Scott, Brittany, and Company

Melanie: A Series

2011-05-26T16:35:00.002-06:00

Melanie loves making silly faces lately. Here is a fun little portfolio of her latest work.

I love that sweet smile.

Splash Park #2

2011-05-26T16:25:00.002-06:00

Ok, we're almost caught up on pictures. This week we went to the other splash park nearby and had a blast. Luke was running through like it was no body's business. But, lest be honest, the main attraction was the mud puddle all the stray water flowed into.

Melanie spent the afternoon as a lion (big surprise). But, luckily, lions love splash parks!

And, in case you forgot, here is Luke's new "cheese" face.

Splash Park #1

2011-05-26T16:20:00.001-06:00

We had a fun afternoon at the splash park last week. I didn't think Luke would get very wet because he wouldn't touch the fountains with a ten foot pole last summer. As you can see, this is another example of me being very very wrong. Melanie had a blast as expected. I tried to get her to stop and smile for the camera, but this is the best I got.

In fact, most of my pictures looked more like this...

That girl loves the water, there is simply no time to stop and take pictures. Obviously!

Swim Season has Begun

2011-05-26T16:17:00.001-06:00

The swimming season has begun! The kids love the pool, and I love those kids!

My Matching Boy

2011-05-25T14:59:00.001-06:00

We went to the park the other day and I just had to take a picture when I realized my son perfectly matched his own bike!

Luke's Birthday, part 2

2011-05-25T14:44:00.002-06:00

Luke had a wonderful birthday. We couldn't really think of anything to get for him until about a week before. We took him to Toys R Us and let him walk around so we could get a feel for what he'd really like and he was drawn to the helicopters. He nearly had a meltdown when we didn't buy a little matchbox helicopter that afternoon. He was only calmed by the promise that he could open a helicopter in a couple days on his birthday. We let him open half his presents in the morning and the other half in the afternoon when Dadn came home from school. He loved all his presents, and was very spoiled by so many people who love him. But his favorite of the morning was the little matchbox helicopter he had been promised (I still need to get a picture of him with that one, how have I not done that yet?)

He loved the little one so much that it was all he talked about all day. People at the park asked him how his birthday was, and Grandma and Grandpa called that morning to wish him a happy birthday and first thing both times was, "my birthday helicopter, kind of, awesome!" It was so cute. That evening he opened the giant helicopter (above) and he loves that one too, all we hear about now are helicopters, and how he controls them, and we watch them fly (oh wait, no, they don't fly, we all sit on the couch while he places them on the floor, and then we sit there in silence and "watch them fly").

They come up all the time in casual conversation as well. One evening I was feeling a little tired (ok, frustrated and stressed) and Luke came into my room and cuddled up next to me and said, "I missed you Mama, I have cool helicopter downstairs." It was just what I needed.

He also got a couple new guns. Because as Scott tells me, a man never has enough guns.

(Oh wait, there's the little helicopter in his other hand, if he wasn't sleeping right now, you'd see it in that hand today too. He never puts it down!)

We decided to throw caution to the wind and have cake before dinner. That's how I roll. Luke got to choose his cake from all the mixes and frostings in the store. On the drive to the store I asked him what kind of a cake he wanted and without hesitation he responded "Beauty Beast." Hmmm, I don't think Betty Crocker makes that kind. So instead he opted for Cherry Chip and Strawberry frosting. Yes, it was an all pink cake. I figured we could get that out of his system early. Scott, well, he was not so pleased.

I took Luke like 87 blows to get the first candle out and about 118 to get the second candle out. I am shocked they hadn't completely melted by the time he finished.

For his birthday dinner Luke wanted oranges, peaches, and noodles (mac and cheese). It was an all orange night for us! Happy birthday my sweet little boy!

Luke's Birthday, part 1

2011-05-25T14:40:00.002-06:00

For Luke's birthday we celebrated in style, oh wait, we went to the park like we always do. It was pretty funny to watch him pull all the big kids around in the wagon though. A perfect birthday activity, right? We played at the park for a couple hours, Melanie continues to be a monkey in the trees. We just love our park, seriously, I think I would like to marry it.

Sunday Pictures

2011-05-25T14:34:00.002-06:00

We got ready for church a little early on accident a couple weeks ago, so to occupy the kids, without them getting dirty or messy, we took pictures. I still am far from mastering the "multiple kids smiling simultaneously for one camera" concept, but my kids are cute, and that makes up for a lot!
See they even like each other!

Luke now says "cheese" for the camera. We are still working on it though because half of the time he says cheese without looking at the camera. But the biggest problem with his current cheese is that it produces this face...

I mean, he's a really cute kid, but that face...well we're working on it. Melanie likes to make silly faces for the camera now, so we settled on a serious face instead. (That one's for you Poppy, she was hoping to "Knock you out").

Our Little Athlete

2011-05-18T16:42:00.002-06:00

Melanie has a new favorite game to play with Dadn. Soccer. He loves it too because, well, he likes that sport. It is even more fun with Melanie though, mostly because laughter is almost always guaranteed. This is her new favorite kicking style. Awesome, obviously.

Yeah, that's real talent. Scott teaches her some more traditional moves as well.

But I think my favorite is this, pure unforced laughter. (Scott punched the ball into the wall of the house, she thought it was hilarious, and really, it was.)

Just to keep things even, here is Luke's new "Cheese" face, I kind of liked the genuine smile more, but what do you do?

New Adventures

2011-05-18T16:36:00.002-06:00

A couple days after we got back from Kanab we went to the splash park near us. Luke was a daredevil climbing all over everything. I was terrified for a good portion of our time there, which doesn't really happen easily. Well, Luke got tired of climbing so he went up the normal stairs to go down the slide. I finally took a seat after being a spotter, and no sooner did I sit down than I hear my little boy start crying. I went over to him and what did I find, you know, the usual, blood gushing out of his head. No sweat. We hurried home, but luckily by the time we got home the bleeding had stopped and he was much more interested in playing in the sandbox than he was in cuddling or being cared for, so there you have it. No stitches, no concussion, just a nice bloody blond-headed boy. I would sure like to hope that is the last scare he'll give me. A mom can hope can't she?

In other news, Melanie continues to play Lion King around here. Here is yet another picture of her re-enacting the opening scene on Pride Rock. Good times, good times.

Easter Hunt

2011-05-18T14:43:00.002-06:00

We had an Easter hunt while we were in Kanab, the Bentleys joined us and we had a blast. Brent and Kathy's backyard is seriously perfect for Easter egg hunts.

Luke did pretty darn well for his first time. I think it helped that he already knew what to expect inside the eggs.

For some reason the kids seemed a lot more interested in their loot than in smiling for the camera, weird I know.

This was my first year taking part in an Easter egg roll. Brent made two different tracks, a little kid track and a big kid (adult, who are we kidding here) track. Luke loved the little kid track and sent his egg down over and over.

Moral of the story, we loved Easter in Kanab, I think it will have to be a yearly tradition!

Kanab City Park

2011-05-18T14:35:00.002-06:00

There is a park in Kanab that is so fun. It has a huge play structure, fountains, swings, and a volleyball court. But one of the coolest things is the "mulch" or "barkdust" they use is shredded stamps. The kids love playing there, Luke was especially happy when he found a puddle on one of the slides. This picture was right after I caught him trying to drink the puddle.

Melanie had a blast making huge piles of the mulch and crashing them on her way down the slide. The camera caught the intensity of the moment quite well.

The play structure even has a little climbing wall. Here, Scott showed the kids how it is done.

Then Melanie scaled it like a champ.

And of course, not to be left out of anything, Lucas too a turn. He really is quite a climber.

Hike in Kanab

2011-05-13T18:42:00.002-06:00

We went on a quick little hike while we were in Kanab. There is this guy that does slab work, you know with the big rocks and what not, and he donated a solid stone table (two actually). It was really cool, and easy to get to which is my kind of hike! (Be sure to notice that Raja came with us on the hike as well, he's the tiger on the table.)

I just love little boys holding their daddy's hand. It melts my heart.

This little girl is the world's best hiker. She sprints ahead and patiently waits for the rest of us slowpokes. She even prays at night that she will have good dreams about going on a hike (among other things).

Luke had a great time on the hike because normally, on hikes when he wants to be carried Mom and Dad just say no, and that is that. But when Grandma and Grandpa are around there will be no saying "no" to a sweet little blue-eyed boy. The surprisingly heavy toddler didn't even get his shoes dusty. :)

Easter in Kanab

2011-05-13T18:29:00.002-06:00

Scott's parents just retired last month and moved to Kanab, Utah. We have been waiting and waiting for this to finally happen, now they are only 3.5 hours away instead of 7. Most people would have given them a couple weeks to unpack and get settled, but not us. We were so excited (and Scott had a week off for Passover, I love that he attends a private Jewish school) to see them that we waited about 5 days after before we just couldn't stand it any more and went out to visit them. Their new place it totally awesome! They have a beautiful home and a really cool yard. This picture is from the hill in their backyard looking down on their house. Melanie climbed and climbed that hill, she was right at home.

We were very excited that the Bentley's came for Easter. It was a little reassuring to have Carson up climbing the hill with Melanie.

Their backyard also has a little play structure, with the world's fastest slide. The kids all flew right off the bottom of the slide, it was pretty funny. Here are Melanie and her cousin Lexi going down together.

How could you call a backyard totally awesome without some critters? There are tons of super fast little lizards and stink bugs and quail and rabbits all scurrying about in their yard. Luke particularly enjoyed finding all living creatures and "pow"-ing them with his gun. Poor little stink bug never had a chance.

And finally one last pre-easter picture, our little niece Abby. She is so sweet and cute and I just loved this picture so, there you have it, a picture of the world's most content little baby.

Bike Expolre

2011-05-13T18:27:00.002-06:00

Melanie and Dadn had an adventure a couple weeks ago. Part of the motivation for getting the training wheels off her bike was that once they were off she would be able to go on an "explore" with Dadn. She was looking forward to it all week. Finally on a Saturday morning, Dadn and Melanie had a great big explore. She sure loves spending time with Dadn! They rode around a couple neighborhoods and into an empty parking lot behind some office buildings down the street. What a great adventure.

Well, I'm not proud...

2011-05-13T18:24:00.001-06:00

I sure love this little boy. He is positively irresistable... except for when he does this. Then I think to myself,

blackmail!

Melanie Can Ride a Bike!!

2011-04-14T14:16:00.003-06:00

I thought it would be fun to teach Melanie how to ride her bike before it turns wicked hot here in Vegas so we bribed Melanie and told her that if she learned how to ride a bike without training wheels she could go on a big "explore," just her and dad. Well, since Scott is the favorite around here, that was all it took. This video is the second afternoon we tried with her. Now she starts, stops, turns, the whole shabang with no problem. She just loves it and can't wait for her explore with Dad on Saturday. I do like this picture though, because she is very serious when she rides her bike. But I promise, she is still having fun!

