Where's Ava?

Probably to my mom's dismay, the past few posts have not included any new pictures of Ava. Do not fret, because this post is chalk full of them! I don't have a funny story, it's just a bunch of random pictures taken this past weekend. The weather was amazingly warm, so we spent most of our time outside. Either at the park, on a walk, or practicing our walking skills.

Can you believe just how green the trees are? It is just beautiful. The whole time we were at the park I tried to get Ava to look at the camera. As you can tell, she wouldn't even humor me with a glance.


Ava was watching some kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk. I was getting all prepared to snap a picture when they rode behind me...


Ha! She didn't even glance at me. The bikers were way more cooler than Mommy :(


Ava hates touching the grass. I look forward to going to the park, because I know I can place her on the blanket and she will not leave it. Well, until she lunged for the stroller. She pushed the stroller all around the park. This girl has got some muscles!


Don't worry, we don't just sit on the blanket at the park. We actually played on all the toys. My goodness, that hat is ginormous (is that a word?).


Ava's little boyfriend from church is letting her borrow his walker. Since our apartment is "cozy", we took it outside to really get some good use out of it.

Look at that hair! I tried to tame it down, but if I don't distract her immediately after putting it in, she will pull it out and hand it right back to me.


This next picture is for Saskia. See, Anna isn't the only one in the family to have crying fits. Ava has them too!


Recently Ava has started sleeping with one limb outside of the crib. Whenever I go in to check on her either an arm or a leg will most likely be sticking through the bars.


Only 5 more days till my baby girl turns 1!!! Today we practiced trying to blow out candles. We didn't make any progress on that front. It was just wishful thinking. Josh and I can't wait to celebrate this weekend!

(notice the 2 bottom teeth. We thought her teeth would never come in)

My name is Korey and I'm an Idol addict

Family sack of fun!

This is pretty ambitious, I mean it isn't even Saturday yet, but I'm already reading over the lesson I'm suppose to teach this upcoming Sunday. Way to go me! After reading through it I decided I needed a little help. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to write the whole lesson for me. But I do have a question for you. The lesson is titled "Encouraging Enjoyable Family Activities." I am planning of having the girls put together a "Family Fun Sack." The girls are going to write down activities they would like to do with their families on a slip of paper and then put them in the sack of fun. To help the girls come up with some ideas, I was going to have a list of super cool activities that they could use if they wanted. This is where you come in. Have you ever had an FHE activity that was totally awesome? It doesn't just have to be a FHE activity. If you have another activity or family tradition that you think could apply, add those too! Thanks! Can't wait to hear all your guys' ideas :)

Krys's Graduation Celebration

After arriving back from Mexico, we had 72 hours before we had to leave for Idaho. Let's just say the house was a complete mess when we left...ummm, and still is :) We usually don't plan two vacations right next to each other, but my sis Krysten was graduating from the nursing program at BYU-I. There was no way we were going to miss that!

The minute we arrived in Rexburg our day was packed. You may be asking, "What is there to do in Idaho?" Well, a lot! After Krys and Jared came over to our hotel we headed over to Jared's dad's house to meet Caleb (Krys and Jared's nephew). Ava is just a month younger than Caleb. This was the highly anticipated play date...more like a play beside each other date. I think Caleb was very infatuated with Ava, because he kept wanting to hug her, kiss her face and touch her. They aren't blood related, so it was alright!

That night was Krysten's graduation. We headed over to the location where the ceremony was going to be held, walked in, and no one else was there. We were just a half hour early before we had to be seated. Who cares where everyone else was, we got to sit in the two front rows! After the ceremony we headed back to Krys's apartment to indulge in some Dairy Queen ice cream cake. I wish I had some to eat right now!

While in Rexburg we also fit in attending a session at the Rexburg temple (thanks Jeanie for watching little Ava bug), had craft time (I made some super cute coasters), went bowling, went shooting, got to pet horses, and had a delicious dinner at Jared's dad's house...can't forget playing games (I won Settlers both times we played!!!) Thanks Krys and Jared for showing us a good time. We had a blast. We wish we could do it more often. We are so glad that we were able to make it out for your graduation. Stressful days of studying, taking tests, and clinicals are finally over...well, after you take the state board exam. We are so proud of you!

I'm still pasty white

Waking up at 2 am, holding an energetic 11 month old for 6 hours, standing in the passport line in Mexico for a few hours, profusely sweating in the back of an unconditioned airport shuttle for an hour, on the return flight missing your connecting flight and staying the night in Salt Lake City. Does that sound like much fun...it was totally worth the effort to go down to Cancun!



