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:

Halloween 2010

We've had quite the Halloweek week. School pumpkin day, parties, kindergarten parade, Ward Church party and trunk or treat etc.

Rori and I attended the kindergarten parade at Kai's school. We got there a few minutes early and got to snap some shots as they were finishing up a project before the parade.





Kai loved having us there. They wandered the kids through the school in the parade and Kai seemed to enjoy it all. His teacher is wearing the 70's outfit.





Here is a shot of Rori with Kai's friends little brother and sister watching the parade. I thought it was neat that they all wanted to dress up too.



I thought the turn out at our Church party was pretty impressive. Kai's school carnival and this party were our first experiences of trunk or treating and I think I'm a big fan. The kids got lots of goodies, it was way faster, and it felt way safer. In addition to trick or treating they had dinner and all sorts of games for the kids. Kai loved having his 3 buddies from kindergarten class to run around with that all go to our Church. As an added bonus they invited their other friend from kindergarten class who doesn't go to our Church and he and his family came. So Kai was loving life with his good buddies playing games and trunk or treating. Rori was super cute as she did her best to keep up with Kai and the boys most of the night. Kai is very sweet and patient with her in return. I am very grateful for their close bond.














*Note how Rori is directing the other kids at the cake walk. :)

By the time Halloween actually rolled around we were pretty over it. We decided to conclude things by handing out candy tonight and call it another successful Halloween minus the traditional trick or treating. The earlier events in the week had supplied us with full buckets of candy so we weren't hurting for more.

Kai was actually really excited about handing out candy so I've been really hopeful that we might actually get a knock or two. I was nervous though due to several factors like this is a long holiday weekend with no school, Halloween is on a Sunday, and we now live in a gated neighborhood and there don't seem to be a ton of kids around. Plus people here seem to be gravitating more to the trick or treating at malls thing. Thankfully after a slow start we've had a few knocks to make everyone happy.

Here are a few favorite shots when the kids were first trying on their costumes. Rori just kept saying "pretty" as she admired her outift in the mirror.





And one final photo of Rori that makes us laugh in all her 2 year old glory.

Pumpkin Carving 2010

Last night we worked on carving pumpkins as a family. It was fun to see Rori old enough to really get more in to it this year. Lance carved one pumpkin under the direction of Kai. The other pumpkin we attempted to carve Mickey Mouse with the use of a stensil. We think they turned out pretty fun.