Emilee & Dan Livin Life in LV!

A-O!

2009-12-09T19:51:00.000-08:00

Mom found this pic. I love it!

It has been awhile since I put anything down here so here it is! Summer is gone, fall is gone and it is cold here in Vegas right now! Our pool has ice on it. This stinks! Emilee and I have been looking for a new home to purchase and it has been a real bugger. Great deals all over but so many conditions and cash buyers are stealing them up quick. We will keep looking. Wish us luck.

Added photos from the Hamula's stay with us back in March.

2009-08-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Click on link under albums on right side to see pics from when the Ham Fam cam to visit us in March. Better late than never I guess! Thanks again for coming Emily n Jeff.

Yes, we are still alive!

2009-07-07T21:35:00.001-07:00

Emilee an I have both been Busy, Busy Busy with work and everything else goin on in our lives. There a lot of things that have happened that i should have posted and I will try to get to some of them but we all know how that has worked out. Emilee, Jeff and Family came and visited us in March, we went to Emilee's sister Kelli's wedding in May, we had Heather n friends visit for Memorial weekend, we tore up the boat a bit squeezed in some fun as well. Maybe once i get some work off my shoulders i will ad some more stuff.

Thats all for now.

-Dan

Teachin Andrew to be good Captain.

Way to go Kelli! (Wedding in Boise)

Did a bit of Dune riding (before it got too hot)
She is gettin a bit wild!

"Milions of Peaches...." I am sick of peaches! Our tree was about to fall over with these things this year.

Got a lot of good boating in already this year. Water temp was in 70's from early May. Very nice! Water level keeps dropping and there are rocks!!!

Like the one that gave me this little bruise. Ouch! That was a 4 thousand dollar rock! Thank you insurance!

Us kick'in back for a little Reaggae mon!

Got in a nap. Right Here!

Em n Bob

The Search is Over!!!

2009-04-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

I finally landed my first job as a Registered Nurse!!!! Yea!!! I start next Thursday at Progressive Hospital! It's an acute long term care facility. They're a small hospital with only 24 beds, but the hospital is so nice!! Their is critical and non-critical patients. So I will be trained for both!! I am excited to start, but also a little nervous. Everyone there has been so good to me, so I'm sure I'll have a lot of support! Can't believe the day has come!!!

Emilee Haslam RN!!!

2009-02-25T12:37:00.000-08:00

I know Daniel is usually the one to blog, but I felt it was appropriate for me to have a turn. I have had a long journey and it has finally come to an end!! My experience in Nursing school was probably the most difficult thing I have ever been through! I waited so long to get into a nursing program. I had to transfer my credits to three different schools and I took so many classes that I didn't need to take. I wanted to give up so many times. The stress was almost unbearable sometimes! Poor Daniel had to deal with all my shenanigans!! I am so glad that he didn't let me give up!!! I never thought I would make it to this day! I may have given up a long time ago if I didn't have him behind me pushing me the whole way! He has been my biggest cheerleader!

The last step in getting my license was to pass the NCLEX (nursing boards). During my last semester of school we were promised a review session for the test, but seeing as how my school was a brand new school, things were still a little unorganized and the review session never happened. So, after I graduated in July, I did my best to review on my own.

Once I got to the test I was so nervous and unable to focus, so I failed the first time. It was so depressing to get this far and then to see the word "fail"! Once again I was discouraged. I took a little time to pick my self up again and dust my self off, then I got back to studying.

I later found out that my class had only a 64% passing rate!! So I guess I wasn't alone. My school decided to finally provide us a good review session! I went to the review and It helped me so much! I studied so hard for the second time around, locking myself in a room everyday to study. I couldn't bare to see that word "fail" one more time!!!

When the day came to take the test I was so nervous! I almost felt sick! I got to the testing center and sat down to take the test, and just my luck, my computer froze after starting my test. Luckily I hadn't gotten to any of the actual questions yet and they were able to fix it!
It took me 3 hours to do 75 questions. I took my time on every question and really thought about the answers. Then my test was done.

The NCLEX is anywhere from 75 to 265 questions. You have a total of 6 hours to test. If you get only 75 questions, you either did really really bad, or really really good. When I only got 75 questions I was so sure I failed! I didn't think that there was any way I did that good.

