Things that bug me today.

I really just feel like getting some things off my chest that have really irritated me this week. I feel to be rude. If you don't care, feel free to move on.

1. I don't know if it's Oxford or just people in general, but are 4-way stops really that hard? I happen to be a REALLY sucky driver and even I know when its my turn. People here either sit there and derp for 3 minutes or they barrel through the intersection when it isn't their turn. So. Annoying. Also, get off your freaking phone.

2. I can't begin to count how many times I've seen people in our stupid complex let their dogs do it's business and then walk away from it like it's nbd. It is a bd. I don't own a dog. I deal with enough excrement from humans every day. If I wanted to walk in crap, I'd let my kids go in the grass. Please, pet owners, clean up after your animals. It's common courtesy. I don't leave Reagan's dirty diapers in the park or the patch of grass by the mailbox. Because that would be inconsiderate. And gross.

3. Autocorrect. More often than not, it does more harm than good and just makes me irate. See: most of my fb posts.

4. Let's leave Elizabeth Smart alone. The poor girl has been through hell. It's disgusting that people will.make comments about her marriage being too soon or her not knowing what she's doing. Shut up, people. Let her be happy.

That's all. I think I'm going to do this once a week. It was fun.

You say it's your Birthday...

Two years ago today I looked like this...




Gross, right? About an hour after this was taken, I got this...



Now she looks like this...



Worth. Every. Second. This girl is such a joy in our lives. At 2 Reagan's favorite things are:

1. Her thumb. Hands down, her favorite past time. She is always sucking that thing.
2. Her bed. She sleeps like a champ in her "big girl" bed.
3. The Momma. She's obsessed with me. But who isn't?
4. ELMO!!! She loves that annoying little monster. I swore I would never let my kids have character shirts or shoes...not so much. They are involved.
5. Papa. She has a special relationship with my dad that I don't even understand. She even preferred him to me before we moved. She could really take or leave her dad, her sister, etc. but my dad is sacred to her.
6. Pretty much any TV show.

Least favorite things:

1. NURSERY. She has loathed it from day 1. Continues to loathe it. Screams the entire two hours. Every. Week.
2. Most meat. She is a bit of a bird when it comes to eating and we don't know why. Katelyn cleared her plate from day 1 and Jason and I obviously love to eat, but this kid won't eat much, but almost zero meat.
3. The vacuum. She whines and whimpers and says "scary" the entire time it's on. I think it's funny.
4. Ladybugs. She is petrified.
5. Most people. Just people in general are not her friends.

I love my baby angel. We've had a blast getting to hang together alone these past few months and she is learning and talking and doing sooo many things. She is a love and has blessed our family beyond measure. Happy Birthday, Reagan! We love you! Party pos to come later.

Well we need a little Christmas, right this very minute...

Okay, so I wrestled with the idea of writing the obligatory Christmas letter and sending it to everyone, but after much pondering, I decided to save the USPS the trouble of hauling 80,000 letters all around the globe and went with the option to do it this way... so welcome to the first annual Aivaz Family Year-End/Christmas Report.

Cue fanfare.

No, no not that... make it a little more seasonal.

That's better.

Anyway, how do these things usually go? We just write about the events of the last year, post some pictures and then just expect people to read it and care? Okay. Well, I guess we'll just start off with the youngest member of our little family, Reagan.

Reagan had a pretty big year in 2011... she turned 1, learned how to walk, talk, count, and most importantly (and most recently) sleep in a "big-girl" bed. Yes, as of tonight, Reagan says goodbye to the crib forever (and Seana and I probably say goodbye to sanity). Reagan loves staying at home with Seana all day, she gets restless at home sometimes when it's too cold to go outside, but she's generally good to go and play blocks or baby dolls upstairs in her room after a small period of freaking out. She's a tender little thing, who gets her feelings hurt very easily, but is physically very tough... she wipes out with the best of them and springs right up, usually saying "I okay". She loves her sister, running around the house, and jumping on beds.

Reagan's Christmas wish list:

• Baby dolls
• A lifetime-supply of cranberry mixed juices
• Anything Elmo-related (Seriously, she's obsessed)
• Some fuzzy boots (Her sister has a pair and Reagan flies into a jealous rage whenever Katelyn puts them on)

Next, we come to Katelyn, our little Kindergartner.

As you can probably guess, Katelyn's big deal this year was starting school. When we got the news that UNLV wasn't going to be an option for law school, my one real silver lining to the storm clouds brought by that realization that Katelyn wouldn't be stuck in the den of failure and iniquity known as the Clark County School District. After doing some reading online about the Oxford School District, I knew that even if it wasn't the right fit for me, it would be the right fit for Katelyn. And I was exactly right. Katelyn LOVES school. I honestly think she likes her teacher, Ms. Henry, more than she likes me and Seana sometimes. Okay, most of the time. She is doing really well in school... she's generally well-behaved and was even her classroom's "special friend" one day (the special friend gets to help with things in class and acts like a tiny little teacher's aide) She'll be turning 6 next August and starts 1st grade in August. Time flies when you're having fun (and being naughty).

