He's on Two Wheels!!!

Today Parker's Daddy took his training wheels off, and off he went!!! No wobbling or anything...he was up and down the sidewalk all afternoon!
Way to go Parker, you're growing up so fast!

The Great Pumpkin!

This weekend was our annual outing to one of the gazillion local "pumpkin patches"! Parker and Hailey had a great time in the petting zoo, sliding on the giant slide and being bounced high in the sky! Oh, and we got a couple of pumpkins too! I love the holidays!

My little sugar sitting with the "sugars"...
So cute!!
Parker and Hailey - she was pretty much ready to go!
Parker and his big brother...
The 4 of us sitting amongh the pumpkins...you wouldn't believe the hives I got from that bail of hay! Good thing I didn't grow up on a farm! :)

Happy 233rd Birthday!!!

Navy Birthday Ball 2008...
This past weekend, my husband and I helped celebrate the 233rd birthday of our beloved US Navy! What a birthday party it was! It was held at the Hard Rock Hotel here in Las Vegas and was attended by active duty, reservists, retirees, family, friends, and even the #1 in the Nation Centennial HS Navy JROTC unarmed and armed drill teams! It was awesome, as it always is. We celebrated the service of our fellow sailors, as well as all other members of every branch of service. Tears flowed as always, as we remembered those who have fallen, those who were currently away from their families in service of our country, and as we celebrated the return of those who have recently come home from long absences.
The next time you see a member of our armed forces, please remember to thank them for all they do!!!

Baby it's cold outside!!

Ok, so it was like 56 degrees! But for us desert tortoises, that's like arctic weather! It only lasted 2 days...and now we've returned to the 80's! Anyway, the kids were hilarious all done up in their winter gear to go out front and play, so I had to share their ridiculous pictures so everyone could have a good laugh at our non-tolerance for the cold! :)

Doing it up "Vegas" style!

Homecoming 2008!!

I'm so far behind on posts it's sad! Our family really has been plenty busy lately, maybe that's why I got so far behind! So here starts the update!
Two weekends ago, Brendan went to the Centennial HS Homecoming Dance! He had a great time and went with a great group of kids (since he's not officially "dating"). The girl he asked was a just a friend, but they had great fun. All 20 kids - yes I said 20!- met up at one house where they loaded onto an "eco-friendly" huge party bus! The limo driver took them all to the dance where they stayed long enough to take a picture or two. Then it was on to In-n-Out burger for dinner - so classy! Then they got to cruise the strip for a couple of hours listening to music, eating junk food, and having good, clean fun! Yes, this is how they do it in Vegas! His dates' mom was a little stressed about letting her little girl go out on this "party bus", because this was her daughter's first dance. But I assured her that, having raised a girl first, this is the "norm" for Vegas dances! The driver's are very professional and don't tolerate any rule breaking. In fact, this one gave all the parents his card with his cell number in case we wanted to call and check on them during the evening. Wow - I hope he got a big tip for dealing with 20 teenagers for 5 hours!!

School Days...

Today was a sad day at school for Parker. (I know he looks real sad right?) His friend Lena is moving away and today was her last day of school! Lena was his first friend in Kindergarten - she is such a sweetie - and he is going to miss her. So to make the day memorable, I took lots of pictures before school this morning, then I hurried home and printed them and put them in a little album for her to take with her to her new school. We didn't want her to forget us!!

Goodbye and good luck Lena!! We'll miss your sweet smile every morning! (and little Ava too!)