The last few months in summary

Its been so long since I have blogged.  I just don't think about it.  I even forgot to read other peoples blogs for long enough that the last time I pulled up my reader there were 25 new posts.  So, since I was compiling pictures for a Mother's Day scrapbook to send to my mom, MIL and grandmothers I thought I'd post the same pictures on my blog to "catch up."

These first group of photos are from a hike in Red Rock. In Vegas we have a very short window where it isn't too hot or too cold to hike.  We went a couple times the first time the weather warmed up.  The funny part was the first trip on Monday was cold enough for hats and jackets.  The second hike on the following Saturday was warm enough for shorts.   The first hike was just Mackenzie and Luke with another mom and her daughter. On Saturday I convinced the boys to hike with me by letting them each bring their favorite friend along.  By themselves they just whine and complain.

Both Brice and Dane received the Student of the Month award in the SAME month.  Very cool for me because it meant one trip to the school.  Even daddy was able to come to watch them get their award.  We are very proud of them! Luke was the star of both assemblies.  He'd run up to the stage to see his brothers and give high fives and fist bumps to all the other kids.  It was so cute...though a bit distracting.

 Here we are decorating Easter Egss with our friends the Edgeworths.  We like to get together to do all the fun holiday stuff.

 My kids inherited their love of puzzles from their daddy. Mackenzie is actually quite good at it.

The Smiths in our ward got a bunch of tickets to see the new show on the strip, at the Tropicana, called "Recycled Percussion"  It is a really loud show where the group plays music on all kinds of random items...my favorite were the ladders.  The "fun" part is that everyone in the audience is given drumsticks and weird things to hit.  Everyone is banging through the hole show.

Easter Trip to California

I had made some sugar cookies for a playdate that didn't end up happening.  So we took them to Cali so the kids could decorate with their cousins.

 Luke's new pouty face...he held this face for long enough that I could run to the other room, grab my camera, run back, pull it out, turn it on, aim and shoot. Its so dang cute!

Easter Morning

 I have been too cheap to buy matching Easter outfits for the last few years.  This year I thought I would do something simple.  I realized quickly that my kids ages are too spread out to have matching stuff and it took me (and my sisters-in-law) a couple hours and 4 stores to find things that kind of coordinated.  Dane has this fascination with this style hat and always wants one.  They were on sale for like $3 at Children's place.  So I worked around matching colors with the hats. 

 So, I really like Groupon, Living Social, etc deals.  I don't buy them often but every once in a while we find a great deal.  Mackenzie loves to play dress up so she and her two best friends went to Rock the Tea for a Princess tea party.  So cute!

 These are from our first trip to The Rio pool this spring.  We LOVE this pool.  Its the perfect depth and entry for Luke but gets deaper for the older kids.  I get to just sit on a chair and chat with friends.  Tomorrow will be our fourth trip there this year.  Thankyou Rio for letting locals in FREE!

This was the first time Dane changed Luke's diaper.  Its hard to see in the picture but its on backwards :0)

 This picture is so typical of Mackenzie: Princess dress, skateboarding video game and broken arm.  Yes, she broke her arm!  My brother asked if it was the first broken bone in the family.  Nope!  This is Mackenzie's 3rd.  It was silly, really.  She fell of the couch. Its not high but we have very unforgiving marble floors. Thankfully, as you will see in a later picture...we were able to opt for a removeable splint instead of a soft cast.  It is just a "buckle fracture" which heals easily in 3-4 weeks.  We use a back up splint/wrap in the pool and shower so we aren't restricted to "dry" activities in the May heat.

Luke wants to be just like his older siblings...on a calmer scale.  Here he is with a pretend board playing the same Wii skate/snowboarding game.

 And another of that adorable pouty face!

 Playing peek-a-boo in the pantry wearing Mackenzie's hat.  He is currently obsessed with wearing hats which I love in this hot, sunny climate!

 She functions quite well despite the fact that she is right handed.  I laughed when the doctor asked if I needed a note for school and reminded me to tell them to reduce her actitivy.  Yeah, right!

There you have it!  January through today in a nutshell.  I have to say this new Blogger is much easier to use since the last time I blogged.  That may give me more motivation to keep up!



Happy Halloween!

These are the best of the best pictures taken over the LONG Halloween celebration. I think Mackenzie dressed up for 8 different events. Luke was a Tiger for a Halloween party but a Lukey Monkey for the rest. I dressed up in three different costumes for three different events that did not include Halloween night (by Halloween I was too tired of costumes to dress up myself). And, when I pulled out the camera to take pictures trick-or-treating, it didn't work. Bah! That camera, thankfully a cheap one, lasted a year, to the day. We bought it on Halloween last year when I lost the previous camera.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Voldemort.

We couldn't pull together a whole family costume this year...one of the reasons: Mackenzie insisted on being a Princess.

Dane and Brice both wore this costume on their second Halloween...had to follow the tradition.

Downward Dog

The greatest thing about this picture is that he pulled my Yoga mat out of my closet, into my bedroom, unrolled it and then bent over upside down. Hilarious! Sadly, again, I had about 1 second before he ran off to do something else...hence the blur.

My Little Cowboys

Dane and Brice dressed up for Western Day at school. Dane won the prize for his grade: about 50 tickets for the Fall Festival

Luke dressed up for our playgroup Halloween Party. (Sorry they are so blurry, I hate my camera and I had like half a second before he took the hat off)

Princess Tea Party

While I am thankful to have a girl to do cutesy, girly things with, I am also thankful that I only have ONE girl! This was a special outing for just Mackenzie and her best friend Amelia (aka Meeya). A Princess Tea Party at a place called Rock the Tea.

Here they are waiting to begin.

Here is the little brother finding ways to entertain himself while the girls are being pampered.

After picking out a princess dress and all the accesories, crown, jewlery, purse, shoes, they had their nails done.

Then a little make-up.

Then a fashion show on their own little runway.

Next was the tea party with their "American Girl Dolls".

And they ended with "Freeze Dance" .

We went to lunch afterwards. Apparently being a princess is exhausting because Mackenzie fell asleep on the couch during Luke's nap for the first time in months. Well worth every penny! (Which was actually only $10 for the whole hour!)

First Day of Preschool

She is SO ready for this!

My Lukey Monkey is One!

We have always had our kids First Birthday with our family in California. That sometimes meant celebrating a little early or late to coordinate plans to be together. Sadly, that just didn't work out this time. And, I feel horrible. I know he won't remember but I will. We tried to do something special but it ended up being chaos shoved in between naps and church. We did have a few friend join us. But, other than making him a special cake...I didn't even make it out of my pajamas. Ugh! So awful. But, he enjoyed his sandbox, presents and his monkey cake. I can't believe my baby is One. I still cry every time I remember it.

What a nice big brother!