Beautiful Day for a Walk!

Today was a perfect spring day for a walk. We strapped Ava into her stroller, put Luca's harness on, and headed to the river trail. I love this time of year because the fields are green and covered with purple wildflowers. There are also a few California poppies.

As we were walking Rich and Luca found a blue-bellied lizard. Rich showed it to Ava, but she wasn't that interested. She was pretty tired and was in a daze for most of the walk.

When we got back Ava was worn out, so we chilled in the rocking chair and read a book. We just got "Animals, Animals" by Eric Carle from the library. It is a neat book that we both enjoy. Ava loves to look at all the pictures and color.

Cute Photos

Super Hero or Hulk Hogan Pose

Really tired girl.

Fits of Rage!

Chatty girl.

Superstar!

Watching TV with mom.

Ava Discovers Luca

This past week Ava has discovered Luca. Before she wouldn't look at him and was only interested in human faces. This past week she has noticed Luca and will stare at him curiously.

Sunday Best

Ava is a beautiful little girl and she looks especially pretty on Sundays when she is dressed for church.

Jumperoo

Ava used some of her gift cards to buy a jumperoo. She really likes to stand and bounce on our laps, so she thought a jumperoo sounded fun. Ava thinks her new toy is pretty cool, but she will enjoy it more when she grows a little bit bigger. For now she has to stand on mom's cooking magazines, so she can bounce and enjoy the toys.

Moving On Up

For the past three weeks Ava has been sleeping in her crib. The first couple of weeks she did really well, but this past week she has had a more difficult time sleeping in her crib the entire night. Ava has also started eating more which has lead to a gassy tummy, so at night she is very squirmy and doesn't always want to lay flat in her crib. The nights when her tummy isn't happy she also sleeps in her bouncer which seems to help. There have also been a couple of nights when either Rich or I have spent a few hours with her in the rocking chair. Ava seems to be getting use to eating more and creating a new schedule, so I think by next week she will be sleeping better in her crib.

Ava & Great-Grandpa

The Easter Bunny Visits Gridley

On April 16th we headed to Rich's parents to go to the dentist (Rich's dad) and to celebrate Nona Alicia's birthday. It was nice because the cousins that live in the area were also able to come, so we had a nice family party. Alicia requested Chinese food and carrot cake. For her presents she got a lot of flowers, a hand mixer, a book, and a riding lawn mower for the orchard.

While we were there the Easter Bunny dropped by to hide eggs. Rich's parents were in Oregon for Easter, so the Easter Bunny did not visit them until this week. This was Ava's first Easter egg hunt and she had a good time. I strapped her into the baby bjorn and off we went. Ava got a lot of candy that she will have to share with her parents and some money to put into her savings account. All the cousins had a great time and once again Rachel was the big money winner. She really is the best Easter egg hunter I've ever seen. Once the eggs were found the kids had fun going through them to see what they got. I enjoyed listening to them barter for different candy or toys...kids are so smart and funny.

3 Month Photos

Disney DDR

We bought Disney Dance, Dance, Revolution for the Wii. I really like the DDR game and think the Disney version is more family friendly. I thought it would be fun to strap Ava into the Baby Bjorn and have a dance together. It was pretty hard with her because I had to go slow and not jump too much. I did not do a very good job because I was focused on Ava and not the game. I had fun though and think in the future I will let Ava watch from her bouncer.

Happy Easter

This year we had Easter at our house with my parents and brother. My family brought appetizers and dessert. We made herb crusted pork tenderloin, garlic roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes, and deviled eggs. We had a nice feast and later enjoyed a game of bocce ball (Italian lawn bowling) in the backyard. The Easter bunny did visit Ava, but since she was too small to hunt eggs this year he just left her Easter basket on the table. Ava got bubbles, a cool new pacifier, a Magnadoodle, and a smurf. The Easter bunny knew that Ava couldn't have candy yet, so he left her a big can of her favorite formula...She was happy!!

Ava's 1st Car Wash

This past week I decided I had enough of my dirty car. Since I'm kind of lazy and don't like to wash my car until the hot summer, I took it to the car wash. Rich and Ava were in the back seat and she didn't seem that interested in the whole thing. Rich took a short video of her, but by the end of it she was yawning.

Ebay Rocks!

Today I was so excited to receive my packet of books in the mail. A couple weeks ago I found some Italian children books on Ebay and snatched them up. I figured they would help Rich teach Ava Italian. Also, Rich loves The Grinch and Berenstain Bears. These books are special not only because they are Italian, but they came all the way from Great Britain. I love Ebay!!

Bathtime Just Got A Little Bit Better

We bought Ava this bathtub to see if it made bath time more enjoyable and it did...YEAH!! Ava stays warmer and is much happier. She still gets mad when we take her out, but then we feed her and she is happy again.

General Conference

This weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The conference takes place twice a year in Salt Lake and is broadcast throughout the world. It is a time for us to hear from our prophet and other leaders of the church. They share counsel, teachings, and their testimonies of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. We always look forward to conference weekends because it leaves us refreshed, uplifted, and inspired. This conference was a little harder to pay attention to because we had a cute little distraction, but that is the beauty of technology. The conference is broadcast on Dish Network and we record it with our DVR, so we can watch it again when we our less distracted.

Dad and Ava watching conference together. Ava actually paid attention for a while. I think she was fascinated by all the faces from the different speakers.

Dad and Ava napping after conference.

Now & Then

This is Ava on January 22, 2009 wearing her polar bear pants and....

This is Ava on April 3, 2009 wearing the same bear pants.

Snickers Sunday...MMMMM!

This last week I kept seeing ads for the Baskin Robbins Snickers Sunday, so I decided I needed one...I guess the ads worked. On Friday the three of us went to Togos/Baskin Robbins for dinner and dessert. Rich and I each enjoyed a sandwich and then we shared a Snickers Sunday. It was DELICIOUS!!!

I tried to share some with Ava, but she was more interested in the neon sign on the wall...Just kidding. I wouldn't really give Ava any, but I am excited to take her to Baskin Robbins for her 1st birthday.

This is Ava starring at the neon sign.