Noteworthy...

So I've been busy!  I've lost my zeal for blogging for the moment... and the farther behind I fall on documenting all of our noteworthy events, the harder it becomes to sit my fanny down and move my fingers on that keyboard.  So in an effort to be less verbose and to catch up, these are the little noteworthy happenings and memories within the last 6 weeks or so!

Noteworthy...

In April...Curt's first pinewood derby as the Cubscout Master.  Monson didn't place...pounding those wheels in at the last minute with the closest 'tool' I could find (a shoe) just wasn't Indy-worthy. But we all had a great time and his car at least looked cool!  I think part of the reason was because this year the committee decided to have the movie, 'Cars' playing in the back of the cultural hall with a little popcorn party and coloring fest for all the little ones that would have otherwise been trying to pull the track down and making all us moms crazy.  I don't think I even saw my little ones much that evening.  And we had a fabulous potluck!  Why are all of us usually late to the derby? Well, besides the cars getting their last coat of spray paint 10 mins before race time?  Because we are all rushing out the door trying to shove something down our kids throats to make it to the weigh-in on time so as not to be disqualified, right?  So pizza, salads and chili was the perfect solution to get everyone there on time.  Curt's doing a great job as Cub Master and I'm not that biased.

the crowds showed up

kid Cars & coloring party

the pitstop

cool decorations

Vivie wearing the decorations...

whoosh!

everyone got an award

Noteworthy...

Lexie's first birthday party with friends!  She invited 23 kids...and 22 little princesses, princes, jesters, and knights showed up all ready for the Royal Gala!  I'm still recovering from all the planning, prep and sheer exhaustion of the event!  Lexie truly felt like the princess that she is and really likes this idea of people coming over to celebrate her and bringing her oodles of pretty little presents.  Too bad for our kids we only do 'real parties' at ages 5, 8, 12, and 16. That's quite enough for one momma to orchestrate.

The Royal Court

making treasure bags for our dragon egg hunt

The princes, princesses, knights and jesters loved blasting the good-natured dragon (Monson) with water balloons!

all set up for high tea

lovely menu of heart sandwiches, chocolate covered & glitter strawberries and pretzels, doritos, cheese cubes, grape skewers & apple juice.

Viviana is a princess too

Story telling with the King!

and darling Princess Isabella Daisy

The kids loved the glitter relay race

...and freeze dance was a fave

and of course, no princess party is complete without castle cupcakes

hand made princess wands and swords as part of their take home goodies

Noteworthy...

Viviana had her 'developmental' Dr. appt last week and came away with flying colors.  We thought that for her age she was really struggling with her language skills...but apparently our other kids and some of the kids she associates with in nursery are just ahead of the curve.  Viviana is pretty much right on target in speech, language, motor skills, and cognitive development.  I don't know why we expect anything different anymore.  

Her latest noddies:  Stripping to her birthday suit and parading around the house.  Duct tape doesn't work with her--where there's a will there's a way.  She loves being free and then the inevitable always happens.  She makes puddles.  Lots of them.  We use a lot of lysol in our house.  I can't keep my silly little 2 year old in diapers and she won't actually pee on the potty. Noddy, noddy, noddy.  To help with all her food messes, she got a cute little working vacuum for her birthday.  Perhaps she needed a mop too.  Nothing wrong with teaching them self-reliance and the value of work at the age of two!  

oops!  Streaking again!  And no, that is not a milk dud protruding from her back contrary to popular opinon...

her bday cereal of choice was fruit loops this year

awaiting her last minute bday cake

adoring her daddy

so she loves chocolate

and is very expressive

dig in!

singing 'happy birthday to vivie' over and over and over

what a bright idea! a working vacuum!

'Mine'

Noteworthy...

Lexie is refusing to stay little even though I poke and prod her about not growing up all the time.  She is registered for Kindergarten and went through her torturous shots.  She's on the wait-list for the morning class (it's 1/2 day), but either way she's looking forward to being 'big' and walking either to school with the kids or home with the kids.

