Motherhood!

I wish that I could have recorded my night tonight. I hope I never forget it. It was nothing special--just hanging out at home with my kids. Kevin has been gone quite a bit at work so I was here again just me and the girls. Aurie has taken forever to crawl and she hasn't even been interested in it until tonight. She kept on getting on her hands and knees and crawling-then flopping on her belly. Ava thought it was hilarious! So there we were, all three of us on our knees crawling around and laughing because it was so funny that the baby just decided that tonight was the night. Then I tried to get Aurie to stand by herself so I would stand her up and let go with my hands close by just in case. Every time I would let go, the baby would crack up-knowing that she was doing something risky! Every time she would crack up, Ava and I would crack up! So the whole night all three of us were laughing so hard. We were tickling each other and laughing. What a special night. While all of this was happening, I realized that I take my time with them for granted. I feel like I have been so busy lately with moving and all, and I haven't taken the time to just be with them. What precious little gems they are. I have nothing but the most tender feelings of love for my kids and these precious little moments. I love being a mom. What greater job is there? There is nothing else I would rather do.

Family Reunion at the Cabin!!!

We went looking for turtles in the lily pads

We had a great family reunion! For the life of her, Ava could not eat the doughnut off that string. Poor thing.

She tried so hard to catch fish in that bucket

Kev and I found her with this when we walked into the living room! She was really enjoying herself until.......

.....Until mommy ripped it away from her fingers!!!!!!!!!!!

Family pics

We loved taking family pictures! We just moved into a new place and it has this big awesome yard so that is where we took the pictures. The kids had fun and so did Kev and I.

Sure is a good thing we have LOTS of weeds around our place! Makes for cute pictures. Normally these dandelions are a thorn in my side to get rid of but the girls had fun picking them.

Kev and I had fun because little do you know in these pictures he is trying to squeeze my leg to death to make me laugh.

Inside joke!

Dirty look!

She is trying to push me away. Not a big fan of kisses all the time.

Dimples!

I'm sorry grandma!

So we bought this book called Olivia and I love love love it because the character in the book is AVA RIGHT ON! One of the things she loves to do is change about 20 times a day. It is amazing! Olivia and Ava are one in the same in so many ways. One rainy day, Olivia goes to a museum and looks at a painting that doesn't make sense to her because it is so messy and crazy that she thinks she can do it herself. When she get's home, she gives it a try on her wall, to her mother's shock!!!!!
As you look at exhibit A, you will notice that Ava and Olivia are, once again, all too similar! I put Ava down for a "nap" and at the end of the 3 hours, I walk in to come get her because I thought that I had heard her moving around in her bed. When I turned the corner and saw the wall that is by Ava's bed I gasped and almost fell backward! Unfortunately this picture can't capture the whole "mural" because it is TOO LARGE! Can you believe it??!! I looked down at her and there on her bed is a Sharpie....A SHARPIE! PERMANENT=MUCH HARDER TO GET OFF!! She just learned how to draw people as you can see: One big head, two eyes, curly hair, big smile, stick arms and legs. Kevin was right behind me and had the same reaction. Unfortunately, we are staying with Kev's parents and this is their wall! Sorry grandma, she really is just trying to express herself through art! After the initial shock wore off, it really was so cute that she drew little people all over the wall. I guess you might have to be a parent to really appreciate your child's developmental stages. This is one for Ava, I never knew she could draw people so well and that she gave them arms, legs, hair, eyes, and a smile. Call me crazy.....

I can't believe Ava is in Primary!

