The Kandells: January 2009

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Bowling.

Earlier this week, Camille, Haley and I decided since our men were working some late hours leaving us alone at night we were going to take the kids bowling one night to go do something fun. So tonight we went to Fat Cats in Provo with all 5 of the kids, Camille and her 2, me and my 2 and Haley and her Sammy.

Sounds fun, right? A good idea? No! Actually maybe on any other night it would have been a good night and maybe this was just the one night all our kids decided to go nuts and misbehave at the same time. For example they

ran halfway down the bowling lane (you know, where only the ball is allowed)

used the ball ramp as a jungle gym

stuck their heads in the ball chute

stuck their hands in the ball chute

pushed the balls back down the ball chute the wrong way

got in front of other bowlers

tried to steal balls from other lanes

slipped and fell and cried

fought over drinks and cried

spilled an entire lemonade on themselves (just Max actually) and cried

stole each others candy and cried

bowled out of turn and cried

had to have other adults dragging them away from the their lanes, balls, chutes, drinks

made their mothers want to crawl under their chairs and cry

and all other possible manner of unpleasantness

On the way home, I was thinking of what to title this post, maybe

When a good idea goes bad

Who knew bowling could make you want to get your tubes tied.

Anyway, there were a bunch of young couples bowling by us, and if nothing else I am sure we were the best advertisement for birth control out there.

{Max being a good sport and clapping for other bowlers in between tantrums}

{Sammy and Haley}

{Gavin}

{Ady}

My Valentines.

Relaxation.

This past weekend Eric and I made a quick trip down to Las Vegas with our friends Nate and Erin Wathen. For a weekend of relaxation and the best food on earth.

We checked in HERE

and proceeded to do all the things we love to do while NOT on vacation with the kids. Sleep in, take 2 hours to leave the room in the morning, go to the spa, do a little shopping (even Eric) and eat dinner at places our kids would surely embarass us.

Don't get me wrong, I like family vacations, I would even say they are my preference, even though they are busy. But its nice do to weekends away with just the 2 of us. Well, and Nate and Erin, who we had tons of fun with.

Also, Saturday is our Body for Life free day, the one day a week we can eat whenever and whatever we want. And we did. I will spare you the details of how much we ate but I will just say, if you are going to have a free day, Vegas is the place to do it. Eric and I are total foodies, and so we love how many fantastic restaurants there are in Vegas. Too many for one weekend.

The weather was so nice, 70's and sunny. We did some walking around between shopping and relaxing.

{Me and my overworked husband doing a whole lot of nothing}

{Nate (also overworked at Erics office) and his wife Erin}

These are all the pretty flowers growing outside the hotel and in the Bellagio's conservatory. So pretty, I cannot wait for Spring.

If you notice in almost all the pics I am in, I am covering my upper lip, I am experiencing some painful cold sores this winter, another reason to look forward to Spring.

Saturday night, we went to OUR FAVORITE, absolute best sushi place ever Nobu. It was so good, then we all went to see Cirque du Soliel's "O" show at the Bellagio. It was one of my favorite I have seen, The stage was a ll water, and had synchronized swimmers, dancers, divers and so much going on. We all loved it!

{all of us and my once again hidden cold sore at Nobu}

Another highlight of the trip was this little patesserie we found in our hotel called

Jean Phillippe Patesserie

It has these chocolate fountains in the store, and tons of beautiful treats and the best crepe I have ever eaten. (pictured below)

Sorry, if it seems like I am over emphasizing the good food, but seriously BEST. FREE DAY. EVER.

But, I think the best part of the trip for me was seeing Eric be able to relax. This guys has been working insane hours at work lately and really needed the break, it was good to see him unwind. He even fell asleep during our couples massage, I think the break was good for him. Dosen't he look refreshed?

When we got home, the kids were happy to see us but even happier to see what we brought them. It's funny, I remember when my parents got home from a trip, we were like "Hi mom and dad, what did you bring us?" All kids are the same. Max got a green dinosaur stuffed animal and Ady got a lady bug necklace. They were loving it!

For the Love of Cupcakes.

{pic from www.thesweettoothfairy.com}

I have had a lot of people ask for a good cupcake recommendation and so I am giving it on my blog. A couple years ago while looking for a bakery to do a custom cake or cupcakes for Ady's 2nd birthday a Mexican Fiesta, I came across this website THE SWEET TOOTH FAIRY

She is getting more and more popular these days, her cakes bites (so good) were just featured on the Rachel Ray show, and she is ever opening her own store front in the Riverwoods in Provo. So, I thought I would share some of the fun and yummy projects she has done for me.

This year she did these for me to give as neighbor gifts at Christmas, it made us pretty popular.

Maxwell's 1st birthday cake, complete with time cupcake for him to eat. All I did was send her a copy of Max's birthday invite and told her to match the cake to the invite. It was perfect.

The "fiesta" cupcakes she did for Ady's 2nd birthday

She made these for me, when I had an activity days party at my house. The girls loved them!

Our ever popular "Idol" cupcakes we had for our American Idol Finale party last year.

And of course her biggest project for me to date, last year's DESSERT NIGHT

She helped me cater almost the entire spread for our dessert night, which by the way be will be throwing again this year since last year's was so fun.

So, if you have a special event coming up or want to send someone cupcakes or cookies or whatever. Hit her up! You will love it!

Also, if you are super local (like right down the street) another hot spot for Cupcakes that I just love is Dippidee

They did both of the following for me, the cake for Ady's 3rd birthday family party and the "A" cupcakes for her friend party. Both delicious. Try either of these sweet shops and you will not be disappointed, unless you are trying to cut calories.

Planning for Disney.

{Spending time on Disney's trip planner}

We are going on a Disney family vacation coming up pretty soon. So since the kids are getting bit older now, I have been having them get involved in planning and talking about the trip. I have said before and I will say again. Disneyland/Disneyworld were some of my most memorable childhood trips. And I love how family oriented everything Disney is. We have taken our kids to the Disney parks before. But, I think this will be the most fun yet.

Ady is so into the princesses and Max loves Buzz and the whole gang from A Bug's Life. I think they are going to be loving this next family vacation. Everyday I have been getting online with the kids and showing them clips from Disneyland on youtube and today we were one the Magical Beginnings part Disney website where it shows families with toddlers, all the best rides to go on, the best places to eat and even has things I could print off for the kids to color now, to get them excited about the upcoming trip. Ady has been saving her money for the last little while so that she can get a Mickey Mouse sucker when we go and maybe something princess too (the is not sure what, she wants to wait to check everything out). She is all into putting every little penny she finds into her Disney savings. It's awesome. And I really may be just as excited as them. It reminds me of how exciting and magical Disney can be to a child. And to the parents of a child. Now, I know why my parents loved taking us there so much as kids. I mean, it couldnt have been easy for them to fly with 6 kids to Florida and spend days at a time at all the parks. I know, I have done it with just my 2. But, I am so excited that we are getting them involved in all of it this time and seeing them loving being a part of making the choices. Plus I think the building anticipation will make the trip that much sweeter for them.