We had a FABULOUS weekend with the Armstrong family. Such good friends we have. We love having company here in sunny Las Vegas and it was a pretty beautiful weekend to host people who are tired of winter :) On Friday night we went out to dinner as couples and then Saturday Darrel and Brian had a good time looking at fancy cars in the morning then met the rest of us at Alex's soccer game. Following the soccer game the dads took the kids to SkyMania and the moms went shopping. Saturday night Brenda and I were able to go to dinner and a movie and Darrel and Brian took Alex and Alyssa to the Blue Man Group. They had a great time. Sunday was Stake Conference and then both families took a ride to the Hoover Dam. Alex and I were very nervous the entire time (neither one of us is very excited about heights) but we had a good time. They left this morning and so I guess it's back to real life for me. A big thanks to the Armstrong family for such a fun weekend.

The beauty really does grow on you...

I remember very well when we first moved from western Washington state where I grew up to Utah I thought, 'oh my gosh this is so ugly'. I was in between my ninth and tenth year of high school. I loved the green grass and the green trees of Washington. The mountains were covered in the most beautiful pine trees and everything always smelled so good. Well, usually it smelled like rain but to me that was beautiful. Then we moved to Utah and the mountains had no trees on them. The landscape was different and the summers were HOT. After a few years Utah beauty grows on you. Now I look at the mountains and think about how majestic they are and I see the beauty around me. When I was newly married my husband and I moved to Idaho; Meridian, Idaho to be exact. We loved it there. We thought the mountains were beautiful, the trees were wonderful. We loved to drive up towards McCall and see the river and pine trees. In the Fall when the trees would lose their leaves it was a sight to behold. I know it's no East Coast, but to us it was Heaven on Earth.

A few years ago we moved to Las Vegas. It is a desert here in all aspects. The ground is only green if you water the heck out of it, or put in fake grass (which even some houses in our neighborhood have by the way). SOME of the trees lose their leaves, however, not in the gorgeous way you see in some other states. But, like I said in the title, the beauty really does grow on you. It's a different kind of beauty, the raw, ruggedness kind. The beauty of Washington state is different than the beauty of Utah, which is different than the beauty of Idaho, which is different than the beauty of Nevada. The trick is to see it everywhere.

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to take my camera with a friend and go explore some of the beauty of Nevada in the form of Red Rock Canyon. We had a wonderful time photographing nature (well, we mostly photographed rocks, but that's still nature...right??). We got to see some of the raw and natural beauty that Las Vegas has to offer; and here are just a few of the many pictures I took that day...enjoy.

Girls Weekend in Vegas

Okay, for those of you who have me as a friend on Facebook these are all new pictures. For those who don't you'll still get to see new pictures, you just won't know what the old ones were :) Anyway, I aplogize for the lack of blogging. It seems like everytime I write a post now I am apologizing for my lack of postings. Maybe I should take a hint.

This past weekend we had a girl's weekend in Vegas. My mom turned 60 this month and to celebrate, her daughters, and daughters-in-law came to Vegas to party (mom style). The only one we were missing was my sister, Missy, who we would have LOVED to have but was sick and stuck at home. Everyone arrived on Friday night, we stayed up really late chatting and then had a fun filled Saturday. We went to the Outlet Mall and to In-n-Out, Target, Nordstrem (sp?) Rack, then to the Grand Lux Cafe for dinner and on to the Blue Man Group....and oh, the fun wasn't done yet, we topped off our day at the Peppermill (which incidently hasn't changed since it was built in either decoration or what the waitresses wear). It was a GREAT day and we squeezed every ounce of fun we could have out of Saturday. We also on that day managed to fit it Joy and Amanda on the Lazy River of the resort and taking Darrel to the airport before meeting some of my favorite people at the Grand Lux for dinner. WOW, hopefully that all just made sense.
Here is Elise, Angela, Mom, Jackie, and Joy posing in front of the Blue Man Theater. Amanda was snapping our photo.
Mom and Amanda getting ready to enjoy a fabulous sundae from the Peppermill.

Elise, Mom, Amanda, Joy, and Jackie posing in front of the Peppermill. Good times!

These next group of pictures represent our Sunday night. At church on Sunday we sang "How Great Thou Art" and it was so much fun. I knew that would be a highlight for my mom and dad and I was right. They are just so easy to please when it comes to their children singing :) After church mom and dad left with Jackie but Elise, Joy, and Amanda's flights didn't leave until early the next morning. Elise really wanted to see the dancing water at the Bellagio so we headed on down to see the atrium and the dancing water. Here are the shots we got in the atrium at the Bellagio.

This next picture would be Johnathan video taping a video....a lovely use of tape, don't you think?? So funny.

