"Rumor Mills"

Holly's baby shower!

2010-05-16T17:16:00.000-07:00

My family threw Holly a shower this weekend. It turned out so cute. I realized that I LOVE throwing parties! The theme was "She's about to POP!" We had, popcorn chicken, fruit pops and veggie pops (shishkabobs), sandwich pops, blow pops, ring pops, tootsie pops, and 4 kinds of popcorn; white chocolate, butter, caramel balls and kettle corn. We also played a baby lottery game, pop the balloon game and guessing the candy in the bottle game. I made tissue paper pom poms, a banner and a lollipop topiary (the picture turned out blurry). My sister Heather designed all of the labels on the food, the soda pop and the thanks you's, which were Pop rocks in a cellaphane bag to put more candy on them, (I don't have a picture) they said "thanks for popping by!" Oh yeah and I made cake pops. I also made the caramel popcorn and white chocolate, so easy!

All in all the shower turned out great with great frineds and family to share it with. I can't wait to plan my next party...Harley's birthday!

2010-05-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

2010-05-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

I am definately making this...

2010-03-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

Go here to get the plans for making this... I LOVE this website!
http://knockoffwood.blogspot.com/2010/01/plans-cameron-media-wall-media-hutch.html

Creeps are out there... :(

2010-02-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

So with my last post I got a creepy message that had to be erased. I have decided to go private, which I hate. I never thought I would. With Nates job at the prison it would probably be smart to go private as well. I will make it private on march 15. Please leave your emails in the comment if you would like to keep viewing our blog! Even if you just peak at our blog a little leave your email :)

The many faces of Harley Bug!

2010-02-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

Wish You Were Here

2009-11-25T00:31:00.001-08:00

My cousin Aubrey wrote this poem while we were at our family cabin this past Labor Day. It was one of Chad's favorite places to be... I thought that it was perfect to post on the first anniversary of his spirit leaving this life.

As we sit here at your favorite place,
Our faces in the firelight glow.
We all have sorrow in our eyes,
'Cause deep down inside we know.
The loss we feel since you have gone,
Has brought us all to tears,
We all feel pain, but no one tells,
Oh how we wish you were here!
Since you've gone we've learned some things,
We wish weren't learned this way.
But sometimes life's most important things,
Are realized when taken away.
Funny how a picture's just a picture,
Until someone in it's gone.
Then it's something we all treasure,
'Cause it helps you linger on.
Funny how a song's just a song,
Until it's one that brings you near.
Then we laugh and cry until it ends,
And it's almost like you're here.
Funny how the love we feel,
Is something that we hide.
'Til someone that we love is gone,
Then it's no longer kept inside.
Funny how the petty things,
Don't matter much at all.
When what used to mean the most to you,
Suddenly seems so small.
No one should have to learn this way,
To know what real love means.
And the importance of a family-
Now in our eyes it gleams.
Although we hate to have you gone,
Your life within us burns.
As our capacity to love increases,
And life's importance's we learn.

Aubrey Jeppson
September 6,2009
For Chad England

Random pics again...

2009-10-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Ava and Harley came to work with me last week and they were so good! Ava fell asleep of the conference table watching cartoons and eating candy corns. She has also been into dressing herself a lot lately and they are crazy outfits.

Harley is such a happy girl so I try to take pictures as much as I can. She was in her bouncer this morning and she was just smiling away and again in her bumbo last week. She is seriously such a good baby. Five nights out of seven she sleeps all the way through the night. She is my good sleeper, Ava still wakes up at night!

Some of my latest baking projects...

2009-10-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

Jessica, my sister in law had her baby shower 2 weekends ago and the theme was apples and fall colors. Holly and I decided to make brownie bites that looked like apples and a apple spice cake that had fall colored daisies on it, I also decided to dip some cookies in red candy coating! It turned out really cute I was really happy with them.

It was Chad's birthday on Sept. 24th so Holly and I decided to make a cake for his birthday. He loved black so this was the perfect cake for him.

The heart cake is from my fondant class. I just wanted it to be bright and fun!

My dads bday was Sept. 1 so Holly and I made pistacchio cupcakes, they were yummy. We brought them up to the cabin with us to celebrate his day!

And the pink strawberry cake is one I made for my office, it was strawberry lemonade flavor, really yummy!

Oh yeah and Nate's birthday cake. He is a Dallas Cowboy fan so I made this just for him! He loved it and Ava was so excited to show him it as soon as he walked in the door!

I have had a lot of fun doing these cakes, it is something that I have recently enjoyed doing!

Misc. pictures

2009-10-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we decided to get Harley's ears pierced just like we did with Ava. She did really good, she only cried for 2 minutes. She looks so adorable too with her flower earings in.

Ava and I did another craft last week, we made apple pronts for an apple tree. We used her arm as the tree trunk and she loved getting her arm painted.

Grace was in town a couple weeks ago too so we had a friend get together with the wives and kids here is all of the kids on our couch and there are 2 more on the way.

The other picture is of Harley in her swing, if you look closely she is sucking on her middle finger and ring finger. She does this alot and it is so cute! She is getting so big. I weighed her today and she was 15lbs.

