Greetings from Nevada!

While this has been my longest lapse in blogging...it has also been one of the busiest periods of our family's life!  So we have lots to update you on!  Thank you for your patience in waiting to see what the Meyer Family's move out West has looked like!

We left Ohio on December 29th after having a great Christmas celebration with Barb, Jake and Sarah.  Dayton had been our home for almost a year and a half, so it was hard to leave it - and Grandma - behind.  But we were ready for our new adventure!

We drove to Phoenix in three days of about 600 miles each.  Whew!  The boys did very well considering the amount of time they were asked to sit in their seats.  Joe, our new toddler, would be ecstatic to get out of the car at rest stops or the hotel at night, and would just sob and fight when we'd put him back in, the poor little guy!  Thankfully he took lots of naps!

Josh did a great job....driving the entire way to Phoenix!  He braved some pretty ferocious weather.  The farther south and west we got, the worse the weather became as we collided with Winter Storm Ferona. 

Maybe the coldest we've EVER been was at a rest stop near Amarillo, Texas of all places.  Temperatures in the teens, but winds just whipping across those open planes.  BRRRRR! 

Silly boys one morning in the hotel!

They were amazed to see snow when we woke up.  Jack thought he had left snowy weather behind in Ohio!

The last stretch of our drive was along the I-40 through Arizona, right as the heaviest snowfall was hitting.  Thankfully, Josh has plenty of experience driving in winter weather, so we made it safely to Phoenix to spend some time with my family.

Georgie felt right at home at Grammy and Papa's. (Except for Aunt Gentry's St. Bernard which terrifies him!)

The best part about Phoenix was getting to see the cousins together!  Here, Joe and Danny are meeting and playing together for the first time. 

My family graciously waited to celebrate their Christmas until we got there.  So we had one big Christmas party on January 1st!  Here are all the cousins in attendance!  (We are missing 13 of them!)

And a boy cousin shot....missing Luke, Ben, Jacob, Caleb, Isaac and Logan. 

A standard activity when staying with Grammy and Papa is riding with Papa on the lawn mower. 

Joe was really scared of the mower, so he stuck to his little riding car.  :-)

After about a week or so, we hit the road again to head to our new home of Las Vegas, Nevada!  We were so grateful to be able to stay with some Air Force friends of ours while we looked for a home to rent.  One day, we drove to Nellis AFB and had a picnic lunch near the stationary plane display and close to the runway where the boys could watch lots of aircraft land and take off!

We found a cozy home to rent and spent our first night there on Sunday, January 11th.  Our belongings weren't arriving until the next day, so we ate a picnic dinner on the dining room floor and slept in sleeping bags that night! 

The next day was Josh's first day at work - and on the homefront, it was a busy day of waiting for our moving truck to arrive and getting new home things done.  The boys spent just about the whole day outside in our backyard.  We are all amazed by the mountain views we get to see each day!

And the boys were so thrilled to have a trampoline and basketball hoop purchased from the previous tenants.

Josh really needed help with moving all of our things into the house.  The truck was coming on a Monday, which meant many of my willing family members would not be able to come to the rescue.  However, Uncle Shane in North Dakota had some time off....so he flew down for about 24 hours then made his way to Phoenix for a surprise visit. It worked out so perfectly!!  Our local friends helped unload for a few hours before Shane arrived, then he and Josh got down to business and had that truck unloaded by 8pm!  Whew!  We were all exhausted. 

The next morning, with most of the heavy lifting done, Uncle Shane was able to just hang out with the boys and play.  It was so precious to see. 

Being one of four brothers, he taught my boys tons of new games and ways to play on the trampoline from his growing up years!

I'm really glad my boys now have some Uncle Shane memories.  And we hope to build more as their family plans to move back to Arizona this summer!  Thank you, Shane, for all your help!!!!

After being all in one room while we stayed at Grandma's house, we were a little nervous about how difficult the transition might be for Jack and George to be in their own bedroom.  But as we excitedly got it ready and hung pictures on the walls, they became excited, too!  Here are pictures of their first night in their own room! 

Both of them did GREAT!  They enjoy having their own space and both have slept through every night since. 

Our house has just the right amount of space for us.  And...just the perfect combination of carpet and tile for the boys to play on.  The tile strips are great for car racing....or for speeding baby brother along in a crate!  :-)

Unpacking our belongings, while a lot of work, has been so much fun for me!  Most of our things have been in storage since June 2009.  It is like Christmas, opening a box and suddenly remembering something I had forgotten about!  And each box has little pieces of all the places we've been and the people we've met along the way.  It is really special. 

 

Here is a picture of our living/dining area.  (I haven't taken too many pictures of the house yet, because I still feel like there is so much left to do!  More to come!)

The boys have had fun unpacking and helping me organize, too.  Here they are sorting their tub of Legos into color-coded drawers for easier access and play. 

We've been so busy at the house, we haven't had much time to explore the area yet.  We did drive down "the Strip" on our first Friday night here and the boys were just amazed by the lights and sights....Jack would cry out, "Mom!  A castle!  A pyramid!!!"  There are a lot of state and national parks nearby, too, which we are eager to explore. 

Last week, my cousin and his family came into town on a business trip. It was nice to spend time with them.  One of the fun things we got to do was visit the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. 

In other news, we celebrated our 100th day of Kindergarten on Tuesday!!!! Jack had been eagerly anticipating that day, counting up to 100 with each day of school we did together.  We did some fun things to celebrate being 100 days smarter!!!

We counted how many times it took to roll two dice to reach 100.  (13 rolls!)

I made a tray of 100 snacks for the boys....they were THRILLED!!!

We did things like predict how far up 100 drops of water would come on a jar, then see if our prediction was right....and we took 100 steps from our house to see how far we could get down the street....and we jumped 100 times on the trampoline!!! 

We also decided to paint a matching accent wall in our living room area.  My little helpers began their painting foray by painting 100 on the walls!!!  (Incidentally, the wall is not magenta as it appears in these photos!  It is a deep red which made our living space extra cozy!)

Jack's favorite activity of the day was using the Aging Booth App to see what he would look like at 100 years old!  Here it is....our 100 year old Jack!

We did one of Joe, too, just after he woke up from his nap.  George wanted NOTHING to do with it...he didn't even want to see the photos! 

 

And our happy news today:  Jack lost his first tooth!!!!  I can't believe my firstborn is already beginning to lose his baby teeth!   

We are very happy here in North Las Vegas!  We thank the Lord every day for his provision of a good job for Josh and a wonderful, cozy home for us.  We are now praying for a church family and some friends!  Thank you for all of you who prayed for us as we waited on God's perfect timing for this job and move.  He has confirmed it again and again to us, and we are so glad we followed His lead and stepped out in faith to trust Him.  He is so gracious. 

Our home will soon be ready for guests...so be sure to plan a visit to Nevada!  :-)