Lexie also informed me that she wants FIFTY kids when she grows up.  I asked her what she's going to do with FIFTY kids?  She said, "I'm going to love them and I'm bringing them all to your house!"  Oh, lucky Grandma!  Izzie and Lexie sing this little song I sang when I was a little girl, "When I Grow Up I Want To Be A  Mother"...it's extra cheesy, it's silly and it's fun and it's their favorite song.  Singing it with true drama and expression is part of our nighttime routine...every night at their request.  Maybe that's why Lexie wants fifty kids.  She is my little lover girl.

Noteworthy...

Brayden has his 2nd Class in Scouts and is two requirements away from his 1st class.  He's not even 12 years old yet...can you say Eagle at 13???  He already knows what he wants to do for his project.  Oh, and he's a straight A student.  Perfect 4.0 all year so far.  At the beginning of the year we told him that if he gets a 4.0 all year that he'll get a laptop.  Ooops.  I think we'll be resurrecting our laptop for him next month. Good thing I didn't say 'new laptop!'  

Noteworthy...

I spent a fun-filled, much needed bonding weekend with my mom at BYU's Women's Conference.  We learned a lot, walked a lot, sat a lot, ate a lot, shopped a lot, played a lot...and came home needing to sleep a lot.  Thank you, Mom, for the memories! (Even though we didn't take many photos!)

Dear Lizzy Bistro...fun girly spot

Shiny faced-Shay & my cute momma

Noteworthy...

Last week's Mother/Daughter activity with McKenzie was super fun & creative.  We learned how to make bold tissue paper flowers, duct-tape purses, candy leis, and pressed flower cards. Our Activity Days Leaders really do a superb job exploring talents and teaching new skills.  I had to miss a big night for my new stake public affairs calling (crystal apple awards), but it was worth it to spend it with you, Kenz!

Noteworthy...

I had the most perfect Mother's Day ever filled with handmade cards, the best kid coupons , lots of hugs and loves, even early-out church due to plumbing issues in our building (we were there for the most important part)!!  Breakfast in bed with mom has become a beloved kids' tradition.  And they're sure to make breakfast x 6 really...and then everyone eats it vying for positions next to me while I get a bite or two.  Simple and sweet... And after early out church we headed to the beach to relax as a family and take in the ocean blue, perfectly salted air and warm sand.  I can't think of a better day with my family.  

TWO is a sweet word

At 10:34 a.m. two years ago

I thought that...

I had loved

I had felt joy

I had cried tears

I had seen miracles

I had known random kindness

I had felt love

I had experienced true hope & faith

I had been humble

I loved my husband & family

I knew so much

My heart was so full.

And at 10:35 am this tiny angel girl

our 1 lb. 12 oz.  baby doll

came into our lives

And then, even with all the unknowns, 

I understood...

that there's no love quite like the love for your own baby fighting for every little breath--

I understood...

why I had never cried quite like that

that I'd never seen a tender mercy & true miracle quite like her

that people are mostly wonderful, kind people...

that I had never felt hope to that extent

that I had never been humbled to the core...

that I had loved my husband,

but nothing like I loved him as the father of ALL our children

that I knew nothing and everything all at once;

that my heart would just burst from the joy and the heartache,

the trials, and all the goodness, 

the daily miracles 

and prayers answered...

I understood...

that the Lord's will would prevail...

and I was prepared to let her go if it was His will.

but it wasn't her time...we needed this miracle and she needed a body.

and as time went on and the milestones were reached, 'overjoyed' wouldn't even describe my feelings...

And my heart kept growing, and growing and growing...

Our baby girl has brought so much indescribable joy to our lives.

I had no idea.

Thank you, thank you for picking me to be her Mommie...

Thank you for granting us this miracle and allowing us to raise, love, and experience this amazing little girl grow.

Happy, Happy 2nd Birthday, 

my Viviana Faith. 

Always my Baby.

