Viva Las Vegas!

I decided to ditch the rain and snow for sunshine, casinos, shopping, shows, sleeping in and dining in Las Vegas. Gavin had to be in business meetings for most of the trip and I felt bad that a beautiful suite would just go to waste and decided to tag along with him.

Checking in to The Palazzo

This room would've been so lonely without me. I spent the mornings getting all caught up on really important stuff. I think I found out about Sandra Bullock and her secret adoption literally minutes before everyone else who was busy with real life stuff. And I enjoyed getting caught up on Soap Operas I've never watched. They're just as good as I remember. And I loved just staying in bed until I felt like getting up and ready for the day.

The best thing about Vegas. Not the gambling (didn't even put a quarter in a slot machine). The buffets! The first thing we did after checking into the hotel--found a great buffet at The Wynn. The night before we left we found another yummy buffet at The Paris and enjoyed all-you-can-eat crab legs and shrimp.

I had a great time hanging out with Cami while our husbands were in meetings together.

We saw The Lion King at Mandalay Bay. I kind of forced Gavin and Adam to go with us but was glad I did since they were busy the rest of the trip and this was the only thing we got to do together.

But look at the excitement on his face. He can hardly wait for the show to start! It was really good, even if the lady in front of me passed out and basically laid her head back over her chair on to my lap. It was better than our last show experience, Mystere, the girl sitting next to me was so intoxicated that she threw up everywhere and then left the show. The disgusting smell made it difficult to enjoy the rest of the show. My advice to Las Vegas tourists--if you're a drinker, stick to the clubs and not the shows.

Can't go on a trip with the Wares without enjoying crepes and gelato. Unfortunately it was yogurt and not gelato this time.

Enjoying our "Frrrozen Hot Chocolate" at Serendipity. Can't wait to go back to Vegas just for this little treat! Yum! Yum! Yum!

We have the best babysitter ever--Sophie. She is the reason we are able to go on trips without the kids. We leave knowing our kids are in the best care and having a blast. She did the cutest blog entries about my kids while we were gone. It was fun to be able to see what they were up to while I was away. Thanks Sophie!!!

Perspective

Carly

I was reading through Morgan's IEP goals and evaluator's comments detailing all of the Morgan's delays in communication, reading, writing, and math in preparation for her annual IEP meeting that was scheduled this afternoon. I was dreading going to her annual IEP meeting and was having a little pity party as I read through all 9 pages. I was almost finished reading it when I clicked on facebook and read the most tragic status update.

I have a lot of friends on facebook who I've never officially met. It's probably close to 200 of my friends. Although we've never met we all share something that brings us together. A child with Down syndrome. This common bond makes it feel like we are all part of one big family. This big family is all in shock and mourning the unexpected loss of a beautiful 8 year old girl, Carly. There isn't a lot of information about what happened only the facebook status updates from today. Carly was at school yesterday and then her mom posted today on facebook that she got sick quickly and turned blue and they called 911. A few hours later she posted "we lost our sweet girl. She is now my sweet angel". I've been crying all day for a little girl I've never met but feel like I know. She was only 6 months older than Morgan. It's easy to forget how fragile life is. For all of us, but even more so for our kids. Morgan can quickly go from being healthy to extremely sick in a very short time. Please keep the George family in your prayers. Her last blog post, 3 days ago, was "Everything's going to be alright". I know this is true but it's just hard to understand right now.

Family Room and Fireplace Makeover

We moved into our home almost 4 years ago and always knew we wanted to update the fireplace in our family room but never got around to it and weren't sure what we wanted to do. This room has always been a potpourri of furniture. Leather couches we bought 11 years ago and apparently "muy, muy sucios" (very, very, dirty). At least that's what one spanish-speaking person told me when he came to see if he wanted to purchase them for $300. And I can't really argue with him. After 6 kids and countless bottles and sippy cups spilling all over them for 11 years. They really are muy, muy sucios. A black entertainment center that we bought when we moved here. It was way too big for this room. It overtook the room and wall. It would've been perfect for a basement family room but not a main level family room. I must've asked Gavin on a really good day because he was all for the makeover.

