Yum Yum

This evening marked a historical moment in Ava's life. Matt and I took her to Yum Yum for the first time. If you're from Greensboro, you've probably been to Yum Yum yourself, or you have at least heard about it. Outwardly, it looks like a hole in the wall, placed in the center of UNC-G's campus. Inwardly, it also looks like a hole in the wall... but they serve some of the "yummiest" ice cream!

Complimenting Yum Yum's ice cream is about as far as I will go. Matt on the other hand, loves their ice cream and hot dogs. I can't bring myself to eat a hot dog that is as fluorescent as a pink highlighter... that's just not right. It also doesn't help that the  stench of B.O. hits you like an anvil the second you get out of your car. "It's not B.O.... it's onions," says Matt. Um, I cook with onions all the time and our kitchen never smells like that! :)

I guess Yum Yum is Matt's version of Fry Sauce (refrence the Wild Wild West post). Anytime I am out of town, or out for the evening, Matt takes the opportunity to eat Yum Yum's radioactive hot dogs... covered with B.O. While you'll never catch me at Yum Yum eating hot dogs, you may find me sitting outside the joint with a chocolate almond ice cream cone in my hand.

Matt and I enjoyed our ice cream while Ava slept. She clearly didn't realize the awesomeness of enjoying a Yum Yum ice cream cone on a gorgeous Spring evening. I'm sure at some point, we'll have pictures of her, ice cream cone in hand, and Yum Yum ice cream all over her face.

One Year Ago...

...This very night, the Carolina Tar Heels were playing Oklahoma and well on their way to the National Championship (sad to say, that is not the case this year). Matt was watching the game with great excitement and anticipation. I came walking down the hallway, interrupted the game and showed him this:

Matt and I were filled with more excitement and anticipation than any Carolina game could ever bring. Praise God for answered prayers!

Fancy Pants Gardner

There are many joys about having a daughter. Too many to count, really. One of the most fun? Dressing her up in cute clothes! This is what Ava wore to church last Sunday. I love it all! The dress, the bow, the shoes, the socks.... the matching bloomers! Oh yeah, Ava is pretty darn cute herself.

Did I mention the SHOES? I love these patent leather babies for several reasons: 1) I love shoes. Period. 2) Black patent leather shoes were my favorite when I was a little girl. 3) This particular pair cost $2! 

My friend Lauren has turned me on to consignment sales. We went to one such sale a few weeks ago. What did I find, other than those adorable shoes?

- 10 outfits (tops and bottoms)

- 4 dresses

- 1 pair of shoes

- 1 kiddy swimming pool

- 2 Baby Einstein DVDs

- 3 Books

- 1 Booster Seat

- 1 Toy 

- 1 Nursing Pillow

Grand Total: $95. Not bad considering most of the items had never even been used!

Ava has really taken interest in her toys lately. She loves holding this frog while riding in the car and while we go for our morning run. See the blue striped elephant in the background? She loves that too. It is attached to her car seat and she laughs hysterically when it dangles in front of her face.

While at Babies R Us last week, I wanted to buy Ava a pink pacifier. You see, all of the pacifiers we have at home are gender neutral; green, blue and yellow. I glanced through the large selection of pacifiers, but couldn't justify buying her something she truly didn't need. "She doesn't need a new paci." I thought to myself. "She has more than enough at home." But then, from across the aisle, I found it... A pacifier that Ava had to have! After all, it has her name on it... and it is pink!

Usually, Ava starts freaking out about 5 minutes before her last feeding. The other night, I actually had time to be a few steps ahead of my daughter, so I started warming her bottle so it would be ready for "Operation Freak Out." I put her in her Bumbo Seat, put the bottle in the warmer, turned back around to face Ava, and found this:

The one night I was prepared ahead of time, and she didn't even freak out.

Now that the weather is warmer, we have spent a lot of time outside. Ava loves sitting with me on the rocking chair on our front porch. She also loves rolling around on her blanket out in the yard. This picture was taken while we were waiting for Matt to come home from work. It puts a big smile on his face to see his ladies sitting in the front yard when he pulls up.

Take a look at the latest addition to Ava's room! Is that not adorable? It holds all of Ava's hairbows (even though she's mostly bald at this point). Matt's sister, Erin, made it for Ava. Erin is quite the talented artist. Need any personalized gifts for anyone this spring? Check out her blog and website. You can always count on me and Matt to fulfill your personalized stationery needs too! Hey, it's my blog, I can put as many shameless plugs in here as I want! :)

Happy Spring!

Wild Wild West

We went. We visited. We returned. I have been praising and thanking the Lord for not only blessing us with a safe trip to Utah, but allowing us to have a wonderful time with my grandmother and family. 

