together furrever

Ava's First Dance Recital

2011-12-18T10:41:00.001-07:00

Here's Ava performing in her first dance recital on stage and under the lights.

We couldn't be more proud of our darling little girl.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-10-21T16:32:00.002-06:00

Christmas 2010!

2011-10-19T11:13:00.004-06:00

We had such a great Christmas with lots of fun places to go, great parties, and fun guests at our house. Here we are at the annual gingerbread house party.

"This is the Place Heritage Park" has a beautiful Candlelight Christmas. The village is decorated for Christmas, you can visit with Santa, see live reindeer, and see a live Nativity.

The Grand America has the most amazing gingerbread house display followed by a delicious treat at their candy store.

This was one of Ava's favorite houses!

On Christmas morning, Christian was very excited about all of his fun surprises from Santa.

Ava was especially excited about her little Jasmine doll.

After opening presents at home, we went to the Olsens for more fun gifts.

We had such a wonderful Christmas and were so happy to be surrounded by family!

Christmas Eve Nativity 2010

2011-08-07T10:46:00.010-06:00

On Christmas Eve, the little cousins put on their first annual Nativity.

Ava was an angel...

..and Christian was a little lamb.

With so many little kids, it was a little hectic...

...but as they say in the biz, the show must go on.

Here's a video of the entire production:

Cast
(in order of appearance)
Shepherd: Maddie
Lambs: Christian & Zach
Angels: Ava & Zoe
Joseph: Seth
Mary: Sophie
Baby Jesus: Leila
Star: Annissa

Jordan's Mission Call

2011-07-22T22:03:00.003-06:00

Larry's brother Jordan received his mission call in the mail today. He has been called to serve in the Guatemala Guatemala City South Mission. Jordan reports to the Provo, Utah MTC on October 12th. After spending three weeks there, he will complete his missionary training in the Guatemala City MTC for six weeks before entering the mission field.

Congratulations Jordan on your mission call!

Ava's 4th Birthday

2011-07-10T20:09:00.005-06:00

Back in December, (I know we are really behind on our blog), our sweet little Ava turned four.

Pretty much her whole life she has loved mermaids and had decided she really wanted another mermaid party. She had also had a mermaid party with her cousin Annissa when they both turned two.

Ava was very excited about helping me make lots of little mermaids.

Here she is doing one of her mermaid poses waiting for the party to start.

It turned out to be such a fun party and we are so glad that so many family and friends could be there.

Here she is getting ready to blow out her 4 candles.

We love you Ava and are so happy you are in our family!

Patriotic Cousins

2011-07-09T14:03:00.003-06:00

Sophie, Ava and Annissa at the 4th of July parade in Murray.

Owlz Game

2011-04-19T18:00:00.002-06:00

We went to see an Orem Owlz baseball game in August. Christian was excited to participate in his first live sporting event and even had the shirt to prove it.
The girls were excited too, but more so for ballpark franks than the actual game (admittedly we all kind of were).

Christian and Larry look quite happy after having eaten their hotdogs.

Looks like Ava and Krista enjoyed their hotdogs too.
In fact, Ava appears to be thinking about how she might snag herself a second hotdog.
Ava probably enjoyed walking up and down these stairs more so than the game itself. On the way out, we took the kids to a jungle gym located on the facilities that ended up being the highlight of the night in Ava's book.

If baseball is truly America's favorite pastime, we guess the Furr family must not be that American. Now as for hotdog eating...

Hangin' in Preston with the Cousins

2011-04-13T22:52:00.002-06:00

This past summer we spent lots of time in Preston, Idaho, which has become one of Ava's and Christian's favorite places to go. There's always something fun to do, from going to parades to swimming in the backyard. Their favorite pastime, however, is playing with their cousins.

Thanksgiving Point

2011-04-04T21:36:00.007-06:00

Larry got a wonderful birthday present last April from Granny O and Freddy O, which was an annual membership to Thanksgiving Point for the entire family. We have had so much fun this past year participating in the many fun family activities that Thanksgiving Point has to offer. Here are a few of our favorites...

Seeing the animals at Farm Country.
Going on tractor pull rides.
Strolling through the Children's Discovery Garden.
Riding the ponies.
Wading in the water by Noah's Ark.
Playing with cousins.
Going on wagon rides as a family.
Hanging out in the shade.

Girls vs. Boys: Round 2

2011-03-28T22:01:00.006-06:00

Back by popular demand is round two of Girls vs. Boys. The first round went to the girls, but we have a feeling things may get evened up this time around (Ava's "Girls Rule" socks notwithstanding). However, we'll let you, our faithful and loyal blog readers, be the judge. Leave a comment and tell us who you think wins this round of the competition.

Strike a Pose

2011-01-09T21:27:00.000-07:00

Since about age two, Ava has been horrible sitting still and smiling for pictures. However, we recently had a small breakthrough. If we ask Ava to strike a pose for the camera, she suddenly gets more focused on having her picture taken (albeit she still sometimes struggles with looking at the camera).

Sometimes the results are a bit sassy...

...other times sweet and innocent.

Some poses are standoffish...

...while others are inviting.

Many of the poses are quite silly...

...whereas others are quite serious.

She even works some dance moves into a few of her poses. Here's high fifth position...

...and here's a tap pose.

Now if only we could get her to smile for the camera.

Dancing Queen

2010-12-14T20:29:00.041-07:00

In December, Ava had her first "mini" dance recital.
Parents and friends were invited to come watch the class perform.
Ava loved wearing her costume.
Her dance class included lessons in ballet, tap, and jazz. Here Ava is showing off her tap skills.
Here she is showing her first position plié.
And here she is taking a bow.
We are so proud of our little dancer.

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-05T21:19:00.000-07:00

We had a very fun Thanksgiving this year. Jordan, Danny, and Patricia were able to come visit and we got to see a lot of the Olsen family at our annual Thanksgiving dinner at the Hart's home. Here's Christian getting ready in the morning dreaming about all of the yummy food!

Here he is ready to go!

Ava, our picky eater, (if she had her choice, she would eat cereal for every meal), was not so excited about the food, but she was very excited to go and see the movie Tangled.

She decided to do her dance poses in the pictures to show her excitement.

Then Christian decided he wanted to get in on the posing. This is his "I'm a tough guy" / hip-hop pose.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The food was delicious, the movie was great, and the company was tons of fun!

More Cousins Pictures

2010-11-29T21:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some more of our favorite pictures from the cousins photo shoot.

All of the little kids did such a great job during the photo session but by the end, Christian decided he was hungry and tired.

Thanks Kate for doing such an amazing job!

Olsen Cousins Pictures 2010

2010-11-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of November, we got all of the Olsen grandchildren together to get their pictures taken. The pictures were taken by Kate Jeppson who did such a great job of capturing adorable photographs of ten spirited children.

Here are the five beautiful little girls.

The three three-year-olds. They are the best of friends!

Christian was very excited when it was time to play in the leaves.

He was a lot more interested in the tiny leaf on his hand than in getting his picture taken.

It's crazy to think that he is not the baby anymore. Since the last cousins pictures last December, we have had two more Olsen cousins born, Katharine and James.

Christian is now my sweet little toddler!

And here is my sweet little Ava!

Boo at the Zoo

2010-11-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

The Saturday before Halloween we went to the Hogle Zoo's annual "Boo at the Zoo." It is a very fun event. Kids (and even some adults) come in costume and can trick-or-treat at candy booths set up throughout the zoo. We started the day going on the zoo's train which is always a favorite with the kids. Here are Ava and Annissa with baby Kat in the seat behind them.

Ava was so excited to spend the day with her two best friends, Sophie and Annissa.

She was also quite excited to see Betsy and Owen, although she was not quite sure what to think of their very festive costumes.

Here are the older cousins stopping a moment for a picture.

Sadly we didn't get that many pictures of Christian or the littler cousins who had to be contained in their strollers during much of the zoo trip. Luckily, Christian was happy (though you can't tell looking at this picture) drawing on his magna doodle.

Here Ava, Luke, Maddie, and Christian measure their heights against the gorillas.

Christian and Ava look in at the gorillas.

We had such a fun time trick-or-treating at the zoo and can't wait to go next year!

I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee

2010-11-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

Ava was a bee for Halloween this year.

Although if you saw Ava the week of Halloween, you probably saw her in many costumes. She insisted on wearing a different costume every day.

Christian was a baby bumblebee.

Ava thought it was a lot of fun that she and her brother were both bees for Halloween.

Ava said that she was the "princess bee" (her version of a queen bee we suppose) and Jellybean was her baby bee.

Per our annual Halloween tradition, we went to see the witches at Gardner Village and take pictures with a few of the cousins.

Here's Christian with cousin Zoe who was a cute little pumpkin fairy.

And here's Ava with cousin Zach dressed as a skeleton.

After all the pictures were taken, Ava was ready to go trick-or-treating.

More Halloween fun to follow...

