Our Winter Weekend Getaway

Last Sunday we drove up to Mt. Charleston to play in the snow. It was so much fun that I think we are going to go up every weekend!! It's only an hour out of town but it feels like you are so much further from Vegas, it's great!

Getting Chase ready for the snow :)

Brody all decked out and ready to go!

Yeah, it looked a little strange with the stroller in the middle of the snow, but it worked!

I love pictures of Jared with the boys taken from being behind them. There's just something so special to see him holding hands with his son!

Getting ready to zoom down the hill!

Brody's expression is priceless!! So much fun!

Brody wanted so badly to ride with Chase all by himself...maybe next year :)

I LOVE this picture!!

My sweet sweet Sugar Bear

Me and my snow boys!

We love Mt. Charleston!!

Christmas 2008

Christmas was so much fun this year with our two boys! Jared and I were up until about 2 am getting everything ready for Christmas morning so we were pretty tired. But once I was in bed, I couldn't go to sleep because I was too excited!

Jared and I woke up at 7:30, before the boys, and once again, were too excited to sleep! We waited about 30 minutes and then had to go wake up Brody and Chase! We had such a great Christmas with our family!

This is Jared and I waking up Brody! Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?!

The first words that groggy Brody said were, "Did Santa come yet?"

Coming down the stairs and getting the first glimpse of all the presents!

Of course Brody went for the biggest present first :)

I'd say Brody is pretty excited about his doctor kit from Santa!

Chase was sooo tired all morning...we probably shouldn't have woken him up so early!

Brody helping Chase unwrap his presents. He was so excited for Chase to unwrap the gift he picked out for him!

Chase LOVES music so he got little drums and a piano

Here's Brody on his Smart Cycle and Chase trying to hitch a ride!

Las Vegas Marathon

On December 7th, Jared ran in the Las Vegas Marathon which is 26.2 miles and the half is 13.1 miles. Jared ran the half and did awesome!! He decided only 4 weeks before that he was going to do it and most people train for months before running it. The furthest he had ran prior to the marathon was 7 miles. Jared was thinking that best-case scenario, he would finish in 2 1/2 hours, worst-case scenario would be that he would get pushed to the sidewalk because they open the strip back up after a certain amount of time.

Jared, Brody and I stayed at the Excalibur on the strip the night before so that he would be right there in the morning and so that Brody and I could hopefully meet him at the finish. The marathon started at 6 am at Mandalay Bay, went all the way down the strip, downtown into the ghetto and all the way back! You get a chip that tracks your time because with 9,000 people running all at once, you don't get moving very quickly until further along. Jared said that it took him about 10 minutes to actually get to the start line after the time had begun!

Brody and I headed to Mandalay Bay around 8 am. We found a spot right at the finish line and kept an eye out for him. I was thinking that he was either going to finish with a really good time or finish at the very end! I knew he would finish no matter what, though. As Brody and I are watching people finish, I started to get worried. People were crossing the line with the most awful, painful expressions on their faces, like they had barely made it and were about to pass out! I was nervous only because Jared hadn't really trained for 13.1 miles of running!

All of a sudden, here comes Jared blazing across the finish line!!! We were in the perfect spot and I was able to yell his name and he saw us right away! It was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever seen and I was so proud of him!! Jared made his way through all the people and gave us big, sweaty hugs! The first words out of his mouth were, "That sucked! That was the stupidest thing I've ever done!" But then after about 10 minutes, he was already talking about the next marathon that he wanted to run! Jared's official marathon time was 2 hours and 33 minutes!! He did so awesome!! He ran the first 8 miles without stopping or walking once and then just kept pushing himself to finish! I knew that he would finish, but I didn't know that he would do it in such a good time! Jared ran his very first marathon within his best-case scenario time!

Waiting for the marathon to start

Fireworks before the marathon

The start/finish line

I think he found every camera along the course

Look at him go!

Yay Jared!!!!

Where Are We?!

This is the question I was asking myself the whole time I was driving home Thursday morning, December 18th, after being stranded at my mom's house in Boulder City the night before due to a snow storm!! There was snow EVERYWHERE and semi trucks lined up along the roads from my mom's house to our house in Henderson! They had to pull over the night before because roads were shut down! It was seriously like what I have seen on the news about the towns back east that get hit with horrible storms and there are vehicles just abandoned everywhere. I couldn't believe that this was Southern Nevada!

