Magical Forest

A part of Mike's birthday celebration involved going to visit the Magical Forest Christmas lights display. Its a forest of Christmas trees that are all decorated differently and they have lots of other displays. They have a little train but we didn't ride it since we figured Daniel is probably not old enough to appreciate it yet or sit still for it. The Christmas village was really fun to explore though. It really put me in the mood for Christmas!

So anyone who knows Daniel, knows that he loves teddy bears. They are his favorite thing in the world. So when we walked into the park we saw two people dressed as teddy bears who were greeting people as they walked into the park. Daniel saw those teddy bear characters and couldn't take his eyes off them. He was in awe. These were really big teddy bears and they were moving. He was so excited to see them. You could take pictures with the teddy bear characters so Mike held Dan next to the teddy bears. The first thing he did was hold the paw and grab the nose. It was so cute. He just kept smiling and laughing and stroking the bear. They were very patient with him. Just seeing him with the bears made my whole night worth it!

I had no idea what to expect from this place but it exceeded my expectations! The trees were so gorgeous and so creative.

The pictures really don't do it justice but it was very nice. Its been hard for me to get in the Christmas spirit while we're in the process of getting settled in Vegas but this helped to get me in the spirit and excited! It was great to just see Daniel so excited. Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Birthday Mike!!!

Happy 28th Birthday Mike!!!!

Mike's birthday was December 21st! Since he is one of those people with a Christmas season birthday, my goal since I met him is to make his birthday special.  I love to see him happy and excited on his birthday. This year we spread his birthday out just a little bit. On Saturday we went to the tailgate for the BYU vs Utah game. They had a lot of fun at the tailgate even though they couldn't go to the game. Then on his birthday his brother Doug took him to see the new Star Wars movie. I was so excited that he got to go see it for his birthday and that I didn't have to go haha

Later that night we went to see Christmas lights which were really pretty and it was a lot of fun to visit the Magical Forest. Then we came home and had meatcups for dinner and ice cream cake for dessert. The dinner was yummy and the cake was tasty. We also gave him his presents :)

Happy Birthday Mike!!! Daniel and I love you so much and I hope you had an awesome birthday!!! You're the best husband and daddy ever and Dan and I are very lucky. Love you!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

I'm sorry we couldn't be there this year to celebrate with you but we were there in spirit. I hope you enjoy your movie and that you had a great birthday!! Thank you for being such a great mom and an awesome grandma! We miss you and I know Daniel misses you too. We love you!

Goodbye Boiling Springs

We have said goodbye to Spartanburg after 3 1/2 years. I spent about a month packing up our apartment. Can I just say that moving with an 18 month old is...interesting. Daniel loves to help and he loves to be involved with everything. So we had my parents bring up their pack n play so we could set it up in our living room. I could not believe how much stuff we had accumulated in 3 and a half years though. I think that is the worst part of moving. If all I had to do was pack up the apartment it would be easy but first I have to go through all the junk and decide what we actually need and what we can trash. I absolutely hated having boxes everywhere for the month of November and some of December. The boxes were mostly used by Daniel as stairs. It didn't take him long to figure out that he could climb them. Silly monkey boy! Most of the time he was happy and alright to play in his pack and play but if we did have to let him out every now and then for little breaks to let him run around. One of the biggest problems we had was that he wanted to help take stuff out of the boxes. So sometimes packing boxes took just a bit longer if he was trying to help. Daniel also sometimes went to find things to pack, like his pacifier. That meant we had to unpack boxes sometimes while searching for it.

It was pretty sad once we got everything packed up. Daniel was so confused about what was happening. On the morning we left he was running from room to room looking for all his stuff.

We are excited to be moving to Vegas and very happy for Mike's new opportunity. We are not going to miss the rain and humidity or the tiny roads around Spartanburg but we have friends that we will miss a lot. Its also sad to leave our apartment that was Daniel's first home. I was very sad on our last Sunday at church. It was hard to say goodbye to friends and it was really hard to say goodbye to my parents and brother. It will be hard to be across the country from them especially since I know they will miss Daniel. Hopefully we'll be able to visit and they can come see us in Las Vegas! Thank you to everyone who came and helped us pack and load the truck. We love and miss you all! Come visit us in Las Vegas!!

Grinch Night

This year we had our second annual How the Grinch Stole Christmas night. This is one of the best nights of the advent calendar! Mike was in charge this year but we had lots of help. We had a pork roast for our rare who roast beast, who hash, grinch green and grinch kabobs and of course who pudding for dessert! The food was delicious!! After dinner we all sat down and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the live action version). Such a fun tradition that I can't wait to continue with Daniel as he grows up!

