Snow in Vegas

We've got snow in Vegas...and it's still snowing!!! I took these pictures almost an hour ago and it's still coming down. Holy Cow!!!

Zach and Seth

When Joy and Steve moved away last March and took our best playmates away I thought we were sunk. Daniel and Zachary spent hours upon hours together and loved playing together, being together. Zachary would wake up in the morning and ask about Daniel. He would ask about Daniel before going to bed every night. I thought we were truly sunk. I understood why they had to leave, although it didn't make me happy AT ALL. I knew that I would miss Joy A TON and always be upset about it, but I didn't know if Zach would ever understand. He still doesn't understand why Daniel had to leave and we still miss the Laytons every day, but thankfully Zach has found Seth. Seth has become our new everyday playmate. Zachary and Seth love playing together, being together, and last night after having spent pretty much every minute of the day together, they were still sad to say goodbye. Zachary woke up this morning and asked when Seth was coming over to play. I will never be okay with the fact that we lost the Laytons, but I am so grateful for good friends, for me and for my children. The other day in preschool Zachary and Seth were playing over by the white board together. I walked over there after a while and found that they had drawn this...isn't it cute??!!!

Hello - sorry for the hiatus from blogging. It seems like this month is screaming by. I swear the time goes faster and faster. We went to Darrel's parents in Arizona for Thanksgiving. It was so good and the company was great. We did a little "day after Thanksgiving" shopping (but not at 5am). It snowed on Thanksgiving Day which my boys loved. I'll have to post the pictures I have of the boys having a snowball fight with their cousins. We went out to eat with all the adults and we saw Twilight with all the girls. It was a blissful 4 days of hanging around - we barely saw our boys, especially Zach. He bonded with Martin and Michelle's son Ethan and we never saw him. He was in high heaven at Grandma's house. It was a great vacation for all of us.

The weekend after getting home we attended Alex's last soccer tournament of the year. (Extended season starts in January) The team played awesome and they ended up winning for their division. The team played both Saturday and Sunday, however, Alex honored his priesthood, kept the Sabbath Day holy and only played on Saturday. I did get updates on Sunday as to how the team was doing, however. They won all their games in shutouts. The games scores were 4-0, 3-0, 9-0, 2-0. Needless to say the boys were thrilled and it was so fun to watch them dominate on the field. Below are some pictures from the second game on Saturday. These pictures demonstrate the wrong way to head the ball....
Okay, here comes the ball and Alex is gearing up for the hit.
Right on the top of the head...you might think this was a good hit, but...

Although the ball went really high...

Really, really high...

It was not such a great hit. When you head the ball it is supposed to be on the top, front portion of your forehead...this was not and Alex knew it. He felt it right away...

and ended up on the field like this for a good two to three minutes trying to recover.

Ah well, it was all for a good cause and Alex is no worse for the wear. It's a good thing he's such a tough kid.

The cutest baby on the block

What a cutie!!!

Big Brother/Little Brother Sneak Preview

Okay - which one do you like better...this one or the one below??

Zachary

I shot some photos the other day at the park. Zachary and I were there early so I shot some of him. This particular photo came out over exposed but I played around with it for awhile and I like how it turned out. Hopefully I'll be posting more soon...sorry I've been MIA.

My Son, Alex

12 years ago today I became a mother for the first time to a wonderful boy. He was born around five am and was placed into my arms. He was a beautiful, olive skinned miracle and we were so happy. Alex has been such a good first son. He is one of the four loves of my life and I wanted to wish him a very happy birthday today.

Bob

Yesterday I was getting Zach dressed for soccer; I was putting on his soccer socks when I noticed there was something on his knee. I pulled up his shorts a little and noticed a smiley face drawn on his knee. I said, "Zachary, what's this? Who drew on your knee?" (Thinking for sure it was going to be one of my older boys) He says to me, "I did Mom, that's Bob". Oh, silly me, that's Bob, of course it is...what???? I said, "Zach, does Bob talk to you?" and he said, "Yess(a) - he's my friend." Well alrighty then, there you go. I mean what can you even say after that. So...everyone, meet Bob...

Here is Bob close up. He's a very friendly fellow.

During Zachary's last game he played very intensely. He LOVES playing soccer and I just was loving the faces he was making during his game. He was so into the game. He got very frustrated every time the other team would score. They lost the game something like 8-2 and one of the goals was courtesy of the other team. Anyway, here is a picture of his intense play.

Zachary loves the Slushies they sell at the games. A few weeks we've had to substitute those for hot chocolate but this last Saturday the temperature was mid 70s and I have to say, we were all pretty hot. All the kids were sweating and we reverted back to getting slushies. Blue is Zach's favorite so here he is enjoying his bright blue slushie. On a side note, we went to Alex's game at 4:30 when the sun was going down. We were all in sweatshirts and blankets an hour later. Ya gotta love the desert. And...weather like this is why we LOVE living in Las Vegas most of the time. This week it's supposed to be low to mid 70s the whole week. I LOVE this time of year!!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. We can't carve them too early here because it's still too warm during the day and they wilt very fast. We carved them last night because we have trunk or treat tonight and we figured they could last one day. They may not last until Halloween, but the fun was in the carving!! The Mohlers came over and carved their pumpkins also...here is our pumpkin carving fun. (Keep in mind that I used my little camera and didn't really care about how pretty the pictures were)...And, apparently because of my mad posting skills, you get to see the finished product first...

Zach and Seth shared their pumpkin and the picture below shows their "mad" faces...this is the "template" Darrel used to make the design for the pumpkin. They were so funny.

Zach wasn't so thrilled about the inside of the pumpkin. He did tell me, however, that the pumpkin seeds are used to grow flowers.

I had SO much fun taking pictures of these twins. I think I got them conviced to let me be their "official" photographer. :0) Brooke (the mom) is my cousin and she is the sweetest, kindest person you will ever meet. John (the dad) is one of the nicest, funniest, warmest people I have ever met. They were very gracious and patient and we were able to get some awesome shots of them and their incredibly cute boys. I can't wait for the next session.

Jaxon and his parents, David (my brother) and Jackie

My sweet sister in law, Jackie and her cuteness of a son, Jaxon. Again, gotta give props where props are due...this picture was all Jackie's idea...but believe me, I'll be using this idea again.