Leaving Las Vegas

Remembering how bad traffic was last time we left Las Vegas the Sunday after Thanksgiving two years ago, I made sure the family left right after breakfast this time.  It's a good thing too because even in the early afternoon, there was major traffic and we still didn't get home until after 7.

The view of the strip from our hotel room

Waze's detour for us, which ended up being slower because a little car got stuck in the sand and a truck that tried to get around it got stuck too.

People put rocks under the little car's tires and it finally was able to get out.

Mini tour of Utah

How we found our car this morning

The world's largest Costco

Kids barely got past the entrance before getting sucked into watching "Frozen", which we happen to have in the car

They offer jackets for the refrigerated section

A section just for meat...a grill master's dream

A few pounds of ground beef?  Yes, please

Double aisles

A drive-by visit of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where we had lunch

The campus is beautiful with the mountains in the background

Snowbird

We started off the morning skiing at Snowbird, but there was literally one lift open that was green.  So, the girls and I skied down their "Chickadee" a few times and then drove back to Alta while Trung stayed and did some snowboarding.  He finally got to use the new snowboard I got him for our anniversary and he loved it!

A cafe at Snowbird

Geared up and ready to hit the slopes

Beauty at it's finest

Silly me

My two "chickadees"

Lydia was very proud of herself for going over this little bump, but she barely even got any air.  Tee hee

The girls had so much fun locking themselves in the ski lockers

The confidence in my little skiers was amazing!

Poke bowls for dinner

Green tea tiramisu for dessert

Alta Ski Resort

Today we visited a new ski resort, Alta, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  This ski only resort offered easy greens that were perfect for the girls, who are still learning to ski.  We have several ski trips planned this season and this first one was going to determine how the rest would go.  Needless to say, we are all very excited for our upcoming trips!  We will be sure to remember our helmets, waterproof gloves, and googles next time too!  :P

Happy Thanksgiving from Utah!

Three person ski lifts...someone had to be left behind

Trung and Sophie

Just a man, his girls, and a mountain

Daddy photobomb

Another photo op

Oops

It was so beautiful

Sometimes we felt like the mountain was all ours

Man in the yellow jacket

Even the lifts were scenic

Poor Sophie had frozen hands by the end of the day and feel asleep from exhaustion from all her crying.

Nice and cozy back at the hotel and enjoying our makeshift Thanksgiving dinner.

Utah bound

Today we picked the girls up early from school so we could get a head start on our road trip to Salt Lake City.  I thought it would be a great idea to pick up some sandwiches at Bay City Subs beforehand...bad idea!  Traffic was already crazy, not to mention the congestion inside the store.  We arrived in Las Vegas two hours behind schedule, but still managed to get to Salt Lake City by midnight (if you don't count the time difference).

Napping in the very back seat

We had great scenery on our drive...these rocks looked fake

Thanksgiving with PALs

 Our family has been involved with the PAL program these last 6 months and I have really been impressed with all the free programs that they have to offer and how generous the city of Santa Monica is.  Today they gave free turkey dinners to the community.  Even though they started late and the line was crazy long, we got to enjoy a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends.  Thank you, PAL!

Dinner with a little bit of everything

Our "pals"

Boxing birthday

Today Sophie attended a birthday party at a boxing rink where her buddy Tate takes a kids' fitness class.  The kids had fun running around and wearing boxing gear, though no boxing was really involved.

Sophie chose blue

Happy birthday, Tate

It's funny how Sophie lifts a leg every time she hits down on the pinata

The owner won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, though this medal hanging in the facility was purchased off of ebay.

Dinner with Daddy for his birthday

Sneaky panda at Volcano Tea House

Work hard, play harder

Today we got tested for karate to see if we would be advancing to the next belt level.  We have been working really hard the last few days going over all the basic karate steps and it really paid off.  The girls showed much more confidence in their moves and really impressed Master Temple.

 Power breakfast

 Power braids

The Saturday family fitness group

 Ada's pozole party

Tequila shots are kinda gross.  :P

Step it up

The girls have been taking karate for several months now and after today's pre-testing, I realized that I needed to know the basics too, so that I could help the girls step it up.  I knew that I would have to learn it myself one day, and watching the girls struggling was my motivation.

The girls got through less than half of the kota

Even the 12 basic steps were a challenge

A morning of fitness

Jogging with the girls 20+ blocks to brunch.  They wanted to eat at Amandine, which is in West LA, so just a little too far for them, so Trung drove us the rest for the way.

Afterwards, we dropped by McKinley Elementary for their Bike Fest event.  We didn't think about bringing our bikes, so the kids got fitted with helmets and borrowed the city's bikes.

In line to do the obstacle course

All the bikes were too big for Sophie, so Trung lent a helping hand.

Lydia and Sophie tried rock climbing for the first time

Lydia discovered that she really loved it

She climbed it 4 times!

Cold treat on a windy day