As many of you know, my grandfather passed away the morning we were supposed to fly out to Utah last month. It has been hard on everyone, but I would venture to guess that his passing has been most difficult on my grandmother. After almost 67 years of marriage, his absence in her life must seem enormous. Hopefully, Ava, my mom and I were able to lift her spirits while we visited with her this past week. Below, you'll find a picture taken shortly after we arrived at my grandma's house. Ava is very aware of new people, and it generally takes her a while to warm up to strangers. Ava spent a few minutes studying my grandma, but quickly turned on the charm!

Ava and my grandmother spent plenty of time playing together. After being cooped up in the Baby B'Jorn in the airport and confined to my lap on the plane, Ava was ready to spread out on the floor. Ava loved laying on her Boppy Pillow and gazing up at my grandma. Plenty of laughs were shared between the two of them.

I have been very excited about capturing the following picture for quite some time now. This is a 4 generation shot of the Shaw/Smith/Gardner Gang. From left to right: Margo Ann Smith (my mom), Margaret Louise Shaw (my grandma), Melissa Ann Gardner (me... I would hope you know that) and Ava Louise Gardner. Notice that Ava and my grandmother have the same middle name? Yup. That's how important my grandparents are to me. Matt and I decided early on that if we had a girl, she would take my grandmother's middle name. If Ava had been a boy, her name would have been Jack. My late grandfather's name.

This is a great photo. Ava with her Oma and Great-Oma. Boy, Ava loved all of the attention she got on this trip! What am I talking about? She gets a ton of attention no matter where we are. Utah or not.

My cousin Jenny took some time out of her busy schedule to spend the afternoon with us. It was great to catch up with her and hear all about her adventures in substitute teaching. I was thrilled that Ava got to meet her as well!

Take a look at this adorable hat! One of my other cousins, Hillary, made this for Ava. I LOVE it. It may be difficult to see in this picture, but the hat has braids coming off of the ear flaps. Too cute. I am a sucker for homemade gifts and this one is in my top 5 favorites!

I have lived in Utah twice. I was born there and lived in Kaysville, Utah until I was 5. My family and I moved around the country a few times and then returned to Kaysville when I was in middle school. It tugs on my heartstrings every time I return to The Beehive State. Let me share with you some of the things I miss most about my former stomping grounds.

#1-My family. It is hard being on the other side of the country from family. Most of my husband's family lives right here in Greensboro. I love the tight-knit relationships everyone in his family has with each other. I consider myself blessed that I have married into a family that not only has great relationships with one another, but that live relatively close to each other. It is a difficult thing to know that I can't just hop in a car and drive over to visit my family. Below is a picture of some of my mom's family. Left to right: Aunt Gwen, Cousin Jenny, Mom, Uncle Scott, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Mike (holding Ava) and my grandma in the foreground. This picture is missing one uncle and 7 cousins.

#2- Mountains. I know I live just a few hours away from what many people call "The Appalachian Mountains." I prefer to call them "The Appalachian Hills." You may understand why after seeing this next picture. If you've seen The Rocky Mountains in person, you'll know that this picture doesn't even come close to doing them justice. This particular shot captures the Wasatch Mountains. I used to live just at the bottom of these bad boys. I miss them. I could stare at their beauty all day long. These mountains give everything from the world's best skiing to the world's most amazing sunsets. I find myself getting chills when looking at the mountains... God's power and majesty are overwhelming!

#3- Fry Sauce. No, it's not ketchup, it's Fry Sauce. This glorious concoction is served at any eating establishment where french fries can be found. My middle school used to have bottles of Fry Sauce at the tables instead of ketchup. What is Fry Sauce, you may ask? Imagine being able to dip your french fry into a slice of heaven... That's Fry Sauce, my friend. I made sure to get Fry Sauce every chance I had while out in Utah. Arctic Circle (where this particular batch is from), has the best!

Let me show you what my husband thinks of Fry Sauce.

Ha ha ha! That picture was taken in December of 2008. What can I say? The boy's not from Utah. He doesn't appreciate Fry Sauce Goodness. Matter of fact, I sent him the Arctic Circle picture on my phone while I was gone. His response was, "Since when did Arctic Circle start serving little cups of vomit?" 

#4- Raspberry Filled Donuts. Do you have a food that takes you back to your childhood when you eat it? This is it for me. These donuts take me back to picnics in the park with my mom. Honestly, they're not the world's best donuts... It's more of a sentimental thing for me. For whatever reason, Hostess only ships these donuts to grocery stores in Utah. I have never found them in any of the other states I've lived in. My trips to Utah are never complete until I get my box of Raspberry Filled Hostess Donuts.

