Ready for October!!

Another week down and almost another month gone

Have I mentioned how much we are loving living back in our small, quaint little town?

There is just very little stress and very little worry. 

Brad is lucky enough to work 2 days a week out here in Overton and its AWESOME!!!  He has time to spend the mornings with us and then gets to come home for an hour in the middle of the day to have lunch with us and hear all about Clarky's day at school and he is home again by 5pm on the dot.  I could get use to this having him around so much!

Kalvin helping Grandma make the turtles breakfast

Yes, I said turtles.  Grandma went out and bought baby turtles for the boys about a week after we moved and the kids are just nuts about them.  They are pretty cute and pretty low-maintenance pets.  They've named them Scoots and Scully.  Its still unclear if they will be staying with us or with Grandma come Summer and we're moving out.

The boys are doing a bang-up job of keeping G&G's house good and messy.

Lately, Im not going to lie, there has been a lot of dove hunting.  Gross!!  I'll never understand it, but it just makes Brad so happy.  And he thinks dove taste good, so whatever.  I tried it and its not terrible, but I wouldn't say its my meat of choice.  Because of all the hunting lately us girls decided we needed a day.  So we left the kids with the men and me, Emily and Lauralyn spent the day in St. George.  We went shopping, got our nails done by the worst nail tech's in the history of nail technicians, and ate the most delicious lunch at Kneaders!  The pumpkin cheesecake made me want to die and be buried in a pumpkin.  LOVE!!  And just the other night Brad took me out for sushi, since he is seriously obsessed.  It was okay I guess.  I liked one of the five different kinds we tried.  And even then, between the two, I'd take a big bowl of pasta over a tiger roll.  But Brad was just on cloud nine, so I have a feeling I'll be eating more sushi in the future.  And probably more dove.... 

Living with the in-laws really hasn't been bad at all.  They are just so easy to live with.  The boys are so happy to have their Grandma to spoil them and their Grandpa to help with projects and chores like dragging the garbage cans out to the curb and back. 

Brad has been so happy to be here spending so much time with his parents.  Lots of talks and teasing just like he loves.

I've been really enjoying all the company!  Sometimes I would get a little lonely on those days at home with just the kids and Brad being gone for 14 hours everyday.  And then he would get home and I'd talk him to death, the poor guy.  But here, I've always got people to talk to.  Grandpa's always ready and willing to discuss just about anything and for any length of time ;)

The basement is all unpacked and claimed now, I suppose.  Its nice and cool and comfy.  I'm sure we will just be freezing to death this winter though.  Sweaters and slippers here we come.

So aside from me stepping on a giant, crunchy spider in the middle of the night in my bare feet, its been going great here on Robison Ave. 

And my gosh this weather this week!!  Just when you think you hate Moapa Valley with everything in you, Fall rolls around and the doors and windows stay open and the smell of chimney smoke is in the air and you're just certain you couldn't love any place more.

Wally's is a staple in our lives.  It brings back so many memories and makes me so happy just getting drinks and going for a Fall drive.

Going to the park is an outing we've embraced... like, daily.

We're just always itching for a reason to be outside.

Kal gave us quite the scare when he disappeared on Saturday!  We searched the house and the yard and he was no where to be found.  Just as we were all starting to panic, I found him sound asleep under a blanket in Clark's bed.  I guess he got tired and put himself down for nap.  Crazy boy!!

Today is a beautiful Sunday and after finally getting through speaking in church (I've been so nervous.  Not Brad though.  Doesn't phase him one bit and he always does amazing!) and eating the most delicious pork roast with lots of family and relaxing in a house full of Halloween decorations, I cant help but feel so happy and so content. 

Yep.  We are ready to usher in October and all is gloriousness!!! 

Moving Along

Life has been moving right along for us lately.  We have been thoroughly enjoying living back home.  I think we have just about got everything unpacked and we are settled into a routine. 

Last week we were lucky enough to have Scott and Emily come visit from Cedar City with sweet little Brielle and Erik and Christy came out all the way from Oklahoma and brought their little Lily.  One night, Kirt and Pauline and all their crew came out for dinner and we had the whole family all together for a few hours.  It was wonderful!  It was a full house all week, but now everyone is gone back home and this big house feels a little empty.  Sure wish we could see them all more often.

We have been lucky enough to get to play with Keldon 3 times a week while Emily is working and the boys have been so thrilled to have a new little friend to play with.  He is our favorite part of the day, I think ;)

Clark is crazy about preschool.  He is seriously loving it and it makes me so so so happy!!!  When I pick him up each day he is a little chatter-box and tells me all about what he is learning and all about his teacher and the kids in his class and the snacks and I just feel like he is 16 all the sudden.  He likes to walk in all by himself and makes me stay in the car, but he does give me a little kiss on the cheek before he takes off.  I know that wont last too many more years... Im so proud of him!

