Christmas 2008

Mackenzie, Brandon, Emily, and Mason made cookies for Santa. Don't they look delicious? MMmmmmmm... The kids went to bed fairly early on Christmas Eve and were definitely well rested for the Christmas Day festivities. Surprisingly, I didn't snap as many pictures as I typically do, but here are a few of Christmas Day.






The kids had so much fun opening presents and playing with them. Mason finally got the hang of pulling off the wrapping paper, although I think he had more fun checking out everyone else's "goods". Thank you to everyone for their generous gifts.


Each year, we usually head to the Strip to take pictures. The past few years, the Strip has pretty much been a ghost town during Christmas. This year however, it was not the case. We headed to Bellagio, but sat in traffic just to get into the parking lot. I jumped out of our car while Mackenzie and Mason were sleeping and had Carrie do the same. She pulled Brandon and Emily out of their car and we hopped onto the sidewalk in front of the Bellagio to watch the Fountain Show while the husbands parked the cars. Brandon and Emily had never seen the show and they really enjoyed listening to the music while the water shot up into the air.

Cruisin'

Mason started using his toy walker today. He was chasing after his big sister, Mackenzie. We were hoping he would stay somewhat immobile for a few more months. By the look of it, he'll be walking pretty soon. OH NO!!!!!

Snow in Vegas

Mackenzie had a ball watching and playing in the snow this morning. Ok, I have to admit, I was having a good time too! Unfortunately, there wasn't much snow where we lived, but there was plenty about 10 miles west of us where Mackenzie goes to preschool.

A Weekend of Visitors!

We had several visitors these past few weeks, starting with Jeff and Lisa Lam. The Lams visit us quite often and we are so fortunate to be able to spend so much time with them while they are in Vegas. On this visit though, Jeff was napping in his hotel room and we didn't get to see him, however Lisa met up with us for food and shopping. Mackenzie and I joined her at The Forum Shops at Caesar's. We had fun shopping and chit-chatting at The Cheesecake Factory. Mackenzie loved hanging out with just the girls!

That weekend, Gung Gung, Po Po, The Andersen Family, and the Yee Family invaded our household. We finally met our adorable niecey-poo Taylor. It was so cute to watch her and Mason play together. With them being only 3 days apart, it was amazing to see them doing the same things and even crawling after one another.


We were able to fit in a little Aliante Park time. The weather was beautiful. Brandon, Mackenzie and Emily enjoyed feeding the ducks and playing on the swings and the slides.




Phew...if that wasn't fun enough, we celebrated Carrie's birthday was some yummy cupcakes from the Cupcakery. The Chocolate Peppermint was so gooood. It tasted just like a York Peppermint Patty. This bakery is the place I "try" to take most visitors to while they are in town. If I haven't taken you, please don't be offended...=X



It was great having a lot of family in town, although everyone was quite sickly. I went to Quick-care twice, Walgreens three times, and bought 4 boxes of kleenex!!! Ewwww, maybe I should buy some Lysol too now that everyone is gone. Even though there were a lot of germies flying aorund the house, it was still wonderful having everyone here.

Post Thanksgiving in Diamond Bar, Ca.

We headed to Diamond Bar to visit the Yee Family the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Smith Family was also there visiting. It was nice watching the cousins play and entertain each other. On Sunday, we went to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. The kids and adults had a great time! This was a perfect place for everyone to burn off those Thanksgiving calories and to work those brain cells!

There was a Science of Gingerbread exhibit where kids could smell the different spices in gingerbread and they also had gingerbread houses on display.

Emily and Mackenzie put the stegosaurus' bones back in their place.

Aidan and Mackenzie enjoyed riding side by side dinos! Where did Brandon go? He must have been too quick for my camera this trip. I didn't get any photos of him!

Centennial Academy's Thanksgiving Feast

Mackenzie celebrated Thanksgiving with her classmates at Centennial Academy. They had turkey, stuffing, yams, and of course a variety of pumpkin desserts. She and her friends had a great time feasting!

Lake Las Vegas

On Saturday, Keith and I decided to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary without the kiddos. Our daycare provider, Leticia offered to take care of Mackenzie and Mason overnight for us! Wooohooo! We were very excited to go away for a night without the kids. Lake Las Vegas was our destination. It is a resort about 30 minutes east of the Strip and is made up of a man-made lake which is surrounded by Loews Hotel and Resort, Montelago Casino and Resort, and The Ritz-Carlton. There are also several golf courses and custom-built homes in the area. This is where Celine Dion lived while she performed at Caesar's. It is very beautiful and quite un-Vegaslike, aside from the Casino at the Montelago.



We had dinner at Marssa. It was the Sushi Restaurant at the Loews Hotel and Resort where we stayed. We started with an appetizer Bento Box which included the most incredible edamame dumplings with white truffle oil, kobe satay, chicken yahatamaki and crispy lobster cakes which had big chunks of lobster, YUM! We also had a tuna cocktail along with the usual suspects of hamachi, toro, sake, maguro and red snapper. The presentation was amazing as you can see!


When we were finished with the bento box and the sashimi, the waiter suggested we order a few more pieces of grilled toro nigiri. We had never had it this way before and he promised that the taste was better than the toro raw. The fish is grilled quickly and the fat and the flavors of the fish are brought out. He was absolutely right. This was the best sushi of the night. The fish melted in our mouths and if it wasn't at market price, we would have ordered more! I seriously would have been happy with just a fillet of grilled Toro over some rice!



The restuarant helped us celebrate our anniversary by giving us dessert. The mango mousse was very light. It was perfect for Keith since he doesn't really enjoy chocolatey desserts. The Chocolate Lava Cake was so rich and moist. I needed a gallon of milk afterwards to wash it all down. It was a nice way to end our meal. We would love to go back there again, maybe next year...with or without the kids???

Photo Booth Fun

I was going through Photo Booth and found some hilarious pics. It seems like whoever touches my MacBook has an urge to snap a few shots of themselves or others using Photo Booth. What fun!

Guess What's for Dinner???

MMMmmmm...