And the Most Beautiful Couple Award goes to . . . .

Jessica and Robson!  Aren't they gorgeous?  And happy too!  We went to Utah a couple of weekends ago to attend the fabulous festivities for this amazing couple's wedding.  I dare you to find a more gorgeous bride or a groom with a better smile. :)  They got married in the Manti Temple and everything was WONDERFUL!  We are so happy for them and so happy to have Rob in our family.  I CANNOT believe my baby sister is married.  She is beautiful, hard working, and amazingly caring and I am so happy these two found each other.

  My kids loved the whole weekend and looked so beautiful and dashing in their wedding clothes.  Ava was so happy to be a flower girl and followed Jessica around at the temple like a little puppy dog.  She took great pride in carrying her train and looked at her with awe the whole day.  Kai was crazy as usual, and luckily, only ended up with one major grass stain before we headed to the luncheon.  I considered that a success.

 Our family.  I get the award for biggest bridesmaid.  :)  We were so happy to be there at the beautiful temple for such a wonderful occasion.  I even wore heels for half the day, well, maybe a third of the day.  Well, that might be pushing it too.

 The kids with my amazing Grandma and Grandpa Warren, their WONDERFUL Grandma Annie, and a "pull on your heart strings picture" of Jessica and my Dad while my mom looks on.  It's a bittersweet thing to watch your youngest daughter become a wife I'm sure!

THE most amazing and beautiful parents in history and my handsome boys.  Seriously though, where did Kai get his blonde hair?

The gorgeous couple, Ava taking her "train" duty very serious, Jessica meeting my cousin Ashlee's beautiful brand new baby for the first time, and me with my amazing little sister.  I swear she should still be in middle school, but here she is all grown up, being an awesome registered nurse, and marrying the man of her dreams.

 One of my most favorite pictures from the whole day.  Yep - definitely holding back the tears right now.

 Some of our family.  We love them so much and LOVE to have such amazing events like weddings to get together!

Ava doing her flower girl duties for the ring ceremony and clearing tables at the reception.  This girl LOVES being in charge of something and she was all over the table clearing.  She may have been a little over zealous about getting people's plates from them, but hey, at least she kept things moving.  The last 2 pictures don't even do the dancing justice.  At the end of the night, there was dancing and Ava and Kai LOVED it.  Kai was hysterical.  I think the amount of sugar, plus the long day, plus the lack of sleep really brought out his dancing skills.  We all had a blast, although by the end of the night, the day had taken a toll on my pregnant body so I happily watched the festivities from a chair with a blanket wrapped around me.

Congratulations Jessica and Robson!  We couldn't be more thrilled and know that you will have an ETERNITY of happiness and love.  It was a beautiful wedding with an amazing couple and we wish you the best!

This is the poem that Alecia and I read at the wedding:

Rob seems like a pretty great guy, so we have some advice to share.  This info should keep you two tight, as you journey through this life flight.
Jessica's always been the youngest girl, and definitely the shortest too.  She grew up with a love for cats.  Really any stray would do.
She's the sweetest person you'll meet, unless you're on the opposing softball team.  She has a knack for falling asleep; literally anywhere it would seem.
Mom dressed her religiously every day, even though a slip is all she would wear.  Her favorite song was "My Favorite Things" and she sang it with a lot of flair.
We know your honeymoon will be great, but Rob you better beware.  Don't let her be in the heat for too long, or a sun rash is all she will wear.
She's the greatest nurse on the planet.  Just ask anyone that you meet, but her TMI conversations aren't always such a treat.
She's always been a team player, but on the dance floor she likes to shine.  Let's talk about her military dance.  Her high V was mighty fine.
We don't know as much about Rob, but there are a few things that we do.  "Concussed" is really a word.  Just ask Rob, he'll vouch for that too.
Being concussed makes him brutally honest.  Kids aren't his favorite we know.  But in a few months we'll be laughing, when Jessica says, "Uh Oh!"
We're offended by your talk about small towns.  A mayor you will not be, but you are a really great guy.  It is simply plain to see.
Now of course we need to mention, Jessica's really important to us.  So treat her like a princess and we won't make a fuss.
We couldn't be happier for two people.  Marriage is such a great time.  We're so grateful you found each other, and now we're done with this rhyme.

We love you both so much and are so happy for both of you!  Remember to communicate, treat each other right, and always love each other.  You are an amazing couple and you will accomplish amazing things together.

THREE!!!

My Baby Boy officially turned three on the 11th of May! I CAN'T believe he is three. He has been counting down the days until his birthday - well, Ava has been helping him count down the days to his birthday since hers isn't far behind. ;) The big day was RIGHT in the middle of a BIG weekend! Jessica and Robson got married so we were able to do a little celebrating with family in Utah! (More to come on the gorgeous bride and groom).