My sister-in-law, Jill, was born to be an interior designer and was incredible in helping me figure out what to do with the room. We spent many hours going from store to store, looking for the perfect furniture, fabric and accessories. Gavin got really nervous when I started bringing home the pear green and "strawberry shortcake" fabric samples, but somehow was finally able to let go and just trust that we knew what we were doing. It took 2 months to complete this transformation. Nothing is quick with 6 kids and I also realized I am incredibly indecisive with things that cost money and I'm gonna be stuck with for a long time.

The Family Room {Before}

The Fireplace {Before}

The Fireplace {After}

The Family Room {After}

Green conversational couch, houndstooth chair, tv console are all from Osmond Designs. I love this furniture store in Lehi, Utah. They match prices and dropped the price on the couch almost 50% when I found it for a better price online.

Round ottomon ("Strawberry Shortcake Mushroom" as Gavin likes to call it) was custom made with fabric from Calico Corners and Craftsman Upholstery.

Fireplace. Insert from Hearth and Home. Mantle from Innovative Woodworking and Design. Stone is from Harris Stone (Chief Justice style).

A really long post about Ryan's hamster

We aren't a typical pet family. Instead of dogs or cats as pets we have rabbits, fish, frogs and hamsters. We'll never have cats or dogs, even with all of the Santa requests our kids try to work into every Christmas season. Ryan has severe asthma around dogs and we don't even dare try him around cats. So we have to settle with random, not really loving and cuddly pets

We have had our fair share of bad luck in the hamster department. Ryan desperately wanted a hamster for Christmas a few years back. He got a cute hamster, "Caramel", full of personality. A few weeks after he became part of our family, our furnace went out and it got really cold in Ryan's room. I didn't worry about it since the kids were all at school. A few days later, Ryan commented that his hamster wasn't moving and just wanted to sleep. I checked on his hamster. Not moving. And not sleeping. I did some hamster research and found out they easily go into hibernation when temperatures drop. And if not quickly awoken, die from dehydration and starvation. I felt so guilty for not bringing his cage upstairs into the warm part of the house.

A month later, on Valentine's Day, we tried it again. It was the only teddy bear hamster at the pet store and we were told it was almost a year old (didn't know hamsters only live about a year). Ryan didn't care. He wanted a hamster and didn't want to wait another day. "Valentine" came home and died about 3 weeks later.

Several months passed with little talk of the empty cage and the need to fill it with a new furry friend. But as Ryan's 11th Birthday approached, it was all he could talk about. The only thing he wanted for his birthday was a Black Bear Hamster. I called all over town and couldn't find any in stock. Then I called a new pet store in town and was in luck. They had one in their store. It was the night before Ryan's birthday and he immediately fell in love with "Bengal" (named after his football team).

About 4 months later, Ryan came upstairs, carrying Bengal and was worried about a lump he could feel on her neck. I thought it was just food in one of her pockets. But the lump continued to grow. I called the pet store and was given the name of vet who specialized in small animals. I called to schedule an appointment and hesitated when I found out it would cost $55 just for the consultation and would need to pay more if I decided to treat the lump. I called Gavin and we decided that it was our responsibility as pet owners to take her in, even if she did only cost $12. The vet examined her (and let me know it was a her) and then said he could do surgery on her tumor but it would cost $300-400 and the tumor could return. He also said she wasn't in any pain but as the tumor grew it would get harder for her to eat and function. We decided to take her home and let Ryan love her while he could.

The tumor grew and grew. Crazy actually how fast it grew. And Bengal could no longer walk without falling over. She couldn't eat or drink without us hand feeding her. It was so sad and I felt like she was suffering.

The tumor

We were all outside last night enjoying the warm night when our neighbor walked by with his dog. He had no choice but to stop with all of the excited cries from Mia, Morgan and Griffin. "Doggy! Doggy! Doggy!" We found out he is a veteranarian and could put Bengal to sleep. I called today and made an appointment. I made the appointment late in the afternoon so Ryan could be a part of it. Not sure if that was the best choice. But he felt like it was time to help Bengal. We drove to the office. Ryan held Bengal during the drive. We got to the office and both Ryan and I went back and watched. Ryan was doing well until the doctor came back out with Bengal. He knew Ryan wanted to take her home and bury her. He had the perfect place. The doctor held Bengal and then said, "It looks like her heart has now stopped beating" and gave Ryan his lifeless hamster. He then started to talk to me about the proper burial procedures and I was doing my best to hold back the tears. I felt silly crying over a hamster. But it was so much harder than I thought it would be. As soon as he finished and I turned towards the door, the tears started falling. Ryan was walking ahead of me. I couldn't see him but was certain he was crying, too. We got in the car and he sobbed the whole way home. It broke my heart to see him so sad.

