Aunt Jacqui's Christmas Visit

Aunt Jacqui came for a visit, we love when Aunt Jacqui and Dorman come to visit it is so much fun hanging out with them. Dorman knows how to make all the girls laugh and laugh and laugh! They came baring too many gifts, the girls loved opening all the presents before Christmas. Haley loves her tinker bell backpack, that is the one she now brings to school. And, Mikayla loves her tinker bell tea party set, she plays with it almost daily.

WE went to dinner at TGIF's in Sam's Town and then visited their winter wonderland. It was really beautiful. I wish I could have gotten more pictures but the battery in my camera went dead, I hate my camera!! We can't wait to see you guys again, love you both!

Let it Snow!

Who would of thunk it! Our 2nd snow fall since moving to Henderson, NV. I thought this was suppose to be a desert! I could get use to this. Having a few days of snow once in a while. It started around 11:15am and continued all day long, absolutely beautiful. The girls and I were glued to the window, not wanting to miss a minute of it. They begged me all day to go out and play in it. Now, I love watching the snow from the inside, but I'm not one to want to be out in it. So finally, after much begging and pleading I gave in and took the 20 minutes it took to get everyone bundled up and ventured outside.

Brayden was so excited to go outside in the snow, he chanted the word snow the entire time getting ready. After 2 minutes of being outside in the cold and wet he was chanting "inside, inside, inside." In between sobs he would cry out "wet, wet." He did not like it at all.

Mikayla loved it. She especially loved the way the snow tasted. Every time I turned around she was eating a snowball!

Haley loved it too, and unlike 2 years ago she was ready to jump right in and get very wet! She did not like eating the snowballs as much as she liked throwing them (at mommy)!

One thing we learned, it is allot lighter outside at night. Haley had a hard time getting to sleep, I am sure it was because of all the excitement of the day. Her final attempt at not having to go to bed was "mommy, it's morning." I said, what do you mean Haley, you have not even gone to sleep yet? Haley replied with, "the sun is out, look mommy it's light outside."

It's kinda weird, not as dark as it usually gets here, which is pretty dark. Beautiful, but kinda weird.

Here are my little snow angels!

I had to hike over to the mail box to get our mail, Brayden was not happy with that. In his anger he slipped and fell into the snow. He did not get hurt, just really wet and he didn't like that. He gave up trying to cope and I ended up holding him the remainder of our time outside, which was not very long!

This was a beautiful day. We loved being inside watching all the snow pile up outside our home. Oh, and we get a "snow day" tomorrow, no school. I can't believe it, here in the hot, hot desert we get a "snow day!" By the way the news said we were suppose to receive 10 inches. That's allot, right? Well, here in Vegas it's enough for a "snow day!"

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My step-dad's son Chris got married today and it was a really nice ceremony in Apple Valley. Here is the happy couple, Chris and Lisa.

My mom and step-dad, Steve, with the bride and groom.

The girls just could not leave Brayden alone. He is already good at turning on the charm!

Brayden and Grandma

Here is all the grandchildren their are 9 girls and 3 boys! Watch out Brayden and Cameron the girls way out number you! This is day we took our family picture we used on our Christmas cards and the ones I have on this blog on the right panel. We had a really nice day. It was fun to have allot of family together enjoying each others company. We don't do that enough.

Boulder City Lights Parade

We love parades and the Boulder City Lights Parade is one of my favorites. This was our 2nd year of going and participating, well actually Haley's 2nd time, and Mikayla's 1st! I have to admit I was a little worried about Mikayla, wondering if she would be alright. However; my worries were in vain because she was fine. The previous years the young ones rode in the back of the truck that is used in the parades but this year Mrs. Brenda had everyone walking and dancing the entire parade route. I am sure glad I did not know this ahead of time or I would have been double worried about Mikayla making it the entire way without whining or getting tired. She was a trooper, she had as much energy at the end as she had when I dropped her off at the start. Haley did great too, waving her flashlights all around keeping up with the music. I did not get any good pictures of the actual parade, I could not get my camera to focus fast enough as they were walking by. But I did get pictures of all of us watching the parade after the girls finished their part in it.

Mema and PopPop joined us on this cold night. We were all bundled up and enjoyed some yummy hot cocoa. Brayden's favorite part was all the cars of course, he especially enjoyed the little ones that drove really fast and crazy all over the street. One almost knocked me off my feet, they were driving right up to the curb! What a fun way to kick off the Christmas Season.

Family Time

Saturday was a great day, we spent the entire day together having fun and getting our exercise. Brett and I took the girls to Mission Hills park with their bikes and scooters.
Mikayla loved to ride her scooter and is getting pretty good at it. The only problem was having to fight Brayden for it, he loved it too and wanted to ride it just as much as Mikayla did!
Haley was able to get good practice on her bike and is becoming quite the rider on training wheels of course. We are hoping that by next year at her bike rodeo at school she will not need the training wheels.

Haley had the same problem as Mikayla, Brayden wanted to ride her bike as well. Here he is chasing Haley on her bike, he was screaming "bike, bike, bike"!!!
This was the final straw and he threw himself down on the ground in a rage! He was not happy!

Now this is much better, Brayden finally got to ride the scooter, he loved it. We had a hard time getting him off it!

After the park we went home, got cleaned up and went over to Sunset Station for a nice family buffet and bowling! This was fun and exciting for our family because it was the first time we have taken everyone to a buffet and bowling. The girls loved the buffet and getting to go up and pick out their food. But the best part was the bowling, it was so much fun, we all loved it. Bowling is definitely going to be something we do again and again and again! I am not good at all, but it is fun. Brett is pretty good so he likes making fun of my lack of expertise, luckily I can handle it and have fun despite the fact, I stink at it!!

