Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary

Today I was torn between going to the Lied's Discovery Museum and a park. I really want to take the kids to see the Clifford exhibit... but it was such a beautiful day, how could I stand to be inside? So, I decided to take the kids to the Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary. We've been there before, and it's fun. The best part is that it's so close! The kids LOVED feeding the goats. There had been baby goats born on Sunday, which were so cute!!! Emma is staring at the REALLY REALLY BIG BIRDS! We were looking at the ostridge. I told her the birds were bigger than daddy. She was impressed. Riley was really excited about the mini horses. He still loves horses. We really had thought that he would grow out of it, but I think the horse love is here to stay! Emma was impressed by the cows. Riley was too. Course when the cow comes right up to you and sticks her tongue out at you.. it's really WOW. Riley and the raven had fun dancing together. It made me laugh to see the bird follow Riley's every move! This is what I get when I ask for a smile... He was enjoying the peacefulness of the goldfish pond. Riley was also a little upset with me for wanting to go home. He wasn't ready to leave just yet! But as you can see, he was tired, Emma was tired, and it was so time for lunch! All in all this was a fun activity. I think the kids had a good time, at least I hope they did. There weren't too many smiles, but both were very intense about seeing everything. Riley cried when we left, so I'm pretty sure he had fun. I would totally recommend checking out the Nature Sanctuary! They have done some improvement to it, and are doing things all the time. It's not too expensive ($5 for adults $1 for kids), and it's really cool to so close to the animals! This is the website: www.gilcreasenaturesanturay.org

They are linked with the orchard, which is a place I recommend for everyone! The apple juice is wonderful!

Normalcy is beginning to return

Well, it's been almost two weeks since the accident. We all have been seeing the chiropractor regularly. Allen and I are seen 3 times a week, and the kids once a week. Hopefully next week will be the last week for the kids.The kids seem to be doing much better, and so are the parents. I can at least read without the words getting fuzzy and my head starting to pound. The van should be returned to us hopefully next Friday... just one more week. The quote we got was for 68.5 man hours... with all the doctor appointments, the days just seem to fly. I swear it seems I get up, get breakfast, run to the doctor, make lunch, have quiet time, and then it's time to make dinner... of course, having something almost every evening this week has added some stress too..

So, here's a quick rundown of the last week or so: Thursday, Allen came home early and took us all kite flying and to the park. It was pretty cold but every one had a blast! I asked Emmaline where the kite was. She was so cute, so looked straight up and pointed. It amazes me how much she understands! The cake I made turned out OK. I wasn't really happy about the texture or the frosting. But it looked really pretty. The ward party was fun. We sat with a new couple (the Holmsteads) in our ward and with the Snavelys. Cathy Snavely went to high school with Allen. It was a hoot to sit by these two couples. Both sisters are expecting girls in a couple of weeks. Allen also had flowers with chocolate sent to me and got me a beautiful antique necklace and matching earrings. Such a surprise!!! We pretty much celebrated V-day on Friday. We spent Saturday with the kids. To be completely honest the only thing I know for sure is that we took the kids to the park, and we had my mom over for dinner. Most of the rest of the day is a complete blank... How sad is that? I do know that my kids looked super cute! Emma's shirt had a cute little heart that said: Sweet. Riley's shirt made me laugh so hard, I just had to get it. It says: Single and Loving It. Isn't this look fun! Riley LOVES to climb. It gives me heart attack to see the things he likes to scale.Yes, that is Allen at the bottom. Yes, the pole is taller that him... No, Riley doesn't care. No, Riley can't quite reach the platform. And yes, Mommy was having a panic attack! Monday was President's day. That means no school and no library to study at. So, poor Allen had no where to study. The house looked like hurricane Riley and tropical storm Emmaline had made landfall. We called up Allen's parents to see if they would be willing to babysit the kiddos for a couple of hours, so we could find a bottom to the mess. We didn't, but we made some good head way! It was really nice to spend time alone in the house. It was so quiet...

