A Full Four Days

'Tis the season to get in the holiday spirit.

My parents came into town for Thanksgiving, and the 4-day weekend went by too fast. Cory made a fantastic dinner. It was by far the easiest and fastest Thankgiving dinner I've ever seen put together. For the first time in my life I watched the entire Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and I followed that up with the Purina dog show.

Mom and I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving - what a zoo! We were really on the hunt for a new dishwasher ... happy holidays to us! Luckily there are even sales on appliances the day after Thanksgiving, and we can stop washing by hand in just a few short weeks. We also got to introduce Dad to REI.

I was really excited to put the Christmas tree up this year. Our new house has an exceptionally high ceiling so we decided to get a bigger tree than the 6-foot tree we've been putting up since college. We decided to get a 7.5-foot tree with pine cones and berries on it, and we strung lights up and down every branch. Fast fact: Our tree has 600 lights on it. Another fast fact: Our cat, Toby, thinks he can eat the berries.

We did a little bit of the tourist thing and went down to the Strip to watch the Bellagio fountains one evening. The weather was beautiful and it was a great evening to walk through some of the shops and watch the dancing water.

We closed out the week with a hike up at Red Rock. We haven't been there since last spring, and we had a fantastic time. We took the Pine Creek Canyon trail and stopped to watch some rock climbers spider their way up the rock face. We love to go hiking with Dad. Our next big group hike? Rim to rim of the Grand Canyon next spring.

Busy and festive ~

JoAnna

A Dog's Tail

August 1 marked one full year for us in Las Vegas, but what a year it’s been! Two fantastic new jobs, one successful writing career, homeownership, travel adventures and the general knowledge that we might actually be adults now! The final piece of our Las Vegas transition was made complete a couple weeks ago when Butch Mbwa, the dog who adopted us in Kenya, made the journey from Wisconsin to Nevada and officially moved back in with his mom and dad.

Butch Mbwa has always been a sun dog. He loves the heat, and we have to force him to take “cool breaks” throughout the day to come inside where the air conditioning is set to 80 degrees. The backyard is still in a state of flux, but he does like the fake grass and he’s taken up his old habit of digging holes to lie in—unfortunately he likes to dig those holes where the irrigation tubing is buried. We take two or three walks a day. For a lazy dog this isn’t a lot of fun, but he’s up to speed on the latest neighborhood news and frequently leaves pee-mail for his fellow canines.

The cats took no time at all to adjust to life with Butch Mbwa again. He’s so laid back that they barely even notice he’s around. He has a special spot in the living room and every night we take some time to canoodle. Last night I was reminded of how sharp his little doggy elbows are when he laid across my chest—it was a welcome recollection of how lucky we are to have Butch Mbwa at all. What better way to mark our one-year anniversary in Las Vegas than with a homecoming and reunion of the final member of our family?

With licks and kisses,
JoAnna