An Extended Vacation!

We have been here in Utah for 4 weeks! Can you believe it? We have been insanely busy seeing family, playing with cousins and reconnecting with long lost friends. There are so many fun things to do here. I feel like we are just on a very long vacation and that soon we will be driving back to Las Vegas. Maybe once school starts life will seem more real. Here are just some of the highlights of our adventures.....

The Cabin: It's so great to be able to drive to the cabin in 1 hour instead of 7! We went up for the day and played games, went fishing, walked in the river, ate dutch oven and then drove home and slept in our own beds! Fabulous!

The Living Planet Aquarium: Just down the street from our house. A fun place to spend a few hours and play with cousins. Nick loved the octopus!
Heriman Lake: We had a chance to see our good friends the Howells. We have missed them and are so happy to be back and start playing with them again!
Snowbird: We rode the tram to the top of the mountain and had a picnic. Then we rode the chairlift up and did the Alpine Slide! Our kids like to go fast!!


Happy 35th Birthday Keith! Celebrating with mini-cakes from Glaus Bakery! We have missed yummy Utah food!

Murray Pool:My kids loved the slides at Murray pool and must have gone down at least 50 times. It was fun to see my good friend Sarah and her kids too! Thanks for the invite!

(We also went to Raging Waters & I didn't have my camera. My kids loved the slides there too! They are so brave and did it all! Nick loved the wave pool and Hannah loved the tube slides!)

Pebblebrook: Going to the driving range and hitting a bucket of balls. Testing out the new set of golf clubs Keith got for his birthday!

Thanksgiving Point Children's Gardens: Exploring the gardens & playing in the water with cousins and aunt Dodo!

The Dinosaur Museum: Digging in the sand for bones! Seeing huge dinosaurs! Playing in the sand & water table! Nick LOVED this place and could have lived there very happily!

The Bee's Game: 24th of July! Baseball, hanging with the Raymonds & lots of snacks!

Poor Jack actually fell asleep during the fireworks!

Torturing Uncle Kraig: A new favorite pastime!

Discovery Gateway Kids Museum: Hannah's heaven on earth! Lots of make believe & fun!

The Hansen Planetarium: A walk on the moon!

Home: Jumping on the tramp with cousins! Look at those beautiful mountains!

Stansbury Park Pool: Swimming with cousins! Hannah going of the diving board for the first time! How brave and what a good swimmer!

Lagoon: It's what fun is! Time with Aunt Keri and a little western photography! Did I mention my kids are brave! They went on every ride they were tall enough for & loved every minute of it!

Now you are probably asking how I manage to have time for all this? Well it's these 2 little babies! They are wonderful! I can do my laundry so much more quickly and efficiently! I love them and don't know how I managed without them before!

So there you go! Utah in a nutshell! We are having a great time and really enjoying it here! Come visit soon!

Home Sweet Home!

We are here! We are home! I could only take pictures of the outside of my house because the inside is still a little chaotic! More will come! We can't say thank you enough to all our family, friends, & neighbors who helped us move! We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives! I'm off to unpack some more boxes! Come visit us soon!

G.W.O.

In celebration of weaning Jack I decided to take Hannah up to St. George for the weekend. 2 of my sisters and their little girls joined us. We had a G.W.O. (Girls Weekend Out!) We saw Tarzan at the Tuacahn, ate out at yummy restaurants, had manis & pedis, went shopping & swam at the hotel pool! A fabulous time was had by all! Thanks Melanie, Eliza, Emily & Emma! Hannah and I loved being with just the girls! Let's start planning next year!

Thanks Keith for keeping the boys safe & sound and for helping Jack learn to go to sleep without nursing! You are a good daddy! Thanks also for not getting to mad at me for spending way to much money! Love you!

San Diego, CA!!!

So since we are moving to Utah we realize that California won't be just a mere 4 hours away anymore! So we decided to take a last minute, last chance trip to San Diego before our big move! Sunday we drove down and Keith took the kids to a Padres game!

Monday was Nick's official birthday and we went to Sea World to celebrate. We saw Shamu and fed the rays. We saw the new dolphin show which Hannah said was her favorite part of the trip! Hannah and Nick are quite the dare devils and rode all the rides they were tall enough to ride! We watched some fireworks and headed home very happy!

Tuesday we swam at the hotel in the morning and hit the beach in the afternoon. Nick said this was his favorite part of the trip! All 3 kids kids loved digging in the sand and playing in the waves.

Wednesday we went to Lego Land. We had never been before and Hannah & Nick were the perfect ages. They could ride everything and loved every minute of it! They got their faces painted and Hannah couldn't get enough of the roller coasters!

