At the grocery store

I often let Lou pick between two items.  Today I asked her if she wanted the sausage ravioli or the spinach.  Before deciding she wanted to know all the ingredients in each.  After reading them, she scrunched her lips in thought and said, 'spinach.'

That's my girl.

I finally saw the beauty of the desert

I think I deserved it.  I paid my dues, I tried really hard, and I did see how the desert could be beautiful.  

In Spanish Las Vegas means, The Meadows.

(I wish I could say I lived in The Meadows, it sounds more like a place for me.)

We went about 30 min outside of Las Vegas to Calico Basin.

The plants are fighters, so we help them out by not treading on them.

There are natural springs there, and the plants are soooo happy.

So are the bees.  Can you see the bees on the white fluff?  They are having Thanksgiving.  I was so happy to see them.

Axel is personifying what was going on in my heart.

Seeing the plants in their natural habitat, instead of highly manicured in yards, helped me see how they are meant to look.  

I couldn't help but think that these plants are more thankful than plants in Nashville.

I was certainly appreciative of their hard work.

We are meant to be outside.

Then we went climbing around the Red Rock.

And by we, I mean Paul and the olders.  That's a super zoomed in picture.

Boone and I were slow.

It was really just Boone, but I don't want to point fingers.

There are endless rocks in the desert, which is a little boys favorite toy.

He also discovered a slide.

And the camera pointed the other direction?  Homes.  Yes, people live here, right next to where the desert is beautiful.  Made me want to live here too.

  

Bye.

Update

I made this excellent dress for Maggie.  That's my new backyard.  Booyah.

We had a tea party with cousins.  

This weekend we took a trip which I was super excited about.

In St. George we saw our excellent Nashville friends, Nick and Farrah, who are having twins, and I gave her...

these two little dresses, for their two little darling girls.

Then drove all the way up to Pocatello Idaho, to stay with the Wutrain family.  Husband and Paul  were roommates in college.  They took us to an excellent playground, and 

the fun McKee's petting zoo, that just so happens to be run by the brother of our mission president in Nashville.  Small world.

Paul was handsome all day.

Then we drove up to Idaho Falls for the main event: the sealing of Leighton and Melissa.  Yes, he should be that excited.

We LOVE them.  And have for a long, long, time.

My cousin, also named Melissa, saved the day, and watched my kids so we could go to the sealing.  And if that wasn't enough to win her the favorite cousin award, she also grilled chicken and grilled bruschetta, and watermelon, and from their garden carrots.  I must've been too busy eating to take a picture.

Then we brought the kids to the reception.  They've seen my kids grow up.  And we spotted them, the kids ran and gave them both hugs.

Boone should've been more eager to kiss the beautiful bride!

There were more Nashville people to chat up.  Also, notice the bride's dress, I altered it from a completely strapless dress.  I finished it about a week before our move.

And here is Axel's primary teacher when he was 4.  She's still a favorite.

The only thing that could pull our attention away from the happy couple, was the pie.

Luckily, there's always room for pie, even after grilled bruschetta.   Mmmm.

The lovely mustache picture was taken at our house in Nashville.  Paul and Leighton grew mustaches and we had manly steaks to celebrate them before the shaving.

Then we drove up to my Grandma's house, to spend the night.  She lives in the most beautiful place besides Switzerland: the foot of the Teton Mountains.

My grandfather built that house with his own two hands when my dad was a little boy.  Every time I see geraniums, I think of my grandma.  My grandma is the coolest.  She's served 8 missions, is in her late 80's and was laying sod before we got there.  She makes the most beautiful paintings, grows a beautiful garden, had nine kids, was a nurse forever, and makes mouth watering and healthy food, and crochets blankets for just about every baby born in Idaho.  And she's wise.  So I had to really listen up when she said, "If I had a man like that, I'd live with him anywhere!"  Paul smiled. Point for Vegas.

After church and beef stroganoff we made the long drive back to Vegas.  But we got to stop in Utah to see my sister and her family and my parents and eat marinated grilled chicken and cheesecake.

And now, I'll be getting a gym membership.