Cancun, Mexico!

We had a blast in Cancun. We went with Clint's whole family and stayed over New Year's for 8 days. You can see from our pictures that it was quite an experience. Lots of lounging at the pool outside our villa (which overlooked the beach) building sand castles, shopping (aka bartering), eating out, and just having fun. Mayah got to swim with dolphins, and we snorkeled in underground rivers. We have a million more pics, which we will post on our smugmug site soon. It was another great chance to get away from Nebraska during this terrible winter and enjoy the sun! Can't wait to go back!!!

Mommy wow! I'm a big kid now!!!

We've had surprising breakthroughs with Ava's potty tendencies for the past couple of weeks.

I think this stems from her being a natural neat freak. Ava is always pointing out everyone and everything that is messy. She will keep saying "messy" until something is done about the mess. Pretty funny if you ask me. The first time she made a potty breakthrough, she came in after doing it in her diaper and goes, "I pooped...poopy." So I asked if she needed her diaper changed, and she replied, "yes, messy!" I chuckled and then changed her and figured if she was to the point of not wanting to sit in it, it was worth starting to try. The next day or so, she came to Clint and said, "poopy." He asked if she had pooped and she said no, so he thought maybe she needed to go and asked her. She responded, "yesss" so we took her in and sure enough she went like a big girl. She was so excited and dancing around at the time. We all cheered and she did NOT want to put a diaper back on. So we put her in Mayah's panties, which she loved even though they were too big. She wore them all over the house and didn't want to take them off. So the next day I went and bought some "big girl" pnties and thought I would officially start the potty training. We have also been unpacking and trying to get things set up in our house, so today was the first day that I actually kept her in panties for longer than an hour or so. Ava loves her chocolate... so I put a little peice of chocolate on the toilet and told her she gets the chocolate every time she tells mommy that she needs to go potty. It worked pretty good. Today she went poop 3 times and pee once.(Yes I literally change 3 poopy diapers a day)! The thing that surprises me the most though is that I thought kids usually pick up on going number one a lot easier than number two, but with Ava it is the other way around. But fine by me! I would be so grateful if I didn't have to change another one of her stinky diapers again. We are all so proud of Ava.

Here is Ava in her big girl panties:



Here is Ava flushing the toilet:


Here is Ava eating her chocolate and waving bye bye:


I think you can guess what this is. I couldn't resist. If Jon and Kate Plus Eight can take pictures of their kids' poop, then so can I!!!

Bienvenido a Miami

Beach Fun in Miami



We stayed at the Hilton Bentley in South Beach and there was a cute little path from our hotel to the sand. It was such a cool little place.









We went to the beach one day while Clint had meetings and the birds swarmed us because Ava spilled her Dorito's. Then Mayah found this dead fish and Ava wouldn't leave it alone.



When we first got to our hotel room, Mayah says, "Mom, you've got to come in and look at this cute little sink in here." She hadn't seen a bidet before, and we were surprised to be staying in such a fancy little boutique hotel. It was right around the corner from "8th & Ocean" where that reality show about modeling is based, so you can guess the type of crowd that hung out there and drove up in their exotic cars. We laughed when we pulled up to valet in our little red chevy rental car.



We took a day to drive to the everglades and do an airboat ride. We saw alligators and crocodiles and got a history lesson on the natural wetlands. Then we got to tour the "petting zoo" which comprised of several small lizards, random roosters, a few jaguars, pumas, and a "bearded dragon" (which Mayah was able to name!). Clint and Mayah got to hold a 1 yr old Alligator. It actually pooped on Mayah, and the guide said not to worry about a little bit of "gator-ade". ha ha












It was a fun trip, and a good way to get away from the bitter cold of Nebraska for a week or so.

Update: Finally!

So it took a while, but I'm finally back on and ready to catch up on my blogging. A lot has happened (which explains why we haven't had a chance to do a post in a while), so I thought I would just write a list and then get to each major thing in a different post (not in chronological order):

1. We moved into the 'burbs...
2. Ava has learned to tell me before she poops, and go like a big girl (sometimes)
3. We went to Cancun, Mexico for the week of New year's...and Mayah swam with a dolphin (sort of)
4. We did Christmas with Clint's family in Omaha (minus Chad, Melissa, Mia & Ty)
5. We froze our tails off...
6. We went to Miami and Fort Lauderdale with Clint for a week in December
7. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Clint's family in Omaha (this time with everyone there)
8. We camped out for a few weeks on an airbed
9. Mayah started going to a new school and we started in a new ward at church
10. Ava started going to nursery
11...you get the picture

So finally, tonight, after I got home from work at Janie and Jack I have a house full of furniture and an internet connection where I can reflect on the busy months we've had.

Sorry for not being a very faithful writer... hopefully this will make up for it!