Walkin' in a winter wonderland.....

Well, it happened! It snowed in Las Vegas. I've always wanted a white Christmas and I got use to the fact that I would never see one as long as I was living here. Well, never say never, right? The kids had fun throwing snowballs at each other. They wanted to build a snowman, but it only snowed about 1 or 2 inches. It was beautiful and cold. Abby was so excited that I found her outside with a coat, capri's, and NO socks, but one of Elsa's crocs on one foot and one of Calvin's boots on the other. She was having the time of her life, until "mean ol' Mom" took her inside to get warmer clothes on. After they had their fill of all the white stuff, they came in for some hot chocolate. It snowed about 8 inches in Henderson. It was amazing because it had been so hot for so long.

Achieving goals feel so good!

If you remember a few posts ago, Dallin set a goal to have his bear by the time Calvin turned 8 and came into cubs. Well, the Saturday before Calvin's 8th birthday Dallin finished his last couple things. Tonight he received his bear badge and Calvin received his bobcat badge. We're so proud of our cub scouts.

Winter program at Brookman Elementary

Tonight we attended the Winter Program at the kids school. Dallin was in the Honor Choir, as some of you know, and he did really well. I thought the choir sounded really great for a bunch of 4th and 5th graders. Not only did he sound great, but he looked sharp too. Take a look for yourself. Isn't he so handsome?

Calvin's special day

This weekend was special for Calvin. He got baptized! Grandma and Papa came from Sparks and Aunt Steph came from San Antonio right after she went to Reno to see Uncle Jacob receive his Masters degree. It was a busy day for her, but we were so grateful that she and Grandma and Papa came. The baptism program started with me giving a talk on baptism which was about 2 minutes but too long for the two boys getting baptized. (Limited attention spans) then the other boys mother sang a beautiful medley of "Baptism/The Still Small voice", then the stake primary 2nd counselor, Sis. Drew spoke about the Holy Ghost. Then Calvin was baptized and while he and Clint were getting dried off and changed, we all went to the relief society room to wait for Calvin to get the Holy Ghost. After that we all went back to our home and ate dinner and Calvin opened his cards and presents, and then we just visited with each other.Scriptures with his name on themA card and boodmark from Aunt LisaDallin watching Calvin open his gifts
Do you like his socks?The rest of the pictures Abby took

We give thanks

Well this year for Thanksgiving, we stayed home. It was kind of nice to just celebrate with just us. On Monday, before Thanksgiving, we did our Thanksgiving tree, and put what we were thankful for on the leaves.

Abby is thankful for food,birthdays, cupcakes, and Jesus.
Elsa is thankful for trees, & family.
Calvin is thankful for technology (interpretation; video games), & clothes.
Dallin is thankful for knowledge, scriptures, and food.
Mom is thankful for her children, the Gospel, and Family
Dad is thankful for Family

Our Thankgiving was grrreat! I think we all had our fill of turkey and pie! (and other stuff)

Then, the day after Thankgiving, do you think we took advantage of "black friday"? Noooo, we went camping! It was quite a fun experience. Until we were getting ready to go. Saturday morning the battery in the car was dead as a doornail. Well, we packed up and went hiking, then Clint hiked to find someone to give us a jump. He ended up finding a nice man whose son-in-law was Clint's scout leader when he was younger. They had a good talk, and charged our battery up and we went home. We all slept really well that night. Enjoy the pictures! I am going to put more on later.
Then, on Sunday, we went to church and had a good day. Then, later that night, Micah and Camille paid us a visit. It was so nice to sit down a chat with them. The girls loved their visit too. Camille read to them ALL the books they brought to her, and at one moment I thought that Elsa was going to talk to her, but nope. They also loved to collect "chuckle eggs" from Uncle Micah.

Anyway, then on Monday night they came over with little Johnny Covey and had pie and idiot's delight. We had so much fun and they're welcome anytime, along with anyone else who wants to come over. I just like this picture. Elsa got a hold of the camera and took it.Here's Uncle Micah giving Elsa a noogie. I think.
That's what it looks like, but maybe he was just looking for chuckle eggs.
Elsa loved it!

