October 2013

It's past time for October leftovers, and I kind of don't care, but Mr. Mitchell says I should catch up on everything that I meant to do so that I don't give myself the slacker speech later.

We started October with a surprise party for my niece who turned 16. She loves everything vintage, so, my sister put together an awesome vintage, sweet 16 party. Mr. Mitchell dressed as a greaser, I was a 40s casual girl, and Sprout was a beatnik because that was the best we could do. No pictures, unfortunately.

We did family pictures. One of Mr. Mitchell's coworkers took them and I edited them. This is my first time doing something like this, and I'm not entirely pleased with the way they turned out because I know they could look better; I just haven't learned how. If you have suggestions I am happy to hear them, but no criticisms.   

Then there was Halloween, of course. We went to trunk-or-treat as pirates because we always seem to be ready with pirate costumes.

On Halloween we carved our pumpkins just in time for our trick-or-treaters. We had all of 7. 

And then, of course, there's just the random stuff that is life.

He has turned into quite the climber.

He's already done with this phase.
Glad I captured it.

Bonding over electronics.

Sprout loves suction cup kisses from Daddy.

We Went to Vegas

After our ridiculous summer a little getaway seemed to be in order. We wanted to go somewhere warm, but within driving distance. We settled on Las Vegas and rented a little studio condo in the Montelago Resort. My sister watched Sprout while we disappeared for a trip of relaxation and reconnection. It did not go quite as planned, but we'll get to that later.

On our way down to Vegas we drove through Salt Lake City and stopped to see the Boy Scout exhibit in the Church History Museum. BSA holds a very special place in Mr. Mitchell's heart, and we hope that the scouting program holds itself together long enough for our boys to be Eagle Scouts and have it mean something. The exhibit was well done, and if it's still around we would recommend it.

We then stopped in on our old stomping grounds: Provo. We lived a block from the Provo Tabernacle when it burned. It was a sad, sad day. It was a very joyous day when church leadership announced they are turning it into a temple. We drove by the construction site to see what was happening.

The spires are on the ground and
look like odd Christmas trees.

The gutted tabernacle.

Raised off of the ground so they
can work on the basement things.

Click here to read more about the temple and see their plans.

Eventually we made our way down to Vegas and got ourselves into our room. The resort was beautiful, the room was very nice, and we got to enjoy the hot tub and eat at a little pub. The following pictures are the view from our balcony.

To get to the village we had to cross this beautiful bridge, and we never snagged a picture of it or the village. It's a problem the two of us consistently have when we travel alone. (We have maybe 10 pictures total from our honeymoon, and that seems strange to me.)

The next morning we experienced a little slice of heaven when we got to sleep in for as long as we wanted. I had forgotten what that felt like. We then went and got an hour long couple's massage at the spa. It was another little slice of heaven. We got to sit in the hot tub there, steam, sit in a lovely waterfall, and be thoroughly pampered. It was amazing...until we left and were charged more than double what I had anticipated. AAAHHHHHH!!!! My relaxation was a bit gone at that point, but we carried on.

We then went to eat at a little bistro in the village where Mr. Mitchell ordered a $12 shrimp cocktail. They brought out four shrimp that tasted worse than dead fish. We got through one and a half of them. Again, we just carried on.

We then went to the marina to rent some watercraft to play on the lake. They were closed - without warning. We called them all day, and no one ever answered. They still haven't returned our messages. I was super looking forward to basking on the lake, and that never happened. Losers.

We then discovered that my brother's family was also in Vegas. They live less than two hours from us, and we had to bump into them in Las Vegas. Nuttiness. They were staying on the strip so we sojourned into Vegas to say 'hello' and take Mr. Mitchell on his first Vegas walk.

They were staying in The Excalibur.

C. needed help with his
 gangster chain he won.

Proof that we saw them.

