Klein Girls in St. George

This week Eric, Abbey, and Ava went to St. George with Scott and Bev. Abbey and Grandma Bev had fun cooking. They made rice krispy treats:


vanilla pudding:


and cake:


We all went to the Pasta Factory Express, where Abbey ate her favorite--breadsticks:


Abbey went swimming, read books, watched TV, played with toys:


and helped entertain Ava:


Ava also enjoyed going to the restaurant:


dropping her toys from the booster chair (so Grandma could pick them up--note that the book is tied to the chair):


and getting reacquainted with Grandpa:


She didn't like waiting to be fed:


but usually she was a very patient, happy baby:


We all had a great time in St. George!

Fun In Sunny Arizona

Last weekend we took a short vacation to sunny Arizona. It was nice to get away from the not so sunny Missoula. Abbey’s favorite part of the trip was riding on the airplanes. At first she was scared when we took off and landed and held onto my arm very very tightly. She was a pro by the time we were flying back home and proudly announced, “I’m not going to be scared this time”. Countless fellow travelers commented on how well behaved the girls were on the flights and in the airports. We had a flight delayed for 3 hours which mutilated many travelers desire to go on living….but the girls shined through with pure awesomeness.

Here is Abbey saying, "I love you"....something she picked up in Arizona.

Ava sleeps peacefully on the plane....I'm so lucky to have two great little travelers.

For Mother’s day we went over to Uncle Mark’s house and chilled with our extended AZ family. It’s been a long time since we had seen some of them so it was nice to see all of them again.

Abbey and Ava got to go to the Phoenix Zoo on Monday. The weather was perfect and we had lots of fun seeing all the animals.

Ava mostly just chilled in her car seat. She was determined to keep her ghostly complexion by staying out of the sun and enjoyed being pushed around.

Abbey is pretending to be an elephant….she was stomping around like an elephant and using her arm as her trunk.

Truthfully I think Abbey enjoyed the fake animals more than the real ones…..mostly because she could ride the fake ones. Next time I’m just going to take her to the park instead.

It was love at first sight!

Abbey & Ava are excited to announce that they have adopted 27 new Beanie Babies. These babies were sent from the Arizona Klein family and Pat Lukes. They arrived in two containers last week via USPS. Once the packages were opened we knew in an instant that these precious babies were sent to our family so that Abbey and Ava could give them lots and lots of love.

Abbey and Ava immediately accepted this most sacred responsibility and have been doing an awesome job as new mothers. Once the babies had been unwrapped, Abbey divided up the babies between herself and Ava without the slightest suggestion that she share from her brilliant father.

Abbey and Ava selflessly sacrificed their beds for the new babies and are now sleeping on the floor. Sure it will be tough for a while....but we have faith that the lord will provide.

As you can see from the pictures, taking care of so many brand new babies can be a daunting task. Abbey and Ava accepted this task without complaint.....yet another indication of just how amazing their father must be.

A Headstone for Sheri's Grave

On Friday, April 16, 2010, Scott and Beverly went to the Orem Cemetery to watch the setting (installation) of the headstone at Sheri's grave.

Here the men get ready to unload the heavy granite block from their truck at Sheri's grave site:

The men used the headstone itself to measure the size to cut in the lawn, and then they dug a hole for the headstone:

They then lowered the headstone into the hole:

This is the "set" headstone:

We put flowers around the headstone:

Beverly poses at the grave site:

The headstone is beautiful.

Hanna's Birthday Party

Abbey, Ava and I went to Hanna's birthday party which was at Mismo Gymnastics in Missoula. Abbey enjoyed playing a bunch of different games with the other kids. Here she is walking across the balancing beam.

To tell you the truth I'm not really sure what Abbey is doing in this picture, but whatever it is it sure looks like fun!

Ava had lots of fun also! This has to be the biggest smile I have ever seen her make.

On a different note we took our new stroller out for a run on the Lolo trail. Abbey and Ava have enjoyed riding in the stroller. Abbey was worried at first that I was going to go to fast....at least someone thinks I'm a fast runner.

Here are a couple of photographs that Monica took of the girls while she was watching them. The first one is of Hannah, Abbey and Ava. Abbey and Hannah are best friends and were super excited to finally get to play together again.

And here is what Ava looks like after eating. I think it's safe to assume that none of the food actually ended up in her tummy.

Easter Visit From Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa came up for a visit to make sure I was still sane. They were thoughtful enough to plan their trip around two days that my daycare was closed so that I was able to go to work. I have the BESTEST in-laws!

The Easter Bunny came Saturday afternoon while Abbey and Ava were taking a nap. Abbey and Ava had fun finding all of the Easter Eggs.

Abbey got tons of loot from the Easter Bunny. She had better enjoy getting all the candy and toys this year.....next year she will have to share with Ava.

Ava was spoiled rotten by Grandma and Grandpa. Once they left I made sure to give her some "tough love" by propping her bottle instead of holding it for her.

Abbey decided to draw a picture of her favorite thing that she did with Grandma and Grandpa this trip. She drew a picture of her Grandma reading her the hippo book (Hippos Go Berserk!).

While she was drawing her Grandma she laughed saying, "Now I'm drawing some crazy hair...sometimes my grandma has crazy hair"!

Cooking with Abbey

Abbey's grandparents (Scott and Bev) spent Easter in Lolo. Abbey and her Grandma Bev colored lots of Easter eggs. First, they got all the colors ready to dye the eggs. Abbey loved all the bright colors:

Then Abbey dunked the eggs in the colors:

And put cute faces on some of the eggs:

After the eggs were finished, Abbey decorated Easter "bun"nies.

This picture shows Abbey eating one of the bunnies she decorated:

Abbey had a great Easter with her family: