15SEP10

So this is not a picture post... It's just an info post and this is the easiest way to let everyone know all at once! :) For those who don't know Alexis has had problems with peeing in her pants since she was first potty trained. It's never a full out accident, it's just a little pee but usually, once a day, at least. I've talked to doctors and they've told me it's normal and they don't "worry about it" till kids are at least 6.

When we were in AZ back in October Alexis got a UTI (bladder infection.) She is almost always complaining about hurting "down there" but I always thought it was just a little irritation from being wet a lot (she changes clothes a lot but you know...) This last summer while we were there she was complaining more than normal about hurting and after some prompting from a friend who has had a lot of experience with UTI's, I took her in again. After checking her the doctor came in and told me she has a "whopping UTI." He left and when the nurse came in with prescription she said that with the results from her urine she is surprised Alexis isn't acting like she is in WAY more pain. I felt terrible. We got the antibiotics and continued our vacation.

I was told to make a follow up appointment with her Primary Care so about 2 weeks after starting the medicine she had another appointment. She was still complaining off and on about hurting so I really wondered if it went away. The Doctor checked her again and called me the next day to tell me to come get the antibiotics right away b/c the UTI still looked pretty bad. So we started her on a different round of antibiotics. The Doctor told me to make an appointment for one week after we completed the medicine and she would make sure it was gone and give a referral for a pediatric urologist. This time she didn't have the UTI anymore... She did however give me the referral. The closest pediatric urologist is about an hour and a half away and I guess it's the ONLY one in AL (we are right on the border of AL and GA so it's closer for us to go to this one.) So our appt isn't until December 14th. I'm going to try to keep calling back and getting her in sooner but for now we will hopefully have some answers in December. I will update when I know more...

15AUG10

The last stop on our trip was to visit my Aunt and Uncle. It's funny calling them that b/c they seem so close to my age and their youngest is the same age as Alexis. I haven't seen them or my cousins since the oldest 2 were my ring bearer and flower girl for my wedding EIGHT years ago!!! I have never even met the youngest 2. So here are Stephanie, Marissa, Taylor, and Emma. Not pictured is the oldest and only boy, poor Christopher. I can't believe how big they all are. When I got engaged one of the first people I called was my Aunt Karen to see if they would be able to come for my wedding. I wanted my adorable 5 and 4 year old cousins to be in my wedding but they had recently moved to TX. I was so excited when she not only said yes but said that they had been "practicing!" We loved getting to hang out with all the girls and Karen even did a little Mary Kay party for the girls. They loved it. I think they may need a little more practice... :)

Emma, Taylor, Marissa, Stephanie, Ryan, and ALexis ;)
Lexi's after (she looked a little like a clown! :) )

Ryan's after. This was the best pic I could get but she looked like she had a black eye! :)

14AUG10

We are such a blessed family. We have such a wonderful extended family but we also have wonderful friends who we love so much. Alexis's 5th birthday was the last day of our family reunion. I wanted to have a little party while we were in AZ but I am always so busy. Theresa, being who she is, volunteered to have everyone at her house. Which is great b/c she is the closest halfway point between my in-laws and my family. Not only did she offer her house but she bought the cupcakes and the ice cream so I didn't have to "worry about it." Seriously she is so good to me and my kids. Alexis was so happy to have all her AZ friends and family over to celebrate! :)

Blowing out her candle (oh yeah Theresa got that too!)
Happy with her cupcake and princess ring!

4 of the coolest people EVER!

Woo hoo I'm FIVE!

Happy Ryan with her cake and ice cream!

PRESENTS!!

More presents!! Thank you everyone that came AND for the gifts. I swear Thank you cards are coming...

On the day of her actual birthday we drove from the reunion to El Paso (about a 4 hour drive with stops.) Cristine had already asked if she could make a cake for Lex to have since I obviously wasn't going to be able to do that. I was grateful and not only did she make the requested chocolate cake (homemade!) She also made the also requested strawberry ice cream HOMEMADE!!! So yummy. I swear that girl can cook! :) Alexis was so excited and also loved the decorations Anya made!! Lucky girl got TWO birthday parties.

Basically, this is a huge love fest to my 2 besties. My AZ bestie Theresa who I can't believe we have been friends now for TEN years and has gone through many ups and downs with me. And my Germany bestie (yes she now lives in TX but she will always be my Germany bestie.) Who has been through 3 deployments and 4 kids with me. I love you both and thank you for being the people that you are.

YEs it tasted as yummy as it looks!!!!!

Barbie Mermaid movie. This was watched FIVE yes FIVE times from the time we left El Paso till the time we arrived back in Georgia. ANd no I'm not embarassed to admit that my girls watched that much t.v. in days. We were on a road trip!! :)

HIlarious! ERic was seriously eating his cake with the serving utensil. It was jsut that good!!!

Happy Birthday girl.

Friends forever!!!

13AUG10

A big reason I wanted to go to AZ over the summer was my dad's family reunion. Every year they do a huge reunion for my dad's mom's side. It is HUGE! My grandma has 10 brothers and sisters and they have been doing this reunion since long before I was even alive. I have so many great memories from this reunion and I was excited to get to take the girls again. We went 2 years ago and Alexis LOVED everything about it. It's down in south/eastern AZ and we all camp on some of my great Uncle's land. They have it all set up with RV hook ups, bathrooms, and even showers. I loved getting to see all my cousins and second cousins and it was so great to spend time with so many relatives. I hope my kids are able to take their kids to the Richins Reunion one day!!

