Happy thanksgiving

Happy thanksgiving to all. We celebrated with just our own family today because I have to work tonight. It's a tradition for the boys to cook the turkey outside in the fryer. Mason helps daddy "drop the bird". Afterwards, Cord helped daddy wrap up the bird. The girls helped set up the table. Chelsea set out all the china and Brianna made some cute turkeys for each place setting. It was a family effort to make a nice dinner. We had some leaves at each place for people to write things they are thankful for. During dinner we would read the leaves and try to guess who wrote them. We have been very blessed this year and it's nice to take a day to express gratitude.





Here are the things we are thankful for this year:

New van, that daddy passed the bar and has a job, mommys job, that we live close to family, pumpkin pies, chance to serve in primary, our home, food, water, medicine, dance, church, parks, bikes, going for walks, food, family, clothes, friends, money, shelter, mom, high definition tv .....I mean, my children (written by dad :), cars, facebook, music, gas money, Mama 2 (this is what cord calls his babysitter), preschool, piano, internet, cellphone, guitar, i touch, free country, entertainment, chester, hot water.

School Pics

We finally have all the school pics back and I actually figured out how to scan them into the computer - Yea Me!


Chelsea - Sophmore year at Coronado High


Brianna - 8th grade at Bob Miller MS


Mason - 6th grade at Bob Miller MS


Cord - Preschool at Vanderburg Elementary

Cord Preschool pics last spring

Just never got around to blogging these pics. Compare Cord's pic from the one from this year. It's amazing how much my baby has changed in just 6 short months. When I got his pic from this year, I was really sad. He is loosing his baby face. Anyone figure out how to stop them from growing????

Party Girls

It's finally time to party to celebrate Brianna's 14th birthday! She wanted to do something fun and she planned the whole party with a "glow in the dark" theme. She had a friend come over and help her decorate and made the house look awesome. They even made a big poster with a 14 on it for her friends to sign and she can hang it in her room.

We started off with some fondue. I had never done this before so it was an adventure. We had 2 pots with cheese and lots of good things to dip into it. The girls played a game that if anyone dropped their food into the cheese they had to sing a song. Let's just say it was a musical night and there was a lot of laughing going on. After the cheese dipping, we broke out the chocolate (YUMMY!). During dinner the girls had to try and hang onto their glowing bracelets by avoiding saying the word "like". If anyone caught you saying the word, they got your bracelet.

Once the girls were full, we piled into the car and headed down to the park to play glow-in-the-dark volleyball. They had their glowing necklaces and bracelets plus I had painted a volleyball with glowing paint, but unfortunately the lights at the park came on once they sensed someone was there. They played volleyball for awhile then played some hide and seek. We got lucky because it was probably the last perfect night of the season. We were outside without even jackets (notice Brianna in shorts). Just part of the crazy weather in Vegas.

We headed back to the house for cake (love the pumpkin spice cake from Nothin Bundt Cakes) and fun party games Brianna planned. They had a war in the backyard with silly string and played our traditional candy bar game. Unfortunately we ran out of time. Brianna had several other games planned plus they were going to play the wii game of "Just Dance". I guess we'll hang onto those ideas for next time.

I think they had a lot of fun hanging out and being together. This is a party weekend because Brianna's good friend, Maddie, has a birthday 6 days after Bri. Her party is tomorrow. Party on!








Just in case you are wondering.....yes I still have silly string all over my backyard. Brianna promised that she would clean it up when we were planning. She got a lot of it, but I think she is hoping the cold winds we are planning on getting tomorrow will take care of the rest of it. We shall see.



I don't know how many wishes she made, but it took almost 14 breaths to blow out these candles. Cord's favorite part of the party is singing "Happy Birthday" and he likes to help blow out the candles.

November birthday girls ROCK!

All Aboard

Today Cord's preschool class had a family day at the Boulder City Train. Cord couldn't have been more excited. He LOVES trains. They have a museum there of several old train cars. We got to go inside a mail car and learn how they sorted and delivered mail a long time ago. Then we got to board a train and go for a ride. This train was built to help deliver supplies while building the Hoover Dam. After the train got started, we were free to roam to the outdoor passenger car. The whole ride was about 45 min. Cord had so much fun he keeps asking to go back.

Happy Birthday Brianna

Happy 14th Birthday to my beautiful, talented Brianna! She had the day off of school (which I don't think she enjoyed) because of Veterns day but Mike and I did take her out to eat at a place of her choosing. She loves BBQ so we went to Lucilles. She says it is officially her new favorite resturant. After dinner we packed up and headed to St. George for an early Thanksgiving. We'll celebrate more with her friends next week.

Mason's Advancements

Mason has worked really hard in scouts and was able to earn both his first class and second class advancements tonight. His biggest challenge was the swimming portions but he worked really hard to pass it off. He also earned 4 Merit Badges tonight: woodworking, tracking, first aid, and signaling. There are 4 retired badges that were released this year because of the 100 years of scouting celebration. Thanks to a great scout leader, Mason now has all 4 of those badges. Way to go!

Chelsea's first date

So, Chelsea has officially had her first date.....her daddy called to ask her out on a date so he could show her how the guys should be treating her. He rang the doorbell and everything when he picked her up. They went to drive race cars and then went out for a treat. Apparently she is fearless when it comes to driving (scary) and even beat her daddy. They both had a good time.

Park day

This is the weather that we love here in Vegas. It's been in the 80's with a cool breeze. I took the "boys" to the park to play. They have a nice doggie park where we can just let Chester run around. I felt almost human today. Got to take advantage of this nice weather while we have it.