A broken arm

Aria has broken her arm. The day before Thanksgiving all the furniture at Grandma's house was moved into one room. SO FUN! Aria was jumping from couch to couch, all the kids were playing when Aria started crying. Aria crying is an hourly occurrence so I wasn't too concerned, but it wasn't a normal cry. Anyway we took her to the emergency room, had X-rays, and got it splinted. We have to get it X-rayed again and casted when we get back to Vegas. So today we are thankful for working limbs.

getting fixed up.

So Sad

Aria loves her sling!

A normal day!

Today we had a very normal day. We ran some errands, cleaned, watched Disney Princess Tea Party, read books, and danced. It was a wonderful day!

Laila is always so happy and loves to smile.

Aria eating breakfast with her morning Mohawk

It was such a good day she fell asleep at dinner!

Twilight

Have you read the Twilight series? I read it this summer and I really liked it. It is a book that I love to discuss with others because their are so many takes on it. Anyway, someone emailed me this link to see which Twilight character you most fit. Here are my results:

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're" Carlisle Cullen - You are very intelligent and have high moral standards. You truly care about people and helping them. Your knack for solving problems and pleasing two warring sides makes you unique and a desirable friend to have, even if sometimes you have to tell people what they might not like hearing.
Take this quiz!http://quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=17&url=http://www.quizilla.com/users/twilightnexus/quizzes/Which+Twilight+novel+character+are+you%3F">quiz!

What do you think? I always liked Carlisle and I have to say that if I didn't have a crush on Edward, I would on Carlisle. So I guess I am flattered that I am most like Carlisle. For all you Twilight fans take the test and let me know who you are!

Thankful

As Geoff is preparing to go out of town for the week, I am feeling a little bit of anxiety. I always do when he leaves. I really try not to let him know, so I can be a "supportive" wife. This morning I have been in a bad mood. My dad might say I have been "eating worms" (nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I gonna eat some worms). Trying to get my game face on for when Geoff leaves I realized that I don't have it so bad. Geoff will be home again on Friday. I know too many women that their husbands are in the military and haven't seen them in a year! I decided to be thankful. The moment I switched to gratitude I was overcome. I have so much! I am the most blessed person I know! So I am thankful for hard stuff so I can remember to be grateful!

Today I want to show gratitude to those that make having Geoff gone really fun!

Sarah McGiven

Monica Johansen

I am so thankful to have family around me. The decision to move to Las Vegas was hard, but everyday I am thankful we made that decision because of these women. I want them to know how much I appreciate their kindness to my girls and I. You two have gone beyond the call of duty to make sure I have something to look forward to everyday.

Today I am thankful for Sisters!

Irresponsible Parenting

I always leave Aria and Laila downstairs while I run upstairs for a moment. Today was the last time I will do that. I had just finished feeding Laila and Aria was playing with her puzzles. I needed to brush my teeth and get my shoes so I put Laila in her swing while I ran upstairs. I was up there for only a minute when I hear Laila screaming! I knew something was wrong so I ran with lightning speed down the stairs to see Laila on the floor about 15 feet away from her swing. Aria is yelling, "Laila sad, Laila sad". I start freaking out because I realize that my two-year-old not only had gotten Laila out of her swing, but carried her quite a ways before dropping her on the floor. She did this all under a minute.

My days of assuming that Aria couldn't possibly do something are over. I will now be a more vigilant parent, for the sake of preserving the life of my second child.

The wedding we have been waiting for!

My beautiful sister Sarah was married this last weekend in the Salt Lake Temple. I just wanted to pay tribute to her and her new husband Bryce Lindsey. They are so wonderful together and I am glad that Sarah held out for Bryce. We wondered for a while if there was anyone on this earth that would measure up to Sarah's standards. Bryce measures up and more. I am so happy for them and I am excited that Sarah is finally married! :)

I love you guys!

