One More Time

As many of you already know, we recently moved from Henderson, Nevada to Fairview, Wyoming. We learned so much while in Nevada, but we decided it wasn't the office where we wanted to make our career. Currently we are looking for another office to continue gaining experience until we decide to have our own practice or partner with someone. So for the next little while, we are living with Chad's parents. We are so grateful to them for opening their home and being so flexible that it makes it all possible!

While we were in the process of moving our things to our storage unit, I watched my nephews, so my brother could help Chad out. Thanks Nate! We appreciate it so much! In all 4 states that we've lived in, we've been so lucky to live by a little bit of family. These boys are so fun and really so good!

Our homemade trampoline...our couch!

We couldn't pass the night up without some brownies!

Thanks for all the fun, Scoresby boys!

Thanksgiving 2010

At first we weren't quite sure what our plans for Thanksgiving would be, especially since Chad had to work on black Friday, but it all turned out great and so memorable!
We ate dinner with my cousin and her family who live is North Las Vegas, and her parents and siblings all joined us as well! The Jenkins are so fun and cook mouth-watering food! Thank you for the invite!

We started our party the night before by having a "sleepover" in our family room. We figured that if family was staying with us or if we had been visiting family, that's what we'd do anyway. So Hallie and Gavin made it official by jumping to the air mattress and wrestling with Chad.

Gavin helped me make bacon and veggie omelets the next morning. He really is our little chef.

Then out to dinner. Hallie and Gavin and cousin Jason at the kids table.

Gavin's new favorite dessert is apple dumplings.

Hallie made her dent in the dessert.

Since Hallie wasn't with her "own" grandpa's, she easily turned Uncle Kirk into her temporary grandpa, and horse.

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and we have enormous blessings to be thankful for! A few of those are family, the gospel, temples, healthy kids, laughter, love, friendship, transportation, home, food, tender mercies, trials to shape and strengthen us, prayer, clothing, education, and a knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, that we have a living prophet that speaks with God and receives revelation in these crazy times! Gratitude can be challenging to remember to always have with you, but when I do, I am so much more at peace and happier! Thank you to all!

Weekend with the Perrys!

We were so lucky to have our good friends the Perry's come and stay with us for a few days! We met them while in chiropractic school and Steve just recently graduated, so while on the job hunt they were passing through the Vegas area and popped in to stay! We loved it! Natalie and I became good friends while being neighbors, plus we are both from Idaho Falls and we were prego buddies during our last pregnancy. Natalie lucked out and Ivy came about a month before Gavin decided to show! Natalie's an amazing cook, baker, etc., so check out her blog for many delicious recipes!
We had so much fun just hanging out, playing at the park, eating, quick visit to the strip, and catching up on old times! I am so thankful for such great friends! Hallie and Gavin were entertained for an entire weekend! It was great!

We spent one afternoon at the park. This picture proves there is grass in Southern Nevada!

We hit M&M World and bought just a few of the m&m's that are $12.99 a pound!!!
Catchin' a glimpse of the view!

This is the second time we got a picture with the Coke bear and our kids actually got close to him this time!

Jelly Belly's have hit New York! Pretty amazing statue, all out of Jelly Belly's!

We finished off with dinner at an all-time favorite restaurant, Cafe Rio, yum! Sophie is such a beauty and couldn't get enough of the dress up! (This photo is courtesy of Hallie Webb photography.)

The Doctors, just soakin' it all in! Once again, Hallie Webb Photography.

The crew. As you can tell, nothing was left. I could eat there right now!

Happy goodbyes! Since Natalie and I are both from Idaho Falls, we have a good chance to see each other again at holidays and summer visits. I love that our kids get along so great! Hallie loved having another girl to play with.

It was so nice having a close friend over to chat and hang with! Natalie is one in a million and I'm so lucky that we are friends!

Natalie and Steve are exactly where we were at one year ago, trying to decide on a job and where to live! And one year later, we are doing it again, but it's all good and so right! So, best wishes to Natalie and Steve on non-student life, a.k.a real life! You'll do awesome! We love that you came to visit us!

Children's Museum

A few weeks ago we went with some friends to a discovery museum in Vegas. Why did I not get a membership when we first moved here? I could have been using it this whole time! I was impressed with most of the museum, and the kids really enjoyed every minute of it!

Hallie and Gavin dressing up for the theatre! They wanted to play here all day!

Hallie and a friend trying out an experiment with a bowling ball and a tennis ball. They laughed so hard!

Up, up and away! They got to be pilots and fly to grandma's!

Hallie was my cashier in the grocery store. There's a little town with a store, bank, car repair shop, etc. Their favorite was actually the repair shop where they could change tires, add fluids, repair mufflers, etc. So imaginative!

Quite impressed and the kids couldn't get enough! It gave me some good ideas for creating more pretend play at home.

Carving Pumpkins

I almost forgot about pumpkin carving! It's funny how something so simple gets everyone so excited! We opted out of fancy, intricate designs, and crafted our own "homemade"faces! The kids loved it.

A couple of times I've saved the seeds and roasted them up, Chad loves it, and that was the plan this year. I separated the seeds out, soaked them over night, and then the next morning while I was taking a shower, Hallie noticed the seeds on the counter and decided to dump them down the drain! So sad! She thought she was helping to clean up! I was more upset about the seeds than was the man I was roasting them for! After all, it's just pumpkin seeds!