General Conference

2011-04-03T20:32:00.002-06:00

The kids love General Conference weekend. Melanie loves watching the prophet on TV (or in our case, monitor) and we have a tradition of getting donuts for Saturday morning and a fancy french toast thing for Sunday. It was so cute to come into the room Saturday morning and see this. My two kids sitting at the computer anxiously awaiting their chance to see the prophet. Melanie even included all her animals and babies in the event. You can see at the computer desk (from left to right) Miss Falline, her mom Falline, Bambi (the zebra) and Falline (no that was not a typo). Watching from the couch is Bongo on top of Bambi (uh huh) both sitting behind Nala. Missy is in Melanie's arms.

Five Blocks Down...

2011-04-03T20:27:00.002-06:00

The big exam weeks here at Touro are called Block week. They have huge tests in every class that are a massive percent of their final grade. They have three every semester (including "finals" at the end of the semester). This last week was block week number five and with neuro-anatomy on the last day, it was a tough week. I thought I'd surprise Scott on Friday after his test by having this waiting for him when he got home. In case you can't see it clearly, that is two Redbox movies, a charged X-Box controller, a cold Mtn. Dew Voltage, and a plate of bacon. As you may know, bacon makes everything better. I think it helped heal some of the wounds from block week, just be sure not to mention to Scott that he still has seven more...

Sick Little Boy

2011-04-03T20:21:00.002-06:00

Unfortunately, we came home from San Diego with germs. Melanie had a little cough, that never really seemed to bother her and she passed it along to Luke. What we didn't realize was that it was RSV. Poor Luke ran a high fever for four days and had a bad barking cough. He was up a lot at night with coughing fits he couldn't calm down so I slept in his room on the floor. It was for sure the sickest the poor little guy has been to date. Those sad puffy eyes were killing me. We sat and cuddled on the couch for four days straight.

He's great now, no lasting side effects or anything, luckily he was pretty old when he got it, and there's no asthma in either of our families, so hopefully we're in the clear from here on out.

All Fall Down

2011-04-03T19:59:00.002-06:00

So like I said Luke's "all fall down" was hilarious on the trampoline. I tried to get pictures, but they just don't do it justice. I made a photobucket slideshow of some of them in sequence, if you go through really quickly you get a little bit of an idea, but still, it was about thirty-five times more hilarious in person, trust me.

Trampoline Fun

2011-04-03T19:46:00.003-06:00

The kids loved playing on the Holmes' trampoline in San Diego. It had been a while since they were on a trampoline and they loved it. Luke was a great sport about getting knocked down about every five seconds and the two of them discovered the fun of "Ring around the rosies" on the trampoline. I took about a million pictures, so sorry for the overload, this is only a fraction of them. This is a very common "Luke face". I think he is thinking, "What in the world are you talking about mom?" but really, it could be about anything.

Here is my sweet little girl. I can't believe she'll soon be four and a half.

Luke had a great time chasing and poking his shadow. Except at one point he told me he was scared of it and tried to scoot away from it. That was pretty sad, for some reason his shadow kept chasing him.

Ok, Luke seriously cracked me up on the "all fall down" part of ring around the rosies. He made the silliest face and then just plopped on his bum. I tried so hard to catch the picture at the right time, this is about as close as I got.

Here is Luke "balancing." We do that a lot since we got the slackline, don't ask me why balancing includes lifting up your shorts.

Holmes' Backyard

2011-04-03T19:39:00.002-06:00

My Aunt and Uncle that live in San Diego have the coolest backyard I think I've ever seen. Seriously. They have orange, lemon, pummelo, and avocado trees. They have a cool tree house, and a pool house with a loft. They have a sweet pool with a slide and a hot tub that is over the pool and creates a waterfall into the pool. And an in-ground trampoline. It is like heaven for little (and big) kids. Well to top it all off they had a cute little bunny (or several, I couldn't tell) that would eat the clover patches along the sides of the grass. Melanie and Lucas loved sitting and watching the bunny. Here is Luke watching the bunny with Poppy (my Dad). And the kids watching the bunny together. When the bunny would get scared away they would collect clover in a little pile for the bunny to come back and eat. We even tossed some carrots to the bunny, but he wasn't too interested.

This picture isn't very related to the backyard theme of this post, but it was cute. So there you have it, two little freshly bathed kiddos in a burrito.

The San Diego Beach

2011-03-29T14:42:00.002-06:00

We stopped at the beach in Oceanside a couple mornings. It was pretty cool so we didn't really plan on getting in the water. Melanie was great about it the first morning, but the second morning, this was the water tolerance progression... (If you look closely in this first picture you can see a surfer, a fishing boat, and a huge aircraft carrier. Seriously.)

Yeah, we obviously gave in. At one point Melanie tripped as she was running away from a wave and fell over. The wave caught her and she quickly got up and ran to me. It was pretty funny to hear her tell me, "Mom. I fell in the ocean." I don't know why it was so funny, but I was cracking up.

What was Luke doing this whole time? Well, you shouldn't be surprised to hear that he did this, the whole time.

His favorite activity was fulling his sandal with sand and then dumping it on his shirt. Gotta love boys!

Week in San Diego

2011-03-27T14:33:00.003-06:00

Two weeks ago we spent a week in beautiful San Diego. Unfortunately, it wasn't really a "see the sights and soak in the beach" sort of vacation. We were there for my Grandmother's funeral. It is very hard to think I won't see here again on earth, but I smile every time I think about the happy reunion she had with her parents and brother. We did have a lot of fun playing with all my mom's side of the family. Luke and Melanie just loved Aunt Melanie and Uncle John's backyard and trampoline. Here are some pictures from the week. First, Luke. I swear that kid just melts my heart. OK, another one.

Yeah, I just can't help myself.

Luke and Uncle Non were playing with Luke's phone. Whatever Uncle Non was doing, Luke thought it was hilarious!

Luke also loved tackling Uncle Non on the trampoline. He would run over to him and crash right on top of him laughing the whole way. I'm not sure he would be a very sneaky ninja.

Daddy Daughter Date

2011-03-23T09:06:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago Scott's school put on an activity for the students and their families at a local trampoline place. It was after Luke's bedtime (and you had to be at least 2 years old) so Scott took Melanie on a Daddy Daughter Date. Melanie had a blast from what I could tell.

Here's to the many many more Daddy Daughter Dates that lie in her future!

Things That Make My Kids Happy

2011-03-22T09:03:00.003-06:00

Melanie got a new "pet" after Valentine's Day. She named her Missy, after the dog Scott grew up with and just loved. She absolutely loves Missy and asks to take her almost everywhere. This month Missy has been to the park several times (which is a big sacrifice for Melanie because she is only allowed to take one toy to the park at a time, so when Missy comes she doesn't get her bike), on car rides to all sorts of stores (but not in the stores, we have to draw a line somewhere), and even to San Diego. One big benefit to having Missy around is now she is more willing to share Ariel with Luke. Luke and Melanie got a package from Grandma and Grandpa a couple weeks ago. Melanie got a beautiful princess necklace and Luke, well, Luke got his first gun. Needless to say, it was a huge hit. He now tells Scott to go get "Dadn gun" every time he gets home so they can admire their guns together. He can name and point out the hammer, trigger, and cylinder on both guns. Scott couldn't be more proud.

Melanie Games

2011-03-22T08:56:00.003-06:00

Melanie is a pretty sweet little girl. Sometimes little snapshots tell more than words. This is a picture Scott took when he went in to get Melanie up from her quiet time one afternoon last month. The sweet little girl is teaching her dogs Missy and Ariel about Jesus.

In this picture Melanie is recreating the opening scene from The Lion King. She has me play the song on the computer and then she gathers all the animals in the house to come and see "the new great king." We do this probably once a week. (In case you were wondering that is "Serabi" and "Mufasa" next to Melanie on the couch, except their names are Bambi and Falline. Just try to keep it all straight.)

Lucas Looks

2011-03-07T16:53:00.003-07:00

Luke is a pretty cute kid, we think. His sweet little eyes sparkle like no body's business. But every now and then (ok, several times an hour) we get a look like this.

Yup, that's our cutie. Seriously, that's not him acting up for the camera or anything, I get that look all the time.

Also, here is a cute video of him reading a book with me. It has been one of his favorites for about 8 months now, so he has the whole thing memorized.

Another Project

2011-03-05T15:57:00.002-07:00

I've been working on some additional decorative touches in our kitchen. I found some frames at Wal-Mart for 50 cents each and decided to paint them and make a little colorful frame thing for our kitchen. I was asking Scott what I should put in the frames, pictures, something like, "live, laugh, love", or I was even considering leaving the glass out and just putting the frames themselves on the wall. Well, Scott hated all the ideas. Especially the empty frames. So I told him I had finally settled on empty frames. I worked for several days painting the frames and finally hung them today while he was out riding his motorcycle. This is what he came home to in our kitchen......I'm an awesome wife.

Lake Mead Tunnel Hike

2011-03-05T11:09:00.003-07:00

Two weeks ago (we're catching up now...) we went for a hike out at Lake Mead. It is along an old train route that was used to provide supplies to the building of the Hoover Dam. They have removed the actual tracks so the path is very wide and level. The fun part is going through the tunnels that were made for the tracks. I think we went through five before we turned around and hiked back to the car. The kids had a blast yelling in the tunnels and throwing rocks down the slopes. By the time we got back to the car we had hiked over five miles. We sure love being able to get out and enjoy the outdoors in February!

Melanie enjoyed herself so much that she has added "and going on hikes" to her list of things she prays about at night. The list is getting quite long these days.

Projects

2011-03-02T08:09:00.002-07:00

My mom came to visit in December and totally got me inspired to decorate our house bit. We had so much fun together and seem to always have really good luck when we're shopping together. Anyway, part of that was this super cute bathroom stuff for our downstairs half bath. I love the bright colors. It is so sunny here that I feel like my house should also be bright and cheery.

The bathroom still had black frames with random pictures in them. I felt like id didn't really go with the rest of the cute bathroom so I decided to experiment with being crafty.
I painted the frames and made some sort of art (if you can call it that) to put in the frames. I think it turned out awesome! I love our downstairs bathroom!

Then I decided to continue on my crafting spree and make myself a scripture case. I teach Sunday School for the 14-15 year olds so I am always carrying my scriptures, lesson manual, Relief Society manual, and starbursts (for the kids) around church. It is no easy task when I'm also lugging a diaper bag and holding two little hands. So I made a scripture bag that was big enough to hold my manuals and everything. I love it!

I got the idea online. There were several how-tos for making scripture bags from place mats. I couldn't find any place mats I really loved so I decided I could wing it and make one from scratch. I am pretty shocked to report that it worked! Who knew?

Like Mother...

2011-02-26T15:43:00.002-07:00

Maybe everyone agrees, I'm not sure, but I've always loved popping those little packaging bubbles. Maybe I got it from my mom, or her mom, but there is something about it...

