Tournament of the Kings

Last night my dad and grandpa took us to see the Tournament of the Kings at the Excalibur Hotel.  It was so amazing!  It had jousting, sword fights, fire, acrobatics, dancing, horses, evil men, and dinner complete Medievil style with cornish hens that we ate with our hands.  The kids got a kick out of the big Rootbeer mugs full of pepsi.  Ethan, Cole, and Liv all sat still the whole show with their eyes glued to the arena.  At the beginning Merlin the Wizard walked around and talked with people.  The kids were scared to death of him and hid under the table.  He came over and tried to talk with them, but they wouldn't budge. After the show the kids were chicken to get their picture taken with the actors so I went first.  Here is me with the Prince (soon to be King once his father was killed) and one of the dancing maiden's. 

Here is a picture of Shawn and I, which is a rare occasion.  But I figured since my dad was their he could take one for us.  It has been so nice this week to have help with the kids.  Thanks Dad and Grandpa!!  Below is a picture of my cute Grandpa and Liv, and some of us with more cast members.  The kids were scared of them, but I wasn't going to miss my chance of a picture with a knight and muscle man :)

First Swim of the Season

The weather was so nice today, and with company in town, we just couldn't resist our first swim of the season.  We found a nice heated pool at the hotel my dad and grandpa are staying at.  The kids had a great time.  

Saturday Picnic

Happy Valentines Day

Nothing better than some homemade goodies on Valentines Day!!

4th Picture Tag

I was tagged by my friend, Gretchen.  I am supposed to go to the 4th folder and post the 4th picture.  Recently I backed-up and cleared my hard drive of all pictures (I had WAAAY too many).  I actually only have four picture folders so far on my hard drive since the computer spring cleaning, so this picture is recent.  Just a few days ago I snapped this of Liv.  She isn't really looking at the camera, but I think it makes her look calm and peaceful-which she totally is not!

Interview Progress

Shawn is in the middle of interviewing for a fellowship.  Just thought I would keep everyone up to date on how things are going.  So far Shawn has been offered interviews at:

1. Indiana University 
   
2. University of Southern California
3. University of Michigan 
4. University of Minnesota 
5. Advocate Lutheran General (Chicago)
6. Washington University 
7. University of Missouri
8. University of Rochester
9. Medical College of Wisconsin
   
10. Ohio State University
11. Oregon Health & Sciences University Program (this one is pending, they contacted Shawn and were interested, but haven't officially offered him an interview.)

So, there is our grand list of where we will be living next.  A few more interviews still might come, but we feel very happy about the options so far.  We will keep you posted.  The fellowship match isn't until October so we have to wait a while, but we should probably have a good idea before then.

Bye Bye Binki

I have been wanting to get Liv off the binki for a while now, but it is just so easy to stick it in her mouth and get some peace. I finally felt brave enough and yesterday I snipped the top of her binki off. She just kept looking at her binki with the expression in the picture below saying, "broke". She struggled a little last night, but this afternoon she went down perfectly for her nap.

Hair

Ethan: Mom, Mom, hurry come here!

Mom: What? (after running into the bathroom to find Ethan looking in the mirror)

Ethan: Look, I am growing hair on my legs, and it's MAN hair.

Mom: Wow (with a little chuckle)

Ethan: And look at my chest, even a little MAN hair there too. But just a little.

Mom: (Speechless)

I just had to laugh at our little conversation this morning about MAN hair. Seriously, Ethan has had a layer of peach fuzz ever since birth that has never left. I am a little worried to see what happens when he hits puberty!

