Our Week (01/19 - 01/25)

Scott's project this week was to chop down a giant tree in our back yard. Some carpenter ants have been eating it alive, so it's been looking unhealthy for a long time. We've been worried that one of the branches might fall on a car or passerby or something. Scott spent much of MLK Day and the weekend working on it:

 Celebrating good grades at Menchie's:

 The girls' artwork on display at the school:

Oh Emma. She is a handful these days. She just wants to toddle around and get into everything. She doesn't like to sit still and can wiggle out of just about any restraint. And she refuses to leave ponytails alone, so her hair is always a delightful mess, lol:

At Destination Imagination practice this week. Only one more month till the tournament. (Mom can't wait for it to be over.)

 

 William at preschool with his friends:

 We celebrated Chinese New Year on Saturday with Chinese food, paper lanterns, and red envelopes filled with lucky money.

Our Week (01/05 - 01/18)

Science Fair was on Tuesday. Heidi's science project involved collecting water samples (creek water, lake water, river water, tap water, and bottled water). Then she tested each of the samples with a water quality tester that we bought on Amazon and also checked them out under a microscope:

Creek water

Lake water

River water

For Lizzie's project, she danced at 5 different speeds and tracked her heart rate each time using her fitness watch:

Both girls' projects were selected to advance to the regional science fair in Austin next month. Only 16 students from their school were chosen, so it's a pretty big honor.

On January 8, Uncle Mark, Aunt Lori, and Katie visited from Idaho. We visited at the house for about an hour, and then we joined Scott for lunch at Rudy's BBQ (next to his work).

Owen lost another tooth!

Destination Imagination practice this week

This little cutie just had her first molar break through, so she's been extra clingy lately.

For the next few months, William is attending preschool for 2 hours a week with some friends from the ward.

These next several pictures were taken at the school's academic night:

Lizzie with her good friend Simran

Second quarter awards assemblies:

Owen got Perfect Attendance.

Heidi with her friend Rose. Heidi got an Accelerated Reader award, "A" Honor Roll, and Super Sport awards.

Lizzie got an Accelerated Reader award, "A" Honor Roll, Perfect Attendance, Bringing Up Grade award, Marvelous Musician, Awesome Artist, and Soaring Eagle award.

Elizabeth with her friends Jaya and Zariyah

Vegas Trip - Day 1 (The Strip)

I walked past this sign at the Austin Airport and was intrigued...

...Apparently they have indoor restrooms for dogs now!

This was literally the first thing I saw when I got out the gate at Las Vegas Airport.

Our flights got in around midnight, so Nori and I spent our first night at the Luxor Resort and Casino. Here are some pics of our pyramid guest room:

We couldn't sleep in, so we walked to Jamba Juice at Miracle Mile Shops and to Eggslut at the Cosmopolitan for breakfast. (We split a fruit smoothie and a bacon egg & cheese sandwich.)

We met up with the sisters around 11 and practiced our selfie skills.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the Strip:

We got excited when we saw Paw Patrol. We thought, "We'll take a picture for the kids!" Turns out, you're supposed to tip, so this picture cost us $5. 

Scorpion at Nacho Daddy

It depends who you ask, but according to my phone I walked over 11 miles that day. (Nori's numbers were higher.)

Chocolate Statue of Liberty (they also had one made out of licorice)

Trying to capture the Eiffel Tower in the background. We made several attempts, but the lighting was never quite right. It became a joke. I think we ended up with something like 8 Eiffel Tower pics in the end.

  

 

3D Experience at M&M World

At the Coca Cola Store. Nor loves here Mexican Coke!

The Bellagio was my favorite: 

Frank Sinatra's "Luck Be a Lady"

We couldn't walk through the Bellagio gardens because they were setting up for Chinese New Year, but Al snapped some good pictures anyway:

We saw the short Atlantis Show at the Shops at Caesar's Palace, and took a gambling pic. (We didn't actually gamble.) An employee actually came up to us and asked if we were all 21. (???)

We made Rachel and Kristi suffer through the Mirage rainforest and volcano before we caught the monorail back to Al's car at MGM resort.

That night we had Italian food at Cugino's, but we didn't take any pictures. Too tired, I guess.