Anyway, I found Melanie on the couch the other day like this. I especially love the concentration in her face. Sweet little thing! (And yes, she is wearing a cape. What about it?)

New Princess Dress

2011-02-26T10:32:00.002-07:00

A couple weeks ago Melanie got a new princess dress for church. She loved it right from the get-go. It is pink, her new favorite color now that she is four and it spins, her favorite thing to do in the whole world. We took some pictures before church, and she wanted to show off how good it is at spinning.

We made an attempt at pictures together. They never turn out how you picture them in your head, but not bad for some quick shots before church.

I sure love these cute little kids.

Anniversary Narrows

2011-02-26T10:21:00.002-07:00

The last weekend in January we went out to Lake Mead to try a hike called Anniversary Narrows. We'd heard some great things about it, but you have to hike 1.75 miles to the trail head if you don't have an off-road vehicle. Well, it turns out that was about as far as we made it, so next time we'll have to go with someone who can drive us to the trail head! Luke rode in the carrier and was as happy as a clam as long as he had a rock in one hand and a snack in the other.

We stopped for a little snack of Costco muffins (we're not above bribing our kids to enjoy hiking).

Once we reached the trail head we turned around and headed back to the car. The sun was starting to set below the mountains out there so we told Melanie we didn't have time for more muffins until we got to the car because we had to race the sun. Well at the first mention of a race Melanie was off. All said, we did a little under 3.5 miles, but Melanie did much more because her parents were so slow. She would run way ahead of us and then run back to us and tell us to hurry or we wouldn't win. This is our view for most of the hike back to the car.

Even though our hike wasn't quite what we expected, we had a lot of fun. It always feels good to get outside for a while.

Scott's Birthday

2011-02-22T19:14:00.002-07:00

Scott celebrated the first anniversary of his 29th birthday in January. We didn't do much (other than eat an entire Costco cheesecake between the two of us, those are four pounds in case you didn't know that!) Melanie did pick out a special present for Dadn, she was pretty excited to give it to him. They have oatmeal together almost every morning so some blueberries are an exciting addition to their morning routine. Melanie particularly loved that Grandma and Grandpa sent a present for her in Dadn's package. It is a princess pillowcase, but it came with a note that said something to the effect of, "This is to help you with your princess studies." So she refuses to have it on a pillow, it is instead for studying.

Happy birthday Scott!

Melanie's New Building Skills

2011-02-22T19:10:00.002-07:00

Melanie had a blast up on the Stratosphere. She kept asking if she could go on the rides and when she would be big enough to go on the rides and what not. When we got home she spent several days building stratospheres for her toys to sleep on.
I just love when you get the chance to see the world through the eyes of a kid.

The Stratosphere

2011-02-19T10:01:00.002-07:00

On Monday (of Martin Luther King weekend) we all wanted to do something uniquely "Vegas" so we spent the morning on top of the Stratosphere. There are some super scary thrill rides on top and well, apparently my family is crazy.

Scott, James, Tony and my Dad all went on all three rides. Danny and Brittany joined them on the super shot and Sean, my Mom, and I (with the two kids) chickened out and cheered on everyone else.

Below is a picture of my Dad (on the left) and James and Scott getting ready to start "Insanity". The ride swings you over the edge of the tower and then spins you until you are facing belly down looking at the strip. It was pretty hilarious, my Dad was not having very much fun, and refused to open his eyes or move his head. Of course, I was safely sitting on the platform, so... James on the other hand didn't seem to notice that this would be scary to most people. I'm not sure he feels fear. Here's my Dad and Tony. You'll notice my Dad has gotten brave enough to remove one hand from the handle bar. That is only because he buckled himself in so tightly that when the ride was over the attendants almost couldn't get him out. Safety first.

Also, you get a little glimpse of how high they really are out there. That is Freemont Street behind them (I think).

And here is Scott and James. A great example of James being really scared. I made a little video for part of their ride on Insanity, but it really doesn't do it justice at all.

The "Big Shot" was the ride Danny and Brittany joined everyone on. Danny gets some props here because he was pretty clearly terrified. In fact, everyone was genuinely concerned he was going to hurl (he didn't) and he was not willing to talk about it afterwards.

It is hard to see in the picture, but on the right hand foursome that is (from the left seat) James, Brittany, Danny, and Scott. You can see Tony and my Dad's shoes in the foursome directly behind the others. Again, a little video, this one is a little fun because you can hear, above all else, Brittany screaming. I think you could hear it down on the strip.

The final (and I think most terrifying) was called X-Scream. I can't properly describe how horribly scary this ride looked so here are two videos. The first is Tony and my Dad in the front seat. The second is James and Scott in the front seat and Tony in the second seat (yes, crazy Tony went twice). Please excuse my amateur videos, I was simultaneously trying to prevent Luke from diving out of my arms.

They take pictures on all the rides, but the only one Scott and I got was on X-Scream. I love it. There was an awesome one of Danny on Big Shot, but he hasn't scanned it yet (hint hint). Also, I love how again, James seems oblivious to the horror and is looking for the camera and smiling. Crazy kids.

We had a blast on the Stratosphere and I am just thrilled that everyone survived. Thanks again Mom and Dad for a memorable day!

Martin Luther King Weekend

2011-02-15T16:10:00.002-07:00

We have 9am (yeah!!) church this year, so when my family was visiting we went out to the Hoover Dam after church. I had never been and it was fun to see it. (We were standing a little on a cliff here and we were all so preoccupied with the picture that we nearly pushed my dad down the hill and into the Colorado River. What can I say, we really look out for each other :) We walked across the dam, and my brother just had to spit over the edge. I was wondering...how old are boys when they finally grow up and stop embarrassing me? (JK, loves!)

After the Hoover Dam we drove over to the Las Vegas temple to walk the grounds a bit. There was a beautiful sunset, it really made me wish we hadn't left Scott at home with sleeping Luke, my point and shoot camera did not do it justice at all.

Melanie loved walking the grounds with her Nami and Poppy and all her uncles (and Aunt Brittany:) ). We often sing "I Love to See the Temple" and she was so happy to finally go there. She just melts my heart sometimes because of how sweet and pure she is.

When we came back to our place we just enjoyed the evening with some chatting, dancing and usual "Dalton" things. You know, normal stuff every family does, like have "Whose bottom is firmer?" competitions. Wait, your family doesn't do that?

Here are the two finalists. It full clench mode. I couldn't be more proud. (For those who are wondering, Danny was the final champion, though Tony pulled in a close second.)

We really do know how to have fun!

Slacklining with the Uncles

2011-02-09T08:40:00.002-07:00

My parents and Sean came to visit for the three day weekend in January. When my brothers at BYU heard, they decided to come down for a visit as well. So we ended up with a full-blown family reunion here in Vegas. It was very fun, and great weather. We all went to the park one morning and I set up the slackline. James of course was a natural, but I was also very impressed with how quickly Tony and Sean picked up on it. Here are a couple action shots. I love Tony's concentrated look. In all the pictures he is biting his lower lip.

I'm not sure why Sean looks angry, I think he was having fun!

James was seriously a natural. He just jumped right on like it was no big deal.

I thought I'd try something new. A little yoga pose. The first time I tried it was the best, of course once the camera came out it took a few shots to get the right one, but anyway, it still looks kind of cool.

Getting Back to Routine

2011-02-05T19:10:00.002-07:00

Well, after such a long, fun, and spoiling-filled Christmas break it took us a while to get back into a routine. First thing first, we had to turn on our heater, the kids waited under a blanket until the house warmed up from its 53 degrees. We started bundling up and going to the park again. Luke loves to be put on the monkey bars. He just hangs until he falls (I guess that is sort of obvious) and trusts that I will catch him. Silly little monkey.

The break in Elko was filled with all sorts of gun talk, shooting, and cleaning. Well Luke caught the gun bug I guess because as soon as we got home he was using his new legos to build his very own gun.

This is his official shooting stance. We have learned that guns say "pow pow" and all good guns have a propeller on the back.

Apparently he is related to Scott after all.

It's cold in Elko...

2011-02-03T22:01:00.002-07:00

So I turned into a desert rat pretty quickly. I have been known to complain because it was only 55 and I was cold at the park...in December. When it is in the 50s I occasionally give in to the begging voices of my children and take them to the park, but only if we are all wearing long sleeves, sweatshirts, and coats. It is just not right, I know. Anyway, with that out of the way I thought I'd post about how much fun my crazy kids had in the freezing temps. in Elko.

Luke and Melanie loved going on walks with Grandma and Grandpa and Garth. I will say, I love how cute my kids are when they are all bundled up. Luke even wore mittens without complaining, or taking them off (I wish I could persuade him to do the same with socks...)

And seriously, look at that cute noggin my son is sporting. I think I kissed it about a hundred times with that beanie on.

Grandpa took Melanie out to make a snowman and a snowdog one morning. I owe him big time because it was in the 20s and there was no way I was going to be able to handle that :)

Building the snowman was fun, but Melanie's very favorite part of going in the snow was eating it. Thankfully, Brent taught her about yellow snow and how to find clean pristine snow. After that she ate snow every time we went outside. Even when we were on our way to church and she was wearing tights and sandals, she went stomping through the frozen yard to get some fresh snow. Crazy girl. Grandma sent her out with a bowl one time and Melanie came in and enjoyed snow with sprinkles. What a treat!

We got to see Kelly and Brenda and their three boys for New Years. Melanie took instantly to Reed and followed him around for the rest of the visit. They even went out back and swept off the trampoline so they could jump.

They were out jumping in freezing temps for about a half an hour. They probably would have stayed all day, but a concerned adult persuaded them to come in

Which is probably a good thing because Melanie's cheeks looked like this for several hours afterwards.

How is it that kids can't feel cold? I remember being the same way, we'd go swimming at the Oregon Coast for Pete's sake!

Marble Maze

2011-01-31T17:28:00.002-07:00

One of the big hits this Christmas was the Marble Maze. The kids (and I) enjoyed building all sorts of tracks for the marbles, and then Luke would sit and send marbles down the tracks all day long. They both enjoy it quite a bit, but Luke was so thoroughly enjoying himself that apparently I only took pictures of him. Hmmm..... I really like this action shot. You can see him crouching over to get a better view of the marble.

I also love how bright and colorful they are for pictures!

We have also loved the new TRIO blocks. Melanie builds all kinds of contraptions, and Luke...well that's for another post.

Christmas

2011-01-26T13:54:00.003-07:00

The Chamberlains have several very fun Christmas traditions that I just love. For example, Christmas Eve dinner is always finger foods that are unusual or uncommon during the rest of the year. Crackers with a variety of cheeses and summer sausage are a start, but pickled okra, kiwi, starfruit, and other fun fruits usually round out the usual fare. This year we also had an awesome chip dip Kathy made and some wiener sausages from Costco that were great.

