What we've been up to

I need to post the pictures from the cabin, but so much is going on right now. Like...we are buying a house! And, Willa had eye surgery on the day we ended up signing! Could life get more stressful and/or exciting? Long story very short, we put an offer on a short sale wayyyy back in November 2015. There were multiple lenders on the property so the whole process was much more complicated and drawn out. One lender would get around to doing something and finally send it off to the second lender, then something would go stale before the second lender got around to approving something, so there would be a setback....repeat this over and over until the end of June when the two lenders agreed on everything except $400!!! One lender wanted $400 more and the other refused. Finally, our realtor said that HE would pay the $400. And then we had a deal!

There have still been setbacks and we don't have keys yet, another long story. But hopefully in the next few weeks we will be enjoying this:

The house has been vacant for a year, so the vegetation needs a lot of TLC. We had to get the pool cleaned up and fixed... which is another long story. Basically, the bank told us they wouldn't approve the loan until the swamp pool was cleaned up. But the buyer was walking away, so we had to pay for it ourselves. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as expensive as it could have been. We had a scare when we called the pool repair guys, apparently this type of pool should never be emptied and there was a chance that the pool could be a total loss! They filled it up asap and then did an inspection and said it was still in really good condition. Even though it was annoying that the bank required it all to be fixed, we are grateful because what if we had bought the house and had found out we had worthless hole in the ground!

On the other side of the excitement spectrum, we had a regular eye exam for Willa two weeks ago. We usually go two or three times a year to check her alignment. Her one eye always struggles to straighten as much as the doctor wants. It starts straight but as the doctor stresses it, it starts turning inward. There's a condition where this just happens when the eye is fatigued and it's not a big deal, but with Willa we noticed that she was losing her depth perception, which is a sign that it's turning inward most of the time. When we first started going to this doctor two years ago, Willa could identify almost all the 3D images. Now, she gets the one big one, but hardly any of the others. Last appointment she just got two and that was good for her. So we would go back every few months and check the eye and tweak the prescription, but finally we are at the strongest prescription she can have and it still wasn't great so the doctor recommended surgery. (Ryan wonders if her eye was worse because she spend so many summer hours in the pool without her glasses on.) It was a 60-90 minute procedure and the doctor went in and loosened the muscle that was pulling the eye in. Sometimes she does two muscles on one eye, but more often she does one muscle on each eye. Why did she need to do two muscles? I'm not sure, but something about balance in the universe. 

I wasn't sure what to expect with this surgery except that coming out of anesthesia would be bad. I was hopeful that recovery would be easy because the doctor said Tylenol would be enough and didn't prescribe narcotics for after the surgery. Well....after experiencing it, I'm going to go ahead and say it was way rougher than her broken arm surgery. The eyes are just so sensitive. The arm was really painful the first time and she did need the narcotics. But with the eyes, they are just irrititated and scratchy and it's not an area where you can really comfort her. Plus, we have to do antibiotic eye drops four times a day for two weeks, which is pretty miserable for a five year old. She's getting used to it, but still hates it. I think she's starting to realize that the drops help her eyes feel better. If she would take regular eye drops it would be way more comfortable for her too, but she was NOT interested in additional drops. The main comfort is a wet cooling cloth that she keeps by her side. When her eyes really start to bother her she presses it on her eyes and it provides some relief. Pre-op:

For being so brave and going to surgery Willa finally earned the Elsa Frozen Fever Lego castle that she has been eyeing and earning a job chart for for months. It ended up being the best distraction the first two days since bright lights and the tv were irritating for her eyes. The prize for two weeks of eye drops? A mermaid fin. I feel so bad that she's been through so much at such a young age. When I told her about the surgery she started crying and asked if they were going to put a mask on her face again (for the anesthesia). It's so sad that she remembered enough from the previous surgery two years ago to be afraid of specific things. Since she had just turned four for her last surgery and she's still five, she asked me if she has to have a surgery for every year old she is. I hope not!!

Driving home from the surgery center. Her eyelids were all swollen :(.

Day 2, almost finished with her Legos. It was such a great distraction!