Wheeler Farm's Fall Festival

2010-11-01T10:05:00.000-06:00

In October, we went to Wheeler Farm for their annual pumpkin patch, corn and hay maze, and wagon rides. Here's are cute little pumpkins ready for a fun day!

We first set out to see the animals and the historic farm.

Ava was very excited to "drive" the antique tractors.

Next we went to the hay maze where Ava had a great time running around the maze trying to find her way out with her cousin Zach chasing her.

Ava and Zach decided to take a breather and talk to Christian who was stuck in his stroller.

At the end of the maze was the pumpkin patch. This was Ava's favorite part of the day. She was super excited to be able to pick out her very own pumpkin.

Larry picked himself a pumpkin from the patch also.

Here's Ava, Larry and Christian on the wagon ride.

After a fun day at Wheeler Farm we were all ready to head home.

Daddy & Christian's Adventure

2010-10-29T16:15:00.008-06:00

In September, Larry flew to Pennsylvania to attend his grandfather's funeral. He decided at the last moment to bring along Christian (despite Krista's extreme concern that Larry would never be able to handle him on his own). It did turn out to be quite the undertaking as Larry had to single-handedly wrangle Christian through airport security and keep him entertained for six hours of flight time, two takeoffs, two landings, a layover, and two hours of driving; only to have to turn around two days later and do the whole trip again in reverse. As if that were not enough, they missed their return flight after being stuck in traffic for three hours and had to travel back to Larry's parents' house until they could catch a later flight (adding another five hours of driving to an already long trip). By the time they finally boarded their flight home, Christian had already spent more than eight hours in a car and it was fast approaching his bedtime. All things considered, Christian really hung in there and proved to be a pretty happy and resilient little guy. Here's a quick slide show of their adventure (omitted are all the pictures of Christian crying and frantically trying to escape from his father's grasp to roam the airplane aisle).

Despite the long hours of traveling, Christian was in great spirits and was happy to see his Grandma and Grandpa Furr.

Here is Larry's father with his siblings Teri, Randy, and Cheri, immediately following the funeral.

Later that day the family got together to visit. Christian had a lot of fun playing with his cousin Abby and Larry's cousin Annie.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa Furr's house, Christian and Abby got in some quality time together.

They especially enjoyed playing on the piano together.

Here are the cousins playing a duet.

Although it was a strenuous trip, Larry and Christian are very happy that they made the trip to Pennsylvania to visit with family and honor the memory of Great Grandpa Furr.

Grandpa Furr: 1926 - 2010

2010-10-25T17:11:00.002-06:00

Archie (Art) Lee Furr, 84, passed away Monday, September 20, 2010 at Harrisburg Hospital. Born June 16, 1926 in Stanley County, North Carolina, Art was the son of the late Alanzo and Lona (Turner) Furr. He graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in engineering and completed his post-graduate studies at Syracuse University. Art was a U.S. Navy Veteran of World War II, having served on the lighter-than-air blimp squadron in Lakehurst, New Jersey. He was married to Anita Perrucci on December 29, 1951.

Art began his professional career in New York working for IBM. In 1965, he relocated from Port Chester, New York to Pennsylvania as part of his promotion to General Manager of the IBM plant in Mechanicsburg. Beginning in 1975, Art spent several years in Paris, France as an expatriate for IBM, returning again to Mechanicsburg in 1977. After 32 years at IBM, Art qualified for an early retirement. He later moved to Boston, Massachusetts where he accepted a position as Director of Logistics at Wang Laboratories. After several years at Wang, Art moved to Anaheim, California where he was Vice President at Anacomp. After leaving Anacomp, Art returned once again to Mechanicsburg where he spent the remainder of his retirement in real estate sales.

Four generations of Furrs—Art, Larry, Larry, and Ava—December 21, 2007

Art was a member of the Silver Spring Presbyterian Church and the Mechanicsburg Club. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Anita on March 15, 1997; and sister, Barbara Ann Allman. Art is survived by his wife, Kathleen (Yeager) Furr; four children, Cheri Fisher of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, Durand Furr of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Larry Furr of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and Teri Furr of Hoboken, New Jersey; five grandsons, Larry, Ryan, Daniel, Jamison, and Jordan; a granddaughter, Annie; and three great grandchildren, Ava, Abigail, and Christian.

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These are some pictures from Art and Anita's wedding...

The bride and groom

Anita getting ready

Anita with her parents Cosimo and Lee

Arriving at the wedding ceremony

Anita being escorted by her father Cosimo

And here are some pictures of Art while he was with IBM...

One Year Old (+ a month)

2010-10-18T10:18:00.000-06:00

We recently had Christian's 1-year portraits taken at DMC Studios.

In the spirit of full disclosure, we were a little slow to schedule them. So by the time the pictures were taken (a week ago today), Christian was already 13 months old. Hopefully this will not offend anyone's senses.

As you can see, Christian was extremely amenable to having his pictures taken. It helped that he thought the photographer's camera looked really fun. However, it didn't help that on several occasions he got precariously close to lunging to try and grab it.

He even allowed us to put this hat on his head for a few pictures.

While Christian was changing into another outfit, Ava stepped in front of the lens for a few pictures.

And of course we had to get some pictures of our two cute little kids together (never an easy task).

Christian was excited to have the photographer all to himself again (or maybe he was just excited to have another shot at getting his little hands on her camera).

Then he decided to get a little serious on us...

...but that didn't last for long once he saw this way cool armchair. (Incidentally, Ava has a pink armchair like this at home, of which Christian is extremely jealous).

And then Christian decided he was done with pictures and ready to go home.

We are so pleased with how well these pictures turned out, but sad to see our little guy growing up so quickly.

Ava's First Day at Dance

2010-10-11T20:26:00.000-06:00

In August, Ava started dance classes. She had been wanting to take dance for a long time and was super excited for her first day of class.

She is taking a ballet and tap class. Here she is all ready to go!

Though she was disappointed that they don't do somersaults in her dance class, Ava has loved going to dance. She does her "step kicks" and her "step passes" all over the house! In other news, in August, Ava also attended her first car show.

The car show was at the Thanksgiving Point gardens which was one of our favorite places to go last summer.

This was Ava's favorite car. She was very excited that it matched her dress.

Christian's First Birthday

2010-10-04T19:45:00.000-06:00

On September 8th our sweet little Christian turned one.

For his first birthday party, we had a baby blue and brown polka-dot theme.

We had yummy cupcakes, ice cream, birthday cake, and lots of candy. (We still have lots of candy left if anyone is interested.)

When it was time for cake, we found that Christian was not very interested in the cake and just wanted his bottle.

We are so thankful for all of Christian's family and friends that were able to come to his birthday party. Christian was so excited for all of his fun gifts.

Here is Ava (Krista's party planning helper) and Jordan (Krista's cousin Whitney's little boy). Jordan and Christian are just a week apart in age and are naturally the best of friends.

The kids were super excited to crawl inside of Christian's new sandbox. Christian was determined to crawl up the umbrella pole.

He was also excited to play with his new blocks with the older boys, cousins Seth and Luke.

We love you Christian and are so happy to have you in our family!

Lagoon Day

2010-09-27T11:01:00.000-06:00

In August, we went to Lagoon. Ava was thrilled to go and loved every minute of it. She was so excited to go on all of the rides and see all of the shows. Here she is on her first ride of the day. It was a kid's ride that shot straight up in the air and then came falling down, repeatedly—she screamed the entire time. After getting off of it, she told us (trying to sound brave) that it was fun, but that she didn't want to go on it again.

Christian was such a good baby and was happy sitting in his stroller for much of the day. His favorite ride (and really one of the only rides he was able to go on) was the train. He loved it!

Ava was excited to go by herself on the whale ride.

However, Ava's favorite ride was OdySea which she called the "Under the Sea" ride. She went on this ride many times and was so excited to take Granny O on OdySea for her last ride of the day.

This is a picture of Ava two years ago on the ride. She has grown so much since then, but she still loves the same ride.

Ava was very excited that Zach was able to come to Lagoon with us. Here are the two little cousins on the carousel towards the end of the night.

Ava's First Day at Preschool

2010-09-20T20:48:00.007-06:00

At the beginning of September, Ava started preschool.She was so excited to start preschool and has absolutely loved it. The first day, Ava was very excited to go inside and did not understand why I was taking so many pictures. Ava is holding her "All About Me" poster, which her teacher used for spotlighting Ava on her birthday.

One of Ava's favorite parts about her preschool is this kitchen.

It's hard to believe that Ava is already old enough to be going to preschool.

Ava is a great little student and has loved every minute of preschool.

Stranded

2010-08-30T23:51:00.000-06:00

Our Little Princess

2010-08-23T20:26:00.000-06:00

In our previous blog post, we shared some pictures that corroborate our theory that Christian is part monkey. In this blog post, we present proof that Ava is destined to be a princess.

Here Ava gazes up at the camera with her princess eyes.

She adores having her hair arranged in various styles.

She likes taking strolls through romantic gardens and at times can be quite dramatic (as seen below).

Here our little princess poses in front of her palace.

Ava loves to wear princess dresses.

