Vegas baby!

For spring break we headed to Las Vegas to see my brother and his family! We had a lot of fun. We went to margaritaville where the kids loved the balloon hats and swords! They saw alot in Vegas and thank goodness they were oblivious to most of it. My boys were found fondling a naked mermaid at one time...it was funny they had no clue what was so funny. We saw the volcano, went to M&M world, coke factory, saw the Lions at the MGM and went to the Rain Forrest Cafe. We also got to see baby Hannah and the boys played FARKLE with Jordan and Lacey. Jordan sure does know how to get my kids all wound up! They sure do love him.

Coronado Beach

We spent a day at the Coronado Beach! It was so nice. I love the beach and could spend all day laying in the sun. The kids love playing in the sand! They were sooooo dirty!!








































































These were all sea shells


























































































































































Kennady did not like walking on the sea shells!! I don't blame her, some were still alive!














Perfect day!!

Oh my, March

Dear March,
We waited for you all winter....when finally signs of Spring are arriving, birthdays to celebrate, We were going to meet baby Hannah for the first time....we had such fun and exciting plans...we just didn't get to enjoy them to the fullest.
Instead this is how our March has gone....
Well, we did get to meet Hannah on her blessing day. She is very cute and looks so much like my brother that it is funny.
We did celebrate Gavin's birthday by going to Jungle Jim's, having a family party at Grandma's, and going to Disney on Ice. Gavin spent his birthday lunch at McDonalds with his friends Caleb and Brooklyn. He enjoyed his birthday a LOT!! But this is where things started to go down hill...we thought we would go see Hannah who was staying at my mom's a day here and a day there, but between kids schedules and my kids having a cough or a runny nose we didn't dare be around the new baby. So we stayed home and felt sorry for ourselves....if we only knew!
Friday Gavin had a fever and slept all day, I gave him plenty of Tylenol and he seemed fine. So to win mother of the year award I decided we were OK to go to Disney on Ice, share the same soda, and some popcorn. The kids had a great time. That night Gavin had a fierce rash. I got up and went to work on Saturday, (mother of the year again) and left Jeff home to take Gav to the doctors. Jeff decided to take Kennady as well since she hadn't felt great all week but nothing to terrible. Well Gavin ended up with Scarletina and strep throat. Kennady had strep throat. They were given antibiotics and everything would be great. So on Sunday when I got called into work, I went (mother of the year, remember) thinking that it was sunday and all the kids would just lay around, watch movies and feel better. When I got home from work, Gavin still had a fever and was working hard to breathe. So I took him to the instacare. They said he was breathing fast because he had a fever from strep throat and "it's not like he has pneumonia or anything". So we went home, had a horrible night, and in the morning I called the pediatricians office and said I was coming in and that I wasn't making an appointment. Gotta love Mom's like me right? Well the dr said gavin had pnemonia. So he got a shot of antibiotics and was switched to a different antibiotic. He was not saturating great in the dr's office so we were suppose to come back in the morning. Gavin looked better in the morning but was still not breathing great. In the back of my head I thought I should pack my bag now because I know we will be sent up to Primary Children's Hospital. Sure enough Gavin still wasn't breathing great at the doctor's so up to PCMC we were sent. The Er was just a fantastic experience of forcing meds down him, putting in an IV and starting oxygen, and SUPER large doses of albuterol. Still he wasn't getting better, so he was admitted. We had the night from hell as he got albuterol treatments every hour all night long and mom got to give them to him. He was tired, his heart rate was so high form the albuterol, and he was MEAN. Mean to me and anyone that walked, talked or breathed. Well they decided we needed to go to the Pediatric ICU despite my best kicking and screaming to not go there. And so we spent a night in PICU. I asked all night if we could go back to the floor, but there weren't any beds. So the next morning they found a bed for us and back to the floor we went. We had a better day thursday and were able to spread out the albuterol to every 4-6 hours and were able to take him off his oxygen. So as long as he could spend the rest of the day off oxygen we could go home on Friday. So Thursday night Kennady starts to throw up and have fevers again and Gavin has to go back on oxygen....this is the point where I lost it....
Thank goodness Gavin only needed oxygen for a few hours. Gavins final diagnosis was rsv which complicated his asthma. So by Friday night we were HOME!!! Yeah!!! Oh wait it gets better. Friday night 4 am Gage wakes up throwing up and 15 mins. later Kennady is throwing up. So saturday we are washing every thing in site. Disinfected the whole house. So Saturday night I stop in to my Mom's surprise party that we had been planning for some time now, and left Jeff home again with a sick family. Wouldn't you know at the party my stomach starts to hurt so I have my dad drive me home. Did I mention that baby Hannah was flown in just for the party and I still did not get to be with her. So after a few hours of chills and severe stomach pains I finally started throwing up!!! So Sunday we all layed in bed and slept. As of today, Monday no one is sick. Just tired and tired...oh, wait I meant exhausted!!
So we are on the mend....and now we are looking forward to April instead of May where we plan to drive to Vegas to see Hannah and then to California to see Grandma and Grandpa D. And celebrate Easter, and forget March ever happened. I know I have sounded like I have had a bad attitude about all of this, but really I have been so grateful. Grateful we have a children's hospital near us, grateful for a husband who helped with throw up and kids and just anything that needed to be done, thankful for parents who just took over Gage and Kennady's care while I was in the hospital with Gavin. Thankful that I knew Gavin would be OK. Thankful for my friend Jannette who brought us dinner and watched Gage. Thankful to my friend Doni who would text me at all hours of the night to check in on me, drove all the way up to the hospital to see us and saw that we were sleeping so just left me dinner and drove all the way back home. And again to Doni and Suzanne who brought us dinner on Friday. When you go through things like this you see who your real friends are...the ones who call in to check on you, and offer to help. And of course my family....they are the best, did I mention my mom was sick herself throughout this and my sister and two of her kids had strep throat as well. Yet, they checked in on me everyday. I knew things could be a lot worse, I see it everyday I go to work, and I see it in the world, currently Japan. Life is HARD, it is so HARD. But I have a wonderful family, I have soon to be healthy kids, and I have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, and these are the things that get you through hard times, whether or not they are harder or not as hard as what someone else is going through it was OUR trial. And hopefully we are better for it, because I am not doing this EVER again!
Here is our March in pictures:

The Curtis family grandchildren at our finest:


The only girl grandchildren, but another one is on the way thanks to the Cheng family!

Baby Hannah



Jungle Jim fun












Gavin's birthday morning:












Disney on ice







Waiting in the ER:


On of the very few things that made Gavin smile was the powerful dart gun Ashley brought Gavin

Playing the playstation


Woody and his pillow pet were always close by
Gavin made me take him to the bathroom every 2 hours in the hospital in the middle of the night, which was quite the process, so I told him no more pull ups at night when he gets home....it has worked!