Out on the Town!

Lately we have been getting out and enjoying some fun things to do in Vegas. We are usually kind of homebodies, mostly due to the fact that it is hard to do anything with 2 small children, but we have had a few fun adventures lately.

Last Monday was Veteran’s Day and Darren had the day off, so we had a little "Family Fun Day" and took the kids to the Museum of Natural History. We wanted to try the Children's Museum, but it was closed Mondays, so went there instead. Logan is really into dinos lately, so we figured he'd enjoy it. It was a little bit of an older museum, but was still pretty fun. They had a little underwater section that had some models of sharks and whales and also a small pool with little sharks and batrays that the kids loved watching. Logan was a little nervous but Rylee loved watching them splash around and I thought she might want to go jump in! They had a big snake (a real one) that they boys were both very fascinated with and also a huge stuffed giraffe. They had a display of animals native to Nevada and also some dino models. When Logan saw the dinos for the first time and realized what they were, it was so funny! He caught a glimpse and then slowly walked toward them in complete awe, but wouldn’t get too close. Then they made some noises and he was out of there! It made him a little freaked out – especially when one of them moved. They also had a little children’s discovery center with some fun things like a Nemo fish tank and a chance to dig for fossils and some other interactive things. Logan really enjoyed that too. He just loved running around and exploring the whole place. They also had a display of African animals that had hyenas, lions, zebra, hippos and a rhino and some monkeys. Logan loved that place and thought it was so cool that he could push the button to make the lion roar – I don’t know why that was so much less threatening than the dino roar, but it was! We had a fun day. We had a great day spending time together! We love when Daddy has a day off! Watching the bat raysCute Rylee just hanging out in her stroller


On Thursday, Darren had a half day of school so we decided to take the kids to the Bellagio and check out their fall display and see the fountain show. We are always talking about going down there, but we never seem to do it so we finally did and the kids LOVED it! They were both mesmerized by all the water and plants and people. The Bellagio does an awesome fall display in their hotel with HUGE pumpkins and water fountains and a big water mill and other neat stuff. And we saw the big fountain show outside which was also incredible. The kids were both watching everything so wide-eyed and interested! Rylee couldn't take her eyes off of the water! It was really fun to see those things with them and realize how incredible they are – When we see them so much, we don’t always realize it! I love how excitable and amazed kids are by the simplest things! Logan is still talking about the water and making these funny noises to mimic what they sounded like and the HUGE pumpkins!

Monday we went to to the new Town Square Shopping Center with our ward playgroup. It was really neat! They had an awesome playground and Logan LOVED it! He was all over the place! They had several different little playhouses, including a treehouse and a Princess Castle, and different little things to ride on and slides and everything. (For all of you in Vegas with little kids, I would highly recommend it!) We didn't get a chance to check out the shopping but it looked really nice.

Sometimes it feels like so much effort to go anywhere with 2 small kids but I know that they love doing these things and that they are memories we are creating that they will remember forever. Rylee may still be too small but Logan loves when we go do fun things and talks about them forever – He still talks about Disneyland in great detail and is now also talking about going to see the dinosaurs and the water show and playing in the treehouse at the Park!

A Few of My Favorite Things!

So...I have a few odd obesessions! One of these is Ice Skating – I have been watching any figure skating event on TV since I was very young and know most of the skaters and a lot of useless information about them and the sport itself. I have no idea how this started, but I can't remember not watching any ice skating event on TV. (It is the same with gymnastics...) Another obsession of mine is reality TV and American Idol – I love that show! My favorite season was season 2, and one of my favorite contestants was Clay Aiken. So…imagine my excitement when a figure skating tour came to town with musical guest Clay Aiken! A dream come true! Even better was the fact that they were at the Orleans Arena where our neighbor works and can get us in for free! So, Darren and I had a date night (another favorite thing) to go to the event, which was taped for a Christmas Day TV Special. (Now you can all tune in too!) I was pretty nerdy and excited about the whole thing. Darren was a pretty good sport to go along – He took a lot of teasing for going, especially since he missed his basketball night. I offered to take a friend, but he said we really needed a night out so it was good to spend a little time together. (Truthfully, I think he is as big of a Clay fan as me and that is why it went, but he won't admit to it...) Some friends watched Logan because I didn’t think he would sit through it very well, but we had Rylee. I was a little excited to introduce her to ice skating and she was quite intrigued by the whole thing and was even clapping by the end of the night – It was really cute! Clay was amazing! His voice was SO good – I couldn’t believe it. I got goosebumps several times during the show. There were several big name skaters including Sasha Cohen (one of my favorites) and Todd Eldredge. It was a lot of fun! At the end, they even brought Clay out on a pair of skates and helped him around the ice. It was a great night - my hubby, date night, my little girl, ice skating, Christmas music and Clay Aiken! It doesn't get too much better!This is all the skaters at the end of the performance and Clay Aiken in the middle! We were a little far away so the picture didn't come out too good, but you get the idea!

On the Go!!!