And like any true princess, Ava likes getting things her way.

She also likes dressing up and going to fancy parties with other royalty.

With this preponderance of evidence, we think you'll agree that Ava is on her way to being a princess.

Our Little Monkey

2010-08-16T21:08:00.000-06:00

When Christian was still in the womb, and before we knew if he was a boy or a girl, we called him Jellybean. This nickname has stuck with him, mainly due to Ava calling him that most of the time. However, another nickname Christian has is Monkey.

Here's our little monkey in his monkey cage. He usually doesn't like to stay in there for long.

Here our little monkey is trying to climb up some furniture.

Although he is extremely curious and mischievously tries to get into everything he shouldn't, our little monkey always puts on an air of innocence.

Our little monkey likes to sharpen his teeth on all sorts of things, especially daddy's keys.

And of course what kind of a monkey would our little monkey be if he didn't like to monkey around?

We should note that he also really likes bananas.

Pirates & Indians

2010-08-09T13:39:00.000-06:00

We have really been enjoying our annual membership at Thanksgiving Point this past summer. Ava's favorite Thanksgiving Point destination has been the dinosaur museum, which hosts fun activities throughout the year. One such activity was Pirate Night at the Dinosaur Museum. Christian came dressed as a swashbuckler.

One of the pirate activities was face painting. Although dressed in her pirate attire, Ava opted to soften her image by having a flower painted on her face instead of a skull and crossbones.

We're not sure that archery qualifies as a pirate pastime, but Ava took it very seriously nonetheless (so did Larry).

Christian made friends with one of the dinosaurs on display.

While Ava made friends with some fellow scallywags.

In celebration of its ten-year anniversary, the museum had a birthday party. One of the activities was to make Indian headdresses, which Ava and Christian decided to wear home.

They also had a face painting booth where Ava had Cinderella painted on her arm.

Christian was quite proud of his feathered headband.

Who knew that pirates and Indians could be so cute?

The Messy Meal Monster

2010-08-02T17:03:00.000-06:00

Christian loves eating and gets very excited when he knows it's mealtime.

This is Christian before he has eaten—looking oh so sweet and innocent.

And this is Christian after he has eaten—looking like the messy meal monster he becomes when he feeds.

After one too many unscheduled laundry days resulting from meals like the one pictured above, Christian now knows he has to remove his shirt before eating.

He then waits (im)patiently while his food is being prepared; sometimes resorting to chewing on his fingers to tide him over.

As his meal preparation nears completion, he will sometimes drool in eager anticipation (this marks the start of his transformation phase into the messy meal monster).

With any luck, Proctor & Gamble's customer service department will soon send us on an all expense paid trip to Hawaii as a small token of their appreciation for all the Bounty paper towels we go through cleaning up the messy meal monster.

Wardrobe Independence - The Sequel

2010-07-30T16:28:00.001-06:00

Prior to Ava's first 4th of July holiday, her mischievous friend Lily Mae had tried convincing Ava to wear a silly outfit. For Christian's first Independence Day, Lily Mae put her cousin Lyle (pictured below) up to the same shenanigans.

At first, Christian was happy to oblige Lyle by trying on several ridiculous (albeit patriotic) headpieces...

...including this silly little number which Ava had rejected so many years ago.

Like his big sister, however, Christian was too smart to fall for Lily and Lyle's froggy tricks. So Christian cowboyed up and decided to wear this ensemble for the 4th of July instead.

Lyle's going to have to try harder if he wants to play Christian for a fool. Besides, this wasn't his first rodeo (okay, so maybe it was). Ava was dolled up for the 4th of July as well, but was not in the same good spirits has her little brother.

Sometimes it's tough to be three.

Historic Spring City

2010-07-26T20:41:00.000-06:00

In June, we drove down to Spring City to attend a summer work party for the law firm where Fred (Krista's father) works. The party was hosted by one of Fred's coworkers who resides in what was once the Spring City judge's house upon its construction in 1875. Fred's coworker's wife was kind enough to give us a tour of her home, which she and her husband have done an absolutely amazing job of restoring.

Over the years, Spring City has become a magnet for fine artists due to all the lovely and inspiring scenery. Several local artists were at the party demonstrating their talents. It was fun (especially for Larry who has dabbled in the arts) to watch the painters transform a blank canvas into a beautiful landscape right before your eyes. Ava's cousin Annissa was in town; and while the two of them were too young to really enjoy watching the artists (despite Larry's efforts to make it seem really interesting) they had a wonderful time playing together.

In fact, you might say the two of them were pretty much inseparable throughout the day.

Ava and Annissa were so inseparable that we think Christian may have felt a little left out.

One of the highlights of the day was a horse-drawn wagon ride and tour of the the town. Our tour guide pointed out several historic landmarks (including the one you can see behind Owen and Larry in the picture below) and informed us that Spring City is one of only a handful of cities in which the entire town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Did we mention yet that Ava and Annissa were inseparable?

We had a wonderful time in Spring City and are already looking forward to joining Fred's coworkers there again next summer.

Paleontologist Pals

2010-07-19T21:04:00.000-06:00

Since getting membership passes to Thanksgiving Point, we have loved going to the Museum of Ancient Life. Or as Ava calls it, the Dinosaur Museum. Her only complaint has been that we never took her sooner. In fact, she has asked us on several occasions, "Why didn't you tell me about the Dinosaur Museum when I was two?"

Several weeks ago, several of the Olsen cousins joined us at the museum. Here's Ava, Zoe, Annissa, and Zach checking out a replica of a baby dinosaur.

The museum has the largest collection of mounted dinosaur skeletons in the world. Here's Ava standing by a few of them in the museum entrance.

At this display, kids can turn the wheel to see a dinosaur change colors. Ava's favorite color to make the dinosaur was purple. Annissa's was pink.

Zach, Ava, and Annissa liked this exhibit of prehistoric sea life.

Everyone's favorite activity was playing at the erosion table where you can move sand to alter the flow of water. (Larry quite likes the erosion table as well.) Here's Annissa moving her dinosaur to higher ground.

The first time we went to the Dinosaur Museum, Ava was terrified of this shark replica and wouldn't go anywhere near it. As you can see here, she has since overcome her fear as she poses with Christian and Annissa amidst the shark's gaping jaws. Christian, however, looks a little nervous.

The cousins enjoyed the Dinosaur Museum so much that they all decided they wanted to become paleontologists. Here's Ava, Annissa, and Zach digging for dinosaur bones.

If you're ever in Lehi, come visit the Dinosaur Museum. Chances are we'll already be there.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2010-07-12T20:57:00.000-06:00

Back in May we went to a Bees game with some of Larry's coworkers and their families.

Ava was super excited to wear her baseball jacket to the game. Technically it's a volleyball jacket, but we weren't about to tell her differently.

Christian enjoyed the baseball game as well. Especially because he got to stay up way past his bedtime.

Unfortunately, the Bees are not very good this year and lost miserably. However, the loss did not dampen Christian's spirits.

We had a great time at the ball game and hope to go again.

Lunch with the Cousins

2010-07-05T20:46:00.005-06:00

Once upon a time the Olsen cousins got together for lunch at Hires Big H—an Olsen family favorite. As you can see below, Sophie, Ava, and Annissa left their lunches practically untouched in favor of their ice cream.

Ava finished off her ice cream in no time at all, Annissa cleverly engineered a refill by dropping hers on the floor...

...Cousin Zoe licked her spoon clean...

...and Sophie resorted to using her fingers to get every last drop.

Christian was too little to have his own ice cream, but had fun playing with Aunt Betsy nonetheless.

Granny O coddled her newest granddaughter Kat.

Newest grandson James was there too with proud mommy Liz.

Annissa took a break from her ice cream to get a picture with her mommy Elissa.

Lauren and Erika had their hands full with the older boy cousins Seth and Zach, who were too busy playing to pose for a picture.

With bellies full, everyone headed home and they all lived happily ever after. The End.

Peas Please

2010-06-27T23:03:00.002-06:00

A few months ago Christian tried peas for the first time. At first he was not too sure about the flavor (not unlike the first time his sister tried peas).

He tried pulling off his bib to show he was done eating.

When that didn't work, he decided to start spitting them out.

However, after several bites he decided he liked peas after all.

So far, Christian is proving to be a less finicky eater than Ava. Hopefully that continues to be the case.

It's Our Time to Sing Together

2010-06-21T21:22:00.000-06:00

This past spring Ava graduated from her first year of Kindermusik. Ava took classes both in the fall and spring—and they quickly became one of her favorite things to do each week. Here is Ava with her teacher Miss Patrice, whom she loved!

One thing that made Kindermusik classes so fun for Ava was that she got to take them with her cousin Annissa in the fall, and her cousin Sophie in both the fall and spring (Sophie is the girl with the black bow in her hair).

Granny O was kind enough to watch Christian each week so that Krista could join Ava in class.

The class included music and movement and always had so many fun activities, including this one in which Ava managed to have one of her scarves in front of her face every time Krista snapped a picture.

