"O" we love Extracurricular Activities!

I hope you like the title of my post as much as I do. :)

A few weeks ago Randy's brother Scott and his wife Lori came to visit.  We love these guys so much and were able to have such a fun date night!  We went to dinner and saw Cirque Du Soleil's "O", which was AMAZING!  We all loved it so much.  Even if our husbands complained about the $8 bottle of water.




Ava's dance class was cut short this year so there won't be a long, darling post about her recital, fancy dance costume, and beautiful hair.  Along with that there will be no videos of Ava up on stage.  I see this as a negative, but I venture that some may see this as a positive.  :)  SOOO, I took a few pictures at her last dance class.  She loves dancing so much and listens to the teacher so well. 




Moving on to soccer . . . . this girl LOVES it!  In her first game she scored 4 goals.  FOUR!  How great is that?  In her second and third game, well, not as many.  She gets a little distracted.  I hear that's normal for 4 year olds?  Even 4 year olds with mad soccer skills?  Okay, I'll believe it.  Anyway, the only negative she can see about soccer in general is that she can't wear her big, beautiful fluffy skirts to play.  One of her favorite parts is eating oranges at half time. 





And I couldn't leave you without a shot of my little man.  He slays me.  Seriously.

Introducing . . . . .

Miss Vienna Marie!  My sweet little niece was born on March 10 and we couldn't be happier!  Isn't she beautiful?  I wanted to be there when she was born SOOOO bad, but I was nervous it wasn't going to happen because of the 5 hour drive separating me and my pregnant sister.  :)  Well, she called me on Wednesday to tell me she was having what she thought might be labor pains.  I didn't know if it was the time or not, but the kids and I jumped in the car and headed to Utah.  Luckily we did, because this little beauty was born the next morning!



I am one proud Auntie!  (Finally!  Now I can cuddle and love on the little Miss and then give her back to her momma for a feeding, diaper change, etc. etc.)  My little sister is such a great mommy.  I love the bottom pic.  It was Alecia holding Vienna for the first time and Sam just broke down.  Such a beautiful family.

Ava was so excited to get a new cousin.  She's been telling all of her friends that "her cousin came out of Aunt Alecia's belly and she's SOOO sweet and tiny!"  Just a couple of funny things Ava has said.  The other day she asked me if I missed Oodie or Vienna more.  (Oodie is my parent's golden retriever).  I asked her who she missed more and she said "I miss Oodie because I really like him, but I miss Vienna a lot because she's my cousin."  She went on to tell me that she's sad because now that Aunt Alecia is a mom, she isn't her aunt.  I explained it to her and she felt better. :)  My mom sent me a cute new picture of Vienna a couple of days ago and Ava said, "That's not Vienna!"  When I told her it was she said, "Why is she big now?"  Luckily, we get to see them this weekend.

My kids had so much fun in my mom and dad's new hot tub, they were completely worn out.

Of course, we made the normal detour to Grandma and Grandpa Cuff's house on the way home.  Do you think they're spoiled much?  I think the highlight of this visit was watching "Annie."  Both of my kids loved it!

A little more . . . . .

My kids on the way to their Valentines Party.  The other pictures are of me, my aunt, and my cousins at my cousin Hiedi's vow renewal at a marriage chapel on the strip.  Complete with Elvis and all.  It was loads of fun.  Me and my friend Raelynn even had a good conversation with Elvis after the ceremony.  He was pretty excited to learn that we actually lived in Vegas and wanted to know what "lovely ladies" like ourselves did for fun.  He didn't seem too excited by our answer which included carpools, naptime, and coloring.  He did tell us to look him up when we were out on the town.

Ava getting all ready for her Valentine's Party at preschool.  I may be a bit prejudice, but I am super impressed with Ava's handwriting.  She wrote all of her invitations!

Kai spilled an entire pitcher of red punch on the kitchen floor.  I seriously wanted to just move out instead of cleaning it up.  BUT, I cleaned it up anyway, because the other option is ridiculous.  Red punch is fun because it dyes everything.  Like one of Kai's feet and the tile.  Luckily, I think Kai understood the gravity of the situation.  As you can tell in the bottom picture, he is simply torn up about it. 

Ava all ready for pajama day which she could not be any more thrilled for.  She said, "Mom!  My teacher said that we can just get out of bed and come straight to school!  I am so excited!"  Kai also gets really excited about weird things, like wearing my boots backwards and making it a goal to walk down the entire length of our hallway.  Ava's new passion is soccer.  In the house.  She can't wait for daddy to come home and as soon as he walks in the door she says, "Wanna play soccer?"  She always plays with her beautiful skirts or princess dresses on.  Don't let it fool you though.  She is quite the little athlete.  More to come on that later . . . .

And sometimes I just CANNOT get enough of how cute my kids are.  Even if it means I have to make my kids pose in the church parking lot when we're already late for church.  Ava being her always cooperative picture-taking self. Kai not so much. 

You knew it was coming . . . . .

I'm playing catch up for the last 2 months!  I've been neglecting my blog.  Not because I haven't wanted to update.  I'm actually a little obsessed about keeping my blog up to date, but with everything that's been going on I just haven't had the time or the go-git-er-done attitude that I need.  Even at the end of the day when the kids are in bed and I have a couple hours before I go to bed and I could definitely accomplish something, I find that I would much rather sit in my bed and stare at something dumb on tv.  I swear half the time I don't even know what's on, but it feels good to just sit.  ANYWAY, I'm back and to all of my loyal readers (or reader, I'm not really sure - ha ha), here it is . . . . . .

