Catch Up . . . . . . .

I was going through my pictures today and found the missing folder! I knew I was missing some:

A few pictures from Valentines Day. These are our pink heart-shaped pancakes.


Ava with her singing card and blanket that Grandma Annie and Papa sent her. I think Randy will be happy if he never hears the song, "Every Girl Can Be A Princess" again!

And here are the missing pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Cuff's visit. I knew we had some pictures of Grandma! We went to the M&M Factory, saw the lions at MGM (do they ever wake up?), watched the water show at the Bellagio, and made a little trip to ESPNZone.








Is he is daddy's boy or what? He is so thrilled with his new bat and ball. Apparently so thrilled that he can't even put it down to sleep.

I feel good . . . . . .

I do. And it's actually quite ironic that I'm saying this because I really DON'T feel good. I have this weird lingering migraine headache that I just can't kick. My diet is so far off of track that I can't even see it anymore. My husband and both of my kids are battling yucky colds that are causing all of us to lose a great deal of sleep at night and I haven't accomplished much of anything I wanted to accomplish in the last week. But I feel good. My kids are beautiful and happy, even if they have snotty noses. Sometimes it takes a day like today to really appreciate things. There is so much going on with my close family and friends that I would feel completely ungrateful complaining about any of my small problems. Ava was up coughing at the crack of dawn and we ended up on the couch watching cartoons and "cuddling in our cuddle clothes" as she puts it. Kai has had watery eyes and a runny nose all afternoon and you can tell he just doesn't feel right, yet he smiles through it all. He just wants his mama to hold him and earlier today while I was doing just that, with my baby girl being my "cuddle bug" on the other side, I truly TRULY felt good. I have to admit I felt a bit sheepish when Randy surprised us by coming home early and we were all still in our jammies, but I got over that pretty quick when he joined us in his "comfy clothes" and we all hung out the rest of the day. Ava and I went and picked out the most random cartoon from the redbox and watched it while Randy watched the BYU game. Halfway through the movie, Randy showed up with popcorn for our movie night and Ava could not have been more thrilled. Yep - I feel good.

Love them:

I had to take this picture because Ava was SOOOO thrilled that her, Kai, and her little baby all had on long, blue jammies. She gets excited about the weirdest things.

Happy Birthday Chuck . . . . .

I just had to give a big THANK YOU to my friend Adhis for posting this on her blog. Go over there. You'll love it.

A whole lotta entertainment . . . .

A few weeks ago I was able to get together with my high school friends for a night away. By a night away, I mean a night IN with a lot of food. We had so much fun! We, of course, stayed up until the wee hours of the morning laughing and talking. Kathryn cooked us up some delightful eats, which we got rid of in a hurry. We went to a dancing Zumba class, hot tubbin', and shopping. We fit A LOT of fun into 24 hours. Thanks so much girls! It was a blast!

Here are my kiddos playing in the tub. They both love everything about it as long as they are together. If they're separate they get pretty bored. Could they be any cuter?


A typical night in our household. Kai is sucking on the markers, Ava is creating art, and I'm trying to keep it all off of my sheets. :)


I also wanted to add that on the way home from Utah a couple of weekends ago, Randy pointed out that he used to always sing "Ava! Las Vegas!" to the litte Miss when she was a baby. (Think of the tune "Viva Las Vegas.") Does anybody find that humorous considering we never EVER thought we'd move here? I do. :)

To the top . . . . . .

When Randy's parents were down a few weekends ago, we decided to go to the playground and hike up the mountain that's nearby. Let's be honest though. I use the term "mountain" loosely. C'mon. I'm from Utah. Have you seen those Rockies? So, we hiked the "mountain" and it was a blast. Ava LOVED it. She has so much energy and we were all on edge waiting for her to fall flat on her face since she was going so fast on the way down, but thankfully, that didn't happen. Kai had the cushiest seat of all on Daddy's back. When we put the backpack on Randy, I could see the terror in his eyes as he had flashbacks of a certain hike in Hawaii when Ava was 7 months old. It was long. Much longer than we anticipated and I'm still very happy that Randy made it home in one piece. The memory is still so fresh. Here is the documentation from that fateful day over 3 years ago. I just had to go and find it. :)

Ready for the hike.

And after the hike. Sad thing is, this was Randy's happy face.


Ava and the kids halfway up the mountain.

My new favorite picture.





At the top with the strip in the background.


Kai and Grandpa. I don't know how we got away without a picture of Grandma!

Me and my honey.

Ava's favorite thing to do. Play on the playground.