Our time in Utah was great. The trip went by very quickly. As much as I hated to leave my grandma, Ava and I were ready to get back home. Ava was such a trooper on this trip. She had to deal with Daylight Savings Time, a 2 hour time change and a full day of traveling all within a 24 hour period. She slept like a champ on the airplane (Thank you, Lord) and melted everyone's hearts in Utah. I wanted to give the girl every possible chance to stretch her legs on our way home. Here she is lounging in the Chicago airport. We were just 2 hours from being reunited with the best dad in the world!

Ava's First Birthday Party

No, no, no. Time doesn't fly by that fast! :) It wasn't Ava's party, it was Tucker's! Ava had a blast celebrating Tucker's 3rd birthday with him, his family and friends! Ava was definitely the youngest guest in attendance. She was outnumbered as well... Of all of the guests at the party, I think there were only 3 girls, including Ava!

Here is Ava with the Birthday Boy! Can you tell that Tucker had a Mickey Mouse themed party? Look at those ears!

Tucker made out like a bandit. He received more toys than he'll know what to do with, I'm sure. This party is definitely making me think about Ava's future birthday parties. Her birthday is only 22 days before Christmas. Birthday presents AND Christmas presents that close together? I think not! I'm going to have to get creative and figure something else out!

Check out Tucker's cake! His mom, Lauren, is known for her awesome cake decorating abilities. I think she has done every cake for every baby shower, birthday party, etc. You can certainly tell why she's called upon to cater the cake needs for such events! I'm in charge of the cake for Lauren's upcoming baby shower... Great! No pressure on me! :)

I love this next photo. Matt and his little lady. Stylin'.

After several hours of hard birthday partying, Ava crashed. She was really just checking out Finley's future crib (Finley is the baby in 'cake decorater Lauren's' stomach).

Ava has rolled over several times! Has she done it for dad? Nope. Has she done it for any other person who can vouch for me? Nope. Has she done it for the camera? Nope. Hopefully she'll figure out that all cool babies roll over, and she'll show off her skills to other people.

Ava, my mom and I head out to Utah tomorrow! Keep us in your prayers for safe travel. Can't wait to share our pictures with you!

3 Months of Pure Love

So, I'm a few days late in getting Ava's 3 month pictures on the blog... You have my guarantee though, that the latest teddy bear shots were taken on her actual 3 month birthday, March 3rd. 3 months. Wow! It sounds even harder to believe when you say, 'a quarter of the year!' Matt came up with that one the other day. I know it's still just 3 months, but when you actually have the word 'year' in there... it makes it sound much longer! :)

So here's our girl, with her teddy bear, at 3 months. What a cutie!

Here she is with her teddy bear at 2 months... She's definitely a little bigger now!

And here is the biggest change... Ava with her teddy at 1 month. Holy smokes! She definitely went through a growth spurt from month 1 to 2. I already can't believe she was ever that tiny!

These next 2 photos are from the '3 month photo shoot.' I thought they were hilarious, so of course I had to share them!... 

On this first one, can't you just hear Ava saying, "Is all of that MY stomach?" What can I say, she's a healthy girl!

This one was just so funny to me. She looks like she's in a milk coma.

Let me introduce you to one of Ava's newest friends. It's green, it's a frog (already has my approval) AND it's a humidifier. Yes, you can see the humidifying vapors coming out of his eye balls in the following picture!

About a week ago, Ava wasn't eating well, didn't look like she was feeling well, and she just wasn't herself. We took her temperature (at 10:30 at night) and found she had a fever of 100.7. This was the first time she had a fever, so of course, we were a little paranoid. Long story short, she ended up having a nasty little cold. The doctor recommended that we put a humidifier in her room. "Where are we going to get a humidifier at 11pm?" Marc and Lauren Holbrook's house! That's where. Thanks guys, for letting us borrow Tucker's, and for letting us get it at such a late hour. Now that we have our own humidifier, we won't be calling you at 11pm anymore... That is unless, we need something else in a jiffy! ;)

Matt and I have slowly come to the realization that Ava is a Balding Beauty. When she was born, she had a head full of hair! This was a pleasant surprise to us since Matt and I had as much hair as Charlie Brown when we were born. Take a look at the back of Ava's head on the day she was born...

Now take a look at the back of Ava's head, present day. Yeah, a bit of a difference. She still has a good bit of hair on the top of her head... But it seems that the car seat, crib, bouncy seat, bathtub and swing have secretly been collecting hair samples from the back of her head over the past 3 months. 

We hope you all are doing well out in Blogger Land! Please keep Ava, my mom and I in your prayers. We have rescheduled our trip out to Utah for March 15th. Please pray for safe travel and that Ava's cold is over and done with by the time we leave! I hope to have lots of great pictures from our trip posted shortly after we get back!