Daily Walks

Ava has a very short attention span and so we are constantly changing what we are doing during the day to keep her entertained. I usually go on at least 2 walks a day with her as part of her entertaining. It's one of her favorite activites, and yet we still can only make it last about 20-30 minutes before she gets bored. I always put Ava's sun hat on to help keep the sun out of her eyes, but if I go in the morning or evening the sun is so low that it still get in her eyes so I decided to add some sunglasses. Combine that with the hat and her permanately-attached-to-the-mouth pacifier and this is what you get..... I thought it was just so cute I couldn't resist taking a picture.
She rarely falls asleep on our walks, but this time she did and she just looked so darn cute! I wish I had a picture of myself from our walks too. It would probably make a good picture to see me pushing a stroller and reading. A lady stopped me the other day to admire my fine multi-tasking. As she so kindly pointed out I'm 1.) walking baby, 2.) reading, and 3.) getting excercise. Boy, I'm good!

Florida Pic's (yeah, I'm that far behind)

I know it's a little late in coming but here are a few, okay a lot, of pictues from my trip to Florida. We had a great time and I'm so glad I got to see my Grandma one more time. She died shortly after we left. I think she just wanted to hold on long enough to see all of her kids and grandkids one last time. She even got to see a couple of great grandkids. Ava chillin' at the beach. She was being crazy when we were in Florida and wouldn't let anyone else really take care of her so I had to take her with me everywhere. She hated the water, but did okay just hanging out on the beach.
A four generation picture. Don't my mom and grandma look so much a like? Of course, you could probably say there is resemblence between the three of us.
Uncle Keith holding both babies while Sally and I loaded up the carseats and strollers.
Ava and I with my sister Sally, younger brother David, and older brother Keith

How cute is she?!?!
Sally and I with our amazing condo in the background. It was literally right on the beach!
Chris wasn't able to come. I think this picture speaks for itself! Ava and cousin Macy holding hands.
The water was actually not too cold once I got my body all the way in. It just took some getting used to.
Ava and I saying goodbye to grandma.

This is my grandma and her dad. It was such a tender moment seeing them hug, knowing they were saying goodbye.

Giggle, Giggle

There is nothing cuter than listening to a baby giggle. Ava has tried to giggle a couple of times, but when we were at the ranch this weekend, Uncle Joey really got Ava going. It was the cutest, sweetest thing. And all of his family was there to see it. I've played this video over and over becaues I can't get enough. I hope you enjoy it too!

Where Do Babies Come From?

Some of you know and some of you may not know that Chris and I struggled to have a baby. (I'm pretty sure you all know because we didn't really keep it a secret, but maybe not.) Anyway, after two years I finally went to see a fertility specialist. It was really hard for me to make that step because it meant that I had to admit to myself that there was a problem, and of course a chance that I'd never get pregnant. The first thing I had to do was have a laparoscopy to remove the endometriosis I had. (NOT something, by the way, that I would recommend!) The recovery was supposed to be only 3 days, but it was 3 days before I could even walk on my own, and another 3 or 4 days until I could walk normal. My doctor hoped that that alone would fix things, but it didn't so we moved onto the next thing. Chlomid. Chlomid increases your chances of pregnancy by making your body produce more eggs at a time. We combined the chlomid with doing an IUI and for four months hoped and prayed it would do the trick. When that didn't work, we finally had nothing left to do but invitro fertilization. This involved lots of drugs (the legal kinds, of course!), 60+ days of shots administered by Chris (some days it was more than one shot, and at one point it was 4), a minor surgical procedure to remove the eggs, and then a minor non surgical procedure to put the embryos back in (which involved lots and lots of water and a very full bladder...NOT FUN!) Then after years of trying, years of heartbreak and crying, months of shots and hormones, and weeks of waiting for the news, we finally got the news we'd been waiting for. I was pregnant!


It took a long time for me to get around to it, but I finally took Ava back to my fertility doctor to get a picture taken of them together. The picture above is of Ava and Dr. Trout. I also got to know the nurses and other staff members really well and have a couple of other pictures below.


So, the point of the story is......


Someday, when Ava is older and starts getting curios and asks the question every parent dreads...."Mom, where do babies come from?" I can proudly say "well, there is this doctor, and she has this small dish called a petri dish....."

Ava and Michelle
















Ava and Melinda

You Know How To Rope?

