook Alley" that the Youth put together. We had a cake walk in the RS room and unlike the Elementary school, the kids got to walk around until they each won a cupcake- yay! Toa and Mote showed up right in time for the trunk-or-treat so the boys got to make their rounds with Samiu and Toakesa. I thought it was a really good turn out! Lots of people from Mountain's Edge, both members and non members. Mostly every trunk was decorated and there were lots of cool costumes! The kids got a ton of candy and had lots of fun.

Siope with Bishop and his pet Ostrich

When Mote won at the cake walk he chose one of the cupcakes that we brought... of course

Samiu, Toakesa, Siope & Nic. Mote was too busy making his rounds
Sister & Brother Davies!! Our favorite pirates in the whole wide world!

Sleepover at our house

Ti Tonga and the boys

Me and the boys

Carving Out Memories

Yesterday we took the boys to get pumpkins. We have our 2 "faux" pumpkins on the porch that we plug in each year, but I think the boys are finally getting old enough to appreciate and enjoy pumpkin carving. We took a trip to Smith's and let each of them pick out a pumpkin. Mote of course ended up with the biggest one, Nic got a medium sized one and Siope- the smallest one... go figure. It turned out to be so much fun! We cleaned them out out in the backyard so that we didn't have to worry about making a mess. Me and Ti Tonga helped, but for the most part they each scooped out the inside of their own pumpkins. They chose a design from our carving book and poked out the design, then me and Ti Tonga did most of the carving.

Here's the finished products. Can you guess which pumpkin belongs to which boy???



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Silly face pumpkin for silly Siope

Mote's Pumpkin

Nici's choice

Happy Halloween!