Thanksgiving in Kentucky

 I refuse to apologize for posting Eleventy-Billion photos.  Only because if you KNEW the sheer magnitude of pictures I had to leave out, you would be Thanking Me.... probably tearfully.

This year's Thanksgiving was with T's family in Kentucky (hence my witty title).  It was utter perfection.  I'm not even exaggerating here. After a completely uneventful (dare I say "boring" even?) flight where both kids slept the whole way, we arrived late in St. Louis and were greeted by Dad Wilson.  Spent the night at a hotel and woke up the next morning to hit the grand St. Louis Zoo.  Oh how I LOVE this zoo... I wished I were an orangutan or a penguin tenant there many times, it is THAT amazing.

Here's a fraction of the photos:

 

  

 

  

 

  

 The photo of Ava next to T makes it look like she's displeased with the train.

On the contrary:

 

  

I like to call this one:

"ZEBRAS GONE WILD"

The bottom photo is a shot of The World's Worst Criminal Line Up

 

 This hippo was terrific.  He just came swimming over and, like many of the other animals there, he sort of 'posed' for some photos.

I seriously LOVE this zoo!

 

 

After a wonderful day in St. Louis we finally drove the three hours to Kentucky.  We were VERY excited to see our Beboo (Mom Wilson).

As we waited a couple of days before Ash and the kids showed up, we played...

 

...If only she could be as athletic as her Dad...

 

(Glorious form, my good sir)

FINALLY!  The Cousins show up!!!  And that was essentially the last time we saw Ava.

She was in paradise with her sweet cousins.  We miss them completely.

And this kid was NEVER needing any extra attention either, lucky boy!

 

As of yesterday, Sterling is an official crawler.  No more worming around on the ground for this guy.

I'm tired just thinking about his new-found mobility.

 

Mom and Dad wanted T and Adam to go through some boxes of old things they've kept around and Taylor found his lacrosse helmet.

 

 

Just passing the wee one around.  There were only about 364 trillion more photos just like this.

I'm very blessed to have the family I do.  From our own little family to the rest of our extended families, we are truly lucky.   T and I kept saying many many times during the week and a half we were out there how much we have been loving every second.  Spending time with our parents, sibs, nieces and nephew is always such a treat for us.  We are so proud to be in a family where we can truly say our best friends are among us.

 

Photos my camera DIDN'T get:

• The time I almost threw up on the sweet lady who was talking to me after sacrament meeting in church.  My ears were extremely clogged up still from the flight and so I plugged my nose and blew.  HARD.  Immediately the room started to spin and I got extremely motion sick.  Lesson learned.  
• The Thanksgiving feast.  Or at least ALL of the pies. 
• When we were playing at Walgreens and Uncle Rico had two blonde pigtail wigs sticking out of his hoodie. 
• Ash and T leaving for the Black Friday sales at midnight.  Me staying home to play Words With Friends.
• The squirrel who came right up to Natalie's hand and took the peanut from her.
• I'm sure I'll think of a million more once this post is finally published... but for now, I'm just drawing a blank.

 BLOOPER REEL

(sort of)

  

At the parade in Kentucky the freakiest Grinch ever.  I still cannot believe Ava gave him a high-five... she's even been known to cower in the presence of overly-excited kittens.

 

Two words: FACE GOO

Best app out there!

 

  

Photobombing!!!  It's all the rage and I love everything about it.  Uncle Audi rules at it.  I still laugh every time I see these photos!

And this last one is just thrown in because I don't think there are enough photos in this ginormous post.

 Sterling's first time out in the snow.  It's curious stuff, huh baby?

My Narcissistic Birthday

Happy Birthday to Meeeeee

Sure.  I'll admit it.  I LOVE my birthday.  Love it.  I consider the entire month of October... "my birthday".  And just so everyone knows, I also consider every single thing (good AND not so good) that happens to me part of my birthday celebration.  So that bird that pooped extra slimy doo-doo on the hood of my car last week?  Why, THANK YOU, sweet bird, for remembering it's my birthday!!

I'll just do a quick run-down of how turning 29 went this year.  And I'll start with last Sunday (the Sunday before the Big Day).

