Christmas Eve and Day

While Steve and I were at the ER after he fell at Red Rock Canyon, Natalie and Thomas fixed Christmas Eve dinner. Yummy and much appreciated!

After dinner, we played games. A party just wouldn't be complete without Musical Chairs, right?

Glow-in-the dark-necklaces are always a hit at a family party.

Christmas morning always begins with the traditional "let's stand and wait till everyone's ready before we run into the family room to see what Santa brought."

Cali welcomed "Baby All Gone" into our family by feeding and snuggling her new baby doll. Cali couldn't believe that Grandma and Grandpa knew she wanted one. Go figure!!!!

Natalie has taken up sewing and has made already an apron, valances, table runner, and ties. Now with this sewing machine, I expect to see even more masterpieces.

Santa surprised Ashton with this aquarium. Boy, oh boy, was he totally interested.

Instead of hauling all our gifts upstairs and putting them on the bed, we put our new things on the dining room table. We had a lovely Christmas. Our "big" gift to each other was our new HD flat-screen TV which, by the way, has already been installed and used!

Steve Falls Hiking at Red Rock

December 24, 2010 didn't exactly go the way I had planned. When I got home from getting my hair done, Steve met me at the door. He was having a hard time breathing, his eyes looked strained, and he was hunched over finding it difficult to walk and talk. To make a long story short, he had fallen backwards four feet off a large rock that he was trying to climb up while hiking at Red Rock Canyon. Although he has successfully managed on many previous hikes in Red Rock to see a favorite waterfall from this large rock, this time he was not so lucky. Somehow he lost his footing. He said it happened very fast. He landed on his back. He heard his back snap, and then the wind was knocked out of him. Somehow he managed to get up, walk back to the car, and drive himself home. When I got home a few minutes after him, he asked if I would drive him to the ER. We spent about 3 1/2 hours at St. Rose Dominican Hospital. He had six or seven X-rays, and fortunately nothing was broken. His problems seem all to be muscular in nature. He received two pain injections and a muscle relaxer pill. When we finally got home, Natalie and her family were there to greet us. Little Cali was so sweet to Grandpa and everyone seemed so concerned for his welfare. He went upstairs and slept for probably four hours missing some of the fun of Christmas Eve. Today, which is Christmas, he seems to be doing better although he is walking around the house rather slowly and still has pain but not as bad as yesterday. He's taking his pain pills and sleeping a great deal so that's helping him. I am very thankful that his injuries turned out to be minimal compared to what they could have been considering the severity of some back injuries. This was not the holiday weekend we had hoped for but inspite of this medical emergency, we ended up having a good time with Natalie, Thomas, Cali, and Ashton. Christmas Eve was filled with good food, a dvd depicting the birth of the savior, and games. It was nice to have some holiday cheer after the stress of a visit to the ER. Thanks to one and all for the many phone calls, voice messages, and text messages inquiring about his welfare.

Holiday Fun

"Mystic Falls" at Sam's Town

Viewing "Mystic Falls" from the balcony

Bear Display at "Mystic Falls"

Kim, Linda, Steve, and I all went to a steak house at Sam's Town and then we wandered through the Winter Wonderland display in the courtyard called Mystic Falls.



There was a short laser light show accompanied by Christmas music at Sam's.



We had a lot of fun with Kim and Linda. They are good company.
It's nice to have a sister and brother-in-law that still live in Vegas.


Last Saturday we met Natalie and Cali at Town Square. We saw Santa Claus, wandered through the Norman Rockwell display, and enjoyed watching Cali and Ashton play in the children's playground.



Steve and I have heard a lot about the Bass Pro Shop inside the Silverton Hotel. One evening when we didn't have much going on, we decided to go check things out. We weren't disappointed! The shop was a lot of fun, and the Silverton had a really pretty tree on display next to the big fish tank where we saw a mermaid swimming.

Steve at one of the entrances into the Bass Pro Shop

Although I didn't get any pictures, Steve and I also attended the Live Nativity put on by the Red Rock Stake. It was an excellent 25-minute production. It was held at the new Opportunity Village which actually is within our ward boundaries. I have to say that with all of these holiday activities, I definitely feel like it's Christmas time.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

The decorations are up, the presents are bought, cards are ordered and on their way, and menus and activities are planned all to celebrate Christmas. In all of this hustle and bustle, I am most grateful this holiday season to remember the true reason why we celebrate. I acknowledge my elder brother's birth and mission bringing great reason in my heart to declare "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."

