A day in the life of a mom... the glamorous and messy reality of what makes it all worth it!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

California Vacation

So I am FINALLY getting around to blogging about our amazing trip. Wow the past couple weeks have been out of control busy.. but that being said I have loved every second. And with all the craziness it was SO nice to be able to take off 8 days and have my little family all together with no distractions. We went with my in-laws on this trip. Ava loved being able to play with her little cousins all day long. I feel so much closer to everyone that went after this trip and am so amazing grateful for such amazing family members in my life. Russ has a great family.


We got to the beach on Sunday and started setting up camp. We were right on the beach and the back of our tent overlooking the ocean, it was absolutely amazing sleeping to the sounds of the crashing waves. We LOVED it. Ava was super excited about it, all the kiddos were in heaven getting SO dirty playing in the sand and dirt.

Here is Ava seeing the ocean for the first time, oh and showing "dolly" the ocean too.
Big smiles for mom :)

And THIS is her actually first time up close. She loved it here.


I love how Russ documented her first experience with pics of us. I love them!

We we looking for sea shells and found a rubber ducky in the sand.. haha how random.


SO, day 2- apparently she changed her mind about liking it. The tide was high and so there wasn't much beach to play on and every so often the water would come up to our beach towels and under our chairs it scared her I think. The pic below is to true to how she felt about it.


We relaxed and enjoyed our days playing in the sand with the piles of sand toys my mother-in-law bought for everyone. Russell was just one of the kids, and made this huge amazing sand castle. Here he is standing by his work of art. Love my man :)


Along with sandcastle building, all the kids would find hundreds of these sand crabs and put them in buckets. Ava surprisingly loved the crabs and would hold them. Here she is making friends.

This was yet another attempt to get Ava in the ocean, but failed.



Here she is snuggling with her daddy... he makes it safe.


Day 3- We bought a kite to fly. It was my first time and Ava's too. It was pretty cool. It only crashed once so Russ had to head up the steep hill behind us to rescue it.

Me and my little Tinkerbell girl.

Here is little Ava with her auntie Kim. I love how great Ava is with my in-laws. She really bonded with everyone which I love. It was really sweet how she loved Kim so much.

And it wouldn't be a trip to Cali without heading to In-N-Out at least once. Ava was ALL smiles here :)


Here I am showing our camping area and our fantastic views!

Day 4- We left the beach and went to Seaworld. My first time there. It was a crazy morning having to get everything packed up and getting ready for our outing.



Here we are at the Pets Rule show. It was a great way to start our day there. Ava was mesmorized by all the tricks the pets did.


My cute family :)


After the show we got to go meet some of the "stars" of the show. Ava with no fear headed straight for the big dog.

At the penguin area.


Here we are at the Shamu show. It was really impressive. Ava was excited as you can see.


At the end of the show we went below and were right next to the tank he lived in. Shamu would swim right next to the glass and it really showed how HUGE he was. But those pics I took you can't even tell what it is it just makes the pic all black. Ava loved being that close, again no fear from my child.


Watching the whale with daddy.


Next we headed to Sesame Street world, within the park. I had no idea that was there. But THAT made it all worth it for Ava. She LOVES all the characters. And these were her first rides. This ride was kinds like the teacup ride at Disneyland.

This was taken mid spin, notice Ava's little tongue out. hahaThen we went and got to actually meet "Ehmo" and "bebe" (Elmo and Abby)





I wasn't sure how Ava would react to the characters up close. She didn't like Santa Clause and was freaked out by the Easter bunny. But she LOVED these guys. She gave them hugs and kisses. I was kinda surprised that she loved Abby more then Elmo. But at home she LOVES Elmo the most.

Elmo was interesting... he keep pointing to how we were matching, wearing the same color.. he kept putting his arm around me. And the camera guy was like, "Elmo she's married." haha he was hitting on me. Should I be flattered? haha Russ wasn't too worried about it. He knows big furry Sesame Street characters aren't really my type. lol

Ava playing on the bouncing thing.


End of the day... tired little girl. Everywhere we went everyone would fuss over her. She is cute I will say. Sure glad she is mine :)


Day 4- DISNEYLAND! Where all our dreams come true, and our wallets drain empty. But worth every cent. Here we are waiting in line.

