Littleton Historical Museum

Went to the Littleton Historical Museum aka the farm with my friend from our Parker Days (and the kids she was watching that day!)

All 6 kids (there's a cow back there too)

Me and Andrew with a little lamb

Luke and Mayci in the one room school house (these two saw each other pretty much every day when we lived in Parker! Mayci is actually a few months younger than Luke but she's tall- always has been!)

Milking in action- pretty cool!

petting the cat in the 1890's house

Checking out the lake behind the farms- there were some pretty cool birds!

Can you tell who the older kids are? They actually looked when asked!

Me and Brindi- we'll always be great friends (and I'm sure she'd like me to mention she's pregnant in these pictures- due with their third girl in September!)

Afterwards we had a picnic at the park but apparently there weren't many picture worthy moments.

Halloween Festivities

At the beginning of the month we went to the local orchard to pick pumpkins. We took our friend from church/preschool Noah.

Luke and Noah picking a pumpkin

Andrew was more interested in blowing his train whistle but he did enjoy painting the pumpkin so I'm sure he's glad we picked one for him!

The boys also enjoyed the little hay maze!

We went to a carnival at the community center where Luke attends preschool and both boys enjoy gymnastics. It was crazy busy but the boys had fun.

Buzz Lightyear and the evil Emporer Zurg (Andrew loved being Buzz but didn't love not seeing his ears when he looked in the mirror. He was very disturbed by that!)

One of the many carnival games

We went to a special Halloween storytime at the library and ran into our friends there! They enjoyed some trick or treating afterwards.

Andrew and Warren were both dressed as Buzz

Zerg Luke, Race Car Driver Jacob, Buzz Andrew, Buzz Warren

Luke had a party at his preschool including parade, songs, and yummy food!

Buzz Luke the line leader

Saying the pledge

Yummy food!

Luke with his teachers Ms. Lety and Ms. Lori. Luke insisted on dressing as Buzz for this because Ms. Lori had told the kids no masks- they would scare her! Well, Luke decided Zerg was too scary.

We painted and carved pumpkins. Kiley carved a ghost on the pumpkin but unfortunately it fell over on the way to and from our trunk or treat and broke off. Bummer- it was cool!

Little artists

Andrew took his time and didn't want to stop!

We went trunk or treating on Saturday night

Trunk or Treaters.

We decorated our car too- you can kind of see Kiley's ghost carving in this one on the left side of the car.

Sunday night we handed out candy to the neighbors which was about 50% little kids and 50% teens (only half of who were dressed up). I much prefer the little kids but the boys loved putting candy in anyone's bag!

Birthday Time

Last Friday was my Birthday. Kiley told me he might do a post but since he hasn't I thought I would. Kiley was gone for my birthday so I enlisted two of my best buds to spend some time with me so I didn't have to spend the day being a single Mommy. In the morning we went to Kim's house where Luke and Nicolas had a great time playing and she and I got in some great visiting. She is one of my best friends from high school and it has been so fun to live close to each other these last few years. She's a great Mommy!!

That night we went out to dinner with my fellow MBA Mom Mary. She and I randomly sat by each other at the first dinner (Dr. Stice's dinner) and hit it right off! We discovered that our husband's were in the same group so they spent most their time with each other that first semester. Her husband even came and helped us move in! Thanks Josh! We have been friends ever since that first meeting and I don't know what I'd do without her! We'll really miss them when school is over- unless we both get a job in the same place (preferably Fort Collins, CO) and even better with the same company (HP). We went to Cracker Barrel and ate delicious food including pancakes, steak, mac and cheese, fried apples, green beans, and a FREE apple dumpling for dessert (which pretty much went home with us). She was so nice and made a birthday cake for me! We watched Mama Mia after putting our kids down at our house and while the movie stunk the company was great!! Thanks Mary!





Since Kiley was gone for my b-day he was extra nice when he got home. Saturday night we celebrated my birthday by going to dinner kidless at Taconos!! Gotta love babysitting coops and free birthday meals! While I wasn't excited about turning 28 (that's upper 20's!!) I had a great time celebrating!

Colorado Friends!!

*I just have to note that in this picture next to Brindi my hair does not look as brown...could it still be considered blond?

While in Colorado I got to see my good friend Brindi and Luke got to see his good friend Mayci. It's so nice when moms and children both get excited about seeing each other!! Brindi is having their second baby in a few weeks- so fun for their family!! We miss our CO friends!

Buddies

Luke and Maggie had so much fun playing together in Las Vegas. She taught him all about imaginative play- they loved going to the zoo or camping. It was so fun to listen to their conversations- so sweet and innocent. Luke doesn't get to see Maggie near as much now that we are back at school- but he certainly hasn't forgotten her! Just tonight he got to spend an evening playing with her. He told me he "loves Maggie so so much!" What good friends!

A Final Summer Visit

Our last week in Vegas the boys and I went to see two of my good friends- Tate and Erin. I finally got a picture- in which my hair looks VERY brown. Do you think I should say brown as my hair color next time I get a driver's license? That's such an identity changer!! I'm supposed to be a BLOND! Well I had a great visit with them and look forward to MANY more in the future!

Peter Piper Pizza

We couldn't leave Vegas without comparing Chuck E Cheese with it's rival Peter Piper Pizza so Mandy and I decided to take the kids while our husbands were in Reno. They have a decent priced lunch buffet and we had lots of fun. We even went to the one that has a roller coaster and Maggie's Aunt Bethany was nice enough to get Luke and Maggie tickets. Thanks Aunt B!!

I think the kids were less thrilled with the roller coaster than Mandy and I. Really- I was trying to make it seem SO FUN so Luke wouldn't be scared.

Children's Museum

As part of the summer reading program the kiddos got free tickets to the children's museum so we decided to venture down and go exploring. After arriving at 9 we discovered it didn't open until 10(read the small print C-L). Lucky for us, it is in the same building as one of the many branches of the Clark County Library District so we (meaning the kids) spent an hour playing with puzzles and reading books. It was the most peaceful hour we had!! The museum was pretty fun- though that lost hour was sad because the younger children didn't make an exception to tiredness just because one hour was already spent in the library. We made the best of our time playing in tubes, houses, grocery stores, with bubbles (really big bubbles), going to story time (that was literally only 1 story), playing with water, shadows, balls, tornadoes, finger prints, blocks, and puppets. Our day ended with a nice push on the ground from a not so friendly 3 year old to a getting tired 3 year old. A bit of a sad ending but clearly it was time to head out so home we went!

Sand Tornado

Spending $ in the store
Tube fun

BIG Bubbles

Construction Worker

Storytime

Teacher Reunion!!

A couple days ago two of my good teaching buddies, Bridget and Meg, came over to our house for a couple of hours. It was so much fun to catch up- and see our kids play! None of us had any kids when we taught and now there are 5 kids between the 3 of us!

*Andrew and I are not in the picture:-)

Hoover Dam/Lake Mead

This last Saturday we went with Brandon and Laura (the undergrad couple from BYU) to Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. It was really hot by the time we left the Dam!
Dam Side
Lake Side


They are almost done building the road to bypass the dam- we thought it was cool to see! (Notice the two sides of the bridge in the background)







We ate at Mel's Diner in Boulder City. It was yummy- we did it for the experience!!



Finally we cooled off in Lake Mead. Don't ask Kiley to tell you about the cleanliness of the lake (he probably will anyway!).








And this is what happened in the car on the way home...