Grandpa

One last picture! I totally forgot to post this little gem in a previous post. I just had to post it because everyday Ava asks where Grandpa is. While out in UT anytime he would enter the room she would shout his name until she got his attention. It might have a little to do with the fact that Grandpa was the giver of Jelly beans and all other sweets. But hey, isn't that what grandparents are for?

New Years Eve

This is going to be so sad, but I've never had a great New Years. Josh and I agree that New Years is totally not a Mormon holiday. But thanks to Kassie and Jake, I actually had a great time stuffing my face with cheese fondue, chocolate chip cookies and sparkling cider. Yum! We even got Shelby to stay up for a non-competitive game of Apples to Apples.

I can't believe it is already the new year. I have only 3 1/2 more months being the mother of one. So, I guess my resolution this year is not have a total break down! If anyone has any advice on having 2 kiddos, don't be shy, share your wisdom!

So that's it! That's all the pics I'm going to post from our vacation. I am so grateful for all of our family. Ava has some awesome grandparents, aunts and uncles to look up to. It makes me a little sad to realize that it's going to be a year and half before we see everyone again. We love you guys!

Temple Square

You can't go to Utah without going to Temple Square to see the lights. Lucky for us the weather wasn't actually too bad. It wasn't snowing or even windy.


Ahhh, isn't the temple just gorgeous.


In the middle of the reflection pool they placed a statue of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Aren't the floating balls the coolest?




I still can't get over the amount of detail that went into putting up all the lights. Each branch of the tree had lights on it. I have no idea how they did it, but I'm so glad they did. It was beautiful.

The Bean Museum

Doesn't visiting a museum full of stuffed animals sound like a fun time? Well it so is. I'm always so surprised by the variety of animals that they have here. We were a little worried to see how Ava was going to react to all the animals. Especially to seeing the ginormous bear standing on it's hind legs. (Just follow our gaze to guess just how large this bear is!) But we had nothing to worry about. When Ava laid eyes on the bear she excitedly pointed to it, and then ran over to the bear while saying "Grrrrr".


The museum was way better than a book for Ava. She couldn't get enough of walking around and asking her what each animal was.


I'm not joking about the pointing! She is such a curious little girl.




Ava and Josh also loved looking at all of the bugs. I did not.


All in all it was the perfect little outing. We'll definitely be going again in the future.

Cousins 24/7

Ava absolutely loved being around her cousins. It actually made for a rough couple of days once we were back home. I guess Mommy just isn't as fun to play with.


Nana quickly won the hearts of these kiddos once she introduced them to Youtube.




One of the other gifts Ava got for Christmas was a stroller for her baby dolls. Lucky for Ava, Maddie was more than willing to push Ava instead of a baby doll around in the stroller.


One of the days while we were out in Utah we traveled up north to visit my cousins. Of course, they were all way more excited to see Ava than Josh and myself :) I'm so glad that the snow stopped falling for one day so we could make the trip up north.

Christmas

Christmas Eve was full of delicious food. Thanks Shelby for all the hard work and effort that went into such a feast!

After dinner all the kiddos put on a wonderful performance of the nativity story. Now don't laugh, but this seriously is the best picture I had of all the cousins. I wish you could see Anna's costume, she was the cutest donkey I've ever seen.


After dinner all the cousins got to open one present. Surprisingly they all got Christmas pj's in their packages.


Early Christmas morning all of the crew gathered in the living room for some present opening fun. These little girls look like they don't have a clue what's going to happen next. But Josh does!


Ava must of been good little girl, because Santa was very nice to her. I bet it helps that she didn't have to worry about being nice to any siblings. These little velcro fruit were a total hit with Ava bug.


Later that night the boys gathered for a very competitive game of risk.


All in all, it was really nice getting to spend Christmas with our family.

Let there be snow

This year we got to spend the holidays with Josh's side of the family. I was totally excited to get to see snow while I was there. But I don't think I was ready for this much snow!


But I must admit, the snow sure is pretty to look at. Even if I'm now too chicken to drive it in. CA has sure made me soft when it comes to weather extremes.


Here's our little snow bunny getting ready to go sledding for the first time.



Ava was a total sledding junky! Once at the bottom of the hill Ava would keep repeating "Nor, nor!" (Ava translation: More, more)

Simple Joys

I wish you were all here to witness just how proud Ava was of herself for putting her pants on all by herself.


But she did need my help with buttoning them. Especially since the buttons and zipper were in the back.