I do all my own stunts

After dropping Ava off at preschool, Reid and I made a side trip to the park. I don't think I've mentioned this, but I am sure loving my mommy and Reid time when Ava's away at preschool. Watch the video to see what big achievement Reid accomplished today. Password: slide.

When the weather outside is overcast...

You take the kiddos outside for a photo shoot! I realized I really haven't taken that many pics of Ava and Reid together. So today was the day.

Of course I did not capture a picture of both of them looking at the camera. I guess whatever Ava was pointing at was way more interesting than the crazy lady behind the lens.

In other news, Ava is loving preschool. She actually asks begs to do homework everyday. Breakdown and tears will appear instantly if I have nothing for her to do. A big shout out to the creator of this awesome site because she has made Ava a very happy girl. Each week in preschool Ava learns a different letter, this site has oodles and oodles of activities for each letter.

As for Reid, he's growing in every possible way. I have no idea how he did this, but the kid gained a whole 2 lbs. in just two months. Must be all the goodies the grandparents are sneaking him! Reid now has a total of 4 teeth. After 16 months of waiting, he can now actually bite into his food. Poor kid. He's adding new words daily. And much to his delight and to his parent's worry, he has found the joy of throwing things in the trash. I found one of his shoes in the trash just yesterday.

I know Jared will have no problem figuring this one out, but for everyone else, any guesses on what Ava spied with her little eyes?

3 bucks wandering the neighborhood. Don't worry Shelby, we made sure that they only ate the neighbors flowers!

Preschooler in da house

Ava and myself having been patiently counting down the days till Ava's first day of preschool. Seriously, we had a link chain that counted down the days :) Here's the little squirt all ready to go with her book bag in hand (each kid at the school gets a bag with their name on it).

I don't think there could of been a bigger grin plastered on this girlie's face.

This little, or should I say big girl was beyond excited to be in her preschool class. By the way, each kid and teacher all wear a red apron with their name on it. Cute.

I did get a little misty eyed driving away from the preschool, but mostly because I was just so excited for her to get to learn so many new things. It's so fun getting to watch your child get so excited about learning.

Things we like to do in the summer

{1} Eat watermelon, cantaloupe (if you haven't already picked up the Tuscan cantaloupe at Costco, you must!), blueberries, grapes, peaches, apricots, and as many cherries as you're able.

{2} Make sure to enjoy every last drop of above mentioned fruit.

{3} Go to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.

Proof Reid was there too.

Miss Ava's very first pony ride.

We both could not resist the candy buckets on the way out. Ava got a dum dum and I got a Tootie roll.

{4} Spend the afternoon rocking our hearts out...on the rocking chairs.

{5} Watch the lightning storms roll in from the the said rocking chairs.

{6} Picnics in Provo Canyon.

Any more ideas on how to fill our summers out in Utah?

We sure love getting to see our family

Moving from Cali was a little tough on our little girl. Randomly she will talk about how much she misses her buddies from the WC. But one thing that always seemed to cheer her up was when we would mention that her cousin Maddie would be coming to Utah in July. And boy, Maddie did not disappoint! Here at the cute cousins below.

We were lucky that they were able to come out for 10 whole days. Whenever Maddie would come over to Nana's, Ava would run over to the door and then the girls would immediately go downstairs.

First order of business was always to dress up as a princess.

Next order of business, go off and play with the princess dolls.

No boys allowed!

After putting Reid down for a nap I come back to find these girlies giggling and eating their snacks in the car. I have no idea how they came up with sitting in the car this way.

One day during the week we took the girls to Kangaroo Zoo. So fun! Sadly I cannot find the charger for my SLR camera yet. Ugh. I so miss using it. But at least I still have my point and shoot.

For Pioneer Day we all headed up to Provo Canyon for a picnic and some cooler weather. Here are the boys tossing around the football.

Here are all of the cousins sitting together.

Reid does not stop moving. Ever. We had to take turns following him around making sure he didn't get into any trouble.

The girls being their silly selves.

Password: twinkle


A few days after Joe and the fam arrived, Jeremy flew out for a visit too. Did I mention that he brought German chocolate with him? So good. Everyone should have a family member over in Germany.

By the end of the week Ava decided that Uncle Jeremy was actually pretty fun.

Any guesses on why Reid is so dang happy?

Icecream. Jeremy found the quickest way to Reidy's heart :)

We love LOVE getting to see our family. We're pretty lucky that our family is pretty awesome.

Birthday celebrations all around

July is a big birthday month for our household. Not only do we get to celebrate our nation's birthday, we celebrate half of our family's birthdays as well. (It's pretty easy to celebrate half the birthdays when you're a family of four)

Here are a few pics from our 4th 3rd of July celebrations. Did anyone else think having the 4th on a Sunday was weird? Here are the kiddos with their grandparents dressed up in red, white and blue. I think this picture was taken before John got stung in the forehead while trying to defend our BBQ from a hive of wasps. I guess the head is a good spot to get stung because it hardly even swelled. But I bet it still hurt like heck.

Ava got to stay up to watch the fireworks with Daddy, Mommy and Grandpa. Nana was kind enough to stay home while Reid slept.

We got everyone ready and headed right next door. Yep, we walked over to the neighbor's backyard. They have an amazing view overlooking the BYU stadium. Ava loved watching and commenting on the fireworks. But sadly she only made it till halfway through the finale.

A few days later we got to celebrate Josh's birthday. Sadly, Josh forbade us from taking any photos of his turning a year older. Okay, that's not true. Josh just worked all day so we didn't get to do anything too exciting. We just had a little family celebration later that night. Check out the video below. Both kids were entertained for the entire week opening and closing both Josh and my birthday cards. The password is birthday.

A few days after Josh's birthday we got to celebrate my birthday. To my surprise my sister and her fam decided to join in the fun. Love them! As you can tell, Ava loves them just as much!

The following are just a few pics of the kidlets playing together. Ava took very good care of her little cousin.

These little ones are going to have so much fun when they get a little older. And I'm loving living closer to them so we'll get to see them more than once a year.

After having the kids play for a bit we drove over to Jared's sister's house to continue the party. We went swimming, had a BBQ, and Jared spent a few hours trying to find a DQ that sold ice cream cakes. Thanks everyone for making me feel so special. I am such a lucky girl. My sister was a little better at documenting their entire stay. Check it out here and here.

Celebrating 3 birthdays in one week sure can be exhausting. Hopefully Ava was able to rest us because we had 3 more visitors come before the end of the month.