Picnic at the Temple

On May 9th Rich and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. It was a Monday, so we celebrated by going to the temple for a picnic. It was a beautiful evening and we all had a great time. The temple is one of our favorite places to visit as a family.

Ava following some deer. She got pretty close before they ran away. Rich had to catch her because she tried to run after them. Who knows how far she would of gone?

Run, Ava, Run!!

Ava has the funniest run. She tries so hard to go fast, but just looks like she is speed walking. Whenever we race I have to make sure I just walk, so she can win. When we are on the trail she loves to run and Rich and I love to watch her go. She makes us smile and laugh. I know one day she will give me a run for my money, so for now I'm happy I can keep up with her.

Family Photos

Last month we decided we needed an updated family photo, so we asked our friend Miriam to help us out. She was kind enough to take photos of us and edit them too. Here are a few of our favorites.

The last two photos were taken while we were up in a tree. Ava loves to have her picture taken up in our tree. We thought it would be cute to put her in a tree at the park, but Ava didn't like the idea. We were surprised because our tree at home is much higher. Since she started freaking out we thought it would be fun to have a picture of all of us in the tree. Ava still didn't like the idea, but I think it is cute anyway.

Rock Hound

Ava really likes rocks, especially big rocks. When we are outside she gravitates towards rocks. On our nature walks she stops to check out rocks all along the trail. We have even brought home a few rocks that Ava couldn't part with. This obsession with rocks reminds me of my grandma because she used to collect rocks. My grandma also had a nice rock tumbler and tools to work with rock. I'm sad that I told my mom we didn't want the tumbler because Ava probably would of loved it.

Fun & Games

As Ava gets older we are finding more and more fun things to play with. A couple weeks ago while at Toys R Us I found a wooden marble set on clearance. I was so excited because I've been wanting one for awhile. I didn't buy one before because Ava wasn't ready and the kind I want was pricey (the real reason). When I came across this set I couldn't pass up the deal, so I called Rich to make sure he thought it was a good idea. Fortunately, he agreed with me and now we can enjoy hours of fun family time.

We also played board games with Ava for the first time recently. First, we tried Hungry, Hungry, Hippos and then Buzz Lightyear Operation. Ava understood Hippos and did pretty well. On the other hand she did not get the concept of Operation and liked to make the annoying buzzer buzz.

Flowers & Ladybugs

The Friday night before Mother's Day we were trying to get Ava to use the potty and go to bed, but she did not want to cooperate. To encourage her to go to bed I told her about our fun plans for the next day. I told her we were going to the flower store to buy vegetables and she said "and flowers too!" I told her we could buy some flowers too. Ava then decided we needed to buy yellow flowers and we told her she could buy yellow flowers but first she had to go to sleep. This seemed to calm her down and she began to get excited about getting flower the next day. Ava sat on the potty and talked about yellow flowers while she waited to go. After a little bit she burst out "yellow and red flowers too!" It was so cute and she was so excited I told her she could pick out some yellow and red flowers after she went to sleep. Ava was happy and looking forward to the next day and went to bed without anymore trouble.

On Saturday Ava woke up and remembered we were going to the flower store to buy yellow and red flowers. On our drive there she talked about the flowers and then stated, "need blue flowers too." When I asked her about the blue flowers she replied, "daddy needs the blue flowers." As we talked about the flowers she told us the blue flowers were for daddy, the yellow flowers were for mommy, and the red flowers were for her. I thought it was so sweet she was thinking about us that of course I gave in and let her pick out flowers for each of us. After we got the flowers we took them home and planted them all in one pot that is Ava's pot.
While we were at Capital Nursery we also bought some ladybugs. I like to buy ladybugs each year to help control the aphids on my roses. This year Ava was excited to help release them. At first she was excited to hold the container and watch the ladybugs move. Once they started climbing all over her arms she decided it wasn't that much fun and just wanted them off her.

Copycat

Ava has been in a copycat phase. Whatever I do she wants to do too. It is sweet and oh so cute.

This week I have been soaking my foot because I have an ingrown toenail. As soon as she saw what I was doing she ordered Rich to get her some water and a towel too. Now every night when I soak my foot she has to do the same.

On Mother's Day I decided I wanted to make some bread rolls for dinner, so Ava decided she needed to be right there with me kneading too. It is nice I can share my love of cooking with her.