Fall Is In The Air

Second Thanksgiving Dinner
First Thanksgiving Dinner

We celebrated Steve's birthday at our first Thanksgiving dinner.

Julie, Sheldon, and Jace were here right before leaving for Honolulu.

We played a few games including a lively game of Thanksgiving Bingo after dinner.

The weather has finally changed in Las Vegas. I've starting wearing jogging suits now, and we recently turned on our heater for the first time this fall. So with those changes I guess it was definitely time to celebrate Thanksgiving. A few weeks ago while Julie, Sheldon, and Jace were in Las Vegas, we celebrated Thanksgiving early with them as well as with Natalie and her family. We had a lot of fun playing games and eating yummy food. So, Steve and I had decided that since we had already celebrated we would simply go out to dinner and to a movie on the real Thanksgiving day. However, the day before we changed our mind and made a quick trip to the store to buy the smallest turkey we could find. We enjoyed a very quiet day, but it was a nice day. It's always nice to smell a turkey baking away in the oven, sip a cup of hot chocolate, and enjoy a movie while under the comfort of a nice warm blanket. We had another yummy dinner and then went to an evening show of Harry Potter. I'm grateful for all of my many blessings. Most importantly I am grateful for my wonderful family who I love more than words can express!!!!!

Our Fall Trip to STL

Kyra with Pinky, the DeBauch family pet which is a bearded dragon

The DeBauch Home

Basements are wonderful; it's like having another house that's

tucked away and hidden from view

This is the DeBauch back yard. It's huge and there's more than you can see in this pic. In MO most of the garages are in the back of the house like you see here. We had fun playing basketball on the asphalt there by the cars. I even won one round of HORSE.

This house is two doors down from Heather. We walked down to meet Kyra as she got off the school bus.

At the park by The Butterfly House

Outside The Butterfly House

Enjoying a train ride at the zoo

Dane seemed to really like the snakes. The DeBauch family has a bearded dragon called Pinky as their new pet. It's much, much smaller than most everything we saw at the zoo.

At the zoo

Enjoying the rhino

Having fun at the zoo

Who is that in the mask?????

We had a lot of fun putting on tattoos

Waiting to go to the school trunk or treating party

Aunt Melanie with her nieces and nephew

What a pretty entranceway

Bluebird Park; acres and acres of land. Hard to believe it's in the middle of a city

Fall in Saint Louis is soooo pretty

Bike riding to the pond by the DeBauch home

The pond a block or two from Heather's house

Grandpa loved the pond; nobody has fences. What you see in the background are the yards of a few homes that face the pond in Heather's subdivision.

Heather's new bike

We couldn't resist trying on some fancy, fancy shoes

The DeBauch back yard; the kids love the playground equipment and yes, there are tons and tons of big, big trees. No fences though

The DeBauch living room. When you walk in the front door, the living room is on the left side of the stairs and the dining room is on the right side of the stairs.

Steve and I just returned from St Louis where we enjoyed wonderful weather, fun activities, and family togetherness. It was very nice of the CCSD to schedule Nevada Day, a weekend, and two staff development days all side by side, so I could actually travel halfway across the country and stay five days during the school year. Melanie flew in from Dallas as well. What a perfect trip! It's fall in STL and the trees are so pretty. I guess I am a nature girl because I love to be outside and enjoy all the scenery. In Heather's subdivision about one block from her house is a pond. It was a lot of fun to walk to it and enjoy the water, trees, ducks, etc. We celebrated Halloween with Melanie and Heather and her family. This was our second Halloween celebration this year. We did quite a bit of Christmas shopping also. We ate out several times and also enjoyed the STL Zoo and The Butterfly House. Heather and Chad have a beautiful, spacious home. It was fun to stay there for the first time. After the kids went to bed at night we played cards and visited till very late into the evening. I loved being in Missouri and can't wait to go back for Kyra's baptism the end of February.