Abbey's First Talk

Abbey gave her first talk in primary today. Her topic was I obey Jesus Christ because I love him. She drew pictures to hold up while giving her talk. The picture below is one of how she shows her love for Jesus by sharing with her sister. In the picture she is sharing her baby Elmo with Ava. Sharing Elmo with Ava is a very big deal for Abbey because he is her favorite baby. When it came time for her to give her talk she got shy and I read the talk while she held the pictures she had drawn.

 

 

Bananas!

Today I gave Ava a banana. It was not the first time she has had a banana, but it is the first time she figured out just how much fun it is to squish the banana with her hands. In the past I haven't bothered putting a bib on her because she doesn't make a very big mess...I won't be making that mistake again.

Ava's First Teeth

Ava is finally getting some teeth. She has two teeth coming in on her bottom gums. This makes her slightly cranky some days. If you look closely you can see the two little teeth that are coming in.

Here are a couple more pictures of her teeth. She is a little unhappy because I am trying to get her to show me her teeth. I swear no babies were harmed while taking these photos.

Abbey's First Race!

Abbey ran her first race last Saturday. It was a 1 mile fun run here in Lolo, Montana. Monica was nice enough to take Abbey and Ava on the run so I could run the Sweathouse Half Marathon in Victor, Montana.

Here is Abbey running with her friends Kalei and Hannah.

Abbey really enjoyed the run.

Abbey and her friends ran the whole mile! Here are the girls crossing the finish line.

 

Because the three of them did such a good job running they received medals and sports cups.

Chunky Ava could have benefitted from a good run, but she decided to be lazy and ride in the stroller with Jackson.

 

Ava "walking" with her push cart

Ava learned a lot of things during the three weeks that we enjoyed having her with us, but one of the cutest things was pushing a little cart. Full-fledged walking can't be far off.

Happy Birthday Ava!

Ava had a AWESOME 1st birthday. We celebrated her birthday a week early so that everyone could make it to the festivities.

Here is the cake that Ava's aunt made for the party...it tasted as good as it looks!

This is the birthday card that Abbey made for Ava.

Unfortunately it was bedtime for Ava when the cake was finally cut. She needed a little help eating it and staying awake.

It was a great party and it was nice to have everyone (within driving distance) show up to support Ava the superstar.

Ava's actual birthday also happens to fall on the day that her mom passed away. It was not a easy day, but with lots of help from Abbey and Ava we had fun doing stuff that Sheri loved to do.

First we went to Chuck E. Cheese to have some pizza and play games. To say Sheri loved pizza would be an understatement. She was often made fun of by her coworkers for eating pizza everyday for lunch.

After pizza we went and picked out some flowers and a card to put on Sheri's headstone.

 

Once the visit to the cemetery was finished we decided to go and get some ice cream to help us feel happy. This was something that we learned from Sheri. She loved ice cream as much if not more than pizza.

Happy birthday Ava! You are truly a angel sent from above.

St. George in August

We (Abbey, Ava and myself) went down to St. George for a couple of days. I talked my brother and his wife into coming down with us. I'm still not sure why in the world we went down during the hottest month...but we had lots of fun.

For starters we went swimming every single day. Abbey was in heaven and we all still smell like chlorine.

Ava got to go swimming for the first and second time. She loved playing in the water, but didn't quite get the swimming thing down. Hopefully next trip she will figure it out.

 

We went for a drive up Snow Canyon. We enjoyed looking at the red and white sandstone cliffs.

 

Frozen Custard is now our new favorite treat! Abbey made a slight mess with hers.

 

I might have given Ava some and that's why she looks so happy.