Laila's birthday celebration

This year Laila's birthday celebration didn't quite turn out as expected.  Instead of celebrating on her birthday like I had hoped we had to do it in stages.  It seems we were destined to have bad luck this year.  The first thing we wanted to do was a service project.  We sat down and asked the boys what they would like to do this year and they unanimously said that they wanted to do something for their friend's family.  This family has been such good friends to us and has had a devastating year.  Larie, the mom, discovered that her kidney was going through failure again--the third time.  After months of dialysis, sickness, infections, etc. they had finally found a match!  The boys have been very concerned for Larie and regularly ask how she is doing, if she is going to die, and when she can get a kidney.  The boys really wanted to do something nice for Larie and her family.  I called Larie up and asked her what we could do for them.  She mentioned that she noticed a bunch of weeds in her backyard that she physically cannot take care of and that she would love to have some flowers planted in her front yard.  I had wanted to do our service project before Laila's birthday but every single Saturday something was going on.  We finally decided on the Saturday following her birthday.  Friday night Eli started throwing up so I had to call Larie and reschedule.  Larie was going in for her transplant the following Monday so we decided that we would go over that Monday for Family Home Evening while Larie and her family were in Dever at the hospital (if she got sick she would not be able to get the transplant and we were concerned that if we went before Monday we would pass on any germs that might still be remaining).  On Monday morning we headed over to her house to weed and plant.  The boys worked really hard and were so cheerful.  After a little over an hour they were hungry and tired.  We only had a little bit left to finish so we decided that we would come back Wed. morning before Larie got home from the hospital.

My friend brought over cupcakes on Laila's actual birthday

please ignore my bare chested boys--they don't like to wear pj's to bed for some reason

Piper was there to make sure we stayed on task

weeding

As mentioned before, we had planned on celebrating her birthday on her real birthday, May 2nd, but Isaac ended up having a field trip that was rescheduled due to snow for that very day.  I didn't know what to do because I didn't want to make him miss his field trip.  While I wanted to celebrate her life I didn't want to celebrate to the detriment of the boys and making him miss his field trip would be wrong.  I really like her birthday to be a day with no interruptions where Mike takes off work and they boys get out of school and we just spend time together as a family the entire day.  So we decided to let Isaac go to his field trip and celebrate the following week.  Mike planned to take the day off and we made plans for the boys to get out of school.

Unfortunately, Tuesday night when I got up to feed the baby, I found myself throwing up.  I was certain that if I just got a blessing I'd be better in a few hours.  That didn't happen.  I continued to be sick throughout the day.  Mike had already taken the day off so he stayed home and took care of me and Piper.  Since I wasn't able to do anything but lay on the couch, we decided to send the boys to school.  We had to cancel finishing the service project because I could not do anything and our plans for celebrating were once again ruined.  Plus, it rained the entire day.

I was really upset.  Every time I planned anything something went wrong and I was just frustrated and mad.  I decided that at this point nothing was going to work so what was the point?  Mike convinced me that it would be fine and we could plan something the following Saturday--two and a half weeks after her birthday.

We finally got to celebrate her birthday on Saturday.  We bought balloons and flowers, some KFC, and went to the cemetery.  We had a nice picnic and then released balloons.  When we got home we sang happy birthday and ate a frozen pie (chosen by the boys).

I'm glad that Mike convinced me to go through with our celebration because I really think it's important for us to celebrate that day.

Eli wanted his dinosaurs to share in on the fun

Vegas (part 4)

We had originally planned on staying until Saturday but the drive there confirmed for us that Piper would never handle a 14 hour straight trip in the van so we decided that we needed to leave a day early and make it another two-day drive.  So, Thursday ended up being our last day in Vegas.  We had heard that the Aquarium was pretty cool from a few different sources and since our boys (especially Isaac) are huge shark fans we thought it would be fun to take them to The Shark Reef.  I have to say that I think going to the Baltimore Aquarium ruined it for us because I really didn't think it was that cool.  We payed A LOT of money for the aquarium and I didn't think it was worth it.  It only took us about 45 min (?) to walk through the entire thing.  There was one cool part where you could touch a sting ray.  Will especially liked that.  I told the boys we will have to go for a visit to see Grandma and Grandpa Richards and convince them to take us to the Aquarium in Baltimore.  Regardless, I don't think the boys have been to an aquarium so for them it was still cool even if Mike and I knew it wasn't.

