Camping - Lake Mead

I've been threatening the kids that I would take them camping and I finally followed through. Mackenzie joined the boys and I this time as we headed to a warmer clime. Since there is no camping in the valley here, we made a short drive to Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Callville Bay.

Nic and Mackenzie wondering if this is such a good idea.

Me, wondering if this is such a good idea.

A cool shot that Zac took on the way to the campground.

Tent's up, now it's time to get on the fire.

Success! Though I think Nic isn't too impressed.

Dinner! Mmm, s'mores.

Roughing it with the Nintendo DS. Not exactly how I remember camping but it is the 21st century.

Playing around with my camera. I'm still learning new tricks. These are 15 second exposures. The top one is Mackenzie spelling her name, you can definitely make out the "M".

Snug as a bug in a rug. We actually got to bed around 9PM and we didn't freeze to death.

Morning comes early. Around 6:45am we were up. I love that Mackenzie always wakes up with a smile.

Here's the hill we're going to hike.

Halfway there, time for a rest and a picture. So far, they're all smiles.

The view of our campground from halfway up.

Making the summit.

On the way home, a bonus treat of seeing these old roadsters heading into the park.

Snow day

Ashley and Mackenzie sitting near the ski slope

Grandpa John and Nana came to visit all the way from Oregon. Zac and Nic went skiing and snowboarding and the girls just plopped down in the snow. It was warm on Mt Charleston and a perfect day for skiing.

Happy Birthday Ashley

Happy 2nd Birthday to our little mama Ashley! She enjoyed when we sang to her in the top picture and clapped when we clapped for her. Then she dove right into the little puppy cake that we got for her. So cute!

Twilight for the 3rd time

Invited some good friends to see Twilight for my birthday present to me! The movie just keeps getting better. Can't wait until it comes out on DVD. Thanks for the fun time girls!

Happy Birthday to me!

Hip-hip-hooray I had another birthday! Don't I look thrilled to be 37? Aaron got me a yummy cake and the kids did a great job singing.

Love the Wii

I just love the Wii! I don't play it that often, but when I do it sure is fun. My parents came for a visit right after Christmas and I got my Dad to play tennis with me. The best was him jammin out to Guitar Hero. What a good sport!

Fitzgibbons' Tree

Wow, we finally made it over to see the Fitzgibbons' wonderful Christmas offering! Way to go Ryan! I couldn't see one square inch of the tree that was not covered with lights. So beautiful.

Zac's Cool Creation and other cool things

This is one of the tracks Zachary made with the Magnetix iCoaster. The cool thing is it connects using magnets and you can connect your iPod and play music too it, plus sound effects. You'll notice the LEGOs in the background, the Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer is under contruction...

Another shot of it.

Ashley and Mackenzie hanging out in their new castle.


Ashley sporting some new "dress up" earrings.

Another shot, notice she is holding real still so you can see her earrings?

Kids Gifts

Mackenzie's Polly Pocket pop n' swap

Nic's new wall climbing car

Ashley's Trike

Ashley with her new dolly.

After Santa had some of our gifts for him, cookies and milk, he left some gifts for us.

Merry Christmas!

Before...

and After

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're about ready to eat! Happy Thanksgiving to all of our wonderful family and friends. Gobble, gobble.

Twilight!

Heard all the ladies talking about seeing Twilight at midnight on Thursday so I got in on that action right away! Wow was it worth it, I had such a good time with all the best girls last night. Thank you for letting me invite myself. Some ladies got a little rowdy (you know who you are), but it was lots of laughs and heavy breathing...

Happy 6th Birthday Mackenzie

Mackenzie turned 6 on November 1 and had her party on Nov 8. Her close friends came and her favorite cousin, Savannah, came from Salt Lake (BIG thank you to my sister). They all had a lot of fun in the bounce house (shaped like a birthday cake) and eating pizza and cake. She used the money she received from her grandmas and grandpa to buy a Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker. Yummy!

BMX Night

The local BMX track is being threatened by closure. So Zac and I went out to show our support.

Here are pictures when we visited the track as a family to watch our friend Trent race.

It really takes a lot of effort to make it around the track. The Pros make it look so easy.

Never Know Who You're Going to Run Into

I went to the Stake Center to pick up Zachary from his choir rehearsal and ran into my old professor from BYU. Bob Sink was the Broadcast Production advisor over the communications department. Needless to say, he's responsible for what I do for a living. Anyway, I guess his son and family are in our stake, so it's a small world, and it was great to see him after 10 years.

Happy Halloween!

We had two girl pirates, a neon green skeleton and a zombie Motocross rider. Mackenzie told me a few months ago that she wanted to be something "mean" for Halloween this year. That meant absolutely no pretty princess costume for her! I got these pirate costumes on clearance last year so that worked out perfect. Zac borrowed his gear from our next door neighbor, Matt who really does ride Motocross, and added the blood for a little twist. Nic wouldn't tell me he wanted to be until two days before Halloween so the skeleton was all that was left at the store in his size. We went to Trunk or Treat at our church building and then walked around trick or treating with friends. Still lots of candy left...

More Talents from Ashley

I have soooo many talents:

1. My double binky trick (check the post a few below this one)

2. I practice running from the kids trying to steal my Halloween candy

3. I can hold three Pringles cans at once

4. I can write on my hands, face, couch and chair with a purple pen.

P.S. Can't u tell I am the only one home with Mommy and Daddy all day???

Daughtry's "What About Now"

I am not easily inspired by music videos, but this new song by Daughtry really tugs at your heart strings. I was preparing a talk on compassion this past week and I saw this video Sat on VH1 and of course cried. Check it out!

http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/Daughtry/What-About-Now--157691378

OMG!!!!!

Where has the time gone?! I cannot believe we have let about six weeks go by without updating our blog. I am now going to attempt some catch up blogs, which I am going to cheat on by back dating them so it won't look like we are as lame as we are. And I promise anew to keep up on it.

US states I've visited

visited 46 states (92%)


I'd love to see Hawaii **Hint for Aaron**