Gilcrease Bird Sanctuary

2009-10-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago our playgroup went to the bird sanctuary. Ava had fun and she really loved all of the animals. She even dragged along her "baby monka (monkey)" with the carseat and all.

Labor Day pictures... long over due

2009-10-05T12:48:00.000-07:00

We went to our families cabin over Labor Day weekend. It was such a nice break from everything. Beau built a zipline, that Ava hated! Beau and my uncle Kirk provided music around the camp fire for us, they kids had a scavenger hunt and we went fishing and shooting!

All in all it was a really good weekend, except for the fact that Chad was not there with us this time, he was with us in spirit though. That was Chad's favorite place to be and he loved spending time in the mountains and with our family.

Ava and I made a fall tree with her hands as well. She thought this was so fun!

Harley pics...

2009-08-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

I tried to have a mini photo shoot with Harley in her dress from church yesterday and she wasn't cooperating. So I took some more of her tonight after she was bathed and had her jammies on. She was much happier tonight.

Cookie Bouquet Class

2009-08-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Holly and I decided to take a cookie decorating and bouquet class this last week at Michael's. It was really fun to go to, but I had to try several cookie recipes to find one I liked. Anyways, here are the results. I made some blowfish cookies and then some flowers cookies. The next morning Ava and I made the little heart and star cookies and dipped them in white chocolate ginache and oreos or sprinkles... yummy!

2009-08-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

I have been really into making cupcakes and cakes lately with Holly! Here is a cake that we made for a baby shower for a girl at Holly's work. It turned out so cute and it tasted so yummy!

I made a cake this weekend for Beau's birthday! It was a volcano cake and it turned out awesome. Beau loved it, he was like a little kid!

And then for the big announcement... Nate started the Corrections Academy today! He will be in the academy for 8 weeks and we are so proud of him! I made him take a picture in his academy uniform.

California trip

2009-08-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a last minute trip to California with Holly and Jon! It was really fun, we went to the beach 3 days and Sea World 1 day! Ava loved the beach, she hadn't really been before. Harley was perfect excpet for the long car rides, she hates her carseat :( It was a nice end to my maternity leave and summer. I actually have tan legs for the first time in like 5 years!

Summer pictures...

2009-08-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

These are just some pictures from the summer.

Ava swam a lot, either in our backyard or at my parents house! We made ice cube tray water color paints, which Ava loved. So easy to do and free! Beau and Jessica were in town a lot this summer and Beau took ear impressions of Nate's ear for some plugs. He looks so professional! A playgroup that we are in took a tour of Anderson Dairy and Ava loved it, she was always running to the front of the tour so she could see and hear everything. She especially loved the cookies and cream ice cream we got after the tour. We also went to a baseball game, we went to one with firework's which Ava wasn't so fond of and Harley slept through :)

Pictures from Ava and Harley's photo shoot!

2009-07-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

My sister Heather took these a couple weeks ago and I just got them back. They turned out so cute! Thanks Heather.

Random Photos...

2009-07-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from 4th of July and some others... I think that they loaded up wrong again... sorry!

The 4th was fun but low key this year! We went to Nate's friends house for a BBQ and swimming for the little girls. Then we went to my friend Anji's house for a party and then we came home for our own little fireworks, which Ava ended up being terrified of them. She wanted to go to bed instead of doing them. God thing we didn't spend a ton of money on them! SHe did like the sparklers, which surprised me. Harley was good all day, I loved their matching outfits.

The next morning Ava woke up and wanted to put tights on with her Tinkerbell pj's. She is starting to pick out some of her clothes and it really scares me :) There are a couple pictures of Harley in this post, sleeping, since that is all she does. In the one where she is laying on the table she is smiling though. Too cute!

There is a picture of Ava, where she put my make up on for the first time. It looks like she has a black eye. She also has been enjoying the baby lotion as you can see in one of the photos.

We are all just hanging out and enjoying the time that I am away from work! Nate and I both love spending time with our girls.

Tea Party

2009-07-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Ava went over to my moms house today after Harley's doctor appointment. My mom had planned to have a tea party with her. Ava got to pick out which hat she wanted to wear. She even invited uncle Jon to join them. Ava loved it, and my mom said her favorite part was putting sugar in her tea :) She liked the little spoon! Anyways... I thought that these pictures were too cute not to share. Thanks mom for planning such a cute activity for Ava!

Oh and a funny little story, last night my mom took Ava to Target to get a couple things and they ended up getting cookies and fruit snacks. When my mom dropped her back off, Ava said, "bye Grandma, thanks for putting gas in the car!" I guess my mom filled up our car while they were out and Ava was singing a song about putting gas in the car. Who knew she got so excited about getting gas and not the cookies and fruit snacks :)

Harley...

2009-06-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I think that these loaded up wrong, but here are the first set of pictures that we have from Harley's birth! Harley Jane was born 8:53 am 6/24/09 and she was 6lb 15oz and 18 inches long. She is beautiful and tiny and looks just like Ava did when she was born, except Harley's head is a little smaller. She has been a pretty easy baby so far and has taken a liking to breast feeding, which is great (Ava didn't at all). She has actually let us sleep most of the last 2 nights. Anyways... Ava is loving her new sister and wants to hold her all of the time.

