She just can't get enough!

Ava continues to take swim lessons and absolutely loves every minute of it! She has started wearing cap & goggles, which is a complete hoot. Here she is at a lesson this past December.

Barnyard Boo @ Thanksgiving Point

Last Friday Ava, my cousin Karlee, her children (Gracie, Carter & Bella) and I took a trip to Barnyard Boo. It was a great time. We decorated cookies, rode ponies, went for a horse-drawn wagon ride and had their faces painted...all the time surrounded by animals the kids could pet and talk to. Ava loved every minute of it, in fact she wanted to climb in the stall with the Clydesdales!

Back in the Pool Again...

Ava has returned to Dive Utah to continue her swimming lessons. Here are some pictures with her teacher Lenny during her first private lesson. The best part about it is that I don't have to get in the water with her every week!

Zuri the Baby Elephant

Baby Zuri arrives at Hogle Zoo! A few weeks ago we went to see the 7 week old baby elephant who had arrived at the zoo. Gma Julie, Tyler, Ava and I went to check her out. As you can see Tyler just takes such good care of Ava. We were also able to see the baby giraffe and some tiger cubs. Enjoy our trip to the zoo!

Our Little Climber!

Ava has decided that if there's something to climb, she'll climb it! It makes mommy & daddy very nervous. We took this video and then promptly duct taped the footstool- much to her frustration!

A Long Hot Summer

It's been almost 6 months since I have posted to the blog. Time has really gotten away from me. I worked all summer and when I wasn't working blogging was not on the priority list.

We were very busy this summer. Ava had her first trip to the dairy, which she absolutely loved and Papa loved toting her around showing her off. John's parents came to visit and we went to the Days of '47 rodeo. We went camping over the 4th of July and then again over Labor Day. We also bought a Zoo membership & have tried to go as much as we can- Ava absolutely loves seeing the animals & riding the carousel. And of course, what is summer without Onion Days in Payson?! It was so fun taking Ava on the rides, she seemed to enjoy every minute of it, but you be the judge.

The most exciting part of our summer was my good friend Nikki got married, and Ava and I were privileged to be in the wedding. She was the cutest flower girl EVER!

We also experienced some sadness this summer as I miscarried twins in July. We were very excited to be pregnant again, and very saddened at the loss of our little ones. We are learning that time helps, but does not lessen the depth of the loss. Thanks to those of you who extended your prayers on our behalf during this very difficult time.

Enjoy the Summer 09 slide show!

We are truly blessed!

What's Easter without a cute new Easter dress and a beautiful girl to wear it? We are truly blessed to have such a darling little girl in our lives. She has brought more joy into our home than we ever thought possible.

Hunting Eggs

We had a great Easter weekend! On Saturday Ava went Easter Egg hunting at St. Matthews. At first she was a little confused as to what she was supposed to be doing, but as you can see she quickly caught on and had a fabulous time. She even managed to break open one of the plastic eggs and help herself to a little bit of chocolate- definitely her mother's daughter!

Moving right along!

Well I think she has figured out the walking thing- There's really no more crawling, it's all on 2 feet from here on out. I took this video today when we walked out to get the mail. I think she looks pretty good, for a beginner...

Feed the Sheep

Today Ava and I went on a little walk through the neighborhood with my friend Michelle and her son Tyler (2). We like to walk through this one section of our neighborhood because there's this big fat sheep that the kids like to pet and feed. Ava seems to really enjoy it as she giggles most of the time.

John's 5K

On Saturday March 14th John ran in a 5K charity run. He ran about a 9 minute mile and was pretty happy about that. He is preparing to run in the SLC half-marathon in April so this beautiful Spring weather has been very helpful to him!

Be careful what you model...

This is Ava on her birthday playing in her new kitchen...as you can see she is talking on the phone and eating- I wonder where she's seen that before?! Make note of the 'wave' - it's pretty cute.

I'm starting to figure this out!

I'm walking...well sort of!

Ava is starting to figure out the walking thing- but she seems just as happy to drop down and do her little 'monkey crawl' when speed becomes the focus. She took her first step on Thursday February 12th, and we've been working on it ever since.

Birthday Party Slide Show

Ava's 1st Birthday Party

Ava had her 1st birthday on Saturday. We had a nice little get together with friends and family. Ava enjoyed opening all her presents and especially enjoyed her cake-eating frenzy. Aunt Tia was a big help decorating with our butterfly theme. Thanks to my friend Karen for making the darling cake! Our guests were Aunt Tia, Uncle Rob, Jaynee, Casey, Uncle Curt, Aunt Cathy, Jessie, Michael, Tyler, Grandma Julie Buckingham, Nikki Hirsch, Louise & Megan Moulding, Linda & Erv Olsen and Nanny Toreen. We had so much fun and really appreciated the support of our friends and family on this very special day.

Ava's taking Swim Lessons!

Ava has started taking swimming lessons. She seems to absolutely love being in the water! She enjoys being with the other children in her class, and so far is the child who cries the least during the lesson!

Ava & Toots play ball!

I caught this great video of Toots and Ava playing the other day. It's a rare occasion as Toots isn't too sure about Ava yet- yes, I know it's been almost a year. Anyway, I am sorry for the video quality they were both moving quite a bit.

A day at Mountain Dell

On Saturday January 17, 2009 John's company had a party at Mt. Dell Golf Course. It was Ava's first time in the snow and she absolutely loved it...I will let the picture speak for themselves. We tried X-country skiing, but it was a bit icy so we were happy to stick with the tubing.

Christmas 2008

We spent a wonderful Christmas holiday in North Carolina with John's family. We had several family get-togethers, which allowed both Natalie and Ava to meet some of John's family for the first time. We went to the North Carolina Museum of Art & Science and attended the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. Grandma and PaPa got to babysit Ava while we were gone and they enjoyed every moment with Ava while we were there. We spent the first part of our trip, including Christmas Eve, at Amy & Fergus' home and then went to John's parents house on Christmas afternoon where we spent the remainder of our time in NC. Ava was a joy this year, she brought a new look at Christmas for us.