Since the Aquarium too much less time than we expected we decided to go find a park and let the kids eat their sack lunches and play.  My friend Nikki joined us at the Aquarium so they came to the park too and the kids played for awhile until they got hot and Piper needed a nap.  We were leaving the next day so we had to say goodbye to Nikki at the park and that was sad.  I had a lot of roommates in college and Nikki was one of my favorite.  One summer it was just the two of us living in the apartment and it was the best summer ever--so relaxed and peaceful.  We just got along so well.  I have always looked up to Nikki.  She is so down to earth, kind, thoughtful, smart, hardworking, reserved, motivated, and fun.  I used to joke that all I needed to do was find a man like Nikki and I'd have the perfect marriage (pretty sure I found that in Mike!). I love Nikki and even though it's been almost eight years since I've seen her last, I loved seeing her again.  It was so fun to see her with kids and a husband and a house.  She is still the steady, even tempered, happy Nikki.  She seems to be in a similar situation as I was a few years ago when Mike was in the bishopric and I had three tiny little kids running around.  I know it's hard for her but she just seems to take it all in stride with her never-ending positive attitude.  She definitely handles it better than I ever did.  I was so glad to see her and hope it isn't eight more years before I see her again.

The next day, Friday, we packed up and headed home.  We stopped for lunch at some random diner in Cedar City.  Mike wants to make that a new tradition--stopping at random diners.  The kids all drove fairly well, minus Piper of course, who didn't like being stuck in her car seat any better than she did the way there. All in all, it was a nice trip.  We did decide that we are not city people though.  We like quite, easy vacations, without a lot of traveling and people.  But the point was to be together as a family and create memories with the boys and so I think it was a successful, fun, vacation and I'm really glad we went.

Adventure dome and Valley of Fire (Wed. in Vegas--part 3)

Tuesday we decided to take the boys to the Adventure Dome.  We first needed to make a trip to the commissary on Nellis Air Force Base because we still had not gotten any groceries besides the few items we purchased at the Super Target.  Also, the base sold discount tickets for military members.  So, off we went.  we got our tickets, groceries, and deposited them back at the condo, then drove back into Vegas.  Let me just say, in a few years this trip probably wouldn't be a great idea with all the boys.  Right now they are content to just watch their movies in the van and are pretty oblivious to anything going on outside.  In a few years however, that probably won't be the case and at that point, I'm not sure how comfortable I'll be driving into Vegas.  The newer part of Vegas isn't so bad but the older part--the part where Circus Circus is located has some really nasty areas with crude billboards and such.  As it is, things were fine.  We got to the Adventure Dome and it was packed!  The boys were so excited.  Will wanted to go on the big roller coaster but wanted to try some other ones out first and Isaac didn't want to go on it (Eli couldn't because he was too short).  After awhile, Will decided he would skip the big roller coaster and just go on the other rides.  They had so much fun and even though it was super crowded and smoky I was happy to see the boys enjoy themselves so much.  After a few hours we were all ready to go home so we headed home, had some dinner, and then while I put Piper down for bed Mike took the boys for a quick swim in the cold pool.

 We wanted to check out some of the landscape Nevada has to offer so we met up with my roommate again and followed her to the Valley of Fire outside of Boulder City near the Dam.  It was such a beautiful drive!  Remember how I said that I didn't think Nevada was that pretty?  I take it back.  It was beautiful and I'm so glad we decided to go check it out.  It was the perfect activity for the boys.  We ate our picnic lunch and spent a few hours just letting the boys climb and play.  Mike did some reading and Nikki and I just sat and talked and caught up on life since we saw each other last.  I would have liked to spend a few more days investigating the Valley of Fire of we had other things we wanted to see and do still and our time was running out. 

It was pretty hot and the boys hadn't had much of a chance to swim yet so we took Nikki's son Lincoln back to the condo with us and let them swim.