Unfortunately you don't find out right away and it takes several days to get your results!! The Waite was killing me!!!!! Finally my results were in. I had to pay to see them, so as I was putting in the credit card information I was so nervous! I just wanted to see PASS!!! Daniel was standing behind me and I was shaking! Then I saw it, PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I immediately jumped out of my chair and into Daniel's arms and cried!! He wasn't sure if they were good tears or bad tears, and I think I made him nervous!! Once he figured they were good tears I could see how proud he was!!!!!!! It was a moment I will never forget!!! The journey was hard but it was soooooo worth it!!!! I love my husband and I am happy he was there to support me through this journey!!
Now to get a job!! ;)

A little about my work

2009-02-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been over a month since i have blogged anything and i spend a lot of time working so i figured i would start posting bit my work. Frankly, i get tired of it but maybe someone may find it interesting. I would if it wasnt my problem to fix everyday. I have been doing this type of work for about a 9 months now as a Project Manager and wow have i learned a lot in less than a year. I never know what i am going to run across! Here are some shots of one of my very interesting jobs. I have been working on for the last three months while running multiple other ones. It was a 7 million dollar home only 90 days old when a outdoor fireplace caused a fire that burned inside the patio cover / balcony. I never imagined it would end in a complete gut of nearly 2 million dollars in electrical, hvac, cabinets, etc. Odly, a proper thermal envelope , fireblocking and draftstopping would have eliminated 90% of this smoke damage. Nearly evertyhing had to be removed form the home as I combated the heavy smoke odors with a variety of methods such as removal, ice and sand blasting, odor masking and smoke sealing. I am very proud of the work we have performed on this project. More projects will follow, but dont worry i will try to squeeze some fun stuff in too. I have over 1000 pictures of this job.

Getting the contents out that can be saved is the first step.

Picture of the initial damage...almost nothing visible from a fire in the corner column fireplace. The smoke went through all the interior walls and eventually led to the entire interior being gutted and sealed.

Evidence of pressurized smoke blowing through walls and out of baseboards.

Nothing showin g on the interior except smoke around baseboards and outlets.

A speaker pulled from the lid in the room above showeed the problem is much worse that it appears.

Same spot about two months later. Dry ice blasting in progress to scrub as much soot as possible from framing. (Lots and Lots of Demo labor later!)

Same spot after complete gut of all roughs, dry ice blasting and smoke sealing.

Can start to see fire damage. Patio framing damaged and needs complete rebuild.

Busting up some inch think italian travertine.

Was a lot of work getting that deck down...all while keeping the pool clean mind you!

After a bit of sandblasting and sealing.

Before...it looks ok right?

But this is what it looks like behind! Smoke can get everywhere.

Unusual Images!

2008-12-28T19:58:00.000-08:00

Had to post some of these photos from our little snow event a couple weeks ago. Defiantly not your typical Strip photos.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed home and hosted. Mom and Dad came down, Heather was here and CJ and Diane brought their family as well. Emilee and Mom did all the cooking and it was delicious. It was nice to see everyone!

Our Cooks

The pool table worked out nice with a little handy work!

The Smith's.......

Don't forget the new guy. Roman

My Entourage! I pushed that wheelchair all the over the State! CJ was off fixin a doo-dee!

What a difference a month makes!!

2008-12-15T20:50:00.001-08:00

Backyard on November 16th. About 80 degrees!

Flowers still in Bloom!

Except this one...Emilee HATES this plant! She yells at it for not growing or changing all summer. It was supposed to be a birds of paradise :(

Today...December 15th. This Stinks!!!

Not your typical Vegas Skyline View!

I refuse to give up my lifestyle...Lets BBQ!!!

November was awesome with highs in the 80's for half the month but look what happened. Cant imagine what the rest of you are going through living in Siberia USA.

Wah Wahh (Thats a cry) Summer is winding down.

