SNOW DAY!??!

So, I find it just slightly amusing-- the school district cancelled school today because of snow last night- there isn't a thing on the ground in our neck of the woods and the sun is shining!! :) Last night though, it was REALLY coming down in some parts of the city- It's just that when you have lived in "REAL SNOW" this just doesn't seem like anything to cancel school over... HOWEVER- my kids are certainly NOT complaining! They were running around the house so giddy last night when we found out! It was way cute! I am sure they will remember this for years to come. I had to laugh as well when I was out shopping today every park I passed had NO snow on the ground, but about 100 snowmen!  All the snow had been rolled up into snowmen promptly as soon as the snow hit the ground!  TOO FUNNY!!!  It's cute! Right now Matt has taken the girls out on a search for a park with snow so they can go and play in it!!!! SUPER FUN! I have to admit that after almost 6 years here, I was pretty dang excited to see snow too!!! YEA!!! IT"S CHRISTMASTIME!!!

WEEK in REVIEW...

Its SNOWING in Las Vegas!  As one of my relatives said, "h___ really IS freezing over!! Ha ha... -- So on the way to take the kids to school this morning, I saw at least 3 people outside with their cameras taking pictures of the snow- yes, it is that rare of an occasion here! SO I decided to join in and document the occasion!  It's a rare thing that we pull out the "Utah" coats of yesteryear--We are soooo excited to see some snow!! We miss it around Christmastime, but other than that- we are fine living without it!  Especially driving in it!  That's another funny thing seeing the "Vegans" try to drive in the snow!  Anyway- now it finally feels like Christmas here!  YEA!!  

In other news:  RIch and Heidi welcomed Baby Natalie to Las Vegas last week!  YEA!!  She is so cute!  We have been to see her twice and she is just beautiful!  We are so excited to have a "girl" cousin in the ranks here in Viva!  Spence and Sammy came and played on Saturday and the girls had a great time with them!  They are so cute and so excited about their new sister "Madalie"  :)

Another update:  Matt went to the orthopedic surgeon last week to get the low down on his knee... it's a torn medial meniscus and YES, he will have to have surgery.  We are shooting for sometime in January- poor Matt!  It's been a bummer for him his senior year to be missing out on the sports, but we are hoping that if things go well, he can still run track!   So keep your fingers crossed for him!

I am recovering pretty well and feel about at 90% full capacity these days!~ YEA!!! It's great to be healthy again!  I have learned so much the past few months about patience and appreciation for the simple things in life!!  I have gained some new insight into "opposition in all things"  ~ It really is amazing how much I appreciate being able to be healthy!!  Thank you so much to everyone who helped me during this time- family members, friends, ward members and most of all DAVE- he has been awesome to put up with me and take care of me when I really needed it!  I LOVE YOU DAVEY!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS YA'ALL!!!  :)

KATIE'S CHRISTMAS CHOIR CONCERT AND LINDSEY'S FIRST ORCHESTRA CONCERT!!

Katie had her 5th grade choir concert last night- it was spectacular!  She had a speaking part and did so well!  We were very proud of her.  She has been working so hard-- going early to school to practice almost every day for the last two weeks and once a week before that.  She looked so cute and did a wonderful job! It was a really cute program.Lindsey had her first orchestra concert and it was awesome!  She is really enjoying the violin and we are proud of her for all of her practicing and hard work.  Her Grandma (who is an expert) says she has "the touch" and is a natural at it- go Linds!  So we have been having fun with all the December stuff- but WHOA~ is this month busy!  We are looking forward to the Christmas break! 

p.s. We welcome a new cousin today!  A new VEGAS cousin!  Congratulations Rich & Heidi!  We can hardly wait to get to the hospital and see her!! YEA!!! :)

GIRLS REVERSE and LINDSEY's birthday party

Today was "Girls Reverse" at Matt's school.  He went with Taylor Jensen.  They picked the boys up early in the a.m., had them wear the matching pajama pants they had made for them, then made them a great breakfast, decorated ginger bread houses, watched Elf and got stockings full of goodies... then they brought them home for a few hours and then picked them up again at 3:30.  This is when we got this dashing shot of the couple! :)  We will find out the rest when Matt arrives home later... I am sure it is going to be AWESOME!! :)

LINDSEY had her 12th birthday party tonight! WOW! Hard to believe she is going in YW! My little girl is growing up! She had fun birthday party~ thanks to her nice friends!!

