This past week at CHS has been Homecoming week, where we beat Damonte 52-20! The week was wrapped up with a Homecoming Dance on Saturday.

Terry took some pictures before the dance of Cody and Kendra out at Mills Park. Click on the image to get the full page view, link will open in a new window.

It's hard to believe this will be their last Homecoming Week at CHS.

~Laura

At CHS, all seniors are required to complete a Senior Project in order to graduate.  Kendra's Senior Project is to train a service dog that will go to a military veteran who suffers from PTSD.

The dog she is training, named Winnie, is a smooth fox terrier. This breed of dog comes to us from the Setar Kennel in Washoe Valley, who also work in conjunction with the Four Paws For Vets Program.

You can learn more about the program at their main web site: www.fourpawsforvets.ne

School started here back on August 24th and we are in full swing of the school year now.  So far, everyone's grades are up and all three kids are doing well.

First up, we have Ciarra decked out in her soccer uniform and holding her new kitty named Blue.

Second, we have Terry keeping an eye on Kendra as she works on audio recording on his computer.

Third, we have a picture of Donovan and his friend Ruby.

Our next update will have to do with the start of October, the CHS Homecoming Dance and more on Kendra's training with Winnie for her Senior Project.

~Laura

It's been an interesting Summer this year.  Again, we have run out of room in the photo gallery but I will post some images here.  To get a larger view of each image, just click on it and a new window will open for that photo. 

The following photos were shot at one of the new parks here in Carson City. I have no idea what the name of the park is but it's within walking distance and we've all ended up calling it the "rock wall park" just because it has a mini rock wall that the kids can climb on.

There are more photos in this collection but they are large files and they would take up way too much room at the moment. If you would like to see more and are a part of the family, shoot me off an e-mail at: laura @ thevalladonfamily.com and I'll be more than happy to share them with you. Other family photo galleries are set up on my facebook page.

First, I want to say that we have a "ton" of photos that we haven't gotten off the camera yet.  Soon...

Last month the Carson City Library had a e-book project where Kendra, Donovan, Ciarra and myself took apart in. To read and see the collaborative e-book click the link below and you'll be promted to download it and watch via Windows Media Player.

Summer Reading Party Book

~Laura

So, Terry decides one night to set Donovan and Ciarra up with the infamous “Scary Maze Game”. Having watched other people’s kids have various reactions to it on the internet for a few years we were ready to see what would happen with ours.

Donovan, a mini-gamer in his own right really got into the “game” aspect of it. You can see the intensity in his little face as he worked to get that dot through the levels without touching the sides. He was determined to beat us all at the game.

Well, that was until he was surprised by the face. He totally freaked out and ran from the computer pulling Terry on top of him.

Ciarra get’s board with the game pretty quickly because she can’t seem to get the little dot through the maze without having to restart the level. Terry and Kendra help her a bit to get through the first couple of levels and then pull back.

We’re all waiting for her reaction… and the next thing you know Ciarra pop’s off with “Who did that?” when the face screams onto the screen. Little girl didn’t even flinch.

Here we had Terry, myself and Kendra who had at least jumped a bit at the face and then Donovan who just completely freaked out… and then Ciarra. She wasn’t even phased at all.

~Laura

Kendra caught her first fish today!!! Terry caught one as well and we have the pictures to prove it. Click through here to see the day's photos: Kendra's First Fish Gallery

These images are from our afternoon fishing trip out to Wilson Commons Pond on Friday.The pond has a resident beaver that just swims back and forth across the water. It taunted us at one point as it swam past us with a fish in its mouth and we didn’t catch a single fish there.

Our fishing trip today was out to Davis Creek which is where the action happened. We set up on the side of the water where snow was still present and proceeded to slide all over the place.

Kendra baited her own hook, using marshmallow power bait and reeled it in as quickly as she could. Since loosing a few off the hook last year, she was not about to let this one get away. While Terry was helping her with her rainbow trout, his line caught a trout and both fish would end up being the only catches of the day.

In honor of  Kendra making her first catch, Terry taught her how to clean it  herself.

Next weekend we hope the weather is good so we can take Donovan and Ciarra out fishing, perhaps we will have more happy "first fish" pictures.

~Laura

*Update* Donovan and Ciarra managed to catch their first fishes to! We went back out to Davis Creek, where after a few hours of bordeom the kids caught their own fish and got all excited. Of course, we didn't teach them to clean their own yet but they did get to watch Terry as he showed them how he got it done.

To see the entire gallery of Donovan and Ciarra's adventures in fishing, click through here: Donovan and Ciarra's First Fish!!! and Davis Creek Kid's Fishing Derby.

Welcome to our new all-in-one family site. No more separate blogs under one roof; instead we will all just post here.

Over the next few weekends, we will be adding our collected photos to the image gallery. Birthdays, family outings, the past few Christmas celebrations… all the pictures we’ve taken up to this point will be here to share.

Oh, and this past Halloween was a special one with the kids all decked out in costume. Kendra was a necromancer, Donovan was a ninja turtle, Ciarra was a fairy princess and I was black cat. We even have some shots of Terry wearing pink bunny ears… which really are pics not to be missed!

~Laura~