Um yeah...I am not sure what exactly I need to catch up on but I'll try to highlight a few main things. January didn't bring a ton of activities, just trying to get back into the groove of work and school and life really. Aspen and Colten have gotten in the groove of completing their online class. I still remind them maybe twice a week. Aspen has been doing something each week in foods. We learned how to do a milkshake without ice cream...and it was pretty good! She did get a post card this weekend from her foods teacher, Mrs. Glover, saying she is doing a great job :) Colten was a little jealous as he has the same teacher for his Participation Skills class but didn't get a post card, but then he said just kidding.
We have enjoyed watching the playoff's in NFL this year. These games were decided in the last 3 seconds by a field goal or in overtime. The Raiders made it to the playoffs and I think their game was a night game that lasted until 10:15pm, crazy! Well, I realized that the Pro Bowl was taking place in Las Vegas this year and asked Zac if we wanted to go. We could totally do a day trip since the game was at noon (1:00 our time) and at first he said no. But then he discovered that the NHL All-star game was also in Vegas and said that would make the trip worth it. So, we got tickets for all four of us (the littles were at their moms that weekend), got Aspen and Colten their first COVID vaccine and Zac finished with his second shot, and headed out Saturday morning for Vegas. We got a hotel that was one of the cheaper options but was a seven minute walk to Allegiant Stadium. Since the All-star game was on Saturday and during the day, we walked over to T-mobile Arena. The All-star game was awesome. The seats weren't too bad considering we were able to get an additional $200 off our tickets since the seller posted the wrong section. There were a couple of Las Vegas Knights representatives and then one Seattle Kraken (Colten's team). That division didn't make it passed the first round but it was still fun to watch. I just kept thinking, I would not want to be a goalie in the All-Star game going up against the best shooters in the league. The scores were a little higher than a normal hockey game. We also got to see Machine Gun Kelly perform before the final game. That night we tried going to Texas Roadhouse (there are only 2 in Vegas!) but the wait was 3 hours at 5:00pm...uh no thanks. So,we found a good mama's pizza place. The pizza was huge and we each only ate one slice. Then, we tried dessert (don't remember what they are called though) but they were good.
Saturday, we were up and moving pretty early (partly because of the time change). We headed out to Vickie's Diner for breakfast. Colten and Zac enjoyed a burger for breakfast while Aspen and I had an omelette. We will never go to Vegas without stopping at Vickie's Diner for food...it is sooooo good. After breakfast we headed back to the hotel, packed up our stuff in the car and walked over to the stadium. Since we were like 3 hours early, there was not a line for the COVID wristbands so the kids and Zac. Then we went to the outside Pro Bowl store before going inside the gate (we were deciding on if we wanted to walk over to the strip for a little bit). And of course, there was a big Raiders store which had a whole bunch of Pro Bowl stuff (more than the store we had seen outside). Needless to say, we spent way too much money on souvenirs. We continue on in the stadium and wanted to get a picture closer to the field. The usher said we could go down and get a picture, so we did. Then we started to walk around the stadium more and noticed fans were close to the entrance for players to come and go to warm up. The usher of that aisle said we could go down so we did. Colten was able to get pictures and I'll have to ask him which people we got pictures of but I am pretty sure we saw Patrick Mahomes, Tyrek Hill, Hunter Renfrow, Maxx Crosby, and Mac Jones (from a distance). There are probably more but those are the ones I remember.
The Pro Bowl was fun, definitely more fun in person than watching on TV. We were up in the very top of the stadium so we relied on the jumbo TVs for replays. But there were interviews during time outs or whatever, Travis Kelce was one to be interviewed and the crowd (mainly Raider fans) booed after everything he said. It was fun to see the all-stars do trick plays and make defensive stops. AFC came out on top though so we were happy.
The next Sunday was the Super Bowl party at grandma and grandpa's house. Hollee allowed us to get our family out there (Tash graced us with her presence although we still would have been one above our seat capacity) but we all made it "early" according to my parents. It was the Los Angeles Rams vs Cincinnati Bengals. Colten had been cheering for the Rams since week 5 or 6 so he was super excited that they were in the Super Bowl. I didn't really care who won but just wanted a good game. Zac wanted the Bengals and Joe Burrow to win and was made when I had chosen the Rams in the game. But I said Von Miller was now a Ram and I wanted to see him when another ring. My parents went all out and made the game fun. Each of us chose who we wanted to win and then we filled out a survey of which team would do what first or be leading at the end of each quarter. It was a great way to get everyone involved, even the littles filled one out (with help of parents) to see who could get more right. The game was soooo good. Burrow got hurt in the 4th quarter otherwise I think the result might have been different. The Rams were able to score a touchdown and win 23-20. Jay and I tied on the guess survey and all the people who chose the Rams got a cute little trophy with an M&M. It was such a fun time with family. AND the best part was when Darcee found out that Hollee and I had our own bowl of caramel popcorn :). We had asked mom if we could bring our own bowl and learn how to make the caramel for the popcorn, could we have the bowl to ourselves. So, we did just that. Darcee took home a nice bagful of the other bowl so she shouldn't complain too much. And I pretty much had caramel popcorn for lunch for the next two days...it was great!
Also, my school had given us a 5-day weekend over President's Day, while the kids got Friday and Monday off. I spent my days laying around, watching Encanto and Batman vs Superman and The Forgotten. Still have Monday to go. Plus Zac has decided to move out of the booth he has been using in Toquerville due to increased rent. So the kids were packing up the office room while Zac was finishing up a car he was working on. It is the better move plus we'll be working at the same location :)
Tonight, Colten and I will be going to catch up with some cousins in town while Aspen is working and Zac is figuring out how to ship reptiles he has sold lol. I may not have gotten everything we have been up to but when I add the pictures, I'll update an event.
