Valley of Fire (in the winter)

Our ward had a ward campout recently at the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The name really defines this area during the summer. It gets temperatures in the 130's, but during the winter, it gets really cold. Cold enough to light a fire and roast some marshmallows while being bundled up. It has some REALLY cool hiking spots. Sam was in awe at how much fun hikin he could do, he was even doing a little rock jumping with some friends. We have a great ward, and even though we couldn't stay overnight due to some prior commitments, we had a fun time while we were there.

Here are Rachel and Troy watching the fire

Jeremy and Troy had fun watching this bonfire rage.

Nothing like singing around the campfire: Shaunie and Rachel with a few good Brasilians.

Samuel and Leah enjoying their view from the rock ledge. Fun times!!

Gitty-up !!!

Troy loves horsing around. He does whatever he can do to make people laugh. Most of the time it is his laugh alone that makes you laugh the most. The other day, Jeremy came home from work and lied down on the bean bag chair to watch the kids play. While he was lying there, Troy quietly climbed up the chair and straddled the new found horse. He couldn't help but laugh as he pretended to ride like a cowboy. That's definitely one of the things dads do best, play horse. Gitty-up Troy!

Grandma Came To Visit

As our family grows, it becomes more and more of a challenge to travel to Utah to see Grandma and Grandpa Haws. Knowing this, it is ALWAYS great when they come to visit us, even if it is just for a couple days. When the kids find out that Grandma Vicky and Grandpa Jay (He's "annoying") are coming to visit, we always by a small pack of Mint Milanos for Grandpa and a special treat for Grandma. Most of all though, the kids just love hanging out with their grandparents. They don't have to go do anything too special, even though we did hit the local Chuck-E-Cheese's for lunch. We love having them come and visit!! As you can see from the picture below, even grandma doesn't mind the slumber party either.

What's up?

So it has been about a month since I last wrote something here. It all seems to go by so quickly. I hate to say that because it means I have neglected to notice and appreciate some of the little things in my life, and since it is basically the little things that make my life so meaningful, I have really been missing out!
We have been blessed to have great weather this January. It has been consistently in the 60's for a while now. The kids are enjoying the outdoors, their bikes, scooters and the opportunity to hang out with their friends after school. Troy is blossoming in his language skills. He has really connected to the idea that "communication is key" to getting your way. He says Mamma and Dadda a LOT and screams them with glee when we walk into the room. He also realizes that we will answer when called so we are always being called. He calls Shaunie "Sha Sha" and Sam "Sa Sa". We haven't quite realized what he calls Leah, but that is a hard name for a little boy. He is his siblings' biggest fan. He loves to be around them. He likes to point to what he wants and say "Ont dat" or "ont sum". He is putting sentences together too, and when things just don't really need words he screams. He actually does that a lot.

Leah is still my Leah. She has the funniest mind. She is constantly entertaining me with her imagination. Her friend "Sarah" is still a big part of her life and we have now welcomed Mara into our little circle of friends. She loves to go around unhindered by her siblings. She stays very busy when the older ones are at school and Troy is sleeping. She loves school, herself, and always has the most interesting comments. Her teacher told me that they were learning about fire drills and that she was chosen to be the leader. The teacher told the class to follow Leah when they heard a firedrill. Leah got excited and asked her teacher if it was because of her missing tooth that they had to follow her. She also came in to me really sad the other day. She said that she was sad because nobody in her class thought she was fancy. She kept telling me that no one had told her she was fancy so she didn't think they liked her. It really upset her. She always has some thought that is hilarious. Last night we were getting ready for FHE and she came in waving her arms around her. She said "I am touching nothing. Look Mom, I am touching nothing. I am Nothing Girl!" She is very fun.

Sam is reading really well. Last Friday he got the Academic Award for Reading for his class. He is really starting to sound words out. It is like a great discovery every time! He also loves to count to 100. He will do it several times a day and tell you how easy it is. I love his little boyish ways. He walks around the house making noises and when I give him a crazy look he explains that he is trying to "blow out my spit". He and Troy continue to be the best of buds and are always caught wrestling. He is extra careful and Troy loves it. He taught him to give body slams and Troy usually does it with little prompting. When he does his homework he is very precise. He refuses to hurry because "then it will be sloppy". I hope that doesn't translate into OCD. I love my Sa Sa.

