Viva Las Vegas!

A couple weeks ago Mike left to Las Vegas for a two week military exercise called Red Flag. The kids and I decided to ditch the cold and join him last weekend. Mike's mom, Lynette, and Amelia joined us. (I wonder if his mom questions her decision to drive with us) ;) Even though the car ride was long, the kids still loved it.

On the way there we stopped at a rest stop about two hours in. There was a small petting zoo that was closed for the winter, but you could still see all of the animals. There was a llama (or alpaca) that the kids were looking at. It spit a little at one of the boys in warning, but didn't hit them. Amelia decided she would stand right in front of it and make loud noises to try and get it to spit again. It did. It was SO funny! We all had a good laugh and I cleaned her off with some wet wipes.

We arrived in the early afternoon and the first thing the kids wanted to do was swim in the hotels awesome pools. They have a central pool with an island in the middle and a dozen smaller pools and hot tubs surrounding it. The adults didn't want to swim, but we let the kids play for a couple hours. (I thought I took more pictures)

On Saturday we took the kids to the strip to visit a few shops. They liked seeing the street performers and we had to search for Olaf after Amelia saw him while we were driving. 

M&M world is basically a giant money pit with overpriced candy, but we had to check it off the list. It was hard to say, "No, I won't spend $25 on $1 of candy." At least they offer up a few photo ops.

Next we went to World of Coke. We'd been to Coke World before and this is more of a gift shop instead of the full Coke experience. We let each of the kids pick out something small. We sampled 16 different flavors of Coke products and 8 different soda floats. As you can see on Lynette's face, Beverly is still the flavor of choice. ;)

The kids loved to see all the street performers. We ran out of tipping money, but the Avengers were still willing to take a picture with them. :)

We also went to Hershey world and got some chocolate. Sarah wanted to take a picture in front of all the statues of Liberty to show a kid in her class. (He'd better not be a love interest!)

On Saturday night Lynette watched the kids so Mike and I could see Le Reve. It was incredible! The world is filled with talented people and we got to see a small group of them.

On Sunday we went to the Las Vegas temple before leaving town. I love temples and am grateful to live in close proximity to so many. (We should have been closer. I positioned everyone and then found someone to take it. We wanted the temple spire so they kept backing up and you can't really see us.) :)

Random February

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is separating from scouting this January(2020), but in 2016 Steven was really excited to finally join the ranks. He had a great time at camps and earning his belt loops and pins. 

Random cute pics of my boys. Why not?!

 Another mommy daughter book club. This time Mandy and Presley Green joined us. 

 Adam and Amelia being monkeys

 Mosey bringing us a Valentine's Day gift. She's always so generous. 

Sarah and Lillian twinning it

Mike is an amazing father, and sometimes he shows it by teaching the kids important life lessons. Current life lesson: How to survive a chicken fight from high up. Nailed it!

Provo Temple Open House

Last Saturday we tried to visit the Provo City Center Temple open house. We invited Mike's parents, so we needed to go at a time that was convenient for everyone. We chose 12:30 and our friend that works for the church got us a reservation. We knew it would be busy, but though the reservation would help not have to wait to long. Apparently everyone in Utah had the same idea. :) There was a 2+ hour wait when we got there, so we had to leave due to other plans. We did snap a picture while wating for everyone to arrive. We were bummed that Amelia and Caroline wouldn't be there when we went back.

We made new reservations for the following Friday. We went early in the morning and just planned on the kids being late to school. Even in Utah, it's not every day a temple is dedicated. :) It was a gorgeous temple. They immitated a lot of the woodwork, colors and details of the building before the fire. My friend shared a really great youtube video that shows some of the interior details. 

I'm so grateful for temples and living near to so many. Our family has been able to attend quite a few open houses and I hope the kids remember the experience. 

Who's that kid?

If you've noticed our pictures online you may have noted a cute little blonde boy in a few of them. No, he's not a neighbor, and no we didn't adopt. We decided to become foster parents. In case you're wondering, "What in the heck are the Starley's doing being foster parents?!" I get it. Totally. :) This is something we decided to do because there is a big need and we felt that although we aren't perfect parents (obviously) we're pretty good parents and we can do a lot of good by opening our home. We talked with our kids and decided as a family to move forward with the licensing.

We went through Utah Foster Care, which is an organization that works with the Department of Child and Family Services to place children in homes on a temporary or permanent basis, depending on the parents. The licensing process is very in depth. There are eight, four hour classes that need to be attended by both parents as well as a home study to make sure your home would be a good place for foster kids to live. I was surprised at everything we had to do to prepare our home.

We aren't doing this to adopt, but we aren't completely opposed to it. For now, we just want to help out on a temporary basis. In case you're wondering about our current placement we aren't supposed to talk directly about him online. We've only been doing this for a couple months, but it's been a very interesting and sometimes challenging process. Thankfully even the kids are still dedicated to doing it even though they've had the hardest adjustments to make. Anywho, now you know who that cute kid in is. :)

Meet Freaky Kitty

A few months ago my mom gave Adam a toy cat that has a very intense stare. Mike said it looked, "freaky", so Adam started asking me to take pictures of him and send them to Mike with a "freaky" message.

"What you lookin' at? You looking at me?!" 

"I see you Mike Starley, and I'm coming for you!"

There's a kitty bum bum in your face!

I'm going to jump on you and attack you!

I'm coming for you in your sleep!

He would also leave Freaky Kitty under Mike's pillow so he would find it when he went to bed and be understandably scared. Mike would then dutifully throw it across the room and if Adam was still awake, reprimand him with a "Keep your Freaky Cat out of my room!" and throw it back. Adam would always laugh hysterically.

To "get back" at Adam, Mike bought a "grumpy cat" pillow to hide in Adam's bed. Adam of course loves it and has used it to further taunt Mike.

 It's a fun game and I'm grateful to be married to a man that has such a great sense of humor. (and funny children that enjoy his sense of humor.) :)

Happy Birthday Dude!

A few weeks ago Steven turned the big 0-8. This is a big milestone birthday since it means he can make the choice to be baptized if he wants. Mike's schedule keeps pushing out the date, but we had a lot of fun celebrating his birthday. His birthday was on a Monday so we went to the Museum of Curiosity and Steven did the ropes course the runs a hundred feet or so above the playground.

His birthday party was on the 27th and we went to Classic Roller Skating in Sandy with a few of his friends. I thought two hours would be plenty of time there but the kids kept playing and having a blast. 

Mike wanted to get in on the skooter action :)

Steven is such an awesome kid! He loves all things science and building. He still loves Minecraft and is excelling at piano. (He only puts up a small fight when it's time to practice) He is a great big brother and lets Adam play with him all the time. Every day is an adventure with him. Seriously. He is 4' 3" tall which is two inches taller than last year. Happy Birthday Dude! We love you SO much!