Happy Holidays!

Matthew and Lauren were such great helpers this year with putting up the tree and decorating the house. Matthew's favorite part was counting the presents under the tree.

The Wednesday before school let out we got another blanket of snow. It doesn't look like much but it kept falling all evening long and caused such a ruckus that they closed school the next day. Vegas's first SNOW day!!!

What a pretty site for the desert.

Our very good friends host a ginger bread house making party every year and we absolutely love attending. Lauren assembles her roof with care and even avoids any spills on her white sweater!

Lauren and her BFF Katie work the "treat" table and decorate their houses while nibbling on what they can.

Matthew fashions a tree peep in the front yard of his house.

Everyone had such a great time... we can't wait for next year!

More cheesy photos in front of the tree.

Here we are on Christmas Eve with Grandma and Kyle and Quin (cousins). We finished dinner and are just about to bust into the presents that we have so patiently been waiting to open!

Matthew gets a baseball pinball machine from Grandma...

Kyle and Quinn open some thought provoking books from Aunt Jenn and Cristy helps Lauren tear into her gift.

Lauren is setting up her famous tea party. Now we can eat and drink in style with her new tea set.

Dad tries to break through the impossible packaging of children's toys. It's a tank... maybe we can blast it free?!?!

Hours of fun...

Christmas morning Matthew and Lauren wake to quite the haul from Santa. Lauren with her princess tea set, a jewelry box and some new slippers. Matthew with some RC cars and a Wii! He kept repeating, "Santa didn't listen to you... he listened to me!!!" Mom and Dad had the "no video games until you're 10" rule, but Santa felt sorry for the fellow and gave him a Wii. Christmas break has been very quiet around here... Matthew has been glued to it! Santa sometimes knows best!

Assessing the goods...

Lauren got fancy jewelry for her jewelry box and Tia, Anthony and Leah got her a baby doll set equipt with stroller, car seat and bassinet. She loves to pretend she's mom.

The day after Christmas we headed up to Mt. Charleston for some snow fun. We went to the top and had a great lunch at the lodge and then worked our way down to find some sledding trails. There was quite a bit of snow and we Las Vegans are not all that prepared (clothes wise) for the cold. Lauren didn't make it very long, but Matthew did get a few runs in.

His legs were chilled, but he loved it.

This was the last time she stepped foot in the snow. She's a bit dainty (weeney is more like it) so we dried off and headed home. We had a very merry Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful and exciting New Year!

Thanksgiving and Pre Christmas events

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We went to Larry's sister's house and had a fantastic dinner with cousins and grandma!

Oh, how can I forget the dogs... always an important part of the family.

The kitties stayed home, but Matthew was sure to give Zoe a Thanksgiving hug.

Lauren is becoming such a little girl.

We took the kids to the Springs Preserve for their festival of lights. Frosty, Santa and the Elves were there to make it feel like Christmas. Lauren stayed away from Frosty... he was scary.

Cheese...

Santa was so wonderful... they both stated what they wanted and he said he would try his best to deliver.

A week before Christmas, Las Vegas got a little dusting of the white stuff and everyone was thrilled! It may snow again... we'll see.

OK, so it didn't snow enough to make a REAL snowman, but Matthew gave it a try and this was the final product.

My new living room looks so nice with everything decorated. I may just keep the tree up all year.

Merry Christmas!

Another snow shot of our backyard.

Pre-Halloween & Haloween Weekend

We thought maybe the weather would be a little more fall-like when we went to the pumpkin patch, but we made due with 80+ degrees... I love the Southwest.

The pumpkin patch had pony rides this year so Lauren went round and round...

Matthew found one as big as he is!

Matthew participated in his first pumpkin carving contest for school. Thanks to Papa Joe's broccoli idea, he won third prize out of all the first grade classes.

We are so lucky that Baby Kate came to spend Halloween weekend with us this year! FUN doesn't begin to describe our time!

Count Dracula and his princess were a big hit this year.

Not only were we lucky enough to have our baby cousin visit from Seattle, but Kate's best friend Jeffery drove all the way from Salt Lake to see her (and us). We had a packed house and loved every minute of it!

Trick or Treat!

Lady Bug Kate was doing her thing...

Look at me...

Cowboy Jeffery rounded up some goodies too!

Our other cousins came to Trick or Treat as well. Kyle and Matthew were brother vampires, and Quinn went Camando.

Little Miss Princess spotted this costume and HAD to have it. She wanted to be the Phantom of the Opera's "Christine" so this was as close as we could get.

She may just wear this again next year...

Assessing the haul!

Matthew racked in the most... he's got this door-to-door thing down pat!


Once the sugar buzz wore off, we headed to Mt's Edge park to play and hike. It was sunny and warm and the kids had a ball.

Kate and Jeffery had a race...

The jury is still out on the winner...


Matthew, however won the KING OF THE HILL contest.

Kate and Auntie Leah won the "King of the Slide" contest though.