Traveling to Las Vegas

We decided to make the drive to Las Vegas over the course of four days. So we got up Monday morning and drove to Jackson, Mississippi. Then on the second day we drove to Abilene, Texas. The third day we drove to Deming, New Mexico. Finally on Thursday we drove into Las Vegas. We had a moving truck so Mike started off driving that and I was in the car with Daniel. Thankfully we also had Mike's parents with us to help with the drive. Each day was about 8-9 hours long of just driving but we added about 2-3 hours of travel time with the stops we made.

Daniel was pretty happy on Monday and that day was the worst for weather and traffic. We knew we wouldn't be allowed to leave the South without experiencing rain one more time. So we got to leave in the rain and drive through Atlanta in the rain. We made one stop in Birmingham to see part of J's mission. It was a nice break from the car. Daniel was a trooper and played really well in the back seat with his toys and we also had some good breaks. That night we stayed in a suite so he actually got to sleep in his own room for the night.

On Tuesday morning we woke up and started the day with a big breakfast. The second day was a little tougher. Daniel was still a great little traveler, all things considered. He would just get a little sad when we had to get back in the car after making a stop but really I couldn't blame him. He never screamed and cried or threw a fit though. That night Mike and I shared a room with Daniel. This worked pretty well since he was so tired by the evening that he would have slept no matter what (maybe) but we would put him down and then sit in the dark hotel room and watch stuff on the computer while we ate. Then we would go into the bathroom and brush teeth in the dark. We didn't want to turn lights on so basically from 8:30 til we went to the sleep, the hotel room was dark.  Fun stuff!

Wednesday we decided to change up the driving a bit. So Kate and J rode with Daniel in the car and I rode in the truck with Mike. This was also when Daniel's mood started to change and he was sick of being alone in the back seat. So we tried to always have someone back there with him to play with him. That helped a lot and he was happier. Wednesday we stopped at New Mexico state and checked out the school and also went out to Applebees for dinner. While we were at the restaurant Daniel really was tired from the time change and he just wanted to run and play whenever he was out of the car. So since Mike was having to walk him around the restaurant to keep him happy, one of the waitresses when to the back and made Daniel a balloon and shaped it like an apple. He LOVED it!! It was his favorite thing and also kept him happy the whole next day in the car.

Thursday was the last and longest day. We had to do the last 625 miles to take us into Las Vegas. Daniel was so tired by this day that he was a bit crankier but since he was so tired he actually napped better on Thursday than he had all week. That let us just drive. One thing we were told to keep him occupied in the car was to have movies. This kid could have cared less about movies. He screamed when I tried to put one on for him. The only videos he would watch were home videos of himself and he also really liked when grandma and I sang Christmas songs and primary songs. All things considered, I think Daniel actually handled the trip better than I did. He was a little trooper and the only problems he had were the ones that we expected. He was also cutting 2 teeth while we were traveling so he was awesome!

Coming into Nevada

We are very happy that we are done with the drive to Las Vegas. It was wonderful to come over the hill and see the lights of the city. Texas was the worst state to drive through, it felt like it was never going to end but we met some nice people along the way. Its nice to be able to enjoy Christmas now though and just focus on getting settled here in Las Vegas. We miss our friends and family back on the East Coast but hopefully once we adjust to the changes here, we (by we I mean me cause Mike and Dan seem to be adjusting better than me...I blame the pregnancy) should be doing awesome!

Nursery Sunday

Daniel is now 18 months which means he can go to nursery at church! In our church nursery is a program for children 18 months to three years old. Until a child is 18 months, they stay with mom and dad for the three hours of church. We were very excited for Daniel to go to nursery. He is such an independent and social little guy and loves to play so we weren't worried he would struggle with the transition. He could have gone to nursery in Boiling Springs but due to scheduling, holidays and people being sick he has only been one time.

Today, December 20, was our first Sunday in our new ward in Las Vegas and it was also Daniel's first Sunday in nursery!

As we expected, he LOVED nursery! He loved it so much that when his nursery leader tried to hand him to me he didn't want to leave and actually went running back to the room after we left. They only had wonderful things to say about him. They commented on how passive he is. When someone took a toy, he just went and got a different one. They said he was sweet and played really well with the other kids. That made this mommy very happy :) We're so proud of our big boy!