Happy Thanksgiving

In the morning we will be heading over the river and thru' the woods (well actually north up the I-15) to my inlaws for Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.

These are a just few of the many things I'm blessed with and thankful for:

A Funny Cole Story

Cole: Mom, what's Dad's name?
Me: Daddy
Cole: No, his other name
Me: Alan
Cole: That's right, Alan. That is such a ridiculous name.

Ready or Not The Holiday Season Is Upon Us

Yesterday we went on an excursion to the Galleria Mall in Henderson to check out the grand opening of my BIL's new food court restaurant called Salad Creations. Yum! I'm a salad addict so this was my kind of place.

After we ate we walked around the mall checking out the Christmas decorations, that's right, I said Christmas decorations. Hello, we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet! And as we rounded the corner I saw that Santa Claus had already arrived as well. It seems when I was a child Santa's arrival was the day after Thanksgiving. I'm thinking everything this year is feeling way too rushed! I'm not ready! Slow down! Can't we at least digest our Thanksgiving turkey before hearing Christmas carols in the stores?

This is not the mall Santa, this is Alan playing Santa for my sister's ward's primary party a couple of Christmases ago. But I can't talk about Santa without posting a picture, right?

Anyways, there will be no "what I'm getting the kids for Christmas" posts from me until after Thanksgiving. Mainly because I have no idea what I'm getting the kids, or my husband or anyone for that matter. Yikes! Should I panic yet? Hmmm, I don't think so...

Here Comes Trouble

Well, it's official: Carson is on his way to being a climber. His new trick is pulling open the broiler on the stove and climbing inside. He thinks that it is great fun and he can amuse himself by doing this stunt over and over and over. It really worries Cole, he is a protective big brother and he doesn't want Carson to get cooked. Some of Carson's other new tricks include pulling all of the pans out of the cupboard, climbing on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, pulling dishes out of the dishwasher while I'm loading them in and pulling himself to a standing position on the bar stool and pushing it around like it's a walker. I think we're in trouble with this little guy. In fact that is what Cole says every time Carson charges towards his toys, "Uh-oh here comes trouble"... Yep, here comes trouble indeed.

Fancy Feet

My girlfriend Leslie and I braved DSW shoe store with 5 kids between the two of us last week. If you haven't been to DSW you need to go, it is shoe heaven. Anyways, Cole and Lindsey found those pantyhose thingies you are supposed to use to try on shoes with and put them on all on their own. It was seriously so hilarious and like a good blogging Mom I had my camera in the diaper bag and snapped some photos. You know someday these photos are going to embarrass Cole but the moment was too priceless to pass up.

By the way we both found cute new shoes too!

Halloween Fun

GOT CANDY? Carson's 1st Halloween!

Halloween was fun and I'm soooo glad it's done! We had lots of fun Halloween activities this year including a dress up day at Music Makers, Cole's school singing program and class party, treat making, pumpkin carving, Disney Halloween treat, pumpkin patches, trunk or treating and trick or treating. Phew! Carson and Cole had matching costumes this year but every time I put Carson's coat on he would freak out! So I'm still trying to figure out how to get a picture of him wearing it. I decided last minute to be a pirate mate, Cole was impressed even if I did look like a goober. We met up with family at Sonic before trunk or treating (there's nothing like eating a little grease before collecting all that sugar). The kids had a great time but Cole decided it was not so much fun to trick or treat at cars and wanted to go to houses so we came back up to our neighborhood and hit a few houses before hitting the hay.

Three Day Weekend Recap

For us Nevadans this past weekend was a 3 day weekend commemorating the day Nevada gained it's statehood. It was fun having Daddy stay home from work on Friday.

Friday we saw The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D! Loved it! Of course it is one of our all time favorite movies and it's even more fun in 3D with popcorn and a huge diet coke.


Saturday we woke up and hiked Lone Mountain. Carson and I stopped at the bench and took a break while Alan and Cole went to the top.


We had "linner" at Red Robin one of our family favorites. We like it there because it's noisy and so no one cares if our kids are noisy too, which they usually are.


I got a silly surprise present from my Mom and sister Gretchen. They are microfiber mop slippers. I'm always complaining about how dusty and icky my pergo flooring looks and they saw these at Bed Bath and Beyond and thought they would be the perfect solution to my problem. I have to admit they are fun to put on and slip and slide all over the floors. Plus I am pretty confident that these babies could definitely secure me a spot on What Not to Wear. Could you just see the horror on Stacey and Clinton's faces when they see me wearing mop shoes, lol.


