Silver Bells

Merry Christmas Everyone! We have had a great morning so far. Ava, although still too young to understand, has made it so much fun for us this year. Here are a few picture of her in her Christmas PJ's, mostly for Papa and Grandma. The beautiful bells were given to us as a Christmas gift last year from my dad. They are absolutely beautiful. When I took these pictures this morning, I thought they turned out so cute that I should post them so Papa could see his first granddaughter all wrapped up in the bells. Merry Christmas mom and dad.

Merry Christmas to All...

This is our first official family Christmas card. Yes, Josh and I are missing from it...for more than one reason but I think Ava is cute enough to hold her own on this card. Maybe next year we will actually get on top of it and get a family picture taken for the Christmas card. I'll leave you in suspense on that one. Anyway, we hope all of you who read our blog have a very Merry Christmas and that 2008 brings all the joy and happiness you could ever ask for. I know I am looking forward to the fresh start that a new year brings. I plan on making the most of 2008!

A Great Weekend!

This past weekend was such a great weekend. My sister, Kelcie, organized a trip up here to Boise. We were actually successful in convincing my mom to come up too. So we had a little mother daughter weekend. They got up here Friday afternoon. We went out for a really really bad dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then did a little shopping. Josh was nice enough to stay home and watch Ava and Kelcie's new pupppy, Loucie. She is the cutest little thing I have ever seen and so so tiny.

Saturday we had a very early morning. Our ward had a Breakfast with Santa so we were up, showered, and at the church by 8:15 a.m. Ava was so good and kept a happy face on until we were able to get a picture with her and Santa, then she passed out while Grandma was holding her. We did a little shopping later in the day at Costco and Kohl's and then came home and watched the movie Hairspray, then we went to dinner at Red Robin. I got to tell you, I just love that restaurant. We came home and watched the Notebook, my mom had never seen it. It is such a great movie.

Sunday, my mom and Kelcie ended up going home to beat the storm that was supposed to come in and never did, I was pretty sad. They were supposed to leave today. Sunday evening, we headed over to our friends, The Grantham's, house to have a little cake and icecream to celebrate Lindsay's birthday and then both Ava and I called it a night pretty early.

We had such a great weekend. Thanks mom and Kelcie for coming up and making this Christmas season a little nicer. I tend to miss my family a lot around this time of year and it is strange to think that we are all not together for Christmas, but I guess that is life.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

Ava was in rare form today... She actually smiled a few times while I was taking some pictures. I was so happy with how well the pictures turned out. Even better though, she took a really long nap and instead of using the time to get my house cleaned or get the sugar cookies made that I need to have done for a little progressive dinner we are having with a few families in our neighborhood, I used the time to scrapbook the pictures. I was so excited to use some of the Christmas scrapbooking supplies I had been downloading. Now, I am feeling very crunched for time to get everything done, what's new. Well, it snowed here today and I am just loving it. A little has actually even stuck, but, now the sun is shining so I doubt it will last. I love this time of year, I am trying to enjoy all the season has to offer, but I know it is going to fly by way too quickly!

I'm A Big Girl Now!

Ava turned 5 months old yesterday! Can you believe it! She is really starting to grow up. We went out to Red Robin to celebrate last night, which is kind of funny because we went their when she turned 4 months old. I love Red Robin (Whiskey River BBQ Chicken Wrap... so tasty), so maybe we will have to make it a tradition. After dinner, we went to Babies R' Us. I wanted to get Ava an exersaucer for Christmas. She is getting better with her head control but still gets tired quickly so I thought maybe it would help. We put her in one to test it out and she loved it! She could not take her eyes off of the toys and it was so great to see her holding her head up for so long. Now it is going to be hard to wait until Christmas to get it out. We are so lucky to have such a great baby. She is a great sleeper, eater, napper, and the list goes on and on. She has really hit a great stage where she is able to entertain herself and also sit quietly for longer periods of time. She is a breeze to take to restaurants. We are loving her so much.

A Big Ol' Cup Filled with Hoiday Cheer!

Any of you who know me know that I LOVE holidays, especially Christmas. I love making the most out of every holiday. So I thought I would post pictures of my festive cheer. I love to decorate for the holidays, so it was a good thing we moved into a bigger home last year, because I love to buy Christmas decor and now have plenty of space to put it. We bought a new tree last year and I was finally able to buy and make new ornaments for it this year. I am not completely loving it, but I figure there is always next year to make it better. I am pretty proud of the snowflake ornaments I made and think they turned out pretty great. It gets me excited to make more for next year.

