Fun, Fun, Fun!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this weekend and stayed at Lowes Resort at Lake Las Vegas. It was so much fun spending the day at the Resort today, we got to go swimming in the fun pool, go down the big water slide and even spend some time on paddle boats.


Sydney and Haley spent most of their time in the pool playing around with Grandpa.

Mikayla and Cara spent allot of their time at the beach part of the Resort building sand castles and playing in the Lake!

To wrap up our fun water filled day we rented paddle boats. Tammy and I tackled the strong winds with our paddles but we did not make it too far. We weren't out long before deciding it just is not a good idea to go rowing in the wind!! Oh but we did sing "row, row, row your boat" while we were out their!

Here is Grandpa tackling the winds on his paddle boat, "go grandpa go!" he went fast!

Here is Tammy and I with Haley and Sydney getting ready to go out. Do we look like the adventurist type?

Favorite Foto Friday

I decided to join in with FFF (Favorite Foto Friday). These are a tribute to Haley who last Monday had her first day of Kindergarten. These were all taken in July of 2004, which makes her 1 year and 2 months!
I have no idea what she is holding but notice her infamous comb over! I love her facial expression in this picture.
Here is Haley and Great Grandpa Folk in Kansas, we love you Great Grandpa!
Last but not least here she is getting frustrated she can not get off her beep beep! We still have this little beep beep, Haley named this toy when she first got it and it has stuck, 4 years later we still call it beep beep! Now Brayden plays with it!

What a MESS!!

Can anybody say mess!?! Brayden is our little boy that gets into everything. I feel like I am constantly following him around picking up after him or tell him no, no, no! See what happens when my eyes are not on him for one second. I was going through my pantry and throwing away old things, one of which was some formula I did not finish, it was right on the top of the garbage when Brayden found it. I looked out the pantry to see what he was doing and just saw a white mess with Brayden in the middle of it! I was just about to blow my top when I had the thought to get my camera. The only way I was able to keep calm was to go and get my camera and start taking pictures all the while thinking this is cute I can blog it!! Never thought this blog would be so therapeutic!!

Oh, now he wants to clean up!! It only made a bigger mess, but at least he is learning to clean up after himself. Thanks for trying Brayden, next time stay out of the garbage!

Mikayla's Starts Dancing

Today Mikayla had her first dance class at Mrs. Brenda's! She is so excited that she is going to be able to be in all the parades and shows this year with Haley. Last year she had to sit on the side line and watch Haley perform and now she is old enough to join in all the performing!!

Here she is trying to get her feet to go into "first" position. It was too cute, Mrs. Brenda was trying to teach them how to do a plie (spelling?), and Mikayla could not get her knees to bend out to the side, so she kept trying and watching her knees to see if they would go to the side! She said her favorite part was when Mrs. Brenda told them a story about an apple tree and then taught them how to be apple trees! Here is Mikayla with Mrs. Brenda, we love her, but where does she get all her energy!?!

Haley's First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Haley's first day of Kindergarten at J. Marlan Walker Elementary School, and I think we were all nervous! Haley had a hard time getting to sleep last night, which for Haley is not that unusual, but she did say she could not stop thinking about school and therefore could not sleep. She was worried about not having any friends and that her teacher Ms. Lewis was going to be mean! I could tell she was a little, allot, nervous before she had to go into class because she did not say much and stayed right by Brett and I. I even had a hard time getting her to give me a great big smile! At 9:ooam sharp the bell rang and she walked into her class.

When we picked her up it was a totally different Haley, she was so excited and happy. She loved Kindergarten, she loved Ms. Lewis and she loved the kids and had fun with a little girl named Kayla, whom she knew from preschool. She even did some lunch time trading giving some of her brownie bites for a fruit roll up!! Walker is an International school and the second half of the day Haley is with Senora Quinonez, who only speaks Spanish to the kids. She will never speak English to them or while she is around them. Haley was worried about knowing what to do and understanding her. But when we picked her up she said it was fine and that their is a hand signal she is suppose to do if she has to go to the bathroom! (funny, that the bathroom worried her) Tonight at bedtime she was so excited and said she could not wait to go back to school.

A Day With Haley

Today was Haley's special day with mommy. We dropped off Mikayla and Brayden at Mema and Pop Pops home in the morning and began our special day. It started with a trip to the dentist office. Haley was very brave and did all the x-rays and cleaning by herself, mommy waited out in the waiting room, my little girl is growing up! When it was time to see Dr. Brandon, (Haley's Dentist) I joined Haley to hear what he had to say. Haley did not have any cavities and has very strong, healthy teeth. It does not look like we will be seeing any teeth fall out or grow in until she is about 7! We ran into Sydney and Cara at the dentist, they were having their teeth cleaned too.

After the dentist apt. we were both hungry, Haley's pick for lunch was a favorite of hers, Jason's Deli. We invited Aunt Tammy, Sydney and Cara to join us, that was allot of fun, the little girls all sat at their own table and enjoyed macaroni and cheese with ice cream cones for desert.

Next; we headed over to Fun Cuts, where Haley got about 3 inches cut off her hair. I love it, it makes her look older, her hair looks cleaner now, not so raggedy!! After the hair cut we took our kindergarten list over to Target and got everything Haley needs for her first day of kindergarten, which is on Monday!! Again so grown up, Haley pushed the cart around the whole store picking out everything she will need.