On the hay ride with my dad and his wife. The great uncle that usually does this passed away this year and I was so happy they continued the tradition. He is very missed.

Ryan with Josh. This is my cousins new husband and Ryan LOVED him! She even got off my lap to go sit with him! :)

(Out of order...) After the pinata with their candy. This is a new favorite picture of mine!

SInging songs during the payday hike.

Lexi's loot from the hike.

Ryan and Tommy. They are second cousins. I loved that they were holding hands!:)

Ryan did not want to do the pinata even with mommy trying to help...

Lexi was all about it!

Ryan was also not a fan of the horsey ride. She is only on it b/c I made her for a pic and as you can see I couldn't even get her to smile. She really did have fun but she was content to sit by me and play in the dirt the whole time.

Lexi, on the other hand, would get off just to go back in line again. I swear she must have gone on it 50 times in 3 and a half days!!

Ryan with one of my fave cousins Myndee! :)

Tire swing!

This isn't even all the kids that were there not to mention how many couldn't make it this year!

Fishing off the bridge. This bridge goes through the middle of camp with the creek that is usually totally dry. I have NEVER seen it run inmy 20 years of coming to the reunion. This year therewas a flash flood and water ran through it and it came FAST! It was cool to see and a little scary. Luckily, everyone was fine and it only ran for 1 day.

More loot.

10AUG10

For Lexi's birthday Theresa wanted to treat her to a day at Bounce Jungle. She had a BLAST!! We had an awesome group come with us. Tori, Taylor, Pyper, and Brooklyn Theresa and Konnor, Mary and Quinn, and me, Lex, and Ryan. The girls LOVED bouncing and the place was really nice and clean. So much fun! THanks T!!!!!

Pretty girl on the slide!!
I love this baby girl!

Most of the group!! (Tori, Pyper, Brooklynn, Taylor, Quinn, Lexi, Monica, Ryan)

More of the group (Konnor!! still missing Mary and Theresa b/c they were the one's taking all the pics!)

My sweet girls!

09AUG10

I am realizing that I wasn't as great at taking pictures as I usually am... Well here are some pictures from my mom'shouse. We enjoyed hanging out with the family and I got to meet my new niece Brooklyn! :) My mom's boyfriend, Mike, helped Travi put on the hankie so he could be a superhero and before he knew it all the kids wanted one too. Ryan left hers on all night long! It was adorable watching them "fly" around the house playing. Cousins are so fun!

Super cousins!

Baby Brooklyn had to get in on the action (she has a pink cape!)

Travis is such a boy my girls aren't as experienced at showing their muscles! :)

This is Nate and Jessica's (my brother and sister-in-law) new dog Star. Ryan enjoyed spending time with him in the crate! :)

09AUG10

The girls always love visiting the Bean's and now that they have 2 new dogs it was just the icing on the cake. However, the real reason they love going it Quinn is there! :) The really look up to him and he is so sweet with them. Such a gentleman. You can tell how much they love him in these pictures! :)

08AUG10

We decided VERY last minute to take a trip to AZ for the last month of summer. The decision was made b/c we realized we don't enjoy going to AZ for Christmas. Not that we don't love seeing everyone but b/c it's always so crazy. Plus getting gifts there and getting gifts home. It's just a lot. So we decided to go before Alexis had to start Kindergarten. Travis had to work so he couldn't come and so I made the 27 hour drive by myself with the girls. It was actually not bad at all!! (How my parents and those parents in their generation did road trips without a portable d.v.d. player is completely beyond me! :) ) I knew we didn't want to drive at night (not safe!) So we made it a 4 day trip.

The first night we stayed in Vicksburg, MS at a hotel. The second night we stayed at my Uncles who lives in Sherman, TX (just North of Dallas.) That worked out nice getting to see family and having a place to crash. After 10 more hours on the road we arrived at Nate and Cristine's in El Paso, TX.

It was such a WONDERFUL reunion with our friends. We have missed them so much and the kids were SOOO happy!!!! (okay and so were the mommy's. Poor Nate on the other hand had to listen to us talk non-stop for 4 days.) I'm so glad they live in such a convenient place for us to come visit. Cristine was great at taking pics so I stole all of these from her camera and once again not a single pic of us. Seriously, for how great we are at taking pics of hte kids we are TERRIBLE at pics of ourselves! :) At the end of our visit Cristine, Anya, and Eric joined us for the next leg of the trip to AZ. That was the fastest part of my whole trip. Having someone to talk to made it a much nicer drive! :)

Coloring.

Playing barbies.

Dancing after Toy Story 3.

Waiting for the movie to start. (GREAT movie by the way!)

All four kids playing legos.

The look like conjoined twins! :)

Clothes? Nah!

Pretty girls.

Seriously he is3 months YOUNGER than Ryan!! He wears the same size shoe as Alexis. I love thatboy!

Better watch out Ry. Lex is making her move. HAHA!

Road trip. Each set had their own d.v.d. player! :) Seriously love technology!