Oh, and the dryer stopped working last weekend... UGH!!! Thank heavens we are in a rental, and they sent some one out to fix it. That was Wednesday. My normal laundry day is Monday, and I was SO behind. I didn't get the laundry from the week before finished, so SIGH, it was really bad. I found at the bottom of one of the hampers a wet towel that had gotten moldy and had made the clothes around it moldy (can we say YUCK!!! It was so gross.)

Thank heaven's for Demya and Benson this week. They took care of the kids for me while I was at the doctor, and then invited us to go to the park yesterday and today. They successfully wore Riley out. Thanks so much Benson!!!! How cute was Emma's outfit this day? I LOVE little girl's clothes!!!! I enjoy taking picturs of mommies with their babies. Hasn't Rollie grown? I think this is a great shot!!!For me this week has been very interesting. I have been a scorekeeper for basketball since high school, but gave it up in the last couple of years because of the kids. But, when I learned how much they were making, I decided to throw my cap in again. To say that this has been a disappointing venture would be an understatement. Basketball season goes from the end of November until February. From November until the 3rd week of January, I got 2 games. This didn't even cover my fees. I was pissed, to say the least. I wrote an email to the assigner, the board members and the president, asking why it was that I, who had tons of experience, couldn't get a single game, when I knew that other less qualified officials had worked 30-40 games in the same time. I have gotten a couple more games, no varsity level, but who cares? You get paid the same for freshman as you do for varsity. Anyway, I got a call Sunday night from SNOA (Southern Nevada Officials Association), telling me that I had been selected by the board to work a playoff game... hmmm, I took the game of course, but it did make me laugh. Everyone on the board knows me, but the assigner didn't... I guess he thought I lied about how much experience I have. Believe or not, I have worked everything from 4 year old kids to semi-pro... and I don't even really like basketball. But, it paid my way through school, and I've come to like the game a bit... Actually, I've found that this season, I have missed doing games, and that I do enjoy working them. I just would NEVER pay to see a game! Anyway, it was an honor to get to work a playoff game, they pay better too. I also had a baby shower this week. It was fun, and nice break from the kids. Allen got to put the kids to bed, by himself, two nights in a row. I was so proud of him, they were both asleep when I got home. YEAH :) Of course, it helped that when he got home on Wednesday, he walked around the neighborhood with Riley peddling his trike and Emma in the stroller. When he checked the route on Google maps, we found out that Riley rode his bike for more than a mile!

Valentines Day Cake

Today I made a cake for the ward valentines day party. It's a biter-sweet chocolate cake with caramel cream icing in the center with butter cream frosting on the out side. I think it turned out kinda pretty.. Hopefully it tastes OK.

And The Day Started Out So Good

Today we celebrated Allen's Grandma's birthday. The festivities began with a temple session at 9:30. It was a lovely session, and for once Allen and I weren't rushing, we even got to be the witness couple. It was cool. [Allen's hijacking the blog today, just 'cause I can and 'cause Jess hasn't realized I'm doing it yet. Shhhh!] We got to see Josh and Rachael there. Rachel is so cute! They're looking at a due date of Mar. 28th or so. They invited us back to their place for a couple of minutes because they wanted to show us their baby room. So, of course we said yes! Who can resist the old baby-room peak invite?

We ran back to pick up our kids at Melody's home, and were heading to west on Bonanza Rd. Before we hit Pecos, this dum-dum (I'd use stronger language, but this is supposed to be a family-friendly blog, and Jessie might someday print it up. I don't want Riley/Emma/future-little-one turning to me and saying, "Daddy, what does d-d- umm., what does this word mean?") pulls out from an apartment complex on my right, turning left across the lanes of traffic. While I'm driving towards him. While it's still wet out. Dum-dum. I honk my horn, hit the brakes, and move to the left turning lane to get away. To increase his levels of dum-dum-ness, he speeds up. I don't know about you guys, but when I'm trying to cross the road, and see a very large mass of green mini-van coming down the street, I tend to stop. But, he's a dum-dum.