Shaunie is my beautiful seven year old. She makes sure that she is one of the best in school and she always tells me about it. She loves it when I take her to the grocery store with me and she loves to be the second mom. She is becoming a little tom-boy with all the kids in the neighborhood. She seems to attract the boys and they spend their time playing basketball or running around in some type of chase game. She loves reading and always reads outloud, which can be good or bad. I love my Shaunie Rae.

Jeremy is busy trying to get his thesis done. It looks like this actually might be the semester that he finishes it. I don't know what that means by any changes in career in the immediate future, but it will at least be done. I am proud of him enduring this long. He has been in school since we have been married. It will be nice to have him on Thursday nights. He is a very supportive husband and dutifully does the laundry every Monday. I don't know what I would do without him. I love you honey.

If you want to know about me all you have to do is read what I just wrote and you will see what I am up to. My family is my life, sprinkled with a few good friends, church and a lot of good times. Sorry for the delay in the update.

Love....True Love...

Here are some quick shots of my friend, Jenny Hodge's, wedding. Jenny and I have known each other since the MTC when we were roommates and in the same district. My MTC district was very close and we were all like brothers and sisters. They have all impacted my life in such positive ways. I had lost track of Jenny when I moved from Utah down to Vegas. But, we were not to stay away from each other too long. I ran into Jenny a little over a year ago at a BYU/UNLV football game. We had great seats on the front row of the 50 yard line. When I went to sit down a very beautiful girl waved her arms at me and called at me . I didn't recognize her so I just gave the polite little smile and wave and turned away to talk to friends. When I got closer to her she spoke to me and I immediately recognized her by her voice. Her seats were right behind ours and we quickly caught up. Since then our busy schedules have only allowed us to get together a couple times, but she is still like a sister to me.

On December 28th Jenny got married to an old friend who had be recently widowed. It was such a great story and I was so excited to see her be sealed to him in the temple. She is one of the most amazing people I know. Another excited part of her getting married was for me to visit and catch up with Jenny's MTC companion Melanie Newbold. She is another favorite person of mine and we had a great time talking, remeniscing, and just enjoying the wedding festivities. I missed my MTC companion and wish she would have been able to come. Thanks to Jenny for letting me be a part of your special day.

Merry Christmas

Leah and her magnetic dress up dolls. We've had some of these things before, but she must be at the right age for them. She loves them so much and comes up with all sorts of outfits. She loves to display and explain each outfit just to make sure we know what it is.


Shaunie got a paintable piggy bank. Surprisingly, this is not what the pig turned out looking like. It was much more colorful.



This toy became a favorite of the little boys. They all played it and loved making the doors pop open. It is the simplest toy, but provides a lot of fun for little boys who like to see things pop up and surprise them.



Here is Sam displaying his Leapster. At this point, I don't think he actually knew what it was, but he soon learned all the cool things it could do.



I know, I am finally getting to this. Here are some Christmas morning pictures. The tree was beautiful and we had Emily and Ben along with Kelli and my parents to share Christmas morning with. The kids loved their presents and we are very grateful for all of our blessings at this time of year. Shaunie loved her MP3 player, Sam couldn't put his Leapster down, Leah thought the magnetic dress up dolls were the coolest, and Troy loved his balls and random toys. It was all so much fun and, like always, the best part was seeing the faces of the kids as they opened their presents.

The Christmas Story

Here is our reluctant wiseman. Sam is not big on dressing up and then parading around. This is the most he would participate in the Christmas Story reenactment.

Little Lukas is the best star I have ever seen! He even pointed the shephards in the right direction. He was so cute and so excited to put this huge star around his neck and stand up on a chair to show the way. Very priceless picture!

Leah was a shepherd, Shaunie was Mary and Troy was Joseph. None of the older boys wanted to be Joseph so it fell on Troy. Too bad Taylor and Russ weren't there. He was cute nonetheless.

Here is the whole crew. Some were very reluctant (Sam and Eli) and some were more than happy to join the crew. We love how it evolves each year with each child getting a little older. This will always be one of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve.