We buried him in the backyard, in between some bushes. For some reason, Ryan thought if we brought him home he'd still be able to see him. So he had another breakdown when he realized he wouldn't see him after he was buried. After I finished digging the hole, Jack ran and got his trumpet and said he wanted to play Taps for the burial. Trying to bring some humor into the sadness. Ryan didn't like his attempt and hit his trumpet while he was playing. It made me smile and wish I had someone video taping our burial ceremony.

Ryan made this rock to put on her grave.

"RIP Bengal"

We weren't going to get another hamster. If the 3rd time wasn't a charm, what does that mean for the 4th time? It was time for Ryan to go to piano. His eyes were red and swollen. I asked him what he thought about getting another hamster. "Can I??? Really??? Oh, thank you mom!"

Guess who's going hamster shopping tomorrow!

{Easter Fun!}

Our Easter baskets, gifts and outfits were all very simple this year. Just the way I like 'em. I didn't do any Easter shopping before I left to Arizona and had limited time once I got home. We made a few stops and called it good. I didn't worry about Easter clothes this year either since we didn't have our regular church schedule with General Conference being on Easter this year and it was nice to not have to rush anywhere first thing in the morning. We were able to stay home together and listen to the uplifting words and messages of conference.

Hadley and Mia

Having the whole family together makes any holiday better and we were lucky this Easter to have my sister, Heidi's family in town from Portland. My kids had fun playing with all the cousins while we were in Arizona. Griffin found out he has a cousin named "Will" -- turns out he really likes him and can't wait to play with him again.

We were only here for a few days with the Rushings but had fun going with all of the older kids and grandparents to a play (musical comedy melodrama), Pirates of the Car-rib-eee-an, at The Desert Star Playhouse and eating Easter dinner with everyone together at my parent's home.

All of us (and Cameron's ear) after the play

A quick getaway

I decided to tag along with Gavin on his business trip to Phoenix last week. I even joined him for a meeting and business lunch one afternoon, but most of the time I was out enjoying the sunshine and warm weather, eating, shopping, playing and driving with my SBFF who lives in Gilbert, AZ (about 45 miles from our hotel) while Gavin was in meetings.

Our hotel was right next to the Westgate City Center so we spent a lot of the time there. It was a fun area with shopping, dining, arenas, movie theater, water features and lots of billboards. "NY Times Square meets the desert" or something like that.

We had a little South Beach Diet contest last month with our friends and celebrated our weight loss results-- almost 50 lbs between the 4 of us -- with a fattening dinner at Yard House. Yummy onion rings!

We went shopping in Phoenix in this area called Melrose District. It had all of these great shops full of shabby chic/vintage home decor. I've spent the last few months furniture shopping for my home (I'll save that for another post though) and love looking at all of this stuff. So cute!

After shopping, we grabbed lunch at The Old Spaghetti Factory

We got to enjoy sunshine and freedom for a few days before coming back home to the snow and cold. Oh and six cute kids! How can they grow up and change so much in just 2 days, especially Mia? I'm pretty sure she was just a little baby when I left not the big girl who was waiting for me when I got home.

Brian Regan

For Christmas, we gave Jack and Ryan tickets to go see the comedian Brian Regan. We had all kind of forgotten about it since the show wouldn't happen for a few months. Glad we remembered a few days before because it was such a great show! Non-stop laughter! I highly recommend you go with your kids--10 and up (younger kids wouldn't get a lot of the humor) if he comes to your town. We couldn't stop laughing and at one point I had to force myself to stop smiling because my face was hurting. He's just that good!

" I would have been a lot better off if I’d studied more when I was growing up, y’know. But you know where it all went wrong was the day they started the spelling bee. Because up until that day I was an idiot, but nobody else knew."
— Brian Regan (Live)

Released

After 3 years in the primary presidency, I was released a few weeks ago. I joked a lot over the years about being released. Almost every meeting had some sort of comment from me about it.

