4 month photos and an update.

We went and had Ava's pictures taken a few weeks ago. She is four months old in these photos. I thought they turned out really cute. I was a little nervous that they wouldn't turn out because she cried almost the entire time! She never cries! She is usually the happiest baby, but of course the first time we take her to have her pictures done she cries the whole time. Luckily we did get a few smiles out of her. We ordered the first one and the third one down, they were my favorites. (Thanks Aunt Linda for this cute dress!)

She looks so evil in this one. I think she was mad at us because she just wanted to get out of there! haha

You can kind of see the red around her eyes from her crying in this one.


So I haven't blogged in over a month and it's mostly because at the end of the day all I want to do is sit on the couch and stare at the TV. I have six kids (including Ava) coming to daycare now and when the day is over I am physically and mentally spent! I can't believe how much it takes out of me! I know things will get better once I get a good routine down and once all the kids get used to each other. Right now everything is new for me and for them so we are all adjusting. But I think I'll be able to get back to normal in a few weeks. So because my week days are full of daycare my weekends have been really busy trying to get caught up with everything and of course trying to get a little relaxing in.

When I took Ava in for her 4 month Doctor visit she was 15lbs 12oz and 26" long! Both in the 95th percentile for her age. She grew three inches in the last two months! She is as healthy as ever! She is so much fun, she rolls over all the time, loves to hold anything, loves to blow spit bubbles and do raspberries with her tongue. She is on the verge of giggling, I just can't quite get it out of her yet, I know it will be any day though. I can't wait to here it!

Fort Bragg

For the 4th of July weekend we went to Fort Bragg with my parents and the Nix family for the weekend. It was sooo nice to get away for a few days and enjoy the cool air on the coast! It was kinda weird to not be bbqing and swimming on the 4th, but it was still a lot of fun!
We enjoyed good food, good views, good fire works, good walks, and lots of relaxation! Here are a few pictures, I made a slide show of them so I wouldn't have to make such a long post of pictures, but I couldn't get it to work! So annoying! So, I had to settled for just a long line of pictures. Enjoy!

The family, the sun was in our eyes sooo bad. So we're all squinting.
This was on Glass Beach, BTW, Glass Beach doesn't have much glass anymore
Steven and Brad out on the rocks
This is on a walk we took by our camp site. dad, mom, Ann and Ava.
Cute pic of my mom, not so great of my dad.
The seals relaxing on the rocks
Uncle Blake and Ava

Our little family, out to eat.
All of us that went out to eat, except for Ava, she didn't make it in this picture.
Daddy and Ava
Brad and Alisa

Grandpa and Ava
I'm not sure what everyone is looking at here?
Our little Ava J

The fog coming in Blake and Steven on the bikes
Grandma, Ava and me. It was pretty cold and windy that day.
The three of us again.

Just a side note, Fort Bragg doesn't seem to enforce the illegal fire works law. There were people lighting off illegal fire works like crazy!! They were all on the beach though. So maybe that was why, I don't think they can do much damage when your doing them right on the ocean. So from where we were camping on the bluffs we had a great view of everyone on the beach lighting off their fire works! There were tons of them!! They lit them for probably two hours! Brad participated as well, but he didn't do his on the beach he did his right on the bluff! The whole crowd cheered because it was so close to everyone who was up there watching...which could have been a bad thing. Luckily it didn't hit anyone.

Tagged...

What is his name? Steven Paul Astle
How long have you been together? Almost three years.
How long did you date? One month until we got engaged (fast I know), and then had a five month engagement.
How old is he? He is 25, younger then me by 10 months.
Who eats more? Him, but when I was pregnant, I think I did.
Who said I love you first? He did, it was really sweet.
Who is taller? He is. I'm only 5'2", it doesn't take much to be taller then me.
Who can sing better? Let's just say neither of us received much talent in the voice area.
Who is smarter? Steven is, he really is very smart.
Who does the laundry? I do the laundry. I really don't mind doing it. Plus I'm kinda picky about how it's done. But he will do a load now and then if I ask him too.
Who pays the bills? I do, probably my least favorite job because of the stress involved. But Steven really doesn't have the time.
Who sleeps on the right side? If your facing the bed Steven does.
Who mows the lawn? Steven does. I have mowed it once though.
Who cooks dinner? I do. But every once in a great while Steven will do it, always a nice surprise.
Who drives? Steven does, only because I don't like to drive if I don't have to.
Who is more stubborn? Oh Steven is for sure!
Who kissed who first? He kissed me.
Who proposed? Steven did of course. It was very romantic, maybe I'll tell that story sometime, I don't feel like typing it right now.
Who has more friends? I would say it's pretty equal, most of our friends our other couples we hang out with, so it's pretty even.
Who is more sensitive? I am for sure, but Steven knows how to be sensitive too.
Who has more siblings? Steven does by one.
Who wears the pants? I would say we both do equally.

I tag: Anyone who hasn't already done this one!

Brad Paisley!!!