Her eyes are really bloody on the inside, but today she complained the least amount so far and didn't need her cold cloth nearly as much. The sad news? No swimming for a month!!!! I wanted to get the surgery done before kindergarten but if I had known about the swimming I might have waited for October! Oh well, we will survive. But pretty ironic that we signed for the house with that beautiful pool the same day as the surgery.

Yearning

Odd Squad: The Movie came out today. For those unfamiliar with Odd Squad, let's just say it's the best show ever in the history of children's television. Even I like to watch it. It's brilliant!

Anyway, it finally came out (on PBS kids) and I turned it on for Willa. She was so excited she told me, "I have been yearning to see this!!! That's fancy for really, really wanting something."

So this post is dedicated to Odd Squad and Fancy Nancy for fun shows and fancy words.

4th of July and more

We just got home yesterday after two weeks in Utah. The first week we were up at cabin and the Thalmans joined us so it was extra fun. The second week, I commuted back and forth each day from Centerville to Logan for Suzuki Institute. It was EXHAUSTING! I was doing Book 3 teacher training for me and was having Willa start harp as a pre-twinkler. It was way more intense having both my stuff and her stuff and the driving just added to the stress. Ideally, I should have just stayed up there in the dorms like most everyone else, but I wanted to save money and didn't want to not see June that long. Anyway, we got home last night and I went to bed at 8:45. I think I could finally relax and let go for a bit.

Of course, we did the Centerville 4th of July parade. Since Ryan couldn't make it, I decided not to run the 5k this year either. It was nice to have extra time to get ready in the morning and not be rushed. Two of my very best friends growing up - our two back door neighbors made it this year. Stephenie lives in Phoenix and was visiting with her three big kids. Alyson came and her twins had their first parade experience. We used to all watch the parade together as little kids growing up.

More candy!

My mom got their skirts from Costco. Aren't they adorable?!!

Willa has a piano recital and earns a trophy

We got news that Willa had passed the LVMTA musicianship exam a week before her piano recital. Normally, The teacher would have passed out the trophies at the recital, but this year there wasn't enough time between the two events. I tried to warn Willa that the trophy might not be there yet. The trophy was the sine qua non of the musicianship exam. She has been dreaming and talking and salivating about having her own trophy since she saw other kids get them at the piano recital last year. The idea of earning her very own was extremely motivating.

For this year's recital she played Pumpkin Boogie and was very sweet. Here is the video.

After the recital the teacher had her own awards to give out to students who had volunteered with their talent and played in church or somewhere else like that. But she called Willa up very first and had ordered this large trophy with a pink base just for her. She gave Willa an award for practicing so well. Willa does practice really well and has progressed a lot because of it, but I'm not sure if it was trophy material. Still, it was really sweet of her teacher to do it and Willa was over the moon. Her trophy was bigger than the others and pink and she whispered to me that she had been looking at it the whole recital (all the awards were set up on a little table on the side) and hoping it was for her.

Getting the award.

Sister Thornton has been an amazing teacher. I've learned so much from her just sitting in on lessons. Here's a fun fact, her husband (who passed away) did all the murals for the Salt Lake temple during the last remodel in the 60's or 70's. The Church brought her up a few months ago with his journals to meet with a church historian.

Rebecca got her a Jasmine lego set as a gift for the recital. Legos are almost as exciting as trophies, Willa loved it and has repeatedly put it together all by herself and keeps saying how much she loves it and that she is so glad Aunt Rebecca got it for her.

A few weeks later, the LVTMA trophies were ready. They also had her written exams, so I could look at how she did. She made a bunch of mistakes during the listening portion, which were really easy, so her teacher thinks she just didn't understand the questions and what to do at that point. My favorite is that she phonetically spelled her last name on the paper. It just illustrates where we are in life right now.

The real trophy.

California Friends Visit

I have no pictures to document it, but the Fjeldsteds, our best friends from USC, came about two months ago. Actually, just Courtney and their two cute kids but I was lucky enough to see them twice! On their drive through up to Idaho, their car broke down and we rescued them from the slums of Las Vegas for a few hours while it was being fixed. Then, a few weeks later on their return trip we met them at the children's museum and spent a few hours to break up their long drive. It was so nice to see them and my eyes got a little misty wishing they would just buy a house on the same street as us instead of living far away in San Diego. The best was that the kids got along so well together. Willa and Parker hit it off right away, despite it being nearly two years since they had last seen each other. When they left she asked if Parker was her best friend :).

