Kitchen Upgrade

Dustin and I were watching Property Ladder on TLC Saturday morning and got inspired to do a little upgrade in our kitchen. We went to Target and bought oil bronze knobs and drawer handles, and then to Home Depot to look at the lighting. We found from great lights for $29.98 each. Dustin installed them and was very excited about the new look of the kitchen. It is amazing to me how something as little as a knob on a cabinet can change the look of the whole kitchen.

Red Rock December 2008

On Saturday Dustin and I decided to take a drive through Red Rock with the dogs. We didn't realize how cold it really was going to be, plus it was very windy. We only got out of the car twice, and it only lasted a minute. Here are a few pictures from our drive....I love seeing the snow on the mountains, that are so close to our house!

Christmas 2008

Dustin and I decided to start a new tradition, like so many other families, we open one present on Christmas Eve....new pajamas! I love new PJs! Although this year I kind of cheated because I found these really cute ones a week before Christmas for $2.99 at Aeropostale....I told Dustin this year he was off the hook! Sorry you really can't see them in this picture!Roxy and Belle got a bath on Christmas Eve, much to their disliking! But look how adorable they are?!?!?!?

This was Dustin and my third Christmas together, each year it is even more special. Since we purchased our home last year, we decided to invite the family over for Christmas day. It is a lot of fun having my family over. We had the Wii and darts for entertainment! We also watched Stepbrothers....very funny movie...a must see! Here are a few picture of us opening presents Christmas morning....EARLY! We were toooooo excited to sleep! :)
Dustin was so excited to get a "BIG BOY" tool box for Christmas. I have had his gift for over a month. And a couple weeks before Christmas these two boxes showed up at our house (from my parents garage) without Dustin even knowing. Then finally a couple days before Christmas he noticed them, but had no clue what they were. I can be sneaky at times! Dustin bought me a beautiful bracelet made with my birthstone. Sorry I don't have a closeup.

Ornaments with Meaning

Each year we all decorate our Christmas trees with ornaments to fill. Unpacking those ornaments sometimes remind us of different times in our lives because these ornaments have a special meaning to each family member or memories from the year.

This is our decorated tree from last year, our first Christmas in our new home.

Our first Christmas together we did not have our own place and did not have a tree, we lived with a friend and she already had the tree and decorations. So we did not buy an ornament this year, we did not like to was to appropriate to buy one that said our first Christmas since we had only been dating for three months.

Dustin and I decorated our first Christmas tree last year in our new home. We bought lots of decorations for the tree, we decided to go with the country look, with pine cones, cranberries, rustic bells, a star made of twigs and cranberries to top it off, etc.... We decided to buy a new ornament each year with the year on it. So last year we bought the Polar Express silver bell with the year 2007 on the gold ticket. I love reading the book and we love watching the movie each year. "The bell with ring for all those who truly believe." My older sister bought us our first Christmas ornament, though. It was two reindeer heads shaped into a heart kissing. I loved receiving the meaningful ornament to represent our first real Christmas together. We still did not buy one that said our first Christmas together because even though we knew that we were going to be married months later, now it was not our first Christmas but our second.
This year I found a snowflake ornament with the year 2008 on it. This ornament is a memory because it will remind us of the two days of snow that the Las Vegas valley had a week before Christmas. This year is also our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Dustin McGlothlin. Since it still would not make sense to buy an our first Christmas ornament, I made one. I took a clear glass ball and printed a wedding picture on velum to put inside. I took silver glitter and wrote MCGLOTHLIN 4-13-08. So, this ornament will represent our first Christmas as a married couple.

Yes it's true....SNOW in the desert!