Thursday we swam again and drove home. We are exhausted and ready to start packing up! We will be sad that visiting California won't be as easy once we are in Utah. We love vacationing there! I guess maybe some of our Vegas friends will have to let us crash with them overnight next summer on the long drive! Hint hint!

Happy 4th Birthday Nick!

Today we celebrated Nicholas's 4th birthday. He had his first party with friends. He was so excited to have all the boys over! (plus Hannah) He wanted to have a dinosaur theme. We played games (pin the head on the T-Rex, don't crack the dino egg) and of course a big dinosaur pinata! We also had a dinosaur cake with chocolate ice cream! He was all about the boy toys this year....Star Wars, Iron Man etc. He had a great time and was so glad to get one last hurrah with his friends here in Vegas before we move! We also celebrated by going to see Toy Story 3 this afternoon. It was adorable!

4 things we love about Nicholas are....

1. His smile & hilarious laugh! He has the sweetest smile and can melt your heart! His laugh is contagious and makes it hard to stay mad at him for long.

2. He is a crazy dancer! Always shaking his hips and wiggling his booty to any music!

3. He is a fabulous brother. Whether it's wrestling with Jack or letting Hannah boss him around, he is true through and through.

4. He has a great imagination and plays really well with anyone or anything!

Happy 4th Birthday Nick! You sure are growing up quick! We love you!

We're Moving!!!!

You heard right! We are moving to Utah in July! I have never been so sad & excited at the same time! Keith took a new position and we are off! I am going to miss our dear friends here in Vegas! I will miss the playdates and walking club! I will miss our house! We put so much effort into making it our home! I am going to miss the warm weather too! But we are so excited to go back to beautiful Utah. We are excited to be near family and see to see our long lost friends! Wish us luck!

The Cabin 2010

Last weekend we went to my family's cabin up in Utah. It is always one of the highlights of our summer. I have been visiting the cabin ever since I was a baby and I have very fond memories of being there with all my loved ones! However I have never seen so much rain/water there in all my life as I did last week! It rained and poured everyday all day. We were freezing cold and soaked to the bone. In fact I never even took out my camera and had to bum these pics off my sister. If I had taken pictures they would be of my family hanging out inside playing games and eating way to much junk food. Hannah & Nick had a complete blast being with their cousins and I never even saw them except for mealtimes and when they wanted dry socks. Jack loved playing with his fellow baby cousins and crawling everywhere and getting really dirty! The river was very flooded and came up and almost covered the firepit where we usually roast hot dogs and make dutch oven. The boys had fun playing in the water/mud and making bridges to their little island. It's nice to be dry and warm back in Vegas. We can't wait for next summer and are hoping there is a little less rain!

The Graduates!

Wednesday Nicholas graduated from his 1st year of preschool! He had such a great year and learned so much. He knows most of his letters and sounds. He knows his numbers and can count really high! He is doing great with writing and drawing and has such a fabulous imagination. He earned a special award for "Following Directions"! He has been carpooling with his good friend Brooklyn and has made many new friends this year! Way to go Nicholas!

Hannah graduated from Kindergarten today! This year has just zoomed by! She loves school. She has lots of friends and really liked her teacher Miss P. She is a beautiful artist and can draw anything! She has really picked up on reading and writing and is amazing at both! I know I wasn't nearly so smart in Kindergarten! She loved riding the bus and can hardly wait to start 1st grade in the fall and eat lunch at school!

We are so proud of our little graduates! Education is so important and we are so grateful they have enjoyed school and excelled so much this year!

On a side note Jack is really looking forward to being able to nap this summer. The poor guy suffered severely from 3rd child syndrome this school year. He was constantly being woken up to go to the bus stop, pick someone up or run someone somewhere!

Now watch out summer here we come!

Happy 1st Birthday Jack!

Wow! I can't believe it's been a year and my baby is 1! Today is Jack's 1st birthday! 1 year ago today he was born....5 lbs 6 oz, 18 1/2 inches long at 12:52 AM! He was so tiny and not an ounce of fat on him!


Now he is so sweet & chubby! It's been a little bit of a rough year but worth every minute! We couldn't imagine our family without Jack in it! At dinner tonight we went around the table and each said our favorite thing about Jack:

Mom: I love to squeeze his chubby thighs and see his goofy toothy grin!

Dad: I love his infectious laugh!

Hannah: I love how playful & fun he is!

Nick: I like how fast he crawls and how he can kinda stand up!

Happy Birthday Jack! We love you!