Our Mornings

Wanted to share our mornings with everyone. While I am cleaning up breakfast Halle goes outside and rides her bike... and Bennett cheers for her. This is what Bennett sees every morning,

and this is what Halle sees every morning.

My new club

Am I serious? Yep I am! After weighing the pros and cons we decided to get rid of our cell phones. I know! It is crazy! But you know what, I find myself doing so much more now that I don't have a cell phone. I talk to my kids in the car, we sing in the car...I spend a LOT less time on the phone at home, AND the best part- (well kind of) if we are on a family outing....we can't be disturbed by the phone. It is SO much cheaper to just have a home phone and just seems like a simpler life that we are leading. You ask what happens in case of an emergency? Well that would bring in our handy dandy trac phone... it has a total number of minutes on it and we can just use it! Why am I announcing it publicly on a blog? Well, after speaking with a dear friend today she decided that we should announce it on the blog AND start a club for those that don't have cell phones! So, If you don't have a cell phone let me know because we will get t-shirts made...and matching scrunchies too.

Mandalay Bay

When my mom was here last week she took the kids and I to the Mandalay Bay aquarium (who knows if I spelled that right) and it was great! You got to get really close to the animals and they actually had a lot of them there! We got to see a Komodo dragon (the highlight for Halle), crocodile, sharks, jellyfish, all sorts of fish, and we actually got to pet the stingrays!! We had so much fun with my mom here if only she could have stayed longer than 2-1/2 days but we are looking forward to the next visit!!

Date Night

(Last week)
My husband called me on Monday afternoon and asked if my mom would mind watching the kids (she was coming in town for 2 days) on Tuesday night because he had a fun date idea. He wanted to surprise me so I had NO idea what we were doing! We pulled up in front of the Hard Rock Casino so I figured concert... but I had no idea we were going to see.........

Yep, (if you can even tell who that is) Colbie Caillat! We were about 3 people from the stage it was SO amazing! Jason Reeves opened for her (please look him up on itunes or youtube!) he was GREAT! If you are a fan of Colbie it was neat to find out that her, Jason Reeves, and Jason Mraz all grew up together writing songs!! The best part of the whole night... it was free! When you live in LV you can become a member of this tickets program where you pay $89 to join and at last minute they will post that a certain performer or concert needs more people so you "grab" (via email) the tickets and just show up. Dustin's bud at work is in it and he has a membership for 4 tickets and grabbed tickets for us. We are joining so if you will ever be in the area let us know we can get you tickets to shows and if you already live here let me know if you are interested because we would LOVE to share tickets with everyone!! Dustin's bud has seen Blue Man Group, he saw Gavin when he was here a couple of days ago... so many fun things to do and all sorts of concerts are always available!

I do have such a sweet husband who knows I would love this kind of thing...and then to surprise me.... even better!!

Safari Time

Here we go with Safari pictures...we have over 800+ pictures from our adventure. (Don't worry I won't be sharing that much!) We flew there on a 12 passenger plane- got set up in our tents, and then went on our first safari. Here is the first day in pictures!

This was the plane...it was beautiful to see outside but you got "airsick" really easily.

The tent we stayed in...it really wasn't much of a tent. It has running water (bathroom and toilet), a queen size bed... and the best part was that it was on the edge of the wilderness. Our first night there we were laying in bed when we heard scratching on our tent (I thought it was Drew trying to scare us) so I asked him in the morning and he had no idea what we were talking about!! When we asked a guard he said it was either a hyena, a monkey, or a hog. (yeah...that didn't make me nervous one bit!) The guard said that they get through the electric fence a lot (Jurassic park anyone??). Luckily we didn't hear anything after that the rest of the trip!!

The lions were beautiful! We saw one going out on our first Safari- and there is NO zoom used in this picture. Often we would drive up close enough so you could stick your hand out and pet them... although you would not want to!

The elephants you stayed a ways away from..our guide said that they were very aggressive.

Finish of Ethiopia

OK, so we have some pictures finally!! I went and got my camera developed (I know old fashioned huh) and here are some pics. I am going to do a recap of everything we did just to share. Today, I am going to finish up Ethiopia. Here are some of my favorite pictures...check back tomorrow for a start on Kenya!!
Grocery store that we went to

Which one of these is not like the other...

And just some pictures of the beautiful people.





And, along the way if you have any questions please feel free to ask!!

Frustrating

It is Sunday afternoon, and the house is silent. Everyone is asleep so I figure I can get some "stuff" done...you know reserve books for reading at the library, upload new pictures to snapfish (they are having a 1cent per picture sale right now)...you know stuff that you just want to get done!! Well, snapfish is expeirencing difficulities (bummer) get to the library sight and realize that i have no idea what my pin number is that i set up this week...bummer #2. Oh well...

Birthday crazies

Halle had quite the birthday party last night (whew) she is a ball full of energy...a huge ball full of energy! We enjoyed having Jean and Russell celebrate her birthday with us and only wish that more family could have been here!


The birthday cake (thanks Deya for the idea!)

Yes her hair is whipping from pure excitement!


The big helper...such a stud muffin!

The princess dress...that she wore all last night, and all this morning.

Nothing new

Nothing too big going on. We did have a wonderful 4th of July but of course forgot the camera (real bummer). We are very lucky and have our first visitors with us this week-Jean and Russell are here in Vegas on vacation so we get to see them!! They came to church with us yesterday and will be coming over to celebrate Halle's birthday on Wednesday with us!! Halle has asked for a Belle birthday cake so I have to get working on that...hopefully I get some good ideas coming soon! This is just a picture from yesterday- we have found that Bennett LOVES macaroni (who wouldn't??) I will post more pictures soon!

Halle is trained!

Ok, so after all my complaining yesterday Halle didn't have a single accident yesterday afternoon/evening and then today didn't have a single accident!! So maybe it was worth waiting until she was almost three. Just tonight we were at Home Depot and she told me she had to go...we ran across the store...and no prob!! Mind you I am sure that just because I say this we will have accidents tomorrow...but today was GREAT!!! THanks for all the love and advice!!!

First Day

Today is Dustin's first day working at UNLV which means that I return to being the only parent at home. I started potty training Halle yesterday...not going so hot...I thought it was suppose to be easier if I waited until she was about 3?? It seemed easier when I tried last time I just gave up... (note to self for next one) she is doing ok today. It REALLY didn't help that 20 minutes after D left for work a migraine came on...so I had Halle in panties running and of course peeing around the house, Bennett crawling around chasing her (yep gross), and me laying on the couch after self medicating with Advil and a cold washcloth. Days like these I wish I had a mom around...