Brace yourselves for a VERY long post and LOTS of pictures. December was a fun month with lots of fun activities for our family. It started with my Black Friday gift projects. This is the Christmas gift I made for my parents using my new amazing Cricut! I was pretty proud of the end result and I hope they liked it. The frames are empty for them to fill with pictures of their other grandkids.
I made a similar one for my in-laws but had more pictures to work with. It starts with a picture of just the two of them, then a pic of them with their children, then their children and spouses, then a pic of everyone with their grandkids, and the last shot is of Dave's parents with all their grandchildren. Such a cute picture!
Here is our sweet little Ava with her hair getting crazier everyday! I love that it is growing and staying dark!
This is how Ava greets me after every nap and when she wakes up in the morning. Normally with a great big smile. She is so funny. She has learned how to sit up on her own and pull herself up onto things. We had to lower her crib when we found her standing up in it.
I love her smile!! She is such a sweet baby!
She has become quite the little helper ever since she became mobile. She climbed right up onto our dishwasher to help unload.
She also loves to climb in her little activity center. This is what she does while I am getting ready in the morning.
So sweet!
Over the break we were able to do lots of fun activities. I love when Dave has time off from school. We went to the Zoolights with our good friends and had such a fun time. It was a pretty amazing display of lights. I love Christmas lights! They make me so happy!
Here we all are. Having a great time even in the chilly Arizona weather.
We liked the big spider web. There was a huge spider above it made of lights but you can't see it in this shot.
Ava loves having her daddy around. She is always saying "Dada" all day long when he is at school.
We also went and saw the Temple lights which were beautiful. Ava enjoyed all the lights.
I was pretty proud of this shot. She loves going to the park and swinging on the swings.
Daddy even took her down the slide a few times.
Christmas was so wonderful! We got our Christmas tree last year after Christmas and loved setting it up and putting up all our decorations around our home.
We had Dave's brother Mike and his wife Mari and little Max over on Christmas eve to make gingerbread houses. They were pros we weren't so much.
But we worked really hard on Santa's runway. I meant to add a picture of Dave's creation on the runway but I forgot to add the picture. He is crazy that is all I can say and it's probably better that I didn't show it. If you are curious though you can enlarge this shot and check out the reindeer.
Christmas morning was so fun. Dave and I slept by the tree and when Ava woke up we had her open her presents. She loved that wrapping paper and hopefully what was inside too. It was her first Christmas and so fun to watch her.
Here are her new shoes I couldn't resist getting for her.
Opening up her Texas grandma and grandpa's gift.
She loves her new little puppy and I love when it says, "I love you, Ava!"
Her cute little Christmas outfit that I found in the dollar bin at Target.
I made a little nativity cake. It wan't too great because I had to make it pretty quick but it was fun to do.
Our happy little girl
We went over to Dave's sister, Jen's, home for Christmas dinner and gift exchange. It was so fun to spend the day with family and watch all the kids excitement for Christmas.
Ava loved her gift from her Arizona grandparents. She loves pushing all the buttons.
And she loves her gift from her great grandma, Nan. Those twirling ducks just mesmorize her.
Christmas was amazing and we loved sharing it with family!
Right after Christmas my brother and his family came to visit us from Utah. We loved having them and Ava loved playing with her cousins, Bruce and Rachel. Ava and Rachel were the perfect sizes to swing together.
While they were here we took them to the train park in Scotsdale that I think was a big hit. There were plenty of places for Bruce to play crocodile (his new obsession). He is so funny!
Dave and Ava had a fun time too!
We had a blast riding the train and playing on the playground. Here we are with our nephew, Bruce.
Here we all are on the train. Rachel is kind of hidden behind Dave.
We also took them to the zoo. We liked the little monkey area. They were so little and cute. I don't think this little guy would have been as little and cute if he would have jumped on Ava here but it sure is a cute picture.
Bruce's favorite animal there was the Komodo dragon (they unfortunatley didn't have any alligators or crocodiles - he really likes the predators apparently)
It was a pretty good zoo though and Bruce, Rachel and Ava all enjoyed the different animals.
We all headed up to Vegas for my grandpa's 90th birthday on January 2nd. It was the first time we had all been together in a very long time so we took some family pictures.
My grandpa, Granky, with all his great grandchildren. It was his first time meeting Ava and unfortunately she wasn't on her best behavior. She was getting over a little cold and was struggling a little being away from home.
Our family with Granky!
That's one handsome man!!
We were so happy to be a part of Granky's 90th birthday party and it was so fun to be with family. We love you Granky and we'll be looking forward to celebrating your 100th birthday with you too!! Happy Birthday!!
After the party Granky, my parents, my sister Jessica and her two daughters, Anna and Eve came down to Arizona to visit. It was so fun having them. We love visitors!! Here is Ava snuggling with her great grandpa, Granky! She was much better behaved in her familiar surroundings.
We also took them to the train park. Ava had fun playing with her grandma.
And her grandma had fun playing with her too. Ava loves spending time with her granparents and cousins.
Ava and Eve also fit perfectly in the swing. They are so cute!! Thanks for coming and visiting us everyone!! Please come back soon!!In other news we went to the Pediatrician for Ava's 9 month well check. I can't believe she is 9 months old. I love her age right now she is so much fun and such a sweet baby. I love being able to stay home with her and watch her grow and develop. At the appointment though she only weighed 15 lbs which puts her in the 2% for weight. They were a little concerned about that and gave us some suggestions to put some weight on her and they want to see us back in a month. Hopefully we can get a little meat on her. Her length was 27 1/4 in. which put her in the 40% for length though. She is just a little girl.
Well this post has taken me most of the day to write... I think I am out of updates for now until next time. We hope your holidays were as wonderful as ours!
