Gateway, Friends, and Babysitting

So yesterday we were supposed to go up to Brigham City and go boating with some friends. Luke, Ava, and I left at 3:00 pm which on any other day would have been perfect timing. Luke had heard on the radio an hour before that Center Street in Bountiful was in bad shape due to a semi rollover (you probably saw it on the news) so we decided to head north and get off downtown Salt Lake and head up HWY 89. Well..... what a disaster- both freeways were so packed that it took us an hour to go a normal 15 minutes. When we got onto HWY 89 and saw how backed up it also was we decided to cut ur losses and turn around. We went to the Gateway and let Ava play in the fountain since she was already in her swimsuit and kept saying "boat, boat" and we felt bad. She was hesitant at first, but then loved it. Then we went to our friends, the Tanners, and had delicious Papa Murphey veggie pizza on honey whole wheat bread (highly recommend it and it's healthy!) and let the girls play in their little pool. It was such a fun night.
Today I am watching my nephew Jonah and it has been a very eventful day. I took both kids to Costco and they were great, feeling optimistic and brave- I decided to take them to Albertson's to get some yummy sugar free ice cream I had last night (also highly recommend it!) and it was a disaster! Against all my sanitizing thoughts, I let them ride in one of those carts with cars attached because I new it would occupy them. It went well for a while until Ava started climbing all over, sitting on Jonah, and pushing him! Then Jonah wanted to be held to I had to manuever that gigantic thing with one hand, keep telling Ava to sit down, and finally took her out of it because I thought she was going to fall and she started screaming!!! Everyone was looking at me, but I had to keep telling myself "it's just because you love her and don't want her to get hurt!" So after Albertson's I came home, fed the kids and put them down for a nap. It all went well until I realized Jonah didn't have his binky and Ava was still awake. So I gave Jonah his binky and I think he went to sleep. An hour later I went in to check on him and he smelled very stinky and was awake (booooo!!!) not to mention Ava still wasn't asleep! So finally I broke down, decided Ava wouldn't have a nap today and Luke (bless his heart!) got Jonah, changed his diaper and now they are happy as little clams playing with the ball popper. I am stressed due to the lack of a nap and hoping that Ava will ever nap again. It doesn't help that my brother Jeff gets home from his mission tomorrow (hooray!!) and so it's going to be a late nap day anyway, I am stressed!!!! This day will go down in history as the first day Ava has not had a nap (sniffle, sniffle). But on a brighter note- Jeff is getting home tomorrow, yay!!!

Funny story: Ava has started to get in the top drawer of our bathroom and get my bobby pins out and.....

She takes them over to the shower and slides them through the slit at the bottom

Here they are!

Ella taking care of Ava

The girls sitting on the cute cute lawn chairs just their size

Ava at Gateway

Playing in the water with daddy

"holy water!"

not sure about all the screaming kids

Ava and Jonah crawling

They seriously fight over this chair the whole time. I think this is classic of Jonah being a little overwhelmed by Aves and her giving her sinister little laugh!

Ava riding Jonah like a cow.....

Bonus picture of Ava at the Gateway

Family Fun

We have had so much fun over the last few weeks! I am finally done with my clerkships for the summer and am so excited to spend lots of time with my family. I went with my sisters to the American Idol concert where we met up with most of my girl Stirland cousins. We had so much fun and it was a great concert! The next picture are of Ava reading (her favorite past time!) and then of our new "baby." We bought a used scooter that we got a smokin' deal on to offset the rising (quickly!) gas prices. We figure we will save at least $200.00/month and can't wait. Luke already took it to the grocery store tonight and it held a ton of groceries!!!! I didn't take any picures, but we also went to Park City and stayed in a condo for the 24th. We met up with some friends during the day- went on the Alpine Slide which Ava totally loved, had some great meals, and went to a little carnival at the Park City Mountain Resort. I love spending time with the family- they make me so happy!

Introducing......

The newest member of the Ramsay family................

Brady Nick Ramsay












Congratulations Jake, Amanda, Baylee and Trey

Zoo (again!), Sundays, and Echo Triathalon

Two posts in the space of four days- good for me! So, the day after the Fourth of July we went to the zoo with our friends, the Soffe's. They have two little kids, Lucy and Zeke who are so so cute. We had such a fun time and managed to do all we wanted to do before it got too hot. They have a brand new carousel at the zoo now and it was fun to take Ava on it, she loved it!
Next, I love Sundays so much. It is such a great day to spend with my great husband Luke and our Ava. We have recently switched to 1 o' clock church which I hate, but it does have a few plusses. We love to cook a big breakfast which was hard to do when we went at 9 and we have also started going to the park or on a walk to visit with our ward friends in the morning. It has been so much fun. We all love to be outside!
Lastly, Luke and I did a relay triathalon last Saturday and we both did really well. I did the 3 mile run and did 10.5 minute splits which is really great for me. Luke did the 1/2 mile swim and almost died due to a way too small wetsuit (which I told him and he didn't believe me!) but as soon as he had a rescue boat unzip it a little he could breathe again and finished strong. We had so much fun with our friends and can't wait until we can do our next one (probably by ourselves!)

The Echo group



Me in all my running glory.....



What a fine specimen in a wetsuit!



Luke finishing strong!

Lovers :)

Sundays..... Ava eating corn on the cob which she loves

Corn!!!!

laughing

sneaky little corn face

the park by our house, Ava playing in the wood chips

What little cutie

playing in the tire swing- this was right before she fell through the middle, but don't worry- she didn't get hurt!

Playing with daddy on the swinging bridge

Ready, set,.... Go!

She is fearless I tell you

I don't know what this is called, but Ava loved it

Moms and kids on the carousel

Mom and Ava

Us again

What a great picture to leave you with............ I don't know why we took the bum shot of the tiger!

4th of July Fun

We had a very fun Fourth of July. It all started the night before when we went to our annual ward/friend/family fireworks at a friends house in our ward. We had so much fun there! Ava had a pretty late night and it was stressful, but she loved it and ended up doing well. She didn't mind the fireworks, she liked them and wasn't scared at all. There was good food and good socializing! The next morning we went to our ward breakfast with yummy pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, and drinks. After we ate, the kids took part in a flag ceremony and a bike parade. Ava had so much fun riding in the cute wagon with Lucy :) Since I am doing slave labor on rotations right now I was required to go in to LDS hospital and work on the holiday, but luckily my preceptor took pity on me and only had me come in 11-3 which wasn't too bad. Ava napped while I was at work and then she and Luke picked me up, we did a little holiday shopping at the Gateway, and headed over to our friends, the Welch's house. We had a very yummy bbq and a fantastic firework show to go along with it. The girls had so much fun! After the fireworks we took Ava home and put her to bed- two late nights in a row was pushing it a little too much for us! Then Luke and I watched the movie "Definitely Maybe" from the Redbox and it was a great movie. I really liked it. All-in-all it was a very fun day. Holidays are so much funner with an almost 18 month old!!!!

Waking up for the festivities in her cute new pajamas grandma Ramsay gave to her- thanks!



Family photo on July 3rd



Ready for the Fourth of July....



The very cute wagoneers. If only you could see Lucy's face!



After the bike parade, Ava's surrogate older brother, Sam (Erin her babysitters little boy) pulled Ava around for quite a while. She had a blast.

Ready for the firework fun to begin

Ava loves Haylee's little chair every time we are there and today was no exception

Not quite sure about actually holding the sparkler.....

so...... I will just play with the bottle of lighter fluid..... (don't worry, we promptly took it away!)

.... And eat the box of sparklers......

Sisters and babes pausing to pose for the camera

Ava going for a ride on Milo's "harley"