Mesa, Arizona Temple Lights

On Saturday night we went to see the lights that are put up all around the temple in Mesa. My camera is just a little point and shoot so I didn't even try to take pictures of the lights because it wouldn't do them justice. We did however get a few pictures of the people who went.
The kids loved the lights and the nativity scene. It was a good chance to try and remind Heidi what Christmas is really about. I'm not sure how much sunk in.
I will have to do a better job this year of getting my kids to understand the real reason for Christmas is for remembering the birth of Christ. It is always nice to be together with family for the holidays. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know I did.

Happy Birthday Heidi!

We spent Thanksgiving down in Arizona with Kevin's parents. Heidi is my Thanksgiving baby so while we were down we had a small party for her. We surprised her with dinner at Chuck-E-Cheese with her good friend Aleigha!
Heidi was surprised and had so much fun playing with Aleigha and opening her presents. I can't believe she is already five. She is turning into such a smart, helpful and fun little girl.
Thanks Marci and Mark for bringing Aleigha along to play. Heidi can't wait to see her again!

Our New Dog

We are now dog owners. I don't know what finally made me ready for a dog. I guess it all started out with going down to the shelter.
If you don't want a dog don't go looking for one. My friend Rachel started talking about wanting a dog. So one day last week we decided to load her son and my kids into the car and go look at the shelters.
I really had no intentions of finding one to take home. Long story short I found him and went back later the same night with Kevin and adopted him. We had to wait until the next day to pick him up because he had to be fixed.
That is why he is wearing the cone around his neck. Kevin really wanted a bigger dog, but the kids have been really afraid of big dogs. They have turned out to love Rico.
He is a 7 lb. Chihuahua mix. He is very lovey and wants nothing more to sit on my lap all day. He has decided that Heidi or Kevin will do as well.
He isn't so sure of Ryan, but that could be because Ryan has a tendency to shoot him or push toys in his face. Rico loves to snuggle down under the covers with Heidi at night. Kevin and I don't allow him to sleep in our bed, but he loves to sleep with the kids.
So everybody meet Rico!

Fall Fun

On Saturday we went out in the lovely Vegas fall weather. In the morning we went to a Carnival put on at the Youth Center on base. The kids had fun "fishing" for prizes, cake walking, tossing bean bags and bouncing. I was shocked when they actually made the bean bags in the holes and Kevin was proud of their athletic abilities. After the carnival we ate a yummy lunch at our local Cafe Rio. After that we headed on over the The Farm to pick out a few pumpkins. It was a cute setup and the kids had fun looking at the animals. They actually got to touch a rabbit and walk around with some chickens. We picked out four pumpkins and are very excited to get to carve them. Pictures of that to come when we carve them. We hope everyone is enjoying Halloween as much as we are!

Horsing Around

The other night the kids came out of Ryan's room like this. There is really only a difference in weight of about 5 lbs., even though Heidi is about a foot taller than Ryan. Crazy kids! The ride didn't last very long...

Happy Birthday Ryan!

A few weeks ago we were able to celebrate Ryan's second birthday. It is hard to believe that time has gone by so quickly. We were so glad to have close family and good friends come and celebrate with us. This was also the day before we were leaving for our move so that made it even more important to have everyone there! We swam, ate pizza and had cake and rootbeer floats. What more could you ask for as a two year old little boy? This was Ryan's look after almost every present he opened. Not a smile, just an uneasy look. He got so many wonderful presents he didn't know quite how to take it in!

Testing out the cupcakes.

Heidi and Aleigha having fun at the pool. We sure do miss you Aleigha!

Here is a picture of the two year olds at the party. Ashlyn (Molly's daughter), Ryan and Madison my niece (Stacy's daughter).

This is a picture of all the kids that were at the party. After swimming and all of the goodies they were all pretty tired. I love how Ryan looks white trash in his diaper. I promise I do dress him most of the time!

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came and thank you for all of the amazing presents. We miss everyone now that we are alone in Las Vegas!

That's what you get for waking up in Vegas...

My cord for my camera is still at my in-laws house, or I would be posting pictures of Ryan's birthday party. Why does technology have to be so great that they make a different cord for everything? You would think will all of the electronic devices we have that one cord would be the same, but no that would be too easy. Well that post will just have to wait along with the post about our new house. I was all excited to post. Well at least I got the blog updated to fall...