Here's our snow story:

I left work 30 minutes early, at 1:30, on Wednesday, December 17th because it had started to snow and I knew the roads and traffic would be crazy. Never did I think they would be as crazy as they ended up being!! I made it to my cousin's house by 2:15 and thank goodness I left work when I did! If I wouldn't have left early, I don't think I would have made it to Boulder to get my kids and then I would have really been freaking out! By the time I got the kids loaded up and ready to leave, the snow was coming down like crazy! I had just left my cousin's house when she called to tell me that she heard Railroad Pass was closed. I was already very leary about driving home because my truck was almost impossible to drive in the snow. I turned around and was going to head back to my cousin's house but I thought I would try to call Jared to see how to make my truck drive better. It's not 4-wheel drive and needs new tires but I thought maybe I could put it in a different gear or something and that would help. He told me to put the rear-differential lock (whatever that is) on and try that. But the only snag with that is that it makes the truck harder to turn!! So now I am slipping all over the road AND unable to turn!! What the??!! I was going to try to make it home until I had turned (well, tried to turn) down a street and totally would have taken out cars if there had been any there. I was on the otherside of the road, up against the curb! Now I was pissed and scared and decided that I had to just go back to my cousin's and wait for the snow to stop. The snow never stopped.

After being at my cousin's for about an hour, I called my mom to come pick us up so we could go to her house and wait it out. I wasn't even going to attempt to drive my truck the short couple of blocks to her house. So for the rest of the night, we were watching the news, hoping that we would be able to go home. Meanwhile, Jared was driving home from Moapa! So on top of stressing about not being able to get home, I was terrified that Jared was out on the snowy roads. He actually made it home in about 2 1/2 hours but I was still stuck in BC with the boys. We ended up just staying the night because my mom kept in touch with her neighbor that was trying to get home. The neighbor had left work, which was at the Venitian on the strip, at 3:30 and didn't get home until 10:15! It took her 6 hours and 45 minutes to get home!! I guess it was good that we didn't attempt to get back to Henderson.

So we woke up the next morning and finally made it home. Jared had driven out to Boulder just to make sure that everything was open and safe and took us to get our truck. He saved us! After getting home, we could finally enjoy the snow so Brody and I played in it while Chase watched from the garage. It was lots of fun, I just wish I could have enjoyed it all from the comforts of my own home. Thank goodness everyone was safe on that crazy night!!

Chase is 9 Months Old Today!

Chase is such a cool little guy. I have been told that he is a "Mamma's Boy" and I am totally ok with that! Brody is all about his Dad so I will take having a Mamma's Boy! I think Chase is going to be even sillier and goofier than Brody...he already has such a great sense of humor and is so funny! Chase is so laid back and easy going and I can't wait to see what kind of a person he will grow into. Wait, I can wait to see what he will grow into...he's growing up way too fast!
I love you Sugar Bear!!!!!

Extreme Brothers!

Brody had his first true responsible-big-brother-experience the other night. We were all out in the garage putting up Christmas lights and Brody was riding his quad. Then I asked if Brody wanted to give Chase a ride and he got so excited. It was one of the cutest things ever!!

Chase had so much fun and Brody was so good with him!

I seriously love the two of them together!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

This is my favorite time of the year! I love the month of October because it's Brody's birthday, the weather starts to cool down, the pumpkin patch comes to town, and of course trick or treating.

We couldn't wait to go to the pumpkin patch because Brody had so much fun last year. We had driven by it a few times before we actually got to go and each time Brody would say, "I love the pumpkin patch!" So when we finally got there, Brody was so excited! He rode the swings, drove the cars (5 times), and went down the huge pumpkin slide (with a little help from Dad). Of course we had to get the classic pose sitting on the hay with the pumpkins!

(I'm really upset with my camera for taking these crappy pictures, I don't know what is wrong with it. I'm hoping to get a new one for Christmas, so if you have any suggestions for a good one, please let me know!!)

I absolutely love this one, Brody holding on so tight to both the pumpkin and Chase!!

Too bad my camera had to ruin it!