Thanksgiving Day

This Thanksgiving was a nice one. We had the big turkey dinner at our home with Grandma and Grandpa, Mema and Pop Pop, Aunt Tammy and Uncle Ryan, Sydney, Cara and Cameron. I am counting this as my first Turkey dinner, I did have one other attempt, the first Thanksgiving after Brett and I were married, but that turkey did not even make it to the oven. At the time I did not realize that a "fresh" turkey could be frozen solid! So, now that I have learned that lesson I took on the turkey once again. This time with some success!






We set up a kids table and an adult table. The girls loved having their own table. They did a great job of trying everything even though some of the things were not what they would have normally choose.



After a great dinner and allot of football watching we sat down together to play the money game. A game that was taught to us from family on Brett's side, and is now played at most family gatherings. I won't get into all the rules of the game, but everyone starts out with three dollars, and then you roll the dice to see if you get to keep your money, pass some to your neighbor, or put it in the pot. The dice gets passed around the table until their is only one person with money left, that person is the winner and gets all the money in the pot!! We played the game three times and the three winners were; Grandpa, Pop Pop and Brett. What happen to the girls, next time it's all us, girls!


What a fun thing it is to gather around with family and enjoy each others company. I am so thankful to live around family. I am so thankful that my sister and I are able to live so close to each other and have our girls grow up with one another. I am thankful for a Heavenly Father that blesses us with families, that we can be together forever. What a perfect plan, to be able to be with the ones we love most forever. I am thankful for my husband, for the many ways he puts his family first. I am thankful that I am able to stay home and raise our beautiful children, see their special spirits, and have my faith grow by watching and learning from them. The pure faith children have, the desire to learn, to choose the right, and the unconditional love in their hearts, I want to be more like that. I am thankful for the Gospel in my life, that I don't have to raise my children without the help it brings. Heavenly Father's plan is simple and perfect and without it I don't think I would be able to deal with all the things life brings.


We were invited to a pilgrim party yesterday. It was very fun, their was crafts for all the kids to work on. One was a turkey basket that turned out really cute. On the basket each child had to write 4 things they were thankful for, here are Haley and Mikayla's 4 things

Haley

1. Jesus
2. Temple (Haley loves to sing the song, I Love To See The Temple)
3. Mom
4. Family

Mikayla

1. Special time with daddy
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Food (that's my daughter!)

Fall into Swimming

I signed the girls up for indoor swimming lessons for the month of November. Haley was on track break and they love to swim, so I thought this would be a great way to spend some of our free time. These pictures were taken on the last day of class. They really loved their classes and want to continue with more lessons. So it looks like we will be swimming in Winter too!

Mikayla was a little funny in the beginning, she had what we call a melt down on the first day of class. She reverted to a baby and would not go in the water and started crying, the whole nine yards. I was so frustrated with her, I could scream. All the instructors were babying her and

coddling her, giving her all this attention. They wanted to put her in level one because they thought she was scared of the water. Scared of the water, what, she can swim like a fish, almost as good as Haley! So I was like OH NO, she is not going to be in level one. I walked over to the pool and talked to the instructors and the manager and explained that even though she is only 3, she can swim and putting her in level one was a waste of every ones time. They left her in level two, but she did not let up and ended up sitting with me the entire first class, I was so mad at her. After a bunch of threats and lectures she agreed to go to the next class without any problems and she did, she had no more problems and was easily one of the best swimmers in her level two class. I think all the instructors were surprised when they finally saw she could in fact swim, and that I was not just trying to be this overbearing mean mom!

Brayden ate crackers the whole time. Luckily it was his snack time, the crackers were the only way I was able to keep him from running off and slipping all over the place. Although he did manage to find all the puddles around the pool and lay in them, yuck!

Las Vegas Fire Station

Today was a special day for the girls. We were invited to participate in a service project/playgroup. What we did was bring a early Thanksgiving dinner to a fire station and in return our children were able to get a full tour of the fire station and fire engine. It was very hands on, everyone was able to climb in, try out and explore.

It started out a little rough, when we arrived at the station the firefighters were out and no one was there to let us in and receive the food we had brought. I think their door bell was rung a million times by all the kids that were there. Every time I turned around someone else was ringing the doorbell with no response. We waited outside the fire station for about an hour, maybe even a little longer. When the kids had all the waiting they could handle we decided to take them to a near by McDonald's for some food and playtime! Funny thing was as we were driving to the McDonald's the firetrucks passed us on their way back to the station! After we were finished eating and playing we headed back to the station for our tour. It was great, the firemen were so nice and great with the kids. Haley was a little hesitant about everything, but after her little sis did it, and it proved safe, Haley was ready to try. They got up in the fire engine, toured the station, looked at all the tools used by the firemen and even used the air compressor gun which made allot of noise. But the best time for my girls was when one of the fire fighters pulled out the fire hose and let all the kids take a turn spraying the water. They were able to shoot the water as far as they could and at one point I think someone almost got one of the cars driving by on the near by street. The water sprayed very far and the girls loved watching it, Haley actually ran under a little of it as if she were testing it to see how wet she would get. Of course, being the mean mommy that I am, I put a stop to that right away! She did not get that wet, and she was not the only one that tried it, if only it were summer!!

Brayden had fun too. He did not want to get in the fire truck but he did love being around the water. He also loved "hanging" out with the firemen, he was chit chatting with them, he gave them high fives and even let a couple of them hold him. Hummm, do we have a future firefighter on our hands!?!








It was a great afternoon, a little longer then planned, but well worth it. We left with a bunch of goodies too, suckers, coloring books and stickers. Thank you to the firefighters that spent a couple of hours of their time with my children, I know they will not forget it. Okay, maybe Brayden will not remember, but hopefully he will like to look back at the pictures and know that he had a good time too!!