Our ward recently decided to put on a fundraiser for the young men and young women to earn money for camp this year. They decided to do a hoedown theme, and they charged people to get in and then they had an auction to help raise money as well.
So a couple of sunday's ago a friend of mine came up to me and said "I've already talked to chris but I figured I'd better tell the wife too, just to make sure he remembers. " "Okay," I say. "What do I need to remember?" She says "well I'm going dress my kids up as cows and then have people try to rope them. Your husband agreed to teach some people how to rope, so I just wanted to make sure he remembers and you guys come."
A few minutes later I run into Chris. "You know how to rope?" I say. "Of course!" he says back to me. (Like it should be totally obvious. Excuse me, just because you grew up on a ranch doesn't mean you know how to rope. This isn't 1908, it's 2008! Ranchers do things different now.) Anyway, I say "oh" and we move on.
Later, Chris and I are talking about it again and he says "I need to buy a rope so I can learn." "WHAT?" I said. "You said you know how!" Chris says "I know the basics, I just need to practice."
So I'm confused, do you know how to rope or don't you? Well anyway, Chris got his rope, practiced and then at the hoedown did a demonstration and was lucky enough to actually get it on his first try. I wasn't there to witness it (I was in Florida) but I'm taking his word for it.
So when I got back Chris taught me how to rope. I always knew I married a cowboy, but now its official. I'm a cowgirl.
So here is a video of me roping. (unfortunately it's not a cow. that would have been awesome.)

New Recipe

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

2 C. diced cooked chicken
8 oz. frozen broccoli cuts, cooked and drained
1/4 C. sour cream
1/4 C. mayo
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon granules, dissolved in 1/4 C. hot water
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
4 -5 pieces of bacon, friend crisp and chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Place cooked chicken in casserole dish; top with broccoli. Combine: sour cream, mayo, chicken bouillon (dissolved in water), and garlic powder. Pour over chicken & broccoli. Sprinkle with bacon pieces and top with cheese. Bake at 350* for 30 min.

When Ava was born a friend of mine brought us this dinner. It was really good so I asked for the recipe. I thought I'd share it with you all. This is what my kitchen looked like when I made it. But, I had just come home from the grocery store and I was making two new recipe's in one night. My kitchen isn't always a disaster when I cook.

A few fun ones!

I'm leaving to go out of town for a week tomorrow and I think I'm going to have blogging withdrawls. Because I have access to the internet at home now I've become addicted to blogging and emailing my sister 20 times a day. So I've decided to do one more post before I go just to help hold me over. This is Ava's first ever ponytail. I think she looks like a samari, but it's still really cute. It sticks straight up and there is not way to get it not too. I tried making the ponytail off to the side a little bit but all that did was make the ponytail stick straight out to the side. Everyday her hair gets longer though so eventually it won't do that.
Uncle Keith came to visit a while back and Ava had a good time with him.
It's just too cute of a picture to not post!
In honor of Uncle Keith's being in town, I had Ava wear the dress he got her to church. I thought she looked adorable, but the finger she's giving me would indicate she thought otherwise!

Where else can we find amusement?

My sister-in-law Lorie used to tell Chris and I all the time "Enjoy not having kids while you can." She loves her kids of course and so do we, but she was right. Having a baby changes everything. We can no longer just pick up and go and do whatever we feel like. I'm constantly thinking "well, she'll need a nap at this time" or "she'll need to eat again at this time" etc. So for the most part we have to entertain ourselves at home. And of course, where else are we going to find amusement except with Ava? So, for some strange reason Chris and I enjoy messing with Ava while she's asleep. Here is a little footage of our amusment. We call it "playing dead".

New Pictures!

I realize it's been kind of a while since I've posted pictures of Ava and since most of my blog viewers are only interested in her anyway, I figured its about time to post some new ones. She's growing so much and so fast. She is learning how to grab her toys and hold onto them, but we are still working on the rolling over thing. She hates being on her stomache so that is probably part of the problem. Anyway, enjoy the updated pictures. We got Ava a new toy so that she doesn't have to be on her back all of the time. She is surrounded by toys and she loves it. It took a few days for her to figure out how to play with them, but now she does really well.
Everyone always looks good on sunday's before church so I figured it was a perfect opportunity to take a picture of all of us together.
A few weeks ago Ava and I visited Utah and Idaho and Ava got to meet some of my family, including her great grandparents. This is Ava and Great Grandpa Morgan along with her second cousin Addison.
Ava really liked Great Grandma and slept on her lap for quite a while. (which was a nice break for me!)
Uncle Keith came to visit last weekend and did some fun photography for me. He got some really cute shots of Ava. I like how her framed her face with her toys in this one.
I just can't seem to get enough of her beautiful blue eyes. She is just so darn cute!
I'm always the one taking pictures so it is very rare to see one of Ava and I together. I had to tell Chris to take a picture of us. It turned out pretty cute. (She still loves her pacifier!)

Denver

I love Denver. I love everything about it. Its big, so there is lots to do. Its got a big airport so its easy to visit family and have family visit us. The shopping is excellent. There are lots of professional sports teams. We are close to the mountains so there is lots of good fishing, camping, skiing, etc. I love it all. Including the exciting and very unpredictable weather. Yesterday was absolutely the perfect spring day. We had sunny blue skies and a high temperature of 82 degrees. Today, the first day of May, we have snow. Only in Denver can you have 80 degrees one day and snow the very next. It's crazy. But I love it.