After dinner they read the nativity and act out the different parts using this super tiny nativity scene. This year all the adults opted to sit out the acting and let Melanie organize everything as Grandpa read. Scott has so many memories from this little nativity, it is fun to see Melanie making some as well. After the nativity reading is the traditional burning of candles. And by burning of candles I don't just mean lighting the wicks. The official tradition is to light the wicks, then head straightened out paper clips in the flame and use the burning hot end to carve into the side of the candle. It sounds a little...strange...but believe me, it is really really fun!

Christmas morning Melanie slept int (to 6:30) so Scott went and woke her up. We had a blast opening presents together. But not before Luke busted out some candy cane for breakfast. Yum.

Melanie and Luke were totally spoiled. Santa brought each of them a new bike (but he left them at our house in Las Vegas because you can't ride bikes in the snow). Poppy got them Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 3.

Scott and I got Luke some TRIO legos, he loves them!

Uncle Danny and Aunt Brittany got Luke a cute Mater stuffed pillow...

and Melanie a Belle barbie with extra dresses!

Melanie also got:

build your own build-a-bear (2) from Grandma and Grandpa
a doll to practice hairdos on from Natey
a sit-n-spin from Nami and Poppy (to share with Luke)
a marble game from Nami and Poppy (to share with Luke)
a keyboard from Scott and I
many more gifts, seriously she was spoiled.

Luke also got:

a Little People farmhouse from Grandma and Grandpa
some tonka cars from Lydia
the sit-n-spin and marble game
the legos (as previously mentioned)
and a stack of little Disney books

They loved all their presents and most importantly, we managed to somehow fit it all in our car on the drive home!

Christmas in Elko

2011-01-24T08:58:00.002-07:00

Scott's parents were so generous and patient and allowed Scott and I to stay with them for two whole weeks over Christmas. We scurried out there early to get ahead of a snow storm and then just made ourselves at home. Melanie and Luke couldn't have been happier. They loved the cuddles, stories, attention, and activities.

Kevin and Kalie joined us all for Christmas and they brought along their adorable son Isaac.

Melanie and Luke both loved having Garth around. Melanie would sit and pet Garth while she watched a show for a bit after hairdos. Those two have a special bond.

We filled our time with delicious food, brisk walks in the snow, hours of Community, popcorn parties, desserts on every counter, and of course noise and laughter.

Ward Christmas Party

2011-01-23T21:13:00.002-07:00

I don't know if I have mentioned before, but we love our ward here in Henderson. The people are sweet, and kind, and honest, and humble, and fun, and happy, and the list could go on and on. Anyway, our ward Christmas party was really fun. The primary children had practiced a really cute performance, Melanie was part of the angelic choir. But best of all, Santa and Mrs. Claus came to visit. And I kid you not, this is THE real Santa. He wears red and white year round. They flew in from California (of course Santa is a snowbird). It was really fun. Of course, my children wanted nothing to do with them, but what do you do?

Nami's Visit

2011-01-23T21:05:00.002-07:00

We were so spoiled and got to have my mom come and visit us in December. The kids were so excited about it, but I think I was looking forward to it the most. It was so fun to be able to share our life here in Henderson with my mom. We didn't do anything too spectacular, but I loved every minute.

We spent a couple afternoons at a couple different parks. It was beautiful weather and the kids loved having Nami there to watch all their tricks and games.

Luke really bonded with my mom. She chased him around the house on all fours and he laughed and ran away. I am certain he would have played that game for hours without a rest. Even to this day he asks for Nami anytime I start to chase him.

Monday night the girls all went out to the cactus gardens. There were so many Christmas lights. I honestly have never seen such a concentration of Christmas lights in one place. This picture doesn't even begin to do the gardens justice.

We had so much fun with Nami and only let her leave because we knew she was coming to visit again in January.

So, back at Thanksgiving...

2011-01-23T20:57:00.002-07:00

We did celebrate Thanksgiving last year, I just took two months off of blogging to see if anyone would notice. Well, my brothers have made enough sad faces and petitions, so the blogging will return.

Before Thanksgiving Melanie and I made a little craft. It was really fun and turned out pretty cute considering I don't have a creative bone in my body. We spent Thanksgiving up in St. George with the Bentley's and Scott's parents. It was so fun to have us all under the same roof, and to listen to all those cousins having so much fun together. Here are all the cousins together for a movie party one afternoon.

It was pretty cold for St. George but we took the kids out to a local park one afternoon. I brought my slackline and Carson and Brent both took a couple turns on it.

While we were messing around on the slackline the cousins were busy piling leaves on the bottom of the slide. Finally, they decided it was ready to be crashed so they all went down together.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and are so glad the Bentley's invited us!

Slackine Fun

2010-12-14T17:04:00.003-07:00

I got a slackline at the end of October. It is so much fun! I look like a goofball most of the time but me and the other mom's at the park are having a blast. Even the kids join in on the fun. I'm not very good compared to these guys, but I do feel like I am getting better, and I am certainly addicted! Even Scott joins in on the fun for a study break now and then.

Anybody Jealous?

2010-12-14T17:00:00.003-07:00

This was our forcast a couple days ago. We're loving Vegas winters!!

Check-ups

2010-11-16T14:56:00.003-07:00

Melanie had her 4-year old check up yesterday. She is 42 inches tall (91%) and 38.2 lbs (75%). She was very cooperative for the check-up and very brave for the FOUR shots she had to get.

At four years old Melanie:

Writes her name and draws people with heads, arms and legs.
Loves to paint on the computer
Eats Honey Bunches of Oats for breakfast almost every day
Loves to help me cook in the kitchen
Is a fantastic hiker
Rides her bike every day
Loves her Primary teacher Sister Helm
Doesn't dance as much because she needs Uncle Non
Loves playing with her dinosaurs, cars, and babies (Belle, Ariel -both dogs-, Elephant, and Bongo -the monkey-)
Has quiet time for an hour every afternoon. She either plays with her tea set, blocks, doctor kit, or reads books
Wakes up bright eyed and cheery at 6am
Loves reading chapter books with Mom before bed
Reads books to Luke (so cute!)
Told me her fingers are longer now
Uses a knife to cut her pancakes
Gets to choose her own pajamas at night
Prays for Grandma and Grandpa to sell their house and for candy, cake and ice cream to be healthy (don't we all!)
Loves noodles with parmish on them (get it, Parmesan? Scott and I die about that one)
Is a sweet and tender girl, we just love her to pieces!

Luke had is 18-month appointment at the same time (one of the benefits of my kids being 2.5 years and one day apart). He is 33.25 inches tall (78%) and 29.5 lbs (88%). His large noggin is now only in the 80%.

He had to get two shots yesterday and did better for the shots than he did for the exam, silly boy!

At 18 months Luke:

Loves the swings
Hates nursery, and now any large room that might magically turn into a nursery
Asks for cereal at every meal
Loves doing and un-doing buckles and blocks
Will climb anything you put in front of him
"Dances" by spinning, but after one revolution falls over and starts to cry
Loves to be read to
Tells me when he's ready for "night night"
Is trying to jump, and it is hilarious
Tries to throw things up to the ceiling fan, also hilarious since they never clear his head and go four feet behind him
Loves putting on his shoes, but always assumes it means we're going to the park
Loves bath time
Enjoys making animal noises including: gorilla, crocodile, monkey, dog, cat, pig, snake, bird, horse, lion and more
Loves to have his ears cleaned
Is the thirstiest thing I've ever seen
Loves playing in the rocks at the park
Loves trying to figure out how to open and close things like mailboxes, doors, gates, and more
Is constantly being shooed away from the computer mouse and keyboard
Sits on Mom's lap for family prayers
Is at the fun stage where he repeats words over and over and over and over until he is acknowledged
Is a fun-loving, mama-cuddling, happy little boy. We love him to pieces.

What's Your Forecast Look Like?

2010-11-16T14:55:00.001-07:00

I LOVE living in Las Vegas!!

Aviation Nation

2010-11-16T14:50:00.002-07:00

Saturday was Aviation Nation at Nellis Air Force Base here in Vegas. I heard about it from some friends so we decided to go check it out. It was really fun, and a much bigger event than I imagined. They had all sorts of planes parked that you could walk through and then a huge air show going on from 9am to 3pm. We stayed for a little over an hour and saw some small planes doing tricks, an F-4, a parachute demonstration (those guys were hauling, it was crazy), a rescue helicopter, some B-52s and an assortment of other airplanes. I loved it, Melanie liked it, Scott got a little bored, and Luke HATED the jets.

Next year we'll leave a little earlier in the morning, when they fly the smaller, quieter planes!

Friends at the Park

2010-11-16T14:45:00.002-07:00

Well this is the time of year when living in Las Vegas really pays off. We still play at the park every morning, although we now have to start with sweatshirts (they never last very long though). Melanie just loves playing with her friends and it is great for getting all the wiggles out before Luke's nap.

They other morning the kids were all sitting on the slide together watching some big kids play at the park. It was too cute to not take a picture. Later that same morning the kids all decided to take a bounce on my slackline. I've been bringing it to the park for about three weeks now and it is a blast!

Yeah for parks and sunny weather!

Melanie's 4th Birthday Part 2

2010-11-16T14:31:00.003-07:00

We had a little friend birthday party for Melanie at our little park. The weather was wonderful and the kids all had a blast. We had sidewalk chalk for everyone to play with as they arrived and Melanie quickly wanted to show all her friends that she now knows how to write her name. It was fun watching them all show off to each other. We did some face-painting, a treasure hunt, and played with our treasure bags before cupcakes and presents. Melanie just loved all her presents.

Here are some of the kids at the park that morning. Friends and siblings were invited so we had over twenty people including adults, which made for one exciting party! Melanie's closest friends are the three to her left, Ryder, Allie, and Sam.

After the party Luke took a nap an Melanie enjoyed quiet time. That afternoon we went to Toys 'R Us to use her birthday club gift card and then we went to the Dollar Store to spend the money Grandma and Grandpa sent. Here she is with most of her loot from her birthday. Missing from the picture are the presents from Uncle Danny and Aunt Brittany, Landon and Lydia (both of which we got at the mailbox about twenty minutes after I took this picture) and the presents from the Bentleys. Obviously she is a very spoiled 4-year old.

When Scott got home that evening we had a delicious dinner chosen by the birthday girl herself. It was a three item meal, breadsticks, hard-boiled eggs, and strawberries. Yumm.

The kids loved the dinner, as strange as it sounds to adults.

I had to throw in one picture of Luke because we had the camera out all day taking pictures right and left. Every time I took a picture of Melanie Luke would yell "cheese" from across the room. So I finally figured I better actually take a picture of him!

Happy birthday Melanie!