Ava Loves Her Bath Crayons

Visit with Papa & Nona Kurz

The week before Mother's Day Ava and I went to visit my parents for a couple days. We went to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day and so I could get help on a sewing project (will post when completed). We had a great time and were completely spoiled on our visit. We ate out a few times and went to the mall. During our shopping adventure Nona bought Ava green Saltwater Sandals that match mine and a heart sandwich press that Ava loved. Ava and I were also treated to our first pedicures with matching blue-green toenail polish. It was a lot of fun and nice to be with my family. Ava had such a good time she was upset when it was time to go home. She actually cried for her Nona, but after a nap in the car and seeing her daddy she was happy to be home.

This is Ava drinking "daddy juice" (AKA-strawberry lemonade). At home Rich likes to drink Crystal Light and Ava calls it "daddy juice". Sometimes she gets to share some, so this was a special occasion for her to have her very own. She downed half of it before we even got lunch.

This is Ava getting her toenails painting. At first she didn't want a pedicure and kept saying, "not my feet", but as soon as she saw the fingernail polish she whipped her shoes off and was ready to participate.

Ava does have a big scrap on her chin. The day before we left she fell off of a friend's piano bench and scraped her chin. It look bad for about a week.

Matching toes & shoes.

Sushi Video

This video goes with the previous post, but I forgot to add it.

Future Sushi Chef

For Easter Ava got a sushi playset from Papa & Nona Kurz and she loves it. She plays with it everyday and enjoys feeding me, Rich, or "Oo-Oo" (doggie puppet). Her favorite part is cutting the sushi rolls. Ava cuts them up, serves them, and then starts all over again. With all this practice she is going to have some mad knife skills.

Starting out the meal with some miso soup.

Ava is really concentrating in this picture and making sure she cuts her sushi roll just right.

Ava trying her roll with some chopsticks. The chopsticks and sushi rolls have velcro to make it easier. We are still trying to teach Ava to pretend to eat her play food, but she just doesn't get it.

"I love sushi!"

Kobie's Baptism

On April 30, 2011 Kobie (our nephew) was baptized and became an offiicial member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was an exciting day and we were happy we could be there to support him.

Sweet Music

I know I have blogged about Rich singing to Ava each night in Italian, but recently Ava has started singing along. Last night I asked Rich to leave the door cracked so I could capture the moment. Unfortunately Ava saw my hand and the camera halfway through the song. Even with my distraction Ava sang along beautifully. When I watch the video back today it brought tears to my eyes. Rich is a wonderful dad and Ava is just AWESOME!

Mormon Helping Hands

On April 30th it was Mormon Helping Hands Day throughout California. Our stake service project was to help beautify 3 schools in our area. Our ward was assigned to Albert Einstein Middle School in Rosemont.

We arrived a little late, so we missed the assignment part. Since we had Ava we were limited to what we could do (no painting). We walked around aimlessly for a few minutes and then found our friends the Slaughter family. Together we decided to help Brother Mealy plant a tree. The men dug the hole and the moms and children filled buckets with water to water the tree. It ended up being the perfect activity for our family because we all had something to do and Ava loves to water. She also had a lot of fun with her buddy Andrew and his older brother Benjamin.

There were some fun activities for the kids to do like decorating this pot. Can you guess what hand is Ava's? It is the big white blob in the middle. She smeared it so there aren't any fingers.

1st Trip to the Dentist

Last Tuesday we made a trip to Gridley to visit our dentist, Rich's dad. Rich and I had our biannual teeth cleaning and we were hoping Ava would let Papa Bruce check out her teeth too. Our plan was to have Ava watch me get my teeth cleaned to ease her into it, but that backfired. As soon as she saw the hygienist with the lights and glasses on her head she freaked out. From that point on she didn't want anyone to look at her teeth. The only thing that calmed her down was the giant set of teeth and toothbrush in the office. Ava had a good time brushing the teeth and really wanted to take the toothbrush home. Oh well, we will have to try again in 6 months.

This picture pretty much sums up Ava's feelings about going to the dentist...Sorry Papa Bruce & Uncle Bob.

Working in the Garden

Ava loves to help in the garden. One of her favorite things to do each day is water. She has her own water can and fills it over and over until everything is watered. A couple weeks ago we planted our garden and Ava used her garden tools to help. She helped Rich get the ground ready and then plant. This year we decided to plant a small garden with only a few things. We are going to let the other planter boxes rest until next year. We are excited to see what are little garden will produce. I know Ava will enjoy watering it and eating all summer long.

In this picture Ava is touching a snail. While digging up the dirt and moving things around we found a lot of creepy crawly things. It was fun to see Ava's reaction to all the bugs. She wasn't afraid of any of them and enjoyed squishing the snails with me.