Random

Mt. RainierThis is why I sometimes still can't believe my brother actually has kids.Nevadababy Bryanna and Auntie Karicar show in Solvang, California Victoria, Canada- because I miss itwhite lions at the Secret GardenLas Vegasaround this time last yearRajdreaming of summer... the whole fam. out by the pool Echo Bay Marina, Lake Meadfish feeding at Echo Bay Marina (yuck!)City Center in progress... The most expensive privately funded construction project in U.S. History; 76 acres, 12,000 new permanent positions when open, complete with its own fire station. To be completed in 2009. Read more about City Center here.a lizard at Red Rock Canyonour cherry tree started blooming today!Carter making funny faces after biting into a lemonan alpaca at the Secret Gardena pic I dug up of a Halloween party in Washington four or five years ago... I was Steve Irwin (with the canteen and snake in front)... Kyle is the Burger King dude on the far right, Kirsten is the biker chick next to me and tiger Tia (Kyle's sister) on the other side of mebaby Jhett all swaddled and sleepy- Sunday evening Julie and I in Mesa, Arizona over New Years

Oh, Baby!

Thought I would post a pic of the niece and nephews the day they were born...

Bryanna Raine Shepherd
November 11, 2005

Carter William Shepherd
August 3, 2006

Camden Brown Shepherd
October 4, 2007

Jhett Lewis Shepherd
February 15, 2008

Cousin Conspiracy V: Introducing Jhett

For Cousin Conspiracy Part IV, click here.

Bryanna here. As the oldest of the cousins I think it's only proper that I introduce the new addition. I must say, three boys and one girl seems to be the theme around here, especially in the Shepherd-Lewis families. I don't think I'm going to be getting much sympathy.

Sunday the family all got together for my daddy Bryan's birthday dinner and cake.

Uncle Kevin came over later and at first I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Everyone crowded around a tiny carseat and inside was a tiny baby! Everyone was practically jump-roping with excitement. I kept hearing "Baby Jhett, Baby Jhett" being thrown around so I tried the name out for myself. It was much easier for me to say than my other cousins' names. Auntie Kari and Auntie Renee tried to explain that baby Jhett was Uncle Kevin's baby. Then they tried to explain that baby Jhett was Auntie Jessica's baby. Auntie Jessica wasn't there so I was a bit confused until Auntie Kari showed me a picture.

After studying Jhett for awhile I realized he did have Uncle Kevin's chin and Auntie Jessica's eyes and nose. I still couldn't work out how he suddenly appeared among us, though, so I wandered off to ask Uncle Kevin. After pretending to laugh hysterically at a birthday card Uncle Kevin thought was funny, I popped the question. Uncle Kevin wouldn't give an inch, even when I tried to look my cutest.I was so confused!And I wasn't the only one who had trouble processing it all.Camden especially was amazed to hear he had resembled that only 4 months ago! At first he didn't want to believe it.But then he got curious and leaned in for a closer look. He decided baby Jhett was pretty darn cute and wanted to hold his hand but his motor skills just aren't quite there yet.

After that they were inseparable.

Or would've been... but everyone wanted to hold baby Jhett!

Great-Grandma..

Grandpa...

Auntie Kari and Kyle...

Even MY mommy!

Carter wanted to hold his new baby cousin, too, but even though he's a big boy now Uncle Kevin thought it probably wasn't a good idea.

Carter was really upset when he heard this.

Uncle Jeff put on Abba and it cheered him up right away.

He busted out all his best moves.

Camden is usually pretty easy-going but when he saw this he could only put his head in his hands and think, "Oh, brother."

Afterwards, daddy Bryan opened his birthday presents and things pretty much went back to normal. As normal as they can be around this family. Which is how we four cousins like it.

Welcome Jhett Lewis Shepherd!

The Weekend

I didn't know cramming so much into one weekend (even a long weekend) was humanly possible. It was a fabulous weekend and busy in the good kind of way that makes time pass too quickly. Even the unexpected changes to our schedule were exciting, like spending Friday evening at the hospital instead of at the hockey game.
So here's how the weekend went:

Friday

Red Rock

Thursday evening we got a call that Jessica was headed to the hospital. After a roller coaster of "she's going home, she's not going home, she's having the baby, just kidding she's not having the baby," they finally decided to keep her overnight and induce her Friday morning. As our family has had experience with inducing (thanks, Renee), we knew this could be an all day process so Dad, Kyle and I took the dog and headed up to Red Rock for a morning hike.

We remembered a tiny lake we had hiked around last year and decided to start there. On our way up to the lake we passed this little puddle of water.I jokingly informed Kyle, who had never been to the desert before this weekend, that we had reached the lake. However when we actually did reach it, it looked like this:

...Which really is just a glamorized puddle. We walked around in what used to be the lake until Raj sunk stomach-deep into soft mud and barely made it out. We figured it was time to move on.
We walked through the ranch and learned how Howard Hughes used to own it...

And then we went to our favorite spot with the view.

Raj was a trooper and climbed straight up with only a few breaks to enjoy the view.

Then Friday afternoon we got the call that things were speeding up for Jessica so we headed over to the hospital. The family waited only a couple of hours before Kevin came out and announced that we have a new grandson/nephew/cousin. More pics of the kiddos in an upcoming post.

Saturday
The Strip

Now, don't freak out. You know the strip I mean.

After stopping off at the hospital for a quick visit to see Kev, Jess and baby Jhett we packed in a few good hours acting like tourists.

We started off at the Luxor:

We stopped off at the Shark Reef, too, which is always worth waiting in line for.

It was feeding time for these colorful little fish.

Then we got to the big guys.

Enough of sharks. We decided we wanted to see dolphins intead. So we headed to Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden at the Mirage.Leopards...

white tigers......and golden lions.

We also drove by New York, New York...

and Paris.

Only in Vegas.

Sunday
Lake Las Vegas

Sunday we were going to drive out to the Hoover Dam but the line was backed up past Lake Mead so we went to Lake Las Vegas and walked around for a few minutes.We also had Bryan's birthday celebration Sunday evening (his birthday was February 14th) but more of that later.

I dropped Kyle off at the airport Monday around 5:30 in the morning and when I left the airport the sun was rising. This is an occurrence that I rarely see (even though it happens every day) so I snapped a pic on my phone.Stay tuned for upcoming cousin pictures! For more pics click here.