Catch up 2011

It's been a long while since I posted anything.  I didn't post for so long I got out of the habit of it, and so here I am so many months later. 
Do I catch up, or just start from here- that is the question.  And blogger changed some things around, so now I have to re figure everything again.  :)
So in the last many months:
I guess the biggest thing is we moved to Las Vegas.  What a change this has been.  We love Vegas, we love the wide open nothingness of the desert.  We love the layout of the city.  We love the warmth, and the blue skies and sunshine.  We love the parks.  We love we are closer to family.  We love our new house.  We love the people.  We love our neighbors. 
We miss our friends desperately.  We miss going to the beach..  We miss our friends.  We miss not being able to reach each other on the phone due to the time difference.  We miss our friends.

Luke has turned 10.  He is maturing in so many ways, yet he still can tease like there's no tomorrow.  I doubt he will ever outgrow it.  :)  Luke hit the goldmine with our move to Vegas.  He has so many friends on our street, and the kids come looking for him to play.  Within the week of moving here our house was filled with boys playing.  I LOVE it.  I am so glad he has found so many friends in the neighborhood and at church, and now school. 
Luke started 5th grade.  There are 5 5th grade teachers and each teacher took a subject and the kids rotate through the teachers throughout the day.  Luke loves this setup and he seems to be doing really well.  He has made lots of friends and the teachers have been very happy with his work.  I am so happy about that. 
Luke started a cleaning business at home this summer.  Luke has impressed me immensely with his abilities to work and clean.  He is a great hard worker.  He worked with some young men from our ward in Kalamazoo while we were packing our house and I have to say, the other boys were good, quick, hard workers,  And Luke kept up with them very well.  He is a great worker and when he sets his mind to something, there is no stopping him. 
While finishing up 4th grade Luke kept getting sick.  He started with a sinus infections, to muscle soreness, exhaustion, more horrible colds, to something where he was so sick he didn't move other than to use the bathroom for 6 days straight.  I was very worried, and the doctor was as well.  They drew a bunch of labs on him and we found out he had had Mononucleosis.  Thankfully it was just that.  Since this, Luke has been taking colds and things harder than normal, but luckily since we moved to Vegas he has stayed healthy. 
Luke has earned his Webelos award with scouts and he is working toward his Arrow of Light.  Go Luke!

Olivia has had a productive few months as well.  She finished up preschool, and loved every minute of it.  She was excited to tell people we were moving and we were going to be lost.  I couldn't figure out what she meant by that for a while, until I heard explaining to someone that we were moving to "Lost" Vegas.  :)  She is too cute.  I love figuring out what little ones hear.
Olivia loved playing with her friends Maddie and Madi and Christina as much as she possibly could before we moved.  She and Maddie N.  were practically inseparable up until the time when we moved.  It broke my heart to tear her away from the friends she's had since she was a baby.  Once we got to Vegas, she told everyone she was happy we moved, but she just had a hard time connecting with friends here like she had in Kalamazoo. 
Olivia just turned 5 just before the school cutoff for kindergarten.  Olivia was so excited to start school.  Mom- not so much.  I had a very difficult time giving my baby up for only 2 1/2 hours. 

Olivia and Brenna, her new friend from school and church.

Olivia loves school, she is so excited to learn.  Her class is HUGE!  There are 31 kids in it, and the teacher is having a crazy time controlling all these kids.  Olivia tells me all the time they don't get to do things because the boys are goofing around or some of the kids weren't behaving.  Seems like they need to figure something out to make an environment where the teacher can teach (like have smaller class sizes). 

Olivia has made some cute friends, Brenna above, McKinley, (below), and we just had a new family move in with a 4 year old little girl who Olivia connected with right away.  They live right across the cul-de-sac.  Wahoo!

Livs thought this rock looked like Bacon.

I am adjusting okay to the move.  I miss my friends A LOT.  There have been a few tears shed.  I need friends.  And thankfully I am making new friends here, so that is good. 

Ryan is loving his job here.  He is working so hard to try and make this a great place for our family to be. Ryan moved out here in May to try and open up the area and get things rolling before we came out in June.  Our house, which we were supposed to close on then, didn't come through until June 23rd, so he was staying with my cousin's family.  We are so grateful for them opening their home up to him for us.  We are so appreciative for all they have done for us here.  

We have had some fun hiking in the Red Rock Canyons, (they are beautiful) and canoeing and swimming in Lake Mead.  The kids and I have been able to go to a small amusement park, a petting zoo with some cowboy comedian shows, swim a ton, have play dates, go to many parks, go to a horse ranch, and so many other fun places.  While I may not be able to catch us up completely, at least there is a little bit of our lives recorded. 

Our new seasons, I thought this was too cool. :)

It has taken us some time to feel like we're getting our feet underneath us, but we are excited about all the possibilities for us here.  We love and miss our friends in Michigan, we will return to visit and hope that all our friends know that our doors are always open for you to come and visit anytime.  I'm (we're) not kidding.