2016 Recap

2016 was an eventful year for our family. 

Howard returned home from a 6-month deployment at the end of January. We travelled to Washington State for a true family vacation in June where we celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. The three oldest kids attended summer camp in July. I completed my student teaching at Palo Verde High School in Las Vegas in the Fall. I also started working as a substitute teacher in the Clark County School District. 4 days before I graduated from UNLV I found out that I was pregnant with baby #5 (complete and utter surprise would be an understatement). I graduated Magna Cum Laude from UNLV with my B.S. in Secondary Education Social Studies on December 17th. 

To end the year, we said goodbye to our sweet dog, Dasher. He suffered a neck injury in early September. He was such a hyper dog, it was self-inflicted due to his boisterous personality. Vet treatment and meds helped for a while, but by the end of December we knew it was time to say goodbye to Dasher, as hard as it was. He was the first dog in my adult life that I truly loved, and because of him I was able to love animals in a way I never thought possible. Dasher joined our family in 2010, and he was the healing balm to the grief of my parents' deaths. I will be forever grateful to Dasher for what he provided to me when I needed the unconditional love of a dog the most. 

Some people are saying that 2016 is an awful year. I would disagree. While it ended on a sad note, with the loss of a beloved family pet, it was a joyful year for our family.  The circle of life is ever present; we cannot escape it. Indeed 2017 will bring a new birth to our family - one which was not planned, but which is now highly anticipated and will be loved beyond measure. 

December 19, 2009 - December 31, 2016

Spring Break - 2015

Spring Break has come and gone, but our little family made the most of it. While I completed an obscene amount of school work on both weekends of Spring Break, during the week we made sure we took time to have fun. Howard took Tuesday-Friday off so he could join us. One day was spent at Zion National Park, hiking. That's the majority of the photos. Another day was spent down on the Strip of Las Vegas. We took the kids to the Adventure Dome at Circus Circus and spent hours on roller coasts and rides. Howard and I avoided the big roller coasters because we're simply getting too old and it's more fun riding with Lucas anyway - and less nauseous inducing. We also treated the kids out to the Caesar's Palace Buffet. It was simply amazing and most definitely a splurge. We also toured the Bellagio Conservatory, which was outfitted in an Asian theme. Another day was spent at the local pool. Nothing fancy, but lots of fun. The really exciting pools in Las Vegas are outside and don't open up for another month since they are generally not heated. We also had a couple of lazy days around the house, sleepovers with friends, and playdates. 

The blog has been silent lately because, as the only author of this blog, I spend my time on school work or taking care of the house/family in some way. A few updates a year will simply have to do for the time being. 

Mt. Charleston Sledding

We have finally had time to relax and play now that Tina and the children are on winter break. We'll spare the run down of our activities and leave you all with some pictures of our snow day at Mt. Charleston, which is less than an hour from our home in Las Vegas. It was perfect weather with highs in the 60s. You can't beat that! 

First Day of School Pictures

Monday, August 25th was the first day of school for everyone except Howard (who happens to already be in school, albeit temporarily). Lucas entered full-day Kindergarten, Jackson began second grade, Erin is now a sixth grader in middle school, and Howie is a seventh grader. I am a Junior at UNLV, full-time on campus. I'm taking 15 credits, half  of which are upper division classes. Life just got even busier than before! Here's to a great school year!

Balboa Beach

July: The weekend following our epic camping trip was spent at the beach. We celebrated Erin's birthday a little early since she was going to spend her actual birthday in Missouri with my sister and her family (without us). It was a quick trip to California. We picked Howard up from work and went straight to Riverside (my hometown) and stayed with my step-dad. The next morning we left bright and early for the beach. We found a great spot near the bathrooms and the pier and set up camp for the day with out new shade canopy. Once the kids learned how to navigate the strong waves, they had a blast. Even though we spent 4 years living on an island, Luke was a newborn when we left and Jack was a young toddler, so they don't remember the ocean. In addition to that, it was warm water and generally no waves, so it was a very different experience than what Howie and Erin were accustomed to. We took Howard's best friend, Jon, with us and enjoyed visiting with him. All in all, it was a successful day except for the fact that I didn't know my camera settings were jacked up and all of the pictures turned out grainy (although some are worse than others).

We packed a picnic lunch, but Ruby's seemed so much more inviting, so we skipped the picnic and ate lunch on the pier. 

After we were done at the beach we headed over to Irvine and ate at a Japanese chain fast food restaurant. There are only a few in America. We ate at CoCo Ichibanya all the time in Japan and it was wonderful to eat there again. You can see the restaurant behind the picture of Howie in the back right of the photo. We also saw this crazy expensive car and Howie wanted a picture. We weren't the only ones taking pictures of it.