Primeros Pasos

Is Ava walking? Well, not quite. The girl has been standing up and clapping for herself like she is the best show in town for a few months now. Don't you think she would want to take off and walk and run with Brie? No, she'd rather stay close and be in my arms.

Ava will now take a few steps. She has taken as many as it takes to get across the room to whoever has their arms out for her. Her mode of transportation around the house is still crawling though.

Brie and I were having Ava walk back and forth between us. She would drop down to her knees and start crawling and I kept calling her a little cheater. Brie thought I was calling her a Cheeto. That is now what Brie calls her - Cheeto!


(Please turn down your volume so you don't hear my high pitched shrieking cheering. I had no idea I could sound like that.)

Tuna Malinda

We have seriously lucked out. My younger sister, Tawna, came to live with us! Tawna is 19 and finished high school a year ago. She was working and hanging out in Bakersfield and then decided she wanted a change. We offered her our guest bedroom in the basement. Utah is a fun place to be for a young, single LDS person, so she decided to come!

It has been a dream for us. Honestly. Tawna is the easiest person you could ever have living with you. She never leaves a mess, she is so fun to hang out with and talk to, she is sooooooooooo easy going and she is AMAZINGLY good with kids. It's great for me to have a friend during the day and it is awesome for Brie and Ava (and me) to have someone else to play with. When we go out she takes one girl and I take the other. Around the house she helps the girls if I am busy with something else. She is so good at seeing a need and taking care of it. It really is soooooo good to have her here with us.

Brielle pretending to put Tawna to bed. She tucked her in with all of these stuffed animals. The other day Tawna was sick, but she let Brie pretend to do her make up and hair while she lied there.
But unfortunately, she is not here to hang out with me during the day or to take care of our kids. She had to get a job. She got one pretty quick just because the lady fell in love with her. One little girl called her Willy Wonka. She works at a chocolate and candy shop. She makes chocolates, cotton candy, pulls taffy, all of it. Doesn't that sound great? The shop is really close to home too.

Tawna with her first pay check. Yahoo!
Tawna has also started going to a few different singles wards to check them out. She has a cute friend that has gone with her to institute and FHE and ice cream socials. So, yes, she is fully into the singles scene now. And we are hoping she continues to make good friends, enjoy her job and be happy here with us.

Tawna headed out the door to the ice cream social.
Brielle (at the bathroom door while Tawna was getting ready) BEGGING her to let her come to the ice cream party too! Seriously. She had her shoes (slippers) on, bag in hand and was DESPERATE for Tawna to agree to take her.Last night we went up the canyon for a picnic dinner and a short FHE lesson. The fall colors were already gorgeous. We had a good time. It's nice to have Tuna Malinda as part of the fam.Tawna and Ava chowing on their egg salad sandwiches.
The lesson.The princess.
The snaggletooth.

Hot Air Balloon Ride

I have always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon. I've seen when hundreds of them go up in the early morning and it always looked so fun and romantic to ride up into the sky in one. Scott gave me a hot air balloon ride for my birthday!! Yeah!! (He also gave me the Shelf Reliance I asked for for our food storage, but that is less romantic.) He tried to schedule our ride for the fall so that we could see some autumn colors in the mountains.

We drove up to Park City at 6am and had apple cider with everyone at an AMAZING lodge before our balloon was ready to go at 7am. Scott got to hold the fan in place as they blasted fire (hot air) into the balloon to fill it up. There were a few other balloons going up with us. We all climbed in the basket and took off. It was the coolest feeling to float higher and higher just looking out over a basket. I loved it. We traveled around over the mountains and Park City for an hour. It was early morning and so pretty.

This is just as we were going up.
We followed the freeway for a little while. Cars were honking and waving. Scott was spitting down on the freeway below and following his spit to see how long it took to float down and land.The shadow of our balloon on the hills.
When the hour was up, the pilot looked around for any clearing he could find and just went down. We landed on the side of the freeway. I expected it to be pretty scary and bumpy, but we floated right down to the ground just like we had gone up.
What a fun morning! Thanks for a great birthday gift Scooty! There is another check for my list of things I've always wanted to do.

Ava's First Birthday!!

