Vegas, baby!

John and I were supposed to go on a little get away to Vegas- but plans changed and we ended up taking the girls with us. My brother and his girlfriend met us there too! It was a week of fun!

The week entailed a trip to Red Rocks National Park, The Hoover Dam, a night time limo tour of the strip and all its glory, a ride up the Stratosphere, a trip to Gold and Silver (the pawn shop from Pawn Stars...we saw the Old Man and Chumlee! Kwynnie got an autograph), Circus Circus, the arcade at New York New York, the M & M store, visited Fremont Street (the girls went zip lining down it!) and much much more!

I went out for a bit one night with the adults and won $600 on a penny slot machine...craziness!

The resort we stayed at was very family friendly- an amazing pool and lazy river, beautiful landscaping (palm trees EVERYWHERE!) and a wonderfully large room with amazing views! Did you know a plane lands in Las Vegas every TWO minutes!? Well it does- trust me!

We took the girls out one night (not real late, like 7:30 but it was already dark. It gets dark around 5:30) We took them to the M & M store and met some very interesting characters on the strip! I thought the girls might be getting freaked out (because I'm talking 'crazies') but no- they were filming them instead. Kynna said we should put them on the internet! :)

So we decided the new Las Vegas slogan is now "What happens in Vegas...ends up on Youtube!" Think it will catch on!?

Here's the first set of photos...we had a total of 10 photo taking devices in our family alone...so the rest of the pix will be up soon!

to lighten the mood

Aren't we just lovely!?

Hard to believe...

Its hard to believe things like this happen.

Just a few days ago we had a school shooting in a city not far from ours. A kid was upset for being suspended. So he went to the office. Met with Vice Principal and shot her. The principal came running in to see what was happening and the student then shot the principal. He then ran out of the school, drove to a near by parking lot and shot himself. The Vice Principal died of her wounds. The principal is in serious but stable condition. And the saddest part is....is that the overall consensus from students, parents and teachers was that he was a good kid! Funny, involved and a good guy. Its hard to imagine what happened to this boy that caused him to think there was no other way to handle it. I feel for all the families involved in this tragedy.


One of my favorite blogs (that I read daily) posted this story. The post yesterday asked for prayers and good thoughts for healing. Today we learned Kate passed away - a result of her injuries. What possessed that man to invite his family over for a celebration, then spray them all with kareosene and set them on fire? Its hard to believe that people would even consider this an option to deal with how they are feeling- let alone actually do it.

I'm at a loss.

As a parent, how do you explain things you can't even comprehend yourself? I feel there will be no understanding of events like this. Because in order to understand you need to rationalize and make sense of it. There is no rationalization here. There is no sense in it.

I hope and pray 'our' children (this entire upcoming generation) is equipped with the right tools and can change the world. A lot of pressure I know, but I fear its our only chance.

2010...points of interest

I can't believe how fast this year seemed to zoom by! Has me a little worried for this year...my children are just growing up too darn fast! Come April- our little one will be getting baptized and come July- we'll have teenagers in the house! Jeeeshhhh!

But I'm getting ahead of myself...the point of this post is to reflect on 2010.

• This was the first year in our new HOME!
• Great Gma Hoskins turns 98 (and now it will only be a few more weeks until she's 99!)

• Mom was really sick and almost died! A year of growing up for me and a year of healing for her.

• Birthdays and parties! John's mini surprise party, Pucca's 'buggy' party and the twins' twilight party.
• Field trip with Pucca's class to the Nature Center. Complete with a jumping pass across this bridge. The same bridge that collapsed with some children on it a few weeks later! Scary!

• Courtyard renovation and baby duckies!

• My bestest friend had her fifth baby boy!
• A quick trip to CO, Garden of the Gods and a Renaissance Fair with the girlies and my mom.
• A trip of a lifetime to ALASKA with the family! The twins spent their bday in Glacier Bay!
• Pucca had Stuhr class and a week of fun with her grandparents!
• Our beautiful garden flooded....sad...very sad!
• John and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary!
• Trip to CO with John and the girls. Emma gets sick and John broke his foot...kind of a lousy vacation overall! Too bad because we love it there!
• Pucca's big Halloween party!
• Big Thanksgiving shin-dig with my whole family!
• A very lovely holiday spent with our amazing families!

SOOOOO much more happened last year...and it was difficult to narrow it down. As I was going through photos and blog posts I noticed my post count for the year was low. I've tended to blog less as the year progressed. Busier? Not enough time? Nothing interesting? Too lazy?

Most likely a combination of 'all of the above'. I didn't make any resolutions this year. I never keep them so what's the point- right!? But I do promise to be more regular about updating ya'all about our family happenings and moments of interest! Happy 2011!

Holiday fun-ness! (and yes that's a word)

Merry Christmas (a little late) and Happy New Year! We had a wonderful holiday spent with both sides of the family. We visited my mom and grandparents in GI town and John's family at Camp Davey. We also made a quick trip to Hastings to see Gma T and sing carols. Its so fun to be with family and to just spend time together- visiting and reminiscing. We also met up with some friends and had a fun evening...its great having all the kiddos together! Wish we could do it more often.

Now can you believe we did that all in just 2 and half days!? Seriously- we got this holiday traveling bit down pat!

I can't believe how fast Christmas vacation went! The girls only had this week off and are back to school on Monday. But we do get a week long spring break in March and they are out before Memorial Day...so I can't complain too much!

Here are a few pix of our holiday goodness....(I didn't get any photos with our friends- because I was too busy holding a cute roley poley baby!)