Remember me mentioning the scorpion sting a couple of months ago?  Well, here are the pictures of the traumatic event.  I can't believe I am even putting a picture on my blog because it gives me the creeps, but here it is anyway.  My Kai with his hospital band and happy face.  (Believe me when I say he was definitely not that happy the entire night).  Might I add that we went to the ER (under Poison Control's Direction), waited for a 1/2 hour or so, and saw a doctor for less than 30 seconds.  It was a quick trip and it gave me peace of mind to know that everything was okay  (although as I walked out of the room the doc told me to make sure and watch his breathing.  Of course I was up most of the night with my hand in front of his nose).  Oh, and apparently peace of mind runs you about $955.  :)  We're just grateful that everything turned out the way it did.

We went to the dinosaur museum with Ava's preschool.  She loved it, but wouldn't go in the dinosaur room where they all roared loudly and moved their heads.  I have to admit, it was a bit scary at first, but we never made it past the scary point because Ava wouldn't even venture in for a second glance.

We also took a little day trip to Red Rock Canyon to hike one of the shorter trails that has a waterfall the first few months of the year.  My kids had SOOOO much fun.  If you give them rocks, dirt, sticks, and a trail to run on, they are in heaven.  Add a little water in and we may as well have been in Disneyland.  It  was a great day.

The bottom 2 pictures crack me up.  Ava wanted to pose on every. single. rock. she could climb on.  Believe me when I tell you there are many pictures that didn't make this blog.  I told you this is Red ROCK canyon right?  Anyway, this particular picture of Ava, which I love, was immediately followed by the pic with the dog, where Ava was obviously terrified.  She was scared enough that she even forgot about the camera for a minute.  Very rare indeed.

Lastly, some cute kids that, if you read my blog, you have seen quite a bit of.  I love them so much!

Seriously?

Okay.  So I never want to be one of those buzzkill bloggers, but here I go anway.  I am putting this on here just so I can remember that I do indeed have trials sometimes.
   
January 20 - Kai got stung by a scorpion and we had to take him to the ER.  He was fine, but little did I know it was the start of a chain of not-so-fun events.
Feb. 18 - I came down with tonsillitis. It was, literally, the day before my entire family came into town.  It felt like the flu, but worse.  I was so sick.  Luckily I had my wonderful husband to take care of me. 
Feb. 22 - Kai gets sick.  He's burning up and wants to do NOTHING except lay on me or Randy.  Doc said it just needed to run it's course.  It took nearly a week for it to "run it's course."
Feb. 23 - I begin a miscarriage at 8 1/2 weeks along.  Not fun.  5 hours in the ER, bloodwork, rhogam shot.  Misery.  I've had my bloodwork done at least 5 times up to this point.  As of today, I am still waiting for the entire process to be over, which, honestly, has been far worse than I imagined. 
March 1  - Randy starts his new job which we are thrilled about.  He wakes up in the middle of the night with what I can only describe as violent food-poisoning.  Trooper that he is, he gets up 3 hours later and heads to his 2nd day on the job.  Ava comes down with a fever and wants me to "cuddle with her on the couch" all day.  She was really complaining that her belly hurt.  Saturday rolls around and I'm kicking myself for not taking her in to her ped on Fri. 
March 5 - So we head to Urgent Care.  She has to potty in a cup which took almost 25 minutes, but I hear it could be worse.  She freaked out about putting her finger in the little oxygen thing and it was an all-out battle to check her mouth and ears.  Then she had to do an x-ray to check her belly.  She was super nervous, but smiled cutely when they said "Say Cheese!"  Bottom Line - Constipation and a possible bladder infection which she got an antibiotic for.
March 7 - I hurt my back.  AGAIN!  Doing nothing, might I add.  Also, found out that I can't register Ava for kindergarten until she has her shots. 
March 8 - Registration is tomorrow so we headed to the doctor again today.  Believe me when I tell you that Ava is strong, stubborn, and hates shots.  Oy.  At least we all got doughnuts out of it.

Why am I relaying this sad chain of events?  Because I want to remember it.  I also want to remember how I've been feeling through it all.  I've always had this weird feeling that my life is going too well and something bad is always lurking right around the corner.  People bear their testimony in church and talk about learning from their trials and how they are grateful for them.  Don't get me wrong, we have certainly had our trials, but this last couple of months has taught me so much.  I can honestly say that everything we've gone through has humbled me and that I am truly grateful for my trials.

I am grateful for my wonderful husband that provides for us and my two healthy, beautiful children.  I love my family so much and am so grateful that I am lucky enough to be a part of their lives.  Sometimes it takes losing something, whether it's a miscarriage, good health, or anything else, to really see what we have.  I've always been grateful for my family, but right now I am extra grateful for my family.  Sounds lame, but it is what it is.  Which, by the way, has been my mantra over the last little while. 

I don't feel picked on or put out.  Life is life and you just take it as it comes and try to have the best attitude about doing it.  When I started my miscarriage I was pretty upset.  It's hard to understand it without actually going through it, but it is so hard.  It's unnerving, depressing, and something I wouldn't wish on anybody.  BUT, with that said, I'm fine.  Miscarriages happen a lot, to a lot of people, and while it's not fun, we make it through.  I hope it never happens again, but I am grateful for what I've learned throughout the process.

I am honestly not posting any of this to get sympathy.  I am truly fine.  I'm happy.  I'm grateful.  The point is that we all have trials and bad things happen, but we can get through it.  I've also decided to quit being afraid that things are going to good.  Heavenly Father doesn't look at your life and think, "Hmmmm . . . they seem to be doing well, I better knock them back a little."  I truly believe that He doesn't work that way.  While I can say that I am truly humbled and grateful for what I have learned over the last little while, I also hope that today is the day that I can put it all behind me.  That's what I've been thinking for two months though.  :)

PS - I have never wanted to be one of those people that complains and talks endlessly about their ailments, so I promise you this is the end of it.  :)