JUNE '13 

 Preschool Graduation

Takoda's first year of preschool was a success. I co-opt with two other moms. As you can see it was a small class, which was perfect for his extremely shy personality at the time (he's grown socially a ton since then). We had a graduation swim party to celebrate!

Karate

Takoda has completed 2 sessions of Karate now. He claims he's done with the sport, but we'll see;) He did so great it's hard for me to have him let it go. The instructor/karate was great for discipline and listening skills, maybe that's why he's done with it:)

Sno Monkey is Up and Running

We're excited to share the best shaved ice in Vegas. The boys are spoiled and know their order...and so do our employees. "kiddie shaved ice with bubble gum and cotton candy with extra cream please!"

Mittens + Eli

Poor Eli, he just wants to love on Mittens and this is their relationship. All day every day.

Swimming

When you live in 110 degree weather all summer long, this is what we end up doing almost everyday. Eli LOVES jumping in. We let him go under for about 5 sec. to see how far he can swim. Next year he'll be swimming for sure. We ended up getting them a pool and putting it in our courtyard. They loved it! It came with a pump and everything. My CPO certification came in handy :)

 Where's the Banana 

Potty training had been a bit more difficult than expected. Takoda seemed to catch on rather fast. But Eli was a tricky little guy. He took his time (on purpose i'd like to think) getting the pattern down. During one of the experiments I kept his underwear off most of the day. Anyway after eating his banana he placed the peel on his pee pee and said "look mom, look, where's my pee pee?"

Discovery Museum

Finally Vegas thought it was time to upgrade our museum. We bought season passes and have loved going!

Well Checks

It was time for well checks and the poor boys were due for shots. It was a traumatizing experience. Both of them screamed bloody murder when they got their shots. They put them in their legs, Takoda is very sensitive in his legs and wasn't' the same in his legs for 2 days. They say there's more fat in the leg and that's why they do it. Jan. is our next appt. not sure if i'll be able to bribe them to go back. 

GIRLS WEEKEND

St. George is only 1 hr 45 min away and so we decided to take a mini vaca (Fri afternoon- Sat. early evening) and tube down the Virgin river that comes out of Zion. We got there late and found that the 2 king bedroom that we reserved turned out to be only 1 king bed. luckily we're all very close so 3 girls in a bed and I on the roll away bed wasn't a biggie:) It's always fun to forget our responsibilities, pig out and shop! (Big shout out to our husbands who took the kids and gave us a break!)

MAY '13

Eli-2yrs

I've written in Eli's journal and this is what's going on in his life right now--You won't let me help you into your car seat you say, "I help you, I help you". And to climb in takes patience on my end, it takes about 5 min. with all the distractions. You love popsicles. You still wake up at 6 or 6:30 and scream that you want FOOD or CEREAL! You love to ride your scooter!

Brotherhood

Superhero's

Eli likes it and often asks Takoda to sit on his lap

Putting stickers to great use

 Takoda may or may not have gotten into my makeup

THESE BOYS CAN EAT

Chicken drumsticks are a hit in this family. Notice Eli's feet up on the table while eating...

STAKE ANNUAL 5K

The boy scouts asked Todd to bring Sno Monkey over to the track meet and help them earn some $ for scout camp. They were busy non-stop. Todd wasn't able to run in the track meet....shucks....but Dad did a great job taking his spot. Takoda rode his bike. During the race, another boy ran his bike accidentally into Takoda. They both fell off, but our tough little Takoda hopped back on and starred at the boy crying uncontrollably, oh and yes the boy was ok. I pushed Eli in the jogger, but for the final lap, he got out and ran 1 1/2x around the track! Both boys did great!

Summer Time Has Approached

They were so excited to start swimming this year! Takoda this summer has officially learned how to swim. And Eli loves going under and swimming as far as he can as well! 

 29th Birthday Party!

This year I wanted my party to be at the Rollerskating Rink. Not sure how we would all do on skates, not rollerblades, we all hit it out of the park! It brought back so many memories and they even played old school songs! The smell, carpet, powdered soap and bathroom stalls were all the same. My friend even requested my favorite K-CI and JoJo- All My Life, song for me! The DJ wished me a happy birthday and said this song is for you. Yes I screamed like I was 10 and flew around that skating rink with no shame:)

The Party Doesn't Stop

Todd always decorates the house for me, but i wish I took more pics cause this year he went the extra mile and did the best he's ever done. I felt special! Cupcakes from my favorite cupcake place is always a must for my birthday! 