By the way, Mr. Mitchell would like me to mention that I got us lost probably at least 5 times on our way to The Excalibur. (We should invest in GPS.) The last time I had been in Vegas I was 16 and my memory wasn't that fresh. And on that age note, this was my first time in Vegas where I was old enough to cross the line and onto the floor. Wow. It was weird.

I demanded a trip to the Bellagio to see the fountains.

For some reason the show we watched was recorded in three segments. I'll include the two long ones to give you an idea. It was very pretty, and I LOVE the song they used.





From there we called it a night and went back to the resort. We had a big day planned and needed to get all rested up. Part of getting rested up included Mr. Mitchell spilling soy sauce on the sheets. No more sushi in bed.

We started our next day with a trip to the Hoover Dam. It was very cool, but, unfortunately, due to the government shut-down you couldn't do much except walk on it. Nothing was open except for the gift shop (go figure).

We parked up on the hill
because we didn't want to pay.

We parked in one time zone and walked back into the other.

After our Hoover Dam expedition we went back into the city to go to the Mob Museum. It was a bit pricey, but it's well done: informative and interactive.

In the line-up.

That's Clark Gable and his wife.
Apparently she divorced him in Vegas.
 I can't remember why that's related to the mob...

Cop simulation - he's getting
ready to take down a big mob boss.

After the Mob Museum we got in a slight argument about money in a parking garage. It was a little awkward. Something we definitely learned from this trip though is that money is just money. Worse things could happen, and memories are priceless.

We walked the strip checking out the malls in The Venetian and Caesar's Palace. We watched the fountains again, went to the M&M store, ate at a delicious Italian restaurant, and watched the pirate show at Treasure Island. 

After I had completely wore Mr. Mitchell out we decided it was time to head back. Imagine our surprise and panic attack when we couldn't find our car keys. We wandered back to the car fruitlessly following our footsteps in hopes of finding dropped keys and calling every place we stopped in to see if keys were turned in. Eventually we got back to the car and found the keys sitting on the driver's seat, and all of the doors were locked. 

We live in the dark ages (a.k.a. we don't have smart phones) and had to call my little brother, Garrison, for a locksmith. He sent us a number, we called, and we waited. Eventually an unmarked vehicle popped up, guy didn't ask for any ID or proof of ownership, popped the car open, and claimed $60 - cash only. Talk about sketchy. We were too tired to care. We headed on back to our studio only to find that we were locked out of our room. We had to cruise all the way to other side of the resort (after 1am) to have them reactivate our cards. We were so ready for bed by the time we got in.

The next morning we cleaned, packed up, and went to do sealings at the Las Vegas temple. It was beautiful and refreshing.

As I said, the trip wasn't as relaxing as anticipated, but we still had a good time, and it was wonderful to have it be just the two of us for a bit. I have been to Vegas a few times with my family and on a dance competition, but this is the first time I have been where I was responsible for planning. Now that I've done it once I feel we could do it successfully a second time and have a much more enjoyable experience. 

Thank you so much to the Smiths for taking care of our little boy!!

We Moved....Again

So, I think pretty much everyone knows that it's standard for Paul and me to move twice a year due to work and school. The move this time, however, was self-inflicted. We were living in a triplex beneath a man that I fondly call Thundering Thornton. That combined with some landlord issues meant we had to leave as soon as our contract was up.

We are now in a side-by-side duplex, and we are loving it. We have good-smelling carpet, we have no one above us, we have a yard that is free of dog poop, we have a garage, and the only thing we miss about the old place is the kitchen. The kitchen here is a LOT smaller, and there is no dishwasher. *sigh* It's worth it, though.

Pics of the new place (not quite completed yet):

Come and visit us!

P.S. Maybe you noted that there was no picture of our bedroom listed; here is an opportunity for you to learn something about me: my bedroom is my personal space, and I do not like other people in there unless explicitly invited or directed there. Posting a picture of my bedroom on the interweb seemed a little silly if I don't even let close friends in there.