Ava loved taking the classes and still enjoys listening and singing along to her Kindermusik CDs.

Our Little Fashionista

2010-06-14T19:19:00.005-06:00

Ava definitely has an eye for fashion and the presentation thereof. For example, a few weeks ago we were packing for a weekend trip up to Preston, Idaho. Without being asked to, Ava prepared everything she thought she'd need for the trip. She then came to inform us that she had packed her things. We entered the room to find this allotment of items displayed exactly as seen here.

Lately, Ava has been spending a lot of time going through her closet and drawers pulling out all of her clothes and putting together outfits, which she then likes to showcase to us.

Here she is with a few of her favorite dresses on display.

We think she may have a future as a clothing coordinator or perhaps even a personal shopper. Watch this video and tell us what you think. (Note: she laid out these outfits completely on her own without any help from mom or dad.)

You may want to hire her—especially if you love leopard print and princess dresses.

Off to Thailand

2010-06-09T22:52:00.013-06:00

Elder Jamison Furr departed Salt Lake City on Tuesday, June 8th. After being on several planes for a total of 19 hours and flying through many time zones, he will arrive in Bangkok on June 10th. Here he is at the Salt Lake airport with the other missionaries traveling with him to Thailand. Jamison is on the back row, third in from the right.

He was originally supposed to have a 26 hour layover in Taipei, Taiwan (putting him in Bangkok on the 11th instead), but that flight got canceled and he now thankfully only has a one hour layover in Taipei (assuming he makes his new flight in such little time).

Hopefully we'll soon hear from his mission president that he's arrived there safely. We're very excited for Jamison and can't wait to hear all about his mission to Thailand.

James Fredrick

2010-06-07T20:51:00.000-06:00

James Fredrick Olsen was born Friday, May 14th to Liz and Preston (Krista's older brother). He weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 20.5" long.

James is Ava and Christian's eighth cousin on the Olsen side of the family, their ninth cousin overall. Between Zach, Abby, Zoe, Kat, and James, Christian now has five cousins that are all within a year of his age.

Speaking of Kat, we recently attended her baby blessing while she and her family were visiting from Denver.

We were so glad to have shared this beautiful event with them.

Disneyland 2010 - Day 4

2010-05-31T13:45:00.012-06:00

Just as on day 2 and day 3, Ava wanted to wear her Snow White dress on day 4 also. We started the morning with the obligatory pictures in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

After about a dozen pictures, Ava finally decided it was time to go on some rides.

So, we spent the rest of the morning going on all of Ava's favorite rides, including her most favorite ride of all—It's a Small World. After lunch (and a quick outfit change for Ava into some street clothes) we strolled through the Downtown Disney shops and saw Granny O and Freddy O off to the airport. We then returned to Disneyland to ride on (you guessed it) It's a Small World—over and over and over again.

In the late afternoon, Ava went on some more rides with the girls in California Adventure Land while Larry pushed Christian around in the stroller so that he could take a much-needed nap.

As the evening approached, we noticed an increasing number of park patrons dressed as goths. Curious by the phenomenon, Larry asked a group of them what the occasion was. As it turned out, day four of our family vacation just so happened to fall on Bats Day in the Park. (Had we known in advance we would have brought along our black lipstick and fishnet stockings to wear!) To commemorate the occasion, we asked our new gothic friends (who were extremely friendly—in fact, several of them were Disneyland park employees!) if they would be willing to pose for a picture with Ava. They happily obliged and even offered to let Ava wear some Mickey Mouse bat ears, but she would not consent. Nor was she very happy to have her picture taken with them either. Apparently she's not ready to trade in her all of her pink outfits for a wardrobe consisting solely of black.

We said goodbye to our Goth friends (who were all congregating by the Haunted Mansion for a group photo) and headed over to the Sleeping Beauty Castle where Betsy and Owen were saving us front row seats for the evening fireworks show.

Then Krista headed back to the hotel with a very tired Christian, while Larry, Ava, Betsy, Owen, and Owen's brother and family stayed until closing time hitting up all the kiddie rides once more. (As it turns out, late night is the best time to ride the kiddie rides—no lines!)

And thus ended our Disneyland vacation. We had such a wonderful time and are so happy we got to spend it with Freddy O, Granny O, Betsy, Owen, and Lauren. We're already looking forward to our next trip there.

Disneyland 2010 - Day 3

2010-05-28T21:35:00.002-06:00

We started day three of our Disneyland vacation at Pixie Hollow where you can meet Tinker Bell and her fairy friends. Ava decided she wanted to wear her Snow White dress just as she had on day two, but it was a little cold in the morning so she kept her hoodie on while we waited in line.

It was a long wait in line, but well worth it. Tinker Bell was very fun and showed Ava how be pixie-like.

Christian also thought Tinker Bell was a lot of fun.

Next we went on Alice in Wonderland (one of Ava's favorite rides). However, Ava's favorite ride of all probably ended up being It's a Small World. As you can see here, Christian was quite enthralled by it as well.

Next we went over to the Disneyland Princess Fantasy Faire to see some more Disney princesses, but the line was very long. So while Larry waited in line (with Christian napping on his shoulder), Krista and Ava headed over to Mickey's Toontown. Minnie was very happy they came by for a visit.

Ava really enjoyed driving Minnie's mini...

...and cooking in her kitchen.

By the time Krista finally drug Ava away from Toontown, Larry had made it to the front of the line at the Fantasy Faire and Christian was feeling quite refreshed from his nap. Here we are with Jasmine.

We also got to meet Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Ava's time at Disneyland made her a true believer in all of the Disney princesses.

After an exciting morning, we relaxed back at the hotel that afternoon and Ava took a little swim in the hot tub with Larry and Uncle Owen.

Betsy, Owen, and Granny O were kind enough to watch the kids for us during the evening so we could go on some rides together the night before our final day at Disneyland.

Disneyland 2010 - Day 2

2010-05-23T18:00:00.009-06:00

After having spent all of our first day at Disneyland in Disneyland proper, we decided to spend our second day in California Adventure Land. We started out in A Bug's Land on Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. Christian was feeling a little groggy and Ava was somewhat bored...

...so Larry took Ava on the bumper cars next to get her a bit more invigorated.

After the bumper cars, our little thrill-seeker was ready to up the ante. So we next went on Francis's Ladybug Boogie, which quickly became one of Ava's favorites...

...so we went on it again...

...and again.

We then decided to calm things down a little on Flik's Flyers, which had left Ava mesmerized the last time she went on it. This time, however, she had her aunts Betsy and Lauren along for the ride to make things more fun.

Afterward, we got our 3D bug eyes on for It's Tough to be a Bug!, which is one of Larry's favorites, but absolutely terrified Ava. (What kid doesn't like giant animatronic spiders dropping down from the ceiling?)

As we exited the show, Pluto arrived on the scene.

Christian thought Pluto was pretty fun (or perhaps he was just happy to be out of his stroller).

We did and saw many other fun things throughout the day, but the main event was later that evening when Freddy O and Granny O joined us for dinner at Ariel's Grotto where we got to see Ariel in person (and with legs).

To say Ava was completely and absolutely excited would be an understatement.

And if meeting the Little Mermaid was not already a delightful treat, Cinderella was there too...

...along with Belle and many other Disney princesses.

Stay tuned for a video of all the Disney princesses Ava met when we highlight day 3.

Disneyland 2010 - Day 1

2010-05-16T20:19:00.000-06:00

It's been two years since our last visit to Disneyland. Ava didn't really remember the trip and was super excited when we told her we were going back again. Our first day there started out perfect. We had just walked in through the front gates when Goofy and Mickey Mouse appeared out of nowhere.

We knew that Ava would enjoy seeing the Disney characters, but didn't expect Christian to get so excited too. Mickey really took a liking to our little guy.

Here's the whole family with Mickey. Guess we were under-dressed for the occasion.

The last time we visited we did not get a chance to go on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage ride. So this time we headed there first. It ended up being one of Ava's favorite rides of the entire trip.

After terrifying Ava on Snow White's Scary Adventures (guess it's called scary for a reason), we decided to go on the much more kid-friendly Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Christian had fallen asleep while we were in line, but Ava had a blast.

After that we went on the Mad Tea Party ride. It was especially fun for Ava because she was joined by Betsy, Owen, and their nieces Lily and Sophie. (As a side note, Ava was so happy to have some kids her own age to play with during our trip and keeps asking us when we can go play with "Owen's friends" again.)

Here's Ava on King Arthur's Carrousel.

And here's Krista and the kids exploring Tarzan's Treehouse. Ava was a little nervous about posing for a picture on the rickety and swaying rope bridge. Christian, however, thought it was exhilarating.

Of course we had to take the obligatory picture of the kids sitting among Pooh's honey pots.

We ended the day with the Olsens making our own pizzas at PCH Grill. Ava took her pizza-making very seriously.

Stay tuned for pictures of day 2...

Spring Fever

2010-05-09T21:56:00.000-06:00

We had an abnormally cold and rainy spring this year.

