Coastside

The day after Christmas we headed out to Oceanside, CA to visit Troy and Becca. We stayed in a timeshare and enjoyed the short visit. This met our goal of going to the beach, though it was too cold to do any wading:) But we saw some interesting animal life, including a seal and huge pelican.

Here we are on the boardwalk.

Cade enjoying the ride! His facial expression is worth noting.

Christmas Eve & Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve was an exciting one. We were all eagerly anticipating Shane's return! He actually walked in the door several hours before we expected him- so it was a great surprising reunion. Oh, we were so glad to see him. As you can see from the picture below, Cade was in the tub when he walked in, thus the towel:) It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.
Of course we had to do the traditional Nativity reenactment. Brinly HAD to be Mary, and enjoyed playing the part. Cade was Joseph- for a minute or two- but he looked really cute:) Lynds and Kate helped as well. They were great sports to do this with the kids.

Look at that cute couple!

Christmas Snow

Well, if you haven't heard, Las Vegas got snow- like 5 inches of solid sticking snow mid-December...quite the novelty here (30 years since it last snowed like this in LV). We were grateful to be here to enjoy it b/c we miss true winter! It so happened that just two days prior I had gone to Good Will looking for snow gear for the kids b/c we were traveling up to northern Utah a week later, and found snow suits! So, they were set, and played for a good couple of hours in the beautiful white wonderland. It made for a great memory- the only missing component was SHANE! But he was getting plenty of snow in Denver:)

Please ignore the snot on my son's face-- this was the only picture I could get of all of us.

Brinly making snow angels- she loved it! I think it spawned a few Virginia memories. She would have stayed out longer if I would have let her:)

Cade truly enjoyed the snow- except for the few times his mittens fell off and his hands were touching bare snow. He is warm blooded you know- he has lived in the heat most of his life. We was really cute...he's pick up snow and show it to me and say "See, see!" in a super high-pitched excited voice.

The snow kept falling all evening and into the night. By morning, about a third of it had melted and by the end of the day it was all gone except for in a few shadows. Loved it!

Christmas Festival

We tried to keep really busy while Shane was gone just to keep me from going too crazy. One weekend we went to the Henderson Christmas Festival. It was fun, but so windy that we didn't get to do as much as we had liked, but it was still fun for us.


Brinly and Cade both enjoyed the petting zoo IMMENSELY. Cade kept calling everything a doggy. Fun.

They also had a snow pit. Even though we were seriously lacking in proper snow gear, the kids enjoyed the ice mess:) I did get nailed in the face by a lovely strange child once.

Brinly enjoying the snow- she still remembers Virginia winters.

This was so humorous. Cade's first experience sitting on Santa's lap. I knew it would be rough b/c he was having serious stranger anxiety ever since Shane left, but it was shear horror for him. Brinly looks cute as usual. She was very excited to have the experience. This was at the Ethal M. Chocolate Factory, and they passed out free chocolates to all the kids after their photo.

We have enjoyed decorating a gingerbread house every Christmas. This year I wasn't up to making my own, even if that usually consists of graham crackers...so we went the Walmart route:) It turned out better than any of our previous houses...though it didn't quite taste as good. The kids definitely had a good time...mostly sneaking licks and candies.

One more

One more picture from the Children's Museum. This wind-tunnel was a popular place for the adults- we all had to try it. The winds went over 100 mph!

I would never have posted this picture- it is awful of me, but Brinly is super cute. Shane made me:)

FOREVER

I know, I know, I am so behind in blogging! It has been a crazy month. Shane left for Denver the day after Thanksgiving and returned on Christmas Eve- all for his first rotation (basically a condensed residency). Both of my kids were sick when he left, and seemed to get sick every week he was gone--making it a super long month! We were definitely glad to be reunited!!
So, now for catch-up:) At the beginning of November, Shane's sister's family came to visit. While here, we went to the Children's Museum. It was expensive, but the kids had a good time. That's why we went. Here are a few pics.

This is Brinly pretending to be an airtraffic controller. It was cute b/c they had all these different stations of make-believe and the kids really enjoyed the pretending aspect.

Another make-believe station. I thought Shane looked pretty darn handsome in that fireman uniform! Brinly is adorable as well.

Cade loved this just b/c he could play in water- getting himself entirely too wet for a November afternoon. It was to meant to build waterways to teach current and flow, etc.

Now, these peaked my interest- large bubble making equipment. Brinly is standing inside a ring of soapy bubble-making liquid and she can lower and raise the ring to form an enormous bubble around herself. We actually never got this one to work, but she had fun trying.

Another bubble thing. This one worked well. Shane seemed to enjoy it more than Cade- he liked popping it though:) It was a fun day!

New Additions

So, a few things have been added to our family. Last Friday we added a 2008 Nissan Sentra! Hooray for two cars! It is a a nice one and Shane is happy to have a car, as am I:)

AND... we are adding another little life to our family June 8th, 2009. His/her first pictures were taken last Thursday. We are excited, an anxious to get this pregnancy on the road--I've been pretty sick for the first two months, but it's getting better and better as time goes by. Brinly was really cute after we told her. We explained that it was a secret for awhile, and a few days later she came up to me (while sitting next to Shane) and sweetly whispered with excitement, "Mommy, is it okay if I tell Daddy you have a baby in your tummy?". I LOVED IT! So cute. Of course I told her yes, that was fine:) Now, if I could just figure out what to wear that fits around this pudgy looking/feeling belly! This inbetween point of regular and maternity clothes is hard for me. I am almost 10 weeks...

Happy Pumpkin Play

We enjoyed carving our pumpkin a few days before Halloween. It is the first time we've actually carved a pumpkin in in a few years (we've painted them in the past...just easier and safer with the kids). Nonetheless, this was fun. It turned out better than I thought:)

Brinly and Cade enjoyed lighting our witch-on-a-broomstick-jack-o-lantern

every night prior to Halloween. Very fun!