Kalvin is almost 2 and oh my gosh does it show!!  There was never too much difference with Clark, but Kal is developing such an attitude!  He is so loud too.  Grandpa says he always has trouble hearing the other grandkids, but never Kalvin.  He can hear him as clear as a bell.  His favorite right now is to yell, "No! Don't!".  Oh this boy!!  But other than that, he is a good eater, a good sleeper, a good talker and pretty content boy.  He has learned to play on his own and can keep himself busy for hours just stacking blocks.  So fun watching this one grow!

I think that's about it.  September is rounding out and I think its safe to say its been a great and productive month.  Lots of change and lots of family.  Ready for the cooler weather that October will bring though!!

Exploring Nevada

After we left Idaho, we decided to take a an extra day and see some parts of our state that we had never seen before. 

Brad was offered and accepted the WICHE Scholarship once he started Grad School, which has been a huge blessing.  Part of the scholarship agreement though is that after Brad graduates, he has to work for 2 years in the state of Nevada as a Physical Therapist.  So we have been more interested in exploring what this silver state has to offer.

We drove up through Winnemucca, which was surprisingly pretty.  With a name like 'Winnemucca', you kinda just assume its a hole, but it was pretty and green and much cooler than I thought it would be.

We drove through Fallon and that was just a giant sand pit. 

The next stop was the Carson City area, which I had had pretty high expectations for from looking at pictures online.  But... I was starting to get nervous because everything up to that point, with the exception of Winnemucca was quite disappointing.  I mean, you never know with online photos.  Online, Fallon looked pretty, but in real life....  Yeah, I was starting to think it was going to be a let-down.  I told Brad it felt like a blind date.  You have your hopes and have seen profile pictures, but the real thing might not live up to the dream.

We decided to drive into the hills to see Virginia City, since we were right there and you know what??  It was awesome!!  I seriously wish we could have spent like days there.  It was the coolest little western town and had soooo much to see.  I just loved it and its so cliché Nevada.  It was so fun. 

I was crazy about all the super old buildings and houses!!

I could have spent hours just taking pictures

After Virginia City, we were on the road for Carson City.  I was telling myself that Virginia City was going to be the high point and to just enjoy it.  So as we drove up over that hill and got our first glimpse of Carson City and......

My heart may have leapt out of my chest.

LOVE!!!!!!

We drove down Main Street and it was so blasted cute I died

It had so much character and so many trees and flowers

Oh and all the old buildings.....

The photos just don't even kind of do them justice

Tons of shops I wanted to visit

Tons of restaurants I wanted to try

But it was getting late, so we got some dinner (the most amazing four cheese macaroni and cheese and sweet pepper chicken ever) and found us a cute little hotel on Main to stay in.

Clark was SO excited about the hotel and that he got his own bed.

We woke up early the next morning, too excited to see more of the little city and to drive up the mountain to see Lake Tahoe.  The morning had the most perfect Fall crispness to it and I died again.

We put the kids in the car and swiped some apples from the hotel breakfast and we were on our way to exploring more.

And I fell inlove

Like, over-the-top

crazy

Inlove

I just wasn't expecting something so beautiful. 

All my life I've thought that when people talk about parts of Nevada being pretty, I just thought, 'yeah, pretty for the desert'.

But Carson City is just plain and simple pretty

Really, you should check it out if you've never seen it!

After a quick hot chocolate stop and making a pact that we would return to Carson City one day, we were on to Lake Tahoe.... and OH MY GOSH!!!!

OH MY GOSH!!!!

Its one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my whole life... and its in NEVADA.  I just never saw this coming. hahaha 

We just loved it and we did not want to leave.  Ever.

We found a place to stop and take some pictures and feel the water and soak up the perfect weather

Im quite certain that if we pitched a tent right here, I would be completely happy for the rest of my life.  I could be a Lake Tahoe hobo and be happy!!

I couldn't believe how big it was

It stretched out so far and seeing all those sail boats made us wish we had months to get a boat and explore every inch of that lake.

Maybe one day......

Not one tiny bit of either of us wanted to get back in the car and leave, but we did it.

We spent hours in the car driving back down to southern Nevada.  Nothing was nearly as pretty after Lake Tahoe.  In my opinion, the further we got from Carson, the worse it got.  The rest of the drive was dirt plains, brown rocky hills and towns that were nearly ghost towns.  Hours and hours of boring dirt and army training and testing areas.  After a while, I felt like my eyes were just aching from searching for even the tiniest bit of green anywhere.  And honestly, when we drove up over the mesa and Moapa Valley came into view, it was quite literally a sight for sore eyes. 

 I never really noticed how uniquely beautiful our small corner of the state is.  I always assumed its what most of Nevada looked like, but those pink mesas against the blue and purple mountains is very unique to our valley.  And our town is so much nicer and so much greener than most of the places we saw.  Although I was sad to leave the paradise that was Lake Tahoe, I was very happy to be back and very happy that we get to call Moapa Valley our home.  For now ;)