On Tuesday, December 16th is snowed at our house from 8:30am until 4:00pm. I caught myself just staring out the window just watching it fall down. I couldn't believe that it was really snowing in Las Vegas. I knew that it snowed a few flurries a time or two in the Summerlin area, but it was truly snowing! I stayed home and inside, away from the cold! I couldn't help, like so many other people here, but to take out my camera and capture the memory. Who knew when the next time this weather would happen here..... BUT THEN THURSDAY late morning came! I had some last minute shopping to do for Christmas today, so I got up and went to Target. No snow when I left, and only a few flurries when I left Target to head out to Henderson to have lunch with some friends and shop some more. As we were finishing lunch we happen to look out the window and it was snowing in Henderson, so it must have been snowing where I lived in Summerlin. How exciting....it SNOWED AGAIN! I left the mall a bit early because I knew that there may be traffic from the weather or people that did not know how to drive in snow. I got home in good timing, even going 45 on the freeway. The snow continued to cover the Las Vegas valley. You couldn't see the mountains, the sky was white! It reminded me of the weather in Pennsylvania. Dustin went Christmas shopping after work and it took him three hours to get home from Henderson today. I watched the news and they are actually considering calling off school tomorrow! Holy Cow! A REAL SNOW DAY IN LAS VEGAS. I still can not believe this weather.....maybe we will have a WHITE CHRISTMAS. Anything is possible.

We've gone Disco!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The McGlothlin's have been elf-ed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Our Family Christmas Card 2008

Kato

Last night, my parents had to make a difficult decision. Kato was getting sick and was almost 10 years old. He would have been 10 years old on December 26th. Earlier in the week he started to act strange and not himself, so they took him to the vet and they ran blood work, and everything came back negative. They took him home and watched him closely, and then last night he got worse and my parents didn't want him to be in any more pain. There was something going on inside that we didn't know, and with his age it was better to make the decision to put him down.
He was such a great dog and he will be terribly missed. We all will miss him. Our girls loved him so much and it was fun to watch them play and see how excited Belle would get each time we went to visit.

Thanksgiving in Tennessee

Dustin and I went to Tennessee for Thanksgiving again this year, and we were very excited because the whole family would be there this year---mom, dad, brother, and sister! We left early Wednesday morning and are had tons of fun hanging out and relaxing.

Dustin and I were in charge of cooking and turkey and mashed potatoes. I love Thanksgiving and the holidays, all of the food is delicious and you spend all weekend eating and eating. While the food was cooking Dustin, Brandon, and Chad decided they were going to hunt down birds...well they each got a kill!



I thought that a nice thing to do while in TN with the whole family would be to take family pictures. The pictures turned out great and I can not wait to add them to my frames. Here are just a few pictures that we took. I have tons more....it was our own personal photo shoot in MawMaw and Papoo's front yard!








As if Thanksgiving isn't a huge enough holiday to prepare for, how about having Christmas the next day! Since the whole family was together this year, it was decided that we should exchange Christmas presents while we were all in TN. Some of the gifts that we had for family was a bit stressful to travel with, but it all worked out and nothing was broken or damaged in the travels. The girls (well Mariah and I) decorated one of Aunt Janice's tree's on Thanksgiving after we ate. Everyone enjoyed giving and receiving gifts, more eating, and spending time together has a family.


After "Christmas" Dustin and I went horseback riding on a trail up in the Smokey Mountains. I am amazed by how the scenery is so different from Nevada. The leaves actually change colors here! The trail we rode was fun. My horse did not like walking through the mud, so she walked around the puddles. There were times I was so confused as to what she was doing. Dustin's horse kept trying to either bite the horse in front of him or eat stuff. It was very fun and something we have never done together!




Dustin and I love going to TN, it is a great escape from the craziness of Las Vegas. I think next year we are going to bring the pups! We are so thankful for our family and the time that we were able to spend together with everyone this weekend.

Smokey...not so little anymore!

Smokey will be 8 months on Tuesday. It's so funny to watch him run and play because you tend to forget that he is still a puppy, but his size doesn't reflect his age. He drives our dogs crazy...there is constant barking when we go to visit mom and dad.

Hoover Damn

While Brandon was here visiting, a trip to Hoover Damn was requested!