Yeeeee-Haaaa

This weekend we had such a blast. David and Cindy (Tom's parents) took us horseback riding in Red Rock Canyon. The kids and I had ever been before s it was a real treat.


Our guide, Ernie, started off by assigning horses for everyone.


"Do you want to ride a big horse?" he asked Warner enthusiastically, tyring to get him pumped up for the ride.
"No way!" Warner corrected him, "I want to be safe!"

So Warner rode on Honey, the Half-ling...(I'm not kidding, it was like half the size of the other horses, it was like a hobbit, and truly called a Half-ling). He loved that horse, heard him talking to it, saying things like, "I know you're tired, we're almost there," or "are you hungry girl?" He even asked me if we could take her home and keep her as a pet...when I reminded him that the bigger the pet, the bigger the poop.... he said that Kaylee could take care of the poop job! When the ride was over he stayed by Honey for a little while, talking to her and petting her. Mean while everyone else wet to roast marshmallows by the campfire.


(By the way, we made s'mores by roasting mellows and putting them between two chocolate chip cookies, have you ever heard of this? it was delicious!)



When I first got on my horse, Dollar, I found myself thinking...
...'this is not too bad,I could be a real cowgirl, we could sell our house, get a couple horses, I could braid my hair and wear boots, Tom doesn't look to bed in plaid.'.....


But by the time the ride was over, was happy to be on the ground, even though my legs were in a different shape then a few hours before.

Ernie the cowboy taught the boys how the swing a rope, Xander was a natural, almost caught Grandma.

We ended the day with a nice lunch while Ernie played cowboy songs on his guitar and sang.

The Best of Both Worlds

One Friday a month Xander's class has a "family day," there's no school for him, instead we do a fun activity. This month we drove for just a 1/2 hour to Mt. Charleston.
I had no idea that while I sent the other kids to school in shorts,... Xander and I could be playing in a winter wonderland! We had so much fun in the thigh deep snow.

We went down the mountain a few times together, but after Xan discovered a snow cave, that was it, he stayed in there for the rest of the trip.

Which was fine because I had a major blast on the tube. I'm going like a million miles an hour by the way!

After we were officially popsicles, we drove a couple more miles up the mountain to the ski resort (that's right, I said that Las Vegas had a ski resort!) where we enjoyed a mediocre, very expensive lunch and watched the skiers and boarders come down the slopes.

I am still in awe, that we were able to play in the snow then go home an play in the park. We really do have the best of both worlds here.

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs

An Act of Mercy

This morning I was watching the news and one story in particular really caught my eye.

It began by showing a convince store robbery, which occurred last winter. The robber held a gun to the cashier/ store owner, then surprisingly the cashier comes around the counter with a big shot gun, and points it right at the robber. Instead of running, the thief falls to his knees and puts his hands together as if he were praying. There was no sound on the video but the convenience store owner starts to narrate, saying that the man began to cry and begged him not to shoot, saying that his family was desperate and hungry. Slowly the owner lowers the gun, pulls $40 out of his pocket, and hands it to the would-be robber along with a loaf of bread; making him promise that he will never steal again.

I didn’t think this would end well, I expected to hear the thief was arrested. In fact when I tried to search online for the news report, all my searches brought up stories about either the robber or the victims being shot and killed.

However, this winter the convince store owner received an anonymous letter. The letter was from someone who simply thanked the owner, saying that he had a steady job and was able to provide for his family. “Thank you for saving my life.” Folded in side was a 50 dollar bill.

The more I thought about this story the more touched I was.

If the store owner had scared him away, he probably would have tried to rob someone else.

If had shot him the news would have reported on it, and viewers would have thought ‘well, he shouldn't have been trying to steal.’

If the store owner had pressed charges, the robber would have gone to jail. How could he take care of his family from inside prison?

My heart is so full when I think of how merciful that man was. The store owner was truly a type of Christ.

The Great Outdoors

We finally took the quads out,for the first time since we moved. We had a really great time camping with our friends the Valdenagro's, and Amie & Andrew. Lilly had a great time, even though she just couldn't keep out of the cacti. Its the first time that the kids have really been camping, there were no facilities so that was interesting to explain to them where they could go...

We had a creepy guy come to the door and threaten me and the kids a few weeks ago(I'll have to tell you about that later), so Tom took his 22 and let everyone try shooting.

It was nice to just relax. While we sat around the campfire, I read to everyone; THE HUNGER GAMES(our new favorite book, along with the sequel, CATCHING FIRE -which is way better than the Twilight series).

I'm too Spooky for my Hat

Kaylee and her friends from school.



Warner with his Buddies.

Xander and his whole class.

I don't know who these kids are but I thought their costumes were great. The dad of R2D2 was putting some last minute duct tape on his robot durring the monster mash. THe little mummy in the wagon really had both legs broken, way to make the most of a crappy situation, I bet he got a lot of sympathy candy!