 

Always my reminder that 

where hope and faith grows...

miracles do blossom.

Five.

On April 27, 2004, Lexie was the sunshine I needed in my life; she was a bright spot that helped erase so much sadness, trial, and heartache in our lives.  She's the one who turned my world into a happier, more joyous place.  I fell in love with Alexandra Shay immediately and knew she was special and sent just for me.  Curt picked her middle name because the instant bond we had was intense and unique...I fell in love with my little Lexie the moment I laid eyes on her.

Five means Kindergarten is around the corner.  Five means my baby is growing up.  Five means I need to brace myself!  I always tell my Lexie to stop growing up.  If I could just freeze my little girls in time!

In honor of FIVE years old...here's five things we all adore about our Lexie Lu-Lu:

• Her super intelligent and meaningful questions and deep thoughts like, "If Daddy's Monson's cubmaster, then why is Daddy's shirt the same color as Brayden's and not blue like Monson's?"

• The way she insists on cuddles and loves every night and her general sweetness when she tells me how much she's going to miss me when she grows up to be a mommy and moves away.  

• Her intense feelings of right and wrong...and always being concerned about pleasing her Heavenly Father by choosing the right. (She recently memorized the first four Articles of Faith...yes, I'm bragging on Lexie a little...how many adults even know them?!)

• The way she always asks to help me bake and cook.  She's always ready to assist me in the kitchen!

• The way she mothers Viviana--she has always adored her baby sister and had to see her, hold her...be with her when she was in the hospital. She will be a fantastic and nurturing mother one day!
  

Oh, how I absolutely ADORE you, Alexandra!  You are my dream come true...

Happy Happy Big FIFTH!

2000 Miles

When are we going to realize that family 'vacation' really is a very loose term for vacation. Vacation from what?  The comforts of home?  Everyone having a bed of their own and a routine?  The ability to lock the kids outside if we so choose?  Vacay from my computer and my projects?  Vacay from must see TV that allows us to relax and decompress?  NOW that we are home, Curt and I are ready for an actual vacation together.  It's more work for us taking the kids out of their elements and making memories for them...only to return home feeling like we need a break.  Thank heavens BYU Women's Conference is around the corner.  Too bad Curt isn't a woman and can't go with me.  I DO enjoy my children.  Immensely.  In doses.  Mostly I find myself just laughing at them...or screaming.  They are really very funny children.  And even if they make me crazy enough at times to drive me to the looney farm, they're mine.  

Our spring break was...memorable.  For me, it was all about losing myself in a book...or four. Certainly the last thing I wanted to do was pay attention to the kids smacking each other and sending not-so-sweet nothin's back and forth because they were squished between layers of food, pillows, blankets and smelly feet.  I had to sink my mind into something...since I couldn't 'project' very well on the road or scream out loud very often without scaring...or scarring the little ones.  I think we need to trade the Escalade in for a bus so that shoulders don't touch and kids don't have to be packed in like sardines.  I offered several times to let Monson or McKenzie ride up top in the Thule...they both respectfully declined.  Maybe it was more of a threat than an offer.

I tried sinking my brain into the Twilight Saga MONTHS ago, but the first few chapters didn't hold my attention.  Vampires?  Whatever.  Not my cup of tea.  I continually mock Curt and his love of vampire movies, or anything sci-fi really.  I eat my words.  I LOVED it...every minute of all four books...and therefore, I loved my spring break searching for bookstores in the middle of the Arizona desert on the way home, reading in a lovely hammock at my bro's house, ignoring the children's whines in the car, reading poolside and in the middle of the night when I just had to know what Bella was thinking next and what the very tasteful and adventurous Edward had up his sleeve.  It was more than nice escaping reality for a few days as I breezed through the whole saga.  Does this officially make me a teenie bopper?  

