Artichokes

We picked up an artichoke at a roadside stand in California. I think it tastes like broccoli for those of you who have never tasted it. Anyways Ava LOVED it. Her and Rob ate the whole thing! (notice the pile of eaten leaves next to Rob's leg!)

Forget the straw

Ava didn't want to use a straw to drink out of her juice box!

Our First Family Vacation

Rob has been blessed to work with some great bosses, and this last weekend we got to spend part of it with his current and former boss. Wednesday, Rob had a work meeting in Sacramento. While he was there, Ava and I hung out at the hotel and mall which was right next door! That evening his current boss, Ryan, took us out on his ski boat with his family. Thursday we headed down to San Francisco to meet up with Rob's former boss, Andy, and his wife Jen. They bought us tickets to the Giants-Cub baseball game, a first for both me and Ava. After the game we went down to San Jose where we had a free hotel stay for 3 nights from a contest Rob won at work. On Friday, we took an all day road trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Then on Saturday we made the trek home, with a fun stop to Ikea's. We had such a fun time as a family. Ava had a slight cold, and by the last night all three of us fell asleep at 8:00 in the same bed! We have decided that the next vacation we won't drive as much though! Ava cries when she even sees the car from a distance!

Go Cubs!

At the Giants-Cubs game. Ava just wanted to walk around and explore the stadium. So Rob and I took turns watching the game, and running after Ava.
Ava loved sitting on this step
Andy and Jen got us GREAT seats. We were literally sitting in the last row under the shade!

Wakeboarding

Rob's boss took us and his 3 younger kids boating to Folsom lake. It was so much fun, and Rob is now convinced we absolutely need a boat! Even Ava liked it for the most part. She got VERY upset while Rob was wakeboarding, but as soon as he got back in the boat she was fine! I wasn't able to get any pictures, but on Rob's last wakeboarding trip, he hit a few jumps and landed them!

Lookin' like a pro
cute face!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

We had SO much fun at the aquarium. Ava loved watching all the different fish. We also found where we want to live in the future...I can't remember the name of the town, but it's a cute farming town where they grow strawberries, celery, lettuce, etc. The best part is the ocean is your backyard. snuggling with daddy
our close up

Touching star fish
This picture is hard to see, but this penguin kept "playing" with Ava. She would touch the glass and it would splash and flip around.

They had tons of hands-on-exhibits. One area was especially for 3 and under, and Ava loved it!

fishies!

I've been tagged!!!

My friend Lacey tagged me to answering the following questions.... 10 things we splurge on and 10 things we don't splurge on. After much consideration between Rob and I we came up with this list:

10 things we do splurge on:
1. A basic article of clothing If I find something that is going to last me for forever (like a nice white button down shirt) for either of us, I don't have a problem paying a little more for it!

2. Good quality baby gear Things like crib, highchair, stroller. Stuff that is going to last a LONG time for the next few little Rob and Andrea's!

3. Computer We definately didn't go all out on our computer, but we got a really big screen!

4. Rob said me....Me? No. More like Ava!

5. Books for Ava...and me! "Splurge" is a broad term here. We get all of Ava's books from Costco or the dollar store. But she does have a lot of books because Costco sells them for so darn cheap and she loves books!

6. itunes We haven't bought a CD in forever. Instead we just buy the one song we like on itunes.

7. Hairstylist! Again Splurge is maybe not the right word. I've never spent more than 35 for a haircut. But I do go to someone nice in a cute salon because I am so PICKY about how people cut my beautiful mane!

8. Air conditioner The house we are renting has no central AC. And when I'm home all day in 95+ weather you bet we are getting some AC!

9. Toothbrush A good toothbrush really makes a difference!

10. Hand soap This is Rob's fetish. No cheapo soap for his baby soft hands. Nope, we have to have the foamy hand soap from Bath and Body works. So we are big fans of the annual sale they have!

10 things we don't splurge on
1. Vacations Since we go home so often to Idaho and it's so expensive, I guess those are our "vacations" because we can't afford anything more exotic! (yes I know...boo hoo to us!)

2. Groceries We shop at Winco, and while we are Winco we buy the cheapest no name brand there. It all taste the same to me!

3. Eating out When we do eat out, no drinks and no dessert unless a very special occasion!

4. furniture (Sorry Lacey, had to copy you here.) When we first moved here we bought some really nice couches and table set. Well now that I watch Ava bite the couches and bang on the table with the utensils, we have realized that we need CHEAP furniture! Thank you Ikea!

5. wedding photographer This is something we didn't splurge on and we will regret it FOREVER! We had a college friend do them, and it's sad so many memories were never captured. Oh well. My brother in law did an amazing video which made up for it!

6. Toys Ava has a few nicer toys, but most of them are cheapy cheapies. So I don't freak out when they got lost or broken!

7. kids clothing (copying Lacey again!) Ava grows so fast that it would be too expensive to keep up with the trendy name brand stuff.

8. Home decorations Sadly, no pottery barn here! But I like to look at the magazine to get ideas!

9. Diapers and wipes Since they all end up the same way, we stick with the cheap stuff!

10. DVD's I don't remember the last time we bought one....


Hope you enjoyed! I want all my sisters and sister in laws to be tagged next! That means YOU Wendy, Jess, Amanda, Lesli and Liz!

