Mirror Mirror on the Wall, This Little Girl Can Really Squall

This past Saturday, Krista hosted a Pampered Chef party at our home. That put me on babysitting duty. So I took Ava up to our bedroom and she and I watched college football on TV for awhile. She quickly grew bored of that (she's such a girl), and so I had to find another activity more to her liking. That's when she happened upon the closet mirror (as fate would have it, I had been hanging up some shirts earlier and had left the closet door open).

Ava, who now pulls herself up onto everything in sight, pulled herself up onto the closet door and there discovered a long-lost friend in the mirror. They apparently had a lot of catching up to do because they made quite a ruckus as they carried on about life and exchanged innocent kisses. Luckily, I was able to catch the tail end of their cavorting on video. Although I am sad to say I missed the game of peek-a-boo they had been playing (it was quite cute). Oh well, at least I got some of it. Enjoy!

A Day at Thanksgiving Pointe

Last week Ava and I went to the Thanksgiving Pointe gardens with Granny O. The gardens were very beautiful and Ava, who loves being outdoors, was in heaven.

Ava was fascinated with the grass.

She also loved the colorful flowers.

But mostly the grass.

Ava had such a fun day and looks forward to going to the gardens again.

Hugs from Grandpa

Larry's dad came to visit a few weeks ago. We had a great time having him here. And once she got used to him (it only took about a day), Ava really enjoyed spending time with him as well.

Grandpa Furr gave Ava lots of hugs. If he squeezed her too hard, she would let him know by giving him a smack.

As you can see, she was a little sad when Grandpa Furr had to leave for the airport to go back home to Pennsylvania.

However, she felt a little better knowing that she would get to see him again at Christmastime.

Cheerios

About a week ago we finally introduced Ava to finger foods for the first time. Most parents would have done this much sooner, but Krista (who borders on paranoia in regard to feeding Ava new things) had to hear it was okay from the pediatrician first.

So following Ava's nine-month checkup, we got some Gerber puffs (more or less Cheerios, only they disintegrate in your mouth within seconds... oh yeah, and they cost three times as much). Anyway, we put Ava in her highchair and dumped a few on her tray. At first she just stared at them, then she poked at them, and then she struggled as we tried to force-feed her one to demonstrate that they could be eaten. After a few minutes, she finally figured it out and we quickly retrieved the camcorder.

A few of our favorite moments:

1. The fact that half of cheerios end up in her lap (she's much better at getting them into her mouth now)
   
2. Her kicking her feet and flailing her arms in excitement
3. How she works at positioning each cheerio in between her thumb and index finger
   
4. When she drops the second-to-last cheerio and then examines her hands trying to determine where it went
   
5. Her trying to grab the last cheerio just out of her reach
   

We hope you enjoy watching (and re-watching) this as much as we do.

Reaching New Heights

Having mastered crawling, Ava began pulling herself up onto her knees a couple of weeks ago.

As you can see, she was quite proud of this accomplishment.

More recently, she has began pulling herself up onto her feet.

Watching her teeter-totter on her feet makes us pretty nervous. And she has had her share of falls.

For Ava, however, life on her own two feet has opened up her world to many new and fascinating discoveries.

And with this new perspective on her surroundings, the baby-proofing in our house now extends two feet above ground rather than just one.

Drama Queen

Although only an eighth Italian, Ava is as dramatic as they come. However, her roller coaster mood swings result in a myriad of facial expressions that make for some excellent pictures.

My First BYU Game

Two weekends ago I attended my first ever BYU football game. Before leaving for the game, my mommy and daddy dressed me up in a BYU cheerleader's outfit and took what felt like endless pictures.

Then they made me sit next to Nala and proceeded to take even more pictures. (Someone needs to clue them into the fact that Nala is a lion, not a cougar.)

I finally asked my fairy godmother if she would please get my parents to stop taking pictures and take me to the football game already.

Alas, we were off to the game.

But first we had to take a detour to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kelly's apartment. Once there, everyone wanted to have their picture taken with me. First my parents...

...then Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kelly...

...and then Grandpa Furr, who was visiting from Pennsylvania. I was just glad that we were finally headed to the game.

Once there, I decided that football games are actually quite boring. All I wanted to do was get down on the ground so that I could crawl around and discover new things, but my parents wouldn't let me down.

Then Cosmo wanted to get his picture taken with me too. My parents were trying to get me to look at the camera, but I was too busy trying to figure out how to get down on the ground. The guy in the headphones was no help either.

Next I got my picture taken with a real BYU cheerleader. However, I was upset when I discovered that my outfit wasn't the same color as the cheerleaders were wearing. Apparently the cheerleaders hadn't gotten the "wear blue to the games" memo.

I stared longingly at the ground hoping she would take the hint, but she didn't. I guess it's true what they say about blonde cheerleaders.

Football games are also very hot. I had to wear my pink hat most of the day, which unfortunately clashed with my outfit. The water bottle was my only consolation.

Whilst re-hydrating myself, Uncle Ryan and Grandpa got their picture taken with some guy named Chad Lewis. Personally, I didn't see what was so special about him. He wasn't even wearing the right color.

Bored out of my mind and unable to get anyone to put me on the ground to play, I decided to take a nap.

I woke up later feeling very refreshed and got my picture taken with the BYU Cougarettes. I decided I liked the Cougarettes better than the cheerleaders since they were wearing the right color. Plus, they have better dance moves.

Finally the game was over. I was so happy that BYU beat Arizona, but mainly I was just happy to go home.

I think I'll be watching the rest of this season's games on TV.