Beyond Tired

I thank the man who invented camera's for times like these.....

One night after playing outside for almost four hours, we came in to eat dinner with James before he had to leave and half way through dinner Brock fell asleep. It was 5:30pm and he slept until 7am the next day. The pictures were priceless especially because he hasn't done this since he was about 18months old in a high chair.

Roller skating

Brock has been itching to learn how to roller skate. So for Christmas one of his presents was a new pair of roller skates from mommy and daddy. The best part about him getting a pair was that Aunt Sarah and Uncle Scott got Alyvia a pair for Christmas too. One thing we have always said about our little girl is that she is advanced beyond her years because of her big brother. If he can do something I guarantee she will try her hardest to do it also.

So a few days ago Brock really wanted to try his new skates out. So I went and got his and Aly's skates out and we went out to the back yard to try them out!

Alyvia's skates are perfect for her because it has stages so right now it's on stage 1 meaning all the wheels are locked up and she just walks with them, Brock after a few tries started to get the hang of it and really enjoys it. We did manage to go out to the front and don't worry they both had on all the protective gear (helmets, knee and elbow pads), but unfortunately my camera's battery decided to die right after the above pictures were taken.

So thank you again to Aunt Sarah and Uncle Scott for Alyvia's skates it made this experience that much more fun having both of them on skates! Now James and I need to go out and buy some skates so we can go out with them too.

Lee Canyon 1-16-10

Every winter we try to make it the mountains at least once so the kids can go sledding. Well this year we actually went twice. LOL On Wednesday James and I took the kids up the mountains to enjoy a nice day of sledding. Well that nice day turned into a nightmare. About half way up the mountain it started to snow. Mind you I did check the weather before we left and it said a chance of rain in the late afternoon early evening. Now 1pm is not late afternoon and it was snowing. We ended up on the Mount Charleston side of the mountain and realized there was no where to sled, so we stopped at the lodge for a snack and some hot cocoa. (That place is ridiculously over priced) By the time we finished it was starting to snow harder. We were heading back down to try to find a small spot to stop so the kids could play but there was nothing. Then we found the sign that said "This way to snow play area". It was the road that took you around the mountain to the Lee Canyon side. We weren't sure if we should but we did promise the kids they could play in the snow. Mind you it is still snowing. So James is driving of course and I am extremely nervous seeming how we are 8000 ft on the side of the mountains while its snowing. He says don't worry. All of a sudden the sky clears and it stops snowing. I can catch my breath again. As fast as it stopped it started again only ten times worse. We couldn't make out the road and could barely see the front of the car. I panicked and I think I was on the verge of a nervous break down. James finally couldn't endure the drive not knowing where the heck we were going and decided for our safety to turn around. We finally made it down the mountain and I decided then and their that I am not sure anymore about moving anywhere that it snows. I was terrified! I hope this is a fear the I will some day overcome but I was in an accident last year when it snowed so I'm sure the fear has something to do with that.

Luckily the weather forecast said the the weekend would be clear so we headed back up on Saturday with the neighbors. It was a lot of fun, not a whole lot of powder but enough that the kids spent an hour and half going up and down hills. We did have a scary moment when Brock didn't pay attention and went down the hill on which Aly was sitting directly in his path. Luckily James and Sherry(neighbor) reacted in time to stop a potentially dangerous situation. The drive was gorgeous though and we all had a great time. I was excited to see Alyvia enjoying the snow as much as all the boys did. She tried to trow snow balls and eat it even went down the sled a few times. Brock had a blast and it was nice he had his friends there to play with. The grown ups of course joined in the fun too and even threw a few snow balls at each other.

Next year I'm thinking we will try snow boarding with Brock while Alyvia either stays with naynay or plays in the snow. The bigger these two get the more things we are enjoying.

On our way to the mountains on Wednesday

Starting to snow!

Snow coming down harder

At the lodge it was snowing and raining

Our second trip to the mountains... beautiful!

Talon and Alyvia

Everyone getting ready to play

Road Trip To AZ!

Last week my mom and I decided to head out to Arizona to visit with my brother and his family for the weekend. It's so nice that they only live 8 hours away and we will be able to visit with them often instead of them living back in New York. This road trip turned into a nice adventure for us! I think my favorite part about it was just being with my mom and kids. It takes me back to when I was little and I so missed having those mother daughter moments. We left on a Friday late afternoon and headed out towards Laughlin. There was no way we were going to go to the damn because it was rush hour traffic and weekend traffic. My mom drove most of the way but let me tell you, I don't think I will drive that way again at night. Talk about curvy roads, all one lanes, bright lights coming toward you, yea I was definitely a little nervous. Anyways we also thought we should be smart and follow the nice gps system that her car has. Little did we know that stupid thing would make us drive about 60 miles out of the way. It was fun though and mom and I talked the entire drive. The kids did fabulous which I was super surprised about.

We finally made it to my brothers house about 3am. The kids got a little wound up seeing their aunt and uncle and cousins but we finally got everyone in bed about 4am. I was convinced the kids would sleep in but nope Alyvia was up by 7:30am. I was so tired!! We played in the living room for a half hour and then my niece and nephew woke up! Brock being the only smart one slept in till last possible moment.

For only being there for a day and a half we had a blast. Saturday we went to their aquatic park which is indoors and the kids had a blast playing in the water and going down the slides. Then we had a great dinner at Applebees. Sunday was a short day but my sister in law took us on a drive through the base. We went into a small museum about the history of the base, then headed to a park for the kids to burn some energy. Afterwards we headed to their military shopping store (can't remember what its called) and the kids all got a new pair of shoes. Aly and Kenzie had matching pink shoes and the boys got matching black shoes. We then headed home so the kids could play outside while we waited on the pizza guy to deliver our lunch/dinner.

The drive home Alyvia slept for the entire time, and Brock watched movies and played his leapster. It was a nice little mini vacation and the kids all had a blast. James and I are hoping to head down there again in March.

Christmas Day 2009

Ok so better late then never is so beginning to be my new saying! LOL So this year Christmas was better then ever! The best thing about this year was Alyvia was finally old enough to get excited about presents. Last year we started a tradition where my Mom and Chad and Jame's Mom all come over early in the morning and we sit around watching the kids open presents then we make breakfast all the while drinking our coffee with Bailey's. This year we were able to carry on that tradition along with James' Dad and brother coming over also. It was so wonderful to be with family on Christmas morning! Everyone started showing up around 7:30-8:00am and then we brought the kids down stairs and let them have at it. Surprisingly it only took then a little under an hour to get everything opened. Alyvia was so cute because she would take her time opening the presents and through her wrapping paper in the trash and then get excited over what it was. Brock was our typical little boy who just ripped into them. Haha the older they get the more fun this day becomes!

After breakfast everyone left but my mom and Chad. We all just sat around and hung out for a few hours before we had to go to Grandma and Grandpa Messner's house. Once we got there the kids had even more presents to open. It was fun watching our two kids play with there cousin Kaylee. We only stayed for a couple hours but had a blast. The three rugrats ran around like crazy kids with sugar highs!!

To finish off our night we ended up at my uncles house for Christmas dinner and more presents for the kids. I think this year the kids were just a tad bit spoiled :). The best part about dinner this year is we were able to spend the evening with my Grandma and Papa who flew in from Colorado. I was a fantastic night of eating, present openings, and lots and lots of laughter.

We couldn't have visualized a better Christmas and we were so blessed this year to be around most of our family. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!