Miss Denali turns 9 -- Just Dance!

For Miss Denali's 9th birthday, she had a very specific vision of what she wanted her party to be.  She wanted a "Just Dance" party.  She wanted Daddy-J to cook hamburgers and hotdogs.  She wanted a dance competition.

So, since her Mama is not the most creative person, I hired a great party planner and she came up with this fabulous vision for Denali's party!

First, the girls came and enjoyed their hamburgers and hotdogs (seriously, most of them had two hotdogs or two hamburgers, and they actually ate them!).

Then they moved downstairs and played Just Dance on the Wii for about an hour or so.

Luckily, Daddy-J can organize a mean bracket, so the girls got sorted into teams and every team played every other team, and then they scrambled the teams and did it again!  There were minimal tears, really!

After about an hour, we drew names out of a hat and split the girls into two teams.  They each choreographed a dance to F.U.N.'s "Some Nights."  It was fascinating watching the different dynamics of the two teams.  G'Ma Libby jumped in an helped one of the teams negotiate the strong personalities they had going on!

Both teams came up with great dances.  One team won a medal for "Most Original" and the other won for "Best Teamwork."

Then we moved upstairs for cake and presents.

It was a great group of girls, and I know Denali had a blast celebrating with her friends!

 Katya and Kate

Ava and Marlee

Keegan and Lauren

Amber and Isabel 

Hazel

Denali and McKinley

Spring break in Las Vegas

Took the girls on a little trip to Las Vegas this week. It was snowing when we left on Monday, and it was 90 degrees as we pulled into the Cancun Resort Las Vegas.

We hit the pool, then had dinner at IHOP. Next day we visited the Las Vegas Springs Preserve, which was beautiful and really interesting.

That evening, our friends who live in Vegas joined us for swimming and then dinner.

The next day we hit The Strip, starting at Mandalay Bay, where we visited the Shark Reef. From there we took the tram to Luxor, then to Excalibur. Then we crossed to MGM Grand and up to the M&M shop. We watched a cool 3D movie there.

Then we had lunch at Cafe Bellagio and hung around to watch the fountains and explore the gardens.

By then we were done, so we headed back to our hotel, swam, ate dinner, and collapsed into bed.

This morning, we made the drive home where it has warmed up to the mid-50's.

All in all, it was a fun quick trip, and the weather was truly gorgeous!