 We had a pasta bar, salad and bread for dinner, the traditional B-day cake and ice cream and then LOTS of fun games...like a fruit roll-up eating contest, pass the life saver on a toothpick, balloon popping/musical chairs game, do you love your neighbor, a cotton ball/spoon game and Oh! so much more! (ha ha) It was fun and she has some really sweet cute friends who came and wished her a happy birthday!  We love Lindsey!  She is such a great girl!  She adds so much to our family.  She truly is the "peacemaker" in our family.  She is very helpful and always makes sure that everyone is happy. She is growing up right before our eyes into such a beautiful YW!! :)  We love her and are so proud of all that she is becoming!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY Monday LINDSEY!! We love you SO much!!

GOOD JOB Lindsey and Matt!

This week Lindsey was "student of the month" at school.  She was nominated by one of her teachers for being an outstanding student and was given a bunch of "freebie" stuff, a certificate and a special breakfast!  Lindsey is doing so well in Jr. High and had a perfect report card for the first semester!  We are so proud of her. She is a very diligent student! :)  Matt had his cross country banquet last night and even though he was out for most of the season with an injury he still lettered!  YEA!  Way to go Matt!  He loves all the kids on the team and had a great experience in his HS years running cross country!  This week he is doing varsity quiz competition. He is having a lot of fun with that too!  His senior year has been really great so far!  Good job you two!

Happy Thanksgiving one and all!  This year we find that we are all scattered about in both Dave and my families... we have family celebrating in California- L.A to S.F, Texas, Colorado,UTAH- St. George, Orem, Riverton,Pleasant Grove, NEVADA, Idaho, Arizona and NYC!!  We are missing you all at this time of year!  It's hard not being with all the family for TURKEY DAY! I shed a tear or two yesterday feeling homesick for family!  BUT THEN- We were SO happy to find out that Rich & Heidi cancelled their plans at the last minute to go to California (due to pregnancy precautions) and stayed here!!! YEA!  Now we're not alone!  Also a BIG thanks to our Bishop for his invite!  We have SO much to be grateful for so I thought I would have each of our family members say the TOP things they are grateful for:

Dave-- the gospel, family& friends that love us and my job.

Leslie-- health (medical care), my family, the gospel and a roof over my head.

Matt-- My family, the church & good friends.

Lindsey-- My family, friends, church, being happy.

Katie -- My family especially, good friends and a good school, the gospel.

Ellie-- My family, the church, my school, my house & my dog.

We realize that this is a very brief summary- the list goes on and on. Especially in the tough economic times we are in right now.   Here are some more ideas from the whole family. The Savior,  our educations, our parents teaching us correct principles, support from loved ones, love in our home, good childhood memories, good influences in our lives like our grandparents, our cousins, woodworking,aunts and uncles, family vacations, family reunions, a computer, a camera, Holidays, good health,the missionaries, going to the park, freedom of religion, being able to read, understanding who we are and why we are here, the scriptures, music, art,the piano, the beautiful world that we live in (nature), homemade food, having fun,warm beds, comfy pillows,clothing,learning, good teachers, brothers and sisters, living in the USA, a temple, a great bishop, people who help us, husbands/ wives, guitar,children, cleaning, cars that work, joking/laughing, work,the restoration of the gospel, play, phones, homemade rolls, turkey, pioneers, the pilgrims, the founding fathers, cooking,our prophet, rain,football, soccer, running,swimming,hiking, camping mountains, and that's just the tip of the iceberg!  You get the point!  