Here is me with my boys. Darrel was out of town the entire weekend. Friday night for a scout campout and Saturday night through Monday for a family funeral in Arizona. The boys were troopers and a big thank you to my dad for keeping an eye on them the whole weekend.

And, last but not least, Amanda and the chocolate fountain. Or as Danny (her husband) puts it..."her crack cocaine"...funny. We love you Amanda!!!

Flowers for Valentines

Darrel got up early Valentine's Day morning, went to the store, came home with roses and stuff to make me breakfast. What a guy!!! How lucky am I? He's a keeper for sure. Just wanted to share.

I'm a lurker

BEWARE: post below is a modge podge of thoughts...proceed at your own risk

I am a lurker...there I said it. I love to read blogs and see how everyone is doing, but I rarely de-lurk to comment. I'm trying to be better because I know how nice it is to get comments on your posts; I love them myself. However, right now, I am a lurker. What I'm wondering is...are there anonymous meetings for lurkers? :)

I'm also way behind posting on this blog. Johnathan's birthday came and went and I didn't even make mention of it on this blog. Sorry, Johnathan, I really do love you. I took pictures at his party yesterday and will share them soon. Maybe I'll have some time this evening and I'll plug in my camera and dump some pictures. Johnathan is now 10. I can't believe it. I feel like the last ten years have FLOWN by. I blinked and now I have a twelve year old and a ten year old. In March my baby will be five. Where does the time go??? When kids are little and toddling around you feel like time just stands still and you'll never get passed this phase, but when they start school time starts going in warp speed and it won't slow down for anything. I can only hope that as time speeds by we are being good parents and teaching them everything they need to know to be good men.

Today I am singing in church. I like to sing...been doing it since I was four years old, but I still get nervous to sing in church. When I was growing up and our family was touring the U.S. singing at state and county fairs I would never get nervous before a show, even if we were the main act of the fair. But, singing in church has always given me butterflies. Thankfully, I'm not singing a solo...merely singing the alto part of a beautiful song with a lovely lady who is singing soprano. I'm sure it will be fine, but still...nervous, I'm just sayin.

My mom is turning 60 this year. Next month, actually. All she wanted for her birthday was for her family to be together. Well, we can't get everyone, but we did plan a nice girls weekend here in Vegas the weekend after her birthday. I am so excited. All my sisters and sisters-in-law are coming (except my oldest sister, who is miserably sick and pregnant). We are going to have a fun-filled weekend, and probably go see the blue man group at the Venetian. I got a three bedroom condo for two of the nights and we are going to party. What fun!!!

I warned you that this post was going to be modge podge. I didn't really have anything to say, as you can clearly see, I just felt bad that it had been so long since I posted. I promise to post pictures soon - those are always the best part of my posts anyway. My command of the English language and all its nuances are lacking, and so I make up for it with my fabulous photography :) Hey - I'm just glad you guys still read this blog...

Family Picture Time

Much to Darrel's chagrin it was family picture time this year. Sorry to all those who sent me cards and didn't get one in return. My hope is next year...

We did get our family pictures done, thanks to a little help from my mom. Darrel's sister, Della, had asked me to take her family pictures when we came to St. George and I agreed. I just figured that would be the perfect time to get ours done also. We just thought it would be just as easy for them to snap a picture of us once I was done taking theirs. It was really cold the day I went to take Della's family picture, so our little family decided just to snap a few for us in the morning and then I could leave them in the warm condo while I went with Darrel to take the others. It was cold and Zachary was not happy (as evidenced in some of these pictures). I have many more with him scowling but I'm just choosing to share the ones I've decided to blow up and print for my house. Needless to say we were all glad to get them done and we accomplished all our pictures in about 20 minutes time. Bonus. So, Darrel, another year to wait for me to stress out about family pictures again...anyway everyone...enjoy.

Christmastime

Sorry these pictures are so late. Being better about my blog is one of my new year's resolutions. I promise I will be better. These are just some random pictures from Christmas. We had a great Christmas vacation. My boys had a fabulous Christmas...we are very blessed. It was really fun having my mom, dad, and my brother Ben around for all the festivities. We had Christmas at home and then went to St. George for a week of fun and relaxation. I'm in total denial about my life starting back up again...back to our normal routine. I really do love vacation.

Here is Zachary enjoying his Lego Star Wars pajamas.

Alex and Johnathan got MP3 players from Santa Claus.

We went to the Bellagio to see all the fancy stuff they had in the atrium. It was very cool.

The big gift from mom and dad this year was the wii. We've already had a great week of playing pretty much non-stop.


My mom and I at the Bellagio. It's just fundamentaly unfair that my mom looks better than I do in pretty much every picture I take. You're beautiful Mom, I hope I grow up to be just like you :)

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.