This past week we were lucky enough to get to spend a week down in the Riviera Maya with the rest of the Bunting clan. Only one of Josh's siblings had met Ava before our trip, so I was looking forward to getting to introduce her to the family. The first introduction included many tears, but I mostly attribute that to traveling before the crack of dawn and being in a new place. But after the first day Ava adjusted quite well. She loved chillin' poolside, having new places to explore, and eatting sand and drinking the pool water...yuck! But most of all she loved all of her cousins! I think her cousins were just as infatuated with her. Hugs and kisses were frequently exchanged and they all wanted to help stuff Cheerios in Ava's mouth. Which she could do on her own, but I guess it wasn't as fun watching her eat them by herself.

While down there we were able to go snorkeling. There just happened to be a coral reef right in front of our hotel. Another day Josh and I went para sailing. The scariest part wasn't actually being up in the air, it was going on the jet ski to get to the boat. I was terrified that the driver was going to hit a wave the wrong way and I would flop into the water. But mostly during the trip we took it pretty easy and chilled by the pool/ocean.

Josh and I loved getting to spend time with everyone. We are so grateful for the family that we have and wish they all lived closer. Thanks John and Shelby for making this all possible. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

By the way, I realized once I got home that I really didn't take that many pictures. I guess I was just having too much fun! So if you want to see more pics, check out my super cute sister-in-law's sites (Kassie, Saskia, and Ashley). They were much better at taking pictures than me :)

Happy Easter

We hope everyone had a great Easter. As for us we had fun starting some new traditions with Ava. Even though Ava isn't even a year old yet, I think she had fun getting an Easter basket, wearing her new Easter dress (I think I enjoyed that tradition more than Ava though), and going on her first Easter egg hunt. Ava has a love hate relationship with grass...well, more of a hate relationship :) She usually is crawling all over our apartment, but once you place her on the grass she doesn't move an inch. With Josh's help, Ava was able to walk over to her eggs. She had a fun time placing the eggs in her basket and then dumping them all out. She actually did that all day. She even figured out how to get her Cheerios out of the eggs by throwing them really hard against the kitchen floor.



When we were talking to my in-laws on the phone, my father-in-law asked what was the real reason we celebrated Easter. Josh said it was for the candy. But all jokes aside, Easter is a great time to remember our Savior's love and how much he has done for us. How blessed are we to have the blessings of the atonement in our lives. It is so great to know that because the Savior died on the cross and rose again, we will also get to live again with our families. What a priceless gift.

I married a rock star!

A few of you may be a little confused by the title, but I'll get to that in a few minutes. Last night Josh's work held an officewarming. They recently moved into a new building and wanted an excuse to party! (the new digs is the building on the left)


Free food, free babysitting, extra time with Josh...no brainer. I left Ava with a babysitter, took the Bart into the city, and was ready for some fun. After some yummy food (including a chocolate fountain...oh yeah!) and socializing it was time for the real fun to start...it was time to play Rock Band. For those who are unfamiliar with the game, it's where you get to become the rock god that you've always wanted to be.

I know that my mom probably has no idea what I'm talking about. So if you already know how to play, just totally skip this paragraph :) So, Mom, there can be 4 players in each band. You need a bassist, guitarist, drummer, and a singer. Then you get to pick the song you want to preform. On the screen the game tells each player what notes to push on their instrument or what words to sing.


I guess the employees are hardcore Rock Band players. The day of the party everyone split into bands, held practices, made costumes, and even planned their stage entrances. I assure you that they do actually work at work. But it is nice that they are able to take some time out of their super busy and stressful workday to have some fun.

All night I was waiting for The Grip to perform...I heard that the bassist was H-O-T! I am glad to say that he didn't disappoint. Here is Josh rocking out with a few of his coworkers.


Josh played double duty as bassist and backup singer. He just couldn't help himself...they were playing a song from Smashing Pumpkins. If any of you knew Josh is high school, they were his favorite band....well, besides the Dixie Chicks :)


You rocked babe! I am totally the president of your fan club!

Heaven on a mattress

This isn't just another cute picture of Ava. It's a cute picture of Ava sitting on our fabulous, super luxurious, new queen size bed! For those of you who may not know, when Josh and I got married his parents were kind enough to give us one of their full size beds. (yep, you read that right, a full) Being poor college students we took it willingly. I grew up sleeping on a Queen...all by myself. So I must admit that it did take some time to adjust to sharing a full size bed, but we got used to it. After 3 1/2 years Josh and I finally decided it was time to retire our faithful mattress. After anxiously waiting to go to bed all day, it was finally time to give it a try. After sliding under our new, crisp white, silky sheets I was in love. If Ava would allow me, I would of stayed there all day! If you try calling me early in the morning and I don't answer, you know where I'll be!