We are so happy and blessed that everything turned out great with my C-section and everything else that went on last week. We will add more pictures when we can get some more time! Thanks to those that came and visited us in the hospital, it meant a lot.

Harley's room!

2009-06-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

Here is Harley's room, minus the curtains! I painted the canvas' with the help of one of my dads art gadgets (he has a ton:) He had a new projector that let me set it right on top of the blanket material, so I traced the image and then painted them to match. I made the blanket for her room along with a tag blanket to match. I love the lavendar color! Ava wanted me to take a picture of her when I took these! She is so excited to put all of her baby animals in the crib! The last picture is her changing table, but the bloomers I got off of Etsy, they are for her newborn pictures, they turned out so adorable. Can't wait for Harley to be here!

Ava's new room!

2009-06-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Finally it is complete, except for the curtains my mom is in the process of making:) Nate worked really hard and made these bunk beds for Ava and Harley (when she is old enough). They turned out awesome! I am so proud of him for making the beds for his little girls! I am sure that they will be something they will treasure later. I made the matching quilts for their beds. I love the material and bright colors and think that they turned our so much better than I thought I could do. I stole the turkey baster painting idea from Beau and Jessica! I got the silhouette picture idea of off a craft blog ( I can't remember which one) it took me awhile to get Ava to not look at the camera, but I got one good shot, then printed it out and put it on black paper, and viola! She likes it too!

More pictures sent to me from Heather!

2009-06-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some professional pictures that Heather emailed to me. They turned out so good, even if the weather wasn't cooperating!

Holly's wedding!

2009-06-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

Holly and Jon got married in the Salt Lake City temple yesterday and they were so cute and happy together! Here are just a couple pictures that I took with my camera. It started to rain during their pictures, but it turned out to be a beautiful day after all.

The grandkids sitting together under an umbrella.

Ava standing by the reflection pond and throwing pennies into a fountain at temple square.

What we've been up to...

2009-06-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Ava loves putting all of her animal babies to sleep. She will take all of her "babies" and put them on the floor with pillows and then give the play food and cover them with blankets. Then she comes out of her room and tells us that we need to be quiet because her babies are sleeping.

This is what happens when you ask you 2 1/2 year old to go upstairs and get her shoes for church... she came down with 27 necklaces on! She refused to take them off, so we let her go to church like that. We got some looks that day!

When we were unpacking some of the last boxes she found the Santa hat and was wearing along with putting it on all of her bay animals.

Gymnastics Class

2009-05-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Ava started toddler gymnastics class last Friday, and she loved it. It is a mommy and me class, so I get to help her! She did really well and was excited to show her daddy what she learned that night. I love her in her little outfit and she thought it was fun tp put it on and twirl!

Bring your daughter to work day!

2009-05-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

My office had a really great day planned for all of the kids that parents brought. They had donuts and juice, they played bingo, had happy meals and ice cream, they even handed out goody bags. Ava had so much fun there and was exhausted after a long day with no nap!

Easter

2009-05-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Ava was so much fun this Easter, we had Holly and Jon over to dye eggs with us and Ava loved every minute of it. When she woke up Easter morning we had her eggs "hidden" they were animal eggs so she kept calling them babies, since they were so little. She was also really excited to put on her new dress and of course we had to have her pretties on her as well.

Sea World and San Diego Zoo

2009-05-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

The last weekend of April we went to California for a family trip before Harley is born and before I got too big and uncomfortable! We had a blast, Ava loved Sea World and everything about it... except for the 4D Sesame Street movie, she started crying in the middle of it, when the octopus comes out of the screen! She still talks about wehen the dolphin splashed her and how naughty it was for doing that. Meeting Elmo and Zoe were a highlight as well.

The next day we went to San Diego Zoo and Ava loved all of the animals, but her favorite one was the Pandas. She loved them last summer too when we went to the Washington DC Zoo. We had a great family vacation and it was so awesome to see all of these new things through Ava's eyes!

Catch-up!

2009-03-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

So we have been really busy... trying to move into a new house (only after doing some renovations), get our home packed and ready to move, get ready for our little Harley to come in late June, potty train Ava, work, catch up on digital scrap booking, sew bedding for the girls and other sewing projects, and many more little things that have been going on! I feel bad that I haven't been able to keep up on the blog, but I can't even think of time to do it.

Today is our 4th anniversary and Nate is at the new house fixing it up and I am at home packing for our last family vacation before Harley comes and before the move.

Happy Anniversary Nate, I love you more and more with every day that we are together. I can't think of anyone else that I would want to spend my eternity with and we are so blessed to have our little girl(s) in our life! We have been through so many trials in the past year and a half, but we have done it all together while supporting and loving each other.

I LOVE YOU!

Ok, one more post!

2009-02-01T18:39:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to the OB and we found out that we are having another GIRL!!! We are so excited for her to come into our family. I have already gone shopping to buy matching outfits for Ava and this little girl, which we have decided to name Harley Jane. It is after my brothers love for his bike and after my grandpa Joe's love for his Harley as well! It was for sure our boy name and then when we found out it was a girl, it grew on us to call her that! I am still trying to decide the spelling, Harley or Harleigh. I can't decide. What do you think?

2009-02-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday night, Grace and Kenny came over to play games and have dessert. It was great to visit with them and to see their kids. We miss them living in town with us! We will have to take a drive to St. George soon!

