Football

Different teams but same color shirt!! We freeze our buts off but everyone has a good time so we just bundle up, endure to the end and cheer loud when they get a touchdown!!

Run or Dye

Since our last Christmas was kinda crazy with moving to Vegas I decided that this year needed to be better!! So when Ann told us about a Christmas - Run or Dye - 5K I knew the boys would love it & thought it was the perfect way to kick off the Holidays!! We had to wake up super early to get out to Sam Boyd Stadium in time. We bundled up in our best Christmas attire and off we went to run in 35 degree weather!! When we first got there I first thought what are we doing? only crazy people run in cold weather! (must be the desert rat in me!) but once we got moving it was perfect!! The kids had fun slapping hand prints on runners passing by and on each other!! Who new it could be so fun to get so dirty!!

Thanks

In the morning at Mrs. Parkers Dustin made a cool headband with the longest Indian name ever on it!  Running kicking-jumping off a cliff, land on my feet SKUNK!! He would not smile for the picture he said Indians don't smile!
Later in the day Dustin's Kindergarten class did a cute program called "Pie & Poetry" in honor of Thanksgiving!! There's nothing cuter than a bunch of six year olds singing! It's an added bonus that we got some yummy pie too! Dustin kept looking and waving at us to make sure we were watching him!

I'm not sure how this happened, I thought for sure we wouldn't be hosting Thanksgiving for a while! Than we had to go and move into a big house again!! Oh well it's fun to get together and even more important for the cousins to bond and get to know each other!! The only bad part was the downstairs toilet almost overflowing and the upstairs toilet actually overflowing while Darin was "black friday" shopping in Mesquite!! This old house just couldn't handle all the bathroom visits, looks like we'll be changing all the toilets sooner than planned!!

Tickling the Ivories!

11-26-13 Dillon's piano teacher Joshlyn took Dillon back and today was his piano recital! He didn't do so well, he had to play without his book and he froze half way through! After the recital Dillon was upset that he had messed up but Mrs. Widdison's husband came over to Dillon and told him that he plays the piano during sacrament and that he messes up sometimes! He encouraged Dillon to keep playing and told him to practice hard!! I thought it was cool he wanted to comfort Dillon!!

San Franscisco

Cord was doing some training for K-9 in San Francisco so we jumped on a plane and joined him for the weekend when he was done! It was raining and our flight got cancelled but they were able to switch us to a different flight that flew into Oakland so we were able to have a fun weekend in a cool city, eat yummy clam chowder, go to Alcatraz, and get scared by a bum!!

Speed Meet

Veteran's Day 11-11-13 The valley does a veteran's day parade every year! There's not a lot that goes on in this town so when there is you better believe that everybody shows up!! I'm so thankful for every soldier that has ever served in any war and fought for our freedoms!! God Bless America

#1 Fastest kid in 2nd Grade!!

11-7-13 The P.E. Teachers from Bowler, Perkins, Virgin Valley & Bunkerville put on a Speed Meet at the Fairgrounds! They took the four fastest boys & girls from each classroom to run the different events! They practiced for a whole month before and Degan would come home and say how he couldn't beat Lucas or that he almost beat Lucas that day!! The day before the race Darin gave him a pep talk about visualizing in his mind winning and giving it your all!! On the day of the big event he came in first on his race, than when they did the top runners from all the races he had to run against Lucas. Degan didn't come in first but he beat Lucas because Lucas said he twisted his ankle and couldn't run fast!! Lucas wouldn't finish the next race and Degan was upset that he didn't win and started complaining that VV was cheating by jumping the whistle! Darin thinks Degan does better under pressure because he's competitive!! Good Job Degan!!

P.S. Darin bought Degan some running shoes in hopes they would help him run faster!!

Nelson Nevada

11-2-13 This years family pictures were out at Nelson Nevada! It's a really cool place with totally random things scattered all over the place! I've been wanting to go out there for a while and Monica said she would go if she could get at least four families to photograph! Easy peesy I just called up LeAnn, Jenean, & Jody and bam four families!! Dax was a little difficult but we managed to get some good pics!!

Camp Run-A-Muk

11-1-13 Turning 8 is a big deal so what better way to celebrate this milestone than by having a party with your buddies! Degan has a lot of friends so he had a hard time choosing only 5 friends but he managed to narrow it down to Breckan, Jesse, Cannon, Lucas, & Mason! We picked the boys up from school, had a snack, played some games, they rolled in the sand, we had a campfire, watched a movie outside, had hot dogs and cake than took them home!! It was a perfect party for a bunch of boys!

My little Pumpkins!

10-31-13 This year Darin hooked up the trailer and we borrowed some bales of hay from Todd and off we went trick-or-treating with the Andrew clan and the Staton boys!! The kids had so much fun cruising around the valley on their little float! It was nice not having to open and close the doors and hear them scream at each other for stepping on feet, hands, or candy bags! Now they want to do it every year

Degan's Day!

10-25-13 Kevin's funeral was today and I'm still in disbelief that all this even happened. I'm sad that Jestin & Derrick lost a best friend but I'm mostly sad that him & Grandma Waters never made up. It just goes to show you that life is way to short and we need to show the ones we love how important they are to us! The funeral was nice Dave & Casey Davis gave wonderful tributes to him and told some very funny stories! I wish I had gotten to know Kevin better but I do have fun memories of going to their house for different parties and playing games!! He will be missed, but I'm sure Rodger & Grandpa were happy to see him!

Dax & I walked with Dustin's class to the pumpkin patch! It was super windy so I had to carry Daxton the whole way there and the whole way back! OK I'm exaggerating but it sure felt like it!! Dusty picked out the biggest pumpkin, it's a good thing they don't have to carry them back because he wouldn't have made it!!

10-28-13 Degan turned 8 today!! I picked him up from school and took him to Tiffany's for a sandwich and a shaved ice and than later that day the Kelly's had their annual pumpkin carving party so we went and filled our bellies with lots of good food and visited with lots of cool people!!

Grandma Smith is the best!

10-17-13 (Grandparents Day) My mom thought she was going to get out of going to grandparents day this year but we decided to not let her off the hook so we moved back and her she is again!! So happy she never disappoints these boys they look forward to having breakfast with her every year! It's just a bonus that she spoils them and buys them stuff at the book sale!!

10-19-13 (yard sale & sick kid) Jim & Carla were having a yard sale so she told Dillon & Bailee to make a bunch of treats & hot chocolate to sell to help raise some money to get to Sea Camp! (We decided that they each needed to raise $100 to make one of the payments) It was hot so the hot coco didn't sell very well and I guess most people don't like to help kids raise money because we ended up having to move locations down by the dollar store and going door to door to get rid of all the treats!! I'm glad we made them work to get there so maybe they will enjoy the trip a little more!!
During the day I had to take Degan to the doctors because he was complaining that his throat hurt and I could see white spots on his glands and sure enough he had strep throat. Poor thing was in so much pain.

A Hunting we will go!

10-13-13 / 10-16-13 A cold but successful hunt for Darin!!

No Way!!

10-16-13
Dillon is growing up way to fast! In some ways this whole growing up process makes me sad but in some ways I'm excited to see what the future hold for him! He's a very talented kid, he's hilarious and fun to be around! He chose to go to Idaho back in August with his Dad so that was his birthday present!!