July 28th

On Saturday we got to attend the beautiful wedding of our dear friends Mike and Zofia. She was an absolutely stunning bride and everything turned out so nice.

Love the picture of their first dance :)

I was really worried that the day was going to be a disaster with the kids, I tried to lay them down for a nap before we left,didn't work..then I thought, well, at least hey will sleep on the drive into Vegas, NOPE! No luck there either, but amazingly they were pretty good.

I love my little family, we were able to get one pic of all of us.

The kid absolutely LOVE their daughter

and I thinks she love them too

actually, I know she does, she proposed marriage to Kam before the night was over.

such a ladies man.

The kids had a blast at the wedding and Ashlyn turned out to be quite the little party animal, she was dancing all night long, and she caught the bouquet.

And then she so sweetly gave it to her friends because she was upset she didn't catch it. She told me later "It was her mom's wedding and she really wanted it so i gave it to her."

So often Ashlyn and I but heads because she is such a strong willed, stubborn little girl, but moments like that get you through all the bratiness :)

Love this picture but I wish I wasn't slouched over like a hunchback!

One of my favorite moments of the night however was not caught on film. I got Dominic to dance with me for the second time in 7 years! Go me! The first time was the night before we had Ashlyn, I made him dance with me in or kitchen.

I'm so happy for this beautiful little family and I wish them a lifetime of happiness.

4th of July

Dominic's favorite holiday is the 4th of July and this year he actually got the day off. We started our celebration on Tuesday. We went swimming with my mom and Aunt over at a friends house. While we were swimming Ashlyn finally decided that after three years of swim lessons, she had enough confidence to swim on her own.

. I am so proud of her for finally finding her confidence. Kamden has become quite the little fish too. He was swimming around the entire pool with his life jacket on. We also had lots of fun hanging with their cousin Chayse.

 After we went swimming, we went and re cooped at the house before we headed out to the Moapa Paiute Travel Plaza for a BBQ and fireworks. Some friends and family met us out there and we had a great but windy time.

Here are some of the guys admiring their loot. The looks on their faces are like kids in a candy shop!

This was the best picture I got of all the fireworks we got.

I love the look on his face here

Kamden was so excited about this firework his dad got him.

(I made our shirts BTW) pretty happy with how they turned out

The next day on the 4th we went swimming again at my cousins house in Mesquite and then came home in time to have dinner and fireworks at the Fair Grounds.

I love being able to celebrate this great country our independence. But, more importantly I LOVE being about to spend time with great friends and family.

Kamden's Room

I finally got around to painting Kamden's room. We did it in a dinasaur theme per his request. We got his bed and bedding a month or so ago but I just finished it off. I think it turned out really cute!

Please disregard the princess TV. LOL. It come along with beig the second child.

I think it turned out really cute and Kamden loves it. He just needs a few ore things for his room to be totally done. (maybe a new tv)

When your dreams don't come true

Every time that this subject has crossed my mind in the last few weeks I’ve had an overwhelming urge to write about it. I have been suppressing this urge because I am not a very open person when it comes to my personal trials. I would rather be the person that has a shoulder for someone to cry on than the person needing a shoulder to cry on.

Dominic and I decided last year that it was time to start trying for another baby. Ashlyn and Kamden were three years apart and I think that is a great space between them. We started trying last fall and didn’t think that we would have any troubles. We weren’t trying when we got pregnant with Ashlyn and Kamden I got pregnant with him the first month we started to try. So I was naive to think that it would happen the same way.  As a few months past and I still wasn’t pregnant we were feeling discouraged but my Dr. kept assuring me that it can take up to 6 to 9 months for a normal healthy person to conceive. After nine months of trying, I found out I was pregnant a few days before my birthday and we were soo excited, FINALLY! We could hardly contain ourselves and I had to restrain Dominic from telling the kids that night.  We told a few friends and were debating when to tell our kids. Ashlyn has been looking forward to having a new baby for a long time. We ended up telling the kids, I had rationalized my decision since we had no history of miscarriages. I had my first Dr. appt when I was six weeks pregnant. I got to see the heart beat and everything looked good. The heart beat was strong. It is so amazing to me that you can see the baby so early.  I made my next appointment for two weeks later since I had spotted a little the day before my appointment. I didn’t’ really worry about it because a little spotting is normal in early pregnancy.  My appointment was on Tuesday, buy Thursday at work I was still spotting and had started cramping. I called the Dr. Office and told them my concerns and they instructed me to wait the weekend out and call first thing on Monday morning if I was still spotting. On Friday I had an eight hour nursing orientation to go to. It was horrible; I was in so much pain all day. I knew what was probably happening. The rest of the weekend was about the same. Saturday I spent most of the day on the couch relaxing, on Sunday I managed to get up and go to church but I was still in pain and spotting.