My most favorite tradition from my childhood is when my mom would get the Christmas books out. They were only out at Christmas and I loved reading them everyday. Being a teacher, I have quite the collection of Christmas books, including some from my childhood. I was so excited to get them out this year and have already been reading them to Ava, which may sound silly, but she sits right by me and loves to look at the pictures. It is one of many traditions I am very excited to start with my own children.

Sadly, I still do not have outside lights this year, but I made Josh promise that next year we can get them. Instead I have two small trees on either side of my front door, that offer a little Christmas cheer for those driving by. I am so glad that the Christmas season is in full swing. I have been filling my home with Christmas music and Christmas scents. My favorites: Josh Groban Noel, The Forgotten Carols and for scents I am loving the Twisted Peppermint and the Winter oils from Bath and Body Works.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season and making the most of it!

Our Lovely SLC Weekend...

This past weekend we finally went on the weekend getaway that I had been wanting to go on for quite a while. We had been planning it for almost a month and were so excited to head to Salt Lake for the weekend to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square and enjoy a little time together. Well, it just so happened that Josh's sister Tammy was blessing her adorable son, Donovan, that same weekend and we couldn't have been more pleased to have it fall all on the same weekend. Friday night we headed up to Park City to be treated to the most incredible meal I have ever eaten. My brother, Derek, is a chef at a really nice restaurant named Ghidotti's. He unfortunately had to work that night but was able to spend a quite a bit of time with us anyway. I felt like I was living a fantasy that night. The restaurant was absolutely beautiful and we felt incredibly underdressed. Derek had reserved a quite booth in the back for us that was so nice. We told him that we didn't want to order for ourselves, but that we wanted him to decide our menu for the evening. 8 courses later we left stuffed and happy. I tried things that I never would have imagined I would have. I had raw sashimi tuna that was so good and scallops that were probably my favorite course of the evening, any of you who know me know that I hate seafood, so this was really surprising. We the best homemade foccacia bread with the best oil and balsamic vinegar. We had three amazing appetizers, two incredible pork entrees one with gnocchio and the other with an incredible pasta with homemade noodles. Honestly I cannot even begin to do justice to this meal. If you want to check out the menu you can go to http://www.ghidottis.com/ . It was so nice to see Derek in his element, and he is such an amazing and talented chef and I could really tell that he has a passion for what he is doing. It was so fun to listen to him explain each dish. The words he was using went way over my head, but it was fun to listen to anyway.

The next morning, we met my sister, Kelcie, and her husband, Kevin, for breakfast at our favorite, the Little America Coffee Shop. We have been going there since we were little kids and we always order the same thing. It was nice to sit and talk to them for a little while and I am so excited for her and my mom to come visit in a couple of weeks. Josh will die when he finds out I posted the picture of him holding up the penguine, sorry honey, but I had to get it. Those are the same kid's menus they have been using since we were little kids. The hotel was so nice and decorated so beautifully for Christmas. It was so nice to be able to spend a little time with my brother and sister who I don't get to see very often. The rest of the day was spent shopping and enjoying the winter wonderland we were in. It snowed so much while we were there and we loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, the evening took a major nose dive. After struggling to find a place to eat that did have a ridiculous wait, we ended up at Market Street Grill and what was supposed to be a half hour wait turned into way longer and by the time we were done, Josh's sister called to say Temple Square were going to be turning off the lights in 10 minutes, or so we thought. Thinking that we had missed the lights, we headed back to our hotel very dissapointed, this was something that we both really wanted to do and the original reason for planning this trip in the first place. I was so upset that we weren't able to see them. When we got back to our hotel we found out that Josh's sister was mistaken and that the lights were on until ten instead of nine. By this time it was after ten...

Sunday, we went to the blessing which was absolutely beautiful. Eme our brother-in-law did an amazing job. Baby Donovan is one and a half months old and, as you can see in the pictures, about the same size as our almost 5 month old Ava. I love the picture of Josh and Jared because Josh is bending his knees and Jared is on his tip toes. My favorite picture is definitely the middle one on the bottom. That is Josh and Jared with their 16 year old nephew Jake. Okay, Josh is not short, 6 foot 3 inches, and Jake is even taller. It was nice to see the Leausa family, the kids are growing up so fast and we don't visit them as often as we should. After the blessing we grabbed a bite at the Golden Corral and then headed back to the hotel to pack up and go home. We arrived home completely exhausted from the weekend and feeling like we need a vacation. Hopefully a trip to see the lights is a little more successful next year.

