Picture with Santa

We did the yearly mall pic with Santa once we got to Texas on Christmas eve.  We fully expected it to be a zoo and nearly bearable experience, but to our surprise we walked right up and sat in Santa's lap and it was great!  Micah did so well.  He wasn't exactly jumping for joy and giving Santa hugs, but he wasn't scared of Santa and didn't cry this year.  All in all Success!

More Christmas fun

Before we set off for Texas for our Christmas vacation we took Micah to a place we heard about on the radio called the Magical Forest.  It was basically a giant parking lot that was overhauled into a pretty impressive winter wonderland.  Micah enjoyed seeing all of the lights and fun Christmas displays with his favorite characters such as Mickey and Pooh in them.  There was also a small children's sized train that ran through the village.  Micah LOVES choo choos and would get so excited every time he saw it.  We looked into riding it but it was freezing and the line was LONG not to mention it was already past his bedtime.  We didn't tell him we would ride it and figured he wouldn't really know the difference if we just packed up and left.  Wrong.  Worst parents ever here.  As we tried to get in the car he resisted and kept repeating over and over, "ride choo choo, ride choo choo"  At that point it was too late because we had already exited so we strapped him in the car and the whole drive home he cried and kept whimpering "ride choo choo."  He still to this day asks frequently to ride the choo choo but that night was the first time.  Oh well, we probably scarred him for life just a little.













Seriously.. How could you not love this face?

Merry Chirstmas from the FOUR of us!

Christmas Party!

We got to enjoy a fabulous Christmas Party for the kiddos at Brad's work.  There was a bounce house, cookie decorating (and eating) and even a visit from Santa!










He didn't even know what to do with it until we showed him.  Then the cookie eating quickly become his favorite part.







Oh look who's here?!  He is in the cockpit!

Fun at the Park

During the month of November we were still having wonderful weather and we tried to take advantage of it by going to the park.  This park isn't the closest but it probably is our favorite.  There is so much for the kids to do they just love every second of it.  See those huge tube slides in the back of the photo below?  Don't be fooled... Micah wasn't scared a bit.  He loved them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Despite being far from family we really had a lovely Thanksgiving!  We spent the holiday with our Air Force Family... some of our closest friends we have made though our years in the Air Force.

This year I tried a new recipe for my Turkey. I have a method that I really like but it takes a long, I mean LONG time and I was just tired!  So thanks to my good friend Carla for the tips and moral support (not to mention answering the phone on thanksgiving to answer my questions) we decided to go with the brown bag method.  It was a winner.  Basically you cook the turkey in a brown paper grocery bag.  I was skeptical but it came out beautifully browned and cooked even quicker than I anticipated (that never happens!)









Our dear friends and guests for Thanksgiving were the Hale's and the Gossner's




Now that's more like the Hale's I know! Just Kidding!





Micah loves to eat so this was a good day for him!










The aftermath!!!



Thanks again to Kara and Sarah for helping cook and clean!  Couldn't have pulled it off with out you guys!

Aire Show

Back in November we went to the Nellis Air Show.  Brad was really excited to take Micah to his first Air Show and although the weather was a bit icky for Vegas standards we managed to have a really good time.  We met up with our good friends the Gossners there and Micah and Avery picked up right where they left off... chasing each other around!



Daddy showed Micah all of the jets and got to get up close and personal with some!



But really... who cares about airplanes when they are selling ice cream?! 








And since it is an air show... here are some airplanes!