Cutting the cord

I can't believe how fast Ethan is growing up. Usually when I drop Ethan off at school in the morning I take all the kids and we walk him into the school playground. They have a separate playground for the Kindergarten kids, and usually Cole, Liv, and I will stay until the bell rings for school and that Ethan gets lined up for his class before we leave. Many moms do this, in fact most of them do, but I decided that Ethan needs to start getting ready 1st grade and that means no mom to walk him to class. He will have to make sure he gets where he needs to be all by himself. This whole week I have just been dropping him off in front of the school for him to go into school all by himself. The first time I watched him run onto the playground while I watched from the car, I was so PROUD. He looked like such a big boy. Ethan gets up every morning and showers and gets dressed all by himself, sometimes even before I am awake. Next, he goes downstairs and gets a bowl of cereal, pours the milk, and eats all by himself. Sometimes I feel bad that he doesn't wake me, but when I come downstairs he is so proud and has to show me everything he did by himself that morning. Also, Ethan has been working really hard on learning to read. At his school they have a fun program where the kids earn dog tags for each 25 words they learn to read. The first week Ethan really wanted to pass off his words, but I didn't think he was ready, but he insisted. So I let him try, and he missed two words. He was so sad, but we worked really hard the next week and he passed them off. Now he is so motivated to learn new words and get more dog tags-I just love it!

Fish Feeding

Last week our playgroup went to see a live fish feeding at a Sea Aquarium. It was my week to teach preschool and so it was a little busy and we didn't get to go.  But, over the weekend I took the kids and they had a great time.  We had never been to the Bass Pro shop before and it was so fun, and we even indulged in the moonpies (as recommended by Angie) at the end.

I really LOVE Utah, but .....

Can you do this in January???

Ethan really hasn't shown much interest in learning to ride a bike, until recently. Here is our first attempt. He did really good, just a few crashes.





Here is Liv enjoying the park swings.

Utah is my home and hopefully some day we will be back there, but when it comes to the weather in January, Las Vegas totally wins my heart!

Little Miss Liv

Most of you who have known me for a while know that I am not much of a girly girl. I got my ears pierced when I was 12, but didn't even start wearing earrings until really a few years ago. Having a little girl has been such an unexpected delight and caused a surge of girliness to come over me. Liv and I have enjoyed discovering tutu's, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and hair bows together. Hopefully, this is just the tip of the iceberg of things that Liv and I can share together.

I really try to stay away from taking pictures of my kids naked, but she would NOT put on a shirt and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. So, sorry for the naked pics.

But, don't let all these girly accessories fool y0u. Liv can definitely handle her own and defend herself when it comes to her two big brothers.


Ethan colored this picture at school and brought it home for me. When I looked on the back is says "mom". I asked Ethan what that meant and he said, "this is a picture of you." LOVELY!!

PJ Party!

On Saturday we had a PJ Party at the church for primary. The kids had been talking about it for the past week and were excited. They got to meet their new primary teachers, eat breakfast, and play games. We played some fun games and got to dress-up the teachers in silly clothes. Shawn is one of the teachers and the kids got to dress him up in funny clothes (which apparently I forgot to tell him as he was helping me get the dress-up clothes ready the night before, but he was a good sport). I have some great pictures, but I have been threatened with my life. So for now, you will just have to imagine Shawn dressed up with funny clothes, big poofy hat, and lots of great accessories. Here are the boys.....


Don't ask about the mohawks. Usually I buzz the kids hair, but Ethan has insisted that he wants his hair longer so I have let it grow. Now they want all kinds of crazy styles and things done to their hair. But today after church I cut off all their hair-so no more crazy hair!

As we were driving home from the primary party we drove around the corner to our house and the neighbors house was on fire. There were big flames shooting out of the garage and tons of black smoke. It seemed to have just started and there were a few neighbors running around filling up empty garbage cans and dumping them on the fire. Within a few minutes the firetrucks pulled up (which the kids thought was so cool). The fire was was extinguished with minimal damage, but it was a little too close to home and scared me a little!

Sledding

We have really enjoyed the snow this winter during out Utah trips home. We borrowed as many snow clothes that we could find, and played in the snow as long as we could.




After one too many crashes....

Cole got cold and wanted to go inside.

Liv and I even took a turn, but as you can tell she was not excited about it!

I never thought I would miss the cold snowy weather, but since living in Las Vegas I have. It has been nice to enjoy the snow for a while (and even better that I don't have to stay and shovel it!)

Dad's Work Tour

We were able to enjoy a nice night out with my family and after we decided to go take a tour of my dad's office/warehouse. Here we are looking all snazzy!

It looks like Shawn is ready for surgery or something.