Laughlin, Nevada

Since both Tadd & I had Christmas break of together we decided it would be the perfect time to squeeze a little mini trip in between the holidays. I had never been to Laughlin, so that's where we headed!

Laughlin is like a mini Vegas, without all the glitz, glamour, and "trash" on the ground. The people who go to Laughlin seem to be mostly retired and many come in RV's. The people were kind, and we felt safe to do as we pleased.

Behind all of the casino's is the Colorado River. There is a little path that winds around next to it that is lit and nicely landscaped and decorated. We walked the full length of the "boardwalk" intermittently entering casino's to warm up, eat, and earn a little cash.

It was so nice to be by fresh, moving water. To have seagulls, pigeons, and ducks surrounding us. We got some great footage of Sadie feeding the ducks. She was in her glory! The ducks of course were very friendly and came up very close to her.

We also saw some HUGE fish in the moat around the Colorado Bell (A hotel/casino that was built from a boat--or at least looks like one...not sure). We rode a cute little train that went over a little bridge and everything. Sadie loved that too. We ate some shrimp cocktail that Tadd was desperate to find and ecstatic when we did. We also got to go to the outlet mall. Who knew Bath and Body had an outlet? Killer Deals!!

We had a great time as a family taking walks by the river and enjoying each others company. It was the perfect trip and way to end our break together.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2009 BABY!!

Merry Christmas

We had the most magical amazing Christmas ever! It was so much fun this year with Sadie. She just loved all the houses decorated with the lights. When we'd drive she'd say "oooo pretty" and point at the lights.

She enjoyed helping me wrap presents----or more like enjoyed unrolling all the paper and playing in it. She also loved ripping the bows off the neatly wrapped packages. (I began hiding them after that)

We spent Christmas Eve day up in goonah with the family. We had so much fun eating, opening presents, and playing in the snow. There were a couple of 4-wheelers, a snowmobile and a sled and tube in tow. The cousins had a great time together and Tadd and I got to go on a little romantic 4-wheeler ride in the snow.

I was sooo excited Christmas Eve. I don't know if I've been that excited since I was a kid! I was excited for Sadie to come out and see all the wrapped presents and especially her new little bike that wasn't wrapped. She was pretty groggy when she first woke up, but came out of it when she saw her bike! She immediately climbed up it to check it out. She also got some fun toys, books, a cabbage patch and a glow worm too. It was so much fun helping her rip the paper off these things and watching her excitement to play with her new toy. She loved everything I'm pretty sure!

Later that day Julie and Gary came over for some yummy Honey Baked Ham and some more gift exchanges. We were happy, comfortable, and content by the end of the day and ready to just relax under the Christmas tree lights.

Merry Christmas to all and thank you for all of the wonderful gifts we recieved!!

Our Sweet Sadie

We just can't get over how much fun Sadie is! This has been the best Christmas break ever! I haven't been able to spend this much time with Sadie since summer, so I've been able to be a part of all her little habits throughout the day.

Here's the Sadie update:

• She got another tooth (now she has 5!!)


• She climbs to new heights


• Loves babies and to give them "ba-ba's"


• Dances so cute to music


• Loves yogurt


• Very independent


• Tries to put her pants on


• Constantly takes socks off


• Chases the dog and the cat


• Sings: A-B-C, and then adds in the P when we get there


• Rides a little bike


• Says lots of new words-moon, star, bath, Santa, scissors, no, bird, turtle, kitty, mommy (finally!) and tries to repeat the words you say. ( gotta be more careful now!)


• Throws really really neat fits when she's tired and can't have her way--kicks, screams, cries, hits, pinches.....ooooh boy we're in for it!


• Gives hugs and kisses


• Says bye-bye and hello all day. Even if she hears a phone ring on TV


• And Tadd wanted me to add that she thinks its hilarious to "pass gas" she laughs and laughs--wonder where she ever learned that from??

**Little story: Sadie and I were in the bathroom stall together and the lady next to us "passed gas". It's embarrassing enough I'm sure, but then Sadie started to LAUGH!!! I'm sure the lady's embarrassment accelerated pretty quickly. Let's just say she waited for us to leave before she dared come out!

The Winnie

Tadd and I both love the outdoors and to camp. Some of our best memories as kids were of campfires, marshmellows, and nature all around. Tadd spent most of his camping career in a Camper Trailer, which I've always wanted--especially since the most advanced I had gotten was a multi-room tent!

We've been looking for a RV Camper for a while and finally found one that suited us perfectly! It's an older, well-used camper, but it's in great shape and we just love it!! We were so anxious to begin making memories with our little family that we decided to go the next weekend, which was the first weekend in DECEMBER!! Due to the weather, we thought St. George was our warmest option so we drove our Winnie (short for Winnebago) to Snow Canyon State Park. Tadd has many childhood memories from here so it was an extra special excursion on many levels.

We had the BEST time ever! We had a blue jay that hung out in our tree and there were lots of birds giving Sadie many opportunities to point and say "bir" which is bird. Too Cute. We all bundled up and enjoyed many walks. Billie, Kevyn and Jerry came up to visit and spend the afternoon with us. We had a great lunch, shrimp and all, and it was so much fun to have company!