2009-02-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

Just some random pictures... Ava helped me make some banana bread about a month ago. This was the first time that I gave up some control (even if it made a mess) and let her "help."

We are trying to potty train and the other night, she had her pull up off and then put Nate's shoes on, I couldn't resist taking a picture of her bare bum in his shoes...priceless!

I realized the other day that I hadn't taken any pictures since Christmas, so I brought the camera with me to play at the park, since we had such great weather. She has so much fun at the park and is so daring and brave, it makes me a little nervous. She thinks that she is one of the big kids and tries to copy what they do.

I know, I know... I am so behind!

2009-02-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, so these are some of our Christmas pictures. Ava was spoiled this year, but she really enjoyed opening everything that she got. She got blocks, a kitchen, a market, food for her kitchen, clothes and a bunch of other stuff. Grandparents spoiled her too! Christmas was a weird day for our family this year (it was the 1 month anniversary of Chad's death). We went to the cemetary and it started to rain on us. I am sure that was a sign from Chad that we were supposed to be enjoying our day and not thinking about the sadness we feel. All in all we enjoyed our day as much as we could. As a family we wrote goals for each of us that would make Chad proud, and then we will review them next Christmas as a family.

Update on our lives...

2008-12-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so there have been a lot of changes in the past month. The weekend before Chad died, Nate and I had decided to stay here in Vegas. Nate quit his job up in Utah and had his car packed to meet me in SLC for Thanksgiving, the day we found about my brother's death. Instead of me driving up there, Nate met me in Vegas. He is now working at the same law firm I am at, while he is on the waiting list for Nevada Corrections. Hopefully that won't be too long! Anyways... we are now enjoying having Nate back in our home, and Ava is glad to have her daddy back! We now know that there were reasons why we felt so strongly about staying here (despite the $800 a month insurance premiums that his job was going to charge us). I know that I will be able to help out Chad's wife, Cynthia, with my neice Kayden. Chad and Kayden were both really sad when we told them we were moving. I know that he was excited when I told him we had decided to stay!

The next BIG news, is that I forgot to mention that I am PREGNANT! We did an IUI (intrauterine insemination) in October (which I was sure wouldn't work) and I got pregnant the first time! YEAH for us! I am due July 7, but my Doctor said that we would do the C-section on June 27. Since I had a c-section with Ava. I haven't been sick at all this pregnancy (I wasn't with Ava either), just really tired, and I have crazy, severe back pain, like I had with Ava, but not until I was about 5 months along. So, I am hoping that this will be bearable once I get larger. Fun for me! I sometimes forget that I am even pregnant, and it worries me, I have just been really busy with my family alot, but I know that the baby is fine. We will find out what we are having at the end of January. I know that Chad was also very excited that we had finally gotten pregnant, and I know that he is probably telling our child all kinds of stories about our family :)

SNOW in Vegas!!!

2008-12-18T22:12:00.000-08:00

It snowed in Vegas, and REALLY snowed, like Iwas in Utah. I left work early on Wednesday to be able to enjoy the weather with Ava. When Nate got home from work we went outside and built a snowman, Ava loves "ho-man" she was really excited. Nate helped her do a snow angel. I can't remember a time where is snowed downtown. I was at work in the middle of downtown and it was snowing there too. Usually it is mostly on the outskirts. We got about 6 inches at our house. I am sad to say that today most of the snow was gone. There was a pile where our snowman was right next to our front porch. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Ava even took some snow in the house to eat!

Magical Forest

2008-12-18T22:03:00.000-08:00

We went to the Magical Forest last Friday night with some friends and Kayden. It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get on to the carousel and then we started to wait in line for the train, but it didn't move for 30 minutes and it was cold and late, so I had Nte take Kayden over to go down the big slide, and then we went home. We loved the lights and so did Ava and Kayden.

2008-12-18T21:40:00.000-08:00

I have a ton of pictures to upload...
These are spme pictures of the memorial that Chad's friend had for hi at Craig and 95on Thanksgiving day. It was really touching to have his friends so eager to say so many kind words about my brother. He will truly be missed. I can already sense the void in our family without him here. One of the pictures is of the kids watching a 3-D movie while we were at the memorial.

This picture is of Chad's gravesite with all of the flowers that people sent. He is right under a huge pine tree, he loved nature so that is something that he would appreciate.

More pictures...

2008-12-18T21:27:00.000-08:00

This is Ava with her "pretties" on, she is really getting into dressing up now. SHe loves it!

Ava standing nest to Nana's tree, getting ready to be decorated.

Ava and aunt Holly!

Nate and I on our way to this years Christmas party!

Here is a picture of my daughter riding her horse without her diaper. She is getting really good at taking it off and loves to run around without it on.

Cruise to Cabo

2008-12-18T20:42:00.000-08:00

So, here are some pictures of me and my friend Lisa. The law office that I work at took the staff on a cruise to Cabo in the beginning of November. Lisa Skifton went with me, since my husband was in Utah and couldn't get the time off. Anyways... we had fun, except I just wanted to sleep and relax cause I was without my 2 year old, and Lisa and her cousin Catherine (who was also with us) were training for a marathon. They were out running everyday while I was taking it easy! One of the pictures is Lisa on the beach doing her model poses (she would kill me if she knew I put it on here :)Lisa was hypnotized on the cruise ship and she ended up playing the drums on her bum. She was really good up there and stole the show with her "thriller" dancing! The others are just a couple random pictures of Cabo and one on the dance floor. All in all I had a blast, but I really missed my little girl and hubby!