We are very grateful for all we have been blessed with!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

MY DAD

My Dad is so awesome. He drove down 2 1/2 hours from Cedar City to see me this morning.  He is 78 (almost 79) years old and was worried about me, so he got in his car at 6:00 am this morning and drove down here to check on me and see how I was doing.  He only stayed for a couple of hours because he doesn't like to drive after dark and needed to be home tomorrow.  It was so sweet and it moved me to tears as he drove away,  thinking "I don't know many Dads his age who would come so far just to comfort their "little girl" in a time of need".  I also can't help but cry when I think about the fact that he won't be here on this earth for a whole lot longer-- The house next door is for sale and I am doing my best to talk him into buying it!!! I hope I succeed!  I have truly been born of goodly parents!  Oh, how I love my parents. What a blessing to have parents who love you!  It's a feeling you never outgrow- SO- THANK YOU DAD!  You are the best.  I love you so much!!! You made my day!!!!!!!!!!!! 

EXCITING TIMES!

Tonight we are having an "investigator" over for the first discussion... we are so excited!  This has been a long time in the works and we hope that it all turns out.  We think the world of this person and really hope he accepts the message that the missionaries will give him.  Our whole family has been praying for this tonight and are very excited!

Tomorrow I am going in for my long awaited/dreaded surgery-- YIKES!  I am getting ready to join the "happy and hollow" club! 

We had a fun visit last week from Debbie & Rob and LeeAnn & Nathan!  It was fun to see them all and hang out together! Yea!  

The girls got to see HSM3 finally and LOVED IT!  Dave, Matt and I saw 007- good stuff. - It was a fun weekend! 

HALLOWEEN TIME!!!

Look at those "cat eye" glasses- see ya at the sock hop Lindsey!

Ready-okay- CUTEST CHEERLEADER award!

Oh- she is soooooooo mean looking! Don't mess with this pirate!

Our "awesome" Frankenstein cake--

The awesome Jack-O-Lantern Dave and the girls carved while Matt and I were boogie-ing.

The movie party on the tramp Thursday night- yea! It's the weekend!

Halloween started a couple days early for us this week. Wednesday was the tri-ward dance for our YM/YW. Matt looked "smokin hot" as a 50s "greaser". The dance was fun and even his dear old mom busted a move or two and Matt was kind enough to cheer for me instead of laugh at me! :) ha ha.

Thursday was the school carnival and party since we didn't have school on Friday! Katie was a cheerleader and looked so cute!(go-fight-win!) Ellie was a pirate- "arghh". They had a lot of fun at their class parties. Lindsey joined us there at the school when she got home from Middle School and she was able to visit some of her old teachers. She said that the elementary school seemed so small to her now! :) Thursday night Lindsey invited a couple of friends over and they watched a movie outside on the trampoline piled in blankets-FUN!!!

Then Friday we had a fun day~yea~no school!! We ran a bunch of errands and then spent the rest of the day making our chili for the ward party and our cake for the Cake decorating contest and lots of cupcakes for the cake walk. The trunk or treat was a lot of fun. Lindsey was a 50s girl and she said it was her favorite costume she has ever had (probably because she looked so stinkin cute in it!!) HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A good read

While I was sick I had a lot of time on the couch-- I read this good book that Pres. Tew gave to us. It is by Dallin Oaks' second wife, Kristen. It is about her life before she married him. She was single for 51 years. It is a really great book and applies to all of us ~ single or married... I really enjoyed it and recommend it - you can get it at Deseret Book...

An early Halloween visit from DRACULA- and more...

I'm back! WHOA... Anemia = THE BADS. Ever stop to think about how important each part of your body is? Well... me neither until I lost about 40% of my red blood cells... Being a nurse, I have always been so amazed by the human body~ each part of our bodies work together to keep us going, feeling good and operating correctly. If you alter any part of the body, it's so incredible what happens... needless to say, I found out the last 2 weeks how important these little guys are! I am thankful to be feeling better finally! :) I found out I am not a very patient person when it comes to being sick... a wake up call to appreciate good health.

So I have been taking iron pills - ouch! They HURT the tummy~ so I am looking for alternate ways to get iron -SPINACH and I are new best friends! :) I have been eating a bag of this a day... thankfully I LOVE it!! So- here's to good health, another thing to be grateful for! :)

Last weekend...