Brody is such a good big brother and takes such good care of Chase! I sometimes forget he is only 3 years old with how helpful and caring he is!

Cruising!! This was his favorite ride!

And the swings...he wouldn't take his hands off the bar!

Brody Lee Turns 3!!!

On October 15th, Brody turned the big 3!! I can't believe it! He is turning into such an amazing person and brings our family so much love and excitement!
Brody is so glad to be 3. For the first week after his birthday, he would say random things like, "I love being 3!", "Now that I'm 3 I can go on that huge pumpkin slide at the pumpkin patch!" I asked him if he feels older now and he said, "Yes, and stronger!"

Whenever he sees the number 3, he says, "Hey, that's how old I am now!" He's so proud!

Some Of The Many Things I Love About Brody:

• his love for Chase - seriously, the sweetest thing I've EVER seen!
• his kindness - he always shares and cares about others
• his dance moves - he's always had really good rhythm
• his baseball skills - can no longer play baseball in the house
• his memory - like Jared, he remembers EVERYTHING
• his laugh - from the belly and so contagious
• his love of music - has so many favorite songs
• his tricks - he's always jumping off things and running and jumping onto stuff
• his nighttime routines - everything has to be done just so
• his smarts - he just gets things so easily (we do kindergarten workbooks together!)
• his expressions - you can tell exactly what he's thinking just by looking at him
• his helpfulness - he wants to be a part of everything
• his curiosity - constantly asking questions (and won't let it go until he gets an answer!)
• and so, so much more...

We had Brody's birthday party with the family at Mission Hills Park. It was a Monster Truck theme and we all had lots of fun! It was complete with pizza, cupcakes, presents and a Grave Digger Monster Truck pinata!!

On the night of his actual birthday, Brody got to pick were he wanted to go for dinner. He chose Mimi's Cafe and had a delicious cheeseburger and fruit!

Then he got to grub on his birthday dirt cup! Mmmmmmmm!!!!

A Late Summer Vacation

We took our first vacation as a family of 4 September 25th-28th. We drove down to Laguna and stayed in a condo right on the beach! It was so beautiful and amazing!! While we were there, we also drove to San Diego for a Padres game and the San Diego Zoo. It was lots of fun and quite the experience, traveling with a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old! Lucky for us, my sister Brittany came with to help out and spend some quality time with her nephews!

The Beach

We got to Laguna late Thursday afternoon and the weather was perfect, so we had to hit the beach! All the other days were foggy, which hadn't happened to us in all the times we have stayed in Laguna, so the picture quality wasn't that great :(

This one is taken from our balcony....we were literally staying on the beach!!

I was so surprised that Brody let Jared bury him in the sand!

Brody's favorite part of Laguna was just hanging out, digging and building sand castles on the beach. If Jared and I didn't want to live on the beach bad enough already, seeing Brody having so much fun and loving it made us want to live there even more!

Chase's first beach experience!

I couldn't put him directly in the sand because he kept eating it!!

Every time Chase was on the beach, he fell asleep! It was sooo cute!

Jared tried skim boarding for the first time. Of course, he picked it up right away, although he did have a nice foot injury when he was done!

The handsome men of my life!

The Condo

The best view ever!

Chase, studying the waves

Anytime I couldn't find Brody, he was on the balcony, watching the waves and people below. He's a true beach bum!

The Padres Game

Waiting for the trolley to pick us up for the game, the Coaster pulled into the station and was pretty loud!

Brody loves his Aunt Britt!

I absolutely love this picture! Brody was so excited to be at a Padres game, since we watch it pretty much every night at home on tv. This is such a cool spot of the field because it's like you are actually on the field yourself. Brody was very stoked!!

I'm usually not a baby wearer but this carrier worked perfectly for riding the trolley and getting to the game!

The Padres catcher rolled this ball to Brody right after we had sat down! I think he was like, "Can I really have this?" Our seats were awesome, right at the Padres dugout!!

Going to a Padres game is seriously one of our favorite things to do!

The Zoo

Snakes are so gross, but Brody was excited to see them, as long as they were behind the glass!!

Riding a hippo!

Brody has the sweetest expressions!

Riding a polar bear!

We had such a great vacation and can't wait to go back and make more memories!!