Home Sweet Home

After much persuasion (from Amber daily), I have taken pics of our home here in NV for you all to see. I loved my old house and wished that I could bring it with me here, however, now I think I like this one better! It is 500 sq ft smaller with only 3 bedrooms (less to clean :) ) - but nicer upgrades. We really like it here and though we miss family and friends, it was a great move for us! Here's the front of our house. The snow has almost all melted. But luckily it is supposed to snow tonight!! Yippee, we may have a white Christmas after all!!!

Kitchen and some of family room. I LOVE having those double ovens by the fridge!! You don't realize how handy it is!

Kitchen from other angle.

This is the entry. Sorry the pic is dark.

This is my fav room in the house! I love these cabinets in the laundry room!

The family & dining (pool table) room. It stinks that our entertainment center didn't fit here, but what can you do.

This is our backyard. The boys have fun riding their scooters and bikes on all this concrete. The snow has almost all melted back here. :(

If you couldn't see in the previous pic, we also have a fireplace outside! Nice for roasting marshmallows and being outside when it's chilly. (Still some snow on the side of the house ;) )

Thanksgiving and Dinosaurs

We went to my Grandma's house in Utah for Thanksgiving. My Dad flew there as well. The highlight of the trip was going to the Dinosaur Museum the day after Thanksgiving with my Dad, half-brother, Kris, my Stepsister, Shelly - her hubby and kids, and my Stepbrother Jared and his wife. I hadn't seen Shelly since I was 16 and Jared since I was about 10 or so! It was fun to catch up with them. I was bummed that this pic turned out blurry - but here's Kris, me, Shelly & Jared

Dad, Lily, Bob, Brayden, Kris & Colby. Brayden was attached to Kris' hip! He wanted to go everywhere with him - It was so cute!

Me and my bro.

Me & Shelly

Daddy & Lily

Colby

Brayden & Kris playing in the sand/water pit.

My kiddos on a Dino

Lily is as big as a Brontasaurus' toe!

Lily & Janae (Shelly's adorable baby girl that looks identical to her!)

Thanksgiving Feast

Colby had the cutest Thanksgiving Feast at Preschool. (I do a Co-op preschool where each Mom takes a turn teaching the kids. Colby loves it and best of all---it's free!! And it just so happens that they are all boys - 6 little cuties!) This is Colby making butter! You put heavy whipping cream, salt and a marble in a jar and shake it till it makes butter! I thought that was so cute for the kids to do!

The kids made an Indian hat for themselves and a pilgrim hat for their moms - So this is Colby as an Indian and me as a Pilgrim! :)

Colby in his turkey beak.

The kids sang a turkey song for their moms that they had practiced a couple of days before. It was about a turkey that didn't want to be Thanksgiving dinner! It was adorable.

No more headbands...sniff, sniff...

Lily will NOT keep any of her cute headbands on anymore! They come off seconds after I put them on her. I am so bummed! So we resorted to these little barrettes. Luckily she has just enough hair to keep them in!

Who's Who?

Lily wore the cow costume for Halloween that Colby wore at her age. I always knew they looked alike - but man I can hardly tell their pics apart! (The last pic is Colby!)

The boys in the 'hood

That's NEIGHBORhood. These are my kids playing with Jacob and Aaron. They are the cutest little boys and they all play so well together! It's nice to have playmates along our street!

8 months

Can you believe it? Lily is already 8 months old! She is now gettin' around EVERYWHERE! In fact, just the other day I couldn't find her and was almost panicking until I realized she'd crawled under her exersaucer and created her own little fort with her toys under there! (She must have gotten fort pointers from her brothers) As you can tell, she loves to find anything she can't have, such as the outlets. The doorstoppers are also a fav! I love watching her go through these new stages, however, sometimes I wish she'd stop growing up so fast!

Winter Wonderland (more like fall)

Uncharacteristically of Reno, it snowed the weekend we got there. I blame Craig and Cynthia for bringing the cold down from Boise! (They came to visit that weekend) Bob and my boys had a snowball fight. This is a lovely pic of my hubby pretending to throw a snowball at me. Or so I thought. I was holding Lily and taking pictures. - Should've got one of me & Lily with snow all over our faces! I think Bob had more fun than my kids!

This pic is out of order. We went to Lake Tahoe with Craig & Cynthia. It was so weird to see snow on the beach!

Back to the snowball fight - Colby was sad that he got hit with a snowball - and while Bob was comforting him, Brayden got him in the back.

Brayden so excited about the snow.

Our fam at Lake Tahoe. (I decided to shave my head.)

Craig & Cynth - such a cute couple!

Aren't I a great photographer?! Okay, Okay, so I cheated. This is a pic they had in the visitor center! But this is what it looked like on the drive to Lake Tahoe. It was so gorgeous!

My fam in the visitor's center.

My two cuties. Poor Colby - he had the worst chapped lips and wouldn't let me put chapstick on him.

Lily - happy to be out of her snow coat!

Paper Galore

We had the luxury of not packing a single thing!! Bob's company paid for everything! Nice! But, when we were unpacking I realized that they packed with tons and tons of paper! They even wrapped each of my shoes in paper! Needless to say, we had paper galore!! My boys and I would pile it all in the kitchen till it was up to the counters - then they would run and jump into it over and over!! They had a blast! Even Lily got into it!

She mainly wanted to eat it.

My boys just wanted to make silly faces for the camera.

Lily grinning because she got to eat all the paper.

Tagged

Okay, so this is the cutest pic of my sis-in-law Brandi! It was taken almost exactly 5 years ago! If you don't know Brandi - She's so much fun! She loves to dance, adores kittens - and once she took me to her favorite pet store by her house where she watches them feed the snakes mice! (I actually think that would be cool to watch, too Bran!) And - She just had her Birthday a few days ago and she turned a whopping 34! Happy Birthday! We love you Brandi!

1. Go to your pictures

2. Upload 4th picture of 4th folder

3. Post

4. Tag 4 of your friends: Amber, Shannon L., Tiffany, Bridget

Yosemite

Okay, I'll be honest...I wasn't exactly excited when we drove up to Yosemite. It was out of our way while driving to Reno, however, Bob and the boys really wanted to go. It is a beautiful place. Bob and I went there a few years ago when we went to San Fransisco - and I had forgotten how angelic it is.

Here's Bob and the kids at the entrance of the park (and puka - but you can only see Bob holding her leash).


So here's me, the kids, and Puka. (Bob and I switched places :) )

The boys went on a hike with Bob while Lily and I took a nap. Colby kept pretending he was Yoda with his walking stick.

We all had lunch at a picnic table surrounded by incredible views! But apparently the bees enjoyed the view, too, so halfway through lunch we headed back to the hotel room for fear we'd get stung.

My G Q boys.

And the next day we arrived at our new home in Reno!!