Snow in Vegas?

Yesterday was a historic day. It actually snowed in Las Vegas. At our house it snowed but as soon as it hit the ground it melted. But Randy called and said that at his office they had a couple of inches. After I picked Ashley & Travis up from school, we drove over to his office for a few minutes. Here is a couple of pictures from there. Travis & Jared throwing snowballs

Ashley, Travis and Jared outside dad's office

I called my friend who picks Courtney up to let her know I was already out and I would pick up the kids, but she said she would pick them up and meet us at Angel Park so they could all play for a little while. Here is Courtney watching Alexis and Emily making snow angels.

Jared and Travis with the snowman they made

I also had to take a picture of the palm trees with snow on them. It just seemed so odd.

Ward Party

Here is the picture of all the kids with Santa. You'd never know that Courtney really was excited to see Santa. Our ward party was a lot of fun. We had a great dinner and some musical numbers that were awesome. Then of course, the special visitor. Jared was soo excited. He counted down the days for a week and a half. We wish that Randy could have been there - he had to be at the Stake Concert, but we still had a great time.

Handprints

They are building a new library that will be closer to our house. It is suppose to open in February. We are so excited! On Saturday, they invited the kids in the community to come and put their handprints on one of the pillars inside the library. It was too crowded to get their picture while they were doing their handprint, but here they are cleaning their hands off after.

Courtney & Jared
Travis & Ashley

Fall Leaves

The kids always have fun playing in the leaves. On Saturday all four of the kids were out raking up the leaves. It was a very windy day. After about an hour, they were done since the wind was blowing them off the tree as fast as they were raking them up. They realized it was never going to be done. But they were all GREAT workers and seemed to enjoy themselves.

Merry Christmas from the kids

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Let Christmas begin

We set up our Christmas tree Monday night for FHE, so I guess there is no stopping the holiday from coming. All of the kids enjoy decorating the tree, but Jared is so excited this year for Christmas. Everything is so exciting. He can hardly contain himself. He asks some of the cutest questions about Santa. He is a true believer. Christmas is my favorite holiday, especially through the eyes of the kids.

Tag of Twos

TAG of Twos..
Kari tagged me so I will try and answer these. Here goes.

Two Names You Go By: 1. Mom 2. Sylvia
Two Things You are Wearing Right Now: 1. Jeans 2. Red Shirt
Two Things You Want Right Now: 1. A maid to clean my house and finish the laundry 2. Dinner delivered to my door.
Two Things You Did Last Night: 1. Visited with friends 2. Looked through the Sunday paper's store adds.
Two Things You Ate Today: 1. Popcorn at the movie 2. water
Two Favorite Drinks: 1. Fresh squeezed lemonade 2. water
Five People I'm Tagging: 1. JanEtta, 2. Stephanie, 3. Nadine, 4. Londi, 5. Dad/Grandpa

HSM3

The kids have been wanting to go and see High School Musical 3 ever since it came out. We told them they needed to earn it by doing some extra chores around the house and being nicer to one another. It is amazing how good they can be when there is a great prize at the end. We only wish they could always be nice and helpful. We had a good time. Jared wasn't too interested in the movie, so he went and played with a friend - Thanks, Angela.

Northern Exposure 10K and 2 mile run

Yesterday Randy ran in the Northern Exposure 10K and Travis decided to try and run the 2 mile course. They both did GREAT! Randy beat his time from last year, and was very happy with his time, especially since he didn't really train at all for this. Last year Travis had said he wanted to run with his dad next time, so this year we asked if he really wanted to run. He said yes even though he has never run more than 1 mile. He was very excited!!! He had a lot of fun and wants to do it again. Next year Jared wants to join them. Randy might have to do the 2 mile run instead of the 10K because Jared would need someone with him.

We had fun waiting for Randy and Travis. They were giving free balloons away and had some entertainment to keep us occupied. It was a fun way to spend the morning.

Flat Daisy at Red Rock

We were honored to have a visit from the female version of Flat Stanley, Flat Daisy. She is visiting from Tuscon, Arizona. She just came from Salt Lake City, Utah. If you aren't familar with Flat Stanley, it is a book written by Jeff Brown. Stanley was flattened one night when a bulletin board fell on him. He was only 1/2 inch thick. He wanted to go visit some friends in another state so his parents mailed him.We received Flat Daisy and decided it would be nice to let her know that there is more in Las Vegas than the strip so we took her us to Red Rock. It was a beautiful day up there and the kids all had fun hiking and showing her the natural beauty of Nevada. We hope Flat Daisy enjoyed her time here. We will now send her on to some other exciting adventure.

Happy Halloween

Last night was our ward's Trunk-or Treat activity. We had soup and rolls for dinner, and then the kids had a great time going around to all the cars collecting a bunch of candy. Everyone had a fun Halloween. Thanks to the Robisons' and their neighbors for letting our ward invade their cul-de-sac. I don't know what Jared is going to do now that all his exciting activities are done. I love his age, they get so excited for the holidays. He is already looking forward to Christmas.