And finally a Happy (belated) Birthday to my sister Gretchen or Aunt GG as the kiddos all call her, who turned 30-something on Sunday. Love ya! I still need you to teach me Soulja Boy.

Thank You Yellow Mammaw and Red Pappa

I had to hurry and snap this picture of Carson and his money and then take it from him before he ate it.

Cole loved his pirate card. I hope he grows out of this goofy smile phase soon.

Cole chose a Geo Trax train.

Carson is just happy to be here and along for the ride.

The boys were delighted to receive their Halloween cards in the mail. Cole especially loves getting mail, it makes his day. He immediately wanted to head to Wal-mart with his cash to pick out a toy. As I pushed them thru' the store he would tell random strangers that his Yellow Mammaw sent him $5 in the mail and his baby brother only got $1 because he was little. He is such a nut. Anyways, after much deliberation he decided on a train to add to add to his Geo Trax collection. Can you believe that there are still trains we don't have? I thought for sure we had them all, it looks that way when they are dumped out all over his room, lol.

BIG HUGE HUGS & THANK YOUS! We love you guys! Happy Halloween!

Disneyland: Days 3,4 & 5

October 20-22, 2007
The days started to blur together so I will just combine them into one big random post. Beware, there are alot of photos...

Cole's most very favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which he dubbed "Cowboy Mountain". He rode it 18 times and I'm not exaggerating. He would inform the worker at the front of the ride that he was tall enough (because they checked him every time) and that he would like car #1, lol. It is the wildest ride in the wilderness.


While Daddy and Cole were on Splash Mountain or Waterfall Mountain as Cole renamed it (his second favorite ride), Carson and I met Pooh Bear. Carson was enamored by him, he snuggled into his fur and cooed and giggled.




We finally rode Nemo. It was by far the longest line in the park. We used our early entry pass to get in early and stand in line. We only waited for one hour as opposed to the two it would normally take. Carson was captivated by the underwater scenery. It was an amazing ride, those Disney Imaginears are pretty smart.




The boys enjoyed the carousel at California adventure. Cole rode a dolphin and Carson was on an otter.


Watching Dad blast off on the roller coaster. Cole was bummed he was too short to ride, maybe next time.


Cole with Lightening McQueen

and with Tow Mater. We heard they are adding a Cars Land At California Adventure in the next year or so. How fun will that be !?


The obligatory photo in front of the flower Mickey inside the main gate. All of Mickey's orange areas are actaully baby pumpkins. Pretty cool.


Seriously, he is the cutest little mouse ever. I couldn't resist buying these ears, aren't they awesome?


Monster's Inc...


More of the completely amazing decorations. There was an area of the park called Woody's Halloween Round-Up and it was full of carved pumpkins that were just so cool. My favorite was the Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas.


One of my highlights of the trip I didn't get a picture of. One night Cole and I went down to the sing-a-long at the Grand Fireplace in the hotel's lobby. He got up there with a few other 3, 4 and 5 year olds and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and You Are My Sunshine while accompanied on the guitar. It was so sweet, one of those Mommy moments that warms your heart. It's always touching to see you child be sweet and innocent and just all around cute.

Monday the 22nd was our last day in the park. We got set to leave at about 3:00 in the afternoon and headed out towards Vegas hoping to not get caught up in any of the California wildfire freeway closeures. But unfortunately we spent about four hours on the highway and only made it about 40 miles to find that the Cajon pass was closed and we were stranded in San Bernadino for the night. We got the last room in a scary Days Inn that was a little too close to the fires for comfort. The howling winds made it hard to sleep and we all just really wanted to be home in our own beds. The next morning we got back on the road and headed home.


But, despite the unseasonably hot weather, the crazy huge crowds in the park, the gusting winds, the wildfires and the ash and soot, we had a great time. The boys loved every minute. It was so fun to see Carson wide-eyed and amazed at all of the magical things surrounding him and Cole was our little daredevil this trip. Thanks Alan for being the coolest dad and husband and taking us to the Happiest Place on Earth! We love you!

Disneyland: Day 2

Friday October 19, 2007
Our favorite little Mouse

And his cute pirate big brother

The genius Disney Imaginears transformed Tom Sawyer's Island into Pirate Lair. As you can probably imagine Cole was in heaven. They passed out treasure maps before heading over on the raft, Cole studied it religiously and found the treasure!

Some random photos. I loved the fall decorations throughout the park!

One of our favorite Disneyland traditions is to eat dinner at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel. It's fun to see the characters and take pictures with them, the food is outrageously delicious and it's just tons and tons of fun.