In memory of Chad England

2008-11-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

My brother Chad was killed in a motorcycle accident on Tuesday night. He was the best big brother to me, he was very protective and always wanted to make sure that I was happy. He will surely be missed. He was great at so many things, everything outdoors and was an awesome father and husband. I love you Chad!

Motorcyclist, 29, killed in Highway 95 crash A 29-year-old motorcyclist was killed after a motorcycle accident with a sport utility vehicle on U.S. Highway 95 near Craig Road Tuesday night November 25, 2008. Shortly before 10 p.m., Chad England of Las Vegas was riding a 2008 Harley-Davidson north when a 2002 Ford sport utility vehicle was traveling ahead of England and changed lanes. England crossed the left lane and entered the left paved shoulder. The right side of the motorcycle struck the left rear side of the Ford, officials said. England was thrown from the motorcycle. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Please go to www.chadengland.blogspot.com to leave any comments or memories that you may have of him. Thank you to all that have supported our family during this time.

WARNING: Lots of photos

2008-11-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

Okay so these pictures loaded up out of order and there are too many to rearrange them. We did a lot of things we did in the month of October to prepare for the Halloween season. We made spider hand prints and ghost foot prints for a playgroup activity. Then Ava and I went to the Boca Park Pumpkin patch and the Centennial one as well. Ava actually got to ride the rides! She had so much fun. We also went to the Haunted Harvest at Springs Preserve with a couple of families in our playgroup. Her friend Olivia was the Bee, and Ava enjoyed going but I didn't as much because I forgot the stroller and there was a lot of walking, which meant I was carrying her a lot. Then Halloween came and we went to a couple of Trunk or Treats, Ava was the cutest Peacock! She keeps looking at my phone which has her picture of her in her costume and saying "Peacock." The day after Halloween we had Ava's birthday party since Nate was in town. It was a lot of funshe had a Backardigans party (she is obsessed with Pablo the penguin), the kids decorated crowns with jewels and glitter glue. Then we had a Pablo pinata and a Pablo cake that yours truly made with a little help from my mother. Ava enjoyed all of the attention and actually opened her gifts by herself. We also took a trip down to see the decorations at the Bellagio. Ava liked the trees at first, but the she kept saying she was "scared." We had a fun weekend with Nate in town ad we really miss him!

Ava's Birthday!

2008-10-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ava turned two on Thursday the 16th. I can't believe that it has already been 2 years. She is the best little girl, except for the occasional "terrible two tantrums." Her favorite things right now are:

Backyardigans, Pablo in particular
Elmo
Playing with her babies
Playing with her kitchen
Singing ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Singing primary songs, Once There was A Snowman and Sunbeam
Talking to daddy on the phone
Saying cheese for pictures
She loves when her mommy picks her up from her babysitters
Colring with chalk and crayons
Reading books
Wearing necklaces

She also says too many words to type. She can tell me almost anything that she wants. Sometimes she has a meltdown if I can't understand what she wants, but for the most part she gets her point across. She is very smart and is such a happy little girl. We love her so much and can't imagine our lives without her.

These are pictures of the first couple days of her life. It makes me so sad that she is such a big girl now.

Here are some pictures of her birthday. Nate's mom, me and my sister Holly took her to Chuck E. Cheese to just have a small celebration for her. She will have a party when Nate comes into town next. She had a blast. She got some necklaces and Quiet Book from Grandma and Papa England, and a tricycle and some clothes from Nana. Nate and I got her a Fisher Price Doll playset that is so cute and she plays with it all the time. She is a really good mommy to her baby dolls.

3rd Utah trip in 4 weeks...

2008-10-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went up to Utah again, to do our IUI procedure. We ended up only having one follicle that was perfectly sized. So we will see if I get pregnant this month.

While I was there I got to stay with my sister and we went to the Corn Bellies at Thanksgiving Point. We had a fun time there despite the wind and cold. Ava got to play in te bounce house and we did the Kiddie Corn Maze there. The next night was my sister Heather's birthday. We went to Boondock'sand had some fun, again despite the on coming snow later that evening. They even let me take Ava on the bumper boats and the go karts, even though the sign said she was too little. She loved it so much, she screamed when we took her off of the car. Anyways... all in all we had a pretty eventful weekend with going to the doctors office everyday of my visit and all of the other activities that we did that weekend. It was really good to see Nate again, but I am in no hurry to go back to Utah...until Thanksgiving.

Oh yeah and the first picture just makes me laugh, I took it at the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point.

Just some more random pictures...

2008-10-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

We took Ava to Peter Piper Pizza the day before Nate moved. She had a lot of fun.

A couple weeks ago Ava and I went to Utah to visit daddy. We drove up to Flaming Gorge. It was beautiful. The last picture is of the Dam, and Ava decided that she wanted climb the fence.

update...

