Vegas has some pretty cool parks!

5.7.10
So the 4 of us made a 10 hour trip to Vegas!  wahoo! Some of our dear friends the Schelins and cousins, the MacKays both live there. We left at 11:00pm and drove through the night.  While the kids were sleeping, Ry & I kept time by listening to music & talking.  We pulled over I think in Eli (sp?) , Nevada in a chruch parking lot and we took a 30 min snooze for ourselves...then back to the road we go!  As the sun was peeking & our eyelids were burning, we pulled over at a rest stop that was conveniently in the middle of no where! :) One of the coolest men we've met lives there...I don't know how old he was, but I could just envision him liv'n on a couple hundred acre ranch.  His skin looked weathered by the sun & wind from working his land.  From just a few minutes of talking with him, I gained a tremendous amount of respect for him, for the value of hard work, & for the simple beauty of life & what it offers us.  I thought about trials, & how they are individually catered to us.  The the Lord knows us, &  all things are to stretch us & give us experience.

We arrived in the city named Vegas just in time for breakfast!  We ate, our friends watched our kids & we were fast asleep.  We had so much fun playing with friends & cousins.  We did a temple session, played in parks....which by the way, there are some pretty cool parks there! We toured some of the casinos like the Belagio (it was my first time there, & we had our kids so we were as careful as we could be)

Swinging and soaking up the sun. Thankfully it was May, so it wasn't killer hot

Davis & his cousin paused from playing so us mean moms could take a picture

Lauren loved the slides

How fun that our cousins the MacKays & the Schelins are good friends as well, & with us in town we all hung out more than once!  We had a tasteful bbq

Lauren & Mya are only weeks apart

Lauren's silly face

ummm...darling house! can I please be a little girl again?

Play'n house

Thanks to the Schelins & MacKays for housing us, playing with us, creating wonderful memories with us, & loving us! Can't wait to come back soon!

Where is Davis?

Davis loves to play hide and seek.  Notice the 3D glasses...he loves them & you will be seeing more pictures of him wearing them in the future!
5.1.10

"just smile & say cheese! please!"

4.27.10
So one afternoon, the sun broke thru the cloudes and it had stopped raining...giving me the perfect opportunity to take a few quick snap shots of the kids...they weren't quite excited about it.  I found myself repeating "just smile & say cheese! please!" I hate to say in a not so happy tone :) But alas, I realized that with how uptight I was at the moment, this little Mr. made ME SMILE.  This mom should have gone to time out for not being very happy earlier. Thankfully mom learned a lesson from Davis boy once again!

This was a few hours later!

Good 'ol Saturday activities

4.24.10
Ry built me a flower box to put under my kitchen window...so when I'm washing dishes, I can look out & bust into singing...being so grateful for the opportunity of serving my family! :) At least that was my "vision" of having a flower box...to brighten a mandane task.

Ry had some little helpers....Davis boy & little miss!

 The flower box magically turned into a make believe boat for them until it was mounted under my happy kitchen window

park + Davis + 3D glasses = 1 FUN time at the park

4.23.10
So Ry was out of town, & I took the kids to the park...with my camera & BOY WAS I GRATEFUL!  Because I have some of the best pictures of Davis, caught in his own world he created at the park

He was trying to convince a fello friend how cool his shades are

Even on the swings...

We put Lauren in to enjoy a ride

Wondering whats happening in his little brain. Thanks for making such a fun night Davis!

the BuS!

4.23.10
So with only 1 month left of school, Davis was asked if he wanted to ride the bus as they needed 1 more student to have the required amount to provide transportation. So I thought it was ok...I was a little nervous, but his school was only 5 miles away & he was adjusting great to school. I crossed my fingers & said ok!

So I made a story or event outline, because I didn't know how Davis would act when it was time for him to get on the bus...but as always, he surprised me & jumped right on & didn't look back.  I had to tell him to come back & turn around so I could take a picture.

I took him from waking up to coming home from school.  Thought that if he got hesitant, that the bus assistant could read it to him

Here it comes!

This is where I had him turn around for me so I could take a picture of him.  The bus lady got a laugh out of it too!

"I love you" sign to me over the seat! He melts my heart! serioulsy.

I made myself laugh because I couldn't believe what I was doing! I hopped into my car after the bus took off & drove to the school!  I was a bit nervous sitting outside a school with a telephoto lens! But I wanted to see Davis get off the bus, what can I say? Don't mess with this proud mama!

You can see his excitement on his face! I'm so proud of you Davis

dandelions

4.12.10
Spring & Summer = Dandelions!!! yuck! Its a nightmare & it gets worse each year.  But one day Davis brought out the clippers, which meant serious business

This kid makes me SO HAPPY!

Meanwhile, Lauren chases Koda around the yard

How this little miss brightens our life!