In Arizona we enjoyed staying with Kevin & Brooke as well as visiting with old friends...Bray's first friend, Hayden, and his darling family--we just love the Evans..it was partly because of our relationship with the Evans that made life living in Gilbert wonderful from '97-2000. I'm grateful we can keep up with them even if only once in a while as our kids grow older.  Even if I didn't get an in-focus photo of all of them...I didn't realize my camera fell earlier and the autofocus was switched to manual.  Ooops.

We made the kids take pics in front of the hospitals where they were born, the homes we lived in back then, and promised them one day they'd thank us.  They don't believe us.  And they think I'm the picture nazi.  They have no idea what being the child of a picture nazi really is. But I do.  Ask my brothers.  They'll agree.  Guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree in that regard.  And I'm glad.  Even if I didn't get the last pic in focus.

The Easter Pageant at the Mesa temple was a tradition for us when we lived in Tucson & then Gilbert way back when.  So lucky us...we experienced it once again. We played games and ate KFC picnic style while staking out our spot on the temple lawn.  It really was quite remarkable the 5th time around as well.  They have that production down to a science.  I loved explaining to Lexie what was happening next.  Lexie and Izzie's favorite part is when 'Jesus got hanged up.'  It truly must have been fascinating through a 3 and 4 year old's eyes. 

Our Easter Sunday was simple, fun, and relaxing.  I mean, how many families can claim eating a fancy Easter dinner on a card table in a garage?  Worked for us.  Kevin & Brooke are still students so housing eight others was quite a feat.  We had an Easter egg hunt for the kids & Izzie couldn't find eggs that were sitting right in front of her.  Silly Izzie.  Then Vivs went inside, stripped down and peed all over the carpet.  Total Vivie style.  

We swam, we hung out, the kids fed chickens, we ate at Joe's BBQ (legendary & worth the trip alone), played hard with Uncle Kevin, got their toenails painted by Aunt Brooke, fought over the DS (which is precisely why we don't have one).  I got to attend one of my S.I.L's Physician Assistant classes at A.T. Still University.  I loved it.  Maybe one day it will be me in that class training to become a PA.  One day.  

We took the kids to the Dodgers v. Diamondbacks game and sat in the nosebleeds.  One of my best and oldest childhood friends (we've been friends since we were five years old) lives in Gilbert and things weren't lining up for us to meet up, with her daughter being baptized that weekend, and our conflicting schedules.  Her whole extended family happened to be at that same game, sitting a section away from us, so we were able to visit and catch up in the most unlikely spot.   It's always great to catch up in person...I hadn't seen Dannielle for almost 10 years, her siblings for even longer...  What a lovely family she has.

We ventured to the place I've always referred to what the telestial kingdom looks and probably feels like.  Any guesses?  It's where Curt took a job with Pfizer right after we graduated from BYU.  Ironically, it's where he grew up...poor boy.  I literally cried the whole way there from Provo back in '96.  That was the worst place we could have taken a job.  And it was becoming my reality.  Going back to Tucson brought back a flood of memories, but I associate my time there with one of the sweetest of all memories...the birth of our first child and our first little 3 bedroom 2 bath home in Oro Valley.  Really, Tucson is not as ugly as my first description.  Well, at least North Tucson isn't as bad as the rest of the city that refuses to grow and join the 21st Century.  So we spent the afternoon running around Tucson giving the kids a quick tour of Brayden's beginnings, Curt's life, the airplane graveyard that resides there (that is so large, it can be seen from space), as well as a token trip to the U of A bookstore.  

On the way home from Arizona, about 50 miles east of Yuma, we saw this triangular set of bright lights coming toward us.  We all sat astounded as it looked like this aircraft was coming in for an emergency landing in a field to the right of the highway about 50 yards or so.  Its 7-10 bright lights shone on the ground below as it scathed the tall grass, then hovered for a second, the lights went off as it ascending in an upward and sideways motion back into the sky, to repeat its flight pattern three more times.  It didn't make any noise audible to us and was flying at an amazingly swift speed.  It was a total UFO.  And of course, as we sat there astounded at the sight before us, I didn't grab even my camera phone to snap a photo.  Stupid me.  We found a photo online and a drawing of exactly what we saw...apparently this same UFO has been seen around Phoenix and Salt Lake City in recent months.