2008-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

This is Ava's crazy baby face.

Ava's new hairdo's, I have been trying to be more creative with her wild hair. If I don't do it, it looks so crazy.

We went to our cabin over Labor Day weekend. Ava had so much fun running around with the cousins. I almost couldn't handle it because she was always dirty.

Halloween Costumes

2008-10-01T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just in case you guys haven't gotten Halloween costumes yet, you can go to babystyle.com and get 20% off and FREE SHIPPING by entering the code BOO20.

Ava is going to be the Peacock this year! I am so excited for her to get it in the mail and try it on!

So...Here is the catch-up

2008-09-08T10:11:00.000-07:00

Nate is finally in a bed, he is renting a room from someone in the Vernal area until I move up in January. He is liking his job and can't wait for Ava and I to join him. I am going up to Utah next week to see him and Vernal, I have never been there. My sister is also blessing her baby that week, so it will be nice to see him and Ava will be really excited, she really misses her daddy!

Baby news... nothing yet, I have been doing clomid and hormone shots but nothing has worked yet. It has now been 18 months since we have been trying and starting in October we are going to try IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination) I am not too hopefull the first or second time (most times it takes up to 3 or 4 trys). I would really love to be pregnant before I move so that I don't have to find a new doctor and explain my whole history. I admit everytime someone tells me that they are pregnant or I read that someone is pregnant I feel a punch in my gut, but I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for our family, I am just growing more impatient everyday (maybe this is supposed to teach me patience:). I will keep everyone posted.

Nate took our computer with him, so I have to upload pictures on my laptop, and it takes FOREVER, so I will see what I can do about posting some pictures of Ava. Also I had to take my camera back to Best Buy and turn it in for warranty work, so I will be without a camera for the next 2-6 weeks. Grrr!

This is me ranting...

2008-08-25T12:04:00.001-07:00

I am so tired of flaky people, if you say you are going to do something... please do it. Don't say you can help when you can't!!!

That's all for now!

UPDATE:

Sorry this rant had nothing to do with my babysitters. I have just had a stressful day trying to find Nate a place to live in Utah and I needed to vent for a second! I am fine now though. My husband is probably going to have to camp out for a couple days at a camp ground, because he has no place else to stay until next Wednesday! So, anyways... it has just been a little stressful getting things started up there for Nate.

Oh yeah... I guess that I should announce that Nate got a job in Vernal, Utah and he is there now, started his job today. I am going to stay in Vegas until the end of the year, and then Ava and I will join him. So I am basically a single mom for 4 months and Ava is being watched while I work by a couple people in our ward.

Ava's new baby doll

2008-08-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

So I made this doll last weekend and I think that she turned out so adorable. It was really fun to make her. Ava calls her "Holly" which is my sisters name she calls a couple of her dolls that. Anyways if anyone wants to know how to make these cute dolls they can go here,

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/black-apple-doll?rsc=fav_Homepage_Homepage

Sorry one of the pictures is kind of darker, but I wanted to show her face.

Play Dough

2008-08-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

I made play dough a couple weekends ago and I let Ava play with it, she didn't quite know what to do with it, but she liked me making a snake with it.

Update: Crayon Roll

2008-08-05T10:00:00.001-07:00

I have had a request from several of you so I found the website for the Crayon Roll. http://nested.typepad.com/blog/2007/07/materials-you-w.html

Who are you?

2008-08-03T16:53:00.001-07:00

You Are Esmerelda!

Mysterious and passionate. You are a survivor. Even though life has swung you some difficult situations you have a strong intuition that gets you through. Also, you have the capacity to sympathize and relate to a variety of different people.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

My Crayon Roll

2008-08-02T16:43:00.000-07:00
Okay so here is my latest project. It is a crayon roll, and for now, it is only for Ava's church bag. Anyways... it was really easy, I am going to make another one tonight for my niece that is coming over. If you want to make one ask and I will get you the instructions. I don't remember the exact place that I got the them.

The rest of my Utah weekend...

2008-07-29T20:42:00.000-07:00
My new niece, Tatum Dawn Neeley, born July 15th weighing 6lbs. 4oz. She is super tiny and such a good baby. Ava really loved her, a little too much! She kept trying to pick her up and squeeze her so tight.

Ava's new tutu, that I made for her in like 30 minutes, so easy. I saw it on this blog http://thefunjolleys.blogspot.com/2008/07/pink-skirt.html
This is my sock elephant that I made for Ava! It totally looks homemade but Ava loves it and calls it her ephant. I found the idea on this blog http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2008/02/sockfest-08.html

Children's Museum

2008-07-29T19:42:00.000-07:00
Teegan and Ava holding hands

Giving her baby a bath
Ava helping build

Day trip to Mnt. Charleston

2008-07-29T19:30:00.000-07:00
Ava loved the little spring...
until she fell and lost her string cheese.

drinking her juice box

Things that have been going on!

2008-07-29T19:20:00.000-07:00
Ava loves to stick stickers all over herself. Don't mind the runny nose!
A picture of Ava's new carseat cover. You can find them on this website http://www.mydesignerbaby.com
Ava's first poop in the potty!!! She was so proud and we did the potty dance for her.

Memories

2008-07-13T16:05:00.000-07:00
Rachel, this looked like fun.

