A visit from Aunt Shanna

Her name is really Shannon but a certain niece of ours called her Shanna and it stuck. Anyhoodle, she's been here for a week and half and it has been so much fun that, at times, my face has almost melted. Pour example: this morning we did pilates. Usually an amazing workout, no? Well this time was no exception, except that the amazingness of the abdominal workout came from fits of hysterical laughter.

So I've been bonding with her,
Danny's been bonding with her,



and Ava thinks she is the most amazing person in the world (except for me, but only because I am her life force...er....food).



Needless to say, we love her.

Law school is exhausting even after you graduate

Exhibit A:


And Danny NE-VER takes naps during the day.
(He's studying for the bar exam)
No more evidence necessary.

Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold

I don't really know what peas porridge is but I imagine my reaction to it would be very similar.



Cutest. Baby. Ever.

Singing along to la radio just isn't cutting it

As many of you know, I love music. I grew up singing in choirs and playing in concert bands and had a pretty amazing experience with music in high school. I took a break after high school, got mono, and then realized that my life was super sad without music. Sure, I listened to music, but that doesn't even begin to touch the experience of performing high quality music with really good musicians (that's what I mean when I say "music")(I'm trying to see how many times I can use a variation of the word 'music' in one paragraph). So I auditioned for and joined the BYU Concert Choir (I also got to rehearse several times with the BYU Singers which was a delicious treat). That just reiterated to me that my life without music is like a squid with no ocean. Well I got married and had a baby and while Heavenly Father has blessed me with opportunities to make music since then, I miss the feeling of rehearsing regularly and pounding out notes and working on my technique between rehearsals.

So! I have decided that I am going to get my voice back into shape. The larynx, after all, is a muscle and when muscles aren't worked they get flabby. I have a flabby larynx. And that is possibly the only bit of really annoying flab on my body that I can't blame on Ava. Once my voice is back up to par I am going to audition for a choir. A good one. We'll be living so close to Chicago so I don't think finding a good choir will be a problem.

I'm really excited about this. I need it. And my voice has changed enough since last time I was in a singing groove that it'll be like getting to know my voice all over again. I'll have some serious diaphragmatic breathing to relearn and lots of resonance to adjust that I didn't have before. Did that last sentence sound like nonsense to you? Yeah, I'll probably just stop there before I start using words like pointy and tinny to describe vocal music and you really think I'm crazy.

Just know that I've got plans and I'm excited about them.

I'm pretty sure...

...putting mudflaps on your 18 wheeler that say "Jesus is Lord" is taking the Lord's name in vain. Probably.

On becoming a grown-up. Kind of.

So Danny and I went on our first house hunting expedition today. It was exciting and surreal and made me totally feel like a real adult (because having a baby? did not). It is kind of frustrating because I have all these ideas of things that I like and this is just a starter home so it doesn't need to have all those things. It's hard to push all that stuff out of my mind though. We saw a couple of really nice, cute houses today. I just wish I could take all of the things a liked about each of them and combine them into one perfect little starter home.

We did finally find a rental to live in while Danny starts his job but before we buy a house, which is a huge weight off my shoulders (shout out to my realtor).

Now I just need to start packing up this apartment..... Thankfully leedle seester is coming this week and I WILL MAKE HER MY PACKING/PAINTING/WATCHING AVA SLAVE. And then I will take her to see Eclipse and she will still think I am the best sister ever. She's so easy to please. Sometimes.

My baby is a wuss

So today Ava and I went to the Zoo with some of our friends. I didn't really expect that she would know what was going on or get excited about anything but I also didn't think it would be a scary experience for her. Poor girl. We started with the fish. I don't know if it was the darkness or the noise of all the kids on summer break or the big scary stingrays but she started crying. Like the pouty, mommy-hold-me cry. So heartbreaking. So we left the fish and went to see the zebras and tigers and elephants.



I think she fell asleep somewhere around the giraffes. She was unimpressed.



She woke up just as we were headed to the butterfly garden on our way out. Let me just say that it was a magical place and that I will have my own enclosed butterfly garden/greenhouse one day.



Well one of the butterflies thought that Ava's foot looked like a perfect place to land. I don't blame mr. butterfly, she IS irresistible.




At first she didn't really notice. She was cool.



But then mr. butterfly tried to crawl in between her toes. Annnnnnnnd now I'm pretty sure she's scarred for life.




So my baby hates animals.... I'mmmmm kind of hoping it stays that way because I'm not a big fan of them either.

You've probably seen this before...

but it's worth seeing again...

How cute??? And maybe a little disturbing...

So Ava spent Memorial Day weekend doing this with Grandpa:



And now she spends her days at home doing this:

I love how she twists her little ankles around. (Sorry it's sideways)

She is an awesome baby. ADMIT IT.

My next vacation

Somewhere far away there is a never-neverland where pigs fly, hell is frozen over, Clay Aiken sells millions of records yearly, Nancy Pelosi isn't a fembot, Oprah is president, teachers get paid more than sports stars, the Buckeyes get to the championship game and don't choke, nothing I eat makes my stomach hurt, and I get 8 hours, nay, at least 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night.

I would give anything to go there.

With "Graduation Song" playing in the background

These are three of the best. photos. EVAR.









My mom and my husband graduated this year. I am so proud of both of them.

Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.....I think

So I did it. I did what I promised myself I would never do and started a blog. Why? Well I will tell you why. Because facebook is not really a good place to brag about my amazing life. I don't want to be all up in an old acquaintance from high school's newsfeed about what I had for lunch (disclaimer: unless it is really delicious or really gross I promise not to mention inane eating happenings) or how good avasaurus is at rolling over. If people want to know the details of my life, they can read my snoop bloggy blog (she is really good at rolling over, by the way). I also feel like I could really use a way to examine my life in a different light right about now, I need a creative outlet that involves sitting on my fanny and doing nothing (yes. I said fanny.), and I am moving soon and I want to get a huge list of followers so when I feel friendless in my new city I can look at my blog and see that indeed! I have friends (that last reason was really more of a joke, but now that I'm thinking about it? That could be nice). There are really a gajillion pros for me starting a blog with only one con - everyone else is doing it. But alas, this five year member of facebook has overcome her "cut off my nose to spite my face" mentality for you, her lovely reader.

A few disclaimers: I will probably write like I speak. That means my punctuation, while not necessarily grammatically correct, will be placed so that you can hear my voice as much as possible over the abyss of the internet. Also, you will never have to read non-words like "irregardless" or "supposably", completely overused phrases like "epic fail/win", or posts that would lead one to believe that I am a texting 13 year old on my blog. I do reserve the right to make up words if I can't find one in the english language that suits my needs. I also reserve the right to not post for months and to make up for it with a phrase like "it's just been so busy". K? K.

Happy Reading!