Goodbye January

Already 31 days into January, how the heck did that happen? I can't believe how fast time flies, seems a lot faster the older I get. I told Summer earlier in the car to stay young and not grow up too fast after she told me she was almost as big as I am. I told her I loved having a little girl and I didn't want her to grow up yet. I don't think she understood but she didn't argue with me so hopefully she takes it to heart.

I said I would share some photos we took at Mt. Charleston this past week so here they are, enjoy!

My favorite picture of the day - a yucca plant. I just like how I panned it and blurred everything around it. I took it in a moving car and just tried to focus on the cactus, I like how it turned out.


Just a picture of some mountains up north with some snow on them.


A picture of a pretty sky and neat looking clouds.


It looks foggy but it was actually a large cloud, we were so high up in the mountains that we were driving into the clouds and the visibility was horrible, it was actually a little scary but exciting.


All in one day we saw rain, snow, and a rainbow. It wasn't the best looking rainbow but you can still see it in the photo. It was a really strange all around weather day for us.


A view of the strip from the north looking south. See how the strip was all sunny, kinda neat looking. I still can't believe we live in Las Vegas sometimes.


Here is a picture of clouds around some mountains, it looks like steam coming off and maybe it was, it sure looked neat.


This last picture was neat looking, it is called Snow Mountain or Snow Peak Mountain or something like that, and the way the sun and the clouds were surrounding it made it look all scary and cold.

Into the snow we go

I have lived in Las Vegas for the past 9 years and never realized how close the snow was - if you went and looked for it. I have lived 33 (almost 34) long years and have never seen as much snow as we saw this past week. We were impressed, and by we I mean me, Kris, and Papa. Summer was in awe, especially since she fell asleep on the way while we were still in rainy Las Vegas and awoke to see all the snow. Grandma lives in Idaho and has about the same amount of snow in her yard, so impressed is not the word I would use to describe what she thought. In fact, I don't think I should really mention the word she was probably thinking when she saw all of the snow on Mt. Charleston. We had to walk through some really deep powdery snow to get to the area where we could sled, so deep we debated taking a longer route, but the wild adventurous side of us wanted to go through the snow, to see if, in fact, we would sink into a deep pocket of snow that would go up to our knees. We didn't :o( but we did sink in a few spots. I have a picture of Grandma that describes what she was thinking as we were walking through all of the snow.


But she had fun, we all did! It was late in the afternoon, the weather was bearable, the place only had a few other people and we were out in the mountains doing something fun, what more can you ask for?

We do it all for Summer, this little cute baby girl who we love to make her happy, because making her happy makes us all happy, watching her smile brightens up all of our day. Letting her try new exciting things brings back our own childhood memories and giving her a new adventure gives us a new adventure. She is so worth it.


I would like to say that we spend the time letting Summer sled down the hill over and over and she had a blast, but to be honest she sled down twice and the second time she hit a bump that threw snow up in her face, then she stopped and fell out.


She wasn't upset and actually laughed and said the snow got in her face but apparently she wasn't thrilled about having it happen again and chose to not go back down the hill again. Plan B, all of us took a turn sledding down the hill, except grandma (see picture above), then we took turns sliding with Summer on a shorter less steep hill.



Because we were there and because the area was beautiful and because we had a camera, we took the opportunity to have some family photos of us and they came out nice!


We look so awesome, so happy, so warm - and considering I had no make-up on, nope I will never learn, we look young and beautiful!

Lastly, because we can't forget Papa who was there too, helping Summer get the snow out of her gloves, the gloves that are not the best to use in such deep snow, gloves that just absorb water instead of repelling it, silly gloves.

It was a nice couple of hours and we ventured further into the mountain after we finished with the snow, I will show off a few of those pictures tomorrow.

Grandma came to visit

Grandma was here, Summer liked/loved her, it was fun, now she is gone. That is my excuse for the lack of blogging, I was really busy, well not really, but my normal routine, ok like I really have a normal routing ... but my somewhat normal life was off for a few days while grandma was here. While grandma was here we did some neat stuff, here is a picture of grandma and granddaughter.


Grandma got Summer that shirt, it says I (heart) 2txt - I thought it was really cute and get this, it was in the little girl section not in the toddler section, size small 4/5 - can you believe it fit!