Ava turned one!! We went to her one year old Doctor's visit this week and she is the perfect little one year old. Dr. Brian says she is progressing great and is healthy. At one year old, Ava weighs 15 lbs. 12 oz., is 28 inches long and her head measured 17 cm.

Soooooooo, she is perfect in every way, but still has a little bit of a weight issue. She is WAY off of the charts. I'm trying even harder to calorie pack her diet. Anything I offer her is full fat (which is hard when I'm trying to do the opposite for me). I smother everything with butter, put Carnation Instant Breakfast in her milk, giver her lots of cheese, try to get her to eat Avocado, etc. etc. Anything I can do to get more calories in her. We'll see.

Ava's birthday happened in installments. Her actual day was in Boston. We took the kids to the Children's Museum that day. They all played and had so much fun. That is the funnest place for a kid (and a Scott) EVER! She really loved the crawler area where there were little toys and the whole place is padded. We had a real birthday for her when we came home. We let her open the present we got for her in the morning. She loved the rocking giraffe for a minute, but then was screaming mad and begged to be helped off. I think she is warming up to it though.That evening we all had a delicious steak dinner after going to the State Fair. Then came the pink cupcakes with sprinkles (Of course. That's all we do around here.). She put on a good show and liked eating the cupcake, but LOVED spreading the frosting all over her head!* Ava is a mama's girl for sure. She clings to me and will go to no one else until she warms up to them, but usually wants to be right back in my arms.

* If I am not holding her, she has her arms wrapped around my legs as I try to move around the kitchen or wherever else I need to go. If I leave a room she cries. She's always been this way.

* Ava is learning to communicate. She waves (like she is in a parade) and says "hi" to everyone. She is also learning to sign "all done", "food", "drink".

* She will stand up by herself and loves to clap for herself when she does and expects everyone else to do the same. She will not take a step though.

* Ava has never taken a bottle and does not want to drink milk. I am trying to ween her from nursing. Tonight was her first time really wanting the bottle of milk and drinking it. I hope it continues.

* She sleeps great at night from 8pm to 8am. She still takes two naps, but they are always short. Never more than an hour and usually 40 minutes. She really does not give me much of a break during the day.

* Ava always smiles big when Scott walks through the door and is so excited to see him. She also LOVES playing with Brie and thinks she is the most entertaining thing to ever happen. I love watching it.

We adore little Ava Potata!

Happy 5th Anniversary

Scott and I celebrated our 5th anniversary while in Boston. We started a little tradition when we got married that we would go away together for each anniversary. At first the plan was that we would take turns planning the getaway and surprise the other person. Scott is VERY good at planning and surprising. I am not. I can't keep a secret. Let that be known. So lately we've planned together. Our Boston trip was our anniversary trip and it was a good one.

Our wedding day.Our first anniversary was spent horse back riding in the mountains and staying at The Anniversary Inn in Logan. It was awesome and I know there is a picture, but I couldn't find it.

Our second anniversary. We stayed at a Ski Lodge at Targhee and went to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. (Pregnant with Brie.)
Third Anniversary. We went to Seattle and ate dinner at the top of the Space Needle. (Randi babysat the orange tinted Brie.)Fourth Anniversary. The day after Ava was born. Scott brought take out to the hospital and we had a romantic dinner there.Fifth Anniversary. We had exciting plans of going to the cute seaside towns along the North Shore above Boston. We did and it was fun. It was kind of misty and cold, but I like that along the ocean when you are not swimming. We went to Glouster and then to walk around Rockport (my favorite. so cute.).We were excited to go to Newburyport for dinner. Newburyport is a very quaint seaside town of shops and restaurants and is where Scott took me to dinner the night he proposed. Perfect, no? We arrived to the very same restaurant we ate at exactly 5 years before and were told the restaurant didn't open for another 2 hours. We had two hungry, cranky girls and two tired, cranky parents. We were still able to order off of the menu, sooooooooo we ate our delicious pasta with scallops, shrimp, lobster, salmon and a white cream sauce in THE BAR! On tall bar stools while we wrestled two little girls and a group did shots behind us. Very romantic! I'm sure everyone in there thought we were crazy. Happy Anniversary to us.I am and will always be so happy and so grateful that I chose to marry the man that I did. Falling in love with Scott was unexpected for me, but he is so perfectly perfect for me. He always makes life fun. He makes me laugh and is ready to do something fun and spontaneous. He is soooooo good to me. He loves me and shows me his love in the way he treats me every day. He is thoughtful and considerate. He notices every need and does his best to help and take care of it. He is THE BEST father. I have never seen a man adore and take care of his children like Scott does. Nothing could make me happier. I'm thrilled to be with him forever.