I can't believe that I have a child in Primary now! It's amazing to me! I am getting old! She isn't in nursery at church anymore. It's really great though because I could tell she was outgrowing that class. She hated going to it and she was the oldest one there. We woke up on Sunday and dressed her extra cute for her first day in the "big kid class". Of course you can't tell that she was extra cute because her crazy curly hair was frizzed up as soon as she started running her fingers through it and she took off her cute sweater and threw it on the floor. We bought her her own Book of Mormon and she sleeps with it now. So cute. She just likes to look at the pictures. Her teacher is super nice and brings her all these funny things-like after church one Sunday, I went to pick her up from class and she was wearing this big fuzzy crown on her head and another Sunday she came out with this Costco size bag of candy hearts! So random but sweet of her teacher. She looks forward to her Sunbeam class every Sunday. It is the sweetest thing to hear what she learns. One day we were driving to Walmart and Ava randomly says to me "Mom, Jesus died so that we could be happy". I'm pretty sure that I almost started CRYING when she said that. She also pulled another "random" on me while we were driving and said, "Mom, we're a family" which I never really said to her before. I know that she listens at church. It makes me happy to know that she is learning that she is special and that she is a beautiful daughter of God.

Christmas!!

We had such a good time being home! It was wonderful to see my family again and it was good for my fam to see Kev too! It had been such a long while since they had seen him since he usually has to work while I travel to Cali by myself. Sara loves her nieces and nephews! She loves to spoil them which they love. (We were missing Abby and Gabe in this picture).
Pahahaha...my brother Jacob and I are two peas in a pod! We love random things and by definition, this 10lb, gold Buddha head is random! We were out trying to buy last minute gifts for Christmas when we came across this beauty! The heavens parted, the hallelujah chorus started playing and we knew that we had to buy this ginormous head for someone! That beauty was worth every penny of our 25 dollars and 95 cents! My sister was pretty much speechless! I believe her exact words were "....uh....you shouldn't have...."
Ava loved her presents! I love to see little kids on Christmas! It really is the sweetest thing to see a kid SO excited and shouting every time they open a present. Ava thought every gift was for her and started ripping everyone's presents open. It was so cute. I love Christmas!
Sara, Jacob, Kevin, and I had such a fun time creating our Christmas video! We all drew faces on our chins and pretty much couldn't stop laughing....so funny. I couldn't look at anyone without busting out with uncontrollable laughter. We had such a fun time shooting the video while my mom recorded. Sigh....good times.

My beautiful girls!

I'm so lucky to have 2 beautiful girls. They make me laugh EVERY day and that is an important thing to do. I learn so much from them about life and about myself.
Ava and Aurie love to take baths together and sometimes when Ava takes a bath by herself, I will walk in and find this. SO FUNNY. What can I say...everyone needs some down time.I guess I shouldn't have placed her right in the sun like that! She usually smiles at the camera but I think she was a little blinded.
This picture says EVERYTHING! Look at that poor girl! I always get so nervous when Kev walks around the house with poor Aurie like this. Good thing my mom wasn't close by, she would have killed Kev! Actually Aurie usually flaps her arms and get's excited when Kevin does this. So cute.

I couldn't resist making her some bigger flowers to wear like this one. At least it's not like some that I've seen that are bigger than their head! I have too much fun with these girls!

"Reunited and it feeels so good!"

Kevin and I decided that since we hardly ever get to go to California to see my family, it was time to fly home! The only thing is we kind of decided to buy our plane tickets last minute since our original plan was to drive. The only flight that we found that was reasonably priced for a family of 4 was SO EARLY in the MORNING. Our kids were beyond tired and so were we. I pretty much wanted to punch myself in the face and I'm sure that the people on our early morning flight wanted to do the same thing.
We flew into San Fransisco where we met up with our fabulous friends who we met up in Spokane, WA. We had been waiting for this day to come and we were finally able to have our long awaited sleepover (although we didn't have bunk-beds)!!!! We had such a good time with them just hanging out. We ate clam chowder, checked out the local scene and relaxed with our buddies. After we had had enough, we all squished in the van that they borrowed from their neighbor. I was lucky enough to sit in between Ava and Houston and my oh my was that fun!

All they wanted to do was hold hands! They are good buddies! I kind of felt like the 3rd wheel by the end of the drive!

We definitely missed having our friends around. It was so great to just sit around and do nothing together. I think that you know you are good friends with someone when you can do nothing together and its alright....you still have a good time. We went back to their place and had some dinner. Later on we watched a movie and then talked until we were too tired to move. It was fabulous but it was all too short. Thanks for the fun guys!