Anyway today is Friday, grandma went home, things are almost back to normal. We went to the bookstore this morning and hung out with our friends Rachel & Carissa. Then we came home and had lunch. Now Summer is napping, I just finished our taxes and cleaned up. We were suppose to go to Karate 20 minutes ago but Summer napped late and she needs her nap. We might go try Cheer again if Summer wakes up in the next 20 minutes, but I don't think she will. So tonight we will probably stay home, relax, enjoy the evening together, have dinner, play some games, oh and I finally found the finger paints so maybe we can do that.

I have a bunch of pictures from the past few days while grandma was here, I will blog about it in the next few days so look out for it, until then I am going to hang out and be lazy while I have a chance.

Random Ramblings

Today was a good day. It started out iffy. We woke up early again, instead of 7:00 my alarm child called to me at 6:30. I brought her into bed with me, we cuddled and tried and failed to sleep for an additional 30 minutes. Breakfast was the normal yogurt and strawberries for Summer, cold boring cereal for myself. Then we got dressed for church and since Summer cried last week during sunday school and didn't make it but 15 minutes, I was worried how this week would turn out. Summer seemed interested in going until we got in the car, where she proceeded to tell us she wanted to stay with us and not go with her friends. I told her I would stay with her and luckily her sunday school teacher was nice enough to help me sneak out. She has about 10-15 other 2 year olds in her class and I want her to start socializing and learning how to act around other kids. I told the teacher to bribe her with food if she got upset and when I checked on her through the window 20 minutes later she had her hand in a cup of food and was not bawling uncontrollably so it worked. She made it without crying for the rest of the class so it was a good morning after all.
The rest of the day we did mostly nothing. Summer played, I didn't do much. Summer napped, I tried and failed. Summer took a bath, I bathed her. Nothing too interesting and no cool pictures either BUT grandma is coming to town, actually she should be here in the next 20 minutes but her plane is delayed 3 hours so I will be up after midnight picking her up. I told Kris he could get up with Summer in the morning so I could sleep in but like that will happen. Oh well, who needs extra sleep anyway, I will make it up after grandma leaves.

Great Family Day

I love living in Las Vegas, where else can I enjoy warm weather in January yet travel 30 minutes away to play in the snow? We can head north to Mount Charleston or head west to Red Rock, both are spectacular areas that we visit often. Today we put on extra clothes and headed west to check out Red Rock. We had no idea what to expect but we thought it would be fun to get out and take some pictures, so when we got closer and I saw all the snow I was really surprised.


We had originally planned to hike but the snow and cold made that impossible so instead we decided to play, which made Summer a very happy little girl. First we threw Summer down into the snow and told her to move her arms, I mean we taught her how to make a snow angel :o)


I really can't believe how well her angel turned out, it didn't look like she was doing very well moving her arms but I guess it doesn't take much movement.

We walked further down into a creek bed area and let Summer play with all the fresh snow, well play - eat, same thing right? She loved eating the snow, or loves eating the snow, if only we had brought some paper cups and syrup. I bet we could have set up a stand and sold snow cones, for real, there were so many cars on that 13 mile road, it was so busy!


After Summer ate some snow and played, she ate some more snow.


I am not kidding, my child was all about the snow! Even as we posed for photos together, all she wanted to do was eat the snow.


But it was getting cold, we were probably out there for about 30 minutes, Summer said her legs were hurting so the snow had penetrated both pairs of her pants and climbed over her boots, it was time to go, and get some food, we were starving! We decided that Olive Garden would provide us the nutritious warm meal we were all craving and we starving like we hadn't eaten in years. It was a very delicious lunch which made the day that much better. To top it off Summer and I went home and took a two hour nap. It just doesn't get much better than that.

Purple Mess

We love arts & crafts class and we love to finger paint, put the two together and fun messy things can happen!

Now if only I could find the finger paints at home, I put them somewhere safe and they are missing, don't you hate when you do that?