However, the weather eventually warmed up...

...the flowers bloomed...

...and we had a few sunny days that provided opportunities for spring dresses and frolicking outside.

Ava became enamored with watching ants and potato bugs...

...while Christian became obsessed with going outside—gazing longingly out the window any time he was forced to stay indoors.

After such a long winter, you might say that we all had a little bit of spring fever.

The spring fever apparently went to Krista's head and she decided to go brunette.

She has since returned to being a blond.

Look Who's Crawling (sort of)

2010-05-01T08:00:00.002-06:00

Baby Yoga

2010-04-28T12:02:00.005-06:00

For the past few weeks, Christian has been desperately trying to learn how to crawl.

He has already mastered rolling over...

...and getting up on all fours...

...but the art of crawling continues to elude him.

However, his attempts at crawling have turned him into a baby yoga master. Here are a few of the yoga poses that Christian can do:

Chatarunga

Downward-Facing Dog

Plank

Cat Pose

Don't worry Christian. With time you will figure out crawling too!

Christian's 6-Month Pictures - Part 2

2010-04-24T10:26:00.006-06:00

We had so much fun getting Christian's six-month pictures taken. After the pictures in his blessing outfit, we dressed Christian in this darling Easter outfit from Granny and Freddy O. He also had his favorite bunny blanket.

You can see Ava's six-month pictures here.

Christian's 6-Month Pictures - Part 1

2010-04-22T20:38:00.007-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we took Christian to get his 6-month pictures taken. When we arrived at the studio, we found out that they were running about an hour behind. We were really worried that Christian would be cranky by the time they were ready to take his pictures since it would be his nap time. However, he ended up doing great! Christian is such a sweet little baby and was perfect for his photo shoot. Here are some of our favorite pictures of Christian in his blessing outfit.

Baby Easter Bunny

2010-04-18T21:02:00.007-06:00

Christian was very excited to celebrate his first Easter. So excited that he wore these bunny ears for the entire week leading up to Easter (not really, but it sounded good).

The Saturday morning before Easter we took the kids to a neighborhood egg hunt. It was extremely cold this year, so Christian watched from the sidelines. We told Ava to run fast and pick up as many eggs as she could. She did great on the running fast part; not so much on the picking up eggs part. Had it been a race she would have won, as she ran past all the eggs to the other end of the field before stopping to pick up a single egg. Luckily, Ava did much better at our family egg hunt the following day.

As per tradition, we went to Granny O's on Saturday afternoon for some egg painting. Ava was an egg painting virtuoso and literally painted over a dozen eggs (and has been asking to paint more eggs ever since).

Here are Ava and Christian looking darling in their Easter Sunday outfits.

Oh yeah, and there was lots of candy, a delicious Sunday dinner, and Easter baskets too, but we know you all only come here to see pictures of the kids.

On a Mission

2010-04-12T20:38:00.006-06:00

Larry's brother Jamison entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on Wednesday, March 24th. Jamison will spend 12 weeks in the MTC learning the Thai language, after which he will serve the remaining two years of his mission in Thailand...

...and we're fairly certain that mom Furr will be counting down all 730 days until son #4 returns safely home from the mission field.

Prior to dropping Jamison off at the MTC, we took some pictures by the Provo temple just across the street. Jamison, who is notorious in the Furr family for always having his eyes closed in pictures, did not disappoint and blinked, winked, or squinted in literally every picture we took including this one with Ava.

Ava has really enjoyed having her uncle Jamison down at BYU this past year and half and will certainly miss his weekend visits while he is gone. Lucky for Ava, her uncle Jordan (Larry's youngest brother) was recently accepted to BYU and will be attending there this fall.

In the meantime, we wish Elder Furr well as he serves his mission to Thailand.

Ava Steals a Kiss

2010-04-04T21:42:00.003-06:00

The idea takes hold...

...she plans her approach...

...first an innocent smile as she moves in closer...

...then once his guard is down...

...she steals the kiss...

...as he stares ahead in bewilderment.

Grandma Gibson: 1917 - 2010

2010-03-29T20:46:00.011-06:00

Phyllis Johnson Olsen Gibson, 92, passed away March 25, 2010 at Atria Assisted Living Center in Sandy, Utah from congestive heart failure. She was born October 30, 1917, in Hatch, Idaho, to Frederick and Estella Simons Johnson. She married her sweetheart, Harley George Olsen on December 6, 1939 in the Salt Lake Temple. They were married 34 years before Harley passed away on February 26, 1973. They raised four children, three daughters and one son. Phyllis was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where she served in many music and leadership callings. An accomplished soloist, Phyllis also enjoyed music, crocheting, needlework, gardening, and reading.

Grandma Gibson with great-grandchildren Christian and Ava—February 3, 2010.

She loved her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and spent many happy hours with them. Phyllis was an active member in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Grace Literary Club, and the LPN Organization. She worked for many years at the Caribou County Memorial Hospital. She married William Doris Gibson on November 15, 1979. They were married for 26 years before Doris passed away on April 15, 2005. Phyllis is survived by three of her children, Sherrie (Duane) Rubink, Helen (Joe) Harris, and Fredrick (Kristy) Olsen; 19 grandchildren; 42 great-grandchildren; and one sister, JoMarie Smith. Preceded in death by her other siblings, daughter Louette (Doug) Trotter, and grandson Jed Olsen.

Katharine Eve

2010-03-23T18:48:00.002-06:00

Katharine Eve Olsen was born Friday, March 19th to Elissa and Jordan (Krista's younger brother). She weighed 6 lbs. 14 oz. and measured 19.75" long.

Katharine is Ava and Christian's seventh cousin on the Olsen side of the family, their eighth cousin overall.

When we showed Ava this picture of cousin Annissa holding her new little sister, Ava told us that she wanted a new baby too. We reminded Ava that she already had a little baby brother, to which she replied "but I want a boy baby and a girl baby."

Congratulations Jordan and Elissa on your beautiful baby daughter. We can't wait to come visit you all in Denver. Although you should be aware that Ava may try to smuggle Katherine home in her suitcase.

Girls vs. Boys: Round 1

2010-03-14T21:07:00.003-06:00

In commemoration of our 200th blog post, we are introducing a new installment here at Together Furrever called Girls vs. Boys. For round one, we are asking you (our faithful and loyal readers) to vote for who you think is the best-dressed pair—the boys or the girls. Let the voting begin!

Winners receive absolutely nothing.

Christian's Half Birthday

2010-03-10T22:13:00.004-07:00

Christian turned six months old this past Monday. Today he had his six-month checkup and weighed in at 16 lbs 9 oz (25%) and 27.25 inches long (75%).

Some of Christian's favorite things to do as a six-month-old are bouncing in his Jumperoo...

...sitting in his Bumbo chair...

...modeling cute outfits while striking a pose...

...eating in his big sister's highchair...

...rolling around in his crib and playing with his toes.

Christian is such a happy little boy and brings so much joy to our lives.

Firsts

2010-03-04T23:02:00.007-07:00

Ava and Christian each experienced firsts recently. Christian's first was eating. He turned out to be a natural.

In fact, after just a few bites, he was holding onto Krista's hand trying to keep the rice cereal coming as fast as possible.

Ava's first was getting her hair cut and styled.

She was pretty excited at first, but soon realized that sitting still for several minutes while having your hair combed, yanked, cut, and dried isn't all that it's cracked up to be (although she loved driving the pink car).

She was, however, quite pleased with the final result. She chose the "princess pony" style, which apparently has nothing to do with a pony (or ponytail for that matter), but had the word princess in it, which instantly appealed to Ava.

Hand-Me-Down

2010-02-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Krista's mom recently found an old outfit that Krista wore as a toddler. We thought it would be fun to take a picture of Ava wearing the same outfit.

We explained to Ava that she was wearing an outfit that her mommy also wore as a little girl. This got Ava really thinking.

Now she constantly talks about "growing big" someday. However, we would like for her to stay our little girl for a while longer.

Don't Go Fast!

2010-02-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

A few weekends back we got several inches of snow. Ava and Larry decided to get all bundled up in warm clothes so that they could go outside to play in the snow.

They ventured off to build a snowman, but the snow would not pack. So they had to settle for a miniature snowman, which Ava promptly destroyed with her boots.

Having failed at making a snowman, Larry determined to show Ava some other ways to have fun in the snow. He grabbed a snow disc from the garage and tied some nylon string to it as Ava watched in anticipation.

Always the worry wart, Ava had to be coaxed into sitting on the disc. If Larry pulled her even the slightest bit fast she would exclaim "Don't go fast!".

Despite her apparent trepidation, she seemed to have fun all the same (although she appeared somewhat relieved when we told her it was time to go inside).

Ride 'Em Cowboy

2010-02-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today's blog post brings several pictures of Christian which were taken over the past two months. This first one is from just before Christmas and shows Christian ready for the winter weather.

This one was taken at Grandma and Grandpa Furr's house during Christmas break. Christian thought he was pretty tough riding this rocking horse, which he surprisingly could remain balanced on for about 30 seconds at a time.

