McKenna's First Birthday

McKenna turned 1 on August 26th. I can't believe how fast this past year went. Having two kids makes time go much more quickly. Also, not to mention that McKenna was born in Alaska, then we moved to Utah when she was 5 months, and then moved to Vegas when she was 9 months. Wow!!!

When we gave McKenna her cake she just lended over and locked onto the frosting.

She loved the frosting and making a mess.

We helped her to the good stuff and she couldn't get enough!

It was fun to see her open presents. She only needed a little bit of assistance from Mom and her big Sis.

The girls had a lot of fun playing with all of the presents. Thanks for your gifts and thoughtfulness!

Enjoying Las Vegas

We have finally been able to go out and enjoy Las Vegas a little bit more lately. We found a great babysitter in our ward, so Shannon and I have had a few fun date nights. Last weekend we went and saw the Frank Caliendo show at the Monte Carlo. It was pretty funny. Frank is the comedian that does a lot of impersonations. He does Charles Barkley, George Bush, John Madden, Terry Bradshaw, Barrack Obama and more. A few weeks ago we went on the rides on top of the Stratosphere. It was really fun. We went on the blast off ride that shoots you up a few hundred feet. It really gets your attention because you are already a few thousand feet up on top of the Stratosphere. Not to mention that we rode it at night.


McKenna has three teeth that have come half-way in on the botton and three starting to come in on the top. She routinely stands up while holding onto something and also says Ma Ma, Da Da, Hello and E-I,E-I,O (Old McDonald).

Jaycie has really enjoyed the many parks that we have around our neighborhood, especially the ones with water. She will be starting neighborhood pre-school in a few weeks. She is excited.

McKenna's new favorite spot.

Cooler Temps

We decided to get out of the 105 degree temps and head up to the mountains. Mount Charleston is only 45 minutes away from Las Vegas. Believe it or not it was about 70 degrees up there. It was a well-needed refuge from the heat. There is even a ski resort up there.


We enjoyed a leisurely hike and had a picnic in the forest. It was nice.

The trail was great for little feet.

McKenna enjoyed being taxied around by Daddy.

One Exciting Day

Well July 4th was a double wammy for the Moon family. It is a day to both celebrate Jaycie's Birthday and Independence Day. Shannnon's family came down to visit us and join in on the celebration.

Jaycie and her Tinkerbell cake. Shannon asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. She replied, "blueberry." Thank goodness Smith's bakery has cakes that can be layered with bluberry filling.

Opening one of the many gifts. Thank you eveyone for you gifts! Jaycie, of course, was in 7th heaven with her newly aquired toys, books and clothes.

...lots and lots of presents

After naps the fireworks celeration began. First on the list, snakes and smokebombs in the daylight hours.

...and fireworks in the dark. We all had a great day.

Settling into our New Home

Well, we are finally down in Las Vegas getting settled in. We really like our new house and love the neighborhood we moved into. Everyone that asks us where we moved into agrees that it is a very nice area. I have really enjoyed my new job at Spring Valley Hospital. The leadership team here is very supportive of Associate Administrators and are really great to work with.

Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying the new house.


McKenna has begun crawling. She goes everywhere. She especially loves the kitchen. We gave her the wooden spoon to play with and she totes it around and likes to hit things with it.

Jaycie and McKenna like playing together. However, McKenna wants to play with everything that Jaycie does, which causes some scuffles.

When it isn't over 100 degrees, we really love going out in the backyard. We have grass both in the front yard and the back (which is a bit of a rareity in Las Vegas). We have several lizards that live in our yard and are fun to see.

Christmas Time

Christmas treated us well, especially the little ones. We got about two feet of fresh snow a week before Christmas, so we had a very white Christmas and I had snow shoveling caluses to boot. Here are a few pictures of the festivities...

McKenna's impression of Randy on the Christmas Story.

Mommy, Jaycie and McKenna with the snowman we made. It is a small one because the snow was very powdery - didn't stick well. Daddy gave it his best shot.

McKenna during her first Santa encounter. Jaycie was a little overwhelmed and wouldn't go near the big guy.

Jaycie showing her excitement Christmas morning.

Jaycie's first gingerbread house. She enjoyed decorating and eating the candy. I think about two pieces of candy were eaten for every one piece that made it on the house.