Overcast & Rainy

The weather can affect people, sunshine can make people happy and rain and clouds can make people sleepy and lazy, or at least that is how I feel. When the weather is cold and we are inside more often I am less likely to take photos, which sucks because taking photos is a nice and relaxing (and cheap) hobby. Plus I am in love with how beautiful my little girl is and can't get enough pictures of her. But the weather has been colder and overcast and I haven't felt like taking pictures. Right now Summer is sitting behind me watching Dora on PBS while I ignore and try to overcome my boredom by searching the internet. Luckily we have classes, it gets us dressed and out of the house. Today we have arts & crafts and I am looking forward to getting out and doing something productive and spending time together. I am also thinking about lunch, I shouldn't be but I am. Speaking of food, the last photos I took of Summer a few days ago happen to be during lunch. The light shining in the window was soft and Summer looked cute as she ate her veggies and sushi. Here is one of the photos from that set, look how sweet her face is!


And look how messy her face is! I would still kiss that messy face :o)

Sushi Rolls

I love Sushi Rolls!

Sushi (寿司, 鮨, or 鮓?) is vinegar rice, topped with other ingredients, such as fish.


Sushi is not just raw fish, and the next person that tells me they don't like sushi because they don't eat raw fish well, I am going to just ... I don't know yet but I will think of something.


Summer is eating the sushi because the California Rolls have avocado in it, as well as cucumber and crab meat. Summer loves avocado.


Sushi is best when dipped in soy sauce. I usually use the less sodium soy sauce, I can't tell a difference.


Summer does not like wasabi. Wasabi is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish and mustard. Wasabi is also hot, but Summer did not believe me. She does now. When she took a big lick of the wasabi she started crying, and I started laughing but I got her some milk to wash it down.


I really love Sushi. I am planning on taking my mom to an all you can eat Sushi bar when she gets in town next week. I am really excited, and I am pretty sure she will like it as much as I do.

If anyone wants to do lunch - a sushi lunch - let me know, I will make myself available!

Milkshake or ?

Is there someplace you just love to go because it has something you want or crave? Is it someplace you might not want to admit you love because you frequent said place several times a week like we do? Someplace a little bit like Sonic maybe? I hate to admit how often we visit our local neighborhood Sonic because to be quite frank about it, it is almost daily. We do skip a day here or there. Thankfully it isn't the greasy food we love but the delicious drinks and shakes. My new obsession is the chocolate cherry milkshakes, they are so darn addicting, which is why we go so often. Kris fluctuates between the butterfinger blast and a route 44 coke. We use to get Summer a small cherry limeade but she never even drank half, which is a good thing, but lately we have been getting her a cherry milkshake. She still doesn't even drink half, which is good, but at least she feels like she is a big girl getting her own drink. I do wish they had smaller cups, the small is still quite large for Summer.

At the Sonic nearest our house they have a bouncy house on Saturdays. We seem to be at Sonics most Saturdays and last Saturday we let Summer out of the car to bounce for a while. It was dark and cold so we didn't stay long. This week we made it to Sonic again on Saturday and went earlier in the day. We also remember to bring a jacket and put Summer in socks intending to let her jump around in the bouncy house. The bouncy house is probably there for advertising since it is right next to the road but we never see anyone in it, and Summer notices it, so why not get some drinks and let Summer have some fun expending some energy?





I took all those photos with my iphone, second generation, and since the lighting was decent the photos turned out ok. Summer had a blast, I bet she jumped around for at least 10 minutes, jumping up and bouncing on her butt. She was so happy and really didn't want to leave, and even though it was warmer than the last time we went, it still isn't that warm so we didn't want her out there that long.

It is unfortunate we already went to Sonic today because right now I am craving a chocolate cherry milkshake, but we won't go to Sonic twice in one day, that would be crazy!

My little cheerleader!

Today was the big day, the day I had been waiting for all week, Summer was going to check out a new class, a cheerleading one! The class was at 4:00 but Karate was at 3:00 so we were going to have a busy afternoon. I know what you are thinking, cheerleading? The dance studio where summer goes is starting an All Stars Cheer team, a team that will complete nationally, a team that will have uniforms, a team that goes to a mandatory Summer camp, all things I never did but should and now my daughter could go for me, or wait, that doesn't sound right does it. Well I probably shouldn't have gotten quite so excited and I probably shouldn't have made Summer take 2 classes like that back to back. Karate and immediately over to cheer class was either too much for my girl or cheer just isn't her thing. I am not sure which just yet.