Screeetch! Bang! Riley: "Aaaahhhh! My new van!!!" [no, really, this is what he was screaming. He was really distraught because first Mommy broke his old van, and now Daddy killed another one. This kid is going to get a car abandonment complex.]Okay, so accidents happen all the time right? Even more frequently when it rains, and yet more frequently when your last name is Leavitt. [seriously, 3 times in a year? what gives???] So, it's really no big deal to just get your sorry dum-dum hiney out of the car, exchange insurance, and be on your merry way. But noooo. He's gotta be a dum-dum. He backs up, hits the gas, and swerves just enough so that I can get a nice long look at his license plate. Then he hurries on down the street. [insert your favorite aggravated scream here.] We, meanwhile, are pointing into oncoming traffic with a possible undriveable vehicle. At least I got his license plate. [really, I got his license plate. It fell off when he hit us. It's currently in my living room.] Several people stop to help. One, apparently, doesn't take kindly to hit-and-runners, and promptly follows the dum-dum down the road, and when dum-dum stops at another apartment complex, the cops get exact directions to the dum-dum's truck. The truck gets towed. Score one for the non-dum-dums!

Fortunately, most of my family is within 10 minutes, because of the temple trip, and so must of them arrive on-scene in short order. We're able to move the van to a side street. The cop has a hard time finding us, and then gets delayed because he's off towing dum-dum's truck. And kindly plucking dum-dum's insurance card from the truck. This he hand delivers to me. I quickly note that the insurance is current. Nice. I was afraid dum-dum took off because he was drunk and/or uninsured. Of course, the cop also said that there was a lot of spilled alcohol in the truck, so at least I got it half right.

So here we are, all apparently in one piece (note to all attorneys and/or defendants who might stumble across this blog posting: I am not an expert, and I have not evaluated myself or others for any injuries we may have incurred. This is a statement of opinion only, and not to be relied upon. We are no longer in the stress of the moment; it is not an excited utterance. If you try to use it for state-of-mind exception, I can simply say, "sure, it's what I thought at the time. I was wrong. Booyah!!")

In my untrained - and thus unqualified to offer an opinion [wow. what the freak has law school done to me???] opinion, it seems like everyone is okay, except for some stiffness and a little pain. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but no broken bones, no scary bloody messes, the kids' carseats didn't move. Oddly enough, the SRS light went on, but the airbag didn't. Anyone know what that's about?

We did get to Grandma's party. Thanks Dad, Josh, Rachel, Mom, et.al.!

Roland at One Month

Today I took some pictures of Rolie. Demya and I talked about doing a photo shoot once a month so we can make a really cute craft at the end of one year... we will see... but here are the best from today: Could have a picture session without at least one Popeye moment... I love this one! You can totally see his eyes, and from a purely photographic the background was perfectly fuzzed out! Of all the pictures I took, the one above is my favorite! I clicked the camera just in time to catch this way cute little smile. Both Demya and Benson said I had to include the one below...They said this is a face they see often.

Family Home Evening

We have been trying to have family home evening. Sometime it goes well, sometimes not... Tonight, I did the lesson. I'm trying to go along with what Riley is learning in Primary. This year's theme is "My Eternal Family", and for the month of January: "I am a spirit child of Heavenly Father". So, tonight our lesson was called "I am a Child of God". I read a story from the Friend, and then crowned the kids. We told them that they are prince/princess. Riley was very worried at first, he thought we said that you are princesses, and he told us that only girls could be princesses, and he was a boy. I informed him that he was a prince, like Prince Charming from Cinderella. Have I mentioned that we watch that movie A LOT. He asks for it almost every day. Oh, and Little Mermaid. Anyway, after that he was cool with things. It was really cute to watch them with the crowns. So of course, we took pictures.