This tag is pretty unique, so I thought I would give it a shot.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

Just random pictures...

2008-07-13T00:11:00.000-07:00
of Ava's cuteness, since we got back Wednesday.
Her new thing, climbing into dryers.
Ava's new toy, the Bounce N' Grow, she loves it.
She is destined to play the piano like her mommy. She was even being gentle on the keys!
Kayden and Ava.

Arlington Cemetery

2008-07-13T00:03:00.000-07:00
JFK's and Jackeline's grave

Changing of the guard
Ava and mommy
Such a sweet girl, but if I remember correctly she wasn't so sweet 5 minutes before this. She had to be taken out of the changing of the guard ceremony.

The Smithsonian Zoo

2008-07-12T23:35:00.000-07:00
This was the coolest zoo, mainly because of the Pandas, but not for the heat/humidity factor, or the ups and downs of the hills within the zoo. I was drenched with sweat by the end of the day, I have never sweat so much in my life. The humidity was horrible!

Ava excited to be wearing her monkey! Everytime she see this thing, she makes her monkey noises. (I have to hide it at the house)
The main reason we came to the Zoo, the Giant Pandas, this was the baby and we walked out of the Panda House just in time, the Panda had just started eating it's "ice popcicle" and we were the first ones to see, Ava couldn't stop staring at it and she even screamed when we finally had to let others get a chance to view it as well. They are such interesting creatures, I have always been facsinated by them since my sister was when we were younger.

So cute, we were seriously about 5 feet from it.
Nana, me and Ava at the enterence of the Zoo.
The bald Eagle, I took this one for Nate, he loves Eagles.
I love this picture...
and this one! The tiger has his tongue out!
Ava overcoming her fear of cows and posing in the picture with me, she wouldn't do it by herself. She used to cry when we made cow noises for her, it was really funny, except we started to feel bad about making her cry on purpose.
Another cool picture.

Mallory's wedding (Open House)!

2008-07-12T23:13:00.000-07:00
Nate's sister Mallory got married in April, but they decided to have an Open House in Virginia where Jeff's family lives. I went along with Nate's mom and Aunt Valorie. The Open House theme was a Mexican Fiesta since Jeff served his mission in Mexico. Side note: Jeff is actually related to my mom's side of the family from Heber, UT, small world).
Ava loved the Tres Leche cake (I love this face)!

She was obsessed with the "bubbles" (ballons). She kept letting go of the strings and refused to have them on her hands so I tied them to the back of her dress.
Mallory and Jeff letting go of the balloons.
Ava hiding under Mallory's dress. We could always tell where she was!

The newlyweds, and they act like it very much! Always kissing!
Ava caught in the act! She loved dipping the chips but then she didn't like the salsa burning her mouth, but she still wouldn't stop eating them. Playing with the bubbles (the real kind).
Nana and Ava not looking too happy here!

4th of July (a little late)

2008-07-12T22:50:00.000-07:00
For the 4th we went to D.C. (Nate's sister's Open House was in Virginia on the 5th)
So these pictures are backwards, but here they are...
Ava and I after the rain at the Capitol in D.C., Ava had my umbrella over the stroller, cause she was sleeping, so I got drenched!

Fireworks in D.C. over the Patomic River(spelling?) It was so awesome to be in the Nation's Capitol to celebrate this holiday. I felt so patriotic. Ava loved the fireworks too.

This is before we were headed off to the Metro to go down to the mall. Look how cute her outfit was prior to the ride on the Metro...
This was her outfit after being on the Metro for 5 minutes (yes, that is throw up). So I brought another shirt for her to change into, but not bottoms. We went into a bathroom as soon as we got off, and Nate's mom rinsed out her bottoms, hoping they would dry eventually, not the case. It was so humid that they never dried.

Ava riding the carousel at the mall (notice no bottoms on her, this is how she was for the remainder of the day).
Such a wonderful day and an awesome experience.

Ava hanging out before bath time.

2008-06-25T20:54:00.000-07:00
While I was running the bath water she climbed onto her stool, I couldn't resist taking her picture.
Then I walked out for a second and I came back and she was trying to climb into the tiolet!
She loves when we give her a bubble bath, she made a beard all on her own, and then ate it.
Reading her bathtime book with the "quack," "quack" on it.
She was so excited when she put the wash cloth on her! She is always so excited during her baths!

Ava and her outfits...

2008-06-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

Lately Ava has been trying to dress herself and she went through the laundry pile the other day and put her pajama bottoms on her arms, she thought she was so cool!

Then later that same day she decided to wear her intertube as a necklace, she wanted to leave the house like this! She was upset when we had to leave it at the house.

Drinking her juice with her new necklace on! So cute!

Ava and Olivia

2008-06-25T18:57:00.000-07:00
Ava has a little best friend, Olivia, so we decided to buy them matching outfits for the 4th of July. We took them to the park to take pictures, except we were the only crazy people at the park in the 105 degree heat. Neither of them smiled very often, but here are a few of the pictures. Ava did not want to be hugged, it was too hot for her!

Ava wouldn't hold Olivia's hand so she was upset, clearly Ava was not!

Look at those red little cheeks, poor girl, it was so HOT!

Beau's Wedding and other things in our life!