A Laid Back Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We had a pretty laid back Thanksgiving here in Boise. We didn't even have a homemade dinner which was okay with me this year after hosting a large Thanksgiving last year. We headed to Chuckarama with our family and let them do all the work. No dishes, no cleaning, no nothing. Of course it wasn't a home cooked dinner but it did the trick.

After lunch, we headed down to the Festival of Trees with our niece, Matti, and nephew, Sam. It was so much fun to see all of the Christmas trees and wreaths and even Santa was there. It really gave a nice start to the Christmas season. We wandered around there for a couple of hours and stopped in so Sam could do the kid's craft. The Grantham's showed up too and Matti was nice enough to help Macie with her craft. We had a great time but Ava got tuckered out and we decided it was time to be on our way. I am sad that Thanksgiving is over, but so pumped that tomorrow I get to decorate for Christmas! I love this time of year!

Ava's Blingin'

Yesterday was a big day for Ava... She got her ears pierced! I guess she got called a boy one too many times and Josh finally agreed that it would be a good idea. We met Josh at the mall on his lunch break and from the minute we got there he kept trying to back out because he was so worried about her crying. I stayed strong. She actually did really well and only cried for a minute or so after they were pierced and they haven't bothered her since. She is wearing some pretty blingin' diamond studs. I swear she looks way older now that she is wearing earrings, but she sure is cute. I love this picture collage because it totally shows the series of events. She was perfectly fine when we got there and then freaked a little when her ears were pierced and then we headed up to the food court for lunch and she was so happy again, in fact, she was drawing quite a bit of attention because she was so happy and smiley. I am having no regrets about doing this which I am pretty relieved about. Josh is feeling good about it now too even though you can tell in the pictures he wasn't too sure about the whole situation. My favorite is the center picture because Josh is giving the girl piercing Ava's ears the biggest crusty!

So Addicting!

Okay, so I have to say, I have been loving this digital scrapbooking so so so much! I have probably done 10-15 pages now and I am having so much fun with it. This is my latest attempt. I finally learned how to change the pictures to black and white or sepia tone and then add a little color back in. Anyway, just thought I would share my latest page. I would love it if more people would jump on and start doing it.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Holy Cow! This is what I woke up to this morning! I really couldn't believe my eyes, in fact, I was so afraid that it was just frost that I threw some clothes on (for the benefit of my neighbors across the street, you're welcome Amber) so I could step outside and take a really good look. Obviously from the pictures it is not just frost and it is really starting to come down now. I still tend to be a kid at heart so this is a really really exciting day. This to me totally represents the holidays and after being at my friend, Lindsay's house and seeing it all decked out in Christmas decor, it is making me even more antsy to get mine decorated as well. I love this time of year, and as much as I miss living in St. George, I grew up in the snow and I love it and I am so excited to be back in it. Sadly, the novelty of it will not last all winter and before I know it I will be wishing it was spring, but for now I am enjoying every minute. BRING ON THE SNOW!

My Latest Attempt

So I thought I would post my lastest attempt at digital scrapbooking. I know that these are the same pics I just posted, but I have to say, She is so dang cute!!!!!1

4 Months Old... Already!

It's happening, my little baby Ava is getting older, bigger, and growing up quicker than I could have ever imagined. Today she turned four months old, 1/3 of a year! I couldn't of asked for a better day too because today Ava gave me her first little laugh. I could only get it out of her once, but it was definitely a laugh. It was so exciting! I am so anxious to hear it again. Well, we celebrated by going out to lunch with Josh, Ava slept through it. She is reaching such a great stage. She is sleeping so well at night and has actually started taking pretty consistent naps, I couldn't ask for more. She has found her hands and constantly has them in her mouth. She has also discovered her feet and watches them as she wiggles them. Mostly, she has found her voice and jibber jabbers non stop. It is so much fun to listen to her. I couldn't have asked for a better four months, I am so excited for the next four to come.

A Must Have!