To end our special day Haley wanted to go see a movie. We wanted to see Kit Kitterage, but it was no longer playing in theaters so we saw Wall-E. It was a cute movie. Haley and I shared a popcorn and had a real nice time. I loved spending time with her and learning new things about her. She is a beautiful little girl, she is serious, quiet, stubborn, loving, cautious, caring and curious, she is particular in what she wants, I am so proud of who she is becoming.

HELP F-I-R-E!!!!!

Ok, so my victory with the barbecue was short lived, I burnt the pork chops last night to a crisp, literally!! I was broiling pork chops, (again from my monthly menu) which my recipe book said I could do and out of the blue flames erupted in my oven, I mean serious flames!! I was scared to death and immediately called 911 and told the girl my oven was on fire! I was so panicked that I sounded like a fool, I would hate to hear the recording of the 911 call! I was a mess and she was trying to calm me down and I just kept asking when the firemen were going to get here. Haley was scared to death too, she reminds me so much of myself it scares me. She was all about the fire and getting outside and she continually asked me if her stuff was going to get "fired up". She could not relax and even at one time had tears in her eyes. Mikayla on the other hand thought it was great, she loved the excitement and getting to go outside in her pj's! She on occasion would follow Haley's lead and act a little worried but then would just relish in the excitement! Brayden was so excited to be in the back yard he had no idea what was going on. I started to realize that it might not be that big of a deal when towards the end of the 911 call the fire started to go down, just a little! I was then feeling so many emotions, but mainly embarrassment! Once I realized everything was going to be fine I was humiliated. I called my sister as I waited for the fire engine to come and basically just wanted to crawl in a hole! When they finally got here the fire was completely out, luckily they did not blare their sirens, but they did have their lights all on, ugh!!!! I am sure I was the talk of the neighborhood! All I could say was "I am so embarrassed!" They said I did not over react that I did what I should have done, but I still felt silly. They checked everything out and said everything was fine, they laughed at the three burnt to a crisp pork chops and said "guess it's pizza tonight!" At least the firefighters had a sense of humor, so I felt a little better by the end of the whole ordeal. I have decided though that I am not going to use my broiler again, that thing scares me!

The girls ended up having a good time with the firefighters, they took them to the fire engine and offered to let them go up in it but Haley said no, she did not want anything to do with it, her nerves were still rattled I think! All the kids got red Henderson Fire hats and now Mikayla wants to be a "fire engine girl" when she grows up! Haley was so cute in her prayers that night she said "I'm thankful to be on this earth and not be fire away" I love that girl!!! Mikayla again not really phased by the event said in her prayers after all the other things and people she is thankful for "I'm thankful for the firemen". I am thankful too for firefighters that help and protect me and my family as well as our belongings. Although I did not really need them this time it's good to know they will come quickly and ready to help!

All in all this is one of my most embarrassing moments, I have allot of those moments! My sister even commented to me on the phone, she is glad I live close to her, so she can share in the excitement that I seem to always get myself into! Hey what a good post that would be "My Most Embarrassing Moments", I might have to do that!

My First Tasty Barbecued Steak!

I have had many first since I moved to Nevada, but none so tasty as my first barbecue! It all started when I decided to do menu planning, I started planning out my meals a month in advance in an attempt to be more organized! I actually love it, it works for me! Anyway, last Friday night was barbecue night and I had taken out a steak a couple of days earlier for that dinner. I made a homemade marinade in the morning and had the steak marinating all day. Brett had to go to Sacramento for work so he was not home, which was not the plan when I did my menu! I decided I would just broil the steaks instead of barbecuing since I had never barbecued myself, that's Brett's job. Anyway later that day I started thinking, and thought why not, why can't I do it my self? So I went out to the barbecue, looked it over, and figured out how to turn it on. I threw the steak on, and the rest as they say is history! It turned out really good if I don't say so my self!! I have never done a food post before (hey, another 1st) so here it is, my first tasty barbecued steak!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Happy birthday to a wonderful Grandpa, we love you and miss you bunches!

Don't Forget Your Vitamins!

Brett came home with these and told me that at least now I would be getting some vitamins! "They" have finally figured out how to get people like me to take vitamins, put it in my daily caffeine fix!! Funny, I can't seem to get into taking vitamins everyday but I can't go a day without having a diet coke! I really need to break that addiction. It is pretty sad when your children play house and pretend they are the mom ordering a "diet"!! I hear them in their little play kitchen saying "I'll have a diet". I need a caffeine anonymous meeting!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Kevin!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Kevin!!!

We love you and miss you soooooo much! Wish you were here to celebrate!

Ready, Set, Go...

Today we ventured outside! We have another storm coming in so it was a little cooler, in the 90's! Everyone was into riding bikes and getting energy out, even Brayden wanted to try out all the bikes.

With our backyard being what it is we do not go out their very often so when we do the kids love it. Only a child would!! It is hard keeping them out of the dirt but they love riding the bikes and scooters.

Haley is in this phase where she can not just smile normal for a picture it has to be an exaggerated pose. It drives me crazy!! Could I just have a smile please!

Here is Brayden's debut on a four wheeler!