September 2013

We started the month off with a Labor Day trip to the Herriman lake.  It was our first time there.  Lots of fun with great friends!  Not sure why I didn't take pictures but I did get a shot of Bella and Elise playing volleyball in the water.  We went to Porter's after for a BBQ.  Love these friends!!!

 Our school had their annual Fall Festival fundraiser.  I somehow got put in charge of the bake sale.  Lucky for me, there are a lot of really nice people out there who donated baked goods!  I spent the day at the school wrapping everything up... it was a success!  Ava had so much fun!  I forgot, once again, to take pictures.  This was the best I got, right before I washed her hair out.  She still has little specs of this spray paint in her hair today (December) I'm not sure how to get it out?!  I need to google that.  I think it's been long enough :)

 Bella has grown leaps and bounds in her volleyball career since starting in February of 2012.  Even though she is in 6th grade, she went to the Bingham Junior High tryouts and made it!!!  So exciting!  Bingham is a very talented school with great coaches!  She loved playing for them!

 Mya graduates from the DARE program at school!

 We got the first snow storm of the season at the end of September.  Burrrr!  It was quite a stormy month.  

We decided on a name for this little sweetie growing inside of me!  Lola Poppy it is!  I've had Lola on my list with the last few pregnancies and Chris was voting for Poppy.  His nick name for his Dad growing up was Papi Chulo (pronounced Poppy).  When we started kicking around names, he said "What about Poppy?"  I wasn't sold right away... I thought it was so cute but didn't seem like a name she could grow with.  One day in the car we were putting Poppy together with a few names we liked as a middle name... as soon as we said Lola Poppy, it stuck.  We all LOVE it!  I'm so glad this baby will have a tie to Grandpa Walley!  Breaks my heart that we won't be able to see Lola Poppy and Ken interact.  Sure do miss him!  Can't imagine how Chris feels.  3 long years have passed.  If all goes according to plan, Lola Poppy will have one last connection to Grandpa - She will hopefully be induced on his birthday!  December 29th!!!  So amazing!

August 2013

Always and forever playing catch up!  I was hoping for a quiet month... but I'm afraid there's no such thing around here!  Excuse the long posts!  If I would just blog as events happen, I could avoid this!  :)

The dreaded day arrived... Ava starts Kindergarten!  I'm happy for her to have a new adventure but SO sad to lose my buddy!

 She was extremely hungry when she got home!

 This is so blurry, but I love how Ava is watching Chris put his tie on!  So cute!

 She is growing beautifully!  Everything continues to go well!

 This sweet girl turns 10!!!  Holy cow, 2 girls in double digits now!  Mya is such a wonderful girl with a personality to light up any room!  She is SO loved by everyone and people just naturally gravitate towards her because of the fun person she is!  She is so caring and sensitive to others feelings.  She is a great student at school.  Can't imagine life without this little spitfire, loving, girly!!!

 

 Another fun birthday party at Classic Waterslides!  Mya is so social and loves her friends!  Such a cute group of girls!

 Ava loves to play in her room - like for an hour, she'll just self entertain and pretend.  She was teaching school this day... these are her students in the picture :)!

 The belly is really starting to show!

 What would a Saturday be without some Volleyball???  Liberty Park this week.  The other girls really appreciated this little carnival they set up behind the courts.  It kept them entertained the whole time... until Ava's finger got jammed.  Saddest thing ever, to see her in so much pain!  And, just when she thought she could brave the playing again, she jammed THE SAME finger for a second time!  The amount of tears was heartbreaking!!!  We thought for sure it was broken but lucky us, it wasn't.  It healed up nicely over the next few days.  Poor thing!

 Ava can swim!!!  Hooray!  She is a little fish.  

 Another dreaded milestone for this Mom who DOES NOT want this sweetie to grow up!  First lost tooth!  Boy was she excited though!

 We decided to take the girls up to Silver Fork Lake to walk around.  They had a great time!  Love these precious souls we get to call ours!!!

 I had to put this one in.... The amount of laughing when they saw this picture on the computer was amazing!  Bella's expression, Mya's head tilt and grin, and Ava's mad face!  Such a classic!

Hey girls, you can STOP growing up anytime!!  Love, your Mom.

Look Mom, I found this cute headband!  It has polk a dots, just like my shirt!

 Crazy storm coming but sun shining through just so.

 After MONTHS of talking about it, Chris finally purchased a car!  He sold his truck forever ago and has been car-less for some time... Thanks to his commute on Trax to work, it hasn't been that bad.  We ran into some issues on the weekends of needing 2 cars but overall was fine with 1.  This black beauty will be around for a long time!

 Chris and Bella decide to enter another vball tourney together.  Fun times!  

 This is how Ava entertained herself this time... taking pictures of her toys on my phone.

And, this is how she felt after another long, hot, day of volleyball!  Totally wiped out!  We love it though!  Really, can't get enough!