Krista took this picture about a month ago when Christian had just woken up from a good night's sleep. He seems very calm and collected.

Here's Christian sporting his signature faux-hawk.

Christian is starting to enjoy tummy time a bit more (he's enjoying gnawing on his finger as well). He can now roll over from back to tummy and back again.

Here's mini-Christian sitting in his Bumbo chair, which makes him look like he has no torso and really short legs.

He's sure growing up fast!

Jumping Jellybean

2010-02-11T19:49:00.001-07:00

Turn up the volume to hear him laughing near the end.

#1 Grandson

2010-02-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Furr was excited to meet his first grandson for the first time over the Christmas holiday.

These pictures were taken at the airport. As you can see, Christian and Grandpa Furr hit it right off.

Throughout the rest of our stay in PA, Christian got to spend a lot of time with Grandpa Furr.

Christian liked all the silly faces that Grandpa Furr made.

And he even made a few silly faces of his own.

Jamison's Mission Call

2010-01-22T17:07:00.014-07:00

Larry's brother Jamison received his mission call in the mail today. He has been called to serve in the Thailand Bangkok Mission. The mission also covers all of Laos and Burma (Patricia's home county). Jamison reports to the MTC on March 24th.

As a sixth-grader, Jamison played Prince Chulalongkorn in a high school production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I. However, this tidbit of information is unlikely to win Jamison any friends in Thailand as apparently most Thai find the musical's portrayal of their revered King Mongkut to be highly offensive and historically inaccurate.

There's a certain little girl and a little boy that are going to really miss their Uncle Jamison while he's on his mission.

Congrats Jamison on your mission call!

Chocolate Makes Children Smile

2010-01-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

While we were in Pennsylvania, we made the obligatory trip to Hershey's Chocolate World. Ava was excited to be there, but not excited to have her picture taken with so many other fun things going on around her.

Our friends Brooke and Christina joined us for the fun, along with their adorable little girl Isobel.

Once again, Ava donned her paper hat and became a Hershey's Factory Worker. This time, however, she was actually old enough to push the green button and watch her candy dish fill with Hershey's Kisses.

After the girls finished laboring in the factory, we all headed over to the Chocolate World ride.

This was Christian's first trip to Chocolate World, and he was astounded by what he saw.

After eating her free chocolate sample, Ava was much more amenable toward getting her picture taken.

Apparently chocolate really does make children smile.

Christian's Baby Blessing

2010-01-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

Christian was blessed during our 9 a.m. church service the day after Danny & Patricia's wedding.

We were all still pretty tired from the reception the night before (plus Christian was up until four in the morning). He nonetheless seemed to sense it was a special day, as he was full of smiles.

Ava was very excited for Christian's big day and wanted to get her picture taken with him...

...Christian, however, was ready to head out.

Krista decided to give Christian a faux-hawk, which he thought made him look tough.

He's a total chick magnet.

Here's his blessing outfit complete with the hat (Christian kept kicking the little knit booties off of his feet).

Thanks to Granny O for buying Christian such a lovely outfit to be blessed in.

Danny & Patricia's Reception

2010-01-04T22:06:00.000-07:00

After driving back from the wedding ceremony, we all freshened up and headed over to the reception. Flower girls Abby and Ava were excited to have their pictures taken together.

Larry helped Danny get his boutonniere on straight while we waited for the wedding party to arrive.

Here is the entire wedding party...

The lovely bride with her flower girls...

...and the groom with his nephew Christian (sorry Christian, but you have to be able to walk to be the ring bearer).

After the couple exchanged rings, Patricia changed into her Burmese wedding attire. Her brother Maurice (standing in for their late father) then presented Danny with the Maran family sword as is customary in Kachin culture.

After eating, the dancing began with Ava taking center stage.

By the end of the evening, little Christian was tuckered out.

Ava, on the other hand, was still full of energy as she ran around collecting candles from each of the tables.

Danny and Patricia headed off to begin their new life together.

Congratulations Danny and Patricia. We are so happy for you!

Danny & Patricia's Wedding

2010-01-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

Danny (Larry's brother) and Patricia were married Saturday, December 26th in the Washington D.C. Temple.

We took several pictures after the ceremony, including this one of all the Furrs (minus Christian and Abby).

Ava had a fun time waiting out in lobby. In this picture, she is standing inside the window sill of the stained glass which runs vertically along the base edge of the temple's main spire.

Ava also had a lot of fun having her picture taken with the lovely bride. She definitely loves being around her new aunt.

Remarkably, Larry and his brothers all wore the same colored tie.

With the family pictures taken, Danny and Patricia emerged from the temple with that newlywed glow on their faces.

They then strolled around the temple grounds to allow for pictures and video footage.

Being that it was the day after Christmas, the weather was cold and rainy. However, at least it wasn't snowing.

Danny and Patricia made their way over to the temple's visitors' center where everyone else was waiting to stay warm and dry.

Always the consummate gentleman, Danny carried his new bride so that the hem of her dress would stay dry.

Once inside the visitors' center, Ava wanted to try on Patricia's veil. Larry says his daughter will certainly make a very cute bride... in about 30 years.

Christian was excited to hear it was time to go home.

And so we were off back to Pennsylvania for that evening's wedding reception.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

This past Christmas we flew back to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with Larry's family and to attend the wedding of his younger brother Danny. This was the first Christmas in which all of the Furrs were together at once since 2004. Pictured below are all of the Furrs on Christmas morning except for Abby and Christian (who were sleeping) and Larry (who was taking the picture).

Ava was quick to scope out the presents under the tree.

She started by opening her stocking, which included this Little Mermaid necklace.

Her favorite present was by far this Snow White dress, which Santa found online for just $4. Ava has worn it pretty much every day since—the best $4 ever spent. After putting on the dress, she will announce that "it's Snow White time" and then proceed to hand out roles. Larry and Christian are typically cast as dwarfs, while Krista gets to play "a bunny". Guess who is always Snow White. Ava will then run around the house flailing her arms in distress mimicking Snow White as she runs through the forest near the start of the film.

Christian (who was up Christmas Eve until four in the morning) slept blissfully through most of the festivities. Abby, however, was up and ready to open presents. Her shirt (which reads "What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will") was spot on, as both she and Ava made out like bandits.

Christian eventually decided to wake up and open his presents.

After opening the presents, Larry's family headed over to the church to set up for Danny and Patricia's reception the following day (pictures are forthcoming).

Christmas Preparations

2009-12-24T13:39:00.003-07:00

As per the annual Christmastime tradition, we gathered at Granny O and Freddy O's house for decorating gingerbread houses. Ava was very excited that all of her girl cousins on the Olsen side of the family (Sophie, Zoe, and Annissa) were there to make gingerbread houses too.

Ava was very proud of her gingerbread house creation.

Aunts Maddie, Lauren, and Betsy were feeling pretty proud as well.

While the girls were making their gingerbread houses, Larry took Christian to the basement with the other men (and boys) to watch football. Christian got a little upset when his mommy tore him away from the football game on TV to pose for this picture with his sister. Larry can sympathize, but has learned how to hide his true feelings behind a smile—a skill Christian has no desire to acquire at this time.

A few days prior to the gingerbread house festivities, we attended our church's annual neighborhood Christmas party. The focal point of the evening was a visit from Santa Claus.

Compared to previous years, Ava was pretty excited to see the man in red this time around. This has everything to do with the fact that she can now comprehend that Santa Claus = getting stuff on Christmas morning. And of course she was happy to receive the signature candy cane as well.

A few days later, Ava and Christian traveled to the mall with cousins Zach and Zoe to see Santa again. Santa appeared to have conspicuously altered his appearance during this time, but Ava didn't seem to notice.

Despite the lack of candy canes from Santa #2, Ava and Christian were still happy for the opportunity to relay their Christmas wish lists to Old Saint Nick.

Our Little Peas

2009-12-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

While shooting portraits of the Olsen cousins, Jeppson Studios was kind enough to take individual pictures of each child. Christian was much more smiley alone than in the group shots.

Apparently he likes being the center of attention.

Although eventually he got tuckered out.

Ava threw a fit about midway through the photo shoot, but eventually decided to cooperate with the photographer.

You'd never guess from these sweet and innocent faces that she was having a meltdown just moments earlier.

Apparently she decided that getting her picture taken was princess-esque.

Two peas in a pod...

...twenty peas in four pods.

Christmas Cousins

2009-12-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

Over the holidays we got all eight of the Olsen cousins together to have their pictures taken. From left to right: Seth, Zoe, Ava, Zach, Sophie, Annissa, Christian, and Luke.

It was utter pandemonium trying to get all eight kids to sit still and smile at the camera all at once.

The four oldest cousins were a bit more cooperative...

...but also a lot more silly.

Here are the boy cousins in green...

...and the girl cousins in red (and bows).

Thanks to the wonderful Jeppson Studios for miraculously capturing some darling pictures of these eight rather rambunctious rascals.

