Happy Birthday Ava

So Ava turned 3 last week.  It was awesome.
Theme: Western/Cowgirl
Activity: Build-A-Barn

Thanks for all who came it was a good time!

At the park with Ava

Kids

Our friend Pam took some great pictures of the kids a couple weeks and I wanted to post some of our favorites. She did a great job, Thanks Pam!

Here are some other pictures that Jenn and I took one sunny Mother's Day afternoon.

Bennett - 6 Weeks Old

We recently had some photos taken of Bennett when he was 6 weeks old. Had we waited any longer we were afraid he would be too big for half of the props. We also had a few with Ava too, and they turned out really good. I have uploaded the best ones on Flickr, so feel free to check them out.

Another Ava and Buster moment...

If you have a 1 minute and 30 seconds to spare, this is an enlightening video about the relationship that Buster and Ava have. The whole feeding process actually took about 5 minutes. Notice how Buster will only eat his food on the rug. I don't get it.

Bring on the Cuteness

The title is about as good a job as I could describe the pictures and the nice frame that Jenn surprised me with on Valentines Day. Our friend Jess took the photos when they were hanging out in Olympia a few weeks ago. The frame is now in my office, but I thought I would post a few of my favorite digital ones.
The rest are over here.

Merry Christmas from Ava & Buster

Okay, being the amateur photog that I am. Here is my best attempt at a little Christmas shoot with Ava and Buster. Here are the best shots, even though I had to take about 50 to get these.

Happy Birthday

We celebrated Ava's first birthday a little late, so my Mom and Craig would be there during Thanksgiving. It was pretty much your average one-year old birthday party--A bunch of adults with cameras watching a baby destroy a piece of cake. Anyways here are the pics:

This will make the grandparents happy

Helping Dad...

Last weekend, we didn't have the best weather here in Longview, so I did little chores inside the house. One of which was finally finishing the network/video wiring, in what Jenn refers to as the "techie closet", I prefer to call it "the brain" of the house. But, anyways, nicknames aside, I was also on 'Ava Duty' this day. Even though all my tasks take twice as long with her, she liked watching me and wanted to touch and play with my tools and wires. Jenn thought it was so funny that she took these pictures. I wonder if someday, Ava will look at this picture and be embarrassed that the only toy her geeky dad could think to give her was a piece of some CAT6 network cable. But hey, it worked for about 5 minutes. And for those who care here is the 'techie closet'.

Ava and Buster

Here is a clip that Jenn filmed of Ava and Buster. Buster just loves to play with Ava and as you will see towards the end of the video, Ava thinks he is pretty funny.

Love Like Rockets!

So since I started my new job in Washington; Jenn, Ava and Buster have been hanging out in Salt Lake. I plan on coming home for the weekends until we sell our house and purchase and remodel our new one her in WA. My great in-laws said they would drive my Jeep up, so they could get a little road trip in, I wasn't about to turn that offer down.

When they arrived on Tuesday night with the Jeep, I was surprised they made it up in great time, but I was even more surprised when Jenn and Ava walked into my office with them!
Jenn flew up to Portland and her parents picked her up on the way to my mall. I was so surprised! It was so good to see her and Ava. That night we all went to dinner and then they were able to see the house the next day, then fly home together. Jenn always likes to surprise me, and sometimes she can't pull it off with out me finding out, but this time she really got me. Thanks babe!

The Christmas Re-Cap

Lately, the only time I have to waste on the computer is at night while Jenn is sleeping and Ava is trying to sleep in my arm. Because of that it becomes a little difficult to type and keep current on my blog. Anyways, now that the in-laws are busy loving her its the perfect time to post the
token Christmas re-cap blog post.

I hope for all those reading that your Christmas was filled with good times, good friends, good food and of course family. As for us it was great having little Ava to take over to relatives for Christmas. Everyone just loved holding her. One really cool thing we did was make Ginger Bread Houses at my Mom's house. It was a lot of fun. Also this Christmas I was finally able to experience HDTV with our new LCD TV. Jenn and I are amazed we lasted so long with out it!

We had some pretty fun parties this month too. My work party was at the Grand America again and it was a lot of fun. We also had our annual White Elephant party at The Drage's house and that was awesome! Instead of telling you about it, I am going to refer you to the Richard's Blog where Sara wrote up a great re-cap.

Time for pics:

Buster and Ava in their
Christmas outfits.














I decided to make my Ginger Bread House
energy efficient. Notice my Green Roof and
efficient design.









Bryan and Brad made their house basically
as a mansion/strong hold. I think if we would
have taken our contest one step further with a
load bearing element, they would have won.











I got to give Hayden and Colleen credit for
making their house the most similar to the
Neverland Ranch. They even went as far to
add anatomical lawn ornaments. Look carefully.

Baby Ava!! 7lbs 9oz

I know I should have posted these pics a while ago, but its been a little hectic around here. Anyways, On November 23rd at 7:29 pm Ava May Gardner finally made her debut! Jenn did so awesome! I can only imagine how hard of a job that must be, giving birth, but she was amazing!
After two days in the hospital Jenn and Ava came home and it has been so fun having her in the house with us. She is such a blessing! There will be plenty of pics to come, but here are the first ones of her. Look at the pic with Jenn, isn't she just the cutest mom! I also couldn't resist the picture of Buster laying inside of Jenn's nursing pillow! He thinks it is his.
























Be sure to check out my Flickr page for more pics!