Melanie's 4th Birthday

2010-11-16T14:21:00.002-07:00

Melanie turned 4 on November 10th and had a full day of fun. We started the day with sprinkle pancakes. (Please excuse the crazy hairdo, it was her birthday after all, and we don't have time to get dressed and do hairdos before the party begins!) We ended us singing to her several times throughout the day, and she loved each one. She doesn't yet know about the "blow them all out in one breath and make a wish" concept so she blew each candle out individually. It was pretty funny.

We were going to wait and open presents after Scott got home from school in the afternoon, but Scott informed me that is like waiting until dinner to open presents on Christmas, so we opened them before he left for school.

This is an action shot of her opening Beauty and the Beast from Poppy. She was obviously thrilled.

Scott and I got her this little puppy that moves and barks and things like that. She saw it in the store a couple weeks ago and fell in love. She was so thrilled that we got it for her birthday. The first thing she said is, "Thank you, thank you, I just love him." It was so cute. She repeated that sentiment at least seven times that day. She is a tender-hearted little girl.

She also got some chapstick from Luke. She stopped several times during the course of her birthday to go over to Luke and tell him thank you for the present. It was really sweet.

She loved all her presents (thank you everyone) and even got another "Happy Birthday" song from Grandma and Grandpa that morning.

Red Rocks

2010-11-14T21:57:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we went out to Red Rocks to look around and hike a bit. We did a really short easy hike (and I don't think we even finished it) and had a blast. Melanie loves hiking and really could go forever. Scott brought his GPS just for fun and Melanie got one there. It was pretty cute, Melanie found a flat round rock in the parking lot and carried it the whole hike. She told us about how she needed to turn it on and how it would help her not get lost or go the wrong way.

She even had to make sure and turn it off when we were finished. We were all glad she had her GPS to get us back to the parking lot safely.

Luke was a trooper in the backpack as long as he too had a rock to hold onto. He dropped it on occasion and we all had to stop and get another one. He made sure we knew it was an important priority by saying "uh oh uh oh uh oh" over and over until a new rock was in his hand.

But I suppose we should be happy that all our kids need to enjoy themselves on a hike are some good old fashioned rocks. That we can do!

PS: Don't look to closely at the picture, Luke may or may not be eating his rock.

Luke

2010-11-14T21:34:00.005-07:00

Luke has taken a bit of a liking to Scott lately. We've been trying to keep Dadn going since we thought it was so cute with Melanie. But Luke jumped pretty quickly onto the Daddy train and now there is no going back. He just loves to be read to and this is a common scene in our house after dinner dishes are done. Yes, the scowl is common too. That is actually a mild one. He was concerned my red-eye flash was interrupting his story. But you should see when I really upset him. Somehow his brow grows a sharp edge at his eyebrows and his eyes sink into his head. It is a pretty hilarious look from a 18-month old. I mean, just try telling him milk has to stay in the kitchen or no he can't have marshmallows right now.

Luckily, the smile is much much more common. And boy can this boy melt my heart.

He will come and give me kisses almost on command, but be warned they are just a big mouth open slobber-fest.

He loves going to bed. We got him a real crib a couple weeks ago and he loves it. Whenever we come into the house, from the park, store, mail, church, really anything, he walks over to the bottom of the stairs and says "night night" and then starts calling for bear and sucker. It is pretty funny, and I usually have no problem obliging, even if it isn't nap time.

He is the most thirsty boy I've ever seen. He regularly goes through six sippy cups of water a day. He'll finish a whole cup in nearly one breath.

He still won't let Scott carry him up the stairs for brush teeth time.

He is really good about folding his arms for prayers and shouts "ammm" just before you finish.

He knows the routine for family home evening already. We often sing "Happy and you Know it" for our opening song because we usually let Melanie choose the songs. Last night we were just singing songs together to kill time before bed and we sang "Happy and you Know it". When the song ended Luke folded his arms waiting for the opening prayer. Cute kid.

He loves making animal sounds. Whenever he fusses about a diaper changing or something I start quizzing him on animal sounds an he quickly calms down.

He still is a fruit lover. The other day he ate 11 strawberries at dinner.

He's been making us crazy in the mornings. For about ten days now he's been waking up at 4:45am. Just for fun. About every other day he'll go back to sleep, meaning every other day he's up...at 4:45am. Help!

He is an awesome climber at the park. He can climb up the ladders, bars, steps, nearly everything. He loves to have me lift him up to the monkey bars and hang till he falls (and I catch him). Silly boy.

He is obsessed with birds. He looks for them out our windows and yells, "bird, tweet tweet" over and over and over again until I acknowledge that I too see the bird. Its a fun game. He also loves finding birds on our walk to the park, at the park, while getting the mail, in the car, and in all parking lots. But the best thing to do with birds is chase them. Oh what fun!

He occasionally has good manners. I've been trying to teach him to say "thank you" to no avail. Then in the last two days I realized he's been paying attention, just in his own way. He often, unprompted will say "thanks". Apparently he just wanted to do it his way.

He loves when Scott comes home from school and will race to the garage door as soon as he hears it open.

Well, I'm sure there's more, but I suppose that is good enough for now.

Jack-o-Lantern

2010-11-14T21:26:00.004-07:00

Lest anyone think we skipped on the pumpkin carving this year I have proof that we celebrated Halloween completely. There was a "pumpkin patch" set up on the corner of the street up from where we live. They set it up over Labor Day and Melanie asked to go there every time we drove past. Finally she decided that it was a better activity for her to go with just Dad on. They went one afternoon and went down the giant slide a couple times and then walked across the street to WalMart to choose a pumpkin.

We waited until the 30th to carve the pumpkin because I was worried it would attract bugs to our front door (which it turns out was a valid concern). Melanie helped choose the face and decided she wanted a happy pumpkin with a pretty hair-do. So I carved and Melanie colored the hair-do.

The lighting of the pumpkin wasn't quite as thrilling as last year's "I can't berlieve it" but she had a blast.

Melanie Story

2010-11-04T08:21:00.002-06:00

Yesterday we went to the dollar store in preparation for Melanie's birthday next week. She was playing on the shopping cart and I asked her to be very careful...well I'll just replay the dialogue for you.

Me: "Melanie, please be very careful down there. What would I ever do if I didn't have my little girl?"

Melanie: "You'd pray for another one."

Me: Speechless.

It was pretty cute and the lady in the isle with us thought it was pretty sweet too. I love the sweet innocence of children. Sometimes the things they say just go straight to your heart.

White Coat Ceremony

2010-10-30T10:04:00.002-06:00

Well, Scott is going to be a bit angry about this post, but some things are worth it. Scott had his white coat ceremony two weeks ago. He feels pretty strongly that it is a silly tradition, but still, here he is in his handsome white coat. And here he is being "coated". We're really proud of his hard work!

Halloween

2010-10-30T09:45:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know technically Halloween isn't until tomorrow, but has come and gone in the Chamberlain household. We've had a blast and now we're moving on.
This last week Melanie helped me make some fun Halloween sugar cookies. We decorated them for Family Home Evening on Monday and it was a huge hit. Scott decorated one to look like a BMW symbol and one to look like a globe and another that was a volcano of frosting. Melanie loved covering every inch with sprinkles. And Luke made a royal mess of frosting and sprinkles. Here you have the finished cookies.

We took them to the park on Wednesday and had a treasure hunt for all the kids. They loved running around the park and were pretty excited by the treasure they found.

Then Wednesday evening we went to the ward Trunk or Treat. Melanie was Cinderella. We tried curlers in her hair for the first time. It was pretty cute.

It turns out however, that I have no idea how to properly do curlers so we mostly had to hide all of my mistakes, but the finished product turned out OK. You would think with all my ponytail experience that I could pull together some fancy curly hairdo...some how those skills don't translate. :)

But, really, how can you mess up when you've got such a sweet little girl to begin with?

Luke was a duck and I was a queen. I guess a duck wasn't manly enough for Luke because he hated his costume. Luckily he only only had to wear it for this quick picture because he was going to bed instead of the party.

Melanie and I had a great time at the ward party. She saw her friend Sam and he was a dog and she told me she barely recognized him. She loved the fishing game and the cake walk, even though we never won any cupcakes. She did not particularly care for the actual trick or treating, so that part didn't last long for her. It works out OK for me, now we hardly have any candy. All in all Halloween was pretty perfect for us this year.

Primary Program

2010-10-30T09:16:00.004-06:00

This last Sunday was our ward's Primary Program. It was Melanie's first and so much fun to watch. The kids all did a great job and sang so loud. Melanie memorized her little line ("Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world") and spoke clearly into the microphone. We'd been practicing for weeks and worked on what does clearly mean and all sorts of things. But she was so proud of herself afterwards and it was just so fun to watch.

They had the sunbeams sitting where the Bishop usually sits, right in front of everyone. That was where the real show was. The sunbeams were mostly reverent and very sweet. I did have to keep a tally of the "unusual" things that Melanie did right up in front of the whole congregation. And so...

-1 sneeze

-1 super loud yawn

-1 fish-hook finger in her mouth

-1 whispering to her friend Ali

-1 pulling her bottom lip out (demonstrated below)

-2 times sticking her tongue out

-3 nose picks

-2 games of hide from mom

-5 waves to mom and dad

-11 eye rolls into the back of her head

All in all it was pretty eventful for us. I don't think anybody noticed most of it, but I was cracking up about it all. She rolled her eyes into the back of her head every time they started a song. She really enjoys singing time so they were rolls of excitement I assure you.

Lest you think I was totally missing the spirit of the occasion I was really touched by one particular song the kids sang. I had never heard it before and it was very touching hearing the children belt out the chorus that goes like this:

"We are children holding hands around the world,

Like an army with the gospel flag unfurled.

We are led by his light

And we love truth and right

We are building the kingdom of God."

The Primary Program is my favorite Sunday during the year, there is something special about children speaking simple truth.

A couple videos

2010-10-30T08:49:00.003-06:00

I've been meaning to post a couple videos for a while now. So here they come.

1. Melanie loved our camping trip to Snow Canyon. Aside from the sand around camp and playing with the other boys her other favorite part of the trip was sliding down the "slide" at the rocks. She went down this slide so many times that her little shorts looked like this when we got home. But I guess some things are worth it.

2. Melanie just loves riding her bike at the park. When all her little friends come to the park as well it is so much fun. Some of the kids are on tricycles and others on bikes and there is just a swarm of kids speeding around. It is fun to be a kid. Thanks again Nami and Poppy for the bike!

3. Speaking of the park, Luke is really quite sure he just owns the thing. I took this video almost a month ago, so he has become even more adventurous since then, but just to give you an idea. I apologize that the video is sideways, I always forget that I can't film like that. Now he can also climb up the ladders and hang from the monkey bars (if I boost him up to them).

4. Finally, as I have mentioned, Luke is speaking quite a bit lately. His favorite word is still "carry" (sometimes "tarry") and it still cracks me up. He uses pitch quite a bit to get his point across. Scott and I have finally decided that the higher the pitch the more he wants something. So a high pitched word is something he wants very badly.

