Christmas Is Coming..Vegas Style

The excitement level for Christmas is high at our house these days. The Elf on the Shelf made his appearance at our house again this year starting on December 1. Kai was anxiously awaiting his arrival for weeks. Every morning he races out of his room to find "Elfie". He's even made him some gift and notes to take back to the North Pole. Rori waves goodbye to him and yells out "Bye Elfie" every time we leave the house. Elfie has found some pretty awesome hiding spots this year in the new house- like up on the highest windowsill which is probably about 13 feet up. We found him here on the Christmas tree the first morning.





The kids also got personal email videos straight from Santa himself (courtesy of Portable North Pole). We highly recommend this free website. It was a big hit with both of them.



We've also been having fun finding ways to experiencing the holidays here in Henderson for the first time. We got a tip that there is a neighborhood just a few minutes from us that puts on a big light display. We drove through it last weekend and then decided to go back and walk through it on Monday night. We all thought it was pretty neat.













Kai and Rori got a package from Great Grandma and Grandpa Michael in the mail a few days ago that had some fun holiday stuff in it. The neatest part was it had a The Night Before Christmas book in it that has their voices reading the story as you turn the pages. Kai had read it at least 20 times a day everyday since. Thank you great grandma and grandpa!



I got to cut out 50 gingerbread men for Kai's school. Can you say hand cramp?



Kai has been begging to make christmas cookis so we got out our Christmas cookie cuters and lots of sprinkles one night and went to town.



We can't wait to continue the fun over the next few weeks!

One Semester Down

Lance turned in his final papers for his classes last week and then finished grading exams for the class that he helps in over last weekend. So now with just work on his plate we are all excited to have a little more time with him over the holidays. Today we even got to go to school with him to drop off the exams he graded and have lunch. It was a lot of fun to see where he has been going these last few months. Kai thought it was great to see Dad's school and thought the food court area was pretty awesome. Lance seems to be really enjoying his program and we continue to feel very grateful for this opportunity.

Family Photos

We finally got some real family photos taken and we're thrilled to have them. The best part was we found out about the girls who took and edited them through our friends here. They are just starting up a photography business and were looking to build up a portfolio. We were happy to help and thrilled to get some fun ones out of the deal. I was nervous about if Rori at age 2 would cooperate or not (or maybe not even smile the whole time), but she actually did pretty well. Another major positive of this was we did it first thing in the morning and were done in about an hour without feeling rushed and even changing locations a few times. Big thanks to C Squared Photography! If you need some pictures taken in the Vegas area look them up! Here are a few of our favorites:

They've Got A Secret...

...they are going to be getting a little brother or sister at the end of May. Everyone is excited and doing well- especially now that we have made it past the inital weeks of feeling slightly green.

We've decided to keep the gender of this one a surprise so that should be fun. So, we're starting to take name suggestions since we will especially need ideas due to needing a boy and a girl name.

After we told the kids we talked about it all for a little bit and then asked them what they thought. Kai's response in a very matter of fact voice was "I think we can handle it". We laughed and laughed.

O' Christmas Tree

We made a quick transfer to Christmas by Friday. Friday night we went and saw the HUGE Christmas tree at the District official lighting. In classic Vegas fashion it was accompanied by some good pyrotechnics. There were lots of people which meant that we ended up with Kai and Rori on our shoulders for better viewing but it was pretty neat. Then Saturday night we got our Christmas tree all set up and decorated. It is fun to see the lights and be greeted by its smell when you walk in. I've switched the radios to Christmas music, we've been putting the fireplace to use, and the weather has been contributing by being in a cool spell. We're getting excited for the holidays!

Thanksgiving 2010

Grandma, Grandpa, and Whitney came to visit us for Thanksgiving. We hadn't seen them since August so we were super excited to have them. We had a great time and got to do lots of fun things with them like visiting some of our favorite restaurants, doing some shopping, lots of playing and chasing games, making some holiday projects, kid show and football watching, going to see the movie Tangled, and on and on! Grandma and I even went and volunteered at Kai's classroom Thanksgiving Feast while Grandpa watched Whitney and Rori one day. Our Thanksgiving meal was yummy and we enjoyed sharing some of our new favorite dishes with them. We were all sad to see them go but it sure is nice to have them come visit. Thanks for making the trip!








*Rori is not in these Santa pictures per her strong request to not get near the big guy in the red suit. Thus, Kai had lots of time to get in his serious and detailed requests.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Lance's official birthday. Kai did a great job keeping everyone informed that it was his Dad's birthday- including people like the grocery store cashier. We took him some lunch and cheesecake at work and then made him dinner and a cake for home. Kai put himself in charge of the cake decorating and worked very hard on his masterpiece. It ended up being pretty yummy! Hope you had a good birhthday L!

Philadelphia Trip

Lance and I spent this last long weekend in Philadelphia. He was attending a Legal History conference there with one of his professors. We had a free flight voucher that we needed to use by the end of the month so we decided to have me join him. It was fun to get away and spend a little time celebrating his birthday.

This was the first time we had left both kids overnight ever and I think we did quite well. Lance's Mom and Dad came down and watched them here in Vegas for us which was so nice. They seemed to have had a blast and did all sorts of things that we have yet to do here.

Here are a few pictures of us exploring the historical sites in Philadelphia taken with Lance's cell phone:

Our 1st Trip Back

We headed back to SLC for the first time since we moved over long Veteran's Day weekend. We were super excited for this trip and it was great. We stopped in Cedar City for a dinner break on the way there and got excited by the rush of cold air and snowflakes falling. The kids did well on the drive- thank you DVD's!

In Salt lake there was still a little color on some of the trees and there were hints of winter coming soon in the cool air and snow on the Mountains. It was strange to have some moments where we felt like we hadn't been gone at all. We had been a little nervous about the trip making us homesick and it did make our hearts long to be back there, but we also left feeling that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing for right now.

We had a great time seeing family and friends and are already looking forward to our next trip back.

Cousin Loving:






Working on Christmas Crafts with Grandma:




Kai and Mom's Walk Around the Neighborhood: (Daddy was studying and Rori was napping)







Fort Building with the Wilkinson's:




On the Way Out with Their Grandma Candy Bags: