Serendipity and Celine

At the end of March I took a road trip to Las Vegas with a friend and her friend. (aka. there were three of us girls). The event?...Celine Dion in concert at Caesar's Palace. I am not a huge Celine fan, but the other two are and they invited me and I thought, why not?

The day of the concert we had pecidures at a very fancy salon. It was very nice until the guy about burned the bottom of my foot off with a river rock...whoever came up with the hot rock idea was clearly not in their right mind. In the end our toes looked nice and we felt pampered. It was a great way to start our "girly" day.

In the evening we made our way to the madness of The Strip. We ate dinner at Serendipity 3 outside of Caesar's Palace. They are known for their frozen hot chocolate and it was amazing! We sat on a balcony overlooking The Strip as we ate, tried not to freeze to death, watched people and the craziness of Las Vegas pass by, and indulged in frozen hot chocolate.


We headed back inside the hotel to The Colosseum for the show. Our tickets were quite pricey so I was hoping we would be quite close to get our money's worth and I wasn't disappointed. We were off on the side, back about 15 rows and I could reach out and touch the stage. The show was fantastic. Celine is such a great singer; it is awe inspiring at times. My favorite part was when she was singing "All by Myself" and in one section all of the band and track and everything dropped out and it was just her. Beautiful.


Prior to the trip I actually laughed a little when I would tell people what I was going to Vegas for; now I say proudly I went to a Celine Dion concert and I would go to another in a heart beat. Thanks Rindy for being such a huge Celine fan and inviting me to the concert.

December - No Judging

Last Sunday I had a great lesson in Relief Society (the part of church where the sisters meet together for a lesson) taught by one of my awesome counselors, Laura. The lesson was about being happy with who we are, striving to be our best selves, having confidence, and not judging ourselves or others. It is a good topic to be reminded of, especially for girls.

As was discussed in the lesson on Sunday, we, are often judging ourselves. Why? Because we tend to judge others. So the easy solution is to stop judging other people and we won't be so inclined to judge ourselves or feel a lack of confidence. Definitely easier said then done.

It got me thinking about myself and how often I judge others. Too often. I have been trying to be better in this area for quite some time and I think I am making progress. Small progress, but progress none the less.

It also got me thinking about my blog. I have been procrastinating posting about Christmas and Beth and my (Chris, notice I didn't say me and Beth's) birthday. Now it is February and I had decided not to do a post about it anymore, because I was worried about what will people think. Seriously? That is lame of me. So, I am moving forward with confidence and the feeling that no one is judging me.

Beth, Chris, Caitlin and Ashlee as well as Katie and Ryan came a few days before Christmas. It is always fun when family comes, and more so at Christmas. We jumped in right away with fun busyness; eating, wrapping presents, making yummy treats, sewing pajamas, going to the temple, playing games and dress-up.

On Christmas Eve Dan, Erica, & Alyana and the Allen's over for dinner and a fun filled evening of activities. We pulled crackers (a type of Scottish present) before dinner, played chimes, sang carols, acted the nativity, had a $1.00 gift exchange, ate peppermint ice cream dessert and performed a ravishing rendition of "Christmas is Upon Us".

This is a song that we, the Bishop Family, have been performing (singing really) for years. We used to sing it every year with our cousins in Rawlins and it has been ingrained in our heads ever since. I think, judging from the pictures, the Stevens, Allen's and the brothers-in-law had fun learning and participating in the song that we love.

The performance included:

Santa and Snowmen

Reindeer

Trees

Elves

Dolls

Christmas Day is always an exciting time when little kids are around. We took our time opening presents and enjoying the time together. Below Ashlee is sporting one of my new pairs of shoes from myself. Yep, that's right, there was a present wrapped under the tree to myself from myself - two pair of shoes. It was awesome; I think I'll keep that tradition up. Caitlin and Ashlee are beauties in their princess gowns.

After Christmas we continued to busy ourselves with all kinds of fun. A birthday party for Ryan in Sierra Vista, football bowl games, another trip to the temple, the park, and a sleep over with Caitlin and Ashlee at my house.

At the park we played a game of horse shoes, girls vs. boys. It was a very close game, but in the end the girls pulled it out with a ringer (by me!). We were pretty excited to get the W.

The boys were not too excited to get the L, but they tried to be good sports.

On New's Years Eve...Beth and my birthday, we celebrated in true birthday fashion. We made an awesome pork burrito dish for dinner and had banana royales for our birthday treat. Brenda came from the valley with three of her kids and Erica & Alayna came over to help us celebrate our 30th birthday and ring in the new year.

We spent the evening playing games and eating and we all made it to way past midnight...1:00 does count as way past in my opinion.

Hopefully 2011 brings some new challenges and exciting adventures.