Monday morning came and I watched the clock for when my Dr. Office opened. I called them the second they opened and they got me in right away. I got there and the nurse practitioner came in and the first thing she said was “oh, I’m not comfortable with how much your bleeding.” That really was not reassuring. Then I had my ultrasound and then, nothing. She kept looking but there was nothing, before she told me I knew. I had lost the baby. There was no little hear beat flickering, no sac, nothing. She said, “I’m sorry April, but I don’t see anything.” I was crushed but I was trying to hold it together. I knew in my mind and in my heart already that I had lost the baby. The nurse practitioner put me in another room and said she was going to go and get my Dr. and have him come in and talk to me. After what seems liked forever, my Dr. finally came in. He walked in and I lost it. I had managed not to cry but when I saw him I lost it. He gave me the option on letting the rest of it to finish naturally or to go in for a D&C. I decided to let it go naturally. He warned me that my cramping would get worse and so would the bleeding. And then it would get really bad, and then it would stop. I left his office and called Dominic. I immediately started crying and told him there was no more baby. All I wanted to do was go home and have him hold me. I had to go to another lab though and do my drug testing for the nursing program. What horrible timing this was. It was the last day I could do it, so I had no choice. I went to the lab and sat there for almost two hours waiting. As I sat there my cramps were getting worse and worse. After that long two hours I was finally headed home. My long hour drive was just as horrible. I was in excruciating pain. I got home and was able to crawl into my bed. While I away Dominic had told the kids the news. Children are so innocent it kills me. Kamden just said, “Why did you baby die.” I knew Ashlyn would be upset so when I got up I went in to talk to her. I asked her how she felt, which of course was sad, and I reassured her that we would have another baby and not to worry. Her response was not what I thought it would be.  She looked at me with her sad big eyes and said, “But mom, what if you’re too old to have a baby?” HA! Kids. I then had to tell the people that we had told about the baby, that we weren’t expecting anymore.

Having a miscarriage was one of the hardest things I have gone through, not only was it emotionally very painful, but also physically. My doctor told me that people I knew would admit to having a miscarriage as well once they knew I had one.  Friends, family, neighbors, people that I never knew had gone through this would open up to me to lend their support. He was right; some people did open up about it. And, unfortunately, I experienced my miscarriage at the same time as another friend, so we were able to talk and experience it together. I think that may be why I have felt compelled to share my story. This is such a taboo subject, that I hope maybe somebody out there may find some comfort in knowing that they are not alone. Hopefully I will never have to go through this again and I now have a greater respect for the women that have gone through multiple miscarriages. I use to work with a lady who had I think ten. She was determined to have a child that she suffered through the physical and emotional pain ten times, and she did end up having a beautiful baby. I don’t know that I would be that strong to endure through it that many times.

Graduation- Kindergarten AND High School

Things have been crazy busy this last week over at our house. We have been preparing for Ashlyn's last day of kindergarten and also Ben's High School Graduation. I finally have a minute to sit down and blog.
Ashlyn's class had a little presentation on Monday June 4th. They sang a few song for all the parents. It was really cute.

I was running the video camera, so these are the best pictures Dominic got.

After the singing program we went back to Ashlyn's classroom were the did another litter presentation about bugs and then we watched a slide show from the school year.

I can't believe that my little girl is going into the first grade. It makes me sad to see how fast the kids grow up. She is excited about being a first grader soon, but not about having to go to school all day.

Ashlyn's last day of school was on Thursday and since I didn't get a picture of her and her teacher Mrs. Cameron during the program the other day I snapped this picture of them.

After I picked her up from school we decided we would kick off the official start of summer with bowling. We hadn't been bowling with the kids for a long time.