Karate class was just ok too, how did that happen, last week I was ready to quit arts & crafts and buy Summer a karate uniform and this week things have turned somehow. We loved the arts & crafts class but karate was lacking. Summer didn't pay attention as well and the class has too many students and only one instructor. She mentioned having an assistant but I sure didn't see her. In 45 minutes Summer got to punch, kick, do a exercise activity, but if they had an assistant it would have been so much better. Plus the teacher said we could drop the kids off and leave this week, yeah RIGHT, one lady taking care of 15 toddlers, half of which have no clue what they are doing, and poor Summer doesn't understand what it means to stand in line, so I had to help her. So I was already a little anxious about cheer, karate wasn't going how I wanted, what do you expect.

The cheer class was neat and at first, for the first half hour, Summer listened to what they told her to do, she stretched, held out her arms, she did some of the cheers, but over the next half hour I could see her focus shifting. The last 30 minutes was spent outside the class sitting in a chair with me. She didn't even want to go back into the class. I asked Summer if she wanted to go back and she said maybe later so I am going to give it one more shot, I will take her again Friday but we will skip karate to see if it makes a difference.

Sheesh, who knew having a 2 1/2 year old could be this difficult, trying to find out exactly what she likes, and what I like, and giving her all the opportunities, well it sure isn't easy.

Oh and to make matters even worse, do you see a picture on here? No, that is because I haven't taken any in like ... 3 or 4 days! I have no plans tomorrow, well I have plans to try to take a few pictures. I might try to go somewhere pretty, somewhere fun, but it depends on the weather - 60 may look good on the tv but it sure feels cold to me, so we will see, hopefully I can take something before I go crazy.

Happy Half A Birthday !

Today is Summer's Happy Half a Birthday! To celebrate I sang Happy Half a Birthday to her and she got a cookie with her breakfast :o) Here are her 2 1/2 year old stats.

Height: 38 inches
Weight: 34 pounds
Teeth: Her lower left molar just poked through so only her lower right molar is still left.
Clothing Size: 3T (not sure how much longer)
Shoe Size: 7
Favorite Toys: Little People, Princesses & Dolls
Loves Vegetables: peas, carrots, asparagus, green beans, corn
Favorite Movie: The Wizard of Oz
Sesame Street is still her favorite tv show
She is in bed by 9:00 pm and up at 7:00 am
Hobbies Include: Mommy & Me Dance Class, Arts & Crafts & Karate
She finally likes going to church (or as she calls it, God's House)
She is a great eater and sleeper/napper
She is completely potty trained, no accidents during naps or bedtime

Yesterday we went to the weekly arts & crafts class and I have changed my mind about how much I disliked it, because this week it was a lot of fun, for both Summer and I. We made butterflies out of clothes pins and coffee filters. Summer got to paint with water colors and she did great, she kept dipping the brush in the water then in the paint and then on the coffee filters. After we finished making the butterfly Summer glued some gems on a paper butterfly and dragonfly. It was a great class and we stayed the entire hour.


After arts & crafts we went right next door to the park. It has been so nice outside, temperatures reaching into the 60's. I had a sweater on Summer but I was sleeveless. As I was taking pictures of Summer I realized she really didn't match. Her shirt matched but her green sweater didn't. I still thought she looked cute, what do you think?


Yes, she has a snotty nose in the second picture, but she is still so cute and the picture was so fun I had to keep it. As you can see we are battling an annoying runny nose, luckily the runny nose is the only symptom and hopefully it passes soon because runny noses are so annoying!

ET ...

Over the past year several people have told me that Summer looks like Drew Barrymore from ET. I remember first meeting Kris's sister and thinking she looked like the older Drew Barrymore so I guess I am really not surprised to hear that, it is conceivable that Summer could resemble her Aunt, but do you really think she looks like the little Drew Barrymore? I just don't see it.


Nothing wrong with looking like her, I think she is pretty but really, Summer? Of course I get this when I have Summer's hair up in pigtails, like today at the park. Here is a sorta recent picture of Summer in pigtails to compare, in case you somehow forgot what she looks like...


I don't know, maybe the eyes? Of course I think Drew was a tad older in the movie, maybe when Summer reaches the same age I might see it - then again maybe not. I don't ever recall being told I looked like anyone, even as I am older I never get, you look just like such and such, which is fine, I like looking just like me I guess.

So what do you think, do you see it at all?