More Snow

Emily, my sister, got shoved into the snow by her loving husband. They were outside helping their nieces and nephews build a very interesting snowman. My babies LOVE aunt Emily and Uncle Ben.

Here is the snowman. He is so handsome!

Hidden Picture: Can you find the van?

Let it Snow...

We went to my parent's house in Utah for Christmas this year. It may be one of the last years we are able to do this, but don't tell my mom. When we first pulled up this is what we saw. The snow continued to come down for about 4 more days. The kids did spend some time enjoying the snow but it was easy to tell they didn't quite know how to handle it. It's kinda hard for me to believe that my kids don't know what snow is all about, but I guess I should have expected that. They wanted to do the things they always do at grandma's house which includes swinging on swings and going down slides. They cleared the snow off the swings and had a little bit of fun, but the highlight was the occasional deer that came down looking for something green to eat. We saw them several times and it was fun for the kids. Sam's favorite part was seeing my dad's "snowball fighting machine" which translates into what we would call a snowblower. My dad loves his snowblower and Sam loved watching him as long as the shooting snow wasn't pointed in his direction. Now you know why he called it the snowball fighting maching. As a mother, it's always fun to see the kids experience new things and this was no exception. Enjoy the pictures!

Here are some more pictures of the night. Shaunie got a Barbie American Idol and Leah got a Sharpay kit that came with a skirt, big sunglasses and a star necklace. Both presents were absolutely perfect.

Early Christmas Eve

We had Mangum Christmas Eve festivities early this year. It was great. All of Jeremy's siblings were able to be here to join in the fun. After getting family pictures taken we headed over to Jeremy's parent's home for food (yummy homemade Zuppa Tuscana), singing, and presents. The kids had fun entertaining us and we had fun opening presents from our not-so-secret pals. You can see the sheer excitement on Sam's face with his art kit. It was a great night and we were so happy to have everyone together.

Global Warming....?

I took Shaunie to her friend's house who lives right across the street from the temple for the "snow day" off from school. There was a little snow left there and I thought that I'd better snap a picture before the opportunity left. You never know when there will be snow on the Las Vegas temple again!



This park is just across the street. There had been a bit more snow there but this is what was left the next day.


You gotta love the snow, and ya gotta love the snow when it's in Vegas even more. Yes, as the world now knows we got some flakes here in the desert and in some places it was pretty deep. In East Las Vegas we only got a few, but it was enough to get us in the Christmas spirit. The night it snowed was actually a birthday party for some cousins and a little welcoming party for some other cousins. I traveled to Henderson where the snow was 7-9 inches deep. The kids had a blast and I was grateful for my previous experience of driving in the snow. I don't know if Henderson even owns snow plows, so needless to say the roads were pretty scary. We traveled safely both ways and had fun seeing cousins and romping in the snow.

Cutest Houses on the Block!

We had a great time with our neighbors decorating our Gingerbread Houses. The kids all came up with their own creations that ended up showing off their individual personalities. Leah ate as much candy as she put on her house, Sam had a very well-planned house with a garage and very uniform walk-ways. He got some ideas from our 13 year old neighbor who also had a very intricate and organized house. Shaunie didn't want an empty orange juice box as a foundation, so she tried to stick it all together without anything to stablize it. She started with a great brick wall made of tootsie rolls, but it all collapsed with the weight of candy. She wasn't too upset and I think next time she'll go for the empty orange juice box. Our great neighbors came over with their kids and they all kind of fed off of each others creativity. It was fun to watch them. We love this tradition.

O' Tannenbaum!

The kids were very excited to put up the tree this year. It is so fun that they now look forward to some of the Christmas traditions. We played Christmas music and danced a little while we opened boxes and rediscovered old decorations. We had a great time just putting the decorations up and trying to figure out where to put them all. The kids loved finding their old hand-made decorations and always made sure to put them in a very special place on the tree. Troy was a little confused about why a new-found shiny ball would shatter after throwing it on the ground. He just stood there for a while with a little frown and his big blue eyes looking up at us like they were trying to understand what just happened. I think the broken ball hurt his feelings. He's so tender-hearted. I had to run out and buy another star for the top since my star's lights refused to light up. You can't have a dark star!

