Visit with the Nelson's

I am going to try to update this blog with a few things that have been happening since June.

• Visit to Utah with the Nelson's


• Visit to Utah with the Dennis'


• Trip to California


• Porter got potty-trained
  

So, I'll start with the 1st one...visit to Utah with the Nelson's. It was great to visit with all my siblings and their families, minus one...Mike and family, we missed you! We had lots of cousins to play with, lots of fun, lots to do!

I love to document my trips with pictures, so here you go. I know, I know. Picture overload! But this is how I am able to show my family my photos. I promise all my posts won't be this long. Sorry!

Here are my Mom and Dad with most of the grandkids...

Lots of "picnics"

Family dinner.

Trip to the park...

Porter wouldn't take a nap. But he did finally fall asleep on Pepaw! So cute!

Popsicle and dinner time! Peyton looks the same in both pictures. :)

Out to dinner with only the adults (and Will) ;)

Trip to downtown---waiting for the "train"

At the Church Children's Museum...

Lunch

At the Clark Planitarium Museum...

Yes, these are all Sam's kids! :)

Trip to the splash park---Porter loves to get soaked!

Don't you look happy, Becky?!

Trip to Hollywood Connection---We never get to mini golf, ride rides, skate, and stuff like that in Vegas, so my kids were real excited to go here! They LOVED getting to ride the rides by themself. Their favorite was the dragon roller coaster!

Me, acting like an idiot trying to use Porter's golf club. The kids mini golfing...not exactly the grip Chris was hoping for. ;)

Skating--the kids had never skated before.

Trip to Hogle Zoo--once again, don't really have a zoo here in Vegas, so it was a real treat for us!

Porter and me were the only ones who wanted to touch the snake. I'm sure Chris would have, too, but he was taking the picture.

Gotta stop off at Italian Village...memories!

Getting a last hug with some cousins!

Hope you enjoyed as much as we did!

Naptime...

Here at the Dennis household, we love naptime. Clear, complete silence! I love it! Porter (2 1/2 yrs. old) and Peyton (5 yrs. old) still take naps. I'm not a mean mom...they sleep and are way less grumpy this way, so why not?! Kylie (6 1/2 yrs. old) even goes to her room for quiet time, which usually ends up with a 30 or so minute nap in there, too. Which means, that THIS Mom lays down 95% of the time and takes a nap, too. You betcha! Other moms may think this is their time to get stuff done...not me! This is my time to rest!

It is so quiet here I love it! I turn down my cell, don't like if the garbage or UPS guy come around during 1 to 3ish, and especially don't like dumb survey calls that wake me up just to hear a quick click in my reponse.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know how blessed we are at naptime. Here's hoping this continues...

Pictures may not necessarily be taken at naptime...they would definitely wake up not being in their deep sleep! But the 1st picture is Porter in his new "big boy bed" taken a couple months back. He was climbing out of his crib all the time anyways, so we just converted his crib to a toddler bed and he loves it! The 2nd picture is what happens when you spend all day at the beach! Within seconds, complete silence! Actually, this is what happened...

Peyton and Kylie instantly fall asleep. Porter (who we thought would be the 1st to sleep) is singing Happy Birthday. Goes through the song about 2 times. Then Happy Birthday dear.....zonks out! So cute!

Hope you all are jealous now of our wonderful, silent naptime! :)

April and May with the Dennis'

This is what has been happening at the Dennis home this past April and May.

Our kids Easter morning. This year I made Kylie's dress and the boys' matching ties. I think they look cute.

I say, "Say cheese," and this is what happens...

We enjoyed our first watermelon of the season...

One night we decided to head up to the Bellagio Gardens since we don't go to the Strip very often. We enjoyed the butterflies and flowers everywhere.

At the water show...

We also went to Serindipity and devoured the ice cream...

Kylie and I went and saw "The Wizard of Oz" play in Henderson. It was special to have our Girls Night Out! Me and my kids on Mother's Day...

Peyton turned 5 years old! He wanted to celebrate by going to Chuck-E-Cheese. He said he didn't want to play any games or get prizes, but their pizza looks delicious. :) Well, we said he still could play some games and get prizes. He colored a picture for me of what he wanted his cake to look like. It turned out just how he wanted. Love this kid!

That's just a little of what has been happening with us. Hope you enjoyed as much as we did!

Spring Break Fun 2011

This past week was Spring Break. We had a great time staying here. It was fun with a lot of friends. We love our friends! We made a list of SOME of the fun things we did...the kids helped and wrote a lot of the list! It was great and A TON of fun!

(Sorry, I forgot to take pictures towards the beginning of the week. Lots of pictures at the end) :)

MONDAY:
• Went to the library and stocked up on books and movies (however, within the next 2 days Kylie was already done with all her chapter books and we had to take another quick visit to get more chapter books for her).

Bowling at Red Rock with friends

Watched our friend Avery

• Popsicles
• Had Family Home Evening

TUESDAY:
• Pancakes
• Went to the doctor (Peyton needed another shot to fulfill his Kindergarten registration, and we needed to check up on a rash Porter was having...an allergic reaction to some meds).
• Playdate with the Comin's (thanks Kiki for helping with the ties!)
• Baseball at the park

WEDNESDAY:
• Went to Chuck E Cheese (The kids each got 10 or so tokens. They chose their games wisely this time :)
• Looked at toys at Target
• Mom got scared of a spider (yep. I was changing Porter's diaper and underneath my legs was a huge spider...thankfully it was rubber and a toy, but nonetheless, I still screamed and threw it across the room). :)
• Peyton and Kylie went to the dentist
• Porter played at Kamryn's
• Chose toy at Dollar Store
• Mesa Park with friends

THURSDAY:
• Oatmeal
• Lunch with Dad at Red Rock (Who knew a random Thursday afternoon at Red Rock would have such a long wait. We waited almost an hour. Madness...but the delicious gelato ice cream at the end made up for it. I go there for the ice cream. Serious.)

• Tantara Park with friends

FRIDAY:
• Gave boy's haircuts
• Made fort, had popcorn, had Movie Morning...watched Megamind in our fort.

• Made Easter sugar cookies

Notice Porter's candy cane cookie...he insisted on making one of those instead of all Easter shapes. :)

• Ran in sprinklers

• Mesa Park with friends

SATURDAY:
• Family walk/race (We went to an Easter 2 mile walk with the kids. They thought it was a race for them...dressed up in workout clothes, ran a lot of the time, and got red faces... thanks to the same genes as their mom). :)

Don't be fooled by Peyton in the stroller...he was up and running most of the time, and fast, too!

I love the red faces! They worked hard!

• Played games and got prizes

Nice form, Kylie! Your basketball coach must have taught you well! ;) Papa, you jealous of the snow cone?! :)

• Easter egg hunt with friends

Porter enjoyed all the treats, snacks, and ice cream! Hey, we see you sneakin' that popcorn!

Our great friends...The Grundy's and The Armstrong's

Dennis Family Easter 2011

• Painted Easter eggs (Yep! This year we painted them instead of dying them. It was a golden egg kit. Pretty cool!)

• Painted pictures
• Picnic at Mesa Park

• Flew kite!

Do you like our list? I love some of the random things, like what we ate for breakfast. :) We had a great week. We hope you did, too!

HAPPY SPRING BREAK!!!

Sleepy Porter

The other day, Porter got wiped out! He fell asleep right when he entered the cart. The 2nd picture is him waking up from his brother or sister tapping him thinking that's funny. He's so cute!

P.S. Those huge big hands in the corner do not come from me...thank goodness.

Going to make...

I am going to make this...

and this. I am very excited!

I'll let you know how they turn out. :)