Ava - Almost Crawling

Ava is so close to crawling. She gets around great doing the Army Crawl but spends a lot of her time in this position, rocking back and forth. She'll move an arm or leg forward but then doesn't know what to do so she goes back to the floor. I'll help her along by holding her tummy and Ameya crawls around in front of her as an example but nothing official yet.

Ava and Doors

Ava loves to open and close the doors around her. She will sit by the door and push it closed, though it usually doesn't latch and then with her little fingers pull it back open. Sometimes I'll sit on one side and push it back to her - so instead of rolling balls back and forth, Ava and I use a door.

Girls and Crazy Summer Hair

Ameya's hair in front is getting longer and we're beginning to have more options than the comb-over. Here we've just let it go wild for a fun play day outside. And that is Lexi, Ameya's BFF that lives right next door.


And Ava's hair is starting to stay down and only has the crazy tuffs of hair on the sides. I think if I get brave enough with my scissors, I'll cut the tuffs back a bit.

Kenya's Rules

You just never know where you might find out little Kenya Kitty

Spring is Here

I love to garden and I finally made it outside to begin the season and not a moment too soon. Our yard front and back has not weather this past winter too well. So I have a lot of work ahead of me but I really enjoy seeing the changes as the yard and garden are worked.
I spent a lot of time Saturday afternoon working the two tiers in our front yard. We're replacing the grass around most the house this year, so I have more maintenance to do then planting but I couldn't help myself. I started with a fun project first.

It is a tradition over Memorial weekend to plant our vegetable garden. Ameya has helped us with this the last two years and it is a great family activity. Ameya's first year with us, she also got to pick the first vegetable from the garden as well as pick and carve a pumpkin from our little pumpkin patch. I'm so glad that she enjoys playing in the dirt with me as we watch and grow our little harvest.

A Trip to Utah

I had the wonderful opportunity this year to again attend Women's Conference at BYU. My good friend Penny and I went last year and thought we really needed to make this an annual event. We tried to recruit our friend Ann but her oldest daughter is getting married this month, so no luck there....but we'll be keeping her to her promise for attending next year.

If you're not familiar with this conference, the average attendance is between 15,000 to 20,000 women. It is an awesome event and you go away feeling wonderful about yourself, about being a women, and about the opportunities that your life can bring you.

The theme to this years conference was taken from Moroni 10:30-32 in the Book of Mormon, "Awake, Arise and Come Unto Him".

The opening session speaker was one of my favorite Sisters in our Church, Sister Sheri Dew. She is President and CEO of Deseret Book. She has never been married and does not have any children but I think sisters from all walks of life can identify with her and certainly learn from her wisdom.

Her talk was my favorite from all the talks that I attended. If you have a change to read her talk from this conference when it comes out next year, I would highly recommend it. She talked about us as women in today's world and how important we are to Heavenly Fathers plan. We are the Lords secret weapon. We are the heart of the family. We are the influencer's and we have a unique opportunity to change the world.

She told us to live the status-quo is easy but we as LDS women believe in progression. No one wants to stay just like we are. That a person is far more motivated to do something hard then to do something easy.

She told a great story about her traveling and trying to make a plane when she had an impossible connection. How she ran though the airport, believing she would miss her flight but she made it. And on that plane she met a fellow passenger that she spoke with and she know that this was the reason she made the flight.

She told us that We rarely understand how the Lord uses us. That we all have more influence than we think. And that Righteous Influence is a Spiritual Gift.

She gave a quote by Spencer W. Kimball which I think I captured correctly here - Much of the major growth that will come to the church in the latter days will come because of the good women in the church

And then she asked us - "Are we the Women that we need to be in these Latter Days that Heavenly Father needs us to be"

She challenged us to ask in our Prayers daily - Why has the Lord brought me here today. And then said - "Let us be the generation of Women that walks away from the World and Comes Unto Christ"

She was Awesome and though this is a long post, it's only a portion of the great comments she made.

A Prophet Speaks - "Joy in the Journey"

President Thomas S. Monson became Church President February 3, 2008, at the age of 80




The closing speaker for Women's Conference was our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. Never have I had the opportunity be in the same location as our Prophet and personally see him and hear his voice. It was incredible. The spirit of the Lord was so strong in the meeting. I know without any doubt that Thomas S. Monson is a true Prophet of the Lord and I am so grateful that I had an opportunity at least once in my life to hear him speak.

He told us to find "Joy in the Journey".
There is no tomorrow if we don't do something today.
Every day in your life is a special occasion.
Be a force for good.
Life is filled with much to do - don't let the important things pass you by.
He told us Life is Hard and that mortal life was never meant to be easy.
That we become refined through hard choices and that we will have trials to the very end of life.
We must be willing to press forward
No trial or adversity is wasted.
It builds our character and because of this we will be more worthy to be called the Children of God.
No matter how carefully we 'Plan' our lives, adversity will come.
Don't always reflect on what needs to be done but also on All that has been done.

Find Joy in the Journey
I love that saying and I am going to put that up in my house somewhere -
either over my kitchen sink window or above my front door.
I need that reminder sometimes because I forget at times to see all the Joy that does surround me. My life is filled with much to do and so this was a great talk for me to hear and of course made better because it was from our Prophet.

As I said before, the Conference was GREAT!

9 Months and Growing

Our Ava is 9 months today. We can't imagine our lives without our 2 girls and feel so lucky but the time sure does go by fast. We're not sure when crawling will start but she can get around pretty fast with her 'Army Crawl'. We have to keep a good eye on her as she wants to explore everything. Her current fascination is Boris' water bowl. She likes to put her hand in it and splash around.

All the crawling gets Ava tired so she is happy and eager to take naps when the times comes around. And for those that have asked, Yes, her hair is starting to lay down. It's getting longer so I think the weight of it helps.

School Days Coming to an End

Ameya is almost done with her first year of school. She has loved going to pre-school and learning as well as getting to socialize with the other children. We're excited for Kindergarten in the fall, as she'll get to attend with her best friend Lexi, who lives right next door. My neighbor and I went together so we could be sure the girls would be in the same class.

Ava - Playing with her Pink Ball

Ava is so active and finds joy in almost any new item that is given to her. She loves to investigate the new item and can spend a lot of time just listening to what sounds the toy makes or how it feels.


Every day brings new sounds out of her as she learns to use her voice. Laughing is still her favorite sounds but she also says 'Da' a lot.



My favorite occupier was to surround her with a lot of toys and let her play but that usually doesn't work now a days. Ava is into "Army Crawling" and is not too content to stay in one place for very long. She gets a great workout as she does laps around the rooms.