Nice post honey! If any of you understood that you are very smart and have an intricate understanding of brain stuff. As you can see, I don't. Anyway, it really was fun just to get away and enjoy some time with my man. He's so smart (but I can still beat him at Scrabble)!

Our Hot Date - A Look Into Rachel's Head

For some time now (okay, a very long time) I have been working on my Master's Degree at UNLV. My research is focused on the brain's response to Olfaction (smell). I would tell Rachel about it and she would understand very little. The more we talk the more she "gets it" and thinks it is actually pretty neat. Well, a couple weeks ago we had a chance to get out for the evening (thanks to Sister Bevel for offering to watch the kiddies). There was still some work I had to get done, so I actually took Rachel out with me to get her brain scanned on our 3T MR scanner. We did a Diffusion Tensor Image (DTI) and also an olfactory response. This is a picture of her Rt and Lt DTI of the white matter tracts originating at the corpus callosum. I didn't have a chance to process the Olfactory response images yet, but I can post those some other day. We had a good time and it was very inexpensive. I'll take you out "for reals" , real soon honey. I love you and thanks for stickin' with me.

Left lateral view of her fiber tracts

Right lateral view of her fiber tracts

Aren't they beautiful?

If anyone wants to have their brain scanned, please let me know. We are always looking for volunteers. It is usually late at night, you need to be at least 18 years of age, and we image at NV Imaging Centers (NIC) in the Southwest part of Las Vegas.

Thanks Be...

Troy Boy trying to play a little ball with the big boys.

Jeremy is in the yellow Brazil jersey, it turns out that there were a lot of Brazilians and Brazil fans there, and Ryan is in the orange and blue shirt. GOOOLLLL! (That's Portuguese for goal, just so ya know).

Sam and Leah trying to get in on the action.

While waiting for the food to be done, the kids decided to turn Grandma's bathroom into a beauty parlor. They invited people in to get their hair done. Shaunie made a sign that said it was only "$1 or Free" and when you left you got a tootsie roll. I must say that everyone had wonderful hair for Thanksgiving.

We had a delightful day of family, food and soccer for Thanksgiving. Umm, yes, I said soccer. It turns out that our friends like soccer more than football. We started the day very early when Kristin and Ryan came to stay Wednesday night and got here around 11:30pm. We stayed up talking about lots of good stuff and didn't get to bed until around 1 or 2am. I loved spending the time with them and I loved the political talk (thanks Ryan). We got up around 7 and I did everything I could to keep the kids from jumping on a very sleepy Ryan and Kristin. Finally, Kristin got up, no doubt woken up by my kids' very loud "whispers" and overall silliness. Ryan soon followed and then the party really started. We ate breakfast, it was one of the few times that we had pancakes for breakfast, and then we headed over to a soccer game with some ward members and friends at the high school down the street. I got some great action shots as you can see. We came home for a quick shower and then gathered everyone and everything in Jeremy's new-to-you Pacifica and headed over to Grandma's House. It was not over the river and through the woods, but it was sufficiently exciting regardless. We hung around for a while and then I started cooking. I made the deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, rolls and taught Teri how to season a turkey. By the way, the turkey turned out DIVINE! I could have eaten half the turkey by myself!. Anyway, we ate a late dinner to make sure everyone who worked could be there for the feast. I must say that the food was delicious and the company very delightful, but my favorite part of the day was the rain. It poured on us and I was very grateful. It turns out that it CAN rain in Vegas. Thanks.

Tastefully Simple Party

I am inviting everyone to come to my house for a Tastefully Simple Party on Wednesday, December 10th from 6:00pm to 8:00ish. Tastefully Simple sells amazingly yummy gourmet appetizers, desserts, breads, spreads, soups, etc. They are delicious and perfect for any special occasion. Come hungry and taste all these yummy treats and if you want, order some for your family and friends. Don't feel bad if you come late, we'll save some for you. If you can't attend but want to buy something you can go online at tastefullysimple.com and order something from my party there. I suggest the key lime cheese ball with graham twists or beer bread!