Slackerville USA!

That's where I've been lately when it comes to the blog (sorry). Truth of the matter is, is that I take most of the pictures on my cell phone and it is a royal pain when it comes to downloading them to our ancient computer. I promise though, I'll try to be better! =O

Anyway, not much has changed when it comes to Ian and I, but little Ava is changing so much everyday!! She is pretty much saying anything you tell her to say, whether or not you can always understand it, is another story....She still loves bath time, reading books, playing with her dolls, coloring (yes, even on the walls =O), being outside on warm days, playing with Vinny and has just become interested in watching TV ("T" as she calls it). And she still keeps us VERY busy! Anyway, here are some photos of the last few months........

Ava and Kate at an end of the summer BBQ.

In Breckenridge Colorado to visit Nanny, Papa and Uncle Aaron! We had so much fun.


She especially loved the pool at the Hotel in Breckenridge.


Our little stunt baby! Nanny bought her a new table and chair set, but we just refer to it as her new jungle gym!!


Bath time! Look at those beautiful lashes.


A little fall fun at Red Butte Gardens. I just love the fall colors.



Nanny and Ava at Red Butte.


Our little pumpkin on Halloween!


After I curled her hair for some photos. She looks so big to me here!


I spent all this time doing her hair in these cute little pig tails, and within just moments she had taken them out! Little stinker.


Going for a ride on the giant toad at the Living Planet Aqaurium. She loved it there!


"Where the turtle go?" She's asking. She absolutely loved all the fishies, turtles and especially the penguins.



Coloring with her markers. These are non marking ones, that only color on special paper, and thank goodness for those or we'd have marker everywhere!!


All ready for winter! And yes, she still loves her babas!




Anyway, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

California!

We went down to California last weekend for a wedding and had lot's of fun! I flew in with Ava a couple of days before Ian got there so we could spend some time with Angi and her family. It was so good to get away and see everybody!

Ava's first time in the ocean! She loved it and would have gone in a lot further if I let her! But she loved to feel the waves on her legs and the sand in her toes. :)

I just love the ocean! So beautiful.


Being at the beach now that I have a one year old, is not the same as it used to be! I spent most of my time chasing her around and trying to keep her from eating sand, didn't go too well as you can see her gagging from putting a sandy hand in her mouth! =O

She did sit peacefully for a moment enjoying a nice bottle while watching the ocean. She loves her bottles! I don't know how we'll ever get rid of them.....

Enjoying a nice swing with the beautiful ocean in the background, oh how I'll miss the ocean!

Lexi and Ella pushing her in the swing, she absolutely loves her cousins!

Grandma and Aunt Angi took all the kids to the aquarium while we were in L.A. at the wedding, she had so much fun looking at all the fishies!

Going for a ride on the cement bunny rabbit. This little figure sits outside of Angi's house, and Ava walked out the front door and hopped on, so cute!

And a shot of Ian and I at his friend Cory's wedding. It was very formal as you can see and was alot of fun getting all dressed up and having a whole entire night out to ourselves! A first in over 15 months. Well deserved...

Randoms

Just some random happenings lately......

Ava got her first professional haircut a couple of weeks ago at Cookie Cutters. She did really well. She got to sit in a cute little pink car and watch Sponge Bob. But, I would have to say that she was mostly preoccupied by a little boy getting his hair cut who was screaming his head off! She couldn't take her eyes off him. Made for a great distraction. ;)

Driving the car.

Almost done.

And a cute after picture of her new haircut!

Ava has been climbing on everything lately!! The other day, I ran downstairs to switch the laundry and I heard Ava scream (nothing she doesn't do on a regular basis when I leave the room). So I didn't think too much of it until I came upstairs and found out what she was up to! I think she was screaming because she knew she was doing something naughty and couldn't figure out how to get out of it! Never a dull moment around here...... =o

Two friends. We went to sushi the other day with the Joder's and these two had a lot of fun. It's so fun now that Ava is getting a little older and can interact with the other kids more. She loves Kate!

Hugs on the park bench, too cute!

Sour face!