Ok, so I just have to blog about this artwork that I saw in the Deseret Book catalog I just got in the mail. I have always wanted a picture of the temple in my home, but have just never found a picture, painting, anything that I liked. Well these pictures are absolutely beautiful and I love the frame around them. Right now at Deseret book they are 50% off making them $220, kind of pricey but well worth it, maybe a great Christmas gift. The Salt Lake one is my favorite, but we will probably get the Logan one because that is where we were married, and I also put the St. George one on because I know that most of you that read my blog are from there. Anyway, just thought I would share. The artists name is John Raymond and if you want to look at more of his artwork go to this link:

http://www.wallwoody.com/c-2-religious.aspx

However, the artwork is not 50% off on this website, only at Deseret Book.

Okay, and actually after looking at the website a little longer, I think he takes other artists' artwork and changes it to the vintage look. I don't know and I don't really care because I love it!

Post Overload!

So, I know that this is post overload, but I couldn't resist posting a picture of my new entry table. I have waited so patiently to get a table and we finally found a reasonably priced one at R.C. Willey a week ago, not to mention, we had a gift card we needed to use. I was so bummed when they told me I would have to wait two days for it to get to the warehouse so I could pick it up, but I finally got it and I am loving it. It gives me another great place to decorate for the holidays. Anyway, sorry to bore you, but I wanted to post a pic for my mom to see. Love ya mom!

Happy Halloween!

I am sad because today is feeling like just another day. I love holidays! I can't wait until I have a big family and we can do lots of fun Halloween stuff together. We didn't even carve pumpkins this year. I did put Ava in a cute Halloween shirt and, yes, she is trying to eat the ghost. Note to self: "Don't do photo shoots before Ava gets her breakfast." I just hope that it starts feeling a little more Halloween-y when the trick-or-treaters start showing up.

My SCARY attempt!

Okay, so this is my first attempt at a digital scrapbooking page. I am having problems adding little embellishments right without it pulling up a white box behind it, so this page doesn't have any cute ribbons or anything. Hopefully, I will get it figured out. I have been using Photoshop Elements and it isn't too difficult for the most part, I just can't figure out the white box problem.

Hopefully from here the pages will just keep getting better and better. I just can't wait until I figure out how to add all of the cute embellishments because they are what really complete a page in my opinion.

These pictures are of Ava dressed in her $1 bin Target specials (hat and socks). Only $2 and what do you get... a great photo shoot opportunity, can't beat that deal!

Well, I am a little addicted to this digital scrapbooking.Yesterday, I spent all of my Ava-free time downloading tons of free stuff. I honestly cannot believe how much free stuff is out there, there is no need to ever buy any supplies. My husband had no idea how little it would cost him when he got me the Photoshop Elements program. Cheapest hobby I have ever had and no where near as overwhelming as traditional scrapbooking, which I just never could bring myself to do.

It's Halloween!

I cannot believe it is already Halloween, it really snuck up on me this year. I just barely put decorations out this past weekend. I am really sad about this because normally I really like to make a big deal out of holidays, and I always bake and decorate sugar cookies, but I just didn't get to it this year.

This past weekend was a fun one. Friday night, we left Ava with my great sister-in-law Tiffani while we went on our first official date since Ava was born. Boy was it fun. We were invited to a Halloween costume party at a comedy sportz club. We went with our friends Zach and Cassie and had a blast. We dressed up '70's style (check our Josh's shoes) and they dressed up country. The comedy sportz show was so much fun and it was so nice to have a night without Ava, even though we were both missing her like crazy.

Saturday was our ward Trunk-or-treat. We have a huge ward and it was a little chaotic, but it was really great. We were able to dress Ava up in her little pumpkin costume and show her off. The best part was the costume was nice and toasty and it put her right to sleep. I can't wait until she is a little older and can understand it all a little bit better.

I have been experimenting with the digital scrapbooking. Thanks Jessica, for helping me get started. It is very addicting. I am working on a Halloween page right now and will post it soon.

Hope everyone else has a great Halloween!

What Would Life be Like Without Friends...

Today I put Ava in this cute little outfit after church. It was a gift from my best friend Lindsy. Ever time I have looked at Ava today it made me realize how lucky I am to have such a great friend and great friends in general. I have been home from St. George a little over a week and I am really starting to miss all of my great friends like crazy. It was so nice to spend time with all of you while I was down there and of course there just wasn't enough time. Linds, thanks so much for this cute outfit, I can't wait for you to start having children, they will be the best dressed kids around. I'm missin' ya and hope to see you soon.