And of course no bowling is complete without nachos!

It was fun to go spend some time together as a family and I bowled my highest score ever! I guess the bumpers help me too. LOL

On Friday was Ben's graduation. These past five years have gone by so fast. It seems like we were just at his 8Th grade graduation. We have been so blessed to have him in our lives.

The graduation ceremony was outside and it was a little windy. Luckily it kind of died down when the program started. At least it wasn't so scorching hot. When you go to any graduation it makes you reflect on your own high school experience and friends. I was lucky enough to live in a small community in Wyoming for most of my high school and had some really good friends. It is sad that life separates you and you lose touch. There are a few though that I still keep in touch with and I consider them family. They will always be family, and no matter how far away we are from each other, I know they are there for me. Ben has a great group of friends too and it will be a little sad to see them go their separate ways. 

When Dominic and I took responsibility for his siblings five years ago it defiantly threw our life for a curve ball. We had to move to a new town and were now responsible for two teenagers that were only a few years younger than us. It was really hard at times, especially financially, but I wouldn't change it for anything. It has given Dominic that chance to become really close to his brother. Our children know and love their aunt and uncle and it has made Dominic and I close to each other. We have done a lot of growing up in these last year, faster than most of our other friends have. But we have manage to get through it all. I am sad that this chapter in our life is changing in a way. I know Ben is still going to be around and we are still a family, it will just be different. I am so proud of the adults that Cherish and Ben have become. They all have been through a lot in their lives and have came out of it on top.

 

Second Mother's Day Gift

I finally finished my mom's present for mothers day. I know, I know, it is WAY late, but I was sick over Mother's Day and then I got busy. Sad excuse I know but hey, what can you do. I something like this on Pinterest (of course) and I decided to do something like it. I have the pin on my board but it only links to the picture so, sorry person who I cannot credit. But, I did get the lettering idea from here, and let me tell you, this girl must have a WAY steadier hand than me. My letters are no way near perfect looking and that bothers me. I'm kinda a perfectionist when it comes to something I make. That being said, I better get this project to my Mom's before I obsess over the imperfections.

Hair cut and the Res

Ashlyn decided that she wanted her hair cut. I'm sure her decision has to do with a few of her school friends recent new hair dos. She has been growing it our (like Rapunzel) for about two years now. I have to admit that I am a little sad to see her long hair cut but I think it will be best. EVERY, and I mean EVERY day it is a fight to do her hair. She doesn't want me to fix and would rather leave it down or in a pony tail. I always fight with her to let me do it since I'm not home everyday and I can image how it looks when Dominic gets her off to school. I'm sure the moms and her teacher can tell when I am at work. She I took her in today after I got my hair done and let her get it cut.

Here she is with the last glimpse of the long hair

the finished product. She was so happy with it and it does look really cute. After she got her hair cut I realized it will be for the best since Dominic will be getting her off to school mainly once she starts 1st grade. I guess she will have to have short hair until I graduate the nursing program.

After we got done at the hair salon, we decided to make a little trip out to the Reservoir.

The water was a little cold at first but once you got use to it, it felt nice.

Kamden is finally getting use to the water and ventured out into it more today than he ever has.

I love when I get a picture of the both of them being nice to each other, and better yet, this was Ashlyn's idea.

It is always so nice to be able to spend time with each other as a family. It happens too infrequently with our crazy lives. Someday it will slow down, right?????

I ALMOST FORGOT! My dear Kamden is obsessed with transformers lately. He has an Ompitmus Prime costume from Halloween last year and he asks to wear it first thing when he wakes up. He wasn't into my room with the costume in his arms and asked for me to put his suit on and turn on his transformers show. I found an actual cartoon series yesterday on the HUB channel and he is thrilled. So last night after his bath he asked if he could put his suit on and wanted to sleep in it. I thought, what the heck, so I said ok. But when it was bedtime he argued with Optimus Prime doesn't sleep in a bed. So said, "fine, go to bed in your garage stall." When I went to go check on him, he had organized all of his transformers and had backed his legs up under his bed. I guess this is his "garage stall" I had to wait until he fell asleep to take a picture.

I freaking love this kid! He is at suck a fun age and I am amazed how good his imagination is and how smart he is. He never ceases to amaze me.