2008-11-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago Em and I decided to get in the truck and head for the far reaches of Lake Mead. We have explored the nearer side of the lake for years now but wanted to explore the inlet end of the lake and took a weekend in late October and decided to go check it out and say we have seen it it all. There is a little, remote marina about 80 miles from Las Vegas called Temple Bar that we headed out for and stayed the night in their little motel. It was so nice and peaceful out there and the lake is awesome in the fall. NO wind all weekend. We went as far as we could go towards the Grand Canyon but got stopped about 40miles short due to the low water. It is really cool where the cold water form the Colorado and Grand Canyon meet the warm lake water...it swirls and dives down causing a weird ripple of chop where they collide. It was neat to watch the water as it swirled and moved down beneath the warm lake water. It looked like clouds. You could really feel the difference between the two water temperatures. The lake was still at 70 degrees and the brown water felt much cooler. It always amazes me how places like this are only a little drive from Vegas and 19 out of 20 people here will know nothing about it if you asked them. We love exploring around Vegas! We covered a good 150 miles of lake that weekend and burned at least 50 gallons of fuel, (ouch, ya you do the math) but it was a good send off for summer. This is the Vegas Lifestyle!

50+ miles of crowded highways!

Luxury Accomadations!

Crowded Valet Only Parking!.... ok, ya get it? Its sarcasm.

The two waters meet here. If the water was higher we could go another 60+ miles.

Cool ehh!

Definatly camping next time. Probably 20 miles from anyone!

Chasin Ducks! They look funny when they run on water.

The Temple of Temple Bar

The Stats. Although I didn't see even a 2mph gust!

Emilee is my good trailer backer girl now!!! It took some practice :) but she learned from the best!

The morning water was a bit rough...

And stayed rough throughout the day! (about 50 miles from last shot)

Echo Bay Marina for Gas and Grub...somebody is excited! Yes, the water is that low...where we are walking should be under water, that's the ramp!

That's right, we are braking the law! (no 3rd person spotter) but how can you resist water like this?

Someone is getting better!

Ahhh.. may camp here next time!

Scenery.

I love these weekends...we're gonna miss summer!

Mooched a Vacation to Diego

2008-09-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had to go to San Diego for a seminar to get certified in water damage restoration...I know, what could be more exciting right. Well anyway, i was being flown down and had a nice room in La Jolla for three nights so I figured we could mooch of that and squeeze in a mini vacation for the wife and I and besides little sister Heather was nearly in tears for us to visit her in her awful little beach town. It was hard but we sucked it up and toughed it out by taking an extra Friday off and going down three days early to stay on Pacific Beach and hang with the little sis. It was a good time and nice to see that Heather is doing well. We spent a couple days just beach bumming and I took Em to the Zoo. I had no idea she had never been to a good zoo. She was like a cute little kid at the zoo! After that I went to my seminars and Em roughed it at the Hyatt health spa. We also got some great tickets for a Padres game from a work colleague in our San Diego office.

Stayed on da Beach of course

Heather and Emilee hangin out in the ghetto.

Thats Right! I can ride a bike and still take pics.

Who has the longest neck?...sorry, but all other giraffe pictures have to be censored. Those two in the back were acting a little to frisky for a family blog....if ya know what i mean:)

Make monkey sounds now!

Us again

She gets mad if I don't use pics of me so enjoy.

Em's first stadium brat at a ballgame! Go figure?

Box seats...over rated. Liked 1st base better.

The End of this blog but don't cry, I may blog again.

The Heart of the Desert

2008-09-17T21:49:00.001-07:00

We came to the sad realization that the 113+ degree days are coming to an end for the season and thought it would be a perfect time to do a little camping with freinds. There is a beautiful less know lake below the Hoover dam that extends 70miles south to Laughlin. The water at the upper end comes out of the bottom of Lake Mead and is Cold (about 55degrees) all year. This stretch of the Colorado River is called Black Canyon and is pretty sweet and the water is so clear you can see right to the bottom on days where the current is slow. About 20 miles downstream the surface water warms back up from the sun and there are tons of sandy coves hidden within the rocky cliffs and rugged environment. This is a great place to camp. We had a great weekend at Mojave. Taking in the sights, cookin up some brats and doing some wake boarding. At night the water was flatter than I have ever seen with a full moon it was like having night vision and I have never heard an echo like the one we got from our campsite...you could hear your yell about 5 or 6 times before it was lost in the quiet night. It is amazing that such natural beauty is so close to Las Vegas and we saw maybe a dozen boats the whole weekend.

Our Stake for the Weekend!

View From Above Camp. The walls make crazy echo's at night.

Em checkin the view...and lookin out for Rocks!

