Ava's 2nd birthday party!

It is really hard to believe that Ava is 2 already - but in many ways she seems way older than 2. She is extremely smart and I think the biggest reason is that her mom is so completely patient with her in teaching her things. Ava's vocabulary is larger than any 2 year old that I've known before now - and it seems like she is playing like a 3-4 year old would play. It has sure been a treat for us watching her grow up these last couple of years!

Maybe playing pat-a-cake?

Sweet Ava!

Eating her birthday supper!

 Dennis and Don!

Emily giving Ava a birthday hug!

Ava was talking up a storm to Uncle Steve

Happy 2nd birthday Ava!

Mmmmmmm, chocolate cake? :)

She sure enjoyed eating it. The rest of us enjoyed it too - Jenny makes a mean chocolate cake! 

Cherly got Ava the cutest owl backpack! Ava wearing her new backpack

Jenny did an incredible job on making Ava a play kitchen! She took some old cupboards and completely transformed them. Ava got quite a few play dishes and food for her birthday!

Ava wearing her pretty pink dress from her grandma and making me some 'macaroni & cheese' in her new play kitchen!

Birthday present for Jenny

It's so hard figure out what to get for someone who is so extremely talented and can sew and create way better than I can. So as Jenny's birthday was approaching I was trying to figure out what to get/make for her. Luckily we took a trip together to Ikea and she showed me a pillow that she's wanted for the past couple of years. I went back later and bought that pillow and then took it to JoAnn Fabrics and match up the colors with another pillow that I had planned to make for her. This pillow was super easy to make and I'd like to make some more - possibly for me - or for more gifts. Here are some of the progress pictures and the finished picture!

Cotton material and lots of 1/2 circles cut out of felt

Then 1/2 circles sewn onto cotton in a circle

Some of the petals bunched up to give the flower volume

 The finished project with matching pillows from Ikea! 

The back of the pillow is like a pillow sham - super duper easy to make!

Another close up of the front of the pillow!

Day at the beach

We had a really fun day at the beach on a sunny, warm Saturday. A friend of ours invited a lot of people to come spend the day at the beach and only a few were able to make it. There aren't too many pictures of this day, because we were laying in the sun, playing in the water and just doing beach-type stuff! We had a great day! 

Tabor, Trek and Ava playing in the sand

Jenny talking on the phone - she said she could hear better (less windy) :)

Rhonda and Ava

Ava having fun on the beach - love her beach hat!

Tabor stylin with his sunglasses! He's sure a cute guy!

Way behind on blogging ...

Well, it appears that once again I am a couple of months behind blogging what's been happening in our lives. We've had a really busy and fun summer. I am looking forward to fall (even though our summer was too short in my opinion) to cozy fires, working on projects, sipping hot cider & hot chocolate, wearing fuzzy sweaters and boots. No pics in this post, but there are some coming soon! 

Potluck at the Benjamins!

Dennis and I have been talking about having a potluck at our house for a couple of years now and finally made it a reality this summer. We had it on Sunday after morning meeting. Mom and Dad Smith came for the weekend too - and it was really nice to have them join us - and they both did an amazing job helping us clean, cook and all the really nice things that parents do to help their kids. The weather - not so much in our favor! We had 23 people over on the only Sunday in July when it rained! So we had tables and chairs set up outside under our awning! During the potluck I loaned my camera to 4 boys - ages 13, 10, 8 and 5 ... so most of these pictures are through the eyes of kids! Don, Jenny and Ava stayed into the evening and we had a very nice time with them, as always!

Notice the elephant candle and elephant salt and pepper shakers? I do really like elephants! :)

Our awning actually broke in the out position - the men discussing it - I think! :)
People gathered around
Stacie, Carson and Carrie

Brandon beating up brother Colby

Colby

Me holding Ava and standing around talking
Seth
Anita and Carrie
Anita, Judy and Nancy

Carson making the ladies laugh

Ava cozying up with Dennis
Beautiful Ava
Ava and I

Ava helping Dennis wash the dishes! (or rather she played in the water while he washed the dishes

San Diego!

Dennis and I went to San Diego for a long weekend over the 4th of July. We flew down on Wednesday night and back on Monday. We had such a wonderful time visiting Nate and Emily and seeing some of the sights in San Diego. We are definitely wanting to visit them again. They are renting a very nice home that is on an acre. Nate has a couple of garden spots, a man cave, and an awesome large back patio/deck. If your journeys take you to San Diego - look them up, I'm sure they'd love to take you to Seaport Village, D.Z. Akins or La Jolla beach. We went to the San Diego County fair. I had the opportunity to eat deep fried kool aid but it just didn't quite sound appealing. Dennis and I did get to ride an elephant! This may not mean that much to my readers - but elephants are my absolute favorite animal. I have many elephants in my home and have studied about them and even read novels about them. (Modoc by Ralph Helfer is an amazing true story about an elephant). The next day we went to La Jolla beach. It was a lot of fun splashing around in the water - and I got my first ever jelly fish sting! It did sting but not too bad thankfully. Sunday evening we went to Seaport Village for some shopping and dinner. We had a wonderful time and a huge thanks goes to N&E for putting up with us! :)

Palm trees in their back yard
Strawberry plants
Corn!
Another palm tree
Their small fountain

Nate and Dennis at the fair
Dennis and I riding an elephant! Notice the HUGE smile on my face?

Now Dennis' turn to look at the camera and smile
Nate and I leaving the fair

The group of us at the fair. We had such a great day!

Heading to the beach - notice the surf board inside the car?
Nate's sand chair!
It was super crowded that day

Soooo many people!
Dennis and I!

Their living room
Bruce and BlackJack's (their cats) perch that Nate made

Large kitchen
Awesome back deck/patio! Thats where we ate all our meals!

A small patio area - really nice

The front of their house. Our bedroom was on the left of this picture
Nate's Man Cave!
The view from their property

Lemons!!!!
Avocados!!!!!