Princess Birthday Party

2009-12-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

We recently celebrated Ava's third birthday by having a princess birthday party.

In attendance were several young princesses including Princess Abbey...

... and Princess Annissa.

And several older princesses including princesses Betsy, Lauren...

... and Madeline.

The festivities began with several games followed by opening presents (with Oliver supervising).

We then gathered in the kitchen for sandwiches and cookies.

There were tiara-shaped sugar cookies which the children frosted and decorated.

Seth was intent on getting the frosting on his cookie just right.

Next Ava blew out the candles on her Disney princess cake...

...and obliged her parents with a smile for the camera.

Before we knew it the party had come to an end so Ava handed out the party favors to her cousin Sophie and other guests.

Later that night Ava opened presents from her parents and little brother.

Her favorite gift seemed to be these Disney princess pajamas.

She wanted to try them on right away, which proved to be the perfect segue to bedtime.

Happy Birthday Ava! We love you!

Baby Expressions

2009-12-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

For this post, we've collected several pictures from Christian's second and third months of life which demonstrate his many facial expressions. As a side note, the puppy in the first picture was named "Jellybean" by Ava prior to Christian's birth. She also has a "mommy puppy", a "daddy puppy", and an "Ava puppy".

Playful (I love my little puppy friend):

Confrontational (don't even think about trying to put me down for a nap):

Happy (I'm up from my nap...):

Really happy (...and ready to eat):

Sad (why is mommy making me wear this ridiculous hat?):

Really sad (enough with the pictures already):

Surprised (a bottle for me?):

Perplexed (what do you mean you're out of milk?):

Pensive (how can I ensure they never get any sleep?):

Feigned shock (that stinky smell is coming from me?):

Snow Angel

2009-11-30T20:59:00.012-07:00

We recently had an early snow. Ava, who was absolutely terrified of the snow last year, begged us all day long to let her go outside so that she could play in the snow. Krista got Ava all bundled up for the blustery weather and our little snow princess ventured out into our backyard.

Upon reaching the back fence, Ava turned around to discover the trail of footprints she had left behind.

She then scampered back to the patio to point out the footprints she had made.

She continued making more and more footprints in the snow...

...pausing every so often to inform us that the snow was making a "crunch, crunch, crunch" sound as she stepped through it.

She finally grew bored of this game and stopped to admire her fancy footwork.

Then out of the clear blue sky she announced that she wanted to make a snow angel (we didn't even think she knew what one was). Upon laying down in the snow, however, she got a little nervous.

Now every time it snows (whether it sticks or not) Ava pleads to go outside.

Baby Photos: The First Month

2009-11-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

For those that have been asking for more pictures of the baby, you are in luck. Here's little Christian at just ten days old.

Following in his sister's footsteps, Christian began studying the craft of sorcery when only three weeks old. Here he is trying to conjure up a bottle.

After several fruitless attempts, he collapsed from exhaustion.

At three and a half weeks he started smiling a lot.

Here he is at one month of age and becoming increasingly aware of his surroundings.

Stay tuned for more pictures of the baby.

The Two-Year-Old Stole the Show

2009-11-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

As you've probably gathered from our last two posts, we had our family portraits taken last month, resulting in a lot of great pictures. However, the real star of the photo shoot ended up being Ava. This came as a complete surprise to us as she spent the first third of the shoot being too preoccupied about getting her boots muddy/having the tall grass rub against her legs that it was near impossible to get her to pose for the camera, the middle third of the shoot acting completely silly, and the final third of the shoot being completely uncooperative as her fingers, toes, and nose were cold as icicles. Nonetheless, the shoot yielded so many adorable pictures of Ava that we found ourselves having a hard time picking just a few favorites and finally resorted to adding another post just of her.

Autumn 2009 Family Portait - Part 2

2009-11-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more of our favorite photographs from the family pictures we recently had taken...

Once again, many thanks to Kate Jeppson at Jeppson Studios for taking such wonderful pictures of our family.

Autumn 2009 Family Portait - Part 1

2009-11-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

Last month we had our family portait taken by Jeppson Studios. Christian was pretty cranky, Ava was super silly, and it was extremely cold (the kids had bright red noses by the time we were done). However, we think the pictures turned out wonderfully and are so happy to have captured this time in our family's history.

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T23:50:00.000-06:00

For Christian's first Halloween, we dressed him up as a skeleton.

He tried to make a spooky face, but he's just too cute to pull off being scary.

We don't know about you, but that's the cutest bag o' bones we've ever seen.

Ava dressed as a fairy this year.

For those keeping score, this is the same fairy costume we dressed Ava in for her Fairy First Birthday party invitations. As you can see, it fits her much better now.

Here she is showing off her fairy hairdo.

And here's a full body shot of our little fairy princess.

During the afternoon, Ava and her cousins went to Little Haunts up at This Is The Place Heritage Park with Granny O and Freddy O. It was a very fun afternoon with trick-or-treating at pioneer houses, pony rides, Halloween crafts, a story-telling witch, and an amazing candy-shooting cannon. Here is Annissa, Ava, and Sophie on the train ride around the park.

After arriving home, Ava changed in to her Halloween hostess outfit and helped decorate our Halloween Tree with some pumpkin ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa Furr.

Since we had already collected a lot of candy on two separate occasions the day before (and Ava is a bit of a sissy when it comes to being out in the cold), we decided to stay in on trick-or-treat night. Ava quite enjoyed handing out candy and seeing all the different costumes of the trick-or-treaters that came to our door.

We all had a great Halloween and are already looking forward to next year.

Halloween Preparations

2009-10-27T11:16:00.000-06:00

The Furr family has been busily preparing for Halloween. First Ava and Larry carved a jack-o-lantern. Ava designed the face and Larry did the carving as Ava watched with fervent anticipation.

Ava was quite proud of her pumpkin creation.

Meanwhile, Krista was having fun dressing up Christian in various Halloween outfits.

First, she put him in this festive little ensemble from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ryan.

Next, he donned this "frightfully cute" shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Furr along with one of Ava's old Halloween hats.

Christian decided that the hat made him look like a court jester. As you can see, he was much happier without it.

Lastly, he changed into this "short & sweet" getup from Aunt Liz and Uncle Preston.

However, he eventually lost his patience with trying on different outfits (Krista sometimes forgets boys are different than girls in this way).

As for seeing Ava's and Christian's Halloween costumes, you'll have to wait until our next spooky and scary post.

Ava Goes to the Elephant Parade

2009-10-18T18:19:00.007-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Ava went to the circus elephant parade with Granny O and her cousins. Ava loves elephants (they are her favorite animal at the zoo) and she had tons of fun at the parade.

She still talks about how much fun she had seeing the elephants and hasn't stopped carrying around the sign that she got from the parade.

Ava was also quite enthralled with the clowns and loves her new clown nose she got at the parade. She often wants me to put the clown nose on and has even tried it on Christian.

Here are some of our favorite little clowns!

Thanks to Granny O for taking Ava to so many fun places while I have had to be at home with Christian. Also, thanks to Erika for all of these great pictures!

Naptime Improvisation

2009-10-09T21:03:00.003-06:00

Sweet Sis Sings of Star

2009-10-04T20:03:00.004-06:00

As we've mentioned before, Ava is head over heals for her new baby brother. She even sings him songs. Here is Ava's rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (which apparently includes a verse about a puppy).

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

2009-09-29T20:52:00.004-06:00

We recently gave Christian his first bath since arriving home from the hospital. At first, he didn't look at all enthused about having a bath.

However, that didn't stop us from taking pictures of his cute little baby body. Those are some cute feet if we say so ourselves.

For the most part, he was pretty good during his bath. After it was over, we wrapped him up in a warm towel and made him pose for some more pictures.

He was very cute and cuddly in his warm, cozy blanket.

We think he looks pretty similar to Ava in her bath pictures, although with much less hair.

Big Sister

2009-09-25T21:47:00.009-06:00

Ever since Krista's first ultrasound, Ava has been so excited about baby Jellybean. Over the past nine months, Jellybean has gone from being a little black and white image to a reality—and watching this transition through Ava's eyes has been absolutely amazing and precious.

At first, we weren't sure how well Ava would grasp the concept that a baby was growing within Krista's womb. So, Larry got a magazine on pregnancy that had pictures of prenatal babies from conception to full-term. He would show the pictures to Ava, who soon began calling the magazine "the Jellybean book" and would ask to "read" it often. Later on, the ultrasound video (which she began calling "the Jellybean movie") quickly became a regular request as well.

As the months went by, it became increasing apparent that Ava really did understand that there was a baby in mommy's belly, that his name was Jellybean, and that he was eventually going to come out and play with Ava. Once we found out the gender, we began telling Ava that Jellybean's name would be Christian. While she certainly understands this, she still prefers to call him Jellybean, which is fine by us.