We have a nightly routine for bedtime and this has become part of it. Luke loves brushing his teeth and will often ask me throughout the day, whenever we pass the bathroom, for "brush teeth" so when it is finally bedtime he is pretty thrilled. He always runs over to the bottom couple steps and then stands there and hollers "tarry tarry" to me until I come and pick him up. The most hilarious part of it is that Scott is not allowed to carry him up the stairs for brush teeth time. Usually Luke will take Scott's offers for things like that, but at brush teeth time it must be mama. The other day Luke started to cry when Scott came over and acted like he was going to carry him up. Silly little boy.

Melanie's First Picture with Faces

2010-10-25T16:44:00.002-06:00

This may not seem blog worthy, but I was pretty excited to see this picture on our computer the other day. She was making a picture for her Poppy and this is what she came up with. It is her first ever picture with faces. They are both people in costumes. One is a sidewalk tree and the other a Christmas tree. I love all the little landmarks of childhood!

I'm not Proud of it...

2010-10-25T16:41:00.002-06:00

But here you have for your viewing pleasure... the world's biggest pile of clean un-folded laundry. Melanie had at least an hour of fun playing in this pile of laundry. And I had twice that folding it and putting it away. What fun!!

Snow Canyon, Utah

2010-10-24T22:00:00.002-06:00

Scott and I took the kids to meet up with Scott's Dad and brothers a couple weekends ago for a climbing trip in Snow Canyon, Utah. The kids loved camping and playing with Garth and digging in the sand and Scott and I loved the food, company, and a chance to get on some rock.

It has been years since I've been climbing, but I do still love it, I'm just no good at it anymore. Scott and I got to climb a great route called Living on the Edge (I think). It was really fun and it is nice to have some pictures of us climbing again.

Scott sailed up it like a champ and I moaned and joked a bit, but eventually made it up as well. What a fun trip!

Quick Stories

2010-10-22T19:50:00.002-06:00

Melanie has decided I need a nickname other than Mama. So she now consistently calls me Mr. Friendship. I have no idea where it came from or why I am a Mister, but there you have it.

Luke has more words I can't believe I left off the list. Buckle is not one of those words. I remembered it on the list but here's some important information about Lucas. He loves fastening buckles. His two favorites are on my Camelbak and his high chair. He sits forever and buckles them and then yells "help" until you come and un-buckle them for him.

I did forget "all wet" from the list. He says it when we go to our park now. They changed the sprinkler time and now they are running the same time we are there each day. Luke has a blast and lets them get him a little and then comes running back telling me "all wet all wet all wet" it is pretty cute. And finally, "hot". He is usually so anxious to eat food that he has a complete disregard for temperature so we are telling him over and over again that things are hot. Finally he got the idea and will still immediately pick said "hot" item up and put it right to his lips to blow on it. Silly kid.

And finally, Melanie doesn't care for spaghetti sauce. When we have spaghetti she just has plain noodles with a little butter and (as she says it) parmish on it. Yes, I had never thought of it that way but parmesan does sound like you are calling it parmish and putting it on something. So in our house it will be forever just called parmish.

Family Pictures

2010-10-21T15:31:00.002-06:00

We tried and tried to get cute family pictures up at Lamiolle. I am surprisingly pleased with these, however, please forgive my son with his finger in the mouth. It is only appropriate that Luke is being a little uncooperative, that is what makes it a true family photo.

I love this picture of Luke and Scott, he was playing around with him by taking Luke's fingers out of his mouth over and over again and Luke thought it was hilarious. And who wouldn't, that is obviously a classic!

And some awesome pictures of Melanie. She was pretty tired of smiling for the camera at this point, but it turns out that is just fine with me.

We miss Grandma and Grandpa

2010-10-21T15:28:00.002-06:00

We sure had fun visiting Elko. Before we left Lamiolle we all got family pictures. Brent and Kathy tried to include Garth in the family photo shoot, but he was busy drinking the freezing cold water.

Thanks for letting us come and visit. We had such a great time!

Hiking Around

2010-10-21T15:22:00.002-06:00

Scott's parents got a cute series of pictures on their camera while I was off exploring with Melanie. Nothing like a Dad and his son doing man things like hiking together.

Melanie and I followed up the same path and they tried to get the same cute sequence, but Melanie was not so interested in pictures so we just got the one, but it is still cute. And the scenery is just beautiful.

Melanie the Explorer

2010-10-21T15:16:00.002-06:00

Oh, I can't get enough of this little girl. Melanie also loved exploring in Lamiolle. We forced her to hold still for a few minutes for family pictures, but after that she was off. Luckily she had a partner in Garth most of the time. And it was lucky that I dressed her in bright pink so we could spot her because otherwise she might have explored herself right into the forest.

It was so fun to watch her though, she was just having so much fun. I think the funnest part of watching her was that I remember being like that as a kid as well. I'm sure Scott was the same too. It is just fun to explore and that is all there is to it.

The canyon was particularly beautiful this visit, all the aspens were changing colors. I forget how beautiful a mountainside covered in aspens is.

Exploring Lamoille Canyon

2010-10-21T15:07:00.002-06:00

We just love exploring Lamiolle Canyon when we visit Elko. We all spent an afternoon having a great picnic and then exploring some beaver dams in the canyon. Luke loved exploring. He was quite certain that he wanted to dive head first into the little creek, but seeing as I didn't want a frozen popsicle instead of a little boy, we spent most of the picnic herding him away from the creek.

The one proven method for distracting Luke from something he really wants, food. So here is my one year old son shoving an entire (regular sized) marshmallow into his mouth. Lovely. I'm so proud.

Trip to Elko

2010-10-21T14:42:00.002-06:00

Scott had several five-day weekends in September thanks to all sorts of Jewish holidays. Attending a Jewish private school has its benefits every now and then. We "wasted" most of them away and then finally decided to up and leave the first weekend in October to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Elko. Their house is on the market so we thought it would be fun to sneak one last visit in.

The kids were great in the car for seven hours. Melanie loves her new DVD player and Luke loves food. Here are some quick shots of the peaceful times in our car.

It was a short and quick trip in Elko but we had a blast. We went to the Johnny Appleseed park one morning. Luke loved playing in the boat. Melanie decided he was driving them to St. George to visit cousins Carson, Lexi, Nathan, Caden and Abby. I'm not sure what waterway they were planning on using from Elko to St. George, but then again, she was the captain, not me.

We love all the fun toys that Grandma and Grandpa have. Melanie and Dadn made a car with the tinker toys and was allowed to take them with her to quiet time one afternoon. When I came to get her I saw this...

Melanie had added some steering wheels and assorted features and all her babies were riding on the car. It was pretty cute. I just love toys that encourage imagination.

And of course we spent time playing with Garth. Both the kids just can't seem to get enough of that sweet, clueless dog. This particular moment Melanie was pretending that she was a puppy and so she was following Garth to learn how to be a dog. When wandered around the house, she followed, and when he plopped into the middle of a room, she did too. It was pretty cute.

Something wonderful

2010-10-17T15:40:00.002-06:00

I really don't have much to say about this post. The picture isn't all that exciting. I just wanted to say that being a mom is so cool. And having two kids is stressful but awesome. I really feel something special when I can coax both my kids onto my lap without any fighting or fussing and read a book. Seriously, moments like this are a sweet reward.

Traps

2010-10-17T15:35:00.002-06:00

This post is dedicated to Uncle James. We have long suspected that James and Melanie have kindred spirits in a lot of ways. It started with the spinning when Melanie was younger, and has gone on from there. Today I want to add one more to the list. Traps.

When James was younger he made traps constantly. All over the house. He was always tying things together and this and that. Well the other day I came in from the kitchen to see this...yup, a trap on our rocking chair. Now, technically she called it a seat belt, but really it is a slippery slope from there. Its a good thing we all love Uncle James so much, because I see some more James-isms in my future.

He speaks!!!

2010-10-17T15:04:00.002-06:00

Lucas has taken his sweet time talking. He had one word (more) at his 15 month appointment and the doctor was less than impressed. Since then he has added some more words to his vocabulary and they are quite entertaining. One of the funny things is that as he learns new words he also seems to lose the ones he has already mastered. It is as if he figures that since he already has a word under control there is no further need to speak it. We're working on it... Without further ado, here is Luke's vocabulary at 17 months:

more (no longer needed, apparently)
banana (also no longer needed, even though he still loves them)
apple
grapes
buckle
Dad
please (but always spoken four octaves higher than his normal voice)
thank you (this one cracks him up every time for some reason)
buckle
down
night night
bye bye
hello
Mama
carry (my personal favorite because it too his octaves higher than everything else, and simply
irresistible)
milk
open
help (is sounds like a perfect pronunciation of "Up" but no, it means help)
no
yes (ok, technically it is "ses" but we all know what that really means)
park
shoes
mouth
set, go (another favorite, he loves to stand at the door while I'm getting ready for the park and
just say set, go set, go over and over again)

There may be more words, but that's all I can think of for now. Needless to say, things have greatly improved since his 15 month appointment. And I just love to hear him try new things.

Melanie Stories

2010-10-17T14:52:00.002-06:00

Melanie is growing up much too fast. She will be four next month and she is sure looking forward to that!
She has some cute routines these days. Every morning when Scott leaves for school we all walk him out to the garage to say goodbye. It is a very important part of our morning and if I am otherwise occupied when it is time for the goodbye at the garage she comes and gets me so I don't miss it. The cute part of the routine is what she says every morning to Scott as he leaves for school. The routine goes like this,

"Bye Dad"
"Bye Melanie"
"I love you"
"I love you too"
"Be safe, don't forget to drive on the road, and don't hit any people."

Bet you didn't see that last part coming. Apparently she is very concerned that he will hit someone with his bicycle. They are very dangerous you know.

They second little story I have to tell about Melanie is her prayers at night. She now says her own prayers every night without any help. They are adorable and cute and exactly the same every night. Really the only variance from night to night is the pace at which she says them, sometimes allegro and sometimes adagio. Here, for posterity, is her nightly prayer:

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, thank you for that food we just had, please bless it. Please bless me to sleep good tonight and to not have any bad dreams. Please bless me to have good dreams about hugs and kisses and walks and playing at the park and playing in the swimming pool. And please bless Lucas to have good dreams about hugs and kisses and walks and playing at the park and splashing in the swimming pool. And please bless that there won't be any flames in my bed. And please bless the prophet and bless Grandma and Grandpa to sell their house."

Of course she closes in the typical manner and then that is that. You can even ask her Uncle Danny if what I say is true. He helped put her to bed one night while he was babysitting and got corrected because he wasn't saying it right. It is also funny to me because the subtle difference between playing at the swimming pool and splashing at the swimming pool is very important to her and if she messes that part up she will correct herself every time.

All in all we love our Melanie, she cracks us up and makes all our days more fun and loving.