Here we are one the first ride of the day. The look on Miss A's face says it all. She LOVED it!!The day was perfect. We took Ava on the kiddie rides and then my parents-in-law would take her and then Russ and I got to go with his siblings on the big rides. What a perfect combo, we got to have fun just the two of us and fun with Ava.Here is Ava in line with her grandma, she was so good waiting in lines. I was super proud. Disneyland wasn't as busy as I expected so we didn't ever have to wait more than 20 or 30 minutes. Most of the time is was about 15 mins.



From far away to called to her and told her to smile. I love how she will smile for the camera now, her big cheesy grin! SOO cute!

I took her to meet some princesses. She was excited as we waited in line but as soon as we got close she was all shy and wouldn't hug the her.And again with Sleeping Beauty she was shy.









Next we went on the carousel. She loved and and we went on it a couple times.



We took her on the Nemo ride. It was so much better than before. It was a boring sub ride and now has Nemo in the theme. I thought it was great.

Next up we took her on the car ride. I was the driver... haha I will just leave it at that. We had so much fun that day. We ended the night watching the fireworks and Ava fell asleep in her stroller after all the excitment. I got to go on Splash Mountain for my first time and we went on Indiana Jones a couple times since it is probably my favorite one. We stayed until midnight. It was a long fun day! Can't wait to go back!He is Ava with her cousins at the pool.



Here we are day 7- in Primm, NV at Whisky Pete hotel. They had a great pool and waterside. we all had a blast playing here. And a perfect end to our trip.

Me and my hunny.

Me and little miss.


All around a great trip and a million memories to take away from it. I feel so much more connected with everyone who went. So grateful for the amazing family I married into and so happy Ava has so much fun with all her cousins.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Little Cousins!

A few weeks ago my older sister Andrea and her family came to visit for a couple weeks. They have been living in Dubai for the past three years, and they lived in Texas before that so we don't see their family very often. I was great having them in town. Ava was absolutely in HEAVEN with her little cousins, Ella (3) and Lauren (6). She would follow them around constantly hugging and hanging on every word. It was so sweet to see her so happy with them. Hopefully we will see them soon. Below are some pics from their visit here. We had lots of fun BBQs, movie night at my house with fireworks for the 24th (we even did an amazing areal one that was SO loud but great), park visits and bike rides. The day after they left Ava ran upstairs to the playroom looking for Ella and she wasn't there. Ava was pretty sad. She even said, "Ella". They were inseperable for the few weeks they were here.






The last night they were here we decided to take the kids outside for some cute pics so we could have some of them to remember by. I have a pic in Ava's room and she is always looking and it saying Ella, and blowing her kisses. So sweet how close they got in such a short time. I know they will be great friends growing up. They say our cousins are generally our first friends in life.






Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Independance Day weekend!

We had a FABulous 4th of July weekend! Full of hot pool days, Zoo, parade, fireworks and lots of yummy fatty foods! Here is my little firecracker. Before the fireworks we went to 5 Guys to get some burgers! Hands DOWN better than In-n-out!

We went to the parade with Russell's family. Ava was loving hanging out with her little cousins!

Just me and my lil' love bug :)


Saturday I went to the pool w/ my bff Ashlie and her little girl! Ava loves to copy everything I do. Including how I wrap the towel around myself. haha. So funny!

Ava and Jaycie.

Me and Ash.

We went to the Freedom Festival in downtown Provo the watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks.

The next day we decided to spend the day at the Zoo!


Pretty sure this was her favorite part. Riding on the pretend horses.



So all over the park were these dinosaurs. They would make noise and react some even spraying water. Ava was so freaked out and thought they were real.

Love us :)


Again Ava is obsessed with carousels so we had to indulge her on this one.


Ava was getting so much attention from the animals. When we were by the big gorilla he walked up the the glass lunging towards her WOW it even freaked me out. Those things are so human like. Here Ava was taunting the turkey. Haha funny.

And at the end of the day we were tired and cooked. We headed out for some yummy seafood after. What a perfect day :)

Country Concert

Last week we got the chance to go to a fun outdoor concert for Country Arts, Mark Willis and Mark Chesnett. Russell's work was one of the sponsers there. We had so much fun and it was a perfect summer night!