Our First Baseball Game!

For John and my 11th year anniversary of our first date (April 19th) we wanted to do something fun, so we went to a baseball game. John has been to one before, but it was my, Mason's, and Elise's first game. We had a lot of fun, and our team Won! Las Vegas' baseball team is called 51 (for Area 51-which I think is funney). Their mascot is an alien. Mason wanted to get a picture with him.

He wasn't scared of him or anything, he went right up to him, shook his hand and asked to get a picture with him. Afterwards, when we were heading back to our seats, Mas turned to me and said "who's in there, Mom?" "What do you mean?" I asked. "A person is in there, who is it?" John and I looked at each other with the 'what do we say' look and shrugged our shoulders. The little smarty pants. I don't think we are going to be able to get anything by him, including the Easter bunny, Santa Clause, etc. I hope he lets us pretend for a while though.

Elise was so good until about 9pm (her bedtime is usually between 7-8) she was getting tired, so John wrapped her up tight and rocked her to sleep. People were so surprised she slept through all the noise. She lets John put her to sleep like that all the time, she fights me so much more. I guess she's her daddy's girl.

Jane Austin quiz

A friend had a Jane Austin quiz, according to the quiz I am Anne Elliot. Take the quiz and find out who you are.

Take the Quiz here!

Weekend excursion

We were able to go on a weekend outing two weeks ago. We tried to go a new way to Lake Mead & found The Valley of Fire instead! It was so much fun. We hiked around, had a picnic out of the back of the SUV, & Elise got her first hiking trip carried in her pack by Daddy-she loved it and every other hiker was jealous of her being carried.

Mason loved hiking around the rocks & hiding in the little caves, though he didn't like me helping him get 'way up high' once he got up there and couldn't get down. The park reminded me of hiking in Snow Canyon in St. George when I was a kid-which were some of the best times!

I love being able to create these kinds of memories for my kids (okay, kid 'cause Elise won't remember it, but it's still good times)

Mason hated waiting for us, he would take off running down the trails. Even after he fell we couldn't get him to stop running (John got upset a little til I reminded him that he ran everywhere when he was yound too) We are trying to give him a little bit more independence, but it's so hard knowing what & when. I'm a little more laid back in giving Mas his freedom and John's uptight & protective. But I'm the hard-nosed one when it comes to cleanliness issues-though I'm working on that.

This was fun, they call it Elephant Rock. If you look closely you can see the Elephant, John and the kids are standing between his trunk and his front leg.

Our First Conference outside of Utah!

We loved watching General Conference this year, but we got a whole new experience by not living in Utah-we had to watch it on the computer screen. We don't have any T.V. hooked up, we couldn't find any radio station that broadcasted it, so we were left with the computer.

As you can see, we tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possible (notice the pillow behind John). We only have one chair & not a lot of space as the desk is built in at the top of the staircase (I actually took these pictures while standing on the stairs. And if you're wondering about the mess in the first picture-I love to scrapbook while listening to conference. Mason kept wanting to help by cutting up all my paper-he loves scissors).

John kept wondering why Mason needed to stay up during afternoon Conferences rather than take his regular nap. But I feel that now is the time to instill the habit, I mean, if he doesn't need to watch/listen to Conference at 3 why doesn't he when he's 13? Right? Something must be sinking in a little. Does anybody else wonder how our parents always seemed to know what to do & now that we're parents we don't know what the right answers are? John & I question our parenting skills constantly--I feel like our nightly talks are always questioning on how to be good parents & if this or that is the right way. As Mason gets older it only seems to get harder for us.

Bike riding

Mason is the best big brother, he got into the bike trailer first, then as we were putting sister in she couldn't stablize herself very well so he immediately put his arm around her and held onto her the whole time--it was so sweet.

We are so excited to go bike riding again! However, we've run into a couple of problems: 1-Mason is getting SO big! He has to fold himself into the bike trailer in order to fit--as you can see.

So we're thinking we are going to have to buy him his own little bike with training wheels for his birthday in July (though we probably won't be able to go bike riding much then because 120 degrees is just too hot).

The second problem is my tailbone is still hurting if we ride too much. I'm beginning to wonder if it's EVER going to completely heal. (for those of you who don't know Elise broke my tailbone two weeks before delivery--with her head--contrations were lovely, I kept asking John to push on my tailbone & if she hadn't come fast at that point I would have gone with that horrible needle up my back!)

Third, we can't seem to find new bike tubes for mountain bikes. I love change but moving to a new city is hard because you don't know where to find anything.

Brother & Sister Love

Mason is the best big brother, and Elise just adores him. I think she even likes him better than me. While he was with Will & Anna for 3 days she would stare at his picture any time she saw it. Mason can get her to smile and if he's ever in the room she always keeps her eyes on him, watching him, laughing with or at him. They're the best kids I could wish for. When I envision the future I can see them being each other's best friends.

Now I need some advice. John feels strongly that our family is complete and wants to make it a permanent decision. I, on the other hand, am torn. I love our little family and have felt completed, but how do you KNOW you are done having kids? Any words of wisdom would be appreciated...Thanks.

Mason is getting so big! He loves primary & Sunbeams. About twice a week he asks 'are we going to Sunbeams today?' Well last Sunday he volunteered to give the scripture for the whole primary, so during the week every day he would ask 'read scripture'. We chose to read 2Nephi 25:26. Mason had me help him repeat the scripture over and over, I bet we said it 50 times this week including 15 times Sunday morning while I was getting ready for Church. He said it so much that he practically had it memorized. I was SO proud of him, and I can't believe I get to be his mother. He loves learning about Jesus, as he puts it 'tell me about Jesus Christ' and 'why is that, because Jesus Christ made it that way?'

Two weeks ago while we were driving, Elise kept crying so Mason & I sang, mostly primary songs about Jesus. After a half dozen songs Mason asked if we could go visit Jesus & Heavenly Father. I told him I didn't know how to get there. He responded that he did. I asked him how he would get there. He would go visit them on his tricycle, he said.

Family Photo Shoot

Well, we decided to do an offical family photo shot since we don't have a picture of the whole family together except in the hospital when Elise was born. A photo shoot, which for those of you who have small children, know what that means. John got the camera all set up on his tripod, we posed us all just right, then John used a remote to take, no exaggeration, more than 50 pictures and there is only one that has all four of us looking at the camera!

So here it is the reward for our hard work and 50 pictures later...

it looks dark...I'll have to have John fix that...sorry, I'm not a great computer person.

We also did a mini shoot of Elise. I have always love those pictures of babies naked on a white blanket and have wanted to do these ones fof Elise. John did an awesome job! Isn't she just beautiful!!!! I wish we would have done this with Mason when he was a baby. Elise was also amazing she would totally pose herself,

putting her little hands under her chin or around her face just as if we had posed her that way...in all of these pictures we didn't pose her AT ALL! We simply laid her on the blanket and started taking pictures. Elise is a somber girl, but the VERY LAST PICTURE WE GOT A LITTLE SMILE...ITN'T SO CUTE! It's the top picture.