Halloween Fun!

We started out our Halloween fun a little bit before the actual day! We made our traditional holiday cut-out cookies, sour cream cookies. Absolutely our favorite sugar-type cookie! If you want the recipe, let me know! I think they beat your typical sugar cookie, hands down!

The week before Halloween, we went to an elementary school for some free trick-or-treating with our good friends, the Pages.

Hallie was a kitty on this night because her real costume had not yet arrived from Wyoming. Gavin dressed as his favorite buddy, Elmo!

After Hallie's cowgirl costume arrived, Gavin improvised and used a plastic carrying case for his hat. Whatever works!

The night of our ward trunk-or-treat was the third time Hallie had received candy, Gavin's second time. They'd been eating candy for a week before Halloween even arrived!
Here's Hallie showing off her cowgirl costume. Chad's grandpa made the vest and chaps for him when he was a boy.

A few of the friends at the party!

Showing off their case load of candy!

A ward member's father brought this "ride" for the kids. He drove the 4-wheeler with multiple little carts following. The kids loved it!

Poor Elmo didn't make it all the way home! Too bad I didn't get the costume off before he fell asleep!

For our first Halloween in Nevada, we loved it! Halloween night Hallie and Gavin graciously handed out all the leftover candy from the previous activities that we hadn't eaten! We told Hallie she didn't have to give away her candy, but she wanted to and had a lot of fun doing it!

My one regret...all the Reese's peanut butter cups got eaten before I got to them! I guess if that is my one regret, it was a pretty great holiday!

Preschool Pumpkin Patch

One of our many fun Halloween festivities also included visiting a pumpkin patch with my nephew's preschool. For $5 a kid, they got to go on rides, pet and feed a goat, jump houses and slides, plus they got a small pumpkin, bottle of water, and fun coloring and activity pages! I couldn't pass that up! The kids loved it! Thanks for the invite Lesley!

There's a story behind this picture. Gavin climbed to the top of the slide all by himself. It took him so long and everybody was passing him by, but he did it all by himself. Then, right at the very last step, some kid climbs right over him, knocking him to the middle and hanging on for dear life! Hallie jumped to his rescue, but she only weighs 5 or 6 pounds more than him and couldn't get him up! So I threw my shoes off, ran up the ladder, grabbed Gavin and went down the slide with him! I couldn't let him not make it, especially when he worked so hard to get that far!

Hallie would like to own the goat!
Gavin and my nephew Brayden. They weren't so sure about this spinning, teacup-like ride! I think they preferred the swings!

They finished off with a "train" ride. Who doesn't love a train!

Hallie and her friend Aviana found this little hideaway. It made for the perfect pumpkin patch picture!

One other plus of the day was that the kids were given a coloring picture to color and bring back for a free ride. So another day they both colored their picture and we went back for another ride. They knew it was just one ride, but a nice lady handed Chad extra tickets, so they got to do another ride! So nice!

Now to post costume pics...

Who Ever Would've Thought???

Dry, desert, southern Nevada is home to a huge orchard! It really was quite surprising! Ever since October 2007, our pumpkin patch tradition has been to go to Half Moon Bay in California. We loved going there and just letting the kids run through the patch and the dirt. So once October rolled around here in Henderson, we started searching for a new patch to visit. There are lots of patches with rides, bounce houses, etc., which we did visit with a preschool group (I"ll post later about that), but we really just wanted to get out in the field!

So we heard about Gilcrease Orchards. It was awesome! It's a huge farm where you can pick your own produce from the field and orchards, and just pay by the pound. They also make fresh apple cider from their apples, which was so tasty! We also bought some hot, fresh, apple donuts that they were making at the stand where you pay. So yummy!

Here's Hallie getting ready to pull her pumpkin from the vine. She thought that was pretty cool! It was also educational and she learned about how the pumpkins grow from the vine.

Then it was Gavin's turn. He needed a little help from Dad to yank it off the vine.

That home in the background was beautiful! Lots of trees and greenery! It reminded us of homes you would find on a vineyard in Italy, not that we've been there.

Me and my kiddies! We really wanted a picture with the 4 of us, but we chose a good day to go to the orchard. There weren't a lot of people around.

The orchard is getting ready to close up for the winter, so we'll have to return next year, but much earlier in the year and pick some other produce. The kids loved it and Gavin managed to eat some more dirt. All in all, Gilcrease Orchard would make for a fun tradition!

Preschool Days

Preschool days are here! Hallie started preschool a couple weeks ago, but missed the first few times due to our traveling and a stomach bug. She's attending a program through a rec center here, three times a week for a couple of hours. She is loving it! It really helps that her neighbor friend who lives a few doors down, is also in her class. They practice tracing their numbers and letters, and she brings home a little art project most days also. She always tells me about all the fun she has! So far, I think they do a great job between letting the kids have fun and play and also fitting in the academics. I really didn't want her in something where they focused so heavily on academics. I think kids just need a lot a playing time!

A little unsure about the first day.

Here we are! Let's do this, I think!

Presents for the first day of school!
Hallie's friend Avianna. Once she saw Avianna, she turned on to go mode!

It's perfect that there are a couple playgrounds right outside from the rec center. We walk over and play for little while after school gets out. I was more excited for Hallie to start preschool than I thought I was going to be. She gets bored at home so easily, (mom is only fun for so long) and just loves all the interaction with other kids and playing outside. She was born to be outside!