• The wondrous celebrations started off with a BANG when I was asked to stand in front of the entire Junior Primary to be sung Happy Birthday to.  (by the way, Taylor and I are CTR 5 teachers in the Primary)  NOTE: standing next to Kenny, who was turning 6 that week, was awesome.  No, really... I didn't feel ginormous and awkward.  AT ALL.
• And my mom and dad came for the weekend to hang out with us!!!  An early bday present to me (even though the kids got WAY more attention than I did by my parents... I'll let that slide though!) :)
• My birthday haircut.  No, it's not a thing I do... but I'm going to put the word "birthday" in front of everything on this list so just deal with it.  The girl who cut my hair at the beauty school was very sweet.  She graciously cut each and every strand of hair on my head ONE STRAND AT A TIME.  Sure sure, it took 3 hours for a trim, but trust me, not a single hair was missed.  Such a dear.
• I got to eat a slice of pie.  A slice of birthday pie.  A slice of HUMBLE bday pie.  Lucky me, I've learned the valuable lesson of NOT getting your bangs butchered cut right before a photoshoot.  Happy Birthday Lessons are the best.
• On my actual birthday, (which was a very normal day in fact), I walked into the group fitness class at my gym and a bunch of awesome ladies started singing Happy Birthday to me and my friend Lillyia gave me some balloons and candy.... which really motivated me to work out even harder than ever since I knew I'd eat every last piece in it's entirety.
• And all day long, Ava would come up to me and say "Happy birthday Mom, I love you" or "Happy Birthday Mom, I'm soooo proud of you" or "Mom, where's your birthday cake?  I love cake!" She really did make this day very special for me.
• Great friends stopping by with gifts and treats and my friends' and family's phone calls.... I look forward to the phone calls all year.
• On Friday we got family photos done.  FINALLY!!!  This was a huge birthday wish/dream come true.  I've been wanting our family pictures taken for years now but each year there's always been a reason not to... not enough money, want to lose 50 pounds, pregnant, etc... But this year I won the greatest giveaway, a free photoshoot!!!!  How perfectly planned that we made the appointment during my birthday week.  Oh I was sure to remind my family right before we stepped out of the car to meet with our photographer... "For my birthday present, all I ask from you is NO Crying.  NO whining.  ABSOLUTELY NO fussing and sassing".  And then I gave my best stare-down to Ava and Taylor.  We knew Sterling could handle these instructions.  The photoshoot went off beautifully and I can't wait to see the final product!  I'll be sure to post them on here once I get them.
• AMAZING RACE date.  This was truly one of the most insanely fun things we've done as a couple.  We got our normal babysitters for the kids and T and I dressed up as Whoopie Cushions to this big group date.  It was set up just like the television show, the Amazing Race.  There were about 10 or so couples who were all dressed up and working in teams of two couples per car, we all raced around the town to find designated spots given to us by clues and completing challenges before we were able to move on to the next spot.  It was a blast!  Everything was so well planned and our teammates were awesome and so fun!  We were doing SO well, but after a mandatory 10 minute delay because we didn't do one of the challenges correctly before we rushed off put us in 3rd place at the end!  I think the highlight of my night was watching Taylor and the other men trying to learn a Zumba dance and perform it from memory to pass off that challenge.  It was hilarious!  After the race was over, we went to the after-party where the grand prize was awarded to the winners and we all ate, talked and watched the video tape of the men learning their Zumba dance.  Greatest night!  
• And to top off my epic Birthday Week, on Sunday we had our Primary Program in church.  Ava did great and said her lines wonderfully (memorized and with no help... we weren't even sure that was going to happen once she got up there and saw all the people in the congregation!)  The kids all did so well and Taylor and I couldn't have been more proud of our daughter AND our little class of CTRs.  

Okay, sure.  So this week was actually very normal, but when my bday comes rollin' around, it's a good thing to put on some rose-colored glasses once in a while!  How thankful I am for such a normal, non-exciting, run-of-the-mill amazing life.

 

(Let's all take a moment and realize that at one point of the night these two Whoopie Cushions were furiously sprinting down Main Street trying to win the Amazing Race.  Beautiful.) 

Ava's new hobby

Making movies with my camera.  There are about a hundred of these small clips on our hard drive.  She's getting better each day.  And yes... she's wearing her swimming suit.  She loves it.  LOVES. IT.

Idaho State Fair

 We had ourselves a grand time this Labor Day weekend as we grilled outside, went to Kung Fu Panda 2, celebrated a friend's birthday and went to the State Fair for the first time in Blackfoot. 

Ava had a blast riding her first carnival rides ever.  Watching her laugh and wave to her "adoring imaginary fans" made spending so much money on tickets worth it...... wait, she ALWAYS laughs and waves to her "adoring imaginary fans".... did we just get played? 

 

 

 

My fans love me.

 

 

Taylor's expression is priceless

 

  Anyone ever wonder what the backside of a pink flying elephant looks like?

Well, wonder no more.

NEXT...

Taylor wanted to ride the kiddie roller coaster

by himself....

I kid, I kid...

She joined him, of course!

Sterling was a champ.  He did what he normally does... just chills.

It's true what they say:  Fat and Happy.

(until you hit your 20's... then that old adage is just pure, false crap)

Oh and he got hungry (can't you see him withering away??) and ate his way out of the baby carrier.

 

Can't go past a carousel without catching a ride  

HEY, Ava!  I'll give you a million dollars if you look at the camera one time.

 Well, THAT'S a mischievous look.  Maybe I should keep the million dollars this time.

 Then there was the petting "zoo".  Since when did the definition of ZOO get confined to "a large gathering of hungry goats, one shy emu and a handful of sleepy sheep"?

 

  

At least ONE girl didn't mind that this petting "zoo" was a bit lacking.

 

This made me chuckle.  Ever since her horseback ride, Ava has been VERY cautious about making sure every animal she encounters gets to smell the back of her hands before she touches them.  Better safe than sorry, but I'm sure the kittens she introduced herself to a few days ago didn't care one way or the other about the back of her hands. 

 On a totally unrelated note, one that I can't justify a whole new post to write about, Ava has a new friend.  His name is Alex and she informed me about 4 days ago that he is her boyfriend.  But when asking her the very next day about Alex-the-Boyfriend, she vehemently denied boyfriend/girlfriend status.  They're just friends... and Taylor is just fine with that.

 Today I was in the other room, putting laundry away, as Ava and Sterling were in the kitchen watching a cartoon on Netflix together.  I walked in on this:

 

She had given Sterling her dog, Blackie, to cuddle with and he must have loved it so much he passed out on him.  

What terrific little people I hang out with every day.

Where Did August Go?

 Sometimes the most mundane moments are just the best.

*above image from Pinterest

** Pinterest is the biggest time-suck ever.

*** but I love it.

This August......

 

 

 

  

 And the next two from July....

 

 

 

 

 

In this last photo, Ava had just finished choosing 100% of Sterling's outfit. Everything from the backwards hat "wearing it like a boy", down to the size 3 Toddler socks pulled up to his squishy knees.

She is extremely proud of her fashionable prowess.  Better watch your back, Rachel Zoe.