Halloween

Hi! I have been in Utah for the last 10 days so I have been slow on posting. These are some pictures of our Halloween.



Aria loved painting the pumpkin soooo much!

Our finished pumpkin

Minnie Mouse

A mouse, a bear and a witch, oh my!

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took the girls to the local pumpkin patch in Henderson. Most states have a pumpkin patch in a field or something. Not in Henderson we have our pumpkin patch in the parking lot of a casino. If they can't get your money at the casino they will set up a pumpkin patch with rides and a petting zoo to get the money you don't spend at the casino. It was a wonderful fall family activity. Aria had a great time!

Aria takes after her auntie Sarah and is

scared of all animals.

Aria's first head wound.

Aria's hit her head last night at the Johansen's house. She and Olivia were playing when Olivia yelled that Aria had blood running down her face. Geoff and I ran in and indeed Aria had blood running down her face. Geoff started to panic a little because there was so much blood. Geoff scooped her up and we took her to the sink. This is when she started yelling. She wasn't hurt or anything but she wanted to get back in fort they had created. The fact that she wasn't crying was enough to convince us that she indeed was fine. This was our first experience with a superficial head wound, they bleed...A LOT!

These pictures are post clean up.

Her hair is so white it almost looks like paint.

"Little or no traveling"

I am writing this more for ideas then sympathy(though I could use some). So Geoff comes home last night and says, "I hope you are in a good mood". You would think after almost 4 years of marriage that he would know that he should NEVER start a conversation off with that phrase. Anyway he tells me that he is going to be gone from November 4th to November 30th. Now when Geoff took this job he marked on the paper "Little or no traveling". In his defense he did prepare me that he might have to travel a little bit. Well I don't know if I am way out of line on my expectaion, but he was gone 3 weeks in Septemeber, 1 week in October and 4 weeks in November. That in my book is A LOT of traveling.

My question is how do I do it?!? I know a lot of women that are in this situation and you all seem so put together all the time. I spend my day telling Aria how many hours until daddy comes home. Sometimes I spend the day telling myself that I can do it for a few more hours until he can get home. I would love a few suggestions as to passing the time while he is gone.

Laila's Blessing

Our beautiful baby girl was finally blessed on October 13, 2007. We decided to bless her while all of Geoff's family was in town. Many obstacles later Saturday morning was the best time to do it. I feel like it started the day off just right. Geoff gave her a beutiful blessing and we felt so blessed to have so many of our family there to participate. Thank you Hill's, Hollands, and McGivens for being there. It was lovely.

A day I have dreaded

Aria is a really good sleeper. She takes a 2 hour nap every day and goes to bed around 9:00pm and wakes up about 8:00am. She usually is playing or just hanging out in her crib for about 15 minutes before she goes to sleep and about 30 minutes after she wakes up. She doesn't cry, but she can't get out of her bed so she just hangs out until I decide to come get her. I have said that I will let her sleep in a crib until she is 10 if it gives me a little time to get something done and know that she is not getting into trouble.

Well last night my peace came to an end. We put Aria to bed around 9:00pm. When Geoff came out we were talking in our bedroom when we heard a huge crash then little feet running to our room. Yes Aria jumped out of her crib. I know that there are mothers who have had their children do this, but I am amazed at how far it is to fall.

So the bad news is Aria is sleeping in a "big girl" bed. I have to lay with her for 2-3 hours before she falls asleep, and she gets up at 5:00 in the morning. I hope she learns that the bed is for sleeping and not for jumping and playing very soon.

If any of you have any good ideas on how to speed up the process let me know. I am tired.

Aria is 2!