On the day that Christian was born, Ava happened to be at the hospital with Larry's mom, who was dropping off some things that we had forgotten to pack. Krista's contractions suddenly got very close together and she knew she was about to go into labor. Larry told Ava that the doctor was going to come and "pull baby Jellybean out of mommy's belly" (which is the terminology we had been using to explain birth to Ava in the weeks leading up). Larry's mom took Ava out to the waiting room while Larry hailed the nurse to tell her it was time to call the doctor. Less than 30 minutes later, Christian had arrived.

Once he was all cleaned and swaddled, Larry sent the nurse out to the waiting room to have Larry's mom and Ava come in to see the baby. We were curious to see what Ava's reaction would be. Would she understand that the newborn baby in Larry's arms was in fact Jellybean? Or was she simply expecting to see a baby doll instead?

To our surprise, Ava walked into the room quiet and composed. Her normal two-year-old exuberance had been replaced with calmness and temperance. It was as if she understood that this was a serious matter and that she was expected to now assume the role of the mature big sister. Without missing a beat, the first words out of her mouth as she entered the room were "I want to hold him" as she reached out her little arms. She's been holding him ever since.

We couldn't be more pleased with how well Ava has adjusted to having a baby brother. In fact, she hasn't shown one iota of jealousy or sibling rivalry. Always the consummate tormentor, Larry will on occasion ask Ava "should we take baby Jellybean back to the hospital?" Ava's reaction is always the same—she immediately pouts, begins to tear-up, and tremulously shrieks "no daddy, no!" Don't worry Ava, baby Jellybean is here to stay.

Hospital Visitors

2009-09-23T19:18:00.007-06:00

Okay, so we know our faithful blog readers have been checking back here daily, (im)patiently waiting for us to post new pictures of Christian (aka Jellybean). As you know, having a newborn around the house is not easy and we've got the cycles under our eyes to prove it. However, we're finally starting to re-get the hang of it and Christian is (thankfully) starting to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time (he actually slept for four straight hours the other night—it was marvelous). Alas, now that we've finally gotten around to pulling all of our many pictures off of our camera, the blogging can resume. So check back often, because this is only the beginning.

During our three-day stay at the hospital, Christian received many visitors. His first set of visitors were his big sister Ava and Grandma Furr (who graciously watched Ava for us while we were at the hospital).

Christian also received visits from Granny O, Freddy O, Aunt Betsy, Uncle Owen, Aunt Lauren, and Aunt Erika, who is pictured below.

The next day Betsy and Owen came back for another visit and kindly brought along Uncle Jamison (pictured below), who as a poor college freshman is without a car.

Uncle Jordan, Aunt Elissa and cousin Annissa also came by to visit the little bundle of joy.

Thank you to all of our wonderful family and friends who have provided babysitting, meals, and lots of fun gifts for our new little son.

Christian Laurence

2009-09-09T13:16:00.005-06:00

That Famous Preston Night Rodeo - Part 2

2009-08-31T18:56:00.000-06:00

During our rodeo trip, we of course visited my Grandma and Grandpa Beckstead at their farm. While there, my grandfather (who is one of the world's best storytellers) gave us a tour of his barn that he has been renovating. The tour was complete with many exciting stories of my grandpa's life growing up on the farm, the horses and other animals that lived in the barn, and the history of the barn.

It was very exciting to see all of the amazing work that my grandpa and my uncle have done to renovate the barn. My family has a lot of memories of this barn. My grandpa remembers working in the barn, my mom remembers playing in the barn, and I remember as a child playing in the barn. Here are three of the great-grandchildren (Seth, Annissa, and Ava) making some barn memories of their own.

And here is Ava still looking at the animals.

After the tour of the barn, several of the cousins (Annissa, Luke, Zach, Ava, and Seth) sat on the porch swing for awhile. Zach in particular seemed to have been having a lot of fun!

Ava and Annissa were fascinated by one of the hanging plants.

A few weeks after the rodeo, we headed back up to Idaho for more fun. This time Larry was not away on business and was able to come with us. While there, he and the other boys attended a demolition derby, which they enjoyed so much that they have decided to attend every year. We also went to eat at Deer Cliff Inn, which is a restaurant in the canyons with beautiful views.

Ava loves going to Idaho. She talks about it all of the time and always asks me to take her there. The main reason that she loves it is because when she is there she gets to spend so much time with her best friends—her cousins.

Here Ava and Sophie had been posing for a picture while sort of leaning on one another when they suddenly lost balance and toppled right over...

...and that was the end of that photo op.

That Famous Preston Night Rodeo - Part 1

2009-08-30T21:52:00.000-06:00

As mentioned in our previous posts, Ava's third and final favorite destination this past summer has been Preston, Idaho. One of our favorite family traditions is attending That Famous Preston Night Rodeo. It is held annually during the last weekend in July. This year, Larry was on business in Costa Rica and was very sad to have missed the rodeo and all of the fun rodeo festivities. So, Ava and I headed up to Preston with Granny O and Freddy O a couple of days early to start the fun. When we first got to Granny O's "farm" (it is not really a farm, Ava just associates Granny O's house with my grandparents farm), Ava wanted to get on the swings right away. She loves to swing very high and very fast. She says she is just like a "bird."

Before the rodeo, there is always the rodeo parade. This has always been one of my favorite parades. You would not believe the amount of candy that gets thrown to the parade watchers. I remember as a child going back to my grandparents house with a huge sack of candy following the parade. Now it is fun to watch as all of my nephews and nieces get so excited as they gather their candy.

Ava, not a big candy fan, was super excited when the chocolate milk truck came by. They always give out the best chocolate and strawberry milk. Chocolate milk, which Ava refers to as a "shake", is one of Ava's very favorite things and will always bring a smile to her face.

Following the parade, Ava took a rest with her fun cousin Sophie. Ava was holding tight to her third chocolate milk, which she had deviously scored from somebody.

Ava, Sophie, and Annissa were too little to go to the actual rodeo, so they headed back to Granny and Freddy O's Idaho house. It was perfect weather and the little girls had so much fun staying up late and playing with the water table.

After playing for awhile at the table, they decided that they wanted to go swimming and determined to fill up the swimming pool one cup (or train) at a time.

The next morning we headed off to church. Here Ava and Sophie pose for a picture.

Ava was very excited to wear her favorite mermaid shirt and her "fin" skirt. She had spotted it at the mall several days earlier and had to have it. Unfortunately, they only had a size 4. She was adamant about wearing it anyway, thus requiring her to hold it up much of the day.

Stay tuned for part 2!

Under the Sea

2009-08-25T22:37:00.001-06:00

As mentioned in our previous post, another of Ava's favorite places to visit is the the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. Ava's first trip to the aquarium was with her cousins Annissa, Zach, and Zoe. Here's Ava anxiously waiting for her cousins to arrive.

Here Annissa waits for Ava to start paddling. Alas, the paddle was bolted to the floor. Oh well.

Ava wanted to go back two days later so that her daddy could see the sea life as well.

Of course she tried picking up the paddle again to no avail.

And then began contemplating how she might convince her parents to let her live at the aquarium.

Here's Ava blinking during a picture with her mommy.

If you haven't been to the Living Planet Aquarium, we highly recommend it. They have a lot of great sea life on display (not that you can tell from our pictures) and a season pass is only $16 (kids 2 and under are free).

Back to the Zoo

2009-08-23T23:02:00.001-06:00

Hogle Zoo has quickly become one of Ava's favorite places to go (along with the aquarium and Preston, Idaho... but those are future blog posts). She recently went with Granny O, aunts Lauren and Erika, and cousins Zach and Zoe. While Zoe slept for most of the visit, Zach and Ava were out to have some fun. Here Ava rubs the rhino's tusk for good luck, while Zach tries to slide down its head.

Ava was quite fond of this cougar family (that's our little BYU cougarette).

Here she is riding on an elephant trunk like an African queen.

Ava and Zach always love riding the train ride through the zoo to see all the animals.

And of course there is the tradition of seeing how you measure up to the gorillas. Lauren is demonstrating how it's done (she's almost as tall as the male adult gorilla).

Zach has already passed up the infant gorilla.

In case you're wondering, there are real live animals at the zoo as well. And we did see them (Ava's favorites were the penguins, elephants, and baby giraffe). It's just harder to get good pictures of kids next to lions, tigers, and bears. Oh my!

Play Time with Zach

2009-08-12T19:45:00.005-06:00

I recently spent the weekend up in Preston, Idaho with my mommy and her family. I was so excited to play with my cousin Zach, but there's not too many things a baby can do. First I tried to see if he wanted to play swords with some broomsticks (that seemed like something a little boy would like), but he was too small for that.

Next I tried seeing if he wanted to ride bikes, but he was too small for that too.

Then I had a great idea... we could play in the pool! So, I got my bathing suit on and tried to coax him into the pool, assuring him that the water was warm.

I finally got him to come into the pool by promising him a drink of water.

He dumped his drink all over his belly, but didn't seem to mind. Next I showed him how he could kick his feet to make splashes.

However, Zach only managed to splash himself in the face.

I tried to get Zach to come out from under the shade by pointing out that sun was setting, but he was too worried about getting a sunburn.

I sure don't remember being so finicky as a baby.