Isn't he just the cutest three year old you've ever seen?  We LOVE this boy so much. It seems that he skipped his Terrible Twos all together, but has started making up for it lately. ;)  He is the happiest, smiliest, friendliest kid ever.  He will talk to ANYBODY about anything, which makes me slightly nervous.  I am being told constantly by strangers what a handsome, happy boy he is.  He is becoming famous for his knock-knock jokes, the kind that make sense and the kind that don't!  He loves his big sister and wants to do everything that she does.  They play really well together, and fight "on occasion" too. He is so excited for his baby brother to get here and likes to kiss my belly and feel him kick.  He loves to cuddle which couldn't make me happier.  He has hit a phase where he gets out of bed repeatedly at night only to say to me, "I just want to tell you that I love you!"  I'll tell you what, I am very loved at his bedtime.

I have to sing "I'll Make a Man out of You" from Mulan to him every night.  It cracks us up. He loves to wrestle with his daddy and do jump hugs, which has evolved into Randy throwing him and Ava every way possible onto the bed of pillows.  Every night I keep my keys in hand just in case we need to head to the E.R.  His favorite thing right now is his "poky hair".  He asks for it every morning and either needs it spiky or in a faux hawk.  He is also constantly changing into his "basketball shirt" (jersey) so that he can shoot hoops.  He loves every sport you can think of and LOVES playing them with his daddy.  He loves fruit snacks (and asks for them every single morning before breakfast even though he NEVER gets them before breakfast - persistence I tell ya), yogurt, green beans, and macaroni and cheese.  He is not much of a sweets person, maybe that's why he is 50% in weight and 90% in height.  When I was pregnant with Kai, I was so worried about having enough love for 2 kids, but this little guy has definitely proven that love just grows and I can't imagine my life without him! 

Ava and Kai delivering their birthday invites to the mailbox.  They are having a combined birthday bash in a couple of days and they are SOOOOO excited!  I'm still not entirely sure I can pull off one party at this point in my pregnancy, let alone two, so we are combining all of the fun with a water party in the backyard.

We got to have a little party the night before Jessica's wedding with my side of the family,  Whenever I asked Kai what he wanted for his birthday he would immediately respond with "a blue cake with a football."  He was very specific about the cake.  So what did he end up with?  A blue cake with a whole football field!  He was thrilled.  Once he figured out I wasn't talking about cake only when I asked him what he wanted, he finally told me he wanted "bad guy toys."  After some research I realized he wanted action figure toys.  He ended up with Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the coolest sword with real live sounds.  He was one happy boy.

I'm not exactly sure how he ended up like this for his birthday party, but he was the birthday boy, so apparently anything goes!

Not only did birthday boy get spoiled by Grandma Annie and Papa for his birthday, he got spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa Cuff too!  We got to meet up with them for lunch and the kids had a blast!  Kai's favorite things were his Lightning Mcqueen pillow and his "basketball shirt" or as other people refer to it, a new jersey. ;) 

See Kai there on the left?  That's the shot I get of him 90% of the time.  He's learned to smile, but for the life of me, I can't get him to look directly at the camera!  Ava needs to give him a tutorial because she's figured it out very well.

Amazing Grandparents!

Last, but not least, we have the big birthday present.  Randy and I went a little overboard and got this big blowup water slide for the kids.  To say they love it is a bit of an understatement.  The UPS man didn't deliver it until 6:00 pm a couple of nights ago, but none of us could wait to put it up!  Do you think Kai looks a bit chilly?  It has been worth every penny considering it has been up and down 3 times in the last 48 hours.  We made a rule last night that we were going to put it away until their water party on Saturday and it has been torture for the kids! I see a lot of this happening in the coming months.   

Dance Recital 2012!

After getting jipped out of her "stage" experience last year, Ava was SOOOO excited for her recital this year! Funny thing is, she didn't actually dance on a stage, but still had her time in the spotlight. :) The recital this year was at a Winery here in P-Town and while the venue was beautiful it was an odd choice for a dance recital because it was difficult to see the dancers. I adjusted though and moved all over the floor getting the best shots and video I could! Ava looked beautiful and DANCED beautiful! As much as she loved being on stage dancing her little heart out, she really loved being back stage and playing with her friends the whole time. It was 3 days of rehearsal and 2 full recitals and she loved every second. We also fit her friends birthday party in and hosted EIGHT Young Women for Youth Conference the night in between her two recitals. It was a CRAZY busy weekend, but so much fun. I love my little dancer!

Not sure if you can tell, but she picked a lot of her own poses for this mommy photo shoot!  She did Jazz AND ballet this year so she got to perform 2 dances at the recitals.  I especially LOVED her pink and black ballet outfit!  Such a beautiful ballerina. 

