Quotes of the Week

"Whenever you're tempted to dwell in the past, repeat this single word: forward. Brainstorm one positive thought and action to use to keep you moving forward. When you're tempted to indulge in a negative, regressive behavior, swap it for one that will move you forward."
-- Karen Salmansohn

"The world is not looking for servants, there are plenty of these, but for masters, men who form their purposes and then carry them out, let the consequences be what they may."
-- Woodrow Wilson

"Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't."
-- Steve Maraboli

Will the Madness Ever End?

Guess what we did for FHE this week? You guessed it! Went to another basketball game. March Madness continues... On and on and on. For days and days and days. Weeks and weeks and weeks.

And Glen is loving every single second of all this basketball mania. Hours and hours and hours of television viewing. Switching and switching and switching channels to catch as many games as possible.

Even more fun for him than watching on television is watching the action in real life. I did have to question his commitment to his favorite team when I noticed what he was wearing to the game. See anything odd in this picture?

Look at me having adorned my BYU shirt and Glen is wearing nothing but his GK logo. Who's the loyal fan here?!?

Not only did we see Ben and Haley at the game,

...we also saw the Easter bunny.

Happy Easter weekend!!

Quotes of the Week

"I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true -- hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it."
-- Ray Bradbury

"Don't let the worst people get the best of you. Save it for the best people instead."
-- Doe Zantamata

"You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control."
-- Elizabeth Gilbert

A Tool For Every Job

When we got our food assignment--ham--for Mom's dinner party this month, Glen told me he was going to buy a ham slicer like they have at restaurants. I laughed thinking it was just wishful thinking...

A big package arrived on our front porch the day before the party and after Glen figured out how to use it and when evenly sliced pieces of ham started falling onto the plate, I became a believer that it was a good idea.

I jokingly told him he could store it out in the garage along with all the other tools. It looks similar to one of the saws he uses to cut wood.

Mom planned the March family birthday dinner party on St. Patrick's Day. I thought Nani and Mom looked so cute in their green.

I wanted in on the picture and wished I had worn green as well. My Sunday wardrobe is lacking in that particular color.

I really wanted to get a picture of everyone wearing green and a picture of all the party poopers not wearing green (yes, I would have had to stand in that group), but there was a more pressing issue at hand--lighting and blowing out the candles with a little birthday singing in between.

The March birthday people are Kathy and Spencer. (Shout out to Hailey, Zack and Abe who live in different states--or in Abe's case, out of the country visiting Scotland and Iceland.)

Kaelyn and Dennis are having a baby in July--a girl.

 Sam's family being good sports and posing for a family picture. Oops! Caught Sam with his eyes closed.

I wanted to end the post with a cute picture of Dad and Mom wearing their festive green. Too bad this picture is blurry.

A big thanks goes out to Mom and Dad for hosting another wonderful family dinner. It was a nice way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Quotes of the Week

"Winners take imperfect action while losers are still perfecting the plan."
-- Tony Robbins

"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."
-- Khalil Gibran

"Things don't go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be."
-- Samuel Johnson

A Day of Rest--From the Ball Games

What is a person to do on the Sabbath in Vegas when there are no ball games that day? What we did was go to church. (Sorry no picture to prove we actually went.)

Another thing we did was walk through the Bellagio admiring the beautiful flower arrangements.

I am always anxious to walk through the Bellagio Botanical Gardens. This time it had a Holland theme.

It is interesting to see the big framed artwork made out of plants and flowers. This time it was Diamond Dust Shoes painted by Andy Warhol.

We ate a delicious buffet at the Wynn.

Notice in every dinner picture there is a big plate of shrimp that Glen gets for us to share. Yum!!

Dessert--mint chocolate chip gelato for Glen and mango sorbet for me. Yum!! Yum!!

We watched a couple of movies in our room. Glen went to the front desk to ask for more free popcorn coupons. The elevator doors had pictures of players from all the different teams.

On our last and final day, there were only two games to watch. In between games we kept up tradition and went to a buffet. This is our final buffet meal.

And this is the final game we watched. Gonzaga wins. Congrats to the ZAGS!!

It was a very fun trip. Glen is already planning to do it again next year.

That gives me plenty of time to find some more good books to read during the non-BYU-playing games of the tournament.

Ball Game After Ball Game After Ball Game

Does anyone out there dream of watching nonstop basketball games? For days on end? Only stopping for food? Finishing one day's marathon of games only to start over again the next day? And this goes on and on and on for days? Anyone think that sounds like fun?

I know someone who does--and I'm married to him!!!

He did a fabulous job getting us a room at The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for the first half of the week. The hotel was sold out for the rest of the time until some of the basketball teams started losing. Then rooms opened up and we were able to stay in the same place the whole week. That was fabulous!

First things first. Before we started watching any ball games, we went to the temple. Glen is standing just to the left of the big tree on the right.

I was entertaining myself taking pictures while he was working on his phone. The poor guy never gets a break from work even when he's on vacation.

The Orleans not only has a big arena where the basketball games were played, it also has a movie theater. We stopped by the theater to buy me a ticket for a movie later that day (yes, I missed a game to go to a movie) and Glen used the coupon he had gotten at check-in to get himself some free popcorn.

And for just 75 cents he could upgrade to the large size popcorn. It was an offer he couldn't refuse.

Next day BYU was playing--both the women and the men's teams. It was a win for the girls.

 

Here's my favorite part of the games--halftime when the cheerleaders perform. BYU was always the best! And BYU definitely has the best mascot. Cosmo can run circles around the other mascots and his stunts and dance moves are very entertaining.

Our routine was we would go to the two women's games that started at noon, head off to a buffet in the 2-hour break between games and be back for the two men's games that started at 6:00.

It was a happy moment for me when I realized I could eat sorbet while Glen was eating gelato. Such an indulgence to be able to eat dessert. Most desserts have gluten and/or dairy.

Next day we were in BYU garb once again--cheering for the women. The men lost their game the night before. So sad for Glen (and probably for the whole team as well). Too bad the women lost their second game and then BYU was completely out of the tournament.

Their loss didn't make me lose my appetite--no sirree!! Look at all the no gluten/dairy food I could find to eat at the buffet at the Rio. And that was just the first round. Mmmm!!

No matter how fancy dessert offerings are--Glen will always choose just a little bit of soft ice cream in a cone if he can find the right cone. He loves it!

The story doesn't end here. More later.