Pictures Pictures EVERYWHERE!

So I started organizing my 13,000 photos this year, and now I have compiled them into one area on my external hard drive. After talking to my sister Courtney, she gave me a really good idea. After every month I am going to print out the few pictures that I like and put them into an album. This will be a new years resolution for me : ).

I'm going to achieve this goal by going to get an album this week, and after I print them I'll put them into the album right away. I think I'll go to Costco. They have some nice big albums. Hopefully I can achive this, since I think it would be nice to have an album for the whole year.

Christmas Time!

Christmas was a fun one this year! Especially all of the activities we did before the big day. We made Santa's Cookies, which were especially yummy - we had to try them before giving them to Santa of course!!!




Connor and Aaron have been great this year, and it's fun to have a bunch of new toys to play with around the house. It is especially funny watching Connor play with his "army guys" and you're not allowed to fight with them!



We are ready for a new and exciting year. Glad I get to spend the week with the boys with nothing scheduled! No school! Yay!

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT!

Oh how I love the holiday season, especially when we get to celebrate it with the boys. Connor IS the spirit of Christmas, and it makes me so happy to see the joy it brings to his soul. Funny enough, it rubs off on Aaron, so I am surrounded by joy (most of the time)!

I'm so glad I finally bought a toy manger that the boys can play with, since every year we seem to lose a glass piece by it being dropped and broken. Last year we lost Mary, so I knew it was time to get a new one this year. It's funny though, Connor moved the whole set next to the Christmas tree, and I didn't get it until he showed me this picture on the front of the box:



Here are a few things that we have done to kick of the holidays with the kids.

First we had a little party at our house with a couple of friends, especially to say hi to Connor's & Aaron's friends Layla and Willow visiting from Washington.






Then we hit the street for the Christmas Parade last weekend. Even saw Santa at the top of the Fire Truck!






That evening we hit the theater - a take on Christmas Carol...good thing it was outdoors and short! After we went for a walk down Water Street and took a look at the huge light displays they had set up.






Next, instead of heading to the Polar Express at the Grand Canyon in Arizona this year we decided to just play it low-key and go to the Santa Train in Boulder City. I think next year both boys will be ready for the Polar Express.








This weekend we have a breakfast with Santa planned. Whew!

We have been watching all our favorite Christmas movies - The Grinch, Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph, Frosty... Connor wants to keep decorating the house, especially after watching ELF with Will Ferrel in it. He sure was great at decorating places - you have to admit!

So spread cheer one and all, and don't forget to sing Christmas Carols on Christmas Eve!

SANTA CLAUSE IS COMING TO TOWN!

Girls night out...with a twist!

Last night I had girls night out with a couple friends of mine, one who is visiting from Washington. We decided to go to the strip for dinner at Maggianos at the Fashion Show Mall, and try to get to Stoneys or Gilleys afterwards. It ended up that we had too much catching up to do to go to the bar afterwards, since we spent about 4 hours at dinner chatting away. If any of you know Jackie, Lluvia and I we are all big talkers so you can only imagine getting us all together.

It was so nice to get away and just catch up with girlfriends. We really enjoyed the time we had at dinner, and eventually realized that it was creeping closer to 11, and Jackie had to go to work the next day. So we wandered aimlessly, all while talking, looking for a way down to the parking garage.

We got into an elevator and realized that it didn't go down. A man and woman were in the elevator with us. We laughed it off saying we were trying to get to the parking garage, and that we had gotten into the wrong elevator.

The man stepped out of the elevator with us and said he knew how to get to the garage and he would point it out. We thanked him, but quickly realized that he was drunk, or something was off with him.

Instead of pointing out where to go, he just kept walking with us, and asked if we had any money. At that point we thanked him and said we could manage. We hurried up some stairs to get back into the restaurant, and behind us we saw that he was following us up the stairs. That's when we began to get a little freaked out. We hurried into the restaurant, and Lluvia decided to use the restroom. We looked out the window, and there he was peering in! Then he made his way past the windows and down another staircase.

When Lluvia got back, we decided to use the elevators from the restaurant to get down instead of wandering outside. We went down to the parking level and we were a little nervous, since we knew that "Shady Guy" knew where we were going! We peeked out of the opening elevator doors and the coast was clear, but after taking a few steps out of the elevator I hear Jackie say, "He's HERE! SHADY GUY!"

We shot back into the elevator before it closed, thinking his hand would stop it from closing before we were safely inside. Thankfully we weren't in that movie and the door closed without a problem. We sat in the elevator for a minute, then realized that we should push a level before he opened it's doors. We ended back up in the restaurant. After frantically talking to our husbands on the phone, who didn't completely understand what the big deal was, we decided that we should ask an employee to escort us to our car.

