Rich's and Ava's Birthday

These are the cupcakes we made for Ava to share with her class.  We decorated them with candy sea creatures that Ava helped me make.

Ava asked for a rainbow cake.  I made her a rainbow cake, but surprised her with the Little Mermaid decorations.  The heart on top has a cutout from Ava's favorite part of the movie when they sing, "Kiss the Girl".

Ava was excited to get Little Mermaid and princess underwear.

Ava got a few Italian movies.  This one is Cinderella.

Ava was excited to get a princess with a prince doll.  She likes to have the princess get married, so now she has someone to marry.

Ava was completely surprised by this Little Mermaid Lego set.  I found it the morning of her birthday when I was doing some last minute shopping.

I made Ava this car neck pillow for our trip to Disneyland.

Ava and Rich each got their own stylus for the iPad.

I love this reaction to the Little Mermaid shirt I made her.

I made this pillowcase for Rich with one of his old concert shirts that did not fit anymore.  He was going to donate it, but I snuck it out of the donate pile and hid it with my sewing stuff.

I gave Rich a Han Solo in carbonite mold.  He can use it for ice, jello, or baking.

Ava opening the gifts from her birthmom,, Kim.

Ava was excited by all the princess stuff.

I made Ava and her doll matching outfits.  It is Minnie Mouse themed for our upcoming trip to Disneyland.

I made Rich this shirt and sweatshirt with my Cameo Silhouette.

I made these shirts for Ava.

"To ever thing there is a season..."

I am way behind on my blog.  If you are family or a regular visitor I'm sure you've noticed.  It is not because nothing is going on, but quite the opposite.  Ava and I are still up to the same thing, but life for Rich is dramatically different.  As Bishop he has a lot more responsibilities and is away from home serving.  This change effects the family and I find myself stepping in to fill holes when Rich is away.  Please don't misunderstand me or think I'm complaining because I'm not.  I am grateful to be married to a wonderful man that is worthy to serve as the Bishop.  I have seen him grow and have some wonderful experiences during the past few months.  It is not always easy, but I am happy to support him.  The reason I am sharing this is it effects the decisions I make and how I prioritize my time.  Blogging is important to me because it is my journal, but I just don't feel like I have that much time to get it done.  At this time in life (and probably for the next few years) I am going to have to re-prioritize my time.  I still hope to update the blog, but it will probably be less frequent.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." -- Ecclesiastes 3:1

New Year's Day

This year for New Year's Day we headed to Gridley to spend time with Rich's family.  We got some of the family hanging around to go to Grey Lodge Wildlife Preserve with us.  It was fun watching the cousins play together and enjoying the wildlife.  We saw a lot of birds (of course) and some river otters.  As we were getting ready to leave the sun was going down and we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

The rest of the day we hung out at Rich's parents.  We enjoyed being with family.  Ava had a great time with her cousins and is always happy to play with them.  It was a great day and a wonderful way to start the year.

Cousins:  Kobie, Bella, Lilly, Eli, & Ava

Ava trying to look at the birds.

Rich helping Ava look at the birds.

All of Us:  Sherrie, Dave Bowling Crew, & Rich Bowling Fam

The three of us on the observation deck.

This picture cracks me up because it looks like Ava is happily chocking me.  I made a comment that I was standing in a hole and too low.  Ava thought she would help by pulling me up.

Ava took this picture of us with the help of a tripod.

Two river otters.  We actually saw four.  It was amazing!