Katelyn's Christmas wish list:

• Books
• Not having to listen to her parents (The gift that keeps on giving)
• A make-up desk
• Her very own TV so she can watch Netflix constantly

Now I can either decide to go in age order, with which I would be next (Seana's a total cradle-robber) OR I can make a legit editorial decision and make Seana next...

Seana seen here in her usual position: Comforting Reagan.

Seana's been a real trooper this year. Of all the adjustments we've all had to make this year, she probably had the toughest. And I can't blame her. Her entire life was in Las Vegas; family, friends, everything she ever loved literally was in that town and suddenly, over the span of a weekend, she was in Mississippi, with no family or friends within 2000 miles, through no fault of her own and with very little time to prepare herself physically, mentally, or emotionally. But, where others might have turned inward or threw a never-ending pity party for themselves, Seana kept at it. Sure, many tears were shed and some homesickness came, but she always picked herself up and keep going. She has even made some splendid new friends and, though it may not feel the same as Las Vegas, she is doing everything she can to make Oxford home. It's not always easy being a homemaker... you can feel very alone and sometimes feel like you don't have your own identity, and I admire her for her faith and her strength. Everything I am or do I owe to her and her example keeps me going and on the right track. I love you, Seana.

Seana's Christmas wish list:

• A Forever Lazy (Not kidding)
• Some Hostess Snowballs
• A clean house
• Plane tickets to Las Vegas

Although, maybe Christmas came early this year... Seana's parents came to see us for a couple weeks and a great time was had by all. Except for maybe Seana's parents, who had to sleep on a queen-sized air mattress in our kitchen. We'll pick up the Chiropractor's bill, I promise.

Well, that brings us to... me.

Looking super-duper fly, as always. p.s. Not my real hair-do.

I had a pretty big year, this year, myself. Coming off my epic fail of my first LSAT attempt, I studied hard and was able to get a pretty decent score, all things considered, on my second attempt. I'm not going to discuss numbers specifically, but suffice it to say the second attempt was a significant improvement. I thought the strength of my GPA (3.83 in-program) would carry my mid-range GPA and get me into UNLV, however, this was not to be. I saw Ole Miss on the law school brochures and saw that it was competitive to get into, was ranked relatively high, and was a great value (i.e. My 2nd-and-3rd years COMBINED will cost as much as my 1st year at UNLV ALONE would have cost) so I filled out an application and sent it in, not thinking anything of it. Plus Seana absolutely refused to move to Mississippi. 3 weeks later, I got an envelope from Ole Miss... accepted. All told, I applied to 9 schools, got into 6, got turned down by 1 and wait-listed by 2, including UNLV. After some prayer, we narrowed our schools down to Willamette (in Salem, OR), Washburn (in Topeka, KS), and Wyoming (in Laramie, Wyoming). Ole Miss didn't even make the final 3 cut. But after some prayer, our list began to winnow...

1. Willamette - Was too expensive. Gone.
2. Washburn - Hefty scholarship offer, but would have forced us to live in Kansas. Yuck. Gone.
3. Wyoming - Seana doesn't do snow. Neither would our front-wheel drive Hyundai beater car. Gone.

Suddenly, Ole Miss was the last reasonable man standing. In April I sent my seat deposit in and that was that. I was an Ole Miss Law student. It was weird. We were moving to Mississippi. We were going to live in a state other than Nevada. In May I made the reservations for the moving truck and in July I left the state of my birth and started the 2,000 mile drive to my little family's new home, all our earthly possessions packed into the back of a 16' Penske truck and into our little car. But, somehow, it's all worked out thus far. We moved into a nice cozy little condo, met some great people and have settled pretty nicely into our new little church family. Even law school isn't as bad as I thought it would be, heading in. I figured every night would be non-stop studying, never seeing my family and dying of a blood clot from sitting forever. But I did none of those things. And I still feel like I did reasonably well this semester. Finals are now over and we're awaiting my grades, but I'm just happy I survived this and proved to myself I could do it. Many thanks and love to all those who helped me.

Jason's Christmas wish list:

• Some alone time with my wife
• To be listened to by my children
• An entire semi-truck full of Reese's Trees
• The 49ers to win the Super Bowl (The Reese's Trees thing is probably more likely to happen)

Well, I think that just about does it for this letter, however, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment to write a little bit about the Savior. We, as a family, try as much as we can to focus on Christ not only over the holiday season, but all year long. This is, by our experience, easier at certain times than it is at others, however, Christmas is one of the handfuls of times throughout the year when we, as believers and followers of Christ, can all unite in faith, despite the name of our church or which scriptures we use, and celebrate the birth of that man foretold of by Isaiah as "Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Regardless of where you are, or who you're with, the Christmas message is for you. May we all take a moment between the hustle and bustle of shopping and wrapping and stressing and cooking to remember Jesus Christ and the wonderful things he brought us... the true first Christmas present.

We love you all and wish you all the merriest of Christmases and a very happy New Year/Seana's birthday (yes, she's a New Year's baby and yes, she hates it. But I'm going to try and show her a good time, regardless).

