An Ode to Pizza

If there's one thing that marks a Furr, it's their love for pizza. Growing up in the Furr household, Friday night was always pizza night. When I got to college, pretty much every night was pizza night. Then I went on my mission to Brazil, or as I like to call it, the start of the Great Pizza Depression. The Brazilians have made an abomination out of Italy's favorite pie—replacing the tomato sauce with ketchup and mayonnaise; and the cheese with corn, peas, and other vegetables which don't belong on a pizza.

Alas, after two years, I returned home from my mission and fell in with some excellent college roommates whose zeal for pizza nearly rivaled my own. One of our friends, who was a manager at the local Papa John's, was able to get us 50% off pizza (so long as he ordered it and picked it up). Needless to say, he made a lot of trips to Papa John's on our behalf. (Ben, if you're reading, thanks and sorry for abusing your friendship—I am forever in your debt. Sure I introduced you to your wife, but that doesn't even begin to repay what you've done for me).

Then I got married to Krista, who appreciated pizza, but wasn't yet fanatical about it. However, by the end of the honeymoon her new found passion for pizza gave me little cause for worry. My brother Ryan has not been so lucky. (Sorry Kelly, I love you, but your enthusiasm for pizza is weak by Furr standards, i.e. it's not okay to refrain from eating pizza just because you had it the day before).

Then along comes Ava... a child whose culinary likes and dislikes are peculiar to say the least. Ice cream, chocolate, and cookies... these are things Ava will eat on occasion, if she's really hungry, and not feeling very finicky that particular moment. Pickles, pepperoni, and beef jerky on the other hand are always a welcome treat for my daughter. So the question was, would she like pizza? Well, if you've ever had any doubt that Ava is a Furr, look no further for evidence and simply watch this video.

Family Room Arrangements

There are a few things you need to know about the pictures we're going to show you at the end of this post.

1. Ava loves wearing hats: We recently posted about this on our blog here. However, should you require further evidence of Ava's love for cranial apparel, here are some pictures of her trying to wear her bloomers as a hat.

2. Ava likes watching television: Yes, we are horrible parents for indulging her TV-watching habit, but as revealed here, she's got us (or at least Larry) wrapped around her finger. And yes, when she's watching one of her shows on television, she tends to have that spaced-out look on her face (you know, that look kids get when their brains are turning to mush due to under stimulation).

3. This picture was not posed: While we've certainly been guilty of arranging certain scenarios between Ava and her stuffed animal friends (the Lily Mae series for example), the pictures you're about to see were not in any way set up by us. (Note: To those who thought Ava's and Lily Mae's conversations were real, we apologize for shattering your fantasies.)

So with those explanations out of the way, it's on to the story behind the pictures you're about to see. Part of Ava's morning routine is to watch the Little Einsteins on the Disney channel while we have our breakfast. The routine typically goes as follows:

1. We put the program on
2. Ava crawls up on the couch to watch it
3. We then go about our daily tasks for the next 30 minutes
   

So one particular morning Krista came back into the family room near the end of the program and found that Ava had apparently decided to make arrangements for some friends of hers.

Again we remind you that we had no part in the display you see here. All we did was take the pictures.

Summer Dresses

Since most of our readers don't get to see Ava on Sundays, we thought we'd share some pictures of her in her dresses. First up is a little dress she wore the Sunday before Independence Day.

Ava is just like her mom in that she loves the 4th of July. Krista's favorite 4th of July activity is singing patriotic songs during church.

Larry's favorite part is getting a day off from work. Ava's favorite part is the fireworks.

This next dress Ava wore to the second annual 4th of July party at our house (our backyard is the best seat in town for the Lehi fireworks).

As you can see, Ava was very happy on this day. She just couldn't get enough of playing in the sprinklers; and was also very excited about all of her family coming over to visit.

She wasn't so happy on this day, but the she still looked cute in this red dress from Granny O.

Lastly, is this brown dress that Ava wore the second-to-last Sunday in July. It comes from a collection of Gap outfits that Krista had her heart set on from the moment she saw it. Always the thrifty shopper, Krista waited until the collection went on sale, at which point nothing was left in Ava's size. So, Krista enlisted the help of several family members in a search for Ava's size that covered several Gap stores both in Utah and Pennsylvania.

The dress you see above and below was found by Krista's sister Lauren. Grandma Furr found a second dress from the same collection at a Gap in Pennsylvania. Ava wore it the last Sunday in July, however, we don't have any pictures of Ava in this dress as it turned out to be a very traumatic day. While we were exiting the chapel, Ava (who was trying to yank herself free of Larry's hand so that she could run wild) managed to dislocate her arm at the elbow.

Sadly, it took awhile for us to realize what had happened. (We thought she was just crying because she was tired.) So we took her home and put her down for her afternoon nap. When she woke up, Larry walked into the room to find Ava lying perfectly still in her crib (never a good sign). She just looked up at Larry with tears streaming down her cheeks and said "uh oh". After examining her, we confirmed that her arm was hurt. We rushed her to an urgent care facility and the doctor popped Ava's arm back into place. Needless to say, we were all relieved to have Ava all put back together again.

The Pensive Plotter