St. George - How we love thee!

We took a little weekend vacay with my mom and it was so much fun!  We shopped and ate of course, met up with fun friends, and went hiking!

We started off in my mom and dad's somewhat bare home.  Thus the reason the kids are using an empty vacuum box as a table. 

We also did quite a bit of shopping to fill up the empty house . . . . .



We went and hiked Gunlock Falls and it was BEAUTIFUL!  We wore flip flops.  If I were to pass on advice, it would be to wear something a little more sturdy.  Especially if you have 2 kids with you.  Just sayin'.  It was so much fun though. 








We were also lucky enough to meet up at the splash park with our good friends who happened to be visiting the same weekend!  It was so much fun to see them and catch up.  Ava absolutely loves Carson and couldn't have been happier.





In other news - we celebrated Fathers Day (without any pictures of daddy for some reason), moved Kai to a big boy bed (which led to a lot of giggles and laughter in MY bed), baked cookies, and watched movies (and apparently took pictures OF the movie cases - not sure why)! Yep!  That's what we do!

Is it just me or are my kid's smiles a little fake in this picture?

On our way to summer . . . . .

Summer's coming up, but first we have some exciting events from the spring . . . . .

Pajama Day at preschool.  Ava LOVES this!  How cute is my girl?

Preschool Graduation . . . . . Again.  This should be her last one.  :)  She was so excited to get dressed up and be honored!  She had such a fabulous teacher in Mrs. Hutchinson and enjoyed every second of preschool.  She is counting down the days to kindergarten . . . . .

We then started out the summer with a playdate to the splash park with kids packed in the car!

And of course . . . . . splish splash in our very own backyard.

Flashback to May . . . .

I am behind on my blogging because we've been doing lots of fun things that I need to blog about! :)  To start with, this little darling turned 5!  What?  I don't look old enough to have a 5 year old?  You're too nice.  :)  ANYWAY, Ava is officially 5.  The day after she turned 5, she told me that she will always mind now.  According to her, when she was 4, she didn't mind, but now that she's 5, she's a big girl, so she minds.  To date, it's a work in progress, but she's a really good girl.

The celebration started the day before with her taking pink, princess cupcakes to preschool.  She was thrilled to put a tiny tiara on each cupcake.  Such a girl!  On her birthday morning, she got to open her presents that came in the mail and then have yummy waffles and strawberries, her FAVORITE meal ever.  

We then proceeded to pick up all of these yay-hoos to go and see the movie Rio.  They were all really good and the only mishap was the older couple in front of us who were very obviously annoyed with the group of 5 year olds behind them.  Once I stared them down with a look of "If you don't want kids to interrupt your movie then stay away from cartoons that start at 1:00 in the afternoon", they seemed to back off. 

From there we headed to the park to open presents and play for a bit.  Our next stop was Sonic for slushies.  It was probably a 5 minute drive from Sonic to home, but both boys managed to become completely red from their cherry slush.  SOOO, the next stop was unplanned on the side of the road to drop off some red slushies.  Ava had a BLAST with her friends and got spoiled as always.

Oh how we love this sweet, beautiful 5 year old.

On to May . . . . . .

A lot happened in May!  To start with, this little guy turned TWO!

  I know, I know.  I can't believe it either.  I love this kid so much.  He is sweet and loving and is so fun to be around!  He is talking up a storm and LOVES playing with his sissy.  He's also come down with a case of the "Terrible Twos", but he's got a lot of catching up to do to match up with that sweet big sister he has!  We were planning on just doing a little family celebration, but Ava had other plans.  She woke up on Kai's birthday and yelled, "Where are the balloons?  When's the party?  Where are all of Kai's friends?"  After explaining to her that we were just having a little party with mommy and daddy, she promptly became devastated, and with tears rolling down her cheeks said to me, "But Mom, Kai is 2 today!"  Well, needless to say, we had a party!  We called all of Kai's friends and had a little get-together at the park, complete with some yummy store-bought cupcakes that we're actually really good, but dyed all of the kids skin bright colors.

  

   We also had swimming lessons for Ava.  She is a super good little swimmer!  She got to be in the class with 2 of her best friends, Ethan and Luke.
 
And dentist appointments. . . . . . I'll just say due to some major hesitation on Ava's part, we didn't get cleanings done, BUT she did let the dentist look in her mouth.  I consider the trip a success!

We also finished off the soccer season.  Ava had a blast and can't wait to do it again.


Krispy Kreme doughnut field trip!  I don't get Krispy Kreme doughnuts very often, but when I do, I remember what it's like to really love something.  There is nothing better than a warm doughnut in the morning.  That is exactly why I rarely visit.

Like I said . . . . .

Family!  Our favorite people to hang out with . . . . Grandma and Grandpa Cuff came for a fun Easter visit and we had a blast!  We started our adventure off at South Point where we were *supposed* to go swimming.  Once again, that darn Vegas wind put a kink in our plans.  We proceeded to drown our sorrows in Cafe Rio and Nielsen's Custard.  :)  Luckily, we were able to swim the next day - and managed to fit Nielsen's Custard in one more time.  Our next adventure was a trip to Hoover Dam.  The new bridge is so neat and it's great to be able to park and walk up to the lookout without having to deal with all of the traffic and congestion right on the bridge.  I, of course, documented all of the fun in pictures.  Grandma and Grandpa also took Ava to Build A Bear for her birthday.  She picked out a "beautiful bunny" that sings "I Want Candy" and named her Emma.  She had so much fun and you'll see that Emma makes a few appearances in this post.

After that we took a trip out to where Randy works to show Bob and Vicki around and take the kids to an Egg Hunt.  The kids really went after the eggs and came out with lots of loot!  It was fun because Kai actually knew what he was doing this year!

We colored eggs that night.  I don't know what it is about coloring eggs but it is SOOOO much fun!  Ava was very particular about how hers were colored.  Kai . . . . not so much.  We had to help him understand that you couldn't just chuck the eggs into the cups.  It was a bit messy.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the Easter Bunny Cupcakes.  Ava absolutely loves making cupcakes, so we went all out for Easter and made a masterpiece!  Ava was so proud, and apparently they tasted good too.  It is so fun to have Grandma around for stuff like this because she is so helpful and patient!  I guess that's the teacher in her. :)

 The next morning the kids woke up to fun Easter Baskets.  The both got a new movie and I'm proud to say that Ava's movie is Annie.  The Classic.  We need to thank Grandma and Grandpa for introducing her.  Then we had a little egg hunt of our own.  Who knew you could pack so much fun into one weekend?  We had such a fun grandma and grandpa filled weekend!  Thanks for the visit!

Then it was off to church.  My favorite part of Easter.  We had an amazing lesson on the Crucifixion of Christ and it really ended the weekend on a high note.  If you ask Ava why we celebrate Easter she says, "Because Jesus came back to life."  I'm so grateful for the Savior and so grateful for my family!