Then last month, the Rudds came to visit. He was the bishop at USC and Ryan was his counselor and I was the Relief Society president. We have such good memories of that ward. It was kind of like playing at being a grown-up ward because we had young marrieds, little kids, and then brand new college freshman all together. He's stake president now and still up to his old shenanigans of setting the clocks in the chapel back so that any visiting authorities might not realize how late the meeting was actually starting.

They were coming to Vegas for a few days, so on a Monday I brought the girls to their hotel and we swam. Tuesday, we spent the morning at the children's museum, did the High Roller, and then they came over to our house that night for dinner. I thought about cooking, but since we were gone all day the better alternative seemed to be ordering take out from Grimaldi's, and that pizza is an experience in and of itself. It was great to see them. We miss them and all our friends a lot and we love living in Las Vegas where everyone is bound to visit once and a while.

Kate is just four or five months older than Willa. It's always fun when you and your friends have kids who can be friends.

Not a great picture, but it had Evan and Jen in it.

June gets invited to a tea party

Wouldn't you know, June is getting all grow'd up and has started having her own little social calendar. This girl is SOCIAL and when she got a real, live, paper invitation in an ENVELOPE she was beside herself with excitement and couldn't stop talking about it.

Annie, a little friend from church was turning three and having a tea party at this cute place called Rock the Tea. A princess dress, tiara, necklace, bracelet, purse, and fancy shoes were provided!

June chose to be Snow White. She was the perfect Snow White (and it's not just me - the Bishop said it too - it was his daughter's party).

They got their hair done.

They had manicures and June will tell you that she got purple nail polish with sparkles, squeal!

And they got REAL make-up.

All dolled up, look at her little hand.

BFF Lyla

Could this girl's dream party get any better? Wait for it.... Cinderella came!!! June was the only girl who had a sister just older so she knew who Cinderella was and everything about princesses. Lots of the other girls were the only girls in their family or there was a large age gap between the older sister so they hadn't been as indoctrinated as June had. June gave Cinderella the sweetest hug ever and she was beaming the entire time just looking at Cinderella and smiling.

Sweetest hug.

Cinderella didn't stop there, she painted a butterfly on June's cheek.

She helped each girl do a little fashion show with a curtsy, twirl, and blowing a kiss at the end.

Isn't this the most precious picture? Look at June's face!

Finally, there was a fancy tea party lunch of pink lemonade, pizza, and cupcakes. June's been smiling so much that it's starting to look Iike a grimace - but she was soooo happy.

They got to pick a little purse with real lip gloss and a bubble necklace for a party favor. She passed out fairly quickly. Best. Day. Ever.

Willa Graduates Preschool

Back in May, we had preschool graduation. The preschool did a lot of prep, which I'm torn about. I just want things to be simple, on the other hand, what's wrong with having fun and getting fancy?

The kids had learned songs for a little program that were cute, and they also had full a full graduation equipage of gown, cap, and tassel. There is a photo of my preschool graduation and I was wearing a cute little paper handmade cap. These days and times are no place for such simplicity and the full get-up it was.

Wills looked cute, but was not happy to be wearing any of it. It was one of the first hot days of the season, which was a bummer since was outside, but we stood in the shade and survived.

With her best little preschool friend, Rheyanna.

Timidly (and seriously) doing actions to the songs.

Graduate!

Her teacher Mrs. Scott

Family Photo! Rebecca came along and snapped a pic for us.

It was a good year of preschool and Willa enjoyed it a lot. People raved about this community center and for me it was just meh. The price was the absolute best thing about it. It was also very organized and Willa did love it. But for me, it was kind of a drive and I missed the personable aspect of a preschool run out of a home. I'm not sure I would do it again unless I lived REALLY close. But it was fun and almost every day after school we would stay after and play at the playground with other kids from her class, so I was sad to say good-bye to those moms. I hope we can get together a couple of times this summer.