In other news, we have something big and exciting coming up this friday, something I am really excited about, but I am trying not to overdo it, I don't know what will happen but we will find out friday night. I hope I have some interesting news to share with you, we will see, until then I will add a post or two before, with pictures, I finally took a few cute shots of Summer outside yesterday, and I plan on taking the camera to the arts & crafts tomorrow.

Karate

Summer LOVED karate class and mommy LOVED karate class too! It was great, everything I had hoped for and that is saying a lot. There were easily 15 kids in the class all ages 2 and 3. The instructor was a very nice black belt lady and she was good with the kids. When we went into the room the kids had to take their shoes off and go stand on a square, to which Summer did. Summer stayed on that square and did everything the instructor told her to do. I got a lot of video and it is so cute because Summer would look back at me and smile :o) I knew she was having a blast. Some of the things they did besides punching and kicking was running in place, hiding their eyes, jumping, ducking, and they also paired up with another student to do some teamwork exercises. The next class is suppose to be kids only, parents will get to wait outside. I know Summer will do just fine without me, can you believe my little girl is growing up? I didn't take any pictures at Karate, just video, which you can see here or here but here are a few pictures of Summer napping one afternoon on our bed, she looks so comfy doesn't she?


Not much cuter than a sleeping baby, so sweet and innocent. I am glad my daughter is a great sleeper, for naps and bed time. It sure makes things easier and I am much nicer person when I get good amount of sleep, which is all the time, which means - I am a really nice damn person!

Anyway ... we actually spent a few hours playing outside today, the weather was nice and in the 60s. Kris grilled out the last two days, delicious BBQ chicken, steaks, veggies, yum. And today Summer decided she likes asparagus. She has had it before but never really took much interest in it but today something changed and she ate at least 10 or 11 pieces. I am glad she liked it, I love that she loves vegetables. Only squash and zucchini are two she doesn't like so far.

warming up

It is a good thing the weather is warming up, being stuck inside doesn't provide for good photo opportunities. In fact I don't have any new photos for this post, sorry, I did take some new indoor photos but I haven't downloaded them yet, probably tomorrow.

We have had a very fun and busy week this week, on Tuesday I took Summer to an arts & crafts class. I don't think she enjoyed it, I mean she didn't hate it but it wasn't her thing. We have 5 more classes and we will go but I won't sign up for the next one. The class had 15 other kids but the kids were so spread out and pretty much sat with their parents. The craft we created was a snow man with gems glued onto the scarf. The snowman had to be cut out and for kicks I tried the scissors in Summer's little hand but the little hand could not get the scissors to cut so she is not quite ready for that yet. Summer had no problem with the gems, I put dabs of glue on the snowman's scarf and she stuck the little pieces on. We finished about 15 minutes before the class was over and Summer was ready to go, so since the weather was warmer than it had been we headed over to the park which is right next door to the community center. Summer was SO excited to be at the park. She didn't want to wear her jacket but it was still a little chilly. Summer didn't seem to notice, she was so happy she kept running over to me giving me hugs and telling me how much she loved me. There were a few kids at the park and Summer kept going up to kids asking them what their names were, it was cute. We played for about 30 minutes and then went home and had lunch.

Today we went to the book store and met up with Rachel and Carissa, hung out for an hour, then headed over another friends house for a play date. April was nice enough to host our playdate and her son Noah was a precious little host as well. He took the girls upstairs to his room and loft area, it was really cute. This was one of the few times I have let Summer out of my site to go play with other kids. She did fine, well kinda, she really didn't play with them as much as I would have liked, she kept coming downstairs to hang around me and the almost 1 year old baby that was also over the house. My little child loves playing with little babies.

Tomorrow we head back to the community center for a toddler ninja class and I am so excited. I am trying not to get my hopes up, I don't really know what to expect but hopefully some kicking. I think Summer is going to really enjoy the karate. The only downside to the class tomorrow is the time, Summer is going to have to take an early nap or get her nap cut short because the class starts at 3:00, hopefully she doesn't have a problem with the times.

Maybe I should take the camera, I should huh ... ya I should. I do have some photos and will try to upload in the next day or two, stay posted.