Ava's Little Slice of Heaven

My mom has been bugging me to post pictures of Ava's nursery and I decided that it would be a perfect time to blog about it considering that we just moved Ava up to her nursery this past week. Let me just tell you, it was the best thing we have ever done! She is sleeping so well and so are we. The first night was a little rough, for me at least. Ava slept great, I watched the baby monitor all night. After that first night it was smooth sailing and she is doing great. Well, I couldn't get a good picture of the whole room, so I had to do it in sections. You can probably figure out how it fits all together. The door in the bottom left pic, is the door to her room. The closet is to the right of the quilt. As you can see, I have realized that I have a little addiction to buying baby clothes. I am getting it under control though.

I decided to make all of Ava's bedding because I couldn't find anything I loved, it ended up keeping me good and busy while I was pregnant. The quilt was the first project and it took me so long by the time I sewed, undid the sewing, and then resewed almost every step, I also hand-stitched all the ladybugs and sayings on the tan squares (my favorite part) but I sure enjoyed it. The quilt will never be a cuddle quilt, after all that work it will just look cute hanging on the wall. The next project was the bumper pads, a piece of cake. Followed by the crib skirt and I just recently finished the window valance. I also made the four silhouette pictures and the small beginnings sign. My dad helped me build a frame for it when he was up for Ava's blessing and the writing is actually a vinyl sticker, I just had to paint the red and green. It ended up being a little bigger project than I realized, but I love how it turned out. I also have to give a shout out to my baby brother, Drew, for making the little shelf by Ava's crib in shop class and to my sister, Kelcie, for making the cute blanket on the window seat along with two other really cute quilts. I am still working on filling in the cubby holes around the window with decorations. My last few projects for the room are I need to make a window seat cushion, either find or sew some curtains, and put the vinyl sticker ladybugs above the window area. I would also love to find a big, red, oval, braided rug for the floor but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg so I am just taking my time. I would also like to paint a wall red, but I can't get the guts up to paint my nice walls.

It has been so much fun spending time with Ava in her room this past week. It is so nice to finally be using the space that I took so much time preparing for her. The other night we had Ava sitting in the little rocking chair, which was Josh's rocking chair when he was a little kid, and reading books to her out of the basket. She was actually enjoying it! It was so much fun. I can't wait to watch her play in her room someday!

Catching Up!

Well, this may seem like a random collage of pictures, which it kind of is. It is a little bit of everything we have been doing in the past couple of weeks and boy have we been busy. Life has finally slowed down a little and I have a few seconds to post.

A week ago, last Thursday, we loaded up our little family (Me, Josh, Ava, and three puppies) to head down to St. George to visit with family. We got up early Thursday morning and what usually is a nine-hour drive, took us twelve hours! Josh headed over to his mom's house with Ava and the puppies while I was off the musical 42nd Street at Tuacahn with my family. It was a great show! We spent the rest of the weekend spending time with my family, while Josh worked. We had so much fun and ran around like crazy. Josh headed back to Boise on Sunday with the dogs and Ava and I spent the rest of the week in St. George getting together with friends and spending time with my mom. Ava and I went non-stop! We had so many friends to see! It was so nice to visit with all of them and realize that the relationships were still there even though we don't live close by anymore. While I was there I made four trips to Cafe Rio, I can never get sick of that place. My grandpa, aka the Grape, spoiled me rotten, he invited me to the favorite grandchild luncheon at the China Palace and also took me out to the Blue Bunny Icecream Parlor, he sure knows how to treat a girl. It was so great to spend time with him, he sure hold a special place in my heart. Thanks Grape! My dad made it home to spend a couple days with us before we had to head home. My brother and sister and her husband also came down. It was so great to get to spend time with so much of my family. The top two pictures were taken on my camera phone at the Blue Bunny. I love the one of my dad and Ava. I literally took my camera everywhere with me in St. George and never snapped any photos except the one of Ava on the top right. We just never took a second to take a picture, which I am very sad about now. But we sure had a great time and I am missing everyone already. While we were there Ava, my mom, and I all came down with a pretty bad cold. I am not sure who gave it to who, but all I know is that we were all miserable and lacking sleep.