Then we ran into about 10 guys that were going down to the garage. We explained our story about "Shady Guy" and they kept saying - How do you know we're not shady guys? - jokingly. They kindly took us to our car, and were really let down that they didn't get to see "Shady Guy". He was no where to be found!

So our girls night out got a little more exciting towards the end, but luckily it ended good, and we all got home safely!

Big Boy Underwear!

Potty Training - the dreaded milestone that is a hurtle that every parent has to overcome. It's something that's hard while it's going on, but after it's over seems like it took no time at all.

We are at that starting point with Aaron. He's actually asking to go in the toilet since his big brother is already going to the bathroom. Connor has been very supportive telling Aaron that he should not pee on the ground, but needs to go in the toilet when he feels like he has to go. Connor gets very matter-of-fact when he's trying to teach Aaron something.

Aaron loves wearing undies, and does understand when he gets wet that there's a problem, but it also takes me to be more persistant after every time he drinks to go to the toilet 10 minutes later. He's really doing a good job though, and I'm sure he will be trained soon (after a few more accidents). I'll keep you posted!

Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon

I set out on a mission a few short months ago, and I'm happy to say that I lived through the 1/2 Marathon! I remember when my friend Jackie asked me to run in it with her. She kind of tricked me into it - building my confidence up saying it really was an attainable goal - but I've always wanted to run the race down the strip, so it was a good goal for me.

I mentioned it to my Mom and asked if she wanted to walk it, and my Dad jumped on the opportunity to join in. He's always loved to run, so this was something he would be good at.

In those six months I ran another 5K, and 10K to prepare, but nothing would come close to the run on December 5th.

The race day approached, and my Dad got injured. He was afraid he couldn't race with me, but he said he'd still come out and support me. I didn't realize how bad his injury was, but somehow he slowly started training again, and he wasn't sure if he could do it on race day. A few days before the race my Dad came into town and he just kept grimacing when he saw the strip.

"Ugh," he would sigh, "This is so stupid, can't believe we're doing this! What a horrible view!" Inside I was feeling the same way. (We would have to run from the Mandalay bay to Freemont Street - the old strip - and back. So basically the entire strip and back.)

Race day finally arrived, and nerves were getting to us all. It didn't help that we were in Corral 30, which didn't start until 45 minutes after the race began! We waited in anticipation and our feet began to ache from standing so long. When we finally approached the starting gate, we were really pumped clapping to The Blues Brothers on a stage set above us.

We saw the countdown "5...4...3...2...1 - GO!" That was so exciting. There's something about running a race with over 30,000 people in it! Ok - well - it was crammed. Within a minute I found myself being pulled between Jackie trying to break through the crowd, and my Dad, who wanted to pace himself. I told Jackie we would run the race together. So I tried to keep up, and soon I lost my Dad behind me. I knew that he didn't want to be pressured because of his injury, so I just figured it was for the best. My Dad wouldn't want to push his way through the crowd anyway.

The first 5K flew by! I saw my family cheering for me as we approached the MGM bridge. They were holding a bright yellow banner that said, "KEEP GOING!" We started out at a 10 and 1/2 minute mile pace! So we were doing well. We decided not to stop at the first and second drink stations, and after our 10K we finally took our first break. I tried my first GU (tasted like vanilla icing), and drank a Gatorade-like yellow drink.

We were back off in seconds. Right around mile 7, when we realized the turnaround was a 2 mile block, pain started to set in. My joints - knees and ankles - began to ache. We stopped again at the 9 mile station and GU'd and Gatoraded. We were off again. Right around the 10 mile mark I began to hit a wall. Ugh...how long would this take!!!??? We stopped at the next drink station again. I told Jackie it would be our last stop.

Jackie always pushed herself at the end, and I didn't want to hold her back, so I really started pushing it. Jackie re-assured me that the last mile we would be so excited that we would feel much better about finishing and gain some energy back. Once we hit that last tenth of a mile I was really hurting. I turned to Jackie, and she promptly said "I LIED!"

We actually ended up doing the last 5K at a faster pace, since I really pushed it for Jackie's sake.

Overall we got a time of 2 hours 25 minutes and 44 seconds. I was really proud to finish that race, and feel like I accomplished my goal.

My dad finished in 2 hours and 44 minutes, with no injury problems.

I was sore until today, but the pain was worth it in the end. I did it.

As I drove my Dad back to the airport to fly home, he took one last look at the strip, and said, "Wow, isn't that's a beautiful view!"