I could NOT get Kai to cooperate so he makes an appearance a grand total of 1 time in this post.

A quick shot of the birthday party in between for my social little diva.

Kai plopped himself down right in the middle aisle to watch some of the recital.  He did a little watching and a lot of whining, but it could have been worse for a 2 year old at a 2 hour recital.  The iPad definitely helped. ;)

Ava backstage with some of her friends, her flowers and her fun dance teachers, Rachel and Sabrina.

Spring Break - Part 2

Moving on to the next fabulous part of our long spring break. After we had such a FABULOUS time at our first Easter Party, the girls headed out for a pedi-mani. Ava got so nervous when it was her turn to sit in the chair to get her toes done but with some coaxing from all of us, she finally took the plunge - and LOVED it. We all had such a blast shopping and having girl time.

We made it home late that night and colored Easter Eggs!  We called Papa to boil the eggs since we were getting home so late and true to form, we had a good 6 dozen eggs to color.  My dad has a tendency to take care of things in excess.  Why only get 1 gallon of milk when you can buy 3?  Why only get 6 rain ponchos when you can stock up with 22?  We LOVE our Papa and he's always prepared enough for all of us!  The kids also got a little visit from the Easter bunny, but it was a quick celebration because we had early morning church and got to hear Grandma and Grandpa speak.  It was, of course, fabulous and such a beautiful day with with good food, an awesome Easter Egg Hunt put on by grandma, and fun times with family.

The kids with their AMAZING grandparents.  We love them so much!  On the right they are on the way to the farm in the farm truck.  My kids love . the . farm.  LOVE it.  They get to run around, get dirty, and most importantly, ride horses.  Ava is a pro and Kai finally decided it was okay to jump on and take a spin.  They both had a blast and it just takes me back to my childhood.  It was filled with horse riding with MY grandpa so I have to admit I may have gotten a little teary-eyed watching my own kids being led around the corral with their Papa.

Oh - that bottom picture is just one of the times my kids were completely entertained with the balloons we had from Jessica's shower.  They played with them all week.  In this instance, they had drawn faces on them and "all" of them were watching El Dorado.  Kai obviously didn't make it all the way through.

After all the fun, we headed to St. George and did more of what we'd been doing all week, hanging out! We obviously didn't do anything super exciting because I didn't take a single picture.  If I would have you would have seen us eating out, watching tv, playing in the backyard, or sleeping. :) It was SUCH a fun, relaxing, entertaining spring break and we are so grateful for all of our family that means so much to us and makes my kids feel so loved and important!

Spring Break - Part 1

Since Easter marked the beginning of Spring Break for Ava, we decided to make a long trip to Utah to celebrate! (Seeings how our typical long trip to Utah will fall about the time Baby Boy will be making his entrance so we're nixing it this year). We all drove up on Thursday night, threw a fun bridal shower for Jessica, celebrated Easter with both families, Randy flew home and then the kids and I basically just hung out for a week in Nephi and St. George!! It was so fun and relaxing and we were sad to see it end!

Jessica's shower:  We had lots of yummy food and lots of fun company!  I have to point out that I am in NO WAY responsible for the craziness that ensued during the shower.  The middle picture may look a little scandalous with Jess's soon to be mother-in-law feeling her up.  Apparently the Brazilians do things a little different than we do!  :)  It was a BLAST to get to know Jessica's soon to be new family and learn some things about their culture.  We are SOOOOO excited for Jessica and Rob and can't wait until the big day! (Neither can they apparently - I told you engagement was rough Jess!)

My AMAZING mom, my beautiful sister Alecia, the soon to be blushing bride Jessica, and me (blossoming, expanding, glowing, whatever you want to describe me as) :)  By the way - I was about 27 weeks pregnant in this pic.  I LOVE my family!!  Of course, we have Miss Vienna making an appearance.  She wanted my camera and I took advantage of taking a picture of her gorgeous little face.

The most amazing and beautiful kids on the planet.  Have I mentioned how much I love them?  This was at the beginning of our Cuff Easter party!  Almost everybody was there and it was SOOOOO fun to catch up and chat with everybody!  We are the furthest away from everybody, so if we can take advantage of a get together, we are all over it!

The HUNT!  Grandma and Grandpa did a great job of putting together not just one, but TWO egg hunts.  They all got to hunt for all of their candy eggs and then they did a MONEY hunt!  My kids had a blast.  There were extra candy eggs and Kai seemed to be the one to take advantage of it because he hasn't completely mastered his counting skills. ;)

Cousins - cousins - cousins & Fun - fun - fun.  Ava and Kai were in HEAVEN!

My wonderful little family and AMAZING grandparents!