Keep Little Ava In Your Prayers!

Well, the saga continues with Ava. I took her in for her checkup on Friday, and they are concerned that she may have kidney damage and/or Urinal Reflex. The Urinal reflux means that instead of all the urine emptying out of the kidney and bladder, some "refluxes" back up into the kidneys. She'll go to a Pediatric Urologist and he'd tell us if we can watch it for a year or if we'd have to do surgery. As for the kidney damage, we'll just have to watch and see. I'm actually on hold right now trying to schedule all her tests at the Banner Desert Pediatric Unit. We propably won't be able to get in for a few weeks, so that's a little unnerving. She acts like she's just fine - and I'm sure everything will okay, but keep her in your prayers please.

The Date Night Re-Vamp Plan

Okay, I know I'm not the only gal who gets tired of the usually dinner and a movie; or dinner and Target for that matter! Sometimes a girl needs a little spice in her life! So, after my parents took us to this really fun comedy club, we decided to get a group of friends together and go laugh! It was so much fun! It's a place called Theater 168 (or Jesterz) in Scottsdale. And it's LDS owned so they keep it really clean. There were even kids in the audience! It was a blast and we had a lot of fun with the Youngs and the Figgins (from our ward). Needless to say, it will become a regular in our dating regimen.

Now, for those of you who want to come, my next adventurous date night will be MECHANICAL BULL RIDING!! So far, the Youngs and the Creamers are game - anyone else want to go? The rule is, if you go you MUST ride and make a total fool of yourself - because I plan on doing just that! Doesn't it sound fun! Plus it's a good inner thigh workout! :-)

A few of my FAVORITE things!

This past week, since Ava's been so sick, I've been thinking a lot of one of my favorite things.

1.Our GATED COURTYARD is one of my absolute favorite things! Why? It's locked and it's all paved, so my kids can go OUTSIDE and play and still remain CLEAN! I mean those words are music to my ears:
KIDS+OUTSIDE PLAY can = CLEAN! Hallelujah!

And it's nice when the kids have their own space and feel so independant. Lisee spent a lot of time out there while I attended to Ava this week. And she loved every minute! She even made a water park for her polley pocket dolls!

Plus, since the gate is locked (which by the way, don't you all love the design - I designed it after many hours of work) so I have almost NO SOLICITORS! And, of course I feel much safer at night when Joe's out of town on business.

And since I was thinking of favorites, here's a few other fav's of mine:

2. My GIGIANTIC PANTRY! I love my pantry! It's one of the reasons we chose this house (the others being the courtyard and the playroom right next to the kitchen). I can't even get the whole pantry in these pictures! I love being able to store all my food storage in one place - I actually end up using it this way! I also can store numerous kitchen appliances, dog food, kids bikes (and other misc toys that get put in "time-out"! :-) This is usually one of the first places I show people when I give them a "tour" of our house. THAT is how much I love this 8x8ft room! In our last house, we didn't even have a pantry, it was just a cupboard. So now, I'm enjoying the overcompensation!

3. And finally, my most current favorite thing has got to be a SLEEPING BABY who really needs a lot of rest to get recoop after this very sick week! What more can I say!

What are some of your favorite things?

Happy Valentines Day....Not so happy for Ava though!

Well, this Valentines Day was bitter sweet for our sweet little Ava. She's had a fever since Sunday night ranging from 103.4 to finally 104.5 - and that's with the meds! I called her doctor on Sunday and she said to watch the fever for a few days. She was crying for 4 days straight (with Joe out of town on business of course) Well, by day four, she was getting worse instead of better so I took her into the doctors office. The doctor was immediately concerned and did a strep test, hoping the fever was coming from strep throat. Nope. So, the next test she wanted to try was a urine test. I'm thinking, "okay, so what, I have to hold her over the potty for an hour?" Nope again.....try a catheter! Yikes! I was freaking out inside, while trying to calm Ava during the test. It was so sad, she was just screaming and screaming. And she kept clenching her muscles, so they had to keep poking her over and over again. Oh my gosh, I really lost it. Finally it was over and I calmed Ava down while the doc tested the urine. She came back and said Ava has some sort of kidney infection. Of course I started crying. She said most likely it's just a urinary tract infection, but the urine looked a little funny so she needed to send it in to be sure. So, Ava's on anitbiotics and we're waiting for the results. I'm sure she'll be just fine, but a Mama worries - ya know? Anyway, so today, her fever is still high and she's been in a lot of pain. All I can do is hold her - boy my left bicept is getting strong! I had all these fun activities for the girls for V-Day, but alas, Ava was just too sad. I tried to get a picture of their cute V-day outfits, but again, Ava was just too sad. Here Annalise is trying to comfort Ava while I'm trying to get her to smile for the camera. Boy, what a week! At least Joe is home and he brought me roses and a spa gift certificate to make up for this crazy week. He's so sweet. I gave Joe what all men want for Valentines Day........FOOD! What were you thinking? ......The other is a given.......... :-)

__________________________________________________________________

Oh, and here's a picture of all the flowers Annalise picked for me today. She thought it was so nice of Daddy to bring me flowers, that she wan't to too. She spent a good part of the day in the courtyard and backyard picking flowers and arranging them in little cups. And with every bunch of flowers, she'd come to the door and say, "Happy Valentines Day Mommy". It was pretty darn cute!

__________________________________________________________________

Okay, these pictures have absolutely nothing to do with Valentines Day, but I thought they were cute so they're getting thrown in too! We hope you all had a lovely day today! Hugs & Kisses!

WHAT A WOMAN!!!

Okay, so I've been meaning to post this for awhile now and finally am getting to it. This is my friend Lynn Kimpel, who in this picture just finished running the PF Chang Half Marathon! You go girl! All I can say is "WHAT A WOMAN!" She finished in awesome time - 2 hours and 4 min!

I ran a 10k in November, and that about killed me, so I am so proud of her. This was her first half marathon and she ran in like a pro! I mean, can you believe that time? She really motivates me to work harder and do better. Currently she's doing a "no-sugar" fast for 30 days.......yes, I said 30 days!! I can hardly wait 30 minutes! :-) And obviously, she's tiny and not doing it to loose weight, it's just for self control. So, my point is that she's really mastered herself in a way I have yet to figure out. But, I'm glad to have her as a role model and a great friend. She's a really good example to me. So, thanks Lynn, you really are awesome and I'm so proud of you!