Black Friday with the family

We didn't really do the Black Friday thing this year except for going to Target at 9:30 in the morning- felt nice to sleep in! That afternoon we all went to The District to eat at Lucille's- a favorite of ours and it's conveniently located 5 minutes from my house.

trying to get Claire to take a picture is always fun
My mom and I and our jars of root beer

Claire's grilled cheese was really cheesy!

They lit the huge Christmas tree while we were eating so we went over to check it out. The girls in their reindeer hats. We didn't quite fit in here since we didn't bring have our tiny dog being pushed in a stroller! (no joke) But it is still a fun place to go!

We then headed over to the Ethel M. chocolate factory to get our free piece of chocolate (I would have said take a tour but it was night so no one was working) So instead we waited in line for 15 minutes and read some fun quotes and got our chocolate and toffee.

We then walked through the cactus garden to see all the lights

Then we headed over to the airport to watch the airplanes land right in front of us- Claire loves this. We have been there 4 times already.

The girls had fun playing the next morning before they left for Utah, it was such a nice Thanksgiving week.

We put up the Christmas tree in the afternoon so I saved some of Claire's ornaments for her to put on the tree once all the family left. She loved it and loves to take off the same ornaments too.

Thanksgiving 'Point" Day

I was trying to tell Claire what today was and she kept calling it, Happy Thanksgiving Point Day. Guess that's all that came to her mind when I mentioned Thanksgiving.

Our Thanksgiving was a little different this year and we enjoyed every bit of it. My mom Debra and I went to work at the Bakery at 4:00am to get ready for the rush of people picking up their holiday orders. We had a lot of fun that day! Jason had to go to work in the afternoon so Debra came back to my place to watch Claire (they had fun taking pictures on my camera so I'm allowed to post one of them) Thanksgiving day was spent over at the Leishman's house with fun company and great food! Oh and even awesome rolls and yummy stuffing!!!

My camera lense was dirty when I took this picture. Claire, Abby and Brenna hanging out on the Leishman's balcony after dinner.

We then all headed down to the bakery to help decorate for Christmas... they had some fun with the bows.

And the air compressor (that's Brenna)

Oh so pretty, feels like Christmas in here!

Jodi and Mike

Then we were back at my house checking out all the sales for the next day.

There always has to be a funny Thanksgiving story, so here's ours (quick version)...

1st thing was a piece broke off of my 'white spoonula' while stirring the white mashed potatoes (luckily it was found) Knife broke apart while doing the dishes, and the black spoon broke in half- funny thing was this all happened to DEBRA! Claire laughs every time she sees a black spoon- Ha Ha Aunt Debbie broke this!

Oh and just an FYI mocha mix does not turn into whipped cream!! Make sure you read the labels of the carton you are grabbing from the fridge.

Hairspray

This little girl has found a new love... Hairspray (the movie) We have been without tv since we moved in so the DVD player has been our best friend. She is obsessed with this movie and watches it at least 3 times or more a day. I've tried getting her to watch Annie, Newsies or Willie Wonka, but it's just not the same to her. She is now to the point where she wants to wear a dress and her dress up heels so she can dance like them! Don't know what we'll do when the DVD stops working!

Our 'View'

This is the 'view' from our backyard, we look out onto a golf course (which Jason loves) and we are right in line with the airplanes coming into land (which Claire loves)

quick trip to Bullhead, AZ

My mom flew into town on Saturday afternoon and helped me out a ton with putting pictures on the walls and getting rid of the last few boxes. Sunday morning we got up and drove over to Bullhead, AZ for my niece, Lynnea's baptism. Here's my brother and his family before the baptism. Lynnea and Rebecca

Claire and Rebecca enjoying some refreshments after

My mom and 8 of her 10 grandkids

The next morning we went to Dan's office so I could get a much needed eye exam. Claire got to have a mini exam and got to go up and down on his magic chair. And check out the cool glasses she got to wear.

On the Move...

This was the neighbors tree a day before we moved- such a vibrant red against the new fallen snow.Our 'plan' was to load up our moving truck on Friday the 13th (ahhh!) and get up the next morning to head for Vegas. We got the truck loaded with the help of a good friend (THANKS so much Randy) My mom came over to help organize and pack the truck good and tight then she took Claire to the mall for a while while we finished loading. We then made our decision that we were leaving that night because of a big snow storm coming in the next day. So I went back to moms house and loaded up my car with the last of our stuff and we were off by 9:15 pm to drive to Cedar City. Matthew drove our truck and towed the Saturn behind. We are so grateful for his help in this move. We made it to the hotel just before 1:00am with no problems. And we were back on the road by 9:30am, made a quick stop in St. George at Cracker Barrel for a good breakfast. Here's Claire when we stopped for gas, not wanting to take a picture... this is the only picture I took during this whole moving process. We arrived in Henderson, NV just after 12:00pm on Saturday. Signed our lease papers and got the keys to our new apartment. We were met by family members to help us move in. Grandma Patti and Maria drove in from California. And Grandpa Brad and his girlfriend Mary Anne came over to help too. We quickly unloaded the truck and now it was time to unpack all this stuff!

Claire fell asleep on her bedroom floor with crayon in hand... this is how we all felt after that day- so tired!!
It was like Christmas morning to Claire being able to play with all her toys that had been in boxes for the past few months- she had to try everything out.

Going to Wal Mart to pick up some things for the house and Claire wanted to go on the rides... I don't know if there is another kid out there who doesn't want the rides to work, Claire always tells us, "Don't put money in it!" Great no problem Claire, enjoy sitting there!

And finally Claire with her new big girl bed and new bed set from Grandma Patti.

We are grateful to all those who helped in our move, it happened all so quick and I am still in shock that we are living here! We are finally getting used to our surroundings and Claire loves living in Las Vegas, seeing the lights and watching for airplanes every time we step outside. I sometimes forget we are here except for when I walk into a grocery store and am greeted with slot machines ringing in my ears.

BTW- Claire is officially potty trained since we moved in, it must have been the altitude change because she has been accident free for 2 weeks now!