GRANDMA!!!!!!!

We were so lucky to have Grandma come visit us for a few hours this Friday/Saturday. Ava immediately took to Grandma, and had such a good time playing with her all Friday evening! We also went to dinner with daddy, and then to the park to swing and chase birds. Thanks so much for coming Grandma. We had such a good time and we miss you so much!

Ava and Grandma playing with the farm toys.

Ava taking Grandma to her favorite spot at the end of the street where she throws big rocks in the street.
Grandma needed to take a quick break and Ava wasn't to happy about it. She sat there knocking on the door till Grandma came out!

Giving Grandma a sweet little kiss! (You are very loved if you get one of Ava's kisses. She doesn't give them very often!)

Bedtime

Ava's gained a few pounds! Daddy stuffed her blanky down her jammies in an attempt to copy cousin Lexi! Grandma reading Ava's favorite book "I see a monster!"

Muddy Morning

The last couple of weeks, a couple of us girls have gone walking in the mornings. Ava and Kadri always manage to get pretty dirty in their adventures, but the other morning was the best. We started out our walk with Ava literally doing a perfect somersault into this little creek, where she got a little startled and soaking wet. She was so wet that she ended up wearing an extra outfit of Kadri's. So as we were changing outfits Ava was running around the park with nothing but shoes on. (Int he pictures her poor little bum and hair are COVERED in dirt!) Then a little while later, Kadri fell into a huge muddy pond, in which she needed her extra pants that Ava had on. Luckily Noel decided to stay in her stroller and not get dirty, because we didn't have any extra clothes! What an entertaining morning! Ava and Kadri playing in a puddle
Kadri's spill

Changing out of her wet clothes! I think she would have stayed this way if I would have let her!

Mom emailed this picture to me. Mom is the little girl on the left, and doesn't she look exactly like Ava? They even have the same haircut! Anyways I'm not sure how old Mom is in the picture, but I wouldn't be suprised if it was about the same age Ava is now! Now we know where Ava gets her good looks from!

Hot August Nights

Reno knows how to party! Every year they have Hot August nights where people show off their old fixed up cars. Rob loves it, so we went last night. Ava insisted on pushing her stroller the whole time, so we didn't go very far very fast! In the last two pictures, there was an Elvis wannabe singing and she was dancing to the music!

The last couple of weeks after Ava's nap, we go outside and have otter pops. Since I'm such a COOl mom, we both get two. Isn't Ava lucky? Anyways today Rob got to join in on our summer tradition.

Enjoying our otter pops!

Bath time!

In this video Ava realized I had the camera out and wanted nothing but to get out of the tub and get the camera! You'll notice the video ends as she's trying to climb out!

Ava knows how old she is! When I ask her how old she is, watch her right hand and she puts up a number 1! Also, she does say "sssssss" When I ask her what a snake says, it's just quiet!

Oh Woe to us.....

No pictures...sorry just venting. This weekend started off by Rob spending 3 1/2 hours moving people into the ward...(one guy just moved out last week and decided he didn't want to move so they moved him back in yesterday!) Ava only took a 45 minute nap to last her all day. She also fell on a toy which resulted in a bloody mouth a nasty bruise across her face. After all the moving Rob had to study all day, which made for a long Saturday.
But on a good note, I made some homemade strawberry jam yesterday. It was SOOOO easy and cheap. I made 6 containers and I'm thinking about making some more before strawberries go yucky.

But I have saved the best story for last. Today at church, Rob and I decided to sit up in the bench section to see if it would help Ava from being a wild child during sacrament. Well Ava was being her usual spirited self and being pretty vocal, but she was being REALLY good, better than she's been in a long time. Anyways, at one point Ava was screeching for some water and got quiet as she took a drink (obviously!), the guy behind us said loudly and sarcastically..."THANKS" Then at one point Ava had a stinky diaper and Rob took her to go change it and the guy behind us was sitting there with his hands in his ears..plugging his ears.
HOW RUDE and IMMATURE...seriously I would maybe expect this from a younger kid, but a grown up?
I guess it's so frustrating because Rob and I try so hard to keep Ava as quiet as we can during sacrament. Now I'm tempted to sit behind/in front of this man every Sunday to show him how loud Ava really can be....Just kidding!

Needless to say I'm glad tomorrow is a new day!

Oh how we love our baby girl!

Poor Ava...(and mommy) Right now we are experiencing the "really need two naps but switching to one nap" routine and it's been difficult. The days she goes down for two naps she is always in her crib playing around for forever and not falling asleep till way late morning/late afternoon with a very late bedtime. The days I put her down for just one nap, by dinner time she is EXHAUSTED! (If anyone has any helpful suggestions feel free to post them!) Anyways today she went down for only one nap. This evening she was really warm and very fussy. (She is also getting two molars and a few front teeth) So when daddy came home she just wanted him to hold her. Rob sat down to rock her and unwind and she fell asleep in his arms. She didn't even have a binky in...I can't ever think of a time when she has fallen asleep without a binky! Anyways it is now 6:30 pm...she is still sleeping, snoring actually, in Rob's arms and he is loving every minute of it! I offered to go lay her down in her crib and he looked at me like I was crazy!
What a beautiful baby!

Good night Ava!

Just had to capture her sweet face! I took this picture a few nights ago.