Sadie enjoyed the camper the most I think. She spent a great deal of time climbing into both the kitchen and bathroom sinks. Not really the safest place.....but we tried to stay close to save any falls. Tadd managed a fabulous catch on one fall that actually ended up on video tape!)

We can't wait to take our little Winnie out again!!

Christmas is coming!

After Thanksgiving we pulled out all the Christmas decorations and put up our tree. Sadie had a blast pulling everything out of the boxes and checking it all out.

She was pretty curious about the tree. She enjoyed taking off all of the ornaments and the silver beads, which she would then use as a necklace. As time went on, we had less and less ornaments on the bottom half of the tree, which was ok. She loved the lights and even tested her boundries with putting them in her mouth----lit! AHHHHHH!!! She spent a lot of time chasing the cat and dog behind the tree and around. Our tree got a lot of action this year and the needles on the floor were proof. One day for the first time ever I actually considered doing a fake one next year!!

We also had a great time at the Jubilee of Trees. Sadie loved all the trees walking around saying "oooooh, pretty!" She was making the old people nervous who were guarding the trees, but we didn't let her go under the rope. duh

When we saw Santa, she ran right up to him, got about three feet away and then darted back to the safety of mommy and daddy. It was interesting though that her first instinct was to go see him! We got a picture with Santa and this became our Christmas card. Fun-fun-fun!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We had heard that the Lodge in Zion National Park served a yummy Thanksgiving feast, so we decided to check it out this year.

Zion was sooo beautiful. It had been raining all morning and there were waterfalls and the rocks were a vibrant reddish color. Billie, Tadd, Sadie and I met my Aunt Julie and Uncle Gary there and enjoyed a nice meal together. It was a nice day, but we'll probably cook next year.

Happy Halloween

This Halloween was so much more fun with Sadie than last year when I dressed her in a duck outfit and she slept in the bouncy chair as I handed out candy.

We had a blast carving out pumpkins together. Sadie was pretty mystified by the seeds and goop in the pumpkins. Her favorite part was to take the lid off the finished pumpkin and look at the candle and say "Hot." Too cute!

We began Halloween day with Tadd bringing her to school so that she could go with me through the school Halloween parade. She was soooo precious and cute in her little butterfly outfit. My kids (students) loved her and were so sweet with her after the parade. Sadie did really well being the center of attention. he he

We later got to go on our first Trick-or-Treat excursion and it was sheer bliss. She was able to pick some candy from the neighbor's bowl, but would then throw it on the ground, with much force may I add. It was so hilarious. We just went to a few neighbors and then some of my students from other years stopped by and that was fun too.

Andy and Emily decked out their house, so we went and hung out with them for a little. There is nothing more precious than watching Luke and Sadie interact. I love it! After that we went to Kevyn's and Jerry's since we finally had a little bambino to share. It was a fun Holiday for us and we can't wait to have many more with our sweet little girly girl.

Stahli Farm

I am on Christmas break, so I'm taking this opportunity to catch up on the few months that I've missed out on a little computer time. So, even though it is January, these pics are from the middle of October 2008.

I desperately wanted to take Sadie to a pumpkin patch now that she was bigger, and we discovered that Stahli's had a few fun things open to the public. There were lots of animals, a slide that went into a bin of corn kernals, a little tractor ride, music, food and of course pumpkins!!

Sadie was timid at first, but then got into the animals. She pointed every which way saying "ooh, oooooh, ah" and all her other excited little sounds. She dared to touch the lambs, chased chickens and proudly said "Duck!" as she pointed to the ducks. This was the first time she had seen a real duck (actually a goose) so I was surprised she made the transition from picture/toy to reality so well. She was intrigued by the ducks, but their loud honking scared the bee-jeebes out of her!

Her very favorite place was the corn kernal bin. She stayed in there for so long watching the kids come out of the slide and playing with the corn. She threw a fit every time I tried to get her out, so we decided since we weren't on a time frame that she could just stay and enjoy her new little experience. We did make it to the pumpkin patch by way of a tractor ride. The field was very picked over, which was ok pumpkin hunting wise---but I was hoping there would be more for her experience. It's much more spectacular when you see a huge patch.

As a kid we lived on a farm and had a pumpkin patch. We used to put a stake in the ground with our name on it "claiming" our pumpkin as it continued to grow. So, of course I wanted Sadie to have some of the same exposure/memories of pumpkin patches.

We stayed for hours enjoying each area of animals more than once. It was a perfectly enjoyable family outing. We are a happy family!!

Playin' at the park

We've been having such a great time taking Sadie and Ody to the park. Sadie is such an independant little girl. She now (Oct. 2008) climbs up all the stairs and goes down the slides by herself. She says "weeeeeeeeee" as she goes down and is just full of smiles and pride in her accomplishments. We love watching her run around and have a great time. She loves to be outside experiencing all the world around her.

Stephanie Got Married!!

We are so very proud of our Stephy who got married in the Timp temple to Reese Peterson. They met in Wyoming and are living there now. We had such a great time at time at the wedding. It was so beautiful and special to be a part of. WAY TO GO STEPH!!!