Holiday Weekend-Present

Had a busy week (again!) so I am just posting pictures from Thanksgiving until now. They aren't really in order.


Ava and Luke watching the Jazz game

Ava's first tent....Dad and Ava inside their tent

Ava getting ready for the flash of the camera

Taking a bath and Grandma BJ's

Ava looking out the window and watching Maggie. Thanksgiving was pretty much her first real dog experience and she loved it!

Bed Head!!!

Laughing her head off (or Luke's!)

Ava in full cowboy gear on her rocking horse

Mom and Aves getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Ava was so hungry she was eating a spoon!

Christmas Party Update

Thanks to everyone who has let me know about a Christmas get together. Here are a few things (the list is long, get ready): FIRST- Please email me if you want to come. I know who wants to come through the blog, but I think it might be easier for me to send out mass emails to get feedback and ideas. This might help me get answers faster (I guess some of you don't blog as often as I do!) email me at katy.stirland@utah.edu SECOND: I am thinking Sat or Sun before Christmas will be the best for most people. Luke and I have to leave the day after Christmas to go home so we need to do it before. Will everyone tell me which day might work the best- OR we could do Christmas Eve Day (maybe around noon) I dont' know about this, but I also don't know if people will be in town Sat or Sun before. Let me know your preferences. THIRD: here are the ideas so far or the get together: Rewind Diner (we could either do lunch all together and reserve the place out or else we can have them put together appetizers and everyone could pitch in $5 or $10), my house as long as it is Sat or Sun (we would do a potluck), or possibly Ashley has said maybe we could use the Holiday Inn motel conferece room (we would also do a potluck). Whichever I get the best feedback for is what we will do I guess. FOURTH: I think it would be fun to do a family thing, but we could also do just a girls thing- what do you all think. FIFTH: Should we also do a nicer white elephant gift exchange? SIXTH: I am going to put this all in question answer format so that you can copy and paste it into the blog or email.LAST: Please et me know ASAP so we can finalize the details so everyone can make plans.

1-Place:

2-Day/Time:

3-Potluck or money pitch in:

4-Family or Girls:

5-White elephant:

6- Any other ideas:

New Car for Aves

Here is a cute picture of Ava on her new sit or stand car. I am also going to try to post a video of her walking with it for the first time, but I'm making no promises...

30 minutes later.....

Our little mischief maker

I am definitely going to have to start watching Ava more closely! She has become a little mischevious lately. She is obsessed with pulling things out of containers (as you will see) she loves emptying laundry baskets, her diaper bag, and her toy box. Too bad she isn't too great at picking them up yet, we will work on that one! She has started crawling super fast all over the house- we finally had to buy a gate for our stairs because she was getting a little too curious. We are having so much fun though. We are still laughing all day every day at what she does.

Just trying to take a bit out of Grandma BJ's stool

My nephews carseat entertained her for a good 10 minutes- she would climb in it and bounce and laugh- it was so funny.

Crawling behind the couch. Believe me, once she got in- she had no idea how to get back out!

Just trying to help dad prepare his priesthood lesson!

This face is classic! She looks totally caught in the act.

She thinks it's the funnest thing to make messes.

Moving on to the wet wipes...

Just when you think there aren't too many good people left in this world.....

Just when you think three aren't too many good people left in this world..... you see something that restores your faith in humanity. We went to the Food Bank tonight to donate our humble little turkey (believe me- I was shamed when I saw what other people brought!) and what a sight we saw. I thought that we would be some of the only ones there to donate, but boy was I wrong. There were people pulling in and out of the parking lot like crazy. People with a few bags (like us) and people with so much food to donate they had to pull their car up to the loading dock. I wanted to give the link to the food bank so that anyone who is interested, even if they don't live near a food bank, can donate online. As little as $4.20 can feed one person a full Thanksgiving dinner. The link is http://www.utahfoodbank.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=53&Itemid=1 This should take you right where you need to go! HAPPY THANKSGIVING :)

Anyone for a Christmas Get together!? READ ME

So Mindi, Kari, and I were talking about how fun it would be to get all our old friends together and have a little get together over Christmas. I am wondering who will be in Kanab, what day within two days before or after Christmas would work best for everyone, and if anyone has ideas about what we could do and where to do it. It would be awesome if you are interested if you could comment and give your thoughts. Also, if you know anyone who doesn't blog and think they would be interested, talk to them and see what they think. It would be a family thing and there would be food and fun. As soon as I get some general feedback I will post again with particulars. Thanks guys!!

