A hairy ride to school

The puppies got a ride to school one day.  I don't know who had more fun-the dogs or Aden.

Amarals come to visit

Back in September, we had a pleasant visit from our friends the Amarals.  We were lucky enough to have the girls stay the night at our house and then we cooked a birthday brunch to celebrate Elisa's birthday.

The kids always have so much fun together.  I am grateful we are staying in touch since their move to California.

Look out Tiger Woods....Here comes Aden Schiemer

Aden has found his sport and it is Golf!  He loves it and wants to practice ALL the time.  Grandpa decided he should have his own set of clubs and so we wen to the sore to pic out the perfect set.

He is one lucky kid!  Not only does he have AWESOME grandparents but they spoil him too!

 The next day, Aden still had the golf bug so we went to the mini golf course to have a little fun!

What is mini-golf without a little U-Swirl afterwards?

Jeepin' 9/17/11

Even though we were exhausted from the few days before (our partying with Switch), we got up super early and hit the trail with the Jeeps.  I can't wait to have one of our own.  We always have so much fun and the kids LOVE it!

Some things you can only see if you have a Jeep to take you there.

The two beasts

A little nervous!

Mike actually drove through the lake!  He is totally nuts!

At a cove on Lake Mead

I love exposing my kids to the beauty of nature.  Nothing is more gorgeous, exciting, and intriguing to a child than simply exploring the world around them.

A weekend on Switch

Where do I begin???  Tom worked for months straight to prepare for a HUGE meeting at Switch with the Brookings Institute people.  He and Dave spent every waking moment getting the new "conference" room/theater ready.  The room is AMAZING!  The pictures below don't even do it justice (soon to come).  Not only does it have everything that a tech geek could imagine, it also looks really cool.

Tom's new and much bigger office

Tom's storage office.  He finally has the much needed space to put all of his gear

Switch decided to show those stuffy Harvard/DC think tank/computer nerds a good time.  And they did!!!! Tom and I, along with several other top tear Switch execs, were invited to a dinner at Lakeside inside Wynn.  Of course, Tom didn't give me much notice and I had nothing to wear.  So, I just had to go to Nordstroms and get a new outfit!  I was short on time and so I had Chris, my favorite personal stylist, meet me and pull a couple of looks for me.  She was great and knew exactly what I needed.  She even was able to get the pants hemed in about an hour!  Gotta love the customer service at Nordstroms.

But enough about shopping!  The dinner at Lakeside was incredible.  We met several people including a LDS couple that live close to us!  The husband is an attorney for Switch and I love the wife.  She is smart and witty...and I LOVE witty.  After dinner, Tom and I did a little window shopping together.  One of the sales ladies in the store asked if we were newlyweds.  I guess after not seeing each other for so long made us really happy to be together.  We might have been glowing just a bit.

The next night the fun continued.  Switch got us all VIP tickets to La Reve at Wynn.  We sat in velvet Lazyboy seats and were served champagne and chocolate strawberries on silver trays.  Not only did we see the show but there were also monitors by our seats that showed a real time"back stage"video feed.  Back stage is either under water of the stage floor or several stories high in the rafters.  After the show, we had a chance to personally thank Rob and Stella (owner of Switch and his beautiful wife).  They are amazing and generous people!

The "stage" before the show began

Check out these seats!!!

Kim and Tom misbehaving

One of the "orchestra pits" that was near our seats

Kim and Tom behaving themselves

Kim and I with Dave being Dave in the background

La Reve Finale

Then we went to dinner at La Cave with many of the Switch employees and some people from the Brookings Institute.  Again, amazing food and great conversation.  And if that wasn't enough, everyone wanted to go to Tryst night club.  I had never been to a Vegas night club before and so I was up for the adventure.  It was sort of a crazy experience getting us all in but of course, we went straight to the front of the VIP line.  The club was pretty nuts.  Not my scene but I guess I'm glad I saw it.  By about 2am Tom and I left and headed home.  We were exhausted but happy.  I was a weekend to remember and it was only Friday!!!!!

at Tryst

Jeepin Day Two - Labor Day Edition

 After not being totally convinced that I like to go off-roading "Rubicon" style, I decided to give it another chance.  We headed out early to Wheeler Pass and made a day trip of it.  The kids and I all had a great time and now I am pretty sure that I want....no need a Jeep.  Not only did I love the Jeep part but I love spending time with my family and enjoying the outdoors with my kids.  Those are good enough reasons for me!  I will buy a Jeep in the name of quality time with my family and children.  (Oh yeah and Jeeps kick a lot of a**!)

Here are some cute photos of the day...

Spooky Old Tree in the distance

It was really cold but it felt good to shiver in the middle of summer!

My crazy dad

Dad's crazy friend Glen

Look at the view out the window

Three boys with three toys

Fun in the dirt

I think my mom is about to yell at my Dad for being too crazy.....again!

This photo would look so much better with a girl in the tribe!

All tuckered out!