2008-06-18T11:59:00.000-07:00
Beau and Jessica were married on 6/7/08. We are so excited that Jessica is in our family now, she has made Beau so happy and we love them both. You can go to http://www.beckyearlphotography.com/ and click on the "blog" link to view pictures from theis wonderful day!

We have also been trying to get pregnant for 14 months and last month we found out that I haven't been ovulating even though all of my blood tests showed that I was. I had been on Clomid for 5 months by this time. This month they put me on 3 clomid pills and then last week I got a shot of Pergonal and then on Monday my ultrasound showed that only one follice was large enough for ovulation. So they gave me a shot of Profasi and sent us on our way, we had 36 hours to conceive:) Fun times! Anyways... we are saying our prayers and hopefully we will have good news next month.

My Designer Baby!

2008-05-29T11:48:00.001-07:00
Check out this website:http://www.mydesignerbaby.com/home.html

A friend of mine runs this website and they are doing a Baby Blog Contest.
Scroll to the bottom and click on the "Blog Contest" link.
You can enter 3 different ways, and you could win a $25 gift card to the website if your name is chosen.

Mother's Day!

2008-05-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

This is my mom opening up her gift that my sister Heather and I got for her! It was a poem that my grandpa wrote for her,
with some pictures of him framed. She loved it and cried (which was what we were going for)! We love ya mom!

Misc. pictures...

2008-05-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

The drive home from Utah... Ava reading her book.

Ava "roaring" at her leopard from the zoo and thinking it was so funny!

Riding the Elmo ride at Walmart!

Ava smelling the flowers at Spring Preserve.

Bounce U!

2008-05-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

After Beau's graduation we went to Bounce U in Utah. My aunt and uncle just opened this one and it was so much fun!
I was looking for Ava and found her on the seat of this car driving. She was so excited!

This is the big slide you go down. So much fun!

Beau and Jessica took Ava down and she loved it!

Nate and I climbed up this tower and I must say that it was really tiring.

Beau's graduation from Utah State!

2008-05-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ava before the graduation sitting with Grandma!

Beau and his soon to be bride.

Ava loves her uncle Beau and he is the only aunt or uncle's name that she can say.

Beau and his sisters that were cool enough to come to the graduation.

Hogle Zoo

2008-05-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

Teegan and Ava in the wagon!

The baby Giraffe...

Ava and her Daddy...

The Monkey that Ava loved!

2008-05-18T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ava loved everything at the Zoo...

She loved the monkey on her back, and kept making monkey sounds all day!

Ava walking with Papa and her monkey...

She loved riding on Papa and Daddy's shoulders all day!

Pictures at Red Rock's Calico Basin...

2008-04-29T10:22:00.000-07:00
My sister Heather was in town so we went out to Calico Basin to take pictures of Ava in her Pettiskirt that she had for Easter! She loves wearing it and when she saw it to take pictures in she got so excited.

The day went well until she fell off of the edge and fell 4 feet. She landed on her head and was histerical (as you can imagine). I felt so bad, because I couldn't get to her in time. Her face got all scratched up by the grass and bushes. The pictures were over after that!

P.S. I made those cute hair clips for her, they turned out so cute! Thanks Heather for the idea and helping me make them!

2008-04-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

Working outside...

2008-04-28T21:40:00.000-07:00
My husband is awesome, for Nate's sister Mallory's wedding he built these arbors and we ended up putting one in our backyard, it looks so good back there and provides some shade now! I am so proud of my honey for putting it up, with the help of our friend Milas!

The other pictures are of Ava playing in a box in the garage, while we were cleaning it out!

Playing outside...and Ava's work of art.

2008-04-28T21:26:00.000-07:00
The weather has been so nice lately, we play outside a lot. Ava loves to dig in the dirt and bring it into the kitchen! It is so much fun to watch her enjoy playing outside. Almost every Saturday my friend and I take our little girls to the park, Ava goes up the stairs and down the slides all by herself now, I love it.

We got her the toddler markers and then I had Nate's mom get some butcher paper from work and Ava colored on it for about a week. I finally had to take it off of the table once it had gotten stuff spilled onto it.

80's party and other good stuff!

2008-04-28T21:25:00.000-07:00
My friend Anji threw an 80's party and it was so much fun to dress up! My friend Tiffany wore one of my mothers old dresses that she still keeps in her closet (thanks mom)! Nate was a nerd and I was just a mom from the 80's with the shoulder pads and stuff! We had a lot of fun!

My little Diva!

Bathtime Fun!

2008-04-28T21:16:00.000-07:00
Ava loves her bathtime, for Easter we got her the bathtub crayons and she loves them, sometimes to eat, but she loves them!

Easter (better late than never)

2008-04-28T18:46:00.000-07:00

Me in Pictures

2008-04-16T15:41:00.000-07:00
Favorite Color:

Favorite Pet:
(low maintenance)

My Job:
Accounting at a law firm

Hairdresser on the side

Favorite Author:

Hobby:
(when I have time)

Where I live:

Favorite Song:
"Keeper of the Stars"

Biggest Fear:
(needles-even after having a kid, they still terrify me)

Bad Habit:

Favorite Food:

Favorite Dessert:
Homemade Oreos