For my birthday my friend Lisa bought me a ticket to the Brad Paisley concert this past Saturday! It was sooo fun! I love Brad!! He puts on such a great show!! I saw him last year too, I can never get enough Brad Paisley! Anyway, we had a girls night out! It was Lisa & I and Lisa's daughter Carissa and her two friends Destiny and Vivianne. We went to dinner before and then headed out to the ampatheather!

Here we all are waiting for the show to start. We had lawn seats, it was such a nice night hanging out on a blanket watching a great show! For those of you who don't know...from left- Lisa, me, Vivianne, Carissa, & Destiny. The cute girls, they are all going to be Juniors in high school next year. They were a lot of fun to hangout with for the night.
Here is Brad! Since we had lawn seats, it was hard to take pictures of the stage, but I had to at least get one. This was when he was playing "Ticks"
I took a picture of the big screen, so you could see his face a little better.

It was so fun! Thanks Lisa for a great night!!
P.S. This was the longest I have left Ava for. My mom watched her for me and said she did great!

Random

Here are a few other random pictures...I'm working on getting caught up on my posting my pictures on here if you can't tell :)

Ava and me, I think this was taken on Fathers Day if I remember correctly?
This was a picture Steven took with his camera phone one morning when he and Ava were laying in bed together. I think it shows how much she looks like him!
These next few pictures were taken on Fathers Day, all the dads napping at my parents house. Well I guess Blake isn't a dad yet. They were all napping at the same time, so I had to get some pictures.

Hanging out

Here are a few pictures from the last few days....they got out of order when I was loading them. I don't know why I am having such a problem with that lately??

Steven and I took Ava swimming in our pool for the first time, she loved it!!
Just a cute picture of her. Here is our little swimmer, just hanging out in her little floaty thing.

This is how she feel asleep on her Great Grandma Empey's floor.

Sitting on uncle Blake's new bike, making my daddy very jealous and my mommy very nervous! (Grandpa Ron is holding her on there)

So there are a few of our summer happenings. We've just been hanging out trying to keep cool in the hot weather!

Tagged

JOYS:
1. My family
2. Traveling
3. Feeling organized

FEARS:
1. Someone breaking into our house and taking Ava out of her crib at night. Which is one of the reasons why she is still sleeping in our room. I'll get there soon enough.
2. Losing any of my family members.
3. The dark. Yes, I am still afraid of the dark.

GOALS:
1. To be a good mother and wife. (yes I know that's two)
2. To get Steven through school
3. To lose the baby weight, plus a little more.

CURRENT OBSESSIONS:
1. Ava
2. The Twilight series
3. So You Think You Can Dance (I LOVE this show!)

RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS:
1. I love new jeans, I have more jeans then I need, I will admit it.
2. I love taking a shower, it's one of my favorite times of my day.
3. I don't know what I would do without spell check, I'm terrible at spelling.

I tag whoever wants to do this. You know you want to

Today and Friday

Here are a bunch of pictures. Mostly from today at my parents house, but a few from when my Aunt Lynn, cousin Alysia and her daughter Braydee Lou were visiting from Idaho this past week. My parents had a BBQ at their house on Friday while they were here with my grandma and grandpa Empey. These pictures got way out of order when I was adding them, I don't know what I did?? So anyway, here they are...enjoy!

I'm still here!

Just checking in letting everyone know our Internet has been down, we can't figure out what's wrong with it. Steven thinks he might have cut a wire when he was up in the attic a few weeks ago installing a whole house fan. So I'm not sure when it will be back up. I'm at my parents house right now, checking everyone's blogs.
Just a little Ava update, I took her in for her two month well baby check-up this past week. She is 13lbs 2oz and 23 3/4 inches long! Big girl! She's in the 99th percentile for her weight and 95th percentile for her height! She is doing so great and smiling all the time now! I'll get a picture up as soon as I can.
Also, for those of you who don't know, I am starting a daycare...I'll be doing daycare out of our home, so our life has been consumed with a new baby and getting our house ready for daycare! I am getting licensed and as well as having a preschool program for kids of that age. We just had our house inspected this morning and we passed! So a week from Monday I'll be up and running. I'm excited to start even though I think I might go a little crazy! lol. It will be good for us, we really need me to still have an income, but I didn't want to have to go back to working out of the home after having Ava, so here we are. I'll be doing this for probably the next 5 years or so until Steven finishes school. So wish me luck!!
Well, that is an update of what is going on in our life! Hopefully up Internet will be up and running soon so I can be back to blogging more regularly!

Ava's Blessing

This past Sunday we had Ava blessed. It was such an amazing feeling to have Steven bless our daughter. I really can't explain it, but those of you who have already been through this experience probably know what I mean. The spirit was with me so strongly all day. It was such a great day!
Here are a just a few pictures we took of Ava, she is just so beautiful! I know some of these are kinda blurry, I don't know why I have such a hard time getting a clear picture, no one else seems to have this problem, I think I just have shaky hands or something.

The blanket was made by Ruth Wilder, a good friend of my family.

I love this picture of her and Steven! He didn't know I was taking this, I'm so glad I caught the moment! It shows how in love with her he is. Steven is an amazing father, I can't believe how well and how fast he transitioned into fatherhood. He has been so great since day one, I am so thankful for him and love him so much!!