Eli's 2nd Haircut

I'm noticing haircuts are a big deal in this family:) We love his locks of love! But seriously it grows too fast!

MARCH '13

Grandpa and Grandma Bliss came out!

So much fun riding the Big Shot on the Stratosphere. Can I just tell you, at the end when you look at your pictures of when they shoot you up, umm words honestly cannot describe the horror the terror on Barbara's face. We all can laugh on que just thinking about it:)

Baking- Takoda loves helping me in the kitchen. 

Feeding the animals at McKee Ranch

Grandpa is the best at giving horsie back rides!

APRIL '13

It's starting to warm up! 

We were EGGED!

The boys were so excited to find this sign on our door. They looked all around the yard for a dozen of eggs. 

 Lake Mead

 Adam couldn't wait to get his new boat on the water. We spent 2 1/2 days at the lake. We spent the night on a slanted hill but it was all worth it with the tubing and water skiing. We even spotted close to us a family of big horn sheep on our expedition. 

California

If you know Eli, he has a mind and time table of his own. Taking a picture obviously wasn't on his priority list

Takoda for the longest time had been begging for a mow hawk. Being that he HATES hair cuts this one day he was actually pretty excited to tell the barber what kind of hair cut he wanted.

The donkey decided to get a hair cut like Takoda

Even 4 year olds have tantrums. We decided to use the tactic of recording his tantrums. Now when he sees our phones out recording it he either gets mad that he's being recorded so he pouts and walks away or he starts laughing and screams to stop. 

Girl Time

I went to Cali to race in a Mud Run. It was sooo much fun, I had trained hard for it so I was ready. 

 It's an obstacle course. So we ran up and down hills, through tires, over walls, under barbwire, through tunnels. It really was hard work. If you look at my left forearm I have a huge scar, but don't worry a great story goes along with it:) 

Towards the end of the race there was a huge hill. Enable to get down you had to slide down this tarp. I saw others going down head first. I thought, that looks awesome I'm doing that. Well after lathering with soap (to go faster) taking a running start and the tarp being squirted with a fire hose, I was off down the tarp going pretty fast. It was actually an adrenaline rush. It indeed was fun. But 1/2 down I realized the ending point was gravel and more gravel. I wasn't about to stop anytime soon. So I placed my hands down trying to stop the momentum, I could clearly see that wasn't going to slow me down, just ruin my hands from the gravel underneath. So pretty much I rolled on my side at the end to not damage my entire stomach and face and in doing so this is what I was rewarded with:) It hurt extremely bad, I hadn't hurt that much since I was a little. The pictures don't do it justice. But it was a battle wound and i've learned my lesson:)

Nick's Graduation

Provo Canyon

Bridge + Eli = terrified

Takoda helped him through it though.

Eli's classic face when he's wanting you to smile. 

First Hair Cut

This poor child was due for a trim. I was getting a little worn out having to use the detangling spray every time he woke up. He loves getting his hair brushed and doesn't mind me putting my hands through his hair. For some reason, every time I try putting rubber band in it though he refuses. shucks. I almost had my doll back from when I was little. 

 Before the hair cut (tear)

I love the blonde hair he still has...the little that he has left anyway...

 He was a great sport, "one of the best", she said:)

After

Well the time has come where Takoda wants to do his own hair. This is right before preschool.

2013!!!

January: So far it's been busy and filled with hanging out with who we love; Family! We were able to ride our friends horses. Takoda & Eli both loved every moment. I pretended for a moment I was a cowgirl and galloped on the horse and loved it as well. Today Takoda asked if we could have one for a pet. He even said Pleeeease!

Todd's highlight this month was watching the Hobbit:) yes we took a picture in front of the cutout and yes it was Todd's 2nd time seeing it. 

It's been getting cold here in Vegas, around 50 degrees, but that doesn't keep us from visiting our favorite spot, Red Rock.                                                          

Clint and his family came into town this past week and it's been so much fun having the cousins play together. We even took a short trip to California to visit Adam and Rachel. This ride had an extra seat so who better than Clint to even it out:)

 (oh and umm Eli is holding Josephine whom he loves dearly, and sooo adorable. She is only 5 months!)

*I'll post more pics soon, Clint took lots more.