Today was a very wonderful, busy day. We started off the day blessing Laila, which was wonderful. We then ran to the park to have the birthday party. Aria is so lucky to have her twin cousins, Brady and Easton share her birthday. It makes for an awesome party. The park was very fun the kids played on the playground and played baseball. Then it was time for presents. Aria was definitely spoiled by Grandma's and Grandpa's and Aunties and Uncles. She started off the present opening with a few really cute outfits and shoes. Then she opened Sarah and Renee's present and Aria's dreams came true! They gave her Troy and Gabriella dolls from High School Musical. She decided she didn't want to open any more of her gifts after that.
Brady and Easton were the best birthday cake eaters I have ever seen. They were hilarious. Brady kept sticking his face in his cake then laugh at himself. Easton was up to his belly in cake. I love those boys and I am so glad that they live by us. Needless to say it was a successful day, riddled with a few temper tantrums.



I feel so blessed that Geoff's whole family came to Las Vegas to help us celebrate the birthdays. Being away from home, it felt wonderful to be surrounded by people that Aria loves.

Why I Love Las Vegas

Those of you that know me know that I am cold all of the time. I would much rather be sweating then shivering. It is October and we are still swimming and spending time at the park. I love it!

Cute hair!

Cousins Aubri and Olivia jumping in

James, Aria and Aubri

Aria at the park

Where all your dreams come true

During the month of September Geoff was in California for training for his new job. So the girls and I went to visit him one of the weekends and we went to DISNEYLAND. It was so much fun! I had more fun taking Aria then I ever remember having when I was growing up. She was so excited for everything. She even got to meet Mickey Mouse, who she loves in theory. When he was right there next to her she didn't like him so much.

The tragedy of the trip was that I forgot the video camera and the charger for the camera. Of course the low battery light went on after the 3rd picture I took. Luckily it held out but we definitely didn't take as many pictures as we would have. So we are just going to have to go again because of my mistake.

Aria's favorite ride was the rocket ships. It was probably the scariest kids ride and that is the one she wanted to go on the whole time. She also loved the Buzz Lightyear ride too. Actually she loved every ride. Almost everyday she asks if we are going to Disneyland. I wish I could tell her yes.

So it started raining around noon so we ran for cover. After about 20 minutes Geoff turns to me and says, "Maybe we should pray for the rain to stop." Now Geoff is a spiritual guy, but in our almost 4 years of marriage I don't think he has ever suggested praying in the middle of a situation. Anyway, we say a prayer and not more than 2 minutes later the rain stops and the sun is shinning. My favorite part of the story is when we walk outside he said,"we should give thanks." That is when I realized that this was a much bigger deal to Geoff then I had realized. He loves Disneyland and he was really excited to take the girls there, much more then I was. So that day at Disneyland I realized that it really is a magical place where all your dreams come true! :)

Piggies

2 years

1 year

I have never really met another child that has less hair then Aria. After her first birthday we shaved her head and no one really noticed. Aria is a champ at wearing headbands, most little kids rip the headband off as soon as they can, but I think Aria had a sense that most people thought she was a boy(even decked out in pink) if she didn't wear a headband.

Well Aria is almost two years old. She is growing a very nice mullet, but alas now the headband lifts up what hair she has and it looks kind of silly. Because she doesn't have a lot of hair on top there are not very many hair do's available, or so I thought!

Presenting the Pig Tails! Yes my two-year-old has a hair do! I can't tell you how excited I get to say, "let's do your hair." She even leaves them in. I think she finally looks like a little girl, instead of a little baby.

We have joined

Well we have finally jumped on the blog bandwagon. We have just moved to Henderson Nevada for Geoff's job, so I feel like I am out of the loop on what is going on with everyone. Not only that, but since I am now a stay-at-home mom, I have been checking out everyone blogs. I love it. I feel like I know what is going on with everyone. It has been fun to read friends blogs that I haven't talked to in a while.

Anyway, the last few months have been quite hectic. I had our second beautiful baby girl on August 20, she is so wonderful. Then we hopped in the car and moved to Henderson on Sept. 4th. It has been quite a whirlwind, but things seem to be settling down. I am just so excited about being able to share what is going on with our family. I think the Grandma's will be particularly grateful.