PEACE! (onearthgoodwilltoman)

Avent Park

Since there's not a whole lot to do here in Oxford and we don't like to spend money, Reagan and I spend a lot of time at Avent park. It is so big and so rad. They have two big wooden playgrounds with swings, slides, sandboxes and much more. Reagan loves the swings. She usually has to go on each swing to try them out. She loves to climb all the steps and go down the slides. I like it because it's essentially in the middle of the woods so there's plenty of shade and it doesn't get too warm. Here are some pictures.



They have these rad little xylophone things. She loves them.





One of the times we went with Katelyn she found a caterpillar and insisted on bringing home. Unfortunately, "Mr. Caterpillar" didn't last long.



We are enjoying the lovely weather here and the time we have spent together. That's all for now.

Our home away from home...

Yeah, hi. We are still alive. Right before we moved our camera broke. We finally got a new one, so I finally felt like I could update. So we've been in Oxford for about month and a half now. It's going really well. Katelyn started school on August 5th. She LOVES it. She has done so well. She has all day Kindergarten. She rides the bus. In Vegas I would never even consider it, but it's worked out well here. She gets on at about 7 every morning and gets dropped off at about 3:30 in the afternoon. It makes for a really long day but she is learning so much and hasn't really seemed to have any issues with it. Her teacher's name is Mrs. Henry and she is amazing. We love her. She is an Oxford native and has been teaching for like 15 years, so she knows what she is doing. We love her school and we love her.

Jason started law school on August 15th. It's crazy and hard and busy and he loves it. I think he was pretty well informed going into this so it wasn't any kind of a shock at how much work he would have each day. It's not easy by any means, and he has A LOT of late nights at the kitchen table, but he is so passionate about what he studies so it's going great!

Reagan and I are still adjusting to being alone together all day. She is so smart and she amazes me with what she picks up everyday. Sadly she has very recently eliminated one nap a day so she only takes one now. Boo!! We enjoy going to the park, cleaning, watching Blue's Clues and reading books together. She misses Katelyn all day and gets sooo excited when she gets off the bus each day.

The south is really cool. I can honestly say that I genuinely like it here. I miss all our family and friends TERRIBLY, but I really like the small town feel and the hospitality here. We made some friends really quickly and everyone has been so welcoming. For the first time in my life I really understand what a "ward family" is.

That's our update for now. Now that we have a camera I'll update it more. Some people have expressed interest in the townhouse, so I'm including pictures. It's only 1,100 square feet, two bedrooms, one full bath and slightly ghetto, but it's ours and we've been pretty happy here. Enjoy.

Here's our front door. Obviously.



When you first walk in you see the stairs. Obviously.



Here's our cute little (!) front room. Don't be jealous of my freaking awesome couch cover. Or my gigantic T.V.



I love my kitchen. It's a lot bigger than I thought. Tons of cupboard space!



Can't say I love my "laundry room" as much, but I'm soo grateful to have it.



Here's the girls' room from their closet.



Here's the girls' closet from their beds. Love all the room for big toys!



Here's my room. Nothing special. But I love it anyway.



We have our desktop on our dresser. Ghetto? Maybe. Convenient? Not Really. Necessary? Yes.

Not pictured: The bathrooms, because, well, they're not clean to the "show this bathroom on a blog" standards. Suffice it to say it's your typical bathroom only with less room and more cracked floor tiles.

Here it is...

Well, we're moving! To Oxford, Mississippi! After much, much prayer we feel that Ole Miss is where the Lord wants my husband to get his law degree. I know it's not a complete surprise, but we've been waiting to "announce" it until we knew for sure that's where we were going. Here's how it went down...

Jason took his first LSAT in December of 2010. He didn't do as well as we'd hoped and it was evident that he needed to retake it if he wanted to get in to UNLV and other schools. He worked his butt off. Seriously, he studied harder than I've ever seen him for the next 6 weeks. He retook it in February of this year and his score improved by 9 points, which is huge. He started the application process. He applied to 9 schools, including UNLV. He was admitted to 6, some with partial scholarship offers, he was denied at one (Forget you, Louisville!) and wait-listed at two- and UNLV was one of them. We were a tiny bit devastated. We knew we had some serious decisions to make. Since there is no ranking of the wait system, we were pretty sure UNLV was out. It had basically become between Ole Miss and Washburn (in Topeka) at that point. Washburn had offered him a really decent scholarship and we were looking that way, but something kept telling us not to count out MS. We looked into the school districts and Oxford has an amazing one. The town is tiny, which I love and we'd be insanely close to campus. The tuition is also cheaper at Ole Miss and if he lost his scholarship over at Washburn we'd be kind of in a mess so this was another plus. We continued to pray and feel we have our answer.

We don't know where we're gonna live, how we're gonna pay for it, or what is going to happen but we are turning to the Lord and trying to trust completely in Him. I know it's going to be extremely hard, but I have faith in our little family and our ability to find joy in the little things and to make this an adventure. We would like to publicly thank all of you for your support and the many prayers that have been offered in our behalf. I'll keep this updated as regularly as I can as we prepare for our trek to our new home in "Missippi".

Change

Evidently Jason isn't any better at this than me.

I don't have it in me to do a real post.

Big changes are headed our way.

I'll post about them soon.

That's all.