Wet-n-Wild

"Bu-Bu"

Ava loves bubbles and calls them "bu-bu". She has big and small bubble wands and a bubble rocket. Ava prefers the bubble wands because sometimes the bubble rocket scares her. She knows she has to put her backyard sandals on to play with the bubbles, so she will find them and give them to me to put on.

Ava being Ava

Blowing kisses

Ava likes to give kisses to her Dadas (yes, plural because that is what she calls both of us). She also blows kisses to family and friends. Ava always gives me a kiss before bed, but as Rich carries her down the hall she will turn and blow kisses too.

Ava likes to smell flowers. She thinks it is funny when we lean her close so she can get a good smell. I love when she scrunches up her nose to smell flowers...so cute!

Ava likes to feed people, animals, and even toys. She often shares her food with us and loves to give Luca treats. In this picture she decided her duplo elephant needed some peas.

Ava loves to put on shoes. She doesn't even care if they are her daddy's and way too big.

Daddy took too long

Ava enjoyed walking naked and free after her bath...

She stopped to play hide-n-seek behind the pocket door...
Oh No!! Daddy should of put the diaper on sooner!

We hope he learned his lesson!

Bath Time

Ava enjoys her bath time. Each night as Rich gets the bath ready I will help Ava get ready. I help her get undressed and tell her to get her towel. As Ava signs bath she will get her towel and walk down the hall to Rich.

Until We Meet Again

Thank you to all those who have and are currently serving our country in the armed forces. We appreciate your service and dedication to keeping our country safe and free.

To those who have lost loved ones we offer prayers of peace and hope you feel the love of our Savior Jesus Christ. May the resurrection give you comfort to know this life is not the end and families can be together forever.

I Finished!

This week I finally finished reading, "Wives and Daughters" by Elizabeth Gaskell. I have been reading it since we had Ava. My free reading time is at night when everyone else is asleep and I'm usually pretty tired myself and end up not reading. I have been slowing working my way through it and have foolishly stayed up past midnight a few times because I was so into it. I really enjoyed the story and have now started "North and South" which is also by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Now that I have finished the book I am going to treat myself to watching the mini-series on Netflix. That is how I was originally introduced to the story. Netflix recommended the mini-series and after watching it I found out it was a book. I liked the series so much I bought the book on ebay and the rest is history. I decided to finish the book before I watched the series again. Tomorrow I am actually looking forward to folding laundry and ironing during Ava's nap, so I can enjoy the BBC version of "Wives and Daughter".

While Mommy is away Daddy and Ava will play...

While Lisa was off shooting guns we had some fun of our own. The local library had some exotic animals come through. Ava and I (along with a room packed full of people) saw them. There was a Brown Lemur, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, Desert Tortoise, and an Alligator. We enjoyed looking at the animals, but with all the people we didn't get up close.

Big Guns

Yesterday I went with the youth of our ward on a shooting activity. That's right, I shot guns, big guns. I started out with an AK-47, then a smaller 22 riffle, and finally a single barrel shot gun. I hit a couple targets, but didn't even come close to the clay pigeons with the shotgun. It was a lot of fun and I have a bruised shoulder to prove it.

The smaller 22 riffle.

Me trying to hit a clay pigeon with a shotgun.

Me shooting the AK-47. I was pretty nervous because of the kickback, but I think I did okay.

A Day in the Park

On Tuesday Ava and I met my friend April and her two boys, Tommy (2 yrs.) & Corbin (3 mos.), at Hagan Park. This was Ava's first time playing at a park. She loved the slide and probably could of played on it all day. I tried to swing with her and she did not like it. This wasn't a surprise because so far she hasn't enjoyed her tree swing at home and didn't like baby swings. I'm hoping as she gets older she will come to appreciate swinging.

Ava & Tommy playing hide and seek...sort of.

Ava's Secret Hiding Place

Ava loves to hide things in our DVD cupboard. On this day it was her Cabbage Patch Kid (that use to be mine).

Bucket Head

This post is for Ava's dad, Aunt, and Uncles that are Primus fans.

Sea Turtles Video

Monterey: Now & Then

NOW

THEN

(I guess I must really like that shirt.)
NOW

THEN

(I guess Rich really likes his octopus shirt too. I promise we had no idea until this moment that we wore the same outfits for both trips. What a bunch of weirdos.)

Monterey Aquarium

On Monday, May 10th we headed to Monterey for a quick day trip. Ava really likes fish, so we thought it would be a good time to take her back to the aquarium. We took her last September, but she was not into the exhibits then. This time she had a blast. She especially liked the Outer Bay exhibit and coral reef tanks.

This is the new "Hot Pink Flamingos" exhibit. It is basically the same structure as the River Otter exhibit, but with fewer small tanks. We were a little disappointed in this exhibit because it did not live up to the last two exhibits (River Otters & Sharks). The one (or should I say two) cool things about this exhibit were the 2 sea turtles.
This is Ava and Rich inside the coral reef tunnel in the Splash Zone. Ava enjoyed walking around in the tunnel and looking at the tanks.

Ava pointing at a sea anemone.

Ava touching a chiton. We were happy to see her interested in the animals this time. Last September she wanted nothing to do with the touch pools and screamed when she touched the cold water.

Ava and daddy examining some kelp.

Mormon Helping Hands

On Saturday, May 8th we had our stake Mormon Helping Hands service project. We helped at Eastlawn Cemetery in Sacramento. We started the morning by polishing headstones. When we finished that job we moved on to weeding around gravestones. We all had a good time and even Ava helped polish and weed. She enjoyed weeding the most.

Rich's thoughts: It was a good experience. I was happy to help out. There was a big turnout and I look forward to doing this next year.

Lisa's thoughts: I loved participating in this service project. It was great to see hundreds of people show up to beautify the cemetery. I was proud of the youth from our ward that ended up cleaning the VERY dirty mausoleums.

Personally, I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace as I weeded around the grave sites. I enjoyed reading the names and dates. I thought about these people and wondered what they were like. Some of the graves were really overgrown and it made me sad to see that maybe they weren't cared for or visited very often. It felt good being able to provide this service and let these individuals know just because they are gone they are not forgotten. I know it sounds pretty wimpy, but a couple of times after uncovering a grave I became emotional and shed a few tears. It was weird, but I felt like the individuals were grateful and that made me happy. I really hope we do this service project again next year.

Here we are bright and early on Saturday morning. Ava is pretty tired still but she warmed up before the morning was over.

Ava and I polishing the headstones. We learned later we weren't suppose to polish these headstones but only the marble ones. Ooops!

Ava helping weed around the headstone. Notice she has one of my gloves.

Me weeded. I got my gloves back from Ava.

Ava having a good time in her awesome yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" vest.