Cowboy Christmas

Vegas turns into cowboy country about this time of year, with hundreds if not thousands of pick-up trucks taking over the city for NFR and other rodeo events. My friend Sophie has come to visit for the past five years at least, and it is always a treat to see her. She is a real cowgirl, not a rodeo queen cowgirl. She works on her parent's ranch and can be up in the mountains for weeks at a time with their cows.


It was nice to give my kids a chance to do something new, like watching the roping competition, riding a mechanical horse used for training purposes (we didn't turn it on though), and feeding and petting a horse. We got to see Diamond ride in a steer roping competition - Claire was a bit nervous at first around Diamond, but Miles went right in and touched his face and petted his neck. On Day 2, Claire got brave and touched the horse, and helped feed him his nightly hay. Aside from a huge allergy attack (I know this happens every time I am around horses and dust but I always forget allergy medicine since it's only once a year), we had a great time. Sophie told Claire to try to count all the cowboy hats we saw at the SouthPointe, and after awhile she just yelled out, "Look at all these cowboy hats!!" and got a few funny looks from the aforementioned cowboy hat wearers.


Claire said today, "Who is your friend again?" I said, do you mean Sophie? She said, "Oh yeah, Sophie. That's right." I said do you remember her horse's name? Without missing a beat, she said, "Diamond!" So, sorry Sophie, the horse was the most popular this time. Thanks for showing us around and letting us be part of the cowboy scene for a few days.

Air Time With Uncle Aaron

My kids love being thrown up in the air - and they will ask you to do it again, and again, and again. So it's nice to have uncles who are willing to play the game and give my arms a break now and then.

Why do we do this to our kids?

For photos like this!

Gingerbread House - Construction and Destruction

Claire had fun building a gingerbread house (and eating the candy) while Miles was taking a nap. I highly recommend these ready-made kits. Getting all the sides to stay together was so much easier with the grooves cut into the base already. We decorated "Gingy" the gingerbread man, a snowman and a Christmas tree.


Then... Miles woke up from his nap and promptly started to destroy the gingerbread house. He looked like he was having so much fun though - so I said what the heck, it's the holidays.

Happy December!

'Tis the Season for the joy that is the Candy Cane Joe-Joe.

Maria Songs

Every now and then Claire will humor me and sing one of her favorite songs on camera - she sang Do-Re-Me for my mom, only she insisted on standing very close to me so the angle is a bit funny. Lately she calls this one of her Maria songs.

Hold On to Your Heart

These two are so precious to us. It makes my heart melt a little to see these photos and think that they already look a little different from when these were taken 3 weeks ago. It was so hard to get Claire and Miles together in one picture but I like the action shots - it is more true to life, since they hardly ever stay still and are always running.