Friday morning, we swung by Bobbie's (Josh's mom) house to pick her up and we were off to catch a flight out of Vegas. I was so excited to have Bobbie coming home with us. Josh sure was excited to see all of his girls. I think he got a little lonely while we were gone and it felt so good to be home. Bobbie spent the weekend with us and spoiled us with homemade beef stew one night and oatmeal every morning. It was so great. It was her first time up here to visit us so it was fun to show her our house, a little bit of Boise and how it all fits into our lives. It was a quick trip but we enjoyed her company. The puppies mauled her to death every chance they got and Ava got a chance to get to know her Grandma Barbie. We were sad to send her home yesterday and the house is seeming so quiet today with it just being Ava and I here.

Both Ava and I are finally starting to feel a little better, but now we are starting from scratch with putting Ava on a schedule. She is not eating or sleeping normal. So hopefully she will get right back on track. I am so sad to say that I don't have a whole lot that I am looking forward to now. I guess I need to start planning the next trip so I can have something to look forward to again. I guess the holidays are coming up and for those of you who know me I do love holidays and I am very party-rific!

Round Two...

Our poor little Ava has thrush...again!

It seems to be affecting her a lot more this time than before. She has been so sad today. So we have got her back on the meds and hopefully it will clear up quickly. Instead of posting a sad "Ava with thrush" picture, I thought I would post an "I'm cute and happy" picture.

You May Think You Know, But You Have No Idea...

The True Story of Lindsie McDaniel:

Okay here is more info. than you ever wanted to know:

P.S. I will fully admit that I am using this particular picture because I am somewhat thin in it. Plus it was one of the only pictures I could find that was of just me. But mostly it is just because I'm thinner in it. It just makes me realize I have a lot of work to do. I better get my butt to the gym, or maybe I will just stay home and eat a cookie.

Jobs I've Had:

1. Kate's Kitchen (server)
2. Play It Clean Video (those were the good old days)
3. Clothestime (for about 2 months when I first moved to S.G.)

4. Don Jose (server)
5. Elementary teacher (3rd and 5th Grade)
6. Stay-at-home mom ( least pay, most rewarding)

Movies I can Always Watch:
1. Grease
2. Dirty Dancing
3. Zoolander
4. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movies (right Pam?)

Places I've Lived:
1. Cache Valley (Logan, North Logan, Hyde Park)
2. St. George
3. Boise
4. California

T.V. Shows I Enjoy:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. The Office
3. Lost
4. American Idol
5. MTV Reality Shows (Real World, The Hills, Newport Harbor)
6. Dancing With The Stars
I am going to stop there before everyone realizes just how big of a t.v. junkie I am.

Favorite Food:
1. Cafe Rio (only two more weeks until we are reunited!)
2. anything mexican
3. anything I don't have to cook
4. Fiesta chicken

Websites I Visit:
1. All of you lovely people's blogs ( I don't know what I ever did before I became a blog stalker)
2. My Family website
3. Kraft.com (tons of great easy recipes, not that I cook or anything, but I am going to start trying)
4. All the boring websites to pay bills

Places I Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. St. George
2. Anywhere Tropical
3. Cafe Rio

Blogger Buddies to... Tag Your It:
1. Lindsay
2. Brittany (here's a good way to break in your new blog)
3. Nadine
4. Tiffani (bite the bullet and write something, it will feel great!)

P.P.S. I just finished a cookie

Beautiful McCall, Idaho

This past weekend was a blast. My older brother, Derek, came to visit us for the first time since we have lived here in Boise. He is a chef in Park City so on Friday, we made him earn his keep. He cooked for about six hours to make us the most delicious pork mole enchiladas, they were so good. Everything was made from scratch! He also made some spanish rice and fresh pico de gallo. I could get used to having cooking that good on a more regular basis. He is welcome up whenever he wants, just bring the cooking gear.

Anyway, we decided to give him a break on Saturday so we drove up to a beatiful lake town in the mountains, named McCall. We had such a great time! Our friends, the Gratham's, came too. It is kind of like an up and coming Park City, so Derek was really interested in seeing what it was all about. We ate at a good pizza/pasta joint and then drove on a road that took us around the whole lake, which is huge! We drove past a ton of cabins and dreamed about someday owning one. I could see myself spending a lot of time up there. It was so beautiful, as you can see from some of the pictures. The top left picture was Derek, Josh, and I goofing around posing for our album cover, pretty lame, I know. The bottom middle picture was the only one I got of Derek holding Ava, I was kind of bummed. He wasn't too sure about her, I think he thought he was going to break her.

Anyway, we had a great time and we were so glad Derek came up to visit. We are hoping we can convince him to come up a little more often.