Talking on the Phone

2010-10-17T14:44:00.002-06:00

Melanie has gotten old enough that she can talk on the phone all by herself to the right audience and when she is in the right mood. The cosmos came together a few days ago and Melanie sat and chatted with Nami for a good long time. It was so cute to just hear her end of the conversation. It made it even cuter that she was still in her jammies which are actually old t-shirts from Uncle Non.

I love how animated she can be. Anyway, this post is mostly for those of you who make the phone conversation cut, she loves it and I wanted you to see how cute it looks on the other end.

Mt. Charleston Camping

2010-10-17T14:10:00.004-06:00

With all the five day weekends Scott had in September we had to get out and explore a little. We spend one night camping up at Mt. Charleston outside of Las Vegas. It was so fun and our first time camping as a family of four.

Melanie had a great time helping me get ready. One important item of preparation was stopping at the dollar store for some buckets and shovels. The kids had a blast digging in the dirt and getting filthy. It was a little funny getting ready for the camping trip. Mt. Charleston is only 45min from our house but a full 30 degrees cooler. I had to get our winter clothes out of the bins in the garage so we wouldn't freeze. In the process I discovered that Luke doesn't have a lot of pants for this coming winter so he got to wear last winters pants, a little tight and high watery, but whose gonna complain?

Melanie and I (as she said, just the girls) went on a little exploring adventure near our site. We climbed up some rocks to a hill next to our site and had a great time. While we were gone the boys had a little bit of fun as well. Luke was utterly thrilled to be given a full graham cracker.

It dropped into the mid-40s during the night so we all bundled up. Here are my filthy, happy kids the next morning (and of course, Rajah).

We discovered the most gigantic marshmallows at WalMart when we were shopping for the trip. Melanie was looking forward to them for days. We roasted some after dinner and the kids wanted more for breakfast. Scott and I of course allowed it because there are no nutrition rules when you are camping.

Luke and Melanie had I think five marshmallows each that morning. For some reason they keep asking us if we can go camping again soon...I can't figure out why they liked it so much!

It is hard to fully appreciate how huge these marshmallows are. Above you can see Luke trying to fit an entire marshmallow in his mouth at once, and below is my attempt at demonstrating the true size. They are, by the way, the best roasting marshmallows I have ever had, I am totally addicted.

Ariel's Birthday

2010-10-17T13:59:00.003-06:00

Earlier in September we celebrated a very special day. Yup, you guessed it, Ariel's birthday. It was so cute. Melanie had been telling us that Ariel's birthday would be soon, she even kept track of a little countdown in her head telling us there were four, three, two and then one more day until Ariel's birthday. It was so cute to me that she was able to remember where she was on the countdown, so when the big day finally came we wanted to celebrate. Ariel got to come to the park with us that morning. Melanie took her around on her bike and on all of Melanie's favorite park activities. Ariel particularly loved the double slide and being pushed on the swings.

Later that afternoon Melanie helped me make some Jello to celebrate with. Unfortunately for Ariel, dogs don't like Jello, but the rest of us sure loved the party. And if you're wondering what Ariel got for her birthday she got a little baby that she now has to sleep with every night. (Yes, you read correctly, my daughter's stuffed animal has a stuffed animal and they all must be present and accounted for at bedtime). She did not however, get a license for her collar. I was informed on several occasions that she was not yet old enough for a license. Maybe next year. Happy birthday Ariel!

Our Park, Again

2010-10-17T13:41:00.002-06:00

Have I mentioned we love where we live? The kids and I have developed the most awesome routine now that it is cool and comfortable in the mornings. As soon as we see Dadn off to school we get our selves ready and head off to the neighborhood park. We go usually four days a week, and the kids love it. We meet up with other kids in the neighborhood and share snacks and have a good time. Melanie is making lots of friends and Luke is getting more comfortable straying from my side when other people are around.

One of the most fun parts of the park is riding your bike of course! Melanie has become quite the little bike rider. There is a great big loop at the park for her and her friends to ride around. It is so much fun.

Just to add a cute little story. Melanie got to watch quite a bit of Little Einsteins on our drive to Elko at the end of September. A few days after we got back Melanie was riding her bike in the garage while Scott worked on his motorcycle. After a while she turned to him and said, "Look Dadn, I am practicing going Adagio and Allegro."(slow and fast). It was pretty cute to think of the things that are actually sinking in.

Luke is beginning to feel like a master of the park. He figures he is plenty big to do everything Melanie does. I like this picture because it was a great example of his attitude. You can see Melanie just one step ahead of him, but he is right on her tails.

Luke has one other favorite activity at the park, getting a drink. I started bringing my camelbak to the park because in the summer heat my kids were downing their sippy cups in the first thirty minutes at the park (and when you stay for three hours some days, that isn't going to cut it). Luke loves to come running up to me yelling "mik mik" (we are having a hard time convincing him there is anything else to drink) and getting a big long drink from the camelbak. He is one thirsty boy!

Splash Park

2010-10-17T13:27:00.003-06:00

Another thing we love about Henderson are all the parks. They have awesome parks everywhere. We tried out a new park in September. Melanie was excited because it was a park with a splash pad. Luke loved the playground equipment, especially the super fast slides. And Melanie quickly jumped on the motorcycle, just like her Dadn.

Luke wasn't so sure what to think about the fountains. With Dadn's help he managed to finally touch one.

But most of the time the fountains were on this is what our kids were doing. Melanie getting soaking wet, and Luke, well, watching.

Ever since Melanie was about Luke's age she has been fearless of water. She just doesn't seem to mind getting her face, head, and body dumped on.

We loved our new park discovery. It is so huge and has been completely empty every time we go. No complaints from me!!

The End of Swimming Season

2010-10-17T09:26:00.003-06:00

Somehow I've once again fallen behind on my posts, so from September, here come some more. Melanie and Lucas and I had so much fun at the pool this summer. We spent so much time there that we completely wore out Melanie's suit. The elastic all corroded away and the whole thing suddenly separated and hung limply on her. Luckily this happened at the same time all the stores around here put all their swimsuits on clearance so we grabbed a new one for less than $5.

Have I mentioned that I can't resist little bodies in swimsuits, way too cute!By September Melanie had gotten pretty great at swimming. She can swim the entire length of the pool by herself, jump in from the side of the pool and swim back to the edge or to me or where ever she wants, and she can even open her eyes underwater when she feels like it. We just had so much fun. One of her favorite games was to throw a noodle in the pool and then jump in and chase it down. It was so fun to watch. Luke enjoyed himself at the pool as well. Not quite in the same way though. He is a boy who loves to figure how things work. He will stand for fifteen minutes at the park with me buckling and un-buckling the snaps on my camelbak. He loves to go with me to get the mail because he tries to fit the key in all the slots like he sees me do. At the pool he likes to play with the filter caps. With the pool keys in hand he sits there and "opens" the filter caps over and over. It is fine with me because he sits happily in one place. Silly little boy.All in all it has been a great summer at the pool. Sadly, our pool isn't heated and we've been spoiled with comfortable water all summer so now that it is "only" 85 degrees out, it is much too cold to swim. But I suppose that is ok.
After all, even with sunblock every day my little girl's bum was starting to have some pretty adorable tan lines. (Please excuse the immodesty, I couldn't resist).

Ap-Pole

2010-09-08T20:05:00.002-06:00

I was trying to get some work done in the family room the other morning when I suddenly realized that my youngest child was far too quite. Usually, this is not a good sign. Recently this realization has been followed by me discovering that all of Melanie's tiny plastic hair bands have been dumped and scattered on the floor. So I turned with dread and found this... Luke had crawled up onto the table and grabbed two ap-poles (one of his new words, and pretty darn cute if I do say so myself) and had taken a huge bite out of each by the time I found him. Like any good mother, instead of taking the apples from him I grabbed the camera. Here he is going for round two.

It was pretty funny, and so much better than the hair elastics.

Bobble-whops

2010-09-07T13:28:00.002-06:00

Melanie has begun playing a new game. It is called bobble-whops. If she does something Mama or Dadn ask right away and without fussing about it when she's finished the task she gets to put a bobble-whop (ok they may look a lot like pencil erasers, but trust me, they are bobble-whops) into her cup. When the cup is full she gets to choose a reward at the store. It can be ice cream, a treat, or a plastic animal. It is a wonderful game, I think my favorite of all time. Here she is with her first reward, a container of cotton candy from WalMart. She was so cute about it and didn't want to eat any at the store or in the car, she was saving it for home. She shared and shared the cotton candy with Luke (who was a little scared of it), Dadn, and Mama. Somehow, even with all that sharing, the cotton candy lasted three days until it was nothing but a rock hard piece of saliva covered sugar at the bottom of the container.

Since then she has also chosen as a reward some cotton candy flavored Dippin Dots. A week later there are still some in the freezer, she is great at rationing.

We sure love Melanie and are so glad she is in our family. We are, however, also happy that this new game has cut out a lot of "why"s in our lives. It is a win-win-win!

Our Park

2010-09-06T11:03:00.003-06:00

It has started cooling down overnight and in the mornings here so we have added a new outing to our routine. We have a neighborhood park less than a block from our house that is perfect for little ones. To top off how perfect it is, if we go as soon as Scott leaves (7:30am) we have shade for about an hour. It has been mid-70s in the morning for the last week and we have gone every day.

Here is a little shot of the park. It is not huge but it is a great size for us since the kids are still little, and you just can't beat a park that you walk to.Luke has been having a blast. He has so much fun on everything that he doesn't actually play on anything. He spends his whole time running over to something and then getting there and deciding there is something else that also looks fun. So he runs over to that part of the park and decides there is something else....and so on for an entire hour.

I have taken so many pictures because the kids have so much fun, but most of my pictures of Luke are of the side of his head as he runs off in a new direction.

He does love to follow his sister and climb up the slides with her. It is funny to watch though because most of the time he doesn't come up to the end of the slide to climb up it. Instead he dives over the side to get on the slide. It is really funny to watch.

The double slide is particularly fun to play on because they can both climb up and slide down together.

After a week of practice Luke can finally climb all the way up the slide, it takes a bit of work but it is so fun to watch him learn and figure things out. We love the park!

Can't Resist this Boy...Or Can I?

2010-09-03T10:34:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I just don't know how I am ever supposed to say "no" to this little face. And then I remember, it is because it often looks like this when he doesn't get his way.

How is he still cute even when he is crying?

Swimming Again

2010-09-03T10:30:00.002-06:00

You'll probably get tired of all these swimming pictures, but we really do go swimming every single day so I have a lot of pictures. Here is Melanie getting ready to do a Nala (from the Lion King of course) jump. And here is a picture of Scott taking care of Luke. I like this picture because Scott is smiling because I was teasing him about nearly drowning our one-year old son. You see I took this picture right after I had pointed out to Scott that he had put Like on the lower step and the water was pouring into Luke's mouth. As you can see, everyone survived, but it was good for a laugh.