Last Friday night Dave took the girls camping - they went to Mt. Charleston with Rich, Heidi, Nikki, Jordan and Kids. They had a great time- they loved getting one LAST camping trip in before the COLD weather hit! But the cold weather DID hit while they were there! They woke up to snow! Although they were a bit chilly, they still had a great time roasting hot dogs, eating s'mores and being together! Yea Daddy! I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't get to go, but had a relaxing time alone at home.
HOMECOMING!

Saturday was Homecoming. Matt went with Julieann Ray. They had a really fun day. They went on a hike in Redrock in the morning and had a picnic lunch, then came home for a few hours, had their pictures taken, went to Maggianos for dinner, went to the dance and then went to Casey Stagner's house where they had set up a "carnival". They had a homemade mini golf course, a knock over the bottle game, an awesome "bounce house trampoline", cotton candy machine, popcorn machine, cakes, cookies etc... They had a great group of friends... Matt, Scott Albright, Casey Stagner, Trey McGhin, Zach Brasier, Jeff Buxton, Riley Creer, Mitch Morgan, their dates and a few others who joined the group late... SUPER FUN!! (Even though they froze just a bit!)

I am so thankful for Matt's great friends. He has such an awesome group of kids he hangs out with...

In other news-- Matt has been out with an injury for almost a month, after 3 doctors appointments and an MRI he has been told he has tibial bone marrow edema -- which means no stress fracture(yea!) but almost-- so he cannot run for another month. This has been such a bummer for him because he LOVES cross country and it has been so hard to sit out. The hope is, though, that he will be back in working order in time for wrestling next month!

-Lindsey and Katie are progressing in piano despite their teacher

-Ellie is reading up a storm and has found out that her forte in school is MATH~! She loves math and is very good at it! GOOD JOB GIRLS!!

Last Weekend and New Pictures of Kids

We had a great trip to Utah last weekend for braces...We also got a new kitchen table- YEAH! Thanks Cosi and Mark!! It was so much fun, even though it was quick, it's always great to be together. The girls had so much fun - Thanks to Cos and Alyson for Klambe!! Thanks to Bishop for the last minute tickets to GENERAL CONFERENCE! Dave, LeeAnn, Lindsey, Katie and I were able to go to the Saturday afternoon session ( the one where Elder Wirthlin was soooo hilarious) and then Matt and his three cousins (Garrett, Tanner and Josh)were able to go to Priesthood together. It was wonderful!! We loved it so much! None of us had EVER been! (except Dave) What a great opportunity!

We enjoyed the sour dough waffles, Maria Bonita, finding out what "color" we were and mainly just hanging out.

Conference was so inspiring! I came home with a renewed outlook on life--- what a blessing!

AND then we have our BEAUTIFUL new "fall" pictures courtesy of my great friend Jamie! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I love them so much! She is so talented and I can't help but be biased about how beautiful my kids look in them! :)

Thanks for the LIFT! :)

Although I feel a little bit weird about blogging this, I just want to share a few thoughts I have had lately.

I have been going through sort of a rough patch recently- emotionally, physically and spiritually and I just wanted to share that I am so thankful that Heavenly Father shows his love for us all the time, even when we don't feel like we are particularly at our best. He has shown his love for me lately through the following opportunities:

1. Our wards primary program. I LOVE the primary program each year. Ours was last Sunday and it was really wonderful to see my three little girls up there on the stand giving their parts and singing those beautiful songs. It touched my heart to see the beauty of children and their innocence and love for the Lord.

2. The General RS broadcast. OH! How I needed this! Every word that was said felt like it was just for me. I especially LOVED Elder Uchtdorf's talk - it spoke peace to my heart that I really needed. I hope you enjoy this quote as much as I did -- Thanks Nikki!! :)

3. A Stake YW training last night. My stake YW president, Sis. Deaver, is such an eloquent speaker and gave such a motivational talk last night. I came home with a new resolve to be a better leader, mother, wife and daughter of God.

I am so thankful to belong to this church where we receive these "LIFTS" that we need. It is so great to be able to have these opportunities to get spiritually fed and receive the reminders I need so often to keep on trying, to have faith, to work harder and to love myself and others more! WE CAN DO IT!!!! I can't wait for general conference!!! :)