I really shouldn't complain

January, can you believe it is already January? I am still having trouble wrapping my head around it. Thankfully the weather this January has been mild so far, just yesterday and today we spent some time outside hanging out and getting some much needed fresh air. I really shouldn't complain because the weather could be so much worse. I am really glad that we live in Las Vegas, glad we have so much sunshine and glad for days like today where we can go outside without a jacket.

I haven't taken the dogs for a walk just yet but it is still on the agenda, as soon as Summer wakes from her nap I plan on taking them around the block so they can get their exercise, they need it too.

Here are a few pictures of Summer from yesterday, we went out back for about 20 minutes after we walked the dogs, just to get some air and enjoy the sunshine.


So far the year is looking good, things are going good and I have no complaints, only happy thoughts so far!

New Rules

Well it is a new year so there are new rules to go with it. Maybe not rules exactly but guidelines. We are eating out no more, or less, much less, no more sonic runs late at night to curb the boredom and snack attack. Too bad, I think Summer enjoyed getting a milkshake but we will be strong and resist those bad temptations. Snacks are going to be healthy, they always were for Summer, mostly anyway, but I am going to eat like she eats, healthy. We are going to get exercise, so far so good, 2 for 2, we walked the dogs for the past two days, and the dogs need to be walked, they are just as out of shape as I am. Well, kinda funny because I walk, Summer ends up running around the entire block. She likes to walk Lexi and Lexi is not a slow walker, but Summer does not complain and she does a good job walking her so Summer can run and I will walk around the block, every day, wind or rain, sun or snow. Ok seriously if it happens to rain or snow we probably won't walk the dogs, our dogs hate cold bad weather as much as I do and while they may get on their leash and begin walking it would only be a matter of time before those two animals decide they don't want to be outside in the cold, but anyway not like that is going to happen, at least not much, I guess it could once or twice.

I am charging the battery in the camera, hopefully I can take some photos of Summer later tonight, or perhaps tomorrow. I wish the light was better, I sure miss the warmth summer mornings and evenings.

Happy New Year!!

2009 was an interesting year but I am looking forward to 2010. I have this weird thing about numbers. I don't like odd numbers for some reason. I didn't like turning 33 so this year I will turn a nice even 34 and Kris will turn a nice 40, and the year turns even. Of course Summer will be an odd 3 but the number 3 is an exception so it should be a great year! To ring in the new year we went to Red Lobster and pigged out, then we headed over to the mall to watch our darling little girl play in the kid area. Summer is such a shy little thing and a bit scared of all the kids running around. It took her a good 15 minutes before she felt confident enough to wander out amongst them, luckily there was this one boy who was probably a good year younger, he happened to be running and we told Summer to go and catch him, she finally felt up to the challenge and once she was out amongst the kids she did great and had a lot of fun. After another 20 or so minutes she was tired and we got smoothies and left. It was a nice relaxing day.

Just this past week we enjoyed the weather, well the weather about 45 minutes north of our house up in the mountains near the ski resort. Cliff went and found a $15 sled and I piled on several layers of clothes on myself and Summer and we headed up to find the snow. It amazes me that the snow is so close, and free. There was a pay area but it was full and we found a nice free snowy area full of people playing and sledding. I ended up taking a million pictures and half came out so I have a lot to show for our 30 minute adventure in sledding. Why only 30 minutes? Because it was FREEZING, my hands and face were insanely cold. I think Summer was bundles up and mostly warm but her little cheeks were even pink.


Las Vegas really is a neat place to live, mountains, a lake, and everything else you could possibly imagine. Having a little girl has made for some adventures I would never have gone on, I am so glad I have someone little and cute to teach and experience new things in life.

2010 - I am excited, new things on the horizon. Next week I signed Summer up for some new classes, an arts and crafts class and a toddler ninja class, a beginner martial arts basic class. Summer loves to draw and play with play dough and she loves to kick, I hope she enjoys both classes because I will enjoy taking her. The best part about the classes is the location, the recreational center is so close to our house, such a bonus! The classes are six weeks long and if they work out I plan on signing her up for more, oh and the classes are very affordable!

Right now I am just waiting for Summer to wake from her nap. I need to get a few new year day pictures, you know the ones of her in the cute hat playing with the horns and steamers. Kinda like these from the past two years:


2009 - Second New Year


2008 - First New Year, she was almost 6 months old here.

Crazy how much she changes each year!