"Heather, can you buy more picture frames for the upcoming Faith in God awards?"

"Don't you think we'll be released by then?"

"Does anyone else want to write the Primary program this year?"

"I guess I could since we won't be in the Primary when the program rolls around."

But when it came down to it and I knew it was over, I started to wonder if I was ready. I thought about all of the things I would be missing. Did I enjoy my last sharing time as much as I should have? It was the perfect sharing time to end on -- it was on the atonement of Jesus Christ. I felt such an appreciation and love for my Savior as I gave that lesson and could barely speak as I bore my testimony of Him. There are so many things I will miss about that calling.

I was excited but also nervous when the Bishop asked me 3 years ago. Griffin was only 8 months old and I found out I was pregnant with Mia one month later. I felt so overwhelmed that first year. Feeling unable to add one more thing to my already busy plate but somehow I made it and after that first year it seemed to just get easier and easier. It was the perfect calling for me at this time in my life. I was able to be in there with all six of my children. I watched Jack graduate from Primary, Griffin become a Sunbeam and Mia start nursery. They got to hear me teach and bear testimony of my Savior every month. And I got to watch them as they participated, read scriptures, gave talks, sang songs, answered questions, played the piano, passed off Articles of Faith, etc.

I was able to witness firsthand the amazing teachers my children had. Teachers who taught my boys the importance of respecting the scriptures, wearing a white shirt and tie to church in preparation of becoming a Deacon, the importance of the priesthood; Teachers who worked hard at helping each child learn all of the Articles of Faith; Teachers who loved their class like their own children and requested to be their teacher for 2 years in a row; Teachers willing to work with Morgan. It's amazing to think of the progress Morgan made in those 3 years. She wouldn't sit with her class, she wandered around the room, trying to sit by Hadley, Jack or Ryan and hugging everyone or shaking their hand on her way. Her teachers genuinely loved her, helped her answer questions, allowed her to sit on their laps and gave her the patience that was required and even though her behavior is far from perfect, she's come a long way! I hope all of those teachers know how grateful I am for each one of them and the positive impact they each had on my children's life.

I'm also going to really miss working with this fun group of girls! And I can call them girls because I was the oldie in the group. Our meetings usually lasted about 3 hours and there was never a dull moment, full of laughter and fun, and serious stuff too, of course. Jessica taught me the importance of being a diligent servant, wrote amazing primary programs for Sacrament Meeting and is seriously a rock. Jennifer taught me how to be organized and get things done and became a close friend and nanny. Andrea had an amazing testimony of missionary work and was never scared to open her mouth and share the gospel. And she got us all the latest text updates on the David/David AI Finale. Lindsay seemed to do it all, no matter what was asked, she was always willing to do it and never complained. Racie was the ultimate party planner. No one could ever top one of Racie's primary activities. Don't even try! And even thought Kerrah was a newbie to the presidency, she jumped right in and went out of her way to get to know all of us and the children.

Racie, Kerrah, Jessica, Andrea, Jennifer, me, Lindsay at our last meeting (dinner).

And we didn't all decide to just wear green -- this was on St. Patrick's Day

I didn't tell my kids I was getting released. They heard about it for the first time when the Bishop announced it. Ryan kept asking me over and over if that meant I wasn't in Primary anymore. I'm not sure but I think he was a little sad. I asked him if he was happy or sad and he said, "a little bit of both." But then he said the cutest thing,

"So you're just like a random citizen in the ward now?"

We call that a member of the church, but yes, as of right now, I am just a random citizen in the church and I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

World Down Syndrome Day!

It's World Down Syndrome Awareness Day . It's celebrated on 3/21 because people with Down syndrome have 3 copies (instead of 2) of the 21st chromosome, aka Trisomy 21.

We are so blessed to have Morgan in our family!!!

Happy 39th Birthday, Gavin!

It's a shArK PaRtY!!!

As the kids woke up this morning, I reminded them that it was dad's birthday. Morgan let me know she'd like some cake for breakfast. Unfortunately the cake wasn't made in time for breakfast. Griffin was the most excited though.