And I like it because it is a good picture of Scott's sincere smile, I can't resist that boy!

Cousin Fun

2010-09-03T10:25:00.002-06:00

Kristen and her two kids came down to visit us for a couple days in August. Melanie just loves Landon (I don't know if I've mentioned that yet?) and was so excited for him to come. The morning they were coming she got all her animals out and lined up at the front door. Scott asked her what she was doing and she told him that they were all going to bow to Landon when he came to ask if he wanted to play. Isn't that how you invite friends to play?We had so much fun with them. We went swimming and played with water balloons and made some cousin burritos.

Even Lydia and Luke had fun reading books together. It was a great visit, but as usual with fun cousins, a little too short!!

Roommate Party!

2010-09-03T10:21:00.002-06:00

In August my good friend and former roommate Lisa got married. Julie and Katie (who live on the east coast) were able to come out to Utah so we all got together for a little "bachelorette" party. It was so fun to see everyone again and Lisa looked so beautiful and happy, I am just so excited for her.

It was so funny how even though it has been six years since we've all been together we instantly returned to the 21 year-old girls we were when we lived together, it was as if no time had passed at all.
So here's to good friends and to us all getting together again much sooner than six years from now!

Connect Four

2010-08-31T22:19:00.002-06:00

Melanie got several games for Christmas this last year. We stacked them all within reach here at our new house and she has been playing them (mostly making huge messes) non stop. One day Luke discovered Connect Four and fell in love. It is so cute to watch his concentration... And even though this picture seems almost identical, I think it is pretty cute how much he is enjoying the project...

And finally, the look of pride and accomplishment. He is such a boy of contrast. He is constantly running from toy to toy and climbing on everything, except when he is cuddling for fifteen minute stretches or sitting still to play Connect Four of course. He has also fallen in love with Mr. Potato Head, he works so hard to get the little pieces it. It is currently his favorite toy by far and the best way to buy me a little piece and quiet if I need to get dinner ready without help from the little one.

But boy is he irresistible when he smiles like that!

Little Climber

2010-08-31T22:13:00.003-06:00

Luke has discovered climbing. Not rocks yet (but give him time) but pretty much everything else. It all started with Melanie's step stool. We got it when we were potty training her but now it is mostly used when she is helping me in the kitchen. She left it there one afternoon and Luke climbed on and discovered the world on top of the counters and has climbed on every possible item since then. He still enjoys climbing on the step stool just for fun...But it often ends in this.He also now enjoys climbing on the rocking chair (and standing and rocking of course), the kitchen table chairs, the couches (which he has taken several headers off of), and the toy train. Even though it makes me a little crazy he sure is having fun exploring all these new places!

Basketball

2010-08-31T22:10:00.002-06:00

A long time ago I got a little plastic basketball hoop for Melanie to play with. I've been hiding it for a while now and busted it out a couple days ago. Melanie loved it and had a blast throwing balls at/into the hoop. She was having a great time when she stopped, and decided we should take a picture of the activity for Grandma. We had to wait for Scott to get home, but here, at Melanie's request, is a picture for Grandma.
She wanted me to make sure Grandma saw the picture, so here it is! Hope you enjoy.

Caught Up

2010-08-09T09:45:00.002-06:00

OK, with that I am caught up...for now. If you don't read on google reader or something, you might want to go back and make sure you didn't miss any. This last week I've posted all the way back to Christmas, so keep checking older posts until you find Christmas. And enjoy!

Swimming

2010-08-09T09:37:00.004-06:00

We love our community swimming pool. It has been fantastic this last month. Honestly, swimming in Vegas is the most pleasant swimming experience I have ever had. It is hot enough out of the pool that the pool water feels just perfect, not to cold, but nice and cool.

Then when you get out of the pool the air is warm enough that you are in no hurry to dry off and bundle yourself up in a towel. Most days I don't even use a towel, I just drip dry as I get the kids shoes on and such and walk home. It feels so so good. I just love it.
Another wonderful thing is that our community pool is almost completely empty until about 2pm. So when we go at 10am we have it to ourselves. It is perfect for our family and Melanie just loves it. I love that it helps the kids take long wonderful naps too.

We've been swimming probably 5 days a week since we got here. Melanie started with a life jacket but has recently wanted to swim with it off. It is nothing too technical, but she is getting a pretty good doggie paddle. It is so fun to watch her and see how hard she is working. It has been so fun watching her learn just how to move her body in water, and now how to swim a bit. We are so proud of her. Here are two videos we took two weeks ago of her swimming.

Playing in our new home

2010-08-07T14:48:00.006-06:00

We've been enjoying our time in Henderson so far. It is a bit warm, but we just stay inside unless we're going to the pool, for now. Here are some random things we've been doing the last few weeks.

The most important thing we've been doing these days is playing "lions." That is where Melanie is Nala, I am Serabi, Lucas is Simba, and Scott is Mufasa and....somewhere is there it is really fun, and Melanie crawls on all fours, and roars all the time. I think Melanie spends about 70% of her awake time as a lion these days. It is very fun to learn what lions can and can't do. They can't talk, which is only occasionally frustrating for me, but they can leap, jump, and climb. And they sometimes have to scare away the hyenas.

With this new love of lions we've watched nothing but The Lion King for hairdo time since we moved her, (yes that means some portion of the same movie every single day for an entire month, I love it). Melanie particularly likes the parts where Nala is an important player. And every time the song, "Can You Feel the Love" comes on Melanie and Lucas, I mean Nala and Simba get married. It is pretty funny. Anyway, on that note, here is a little video of Melanie singing, "Hakkuna Matata," (Which is apparently something lions can do.)

Melanie loves playing in the clean laundry. She makes it into piles and jumps into it while I attempt to fold it. Really it is a fun game for both of us. Also, she is a little jealous that Luke pretty much never has to wear a shirt at home so she gets to have "shorts" time for a little while each day. I promise I do normally dress my kids.

With all the fun (and mostly because of the sun and swimming) Melanie has gotten into a bit of a nap schedule again. I am thrilled because I thought they were long gone, but I guess it turns out I just wasn't wearing her out enough. She falls asleep during quiet time about three times a week now, it is wonderful, and so very cute.
And speaking of other things she hasn't outgrown, she still loves to make beds for her babies. But now they can't go to bed until they are married. The zebra is "Bambi" and the horse is "Philline" just in case you were wondering. And yes, they are married, almost every day in fact.

Luke has turned into a book lover. He loves to be read to. I think it helps that he is naturally such a cuddly boy, but he just loves books. Especially books that have animal sounds, those are always winners. The first night I brought him a book home from the library here he sat on my lap and I read the same book over and over and over and over and over for forty minutes, until it was time for bed. I still have that one memorized. He isn't too picky though, as you can see the book he is thrilled about in the picture is a tiny little princess book.

Lucas also started dancing the last couple weeks. He dances only to two songs, "Hey Soul Sister" and "Fireflies". He gets a big grin anytime they come on and busts out his patented dance move. The super low squat jump. He usually only gets about two in before he is cracking himself up laughing. Then he has to stop and recover from how fun it was. It is hilarious to watch. We've tried to capture it on video but it is just not the same.

We also wanted to document that he is a full blown walker these days. Pretty much since we moved here he has done nothing but walk walk walk. Oh, and climb the stairs. But here are a couple videos of little boy walking. Nothing too special, I just love how they toddle at this age.

July 2010

2010-08-07T14:40:00.002-06:00

We moved from Beaverton, Oregon to Henderson, Nevada (with a brief stop over in Elko) fourth of July weekend so that Scott could start med school. Some might think July isn't the best time to move to a warm place like Vegas, and "some" would probably be right. But its ok, it was only 113 degrees the day we were moving boxes and such. No biggie.

We love our new home, it is perfect for us and more than we expected. It is in a great neighborhood and I just love Henderson. We even have a community park and pool. The kids have loved it and now that all the unpacking is done, I do too.

We were getting new photos to put on the walls here so I tried to get some cute pictures of the kids. They are so much more cooperative separately than they are together. Here are a couple cute Luke pictures, just smiling away.

And some Melanie pictures. This first one is obviously not really wall material, but I was so excited that I got a picture of her thinking face in action. This is the face she makes when she has to think of the answer to a question or if she is trying to figure out a way to bargain with you. She rolls her eyes back into her head the whole time she is saying. "ummmmm......" It is pretty funny.

And I am thrilled to announce that saying, "cheese" actually works now. This is a momentous day!

But then, I tried to take a picture of the two of them together, and believe me, this sad picture is the best of the bunch. Oh well, I still love them.

Enchanted Forest

2010-08-07T14:25:00.003-06:00

There is this really cool place near Salem, Oregon called Enchanted Forest. It has been there forever (meaning I remember going there as a kid) and is so much fun. The last weekend we were in Oregon my Mom and Dad kicked Scott and I out and sent us to the beach without the kids. It was awesome. We stayed at a cute little hotel right on the beach and ate at Moe's for dinner and Wildflower Grill for breakfast, pretty much perfect.

While we were driving home I called my Mom to see how everything was going and she was on her way down to Enchanted Forest with my brother Sean (a super good sport, especially with a broken collar bone and one of the favorite uncles) and Melanie and Lucas.

It was so fun to look through the pictures and remember all the different things at Enchanted Forest. Here, for example, is Humpty Dumpty (or as Melanie calls him, Tumpsy Dumpsy). And the gingerbread house (as if that needed labeling).

This is the rabbit's hole leading to Wonderland. It is a fun little tunnel. And once you are in "Wonderland" there is a maze to find your way through, that was one of my favorite parts as a kid.

This is the witch from Snow White, as if she wasn't scary enough to begin with. I can't totally remember what is inside, but you go through and walk around in there. Luckily Melanie didn't think that was disturbing at all.

This was always a hit. It is a sackcloth slide of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe. I think it used to be bigger....at least it seems like it used to be bigger.

And last but not least, the crooked man's house. This is the all time favorite. Everything is built off kilter, floors, rooms, doors, and windows. Every kids dream really. It was so fun and Melanie's favorite, she still talks about how she would go in it and say, "wow wow wow" and almost fall over.

That is not a picture of everything but a good sampling for sure. It is such a fun place, where nursery rhymes and stories come to life. I remember going through the seven dwarf's mine, and the three bears house and the old western town. Thanks for making fun memories with my kids Mom and Sean!

Ballet

2010-08-06T23:21:00.002-06:00

Melanie's cute informal ballet class she has been going to this fall and spring put on a little performance just before we moved. Miss Amy was so sweet to teach a bunch of three to five year olds ballet once a week. Melanie just loved it. She loves Miss Amy and loved leaping, jumping and tippy toes.

Here's my little ballerina just before the performance. Here are two quick videos of the performance. Amy was so patient with all these girls who are obviously at different levels of attentiveness, but all having fun!

She even got cute matching crowns and wands for the girls. Melanie just loved it and misses Miss Amy already.