A nice little cove for a swim and some fishing

Hellow from Lake Mojave

I just like this perspective. This is where you hide from the heat when it really hot! In the Water!!

Watch out...shes gettin crazy....right before head butting the water!

Our backyard playground

Only been about about 75 days since I blogged....

2008-09-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

Well what can I say... I'm Busy! Going back to work defiantly has its downsides but I am enjoying my new career in Disaster Services, Re-construction and Consulting. It has been a great last few months with lots of activities going on. I will try to get more pics and details about some of them later. We made it to Boise for Emilee's sister Ashley's wedding, have done tons of boating and spent the fourth of July weekend on a house boat, finally upgraded my truck, been to tons of outdoor concerts (mostly free...gotta love Vegas), both got strep throat, vent to San Diego again for work and for fun, Emilee lost her only chipped car key,....... and on and on. And oh i almost forgot one more tiny thing...Emilee graduated from nursing school. "EMILEE GRADUATED FROM NURSING SCHOOL" Ohhhhh-Yeahhhh! I am so proud of her and she has really worked hard (for a long time) at it! She is going to make a wonderful nurse! So, for the most part life has been kind to us in Las Vegas and we can't complain about too much. Except for maybe that it is cooling down (only 100-105 now), and the days are getting shorter. Contrary to popular belief, we have found that we love the hot dry summers and summer is our favorite season in Las Vegas.

Mom and Dad Visit and San Diego

2008-06-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

Mom already posted two videos about the wonderful time she got to spend with me and Emilee...duh! I decided to go ahead and say that it was sure great to see that the family still remembers we are alive and kickin in Vegas and come to visit....even if we do have to bribe them. We had a great time visiting with Mom and Dad, taking them to the Strip sights and to see our playground Lake Mead. We then took them down to San Diego to see the little sis Heather and pick on her for awhile. We had a great time at Sea World, Kickin it on the beach, riding bikes on the boardwalk and seeing the Midway Museum.
Here is a link to the rest of the Pics from their Visit:
Mom and Dad Visit and Trip to San Diego 5.08

Mom and Dad in our "Back yard"

Dad was really proud of his dumb-bass! But when we got home after nearly a week in San Diego it really had the garage stinking in the hot weather!

Sunset was nice from this park in La Jolla near Heather's place.

My Girl!

Mom, Heather, Emilee Dawn.

We enjoyed seeing the views from this pier. Our hotel is in the Background.
Emilee enjoyed the views of the Surfers!

Like a lil kid she just had to touch those stingrays.

USS Midway Carrier Museum.

Snowmobile Videos Added to Album!

2008-05-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

I posted all the clips of the sled video that my good friend Nate Fisher and I put together back in Idaho a few years ago. During college riding was what it was all about. You just can't really describe it to someone who hasn't done it on a modern machine. Best scene of freedom, adventure, and exploration that i have found. None of the other motor sports I have tried come close, I really miss this stuff! Most of the clips are one track each but the first two are two and three tracks. We just had lots of home videos and decided to put some of it to music but towards the end we actually started shooting because we wanted footage for it. Makes one heck of a souvenir! Lots of good scenery in Idaho, Utah, Oregon with lots of cool climbs and drops. Check it out if you want.
Here is the link: 1A Bold Snowmobile Video
And if your wondering about the title 1A stands for Ada County in ID.

The Lake is Warming Up!

2008-05-15T21:48:00.001-07:00

We have been out to Mead three times this year so far but I was to big of a wuss to get into the cold water so we only fished on the first two trips out. Well the water is in the 70's finally so we were able to do some swimming and start doing some wake boarding, and power-tubin! We went out to Echo Bay Marina a bit further out (about 70 miles from home). I had not seen this Mariana yet but we went out to help a friend with the remodel their family houseboat. Nice quiet Marina much less busy that Vegas, Callville, or Hemingway Marinas. Great sandy beaches and coves in this area and I found a new killer campsite at the end of a long narrow cove with a nice flat sandy spot to land on. Also saw some big fish lurking just off the shore and was able to catch a bass on my second cast. Up till now all I have been able to catch has been tiny little strippers on worms. Summer has defiantly arrived.

Nice Calm Water! Cant tell in pic but water is 110' down from water line!

Finally caught a nice little bass on 2nd cast!