"Happy Birthday, Dad! What kind of party is it? I want a Spiderman party for my birthday."

"I don't know. What kind of party should I have?"

"A shark party!"

We went to the store (while Gavin was getting a 90 minute massage) to try to find something "shark" related for his party. We found some cute gummy sharks for his cake and cupcakes. When Gavin got home Griffin ran up to him and reminded him it was his birthday and told him we bought shark candy at the store for his party. So much for a surprise.

Might as well get double use out of this balloon. Hadley got it for her birthday and it's perfect for an almost 40 year old man.

We ended the Birthday festivities with a yummy dinner at our favorite restaurant, Tiburon (which ironically means "Shark" in Spanish).

Adam and Cami joined us for dinner and a movie. Adam and Gavin share the same birthday.

The birthday boys

Happy Birthday Gavin! We love you!

Welcome spring!

We enjoyed our St. Paddy's Day and the beautiful, spring weather with an outing to the library, picnic at the park, scooter and bike riding, trumpet playing and getting sunburned. It's so nice to have the sun shine again. And I forgot how dirty the kids get--faces, hands, feet and clothes-- after spending the day outside, playing. It's a good thing!

American Girl Doll Tea Party

Hadley is THE party planner. She has been planning and talking about her "American Girl" Birthday party for at least 3 months. She knew she wanted an AG doll party but wasn't sure about any of the other details. I threw out a few ideas, like modge podging something with stuff cut out of AG catalogs, but was quickly shut down. "I'm not sure that would really be fun, mom. I was thinking we could do something like a word search while we watched an American Girl movie." Did she really say she'd rather do a word search? We finally decided she would have a tea party, make some sort of craft and watch an AG movie. I made the invitations but she was hesitant about passing them out without having all of the fine details figured out. "What are we going to eat at the tea party? What time will we start the craft? What craft are we going to do?How can we pass out the invitations?" I promised her that she was going to have an amazing party and that we still had a week to figure out all of the details. She happily passed out her invitations. We went to Michael's Craft store the next day and she found the perfect craft idea--a wooden frame to paint and modge podge with AG scrapbook paper.

The invitation

She invited 15 girls (and their dolls) to her party. I wanted to keep the party small but she really love all of these girls and wanted each of them to be at the party. She is very lucky to have such great friends and cousins.

I think I had more fun planning this party than Hadley did. Gavin kept joking that I was more excited for my party than Hadley. My favorite part was finding all of the china and tea cups. I used both my grandmother's and mom's china for the place settings. It brought back so many memories to see my grandmother's china again. All of those Sunday dinners at her house, eating off of the exact same plates. It was neat to be able to use them for Hadley's special party. And I also found this amazing cake stand, hiding in my mom's cupboard. It was a wedding gift 45 years ago. I don't remember ever seeing her use it. It is glass with tarnished silver. Beautiful. It completed the table.

The cake -- I used fondant for the first time. So easy and cute!

As the girls arrived to the party, I took a picture of each girl holding their doll and then they sat their doll down at the doll table. I realized as I was taking this picture that these dolls enjoying their tea party is a little weird. Cute but weird.

The dolls table

The big girls table

THE MENU:

Ham and Cheese or PB & J sandwiches

Chocolate dipped strawberries

Grapes

Carrots and dip

Mini colored marshmallows on a toothpick

Cupcake

Hot cider with sugar cubes

Passing around the bowl of sugar cubes

The Birthday Girl

9 candles!!!

Gifts. And more gifts.

American I-"Doll" -- karaoking to a few songs.

Arts and Crafts. Each girl painted a wooden frame and modge podged AG scrapbook stuff on them. They turned out really cute and were each so different. I put the picture of the girl with her doll that was taken when she first arrived to the party. I wish I would've gotten a picture of all the completed frames but ran out of time. I barely got all of the pictures done by the time the parents were here to take them home.

Hadley's frame creation

They ended the night with popcorn and the AG movie, Samantha.

Parting Gifts-- teacup and saucer full of yummy treats and their picture frame.

A big thank you to Jill and Oakley for all of their help. I kept them running all night and wouldn't have been able to enjoy the party without all of their help! Thanks, girls!!!