And the winner is. . .

At the Good Citizen assembly, the put all the kids names is a plastic bag and draw out a winner for a free t-shirt. Jared was the lucky winner. What a great surprise! He was so happy.

Good Citizen

Today Jared got the Good Citizen Award. He got a certificate, a ribbon, a pencil, a dog tag and a coupon for a free hamburger at In-and-Out. He has been so excited to receive this award. I think he showed his paper to every one that came over to let them know the exciting news. Now he is looking forward to tomorrow for the pizza lunch. We are so proud of him. Keep up the great work Jared!

Team pictures

Jared's soccer team had their team pictures on Saturday. He sure is loving soccer. He has a bye this weekend and then just three more games. The season sure is going by fast this time.

Soccer time

Jared is loving soccer this season. He is #6 on the "Frogs". I love playing at this age group because they only have 4 players from each team on the field at a time along with their coach. There isn't a goalie to keep the ball out of the net and they don't really keep score. But you can tell all of the kids are having a good time and they are learning the skills they will need if they continue on in the sport. I glad he loves it and he does a great job. It is definately great exercise for him. Keep up the great job, Jared!

Ashley's New Glasses

Ashley was so excited last Monday because she had an eye appointment. Ever since Travis was "lucky" enough to get glasses, the rest of them REALLY want them too. Ashley seemed to have a little difficulty reading but we weren't sure if it was because she was hoping to get glasses. The doctor said she was actually in between right now. She says it might appear now that she is far sighted, but within the year she will be near sighted. Whatever that means. Her left eye was consistently weaker so they said we could choose whether to get glasses now to help her balance, or we could wait until they were worse. As you can see, we opted to see if balancing her eyes would help her with her reading and school work. Any way, she is soo happy to have glasses now she can hardly contain herself.

Jared's favorites

Our neighbor is a motorcycle cop and Jared's favorite friend. The other day when I went to go pick up Courtney, Jared had this "uniform" on so he too could be a motorcycle cop. As I drove away with him following me I just had to laugh. He is so proud of himself. I sometimes wonder what the neighbors must think.

On Friday, our neighbor took Jared's training wheels off, and helped him for a little while and soon Jared was off and going. He is soo happy to be able to ride a two wheeler. Whenever there is free time Jared is asking if he can go out and ride his bike. What a great accomplishment! Great job, Jared!!

Wiped out!

Jared was running around playing and then after a few minutes of not hearing him, I looked over at the couch and this is what we found. I had tried to get him to take a nap earlier in the day but he assured me he was not tired. Of course he waits until dinner time to collapse so he wouldn't be tired when bedtime came around. Jared is always afraid he will miss something if he takes a nap.

This was just too precious not to add. Sleeping kids look so peaceful and innocent. Travis loved taking the pictures but after the first few the flash finally woke Jared up when he got too close.

Mother/Daughter Activity

Courtney and I went to her mother/daughter activity on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. They had a wonderful dinner and then we took turns painting each others nails. Courtney absolutely LOVED this part of the activity. She has even offered to paint my nails every day for me. Aren't I lucky? After the girls nails dried, one of the leaders, Anna, offered to paint flowers on for them. This of course was a huge hit! Just one more of Anna's hidden talents. They turned out very cute.

Courtney tried very hard the rest of the day to make sure her nails did not get ruined. She was confidant that taking a shower for church would wash her flowers away. Luckily they are still intact. Thanks to all the leaders who made this activity such a success!

Court of Honor

Last Wednesday was Travis' first official Court of Honor. He is doing really well in his troop. He received six merit badges last week, they were Swimming, Emergency Preparedness, Leatherwork, Woodcarving, Home Repairs and Rifle Shooting. He has a couple other ones that he is working on so hopefully he will be done with those soon. Thanks to all the scout leaders that help these boys along. As parents, we sure do appreciate all of your time and talents.

Rainbows in Vegas?

Since it RARELY rains here in Las Vegas it is such a novelty to see a nice rainbow. It rained very briefly last week but it made for a perfect rainbow. We could see the whole rainbow. All of the kids thought it was so cool so we took several pictures. Here is one of them. The colors were a lot more vibrant in real life.

Better late than never

O.K. I know that school has been in for a whole week now and I haven't posted our First Day of School pictures yet. You would think now that ALL the kids are gone in the morning I would get more done. WRONG!! Hopefully as time goes on, I will be more productive. The first reason why I haven't posted these yet is because I forgot to take pictures of Ashley and Travis before they left. Luckily I remembered before I took Courtney and Jared. All the kids were very excited for school the first day. They were all up early and dressed with lunches made before 7:00am. It's great to have them so excited - I hope it continues.