Back To Boston Trip: The End

Well, our trip had to come to an end and so do the posts and pictures. Thanks for coming along.

I should say that we had an absolutely incredible time just like I have told and shown here, BUT I have not told of the moments we didn't snap a picture of to remember forever. Yes, going on a trip for 17 days is long and can be exhausting. It is especially that way when you have two young kids with you. It was worth it. It was so fun. I would do it again and not change a thing. It was such an unforgettable chance to be with our friends again in the place we love, but it was hard too. Here is what was hard:

1. Ava was so sick the first few days. I was up almost all night with her coughing and a 105 degree temperature that would not break.

2. All four of us slept in the same room the whole time. We were always afraid of one girl waking up the other and I was awake a lot with every little noise they made.

3. Scott got Ava's cold. He was miserable, his head was throbbing and he only whispered for a couple of days.

4. We were so tired by the last few days, but still had so much we wanted to do and people to see.

5. Ava was ticked that she was always in a car seat, stroller or front pack. She just wanted to roam and was sick of being confined. She cried every time she was in the car if she was not asleep.

6. Brie had potty accidents that don't happen at home anymore. She didn't always know where to run to a potty. I didn't always have extra clothes.

7. We ate at restaurants every day. We tried to do some groceries, but had to eat out a lot. It's so expensive and usually turned into one of us shoving our food in while the other wrestled and entertained kids and then switch. Not too pleasant.

Even with all of this, we really did enjoy our last days in Beantown. We packed it in and just kept going. We saw everyone and did everything. Here is the end.

Just the Buchanans went to The New England Aquarium. It was so cool and the girls were thrilled with the fish. Especially the ones they got to touch.
And then . . . on to a Boston must . . . Legal Sea Foods! Oh, their clam chowda is THE BEST!
We walked from Legals all the way to the Esplanade on the Charles River. Our last long walk through Boston. We stopped at the State House where Brie delivered the parking ticket she found and had carried all through the city. Sorry to someone.
We arrived on the Esplanade at sunset for a concert at the Hatch Shell. The Hatch Shell sits right along the Charles River. Here is the view of the famous Citgo sign.The concert was called "Red Sox and Apple Pie". Perfect!
They even had the Red Sox World Series trophies on display.
Brie and Samantha danced (and fought) the night away.
Kamber and I got to go to an early morning session at the temple. It was nice to be there with her. We worked at that temple together for a few years and it means a lot to both of us.Another day at Walden Pond with everyone. Mmmmm . . . it was soooooo very hard to get out and say good bye.
Our good friends, Mike and Marissa, had their new little baby boy while were there. He came early and we were excited that we got to meet him. He is so cute and Mike and Marissa seem to already be perfect parents. That afternoon with them was wonderful. I really miss them.We celebrated Ava's first birthday and took the kiddos to the Boston Children's Museum to play. That Museum is amazing. I don't know about Ava, be the rest of us had a great time! Scott was happy to get to meet up with some of the old co-workers that he still keeps in touch with. We had dinner together at good ole' Bertucci's. It was time to say good-bye to Jeni. She came to Boston with her little daughter, Sara Katherine, from Alabama. We were so glad to be with her again and so sad to say good bye.
Last, but not least, some good hang out time was had at the Wilson home. Tim and Becky Wilson let us stay with them at their house for most of our trip. Isn't that incredibly nice? They were SO GOOD to us. We will never be able to repay them or thank them enough! They gave us what we desperately needed - a real home to come home to. It was great! We had a grand time being roomies and were so glad to get to spend so much time with them and their sweet Caroline again.

The End. Good bye Boston. Thanks for the memories!