Las Vegas has arrived

Well, I don't necessarily mean Las Vegas, but more the northwest part of Las Vegas because I'm very pleased to announce that Cafe Rio is opening soon. This will be the third location to open up but this is practically down the street from our house. And right next to Costco so you see where I'm going with this!!

Swimming lessons

We've started swimming lessons again, but with a pool, it's a necessity. And Kaylene is giving the girls their lessons this year so they love it even more. I don't think Kelsey cares one way or another, she's just happy to be swimming, but Katelyn wouldn't get in the water with some stranger. I only got pictures of Katelyn this time, more of Kelsey to come later.

She is not afraid of the water at all so we knew she had to have lessons this year, a year earlier than when Kelsey started hers, just because she thinks she can do anything Kelsey does. And she tries.

Her feet are kicking so fast under water.



I even think her eyes are open in this shot




I love this look on her face.

Practicing big arms

Learning to grab the wall.

She is such a little daredevil who is not afraid of anything. She jumps off the edge, goes under water completely and comes up smiling everytime.

Dad's stuff is always the best

One night after cleaning up from Dave barbequing we found Katelyn like this.

She is just too darn cute. She's lucky she's cute too!!

Our newest addition

to the yard. We've talked about getting one off and on and it seems we are on the same page at the same time, but we did it anyway. Dave did a bunch of research and checked everything out and then came home after work and said we were going to pick one up. We got it from Home Depot and it came with everything except the 4x4. All the other wood needed, it came with. The girls saw the box and were so excited, but I'm pretty sure they thought it was going to come assembled once we opened up the box. Much to their dismay, it didn't. But they were happy to help, just the same. It's almost a month old, but it's still new to them.


Staining everything to keep it nice a little bit longer.


And the girls were more than willing to help with paintbrushes just their size too.


This is one of the most prized possessions around our house. Kelsey and Katelyn fight over it. I have one for me upstairs for all my projects and they still run off with it.


It took all afternoon after staining to get it set up and by about 8 pm they could finally slide down. I had a meeting to go but when I got back it was almost complete. Look at how dirty her knees are and how tired her eyes look. But the smile was worth it.

The next day...


The ladder's not part of it, but it's the highest she's ever climbed.

See how proud she is

Kelsey is finally learning to pump. And Katelyn has a look of pure enjoyment on her face. For whatever reason, both my girls from their first trip to park on they both hate the swings. I should have counted my blessings back then.

Kelsey was unsure of this at first.

There is still a little fear in her eyes but she loves it now.

The finished product.

Although I've just saved myself having to run off to the park every chance they have some extra wiggles or energy to burn, I've now sentenced myself to hours and hours of pushing them on the swings. There is also the option for a sandbox underneath the tower, but we haven't told them that yet.

We interrupt this anniversary to bring you Supercross

We didn't know how true this statement would be after we got married. We were reminded on numerous occasions during our engagement and even at our reception that my brothers were missing the last supercross race of the year and that it's in Las Vegas every year. That should have been clue enough to us that we were in for it. And it's held true that every year the first weekend in May Supercross comes to Las Vegas and even a couple of times on our actual anniversary. And this year was no exception. Dave's company has suite tickets Sam Boyd Stadium, mainly for the football games, and with that come other events throughout the coming year, and it just so happens that's where the race is. Sometime in April they start calling to see if we know about the tickets or not and we usually get some but we don't even know that until the week of the race. This year we got all 6 tickets. We've gone a couple of times in years past, but with the girls ages, we've misses a few. So my family has gotten used to living the "suite" life and this year we took the girls and my dad, brother, and Alyson came too. We all had a great time.

Here we all are, Katelyn and her popcorn bag and all!!

To you, she may look bored and wanting to leave by sitting in the isle, but on the contrary, it's the only good place for her to see the motorcycles. We asked her to come back and sit by us all night long and that is where she remained. We expected security to say that she couldn't sit there, but they never did so she was quite happy.

It was never our intention to stay the whole time...until I took Kelsey to the bathroom before the last race, the main event and the real reason you go to the race. It was almost 10:00 and even though she had a nap driving out there, we didn't want them out till 11. I told her it was over and we were going to go home. And her response was this, "No, there's one more race, and I want to stay." She was so determined and her tone of voice was priceless, I couldn't help but laugh. And since Katelyn was still doing great (nothing a little popcorn and Mt. Dew couldn't cure) so we stayed. And they didn't even fall asleep on the drive home either. We'd like to think when May comes along that my family comes up to see us, but in fact it is for the race. I guess we're just an added bonus or something!! Or the grandkids are the bonus!! We love you guys and you are welcome to come up anytime you want.

Twilight trailer, again

Well, here is the official trailer for Twilight. For all of those planning to go see Speed Racer just to see the trailer for Twilight, now you don't have to. Girls night, here we come!!

Look what happens...

...when Kelsey has the camera. At least there are people in her pictures now. Before when she would run off with it, they would just be random shots of the couch, walls, really anything she looked at through the lens. I'd say she's getting better!!

Jesse and Alyson were in town for the weekend and since Alyson carries a camera around everywhere she goes, Kelsey picked up some tips from her.

She told Katelyn to smile and say cheese.

She told Katelyn to put the bracelet in her mouth. Such a good sport.

She even figured out how to turn the lens around and take a picture of herself.

The biggest bargain

While I was getting some shorts for Kelsey the other day I found this dress and thought it was so cute. And when I went to buy it, I was ecstatic to find it was $3. That's right, the tag showed it was $10 and I thought it was still cute enough to pay that but imagine my elation when I saw it was only $3!! I would have bought more if they had them.

Isn't she so cute? She loves it because she can twirl in it like Sleeping Beauty!!

My sweet, sweet girls!!

What's wrong with this picture?

The girls were outside riding their bikes the other day and here's what I came out to find.

And Kelsey said, "But I'm so cute on Katelyn's bike." Yes, she's cute, but what you couldn't see is Katelyn's feet don't even touch the ground while on Kelsey's bike!!

8 years down, many more to come

It's been forever, and it seems like it was yesterday. Well, not yesterday but not so long ago. I still think of us as the young newlyweds that embarked on our life together eight years ago. What a journey it's been so far and it's exciting to think of what is still to come. Two girls and eight years later it's hard to believe we've come this far. I wouldn't trade my life for anything and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I love you so much Dave and here's to the many more adventures that we have together. I took pictures of some since they weren't digital photos then.