Get Down!

Ava was feeling it this afternoon.

The Bearthooths

Hiking for three weeks in Salt Lake City totally lit the fuse for Chris and I to do more hiking in Montana. Chris had the whole weekend off so we went to East Rosebud Lake for an easy - but long - hike. Great weather, beautiful view and lots of memories. I used to go to East Rosebud Lake with Renee and her family when we were still in high school. Fun times! In fact, the last time I had been to the lake was before the fires of '96 so you can imagine how much it has changed. Before we went back to the car, I decided to walk down by the lake to point out Renee's old cabin to Chris. We literally ran into her brother, Ryan. What a great surprise. Anyway, here are some pics from our trip.

Start of the trail.

So beautiful!

This used to be a heavily wooded trail.

Happy to be out of the pack!

Enjoying the view of Elk Lake

Oh, I've been scolded for not including more pictures of us in this blog so I will try to do so.

SLC and the big birthday!

Sorry it's been so long, but we've been away for close to a month! Chris had to do a mandatory pediatric emergency rotation in Salt Lake City. Because they don't get the volume in Billings that is required for residency, they have to spend a month working at Primary Children's hospital. It was a great experience: great teaching, lots of volume, varied cases. Exactly what he was hoping. Interestingly, we've become a lot more vigilant about certain things. For instance, I stopped strapping Ava into the grocery carts. "Eh, she'll be fine." That's been my MO lately. Well, he told me that he had AT LEAST one kid a day who cracked their skull by falling out the grocery cart at Walmart. Ava is now strapped in.

While in SLC, we really took advantage of all it had to offer. Probably will not be a shocker to you that SLC is very family friendly. They have amazing parks. The zoo is awesome, especially if you're used to the Montana Zoo. Plus, the library is flat out incredible. We also went on lots of hikes. Almost all the trail heads were only 30 minutes away. When we decided to stay home, we hung out in the pool. Oh, and the farmers market awesome and the food choices (indian, mexican, thai, etc) were great too. Probably the biggest highlight was seeing my college roommate, Brian and his wife. They live in Park City which is about 20 minutes away.

Silver Lake

Ava loved hiking.

Amazing Aspen grove above Silver Lake

So, the trip wasn't all sunshine and happiness however. Chris basically worked from 3:30 until midnight just about everyday. We only brought one car so Ava and I pretty much had to hang out all afternoon and evening. I did almost go crazy a few times but we survived. No TV, no internet, no phone, etc. Pretty boring. Fortunately, Ava thought it was great fun to run up and down the halls, climb onto all the furniture, and open/close all the doors. Out of desperation, Ava got all of her birthday present early. We needed some new toys. Once she went down, I read books, drank beer and ate cereal. Yep, fun times.

Ah yes, Ava already a rabid texter. She practiced all the time!

This door was opened and closed no less than 1000 time a day!

Loving life at the spray area at Liberty Park

Snuggle time.

Ava turned one while we were down in SLC. We had a small cake and went to the park. On the way home, we stopped in Green River to see my Uncle Rex, Aunt Patty and their kids (and grandkids). We then drove the rest of the way to Powell and had a BBQ and cake with my family. Ava and my dad have the same birthday so they each had their own cake. (Thanks to Grandma Rich!) It was fun to see all the family but Ava was pretty much fried after the long drive. We then drove home to Billings and have been basking in the delight of our apartment since then. Man, is it good to be home. Here are some pics and videos.

Ava and Grandpa enjoying their German Chocolate birthday cake!
Petting Grandma's little kitty.

Lastly, Ava's friend Eileen came over to play yesterday and brought her a book about a little pea for her birthday. For some reason, Ava thought the book was hysterical and couldn't stop laughing everytime I read a certain part. I managed to get a clip of it. (For those viewing this blog in an email, you have to go to the website to see the video.)

Chocolate Pudding

Ava was so stinking crabby tonight that I decided that I would try just about anything to crack her cranky mood. Chocolate pudding did the trick! She went straight into the bath afterwards. Not bad spoon skills, eh?

Cranky Baby

Happy Baby - pudding did the trick

Got it!

Finally, I was able to capture Ava walking. She is so proud of herself! Check it out.

And we're off!

