July 3-4th 2009

July 3rd we invited Grandpa & Grandma Barton and the Horlocker's over for a BBQ.


After we went to the Stake Patriotic Fireside w/ Aurie and had fireworks back at our house afterwards, the Matthews showed up for the grand finale and ice cream.

-Lissy sat in Mommies lap and when she got scared of the fireworks she would tighten up her whole body. So mommie would hold her tight and say over and over 'I got you, I got you'. Now whenever she gets scared she will say to herself, 'I got you, I got you' and sometimes will put her arms around herself.

July 4Th we went to Lake Mead and enjoyed the cool water.




























That evening we were going to go on base with Aurie, but it didn't work out so we went to Aliante Park to watch fireworks. It was strange and fun to celebrate our nations birthday with a tons of people-though all strangers.

Holidays have been very different and a little difficult for me since we've moved here-no family to celebrate with. But in some ways I think we are closer as a family








Elise did great staying up so late and even enjoyed the fireworks, 'Pretty, mommie, look Pretty!'



Mason has started learning how to play a game on mommies phone and is getting fairly good. I think it's good once in awhile for his hand/eye coordination.











My Handsome Men!

Primm Vacation

John found out about a free vaction in a little town outside of Vegas...Primm...they were giving away free rooms, roller coaster rides, and breakfast, lunch and dinners to Local Vegasites so we took the kids and went for one night & day. Other than no one slept...we're all use to sleeping in our own rooms we had a Wonderful time.

We rode the log ride probably four times, the first time was the only time that we all got VERY wet. By the fourth time Lissy was done with that ride.

Mason LOVED the frog hopper ride and rode it over and over. He would ride the whole time that John and I took turns going on the 'big' rides that the kids couldn't go on. The first time he was a little scared but watched all the other kids laughing and decided it was fun.

Poor Elise couldn't ride anything but the log ride...which she didn't love. So she had to watch from the gate while Mason had fun...she was such a sport and laughed right along with him.

A we played in the pool for a couple of hours. Elise is blessed with John's skin that doesn't hardly burn, she just gets tanner. Unfortunantly, Mason has inherited Mommie's danish skin that is white or red-Mason and I have both been burned a few times this summer already.

Swimming! I love Summer!

Summer is so much fun, I love just being outside all day everyday. We have spent at least two days a week in the water for a month now and it's great.

Hanah, my vegas mom, is teaching Mason how to swim. So every tuesday we got over to her house (she has her own pool, which is also where we do water aerobics). I help her clean/organize for an hour, then she teaches Mason to swim for an hour...then we usually talk for another couple of hours.

Mason is doing SO good, he progresses so much every time...he is now jumping in the pool and doggie paddling across the whole pool by himself...with only three weeks of 1hr lessons I think that pretty good.

Mommie tried to help Lissy learn to swim and dunked her in the water....bad idea, now she won't hardly go in the water without crying when before she really enjoyed it. So while Mason has his lessons Elise plays around the patio and throws balls to mommie in the water.

A couple of weeks ago (Yes I am always behind) John's sister and her family were in town visiting so they went swimming with us and loved Hanah. Then they took us swimming with them at Mandalay Bay...which I regret I did not get any pictures of, but it was awesome! We had a blast playing in the wave pool, the lazy river and going between the other 7 pools. Then that night we babysat for them--and we had six kids in bed by 8pm--which is quite an accomplishment! The next night Kevin and Connie were so sweet and babysat for us so we could go on a date and even gave us their hotel room-which had an amazing view of the 7 pools!

Random Pictures

"So Cute!" is Lissy's newest phrase...when we get her dressed, or put a bow in her hair she says "I so cute" I love the sound of her little voice.

Lake Arrowhead & San Diego

My sweet sister, Stephanie, had some free time, so she came down and watched the kids for a long weekend so that John and I could get away....and where do you go when you live in Vegas and have a few days??? California!!

John grew up in the Mountains above LA, in Lake Arrowhead.

And his parents still own this timeshare, so we stayed one night.

It is SO beautiful, like Park City or Midland in UT. The whole community is built around the private lake, so the roads just go around and around the lake.

The town center is SO cute! It has the feel of the Swiss alps(I would imagine from pictures, since I haven't been there yet)

I just LOVE how peaceful it is. This is the Lake: (it's not usually so foggy)

Then the next day we drove down the mountain (Like 6 thousand feet!) to San Diego and stayed right on the beach.

I love the sound of the ocean and watching the sail boats...John and I debated the scenario that if we were millionaires would we prefer a sail boat or a yacht. Which would you pick??

We stopped to get gas and this car pulled up next to us, it's a 1934...(or was it '36) Ford!

There were tons of these gorgeous purple trees everywhere and I had never seen them before.(the picture is not great because I took it while we were driving.)

Ward Campout

It was SO nice to get out into the mountains again, we didn't get to go camping once last year, so it's felt like forever! It was so beautiful up there and I was amazed how cool it got....who would have thought 45 mins out of Las Vegas!

Camp Stimpson was nice (other than the outhouses that REALLY needed cleaned out!) We all camped close together and shared two big fires. John, Trevor, Tara and I were the last to go to bed a midnight--which I don't know why we bothered at all, I don't think I got any sleep, but that's part of camping, RIGHT?

Our ward Motto is 'The One', so this is our ward flag.

We had a nice breakfast and scavenger hunt, afterwards everyone took little hikes.

John and Mason had been to Camp Stimpson for Father n Son's a couple of weekends before, so John knew where to go hiking.

This was Elise's first Camping trip. She had fun and I was impressed that she didn't fall down or get dirty hardly at all! Which is success in my book.

Mason had a great time playing with his friends and it was kind-of nice letting him have more freedom-I CAN'T believe he's almost 5!! The kids were kicking a ball around, but because we were on a hill it kept rolling down the hill and all the kids would run after...it was funny watching them try to keep the ball by our camp.

On the way home both kids were so tired, Elise didn't even make it out of the campground before she was asleep and Mason...well Mason had eaten enough sugar to keep him bouncing around for 20 mins, then he slowly layed his head down

Over all I think it was a great Ward Campout, we'll definately go again next year....only we'll remember the air mattress!

Is 18 months too young for Gymnastics???

Elise took a Gymnastics class.

The first two weeks...well let's just say they didn't go so great-which is why I'm going to wait until next year to put her into another class....However, she did learn A LOT and by the last class did pretty good.

Lissy has incredible balance for a toddler-she walked the beam better than the kids that were almost three (the class is for kids 18 months to 3yrs)-though she would walk on the high beam without me holding her.

Her favorite part was the the bars-she loved to just hold on and swing.

So for you mom's out there wondering if 18months is too young for your child....well I'll wait until they're at least 2 yrs old if not 2 1/2. But it was lot's of fun learning together! And I'm amazed by how well she did!