Curt had to work in San Diego on Tuesday, so we came home to do laundry, repack and head back out to Las Vegas for a couple of days.  We like to take advantage of the nicer free hotels while Curt is working there...the ones with nice pools, great maid service, space, and a view.  This time Ama came down from Utah to meet up with us.  Ama made a glitter cake and decorated the hotel room for an early Lexie Birthday party princess-style.  They all got a nice little dose of Ama for a few days.  I didn't bring my nice camera.  I brought my point and shoot.  Point and shoot died. I have hardly any pictures. Shameful.  Hooray for at least a camera phone!

We saw the lions at MGM, Curt and I saw the bodies exhibition...absolutely fascinating.  Worth every penny.   We did Circus Circus, The Excalibur buffet, and the kids turned down a visit to the shark reef--in place of swimming.  I'll take it.  They saved me about $70 and gave me more time with my books.  Thank heavens for Ama who gave me a break for a few days while she spent time playing board games and doing all sorts of fun grandma stuff with the kiddos.  They live for her. So do I.   Grandmas are the greatest!

Did I mention we saw a UFO for reals???!

Cure for chocolate-lovers?

I know she loves chocolate...and I know that when something may look like chocolate that it may be tempting to find out if in fact, it is chocolate.  What happens when the sniffer doesn't work or when she figured out mid-fun that it was a really, really REALLY bad idea?  Yes, I know, she was just getting started.  And she wasn't thinking it was a bad idea.  Who doesn't love to squeeze something nice and squishy through their fingers?

Yes, it's true.  She did the unimaginable.  I've heard of kids painting walls, floors, themselves...with their own poop.  But my kids? No.  Never.  Well, at least not the first five.  They had their share of BIG noddies, yes.  But our Viviana seriously is a different breed.  It's not for lack of attention.  She's not calling out due to a lack of love.  She's just the WILD last CHILD.  Or, maybe she's just the experimenting kind.  I suppose now that this is a true fact of life, we can all move on and arm ourselves with different parenting skills.

She fought long and hard to get here and remain on this earth and she's gonna fight long and hard to make us remember that every step of the way.  She's the one who requires a leash.  Yes, a leash.  Well, it's a harness, actually.  I swear I'm gonna tie her to a tree in the front yard so she doesn't get hit by a car.  And, she's our ONE 

who painted her face with poop.  

Lexie came downstairs and asked for something, then said, "by the way, Vivie took off her diaper upstairs and it's poop."  Oh, by the way....really, is that a 'by the way' kind of situation?  Didn't that look just a little out of the ordinary the moment she dropped her drawers and the smell permeated the upstairs?  I guess it's not out of the ordinary to drop her drawers--she's known for that.  I'm thankful Lexie was one her way downstairs, cause who knows what kind of casualties and damage would have occurred otherwise.  

After being quarantined, a good shower, blasting mouth rinse and tooth brushing, lysol wipe-down on the floor, and Brayden's axe deodorant spray (the closest thing to where she wasand most potent smell around), we're like new again.  Until next time.  And don't give her any ideas of how else to torture mom.  I'm sure she'll think of something on her own, that wild last child.  So who wants to babysit my Vivie?  Anyone?  Anyone?

This is no April Fools... here is my photo proof.  You ask, how did I have time to grab the camera?  I couldn't resist.  After I screamed at the very sight of her, I ran downstairs and grabbed my camera.  Because she needs to see how noddy she truly was.  Just be grateful you can't smell the lovely aroma through the photos.  

Oh, ya wanna take a picture of me, do ya?

Nope, that's not your lipstick mom, it's my poop

Yeah, it's fun to squeeze it through my fingers

Oh, we might have a problem, it's on both hands now.

mmm, tasty.

...and you didn't even see the front of my shirt.