Ava is walking! Not much, but she's definitely walking by herself now. She's been cruising around the furniture for weeks. She took a few tentative steps right before we left for vacation but now she's on her own. All it took was the right motivation. Many of you have seen her love for kitties. We went to our friend Jenni's house for dinner last night and Jenni has a cat. Ava was walking all around her house trying to get closer to the cat. She didn't even realize that she wasn't holding on to Mom or Dad's hand. She's reverted a bit; she still is crawling or using her toys to get around (see video below) but she's also taking more steps on her own today.

So that's the big news. In other news, we had a great week. Ava's cough is gone thanks to antibiotics. We had a great day at the Wood's house playing in the pool and enjoying homemade ice cream. Ava and I also took a quick trip to Powell to visit all the grandparents. We came home with a BIG bucket of fresh raspberries. We also had a great time at playgroup, too. Then, Ava and I headed out to Bozeman for a friend's wedding. While there, we were able to see Kyle and Mary Johnson, my honorary parents. Ava LOVED Mary and liked Kyle. :) I told my mom it was a good thing that Mary didn't live near because she would have some stiff competition.

Anyway, here are some pics and a video. Enjoy!

*Sorry about the layout. It's giving me a really hard time and I don't feel like spending hours trying to figure out how to fix it.

Vacation

The Beach!

Sorry this is a bit late but we have been busy!! Last weekend we got back from vacation. Ava and I left four days early to go see my brother and his family in Virginia Beach. It was particularly exciting as Ava had not met her almost-three year old cousin, Madison. The flight out was uneventful but still exhausting. Traveling 8 hours with a very active baby by yourself is madness.

Ava LOVED uncle Shawn right away. She was also pretty excited about Madison but the feeling was not really reciprocated. Ava plays a bit too physical for Madison's liking. Plus, it was hard for Madison to share toys, her space, and her daddy. Despite all the adjustments, she was a good girl. Madison particularly liked to help feed and bath Ava.

Cousin Love

Hard to believe there are TWO years difference here!

Aunt Miriam and Ava on the carousel.

Madison was ready for Ava to be gone by this point!

On Saturday, Chris flew into Norfolk and we headed down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for the annual Cancro family reunion. It was great to see everyone and be on the beach again. Last year we missed it because I was enormously pregnant and Chris has just started residency. All seven cousins loved Ava and vied for her attention. She took all the pulling and manhandling like a champ but it was a bit overwhelming at first so we had to take quite a few breaks. With 20 people staying in the same house, it was easy for her to get overwhelmed. As a result, it took her a long time to get used to everyone. Plus, she had a cold/cough that kept her up at night so she was just a bit off. By the second half of the week, she was loving everyone though.

As for me, it wasn't really a vacation in many ways. The traveling wore me out. Plus, staying up with Ava at night while she was coughing was thoroughly exhausting. I was a bit of a zombie during the day. Despite all of this, I was able to enjoy the family, ride some waves, get some shopping in and finish three books. (Chris, George, Debbie and myself were all ridiculously addicted to the Twilight Series.)

While we were in OBX, my brother had an emergency appendectomy. He's fine now but it's still scary. I was tempted to drive back to Virginia Beach to take care of him when Miriam wasn't there but her family is amazing. They brought over so much food and stayed with him the entire time. He's slowly on the mend and back to work.

We spent one more evening with Shawn and Miriam before our flight left on Sunday. We had a mini photo shoot in the backyard trying to get a good picture of the girls. Pointless. We did get a lot of pictures but Ava was just not cooperating. Plus the bugs and humidity were awful. Shortly thereafter we had to leave to go home. Let me tell you, I was so thankful to have Chris with me on the way home. The flight from Norfolk to Atlanta was miserable as Ava was whining and wiggling the whole time. Then we got delayed for three hours in Atlanta. While sitting on the tarmac waiting for the thunderstorm to pass, Ava thought it would be fun to scream the whole time. She wasn't crying but screaming and yelling to get attention. She would scream, look over my shoulder, see who was laughing, flirt with everyone and then do it all over again. It's cute for the first 10 minutes but then it gets very old. Everyone knew who Ava was by the time we got off the plane. Thankfully, she did sleep for most of the actual flight home. We got back to our apartment around 1:00 am and just dropped.

The Photoshoot

This past week we've been recovering and trying to get back into our normal routine. There is more to tell but I'll do that in a separate post. Enjoy the pictures and video below.

With Daddy in the pool.

Ava loved cousin Maia.

And cousin Dan.

Getting love from Cousins Nina and Violet.