Elle's Birthday

Elle's 4th birthday was last Monday. Sorry I'm so late in posting, but last week was crazy! Family in town, spoke in sacrament, birthday party, Silver Beaver banquet for Bud's dad, Relief Society at my house, yada, yada, yada. ANYWAY, Elle's party was really fun and easy. A friend of ours dressed up like Belle and came over for an hour to sing, dance, face-paint, do makeup, and take pictures. Those little girl's faces were priceless! They just stared at her in awe the whole time. The only thing that overshadowed her just a little bit was when they jumped on the trampoline at the end. So cute to see all those little princesses jumping up and down in their dresses.

Oh, my little Elle, you are so loved, but boy are you a handful! We are so happy you're part of our family though. You keep us on our toes and give us plenty to laugh (and sometimes cry) about!

Long Weekend

Ooo, look at me! Two posts in less than a week. We were lucky enough to get a four day weekend and packed it chock-full. We headed to St. George to visit our friends, the Lofgrans. The kids had a great time playing and we all loved exploring Snow Canyon. Thanks for having us Megan and Adam!








About 24 hours later, we headed back to Vegas because my sister, Kim and her kids came into town to surprise my dad for his 65th birthday. We had a birthday dinner Sunday night (gotta love my mom's meatloaf!), followed by a cousins sleepover and a birthday lunch at Chevy's on Monday. Happy Birthday Dad! I love and appreciate you so much!

2009 Holiday Review

Ready for the longest blog post ever? We had wonderful holidays with lots of family around. Here's a very condensed review:
- It was our first year back to two Thanksgivings, which I had forgotten is not that bad a racket!
- I celebrated my 31st birthday in early December with a very fun, relaxing, selfish day.
- I got called into the Relief Society presidency and was initiated by hosting the Christmas party.
- My parents got the cutest golden retriever puppy, Nani Wahini Nui (Beautiful Big Girl) to give my dad lots to do.
- Our first Christmas in our own house was terrific. It was one of those rare, pretty nearly perfect days.
- The day after Christmas, Bud and I had the funnest spur-of-the-moment anniversary night out.
- For New Years, after a "Nertz" tournament and partying with the cousins, the boys actually stayed awake until midnight and we had fun playing games and yelling "Happy New Year" off our balcony.
- The family left, school started back up and we got back to real life, which for some reason was a little bit welcome. But it really was a terrific holiday season!

Below are tons of pictures of the past month or so:

Practicing with my new camera:









Relief Society Christmas party which helped get my house in check:









Cousins, Cousins, Cousins (and Nani)!:










Christmas morning:









Anniversary:









New Years (check out our antique TV stand that I re-tiled):

SERIOUSLY?!?

I am so LAME!! I got a new camera, have had a TON to blog about, but just haven't. It's not even a resolution of mine to do better, but I will try!

Happy Veteran's Day!

My entire life, my father has always made it a point to hang the flag on patriotic holidays. I loved it. I've always thought it was very important to hang the American flag whenever possible, and couldn't wait to start the tradition with my own home. Unfortunately, we live in Las Vegas where all the houses are made of stucco and I missed two major holidays because I didn't have the right equipment. I was bound and determine to get the flag up today for Veteran's Day. We purchased a new drill with more power and today I finally succeeded. I was so proud to hang that flag! I'm so proud of my Dad, Mike, the grandpa's and their families who have all sacrificed so much for our country. I'm so proud to finally be able to show my support and respect for all those who have served and our serving our country with a flag outside my home.

Halloween

I was so excited to celebrate our first Halloween in our new house. Too bad I didn't really do much decorating until the day of, but it was a fun-filled week. The kids certaintly got my money's worth out of their costumes. Between school parties, trunk or treats, and the actual night, I got pretty sick of those things. We were a Star-Wars themed family this year. Jacob was Darth Vader, Jonah was Commander Cody, Elle was Queen Amidala, and Mae was R2D2. A lot of people asked if I made the costumes, obviously people who don't know me too well. I'm not that crafty and don't know if you even really save that much money. Anyway, Elle's costume stole the show I thought, and that little trooper wore the mask even though it would cut in to her little chubby face. Mae picked up on trick-or-treating REALLY fast. Even though she couldn't say, "Trick or Treat" she would go up to the door and shake her pumpkin up and down. It was hilarious. She also would not let me help hold it for her even though it was really heavy. Guess she was on to me. We went around our neighborhood with the Tingey's and Traci and Samantha came too. The neighborhood was awesome and lived up to my expectations. It was a great night.


Oh, how cute is that pumpkin face in the upstairs window? I got the idea from Family Fun. It's just cardboard and tissue paper.

Trips

I don't know why I can't get my act together with blogging. Probably because we've been going through a computer change (we now own our first desktop!) and because I've been borrowing my mother-in-law's camera for the past month (thanks Carol!). But I'm sure my once-a-month posting will change with my birthday right around the corner (you now have a REALLY good excuse to get me a camera, Bud).

ANYWAY, things have been great. We took a couple of quick trips in the last month to Utah and Arizona. Bud had a mission reunion in Salt Lake the first weekend in October and afterwards we spent a day in Park City. It was such a blast! We took the girls on the Alpine Slide and the boys on the Coaster (so awesome!). Mae did so much better in the car and it put me at ease for our Arizona trip just two weeks later.














A couple weeks ago, we headed down to our old stomping grounds in Gilbert, AZ, to see our super good friends, the Fuller's. Our kids got along great and even got to wear their Halloween costumes a week early for their ward's Trunk or Treat. Thanks so much Dana and Chad!









Oh, and btw, has anyone seen the Hoover Dam bypass lately? I think I may have a little trouble driving over that thing! It's crazy tall!!