This is what you get when you're at a restraunt and you've run out of things to entertain a busy little baby....sour lemon face! ;) She actually kept putting it back in her mouth until I had to take it away, but I did get a few more minutes of quite, just long enough to finish lunch.

Summer fun!

Ava LOVES being outside, so that is pretty much where we hang out now a days. She also really loves the water, so playing in the backyard splash pool and water table are among her favorite things to do! Ask her if she wants to go outside and she runs over to the door ready to go, so cute! Ask her if she wants to come back inside and it's run the other way screaming... Anyway, we have had a lot of fun already this summer; The Zoo, Red Butte Gardens, Cherry Hill, the pool, Gateway Discovery and of course hanging in the backyard. Here a few pictures of some of the fun!

Ava's splash pool. At first she wasn't sure what to think, but after she got used to it, she loved it!

A little family splash time.

Playing out back with her water table, hot Vinny in the background.

She loves her water table. It's suppose to be a water and sand table, but boy does that sand get messy! Especially when she tries to eat it....

At the pool at Cherry Hill. She was all ready to get in the water in her floaty, she could hardly wait!!

Ava got a membership to the Gateway Discovery Museum for her birthday from Aunt Angi and wow does she have tons of fun when we go!! There are so many fun things for her to play with there, including this wheelbarrow in the farm section, and it's a great place to go when it's too hot outside to play!

This was a picture from our trip to the zoo last weekend. They are doing "Zoorassic park" there, so they have all these life sized dinosaurs all over that move and make noise, pretty cool.

Dad, Ava and the monkeys. It was so funny, when Ava first saw the monkeys she kept saying "dada"! I got a big laugh out of it, Ian...not so much! ;)

She loved these little creatures. I can't even remember what they were, but she didn't want to leave the exhibit, she just kept standing there watching them, so funny!

Ava's first time on the carrousel, she had so much fun! And so did I, actually, I haven't been on one in a long time!

Riding the train with Daddy. She was such a big girl, standing up and holding on the whole time! =o

At the water fountain at Red Butte. This place is definetly becoming a favorite! The gardens are so beautiful and the childrens section is so much fun for Ava, especially the water..... :)

A much needed nap after a fun filled day at the gardens!


Boy are we glad that summer decided to finally show up! I'll be really sad to see it go when it does.....

Ava and Vinny!

I know I've had a post on how much Ava loves Vinny, but these pictures where too cute not to put up! She did this all by herself too. She loves to give Vinny "loves" and will even do it if you ask her too, so cute!

It started out with her just giving him a hug, then she decided to use him as a nice pillow to lay on to drink her bottle and what a good sport Vinny was!

So precious!

After a while, Vinny just rolled over and went to sleep while Ava continued to lay on him.

Just chillin'. She layed here for a while, at least until her bottle was gone, then she was off playing again! I'm so glad these two get along so well! :)

Mess maker

This is what I caught Ava doing the other day... She keeps us very busy as you can tell! =) Notice at the end it appears she found what she was looking for in the bottom of the basket, too funny!

Ava's ladybug birthday party

We celebrated Ava's first birthday last weekend with a super fun ladybug party!! Our little lady had so much fun and after several days of straight rain, the weather was perfect! Lots of family and friends were able to celebrate with us and we couldn't have asked for a better party. It started out with a yummy bbq by Daddy and ended up with lots of cake....everywhere!

All dressed up for the party.

Some of the guests and some of the decorations that Mommy and Grandma made.

More of the guests.

The kids helping with the presents. Ava had so much fun playing with the kids that came; Kate, Sophia, Josie and Ethan.

Opening presents, we finally had to put her in her highchair because she kept running away!

The adorable and tasty cakes. The little white one was her "smash" cake, and boy did she smash it up! =)

Going in for some cake. The kids at the party had so much fun watching her eat (well destroy) her cake!

She did a pretty good job smashing her cake! This was the first time she has really had any sugar and I was anticipating her getting sick, but she didn't and she loved it! What a great party. Thanks everyone for coming out and helping us celebrate our baby's first birthday!