Friends feeding fish at the Marina.

Emilee at Echo Bay. Thinks shes a pirate with that bandanna.

Added Desert Riding Album!

2008-05-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

I added an album with some of our riding pictures in it. The riding is usually in the desert around Las Vegas or at Dumont Dunes in Cali to the south or Armagosa Dunes a lil bit North. Both are lots of fun and about the closest substitute to Sleds that I can find. It is amazing how much life you find when you venture out and explore the desert. It just looks like weeds and rocks when you fly by it on the highway or from the air, but once you get out into it you see all the interesting plants and animals that make it their home. You might even find some old skeletons left over from the Mob days....just kidding....or at least I hope I am!
Link to Album:
Riding and Exploring the Desert

Adding online photo albums!

2008-05-10T13:33:00.001-07:00

I have added some pics to an online photo album and will be doing this for other interests like, desert sports, boating, vacation, past stuff, etc. I think that will work better than trying to jam it all into this blog. Hopefully I can figure it out well enough that you all can look at what you want with out problems. This is my first attempt here is the link to an album with some snowmobiling pics.
Snowmobiling Photos

Summer is Here!

2008-05-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

We have planted tons of flowers to accent the already green yard and so far things are going really good! We planted all kinds of stuff, lilies, lantanas, snapdragons, marigolds, pansy's, petunias, hibiscus (really cool and some flowers are huge), and many others. We really enjoy the yard and it is time to break the dust off the pool. In the 90's already! So yes, there is Life off the Strip in Las Vegas.

Emilees Favorite Flower

Our Peaches are also growing.

Growing Lantanas, Mini Roses, and Snap Dragons.

View from our Kitchen window! Love it!!

View of Rear yard. Notice cool bristle brush flowers on shrubs.

Bristle Brush Flowers.

Growing...

and growing!

The Patio is where we spend lots of time eating, watching TV, Relaxing.

Entering our Oasis

The Pool is Open for Buisiness

Notice the Taliban Dish on the neighbors house.

Our Oasis in the Desert!

2008-05-07T13:41:00.000-07:00

In September of last year we decided to head over to the west side of town and move into a place that we really love. It is our little desert oasis and we have really been enjoying our outdoor living space. What a change from our rock yard we had before. Since it seem everybody in Utah is getting a little worried if spring will ever come I decided to brag and show how Spring has come and gone right into summer at our home. Even though we don't get to live near or on farms and more or grow a garden we decided to grow flower gardens. This was our first major attempt. What do you think?

Our first home in Vegas.

2008-05-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

It was nice...brand new...gated community....but had NOTHING for a yard. Coming off a farm it was a bit of an adjustment. We stayed here for 16months but with all the stuff we have accumulated we needed more space and definitely wanted a yard, bigger garage, RV parking, and a pool. Almost nothing new in LV has these.

Life Before Vegas

2008-04-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

After Mom and Dad Haslam moved away back to Utah it was Emilee and I living in Boise. Her family was there and active our lives though. I was finishing school at BSU and Em was going also preparing for nursing school. Las two years were awesome.... we were living by ourselves on her old family farm miles from any neighbor's but just outside of town. Exactly one mile down on old dirt road dead ended at our home with a garden, big yard and amazing views all around. During this time I finished getting a Construction Management Degree at Boise State. I worked a variety of jobs. Everything from ski patrol, farming, selling sporting goods, selling cars, building houses, driving tractors, making pizzas....all kinds of good stuff. Emilee also went to BSU and and worked in home health care and at St. Luke's Hospital as a Telemetry technician and also a CNA and Unit clerk. We love the outdoors and also went snowmobiling almost every weekend November through June and I even managed to put together a sled video with a friend. This was defiantly a fun and exciting time in our lives and we enjoyed it together!

The Yard

View out towards the west.

The spread (panorama)

Even had a pesky Beaver around.

Well... what the heck! Can't hide forever.

2008-04-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first post of my blog an i promise nothing! Could end up being a masterpiece and getting us on Leno, Letterman, or maybe just maybe even OPRAH!!! But not likely. I don't like her show anyway. Emilee does. So here we are in Las Vegas now for over two years but the story begins long before that when we were in Idaho. I guess we have some catching up to do but it is late and there will be time for that latter. So this will have to do for now. Hello and goodnight.