Our Vegas Vacation

The dealership where Creed works was recognized by Chevrolet as an Elite Leader, meaning it is in the top 250 dealerships in the country in terms of volume sold. Chevrolet gifted each dealership a free trip to Vegas for a sales manager (and guest!) and we were thrilled, excited, and so, so grateful to get to go! Neither of us had been to Vegas before, so that made it extra fun. 

After a long, but direct flight, we were so happy to get there! This is the view from our terrace. We stayed at The Cosmopolitan, and since it was originally built for condos, our room was really nice and really big! 

We arrived at 6pm Pacific time and after getting settled in our room, we had dinner at one of the hotel's restaurants and then walked around outside for a little while. Our hotel was right next to the Bellagio and across from the Paris and Planet Hollywood, so the sights were amazing. 

We have lots, lots more pictures and stories to share...but I will warn you...most of the pictures are of us. Ha! Selfies were just the thing to do as we took in all the amazing sights. 

Recording Setting Snow

Wednesday evening we went to bed with a few inches on the back deck. The forecast called for a lot of snow for our area, but you never know...I was hoping the models were wrong.

Notice the kids' picnic table...

The next morning we woke up to this:

That's a view of the kids' picnic table again...

Opening the doors was tricky with 12+ inches of snow piled up.

I cleared a path on the deck for Rhett (still in my pajamas) and just could not believe how deep it really was!

Then the shoveling began! We spent hours clearing our driveway, as well as Grandma & Grandadddy's. (The snow was so much heavier than the last storm!)

We ended up with mounds of snow...again. Crazy thinking we had done this exact same thing just two weeks ago.

The boys played a little...but Luke had a hard time walking with the snow all the way up his little legs, and poor Caleb- he just doesn't like to be cold!

We love snow, but we have had our fill for this winter season. We have had the 7th snowiest season in Louisville history, and the 2nd largest March snowfall ever for our area. 

Looking forward to next week's temperatures as they are supposed to hit 60!

The Rest of February

While February is a month that normally seems to drag on, this February just flew by. Hard to believe that March is here.

Luke had "Donuts with Dad" early in the month.

Luke also played with Play Doh quite a few times. Notice the pretend SWAT gear headset he is wearing...

The big snow storm happened...We watched it snow and snow and snow. When it finally stopped, we shoved the driveway....and two days later it showed again.

While the record low temperatures kept us inside, Luke played on a giant snow mound for a little while. (Caleb headed inside after only a minute or two!)

Inside, there were lots of games of Connect Four...

and more Play Doh. This time in a Ninja vest.

The boys were out of school most of the week (Caleb had a 2 hour delay that Friday) because neighborhood roads looked like this...

 (Thankfully, the main roads and expressways were pretty clear so we got out of the house: Wal-Mart for a snow day toy and the mall for an afternoon and evening out were the perfect cures for our growing cabin fever.)

Luke ran into a door frame and got the world's biggest knot on his forehead.

And loved showing off the bruise that lasted over two weeks. 

I cracked up when I saw the professional pictures taken at homecoming...

He makes his uncles proud!

Creed sent me this picture with the text "Luke's contraband," Apparently he went to the dentist with the knife tucked securely in his pants. It was finally discovered at gymnastics. 

Our hilarious family picture! 

A representative from General Motors asked Creed to send him a picture with an explanation of what Chevrolet means to him. He decided to send this picture, with the explanation that Chevy means plenty of room for everything his family needs. Ha! 

Muffins with Mom was the perfect ending to our crazy, busy, snowy, cold, yet super fun month!

Caleb's Ski Trip

Back in January, Creed took Caleb to Timberline, WV skiing for the weekend. Grandma Kathy went too, which made it extra fun. They had a great time, and as the videos show, Caleb greatly improved his skiing as the time went on. (I was just impressed that Creed could turn around and ski backwards while recording a video so well- ha!)

I couldn't get the videos to upload like I wanted, so here are the links to watch them:

Video of Caleb Skiing #1

Video of Caleb Skiing #2

Video of Caleb Skiing #3

Celebrating Luke

We woke Luke up a little early on his birthday so he could open presents before school. He was super excited about his new bike and ready to take the training wheels off. We decided that he should probably learn how to pedal it first- ha! (While he has fantastic balance from his Strider bike, he doesn't really have much practice pedaling.)

I brought donuts and orange juice (Luke's choice) to share with his sweet friends at school.

Luke and his buddy Zeke both turned four on the 25th so we sang to both of them. Luke requested that we sing to Zeke first. Sweet boy!

This is just my favorite picture of him!

Luke sure loves Mrs. Fisher!

After school we came home and got busy baking. Luke requested "a sprinkle cake with orange and green icing," so after getting what we needed, we got started! He was my little helper and actually helped with most of the process.

When I got home from work the following day, this is what I found...no training wheels! Luke quickly got the hang of it. While he can ride by himself, he hasn't quite mastered how to brake. And, he is frequently distracted. ;)

Thursday evening we had family over to open gifts and eat the cake that we worked so hard on.

The birthday boy with his orange and green cake!

We hope you had a wonderful birthday, Luke Michael. We sure had fun celebrating with you!

Great Wolf Lodge

Instead of having a big party for Luke's birthday, we decided to take a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Luke was super excited to go to Wolf Lodge, as he calls it, and all four of us just had the best time. We love it there and can't wait to go back!

Caleb wasn't quite the 48 inches that he needed to be to go on all of the slides, but somehow he charmed his way into a 48 inch wrist band! He loved the water coaster, and Creed & I loved taking turns riding it with him. Luke wasn't a huge fan of the tube slides at first (He was hit in the face with a wall of water at the end of the family tube slide!) but as time progressed, he decided he liked some of them. (He just isn't quite the daredevil that his big brother has always been!)

Hands down, Luke's favorite part was the wave pool. He spent most of his time there.

After playing hard Sunday afternoon, we went to our room to get cleaned up for dinner. This was the first time that the boys got to see their "KidKamp" Suite, and they were SO, SO excited.

After yummy pizza in the room (We were shocked at how good all of the food we had was- especially the pizza- Yum!) Creed surprised the boys with huge, iced Ninja Turtle cookies.

Then we took the boys to the lobby for story time, but Luke was not feeling it. I took him back to the room, but not before we stopped to admire the water park. (Funny story...if you have ever been, you know they sing this song about the woods with a very catchy line, There's nothing to be scared of here. That night while the boys were laying down to go to sleep Creed sang that line and we heard Luke say to himself, "Uhh, I hate that song!"  Haha!)

I think it took us 5 minutes to make it down the hallway that evening. He was just taking it all in.

Ready for bed!

Our early risers slept until almost 8:30 Monday morning- a record! Apparently it takes hours in the water park to get these boys to sleep past 7.

With Monday being a school day, it wasn't nearly as crowded! I made Luke wear a life jacket it we were not right next to him and when he asked why, I showed him the sign that said children under 48 inches should wear a life jacket. He responded, I know! Let's pretend it says take your life jacket off!

You can see their worn out eyes...

Before heading home Monday afternoon, we stopped for ice cream. The perfect, sweet ending to a perfect trip. 

Luke told us numerous times how much fun he had, how much he loved Wolf Lodge, and how he wants to go back! I am pretty sure it was a great birthday treat!