Posting again!!

It's been an unusal amout of time since I have posted last. Life has been pretty hectic and crazy for us. Last week, Ava, Luke, and I all took turns being sick. We had some nasty 24 hour flu virus that gave us the throw-ups and body aches. We are so glad to be over it now! Fortunately the nasty bug didn't put Luke down until after his work retreat and as of Sunday night- we were all healthy again. School is crazy of course as we are nearing finals and the end of the semester- yay! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving break and then Christmas break. Ava is growing up so fast before our eyes, it will be nice to slow down for a few weeks. I hope you like the new posts. I think there are some great pictures.

The Cheescake Factory

Yes it's true- we joined the thousands of other Utah's eager to eat at the new attraction. We waited or about an hour and a half and then waited 45 minutes for our food. We had a great time, good food, and the best company ever! We probably won't be doing it again for a while- we'll stick to the places that are a little less hectic.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

My beautiful sister and adorable niece

My other beautiful sister and my adorable nephew (oh, and my hilarious brother-in-law)

Park City

We were so lucky to stay in Park City over the weekend. Luke and his boss put on a retreat for their clients at the Hotel Park City. We had some great meals and listened to some great speakers. We left Ava for the first time overnight on Friday (thanks Mindi for watching her!) and then I picked her up the next morning and we came back up to stay Saturday night.


The Hotel Park City

View from our balcony. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

Ava loved the big comfy bed so much. She laughed and crawled all over it for 20 minutes before we finally put her to bed!

Ava also loved our huge whirlpool tub, we couldn't tear her away from it.

The living room and kitchen amenities- I really could have lived here!

Jazz Games

Here are some fun pictures of the Jazz Games we've been to. Luke and I were able to go on a date night and see the Jazz play the Cavs and then Kari and I saw the Jazz cream the Kings. We always have a good time- eating, talking, and watching (in that order!).

I love when you take a picture and there is an unsuspecting person staring into the camera!

Date night- YAY!!!!

Some of the most entertaining things at the game are the stunts the Jazz bear does- it's very very funny most of the time!

Thanks mom and dad for the tickets! We have such fun times.

The ponytail is back- hooray!

For those of you who have been around Ava since she was born know the history of her hair. For those of you who haven't, I will tell you now. When Ava was born she had a ton of hair- I will post a picture of it! We were surprised she had so much, but of course I was way excited since I had made like a hundred clips to put in her hair. As she has grown, she either lost her hair or else her head grew and her hair didn't. I am not sure which. She pretty much ended up with hardly any hair at all- it was very sad. But don't worry- I still put clips in her hair, even if there were just a few strands available! Over the last month and a half, I noticed her hair was starting to grow back (yay!) and over the last week and a half it seems to be growing in pretty thick and fast. Now, by no means does she have a ton yet, but she has just enough to do a microscopic ponytail, which I will be taking full advantage of so people will stop thinking she is a little boy, even if she is wearing all pink! Don't worry though, she will still wear little clips to since I have spent hours and hours making them and I think they are so cute. So here now are the pictures of the monumental day yesterday when we could do the ponytail again:


Aves at 1 week old- look at that hair!

Aves at 1 month old- still has hair (with a clip!)

The first attempt at a ponytail- 4 1/2 months

The ponytail now! Isn't it also amazing how much her hair color has changed. I don't think I ever imagined having a child with blonde hair, but I think I will have at least for a while if her hair keeps getting lighter like it has been.

Farewell to the infant carrier

Another major milestone has passed in our lives...... We have had to invest in new car seat for Ava. She is now 29 inches which is the cut off to be in an infant carrier so bought her a big girl car seat that can be rear facing until she is 1 years old and then we will switch it to forward facing. She seems to like the new one a lot. I personally think it looks way more comfortable that the old one. Here are some pics of her first experience in hte new car seat.


Goodbye infant carrier/car seat!

Hello new bigger, comfier car seat!