February Favorites

At the beginning of this month (Feb. 1) we had the opportunity of attending a rally for Mitt Romney here in Vegas. We had never been to a rally before, so it was a really cool experience for us. They packed us all in like sardines and gave us stickers and a Romney poster. Here's our proof:



"Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!" Pretty catchy, don't you think?? (Sorry the picture is so blurry.)



On Friday, Feb. 10 we attended the Henderson Symphony Orchestra Concert. Being married to Greg I have been to my share of symphonies and concerts. In fact...



On Valentine's Day we went to see the UNLV Symphony. They aren't half bad!



On Friday, Feb. 17 we went to see Judy Long's Photo Gallery. We assumed she was some famous and well known photographer. We thought that there would be a huge museum full of all of her artwork. When we got over there though, the gallery was in one tiny room and there were about ten photos. Haha! Pretty cool pictures though.



Since Greg has class late on Tuesday nights, we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day on Monday. When I got home from work Greg was dressed in his nice blue shirt and was slaving away in the kitchen. We decided that this Valentine's Day we wouldn't eat out, we'd eat at home. It was really nice and romantic.



Greg made homemade chicken noodle soup (one of my favorites), chicken cordon bleu, garlic mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, vegetables, fresh green salad and juice. Then we ate chocolates for dessert. Greg had the table decorated all fancy with candles. Such a thoughtful husband. After dinner we watched our wedding slide show and 'You've Got Mail'. We love each other very much.



Can you believe we've almost been married for two years? Crazy stuff.



Here I am at 25 weeks



26 weeks


27 weeks... one more trimester to go. In three months our baby girl will be here!

The Pregnant Lady

Here I am at 21 weeks. Take a look at how I've grown over the last few weeks. It is now quite obvious that I am growing a baby inside of me...


22 weeks along


23 weeks along


24.5 weeks along!!!


This weekend we celebrated Chinese New Year. Here we are in the Venetian by a dragon. The dragon cost a half million dollars to build. It even blows fire and steam. Pretty cool! Just in case you didn't know, it's the year of the dragon. Our baby will be strong, they say.


Here's a better view of the cool dragon.


Then we went to the Bellagio and checked out their Chinese New Year display. They had several different dragons. This one was my favorite.


This one was Greg's favorite. Happy Chinese New Year!!

Our Happy Travels

1. PROVO- The first place we went to during our Christmas Break was Provo, Utah. My sister Ashley and good friend Tania threw me a baby shower. Tania was kind enough to let us have the shower at her house. Me and Tania have quite a history. We met each other in 2002 as silly freshmen roommates at BYU.


Here we are at the shower talking about baby stuff. It was nice to see some old friends again.


Greg showed up at the very end of the shower. Do we look like we could be parents?



2. WEST JORDAN- This Christmas we spent it with the Burrs in West Jordan, Utah. On Tuesday, December 20 we went to Temple Square to see the beautiful Christmas lights. The climate was a little colder than the Vegas weather we are used to... In the photo: Dad, Mom, Rachel, Malerie, Greg, and me.



Having the time of our lives! In the picture: Malerie, Rachel, Greg, and me.


On Christmas Eve the girls got matching pajamas for Christmas morning. Here I am with: Malerie, Rachel, Aubry, and Mom. Aren't we so cute?



Merry Christmas from the Burr Family! In the back: Jesse, Aubry, Joel, me, and Greg. In the front: Rachel, Malerie, Mom, and Dad.



(Sorry this picture is out of order.) On Wednesday, December 21 we made Christmas chocolates. In this picture Malerie is helping me make the peanut butter chocolates. I may have eaten a little more than my share...


We got some awesome stuff for Christmas. Here's the gang: Jesse, Aubry, me, Greg, Rachel, and Malerie.


Here we are all dressed up for church on Christmas morning. Do I look pregnant or what?? I am 20 weeks along. Half way there. Merry Christmas!



3. HORSESHOE BEND- After Christmas we went to Idaho to visit my family. My sister Whitney is getting married in 2 months, so my mom threw us a combined Bridal Shower and Baby Shower. How do you do that? My mom totally pulled it off! We ate pizza and my mom made our favorite cookie cake. Everyone had a great time. It was a success.




