A fun family night!

(Please ignore the messy background. I promise it doesn't always look that way.)

For family night last night we ended up building towers out of blocks for about an hour.

I wish I could say their was a lesson and all that, but we are not all that on top of it yet.

Andy's towers were very creative but never stayed up long enough for me to get a picture.

Avah had tons of fun trying to make her own and knocking down mine and Andy's towers.
She even had fun cleaning up the blocks until she realized it meant bed time. It's very rare that we get family time like this. Especially now when Andy is working all the hours he can, at lube doc and for his brother. He is lucky if he sees Avah for longer than a half hour before her bed time. So this was a good treat.

Just thought I would throw in a picture of one of my towers. It's the most creative one I've done so far. (That stayed up longer than a couple of seconds.)

Avah's other b-day party!(Andy's family)

(Pictures are out of order)

Avah got a train from her Aunt malessa and Uncle Ivan.

Her Grandma made her a blanket just her size that she liked right away.


She also got animal crackers and a bath toy that has floating butterfly's and a net to catch them with. I believe that they were also from Grandma and Grandpa.

I can't remember what was so funny. But, I really like the picture so I put it up anyway. I think it had something to do with the way Avah blew out her candles.

Avah got her own little cupcake with two candles on top to blow out.

Grandpa Darcey helped her unwrap her presents, and get the toys out of the boxes. I think Avah had a lot of fun and really liked what she got.

Avah's b-day party!(my side of the family)

Avah had a lot of fun opening her presents.

She also had plenty of help from her cousins.

She even liked her card so much she gave it a hug.

And this year instead of sneezing the candle out, she blew them out with the help of Matthew.(And all the other kids)

She ate every last bit of cake.

She had a lot of fun, and was very happy with what she was given.

Avah's 2nd birthday photos

You can't really tell, but she is holding the birthday care bear.

These are the best of what I took. Avah is a little sick, so she wasn't her usual overly happy to be in front of the camera self. Still I think I got some good ones. I didn't take my usual hundred photos, I didn't want to push my luck. It didn't take long for me to have to wipe her nose which made her very unhappy. Poor Avah, it figures she would be sick on her birthday. I don't know of any other kid that gets sick as often as she does. Anyway on a happier note... SHE'S TWO!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVAH!
Mommy and Daddy love you!

I can't believe how big she is!

She was so tiny and small, I was so nervous when I first held her. I thought she would break. But,my baby's not a baby anymore.

She's a toddler! She is two years old tomorrow! I can' believe how fast it's gone. I hear people say that all the time, but I didn't think it would be this fast. She is the cutest kid ever, and I'm glad that I had her.(still can't believe I'm doing it again though.)

Malessa and Ivans wedding!

I have to admit it was a very stressful day for me and Andy. From what I heard it was probably even more stressful for Malessa. Andy's jury duty did end up getting cancelled, so that was good. However Avah had had a late night and really early morning( we had to go up to bountiful, after we stopped in Orem to drop off on of Andy's drive cycles.) making her very emotional. While we were waiting for the happy couple to come out Avah started to scream at the top of her lungs in the temple waiting room. Luckily we were able to get her to calm down for the pictures.

The happy couple with their nieces and nephews.

Malessa and Ivan!!!

An hour before the reception I got to help decorate the room( apparently the person they had planed on cancelled the day before.), along with everyone else who was willing to help. I also got to help in the kitchen since the kitchen help was late. Quite a bit of other stuff didn't go as planed, but it was still a very good reception. Except the part where Avah snuck into Malessa's changing room. Malessa was in there with her and it didn't occur to me to look for Avah in there(apparently she really liked the mirror that was in there.) but I just about went into labor trying to find her. Luckily, before it got that far, Avah came running out of the changing room and started to play with some of the other kids. After I freaked out at her I had to sit down for a while. Anyway, Andy's aunts sang a couple of songs, they had the bouquet toss, and cut the cake, and everyone lined up by the doors to clap and cheer for them when they left for their honeymoon. We helped clean up a little(as much as I could while keeping Avah in sight) and then went home. It was a long but good day. I hope that Malessa and Ivan are very happy.

Tax dollars hard at work!

Poor Andy has been selected for jury duty. He has to go in for jury selection on the ninth of this month at nine in the morning. The best part of this wonderful story is that Andy's older sister is getting married that day at a quarter to ten in the bountiful temple. I am hoping that the jury duty will be cancelled the night before, but knowing our luck it wont be. So in that case I will hope that it will only take an hour so Andy can be there when his sister comes out of the temple. Not that I know how long it will take. But as one of my new year resolutions is to be a more positive and kinder person(hey, I can try right?) I will hope for the best!

On a completely different side note, one of my other new year resolutions is to have at least one of my jewelry pieces published. There, now that I have written it down where anyone can see it maybe it will actually happen. I have been looking into it. There are a couple of competitions I'm thinking of entering, I might also submit a bead project to a magazine. This is where the think positive resolution comes in. If I think positive it will be more likely to happen right?