Yay, school is back in session!

I just endured a very long week of Spring Break with my kids and am so happy to be back to normal with kids off to school and everyone's normal routine back in place. This morning I woke early to run my 3.4 miles in a record time of 38 minutes. I am trying to push myself harder every day to either run further or faster. I used to hate running but now I love it. I found myself itching to get outside this morning after a 2-day break.
Thank goodness for my next-door neighbor, Brooke, last week when she suggested we trade off kids Friday so we could both enjoy some sanity building time. I think she took pity on me when she came home Thursday to see me standing on my front porch barking orders to my kids to run down the street and back to release some of their crazy energy since they were bouncing off the walls. I can't imagine what the summer will be like for me when the kids are home all day every day. Thank goodness for warm weather, swimming lessons and art classes!

I promise I'm still here!

I know, it's been over a month since I've blogged and I'm truly sorry. It all happened when we decided to move our computer to our upstairs spare bedroom and since then I haven't had more than a couple minutes to myself before I hear the usual "MOMMY!!" from downstairs. It's so predictable, I'm either in the bathroom, on the phone or now, playing on the computer and my children all of a sudden need me now!
So one of these days I will get some more pictures added and some more stories and I can stop hearing the complaints of me not updating my blog. But here's the deal: you all complain that I don't blog enough, but how am I supposed to know anyone is reading it if I don't see any comments at the bottom??? So if I'm going to blog, then you're going to have to send me comments, okay?

More Vegas!

While staying at the Excalibur, we took the kids to go see the Tournament of Kings where we saw jousting, fighting and got to eat a lot of food with our fingers!

By the last day, Daddy and Erica couldn't take it any longer and gave in to a nice little snooze before waking up to go see the Tournament of Kings show.

One rule when staying in a hotel: Make sure you jump on the beds!!! The kids had a blast jumping wild on the beds and getting that cooped up energy out after all that driving.

This vacation wouldn't be the same without some great friends to share it with. We snuck out for an hour the last night in Vegas and visited Bellagio and whatever casino that has the Volcano show.

My cutie patutie kids were so good during all the walking and waiting. I was honestly scared to death that one of them was going to walk away from us and get lost. We didn't have any problems this time! Yay!

Viva Las Vegas!

So...Originally we decided to bypass the whole birthday party drama and bribe Zach into going to stay in a hotel and swim in the swimming pool. After getting an excited "YES!" we then thought to ourselves, "Selves, as long as we're going to stay at a hotel, let's go all out and go to Vegas!" So we set out Saturday afternoon and caravaned with our neighbors/friends where we stayed with their family in St. George that first night.

After a fun Saturday night and yummy breakfast served to us Sunday morning by our friends' gracious parents, we were off to Vegas! The kids were seated in luxury with their DVD players and refreshments just at their fingertips.

Here Zach and Kayla are with excited faces after I show them the "castle" where we were to be staying. They loved that they were going to sleep in a castle!

This picture is funny to me because in the background is Mr. Peanut M&M, but when I told the kids to go stand next to him for a picture, they immediately started into their hysterics about being too afraid to get a close-up. This was as close as it was going to get for these two chickens!

We were able to go to the Sponge Bob 4-D ride (can you say pricey???) and so couldn't resist getting a picture with our square friend.

The whole time we stayed in Las Vegas it was cloudy and cold. I was hoping to shed the oversized down-stuffed coat and maybe work on my tan? Is that too much to ask???

OK, I saw this on someone's blog and made a comment and...I WON! So now I get to pay it forward. Here is how it works......

–Be one of the first three bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me. (That in itself is a really good reason to comment!!!)

–Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first three bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

–The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

–When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!If you are not one of the first Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Please take the button and post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

Get Ready. Get Set. Comment!!!

Eric'a's Danc'in Skills

I've been telling everyone that Erica is a great dancer and is always getting up and dancing when Choo-Choo Soul comes on TV. I've gotten a pretty good video of her as she's shak'in her groove thang.

Christmastime for the Bev's

Christmas was really fun this year. We went and saw Santa at the mall, however Zach is still frightened of him and wouldn't even stand in line with us to see him. No matter how much we bribed him (highest offer of $20 offered from our neighbor, David, who's family also came with us) would not budge him. So maybe next year Zach will change his mind.

Christmas Eve Grandma Thompson, Jamie and Allison arrived and we had dinner and then we all hopped in the van and drove to see the Spanish Fork's Festival of Lights. It was very pretty and the kids had a lot of fun.

Before bed Grandma gathered the kids around and gave them their Christmas Eve gifts which were the traditional jammies. I'm a big fan of the jammies.

The kids went to bed and the grown-ups stayed up and played games and ate a lot of sugary treats. Uhgh! I felt that later! Late into the night when we noticed on Santa's special website that he was getting close, we hurried off to bed.

Christmas morning felt like it came way too soon when we heard a knock, no, a pounding on our door at 6:30 a.m. and seeing the kids jumping off the walls in anticipation. Santa had certainly delivered to the Bevan household! The kids were very pleased. But that wasn't the end to our very exciting day...

After brunch and cleaning up, getting dressed and sending my side of the family off, we loaded in the car and headed to Kyle's parent's house for more Christmas fun. There we exchanged more gifts and ate more food. Grandpa Bevan even got a hooded towel like the rest of the kids. He's been telling us that he's wanted one. It was very fun and exhausting. Another great Christmas celebrated with the people we love best!