House For Sale!!

Custom home for sale in Logandale subdivision! 2330 sq ft with 4 bdrms/2.5 bths, & 2-car garage. Open floorplan, huge kitchen with granite countertops and walk-in pantry, full front porch and large back porch, all on 1/2 acre lot!
$249,900
Randy Carlson
Realty ONE Group
702-355-1000

3D ultrasounds

I had these 3D ultrasounds taken at Dr. Wold's office yesterday. They some-what resemble a baby, but I figure (and hope) that 3D ultrasounds aren't perfect! It is still very interesting to see what's going on in there!

GATE

Over Christmas break we received a letter from the school accepting Evan into the GATE program (Gifted And Talented Education). He scored in the 97th percentile on the test and a 12 on the Matrix (whatever that is). The kids are supposed to score in the 98th percentile to make it in the program, but if they have a Matrix score of 12 or more, then they only have to score in the 84th percentile or higher. Evan is such a smart boy and I'm excited to have him try this program and see if it can stretch his mind a little more. I'm so proud of him and his capacity and willingness to learn!

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve we drove to Las Vegas to spend the evening with some of my family at my brother's house. We ate A LOT of food and played some games.
Alisha watched a movie with her cousin, and some of the boys occupied their time by playing a game that they made up. I'm not sure what the game was exactly, but I think it had something to do with trading cars.
At midnight we watched the countdown on TV and welcomed in the new year with a glass of sparkling cider. We headed home just after midnight, because my brother had to go to work that morning. If you look at the picture, every single one of our kids were still up at midnight! Luckily, they slept in that morning and Shane and I didn't get up until 10am!

Christmastime

We had an enjoyable Christmas again this year. My siblings and I (plus spouses and kids) gathered at my parent's house on the 23rd for dinner. Suzy and her family weren't able to make it this year, so we really missed them! After a wonderful turkey dinner, we gathered in the family room for our annual talent show and nativity. For our contributions to the talent show, Evan played "Up on the Housetop" on the piano, then I played "Jingle Bells" on the harmonica while the kids sang along. For the nativity, Alisha was an angel again. Denver and Evan decided they didn't want to be wise men or shepherds this year, so I conjured up a sheep and donkey costume for them. Grandma gave all the grand kids pajamas again! So cute! The kids also opened their "cousin" presents and then all the adults opened their "sibling" presents. Suzy sent a package for us with a Restaurant of the month card and a blanket she made for us (one side has the Broncos and the other side has volleyballs), we love it! Mom and dad also gave each of the families a box of food storage. We went back to my parent's house for breakfast the next day to celebrate my dad's birthday. The rest of Christmas Eve was quite relaxing and enjoyable (minus the last- minute wrapping frenzy).

Christmas morning the kids got up at 6:30 to open presents (despite my objections). They didn't have a lot of things to open because they each got some "big ticket" items. Grant got a cozy coupe (pictured below), some blocks and some smaller cars.Alisha got a dollhouse with a lot of furniture and accessories and some Legos. Evan got a couple of nerf guns, Spongebob Operation, and a really cool electrical circuit kit.
Denver also got a nerf gun, plus a basketball and a "real" gun (represented by the picture, because the "real" gun was locked in the safe by the time I took the picture) that has three interchangeable barrels. Some of my favorite things about Christmas is spending time with our families and listening to Christmas music (oh, and all the Christmas candy). I really could do without all the gifts and focus more on the true meaning of Christmas, but that's never going to happen! So, each year I do my best to remember our Savior through all the craziness!! Merry Christmas!!

12 Years

12 years ago, Shane and I experienced one of the happiest (and scariest) days of our lives. We were married in the St. George, UT temple on a cold, yet beautiful, winter day.
We were so excited to begin our lives together! We were so young and innocent, not knowing what the future held for us, but just hoping that love would be enough to carry us through a lifetime of happiness together. I'm not going to lie and say that the last 12 years were easy, but I can honestly say that our love has grown immensely because of the many experiences (good and bad) that we have shared over the years. We don't have the "perfect" relationship, but I know that as long as we are both trying to make each other happy, we will be OK!This year we went to a movie and dinner to celebrate our anniversay. We saw "The Blind Side" which we both really liked, then we went to dinner at Samurai 21. We had a Teppanyaki chef cooking up our food in front of us. It was fun to watch and the food was pretty good (except Shane's overcooked fish). Thanks Shane, for 12 wonderful years!!! I love you Shmoopy!

Merry Christmas!