Flash back

I was looking at some of our older videos of the kids. When I saw this one I could not believe how little our boys once were. It just goes to show how fast they grow up, so whoever reads this, enjoy them while they are young. The whole time while I was watching this I kept thinking "I wish I could go back and give them a great big squeeze". This was of our little family party on Dallin's 6th birthday. I love the part when he reads that Uncle Jordan signed the card. Here it is......enjoy!

Oh, what a glorious day!

Today, we woke up, the boys and Clint got ready and went to do Scouting for food. While they were gone, I put a movie on for the girls (after they made their beds, and cleaned their room of course), then I swept and mop the floors and cleaned the kitchen. I felt pretty good, like I accomplished a lot. Just to get the girls to make their beds is a feat in and of itself. :) Well, then Clint and the boys came home and asked if we wanted to go hiking with them. A million things that I needed to do ran though my mind. I struggled to give the answer, "No, I better not." Then, after hearing how much all the kids wanted to go, I thought, "Oh well, these things can wait." Hiking sounded more fun anyway, of course. So, we went to the mountain by our house. The actual spot we hike was called Anniversary Narrows. They were so neat and the kids did awesome. Elsa didn't complain once about having to walk or how tired she was. Abby on the other hand, did not want to walk except if we were climbing the mountain side or something. If we were just walking on a straight path, she got tired of it real fast and wanted me and only me to carry her. My back and arms will probably be sore in the morning. Dallin and Calvin did really well too and loved every minute of it. Well, when got back to the car we headed home, called the babysitter, and Clint and I went to the temple. What a great day! I don't like to hike.....I LOVE to hike!

We hiked up to this mine. Don't worry! It was a little one.
Otherwise we wouldn't have let them go in. Hiking down from the mineRest stop for a drinkAll of us when we got through the Narrows
It was perfect weather!Lil' daredevil! She loved to hikeMe and my girls

Calvin's birthday party.......ARRRR!

Well, Calvin's party went down without a hitch. Or whatever the phrase maybe. Four out of six of his little friends came, and to me it felt like there were ten kids. What a wild bunch! They had fun pretending to be pirates, especially when it came time to eat because that meant it was time to "break open" the rootbeer and cream soda bottles. My favorite picture is of them toasting each other with their bottles like pirates would. They also had fun trying to hook as many pretzels on their candy cane hooks as they could (sorry I didn't take pictures of that), sword fighting with pretzel sticks, and playing on the pirate ship. (That was a hit!) They all loved the cake and thought it was cool, but I think they really liked the treasure hunt. (Who wouldn't like a treasure hunt). It's fun to do parties for kids who totally love to have fun. This age group was fun to watch, probably because some of the boys have been Calvin's friends since kindergarten. Time flies so fast. I couldn't believe how big all of them were. Well, then Calvin opened presents, they ate cake, and played until their parents came to pick them up. Enjoy the pictures!

Abby uses her imagination

Abby was so cute one night when she was playing with her little people toys. I HAD to get it on tape.

Calvin had a great birthday!

Calvin had a good day considering it was Sunday. We went to church, and in Primary he got sung to, got a pin that says "I am a Child of God", a pencil, and got a candy bar. Wow! I hope they remember my birthday ;) Anyway, when we got home we had hamburgers and hotdogs on the BBQ, (cooked by Clint), then he opened his presents, then rode his new mountain bike for a while, then had ice cream. What? No cake, you say! We're going to have the cake at his party on Wednesday, after school. He wants to have a pirate party, and has been planning it for months now. He's going to put some of the pictures of his presents and party on his blog, if anyone is interested. Enjoy the movie!

Halloween.....I'm glad it's over

I think Halloween is fun, don't get me wrong! It's fun with kids! Dressing them up, taking them to parties, trick or treating, etc. This year we went to the mall in Henderson and trick or treated to the stores. Our ward did a sorry trunk r treat. So we felt the need to take them trick or treating. It was fun and safe! Then on our way home we stopped and had some pizza. Here are some pictures from that night!Don't look so excited AbbyDallin was the only one of our kids who wasn't scared to take a picture with the Joker.

What a great costume, huh? Don't take my picture
No Dallin! We don't like "see-food"!