Many more to come

Happy birthday Dad!

Hope you have 50 more great years to come!

Palace of the Legion of Honor

Yep, you read the title right. This past weekend the whole fam decided to visit a local palace. The Legion of Honor Palace is located on the northwest corner of the San Francisco peninsula. It has gorgeous fews of the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. Can you seriously imagine getting to live here? I guess the mega rich people that once called this home donated it to the city of SF once they died. Now it has been turned into an art museum.

Palace of the Legion of Honor- Morning Version
Originally uploaded by Sutanto

After 30 minutes of driving around trying to find parking, standing in line for another 20 we finally made it inside the museum. To quickly discover that I had left my camera in the car. I seriously almost cried. But my sweet husband quickly ran to the car before that could happen. Thanks to Josh, you all get to the super sweet pics I took of Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures. They are gorgeous!

I couldn't believe just how large and detailed each piece was.



Wouldn't you love to have this hanging over your dining room table?



This was my favorite piece. It is called "The Sun"...for good reason.



Ava had a blast at the museum. Especially when she realized that her voice echoed in the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. I totally wish they allowed us to take pictures of the scrolls, but something about them being over thousands of years old and very fragile. We actually got to see Genesis verses 1-9 dealing with the creation. Amazing.


On the way out we stopped to take a pic of the Golden Gate Bridge. This is a view looking into the bay. Seriously, can you imagine living in that palace?

The party don't stop!

It's been over 3 weeks since Ava's birthday celebration, but the party don't stop till the last balloon drops. See exhibit A...

(exhibit A)

This may look like an ordinary balloon, but I swear it possesses some magical powers. This balloon has been flying high for 24 days. It hasn't even started to drop from the ceiling yet. At least it has provided 24 days to teach Ava the word "balloon" or "oooon" as she says it. Today at the grocery store Ava got a little excited by just how many balloons were around. She didn't have enough hands to point at them all. But she sure gave it her best shot! Any guesses on how much longer this balloon can hold out?

The duel of the Davids

So I must admit that I had a hard time watching American Idol last night. I got so nervous during David Cook's performances that I had to hold off eating my dinner until he finished singing. What's up with his performances last night? I liked his song choices, but it sure seemed like his nerves got the best of him. Going into Tues. nights show I had no doubt that David Cook had a chance to win the whole thing. But after watching the show, don't tell Josh this, I think Mr. Archuleta might just win. Josh and I have taken opposite sides during the whole season. Josh keeps restating that "A household divided shall not stand." Ugh! David Cook better win or I will not hear the end of it! Don't get me wrong, I think Archuleta is an amazing singer, but there really hasn't been a song of his that I have wanted to buy. I guess I am just more of a fan of David Cook's genre. I am dying to watch the show tonight, but I'll probably check online before the show airs over here in Cali. I hate how they drag the finale out for 2 excruciating hours!

Amazing Ava

Yesterday we were standing in line at the bank and a mother and her young daughter were ahead of us. I don't know why this is, but Ava is always so memorized with other kids. No matter where we were in the bank, she had to keep a watchful eye on this little girl. When it was time for the little girl to leave Ava made sure to bye. Actually she said "Hi" and then proceeded to wave (we're working on her B sounds). On the way out I could hear the little girl talking to her mom. She said, "Mom, you know what's amazing? That baby can talk!"

Got Milk?

I'm happy to announce that Ava is completely weaned onto whole milk. Yay for Mommy...I mean Ava!

Birthday Girl

Here's the birthday girl!

This past weekend we celebrated Ava's 1st birthday.


Since her birthday fell on a Sunday, we decided to do the activity on Saturday. Ava didn't mind cuz she got 2 full days to party!


I really wanted to try to find something to do that Ava could participate in. So we decided to take her to a place called The Jungle. It's sort of like Chuck E. Cheese. They have a special toddler area where you have to be under 3 to play. Ava had so much fun getting to crawl around to all the different toys. Below is a picture of Josh and Ava enjoying the ball pit.


Notice how Ava is the only kid there. It totally pays off to be there when the place opens in the morning! She could go anywhere and not have to worry about being trampled.


This next picture it taken once the ride stopped. You can tell by her expression that she is relieved it's over because she was totally scared for her life the entire ride.



But her most favorite thing was...


Once Ava was done playing around Josh and I decided to trust our luck at the arcade. Together we won over 240 tickets. Oh yeah!


The following pictures are from her actual birthday. Here is a picture of the birthday girl that morning. I'm quite proud of the birthday banner I made.

I don't have any pictures of her opening her presents. But if you ever come over to our apartment we'll be happy to play it for you...we videotaped the whole thing! Below is Ava enjoying a few of her birthday presents.


A family that plays together, stays together!


The birthday girl and her dad on their way to church.


That's right. She's got a bow for a hat...jealous?


I promise the cupcakes looked a whole lot better yesterday...before I put the lid over the cookie sheet. That's why they all look a little smeared. But it didn't affect the taste!

This picture may be a little misleading, because it looks like she's enjoying her cake. Which isn't true! She actually would not even eat it. Every time we would try to give her a taste, she would immediately spit it out. She found it more fun to pulverize it and smear it all over her hair.


I guess it was her birthday and she could eat cake if she wanted to!


I did try giving her a piece of cake the next day and she ate it all. So I think she didn't like it at first because she had never had it before.

Hope you had a happy birthday little girl, because we sure had fun celebrating with you!

What a year!

It's hard to believe that it has already been a whole year since my sweet little baby was born. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing Ava home for the very first time. What a blast it has been getting to be a part of her life. Watching her expression as she tasted her first and last bite of squash, her excitement as she took her first steps, and her uncontrollable giggling as she anticipated a tickle attack are just a few of my favorite memories from this past year. Every morning I remember just how lucky I am to be her mom as I walk into her room and am greeted with a faint little "hi" coming from her crib. Isn't it amazing how it's the little things that you remember the most? I know I can speak for Josh when I say we never knew that we could love someone so much. Happy 1st birthday little girl! We can't wait to see what this next year brings for you!

I searched through all of the pictures we've taken this past year (digital cameras are both a curse and a blessing!) and picked one for each month of Ava's life. I must admit, it was really hard narrowing it down to just 12 pictures! I am always shocked by how different Ava looks now when compared to her newborn pics. I might be bias, but Ava just keeps getting cuter and cuter!

(click on the picture to make it bigger)