Moving Adventures

Happy to share that our little family will all be based out of the same state again in the next few weeks.  The company Lance works for is having him expand to Utah while he is also working on his dissertation. He will still be going down to Vegas once a week for a couple of days over the next months, but we'll take it. It has been a long 9+ months (but really good for the kids in lots of ways) so we are so grateful to begin this next chapter all together again.

So, after celebrating Zuri's birthday in Vegas Friday afternoon/ night we started packing everything up from Lance's place to put in storage in Utah.  Most of our stuff was already packed up from when we moved from the one house in Vegas to this house, but there was a still a bunch of things that he had been using while living there the last 9 months.  It was a huge help to have my parents there.  They helped us pack up a bunch, but by far the best thing they did was entertain the kids (movie, swimming, bubble party, etc.)  The kids and I drove down on Friday, we packed up all day Saturday and Sunday morning, then drove in our car and the truck back to Utah on Sunday afternoon, and then unloaded in Utah on Monday.  It was exhausting, but man are we grateful to have that behind us.  It was also super nice of Grandpa Utah and Lance's friend, James, to help as we got everything loaded in to the storage unit in UT.  James even brought the kids all icee's which went over very well.  We also really lucked out by having an overcast cooler day to load in Vegas.  We especially recognized this as we were unloading in Salt Lake on a sunny and warm day.  Warm has nothing on Vegas hot.

Our favorite stopping place on the drive:

 

Next photos taken by Rori:

 

 

Happy kids after some long days thanks to James:

Zuri's 3rd Birthday

How is it possible that Zuri could be 3 years old already?  This little girl is full of personality and spunk.  She talks and sings up a storm and says the funniest things all the time.  She has a great imagination and often can be found happily playing by herself with her dolls and little people who have elaborate conversations amongst themselves.  She is super girly and loves all things pretty and princess.  She and Rori especially have a great time playing and pretending together for hours.  Zuri can't wait to be big and is super excited about going to preschool next year.  She goes right to the gym kids club, Church nursery, and friends houses without a second thought.  In fact, she seems put off when we insist that she might need our assistance finding her way to such places.  She is crazy social and spends way more time sitting with her favorite people at Church than our family.  Her hair continues to grow quick and has gotten so long which has been fun for me to play with.  Zuri's favorite things right now are gymnastics/ cheerleading, the movie Frozen and its music, having 20 dolls in her bed at any time, the playhouse she got for a birthday present, and her best buddy Collin.  Zuri is such a blast to have in our family.  Happy 3rd Birthday Zuri girl!  We love you!  

We spent her 3rd birthday in Las Vegas with Grandma and Grandpa and Whitney.  Poor kid was a just a little under the weather, but she loved her Frozen stuff and was excited to get to swim in their hotel pool.

 

  

Aunt Whitney's birthday was just a few days away so we had fun giving her a gift in person too.

 

One Busy Weekend

This past weekend was packed for us.

On Friday night we started off at Kai's schools art night.  It was basically a fundraiser for all the cool arts stuff they do at his school.  They had auctions, gift basket raffles, face painting, a sweet shop etc.  We checked everything out and did our part to support the school.

 

Then we quickly headed over to Kai's baseball game.  It has been nice that a few of the games have been on Friday nights so Lance can be there.  This night they asked Lance to help on the field so the girls and I and Grandpa Utah were cheering from our chairs.  These little sisters have spent a lot of their lives at Kai's sporting events so far, so it sure is nice they have each other to play with at this point.   

 

 

The next morning we were up early to attend the Utah Angelman Syndrome annual walk-a-thon.  This has become a fun tradition for our family.  We have been down at the one in Vegas the last few years, so it was neat to be back in UT and see some familiar faces.  It is also fun to know that the walks are going on all around the country- including in San Diego!  The walk was on the grounds of the most beautiful special needs school.  It was amazing!

 

Then we quickly headed off to Rori's soccer game where I didn't take any pictures.  It was one of her 2 goal games.  Yeah!

Then, from there we headed to a special appointment that I will give a whole post to later.

Then Lance took Kai to baseball practice.  And then we were all exhausted! 

The Second Grade Informance

 

 

We have been really pleased with Kai's school this year.  He has a great teacher and the school itself seems very nurturing and family like.  Most of the kids come from the neighborhood, but it is an open enrollment school meaning that parents from other areas can put in a request to have their kids come to the school based on space availability.  What we have learned is that the demand for this is pretty high and kids that get in come from all over the Valley.  The schools academics are known to be high, but there are also lots of families that are drawn to the strong arts program.  Throughout the year Kai has had music (with different instrument exposure), dance, and art opportunities as part of his curriculum.  He has really enjoyed it!

So, I pulled Rori out of school a little early so she could attend the big Second Grade Informance with Zuri and I.  I really had no idea what to expect, but it blew me away.  The theme was Africa and the kids played instruments, danced, sang, and performed an African tale to music.  Rori and Zuri were completely mesmerized the whole time.  Kai had the one student speaking part of the whole second grade which was being the narrator for the entire 7 minute African tale.  It is opportunities like this and the confidence he has in undertaking such things that makes us so glad we had him wait and be an older vs younger in his class.  He loved every minute of the whole thing and I left loving the school even more.     

 

 

 *This little girl, Maeve, is in the family that used to live in our old neighborhood.  She and Kai played together as babies and are good buddies again this year.

 

 *Kai's 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Buchman