Jared was soo excited to start kindgarten this year. It is hard to believe our baby is off to school. He is so ready for everything school will offer him. I will miss him at home but I'm glad we have a few hours in the afternoon before the other kids get home. He made me promise I wouldn't do any of the cleaning while he was gone, because he didn't want to miss out on the fun. Last Wednesday after school, I thought I would lay down and rest for a little while when I kept hearing chairs being pushed around the kitchen. I asked him what he was doing and not to get into anything. Then the more I listened I realized he was moving the table and chairs so he could sweep and mop the floor. He is such a hard, good worker. I love him so much!

Courtney started 4th grade this year. She is always very excited for school to start but she doesn't do well with new situations. About a week before school started she starts realizing she will have a new teacher and new kids in her class. She did really well this year - she did not get sent home for getting sick a school. Last year she missed about a week and a half in the first two weeks of school. She seems to love her teacher and so far things are going great. Keep it up!

Travis is in 7th grade this year. His elective is Band. He is enjoying learning to play the trumpet. So far he seems to like all of his teachers. Ashley is in 8th grade. She has four of the same teachers from last year, so just two new ones. She was very excited to get back to school. She LOVES school!! Keep up the great work!

Scout Camp

Travis left this morning for his first Scout camp. He was so excited. I'm sure he will have a great time. They met at the church at 7:00 this morning and were going to Alamo. It will be so different around here without him. He brings alot of fun to our home. I hope he has a great experience and comes home with a few merit badges. I hope the weather holds out for them. It looks like we should have rain sometime this week.

Travis ready to go
Travis with a couple boys from his troop and his leader

Partner's in crime

What an eventful day!! I don't even know where to start. Before you start this, know that it is a little long and more pictures than I would normally post, so if you don't have much time or just want to see the end product, just scroll to the end of this blog.

I have to start by saying I jinxed myself in Sunday School today. Our teacher had made a comment about one of her daughters cutting her hair and I thought, "I am so glad I didn't ever have to deal with that. And now that our kids are older, I won't ever have to deal with that." Oh, why did I ever think that!

We came home from church yesterday and Randy and I were in our room with Travis making sure he had his camp gear ready for camp the next morning. Then when we were done Randy and I stayed in our room to talk. We were probably in there for about 2 hours with the kids coming in and out. We came out to start Family Home Evening (since Travis would be gone on Monday). While we were singing the songs, I kept looking at Courtney's hair. It was looking a little odd, but I couldn't figure out why. The more I looked at it, I was more and more puzzled. Then all of a sudden it hit me and I blurted out, "You cut your hair!" Courtney immediately hid under the piano. I finally got her to come out so I tried not to make a big deal about it. Well, up to that point I had only been looking at the right side and the back. I was thinking how bad it was and then she turned and I saw the left side. I about died! It made the right side look great. I was so focused on Courtney's hair, that I had really looked at Jared until Randy caught my attention and pointed to Jared. He ended up with a clump taken out of the middle of his forehead up to the scalp, a nice bald spot behind his left ear, and multiple cuts everywhere else. Well, we still haven't got the whole story, but it sounds like Jared cut Courtney's hair and then she cut his.

Her is Courtney with the pile off hair we found. Notice the platinum blond hair too. Barbie also got a little haircut.
Here is Courtney from the back. If you look close you might be able to see the MANY different layers . Trust me, in real life it looks worse!!

Jared with his cheesy grin. He wondered how I could be mad that they cut their hair but was happy and wanted to take their picture. I couldn't really explain it to him but I had to have pictures for the scrapbook and blog.

After about an hour and a half of trying to figure out what I would do to make these two look half way presentable, I called a good friend of mine who came over and tried to salvage what she could. She was a little nervous but I let her know that they couldn't look any worse than they already did.

We started with Jared. She tried cutting it first but it just made the bad spots stand out more so we decided to just shave it. It doesn't look too bad, just ALOT shorter than we have ever gone before. In a couple of weeks, when the bald spot grows out, we will try and even it out more.

We started trying to blend in all of the different layers, but finally decided if we blended everything, she would end up with the same hair cut as Jared. Debbie did an amazing job with what she had to work with. Thanks a TON!!

Front

Back

The next morning - The kids are pretty happy with their new hair cuts. I am hoping that I have explained enough that they should NEVER do that again, but I'm not sure confident that they get it entirely.

Pioneer Days

We had a GREAT time at Pioneer Days this past weekend. The kids really look forward to this every year. Friday night was a little too warm for me, but once the sun went down it was o.k. I was dreading Saturday though. Then Saturday ended up being a perfect day. It was cloudy the whole time we were there which made it quite pleasant. Here are a few pictures of some of the things the kids got to do.

Courtney hitting the cans down
Travis popping balloons with darts - He popped 2 out of 3. Good job!
Jared doing the ring toss

Ashley after getting her face painted

Waiting for the fireworks to start

The fireworks were a lot of fun. Courtney even stayed and watched them. She had to sit on my lap, with my hands covering her ears the whole time, but she did the best she ever has. Maybe by next year she will actually enjoy them.