In this picture you can see the back of Whitney and me opening presents at the Idaho Pizza Company. Fun times. Thanks mom! (unfortunately I didn't take many pictures while we were in Idaho...I guess it's time for some New Year's resolutions!!!)

Merry Christmas from Las Vegas

On Saturday, December 3 we went to see the Christmas lights at the Botanical Cactus Gardens here in Vegas. It is right by the Ethel M. Chocolates Factory. After we walked around to see all the lights, we got a complimentary chocolate.


It even felt like Christmas because it was actually cold outside.


Here's the happy couple. These lights are not quite as classy as the Temple Square lights, but we are definitely gonna go next year!


Merry Christmas!!


On Wednesday, Dec. 7 we had our Pre-K Winter Program. The kids all wore hats and scarfs. After months of practicing, they did a nice job for their parents!


On Friday, December 9 our friends gave us free tickets to go see 'Phantom of the Opera' at the Venetian. Wow, it did not disappoint. It was powerful. The Phantom hung from the spinning chandelier that was above our heads. It felt like we were in the actual opera house. Pretty impressive.


Then we walked around the Venetian and watched the awesome gondola rides going by. They even have people singing on them...pretty romantic.



On Sunday, Dec. 11 we made sugar cookies. Greg was very persistent that we make them this year. We had a really good time. We found out that the more cookies you make, the more you have to frost, and with only two people that can be a lot! I look fat in this picture...enjoy. Oh, and that's our Christmas tree...


On Saturday, Dec. 17 we went to the temple. This is the nativity outside of the Las Vegas Temple. Very beautiful.


On Saturday night we went to our Ward Christmas Party. They asked us to be Mary and Joseph. It was kind of special for us. I even got to hold a real baby (only a month and half old!) It was good practice.


One of our favorite parts of living here is seeing the palms trees with all the Christmas lights. We think they are so pretty. Merry Christmas from Las Vegas!

Sweet November

On Veteran's Day Greg went to his FIRST parade. He really liked it. The parade was complete with veterans, marching bands, and of course good ole Elvis. We definitely live in Vegas!



On Saturday, November 12 we went to Aviation Nation here in Las Vegas. This was Greg's dream come true! He is so obsessed with airplanes. He knew the name of every plane and could tell me everything about it. He's a man of many talents. FYI: The captain of the Thunderbirds is the dad of one of my students.



On Saturday, November 19 we went to the Mormon Fort Museum. It was very interesting to find out how Vegas came about. Here I am by the entrance of the fort.



Greg is standing by the part of the fort that is from the original. Pretty cool. We even touched it!



On Tuesday, November 22 we had a Thanksgiving Feast at school. The girls were pilgrims, the boys were indians and I was...awesome!



For Thanksgiving weekend we drove 8.5 hours to Socorro, New Mexico to visit my sister Bethany and her husband, Paul. On Friday they took us on a walk by the Rio Grande where we found mistletoe. It was a really nice day outside. Here we are with their daughter, Grace.



I touched the Rio Grande!



We also saw a really old Catholic church...maybe we'll convert (j/k). Grace and Alice are with us in this picture. This is what we'll look like when we have two kids some day...



Here's the New Mexico Thanksgiving gang: Paul, Bethany, Alice, Haley, Greg and Grace. Good times with the Gabrielsens!



Grace and Alice hanging out with their favorite aunt one last time.



On our long way home we stopped to see the telescopes of the VLA. You can barely see them behind Greg, but isn't he cute??



We drove through Pie Town, AZ on our way home. Who knew it even existed?! It seemed appropriate with it being Thanksgiving and all...



We also stopped in Snowflake, AZ on our way home. The Snows and the Flakes colonized the town. William Jordan Flake is the tall man holding the hat. He is one of our great ancestors that helped found Snowflake, AZ.



We also stopped by the Jame M. Flake home, yet another one of our ancestors. Too bad we didn't get to go inside though...it was Sunday.



Lastly we saw the amazing Snowflake Temple! We had to drive up a huge mountain to get to it. Take a look at that waterfall! We should have our family reunion in Snowflake next year! It was very cool.