Our little girl is definitely now on the go at full speed! She is crawling so well and can get herself anywhere she wants to go. She has been crawling for quite awhile (close to 2 months!). She has gone through several "unique" methods of crawling, and now has mastered the conventional crawl and is getting really fast!

She has also discovered a whole new world - She has started pulling herself up and now always wants to be standing. Now she can't sit still! If I have her on my lap, she pushes off and goes! She started pulling up about 3 weeks ago, and is now cruising along the furniture. It has been a rough couple weeks for her because she has been falling a lot. We have a tile floor and I hate to hear the THUD when she falls and hits her head! Sometimes she pulls up to things that are not too sturdy and when they move, over she goes! And until she has gotten the hang of walking along things, she took lots of spills. As soon as she pulled up to something, she would try and move - Her body would go, but her legs wouldn't and we would have another fall! I'm glad that she is getting better at it now - Her falls are fewer and farther between! It is so funny to see the differences between kids. Logan was so cautious - If he fell, he would wait quit awhile before he attempted something again. Rylee is quite the little daredevil - She falls and tries it again as soon as she is done crying! She is even venturing out more and more - She will have one hand on the couch and one hand on the chair and try and go in between and sometimes even lets go and stands alone! She really scares me sometimes, but she is very determined - which will be a very good quality for her to have someday, but maybe not when she is falling and hitting her head all the time!

Rylee has also started picking up lots of other things lately. I can't believe how much she is learning and so quickly. She loves to play peek-a-boo and it is so cute! She will hold a blanket way up over her head and then pull it down really fast and laugh and laugh! She has also learned to clap for herself and play pat-a-cake, which is so funny. And she also likes to do "SOOO BIG" and puts her hands way up over her head. She is also a little human vacuum - She will find any and everything on the floor and eat it immediately. And yesterday, she called me "Mama" for the first time! (It was in the middle of the night, so I wasn't as happy about it, but I was still pretty excited!) She is getting to be so much fun and really show her personality more and more. She is silly and is always screaming and screeching so loud! We really love her and watching her learn so many new exciting things!

Rylee's First Halloween

Rylee was SO cute in her Halloween costume! She had a great first Halloween. Her little lion costume was adorable! (Thanks Carla!) She looked so funny behind that HUGE mane! She loved going trick-or-treating and was just checking out everyone and everything and loved all the attention! She also loved all the pumpkins and lights and was so funny crawling around in her little lion suit. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of her all dressed up.

Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger

Logan loved his chance to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween! He spent all day flying around, jumping off of furniture and using his Buzz Lightyear lines! He would tell everyone, "I'm Buzz Lightyear, I come in peace!" and his favorite, "To Infinity and beyond!" He also liked to push his little buttons and "call" Star Command - "Come in Star Command". I am always surprised at how many lines he knows from Toy Story. He also really loved Trick-or-Treating and all the candy! He was one cute Buzz!

Our Halloween

So, I know that November is now half over, but I really wanted to post our Halloween pictures - even if it is a little late! I thought our kids looked so cute in their little costumes and we had a lot of fun! On Monday, we got together with some friends for Family Home Evening and carved our pumpkins. We are pretty serious pumpkin carvers at our house! We were pretty inspired by the pumpkins we saw at Disneyland. There was a Buzz pumpkin we saw, so we brought home a picture of it and Darren decided to attempt it and it turned out really well. I did a pretty easy Mickey one to stay with the Disney theme. Logan loved carving the pumpkins and especially loved having a Buzz one!















Carving pumpkins with the White's
Logan and Daddy and their Buzz pumpkin
Buzz and Mickey
Buzz all lit up
We did a few other fun things for Halloween. On Halloween, I took the kids to a special Halloween storytime at the library. Logan loved it - especially wearing his Buzz Lightyear costume.

Logan at story time

I tried to do a little photo shoot in the afternoon with the kids in their costumes. It was a bit of a fiasco! Rylee loves having her picture taken and always smiles for the camers. She was pretty easy to get pics of, except for that she wanted to eat the pumpkin and now that she is crawling, she was a little harder to contain! Logan was all over the place and refused to smile for most of the time, but I finally got him to smile! Getting them both together was really hard, but after about an hour we finally got a few good pictures!
Aren't they so cute?

Rylee - our cute little lion! We borrowed this costume from her cousin Raegan.
Logan - Our Buzz! He has been SO excited to wear this costume!

We missed our ward Trunk-or-Treat while we were in California, so we went Trunk-or-Treating with some dental school friends. Logan loved trick-or-treating! He was very excited about all the candy - he just wasn't sure why people weren't just giving it right to him and why he couldn't eat it all right away. I think if it were up to him, he would have preferred to just eat each piece of candy and then go to the next car and eat that candy. He also told me his basket was "too heavy" by the end and wouldn't carry it anymore! Afterwards, we had a little party at our friends. It was fun to see a lot of our friends that we don't see too often.










I don't think Rylee was too impressed with Trunk-or-Treating
Logan was amazed when he saw WOODY!
All done Trunk-or-Treating
The kids frosted cookies, which Logan LOVED! I think he only ate frosting though. We had a great night are we are still trying to get rid of all that candy!