Laura's Wedding

We flew to Utah on Saturday morning for Laura's wedding the following Thursday. It seemed kind of crazy we could make it back to Utah in 2 hours when it takes us 19 to drive. Airplanes are maybe one of the best inventions of all time. Ava was good on the plane, both ways, watching shows with her baby doll:

It was kind of a whirlwind of a trip, filled with wedding things, so I don't have too many pictures before the wedding. 

On Monday we had a party with the Braithwaites at Nana's house. 

The bride-to-be with our cousin's baby, and Ava poking her belly button:

Ava's been doing a lot better at not freaking out when I hold another baby. This is a good sign since we only have 2 more months until I'm constantly holding another baby :)

On Tuesday I went to our family friend and got my hair cut. I decided to be brave and get an A-line I've been wanting for a while. She took quite a bit off!

That evening we had a friends shower for Laura and we had Mexican food for dinner. I planned a little guess who said it game with answers I had gotten from Jordan and Laura.

Ava was so excited to be back at Grandma's house so soon. She is a social little butterfly and with all of the commotion that week she was loving all the people coming and going from the house. When the doorbell would ring she would squeal and jump up and down and yell, "who is it!?!" 

On Wednesday, the day before the wedding, we were busy with random preparation things and also helping set up the Strong's backyard for the wedding. It was a big family and friends effort to get the yard set up. I didn't do much but watch Ava and give moral support with my big belly :) I wish I had a better picture of how pretty everything turned out.

Cher was amazing and practiced and researched all summer how to make wedding cakes. She assembled the cake at the Strong's that evening and we were all in awe.

On Thursday morning, the day of the wedding, I got up early to be part of Laura's assembly line to get her ready. I did a french manicure for her while she had one friend do her makeup and another do her hair. 

The sealing was beautiful and peaceful. I love love!

I love remembering mine and Brent's sealing and how blessed we are to have each other forever. 

Laura looked beautiful and the whole day just went perfectly. The weather could not have been better too!

Her new in-laws. She got really lucky with a wonderful family that already loves her!

Cuties:

We tried a selfie but mom was either distracted or didn't know where to look :)

 Just cute.

The wedding lunch was at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Each of the siblings had prepared something to say. Our was a list of the top 10 things Jordan should know about living with Laura. It was mostly funny stories about Laura.

Jordan said a little something and then sang a cute song to Laura. He has an amazing voice and sounded a bit like Frank Sinatra or something. I think my favorite thing Jordan said in his speech was when he was talking about seeing Laura for the first time at college. "I was like, are you a real person??? I mean look at her, she's gorgeous!" 

After the lunch we went up to the Strongs to get ready for pictures before the reception. Tammy, who had been watching Ava all day, drove her up there for us, which was so nice. It was so relaxing to not have to worry about Ava during the wedding stuff during the day. 

Here's a picture overload from the reception because I couldn't stop taking pictures of the adorable Ava. I did her hair in piggies at the request of Jordan :)

  A few model shots :)

Lucy was making Ava laugh...

Which was making Adam-little-man laugh.

Cutting the cake. Oh my gosh it was so yummy.

There was dancing, and Ava went totally crazy dancing with her cousins and anyone who would dance with her.

It's dark, but here's a little video.

Then it was time for them to go. We sent them off with sparklers. We were all a little worn out and tired. I had so many (as in almost constant, all day) Braxton-hicks. Ava was sad because we made her wait to do her sparkler until we could help her.

The day after the wedding we had a party since all the cousins were in town!

Ava really loves all of her cousins. It's fun to have so many her same age!

On Saturday Brent went back to Texas and we started the longest we've been apart since being married: 4 nights. I handled it pretty well although I honestly have no idea how people do it any longer than that.  

Andrew came down that day with is kids while Britt was with her sister. We went to the park and fed ducks, and then out to dinner. 

This is a little telephone thing and my mom was on the other end of it. She said to Ava into her side, "Ava tell me something!" And Ava squatted and said into her side, "ice ice baby!" 

A picture I sent Brent to ask if I look 7 months pregnant. Starting to feel it.

 On Monday and Tuesday I worked while the grandmas watched Ava and she got to play with cousins. The night before we left, there was a beautiful rainbow. It's like Utah is always teasing me when it's time to leave. I know Utah, you're gorgeous.

For our flight home I was a little worried about pulling my carry-on and carrying mine and Ava's 3 other bags, plus pushing her in her stroller, and not putting myself into labor. Luckily it went well and I didn't even have very many Braxton-hicks. Ava was a good girl on the flight home too.

The clouds above SLC that day were beautiful. During the middle of the flight, Ava was looking out her window, yelling, "Dad! Dad I come!!!"

Ava sat in my lap a lot but she's being crowded out by her baby brother.

When we landed and she got to see Brent, Ava was so excited. She spotted our car and was yelling, "DAD!!! DADDY!!!!" She sure is a daddy's girl. We had a great quick trip and we are so happy for Laura and Jordan! Ava is still talking about how they kissed on their wedding day. It was a perfect day!

Back in "My Texas"

We decided to take the New Mexico way back to Texas. The drive home went by so quickly! We passed by Arches and I got a little taste of the real arch that I've never seen.

 We stopped to see the Monticello temple.

We stayed the night in Albuquerque, and then the next evening we were back home in Texas! Ava was sooooo excited to go home. She kept saying, "my Texas!" It was nice to get back home because we like it here! Ava especially likes the pool:

 If you can zoom in on this picture, you'll see a huge grin on her face.

Ava and I went to an ice cream relief society activity about Sundays (sundaes). They had it decorated so cute.

Brent's very anxious to potty-train Ava before baby #2 comes, so we worked on learning to sit and pee on the potty. We have a long ways to go. But Ava did get a popsicle a few times for peeing on the potty.

Proud face:

We went to my doctor for a check-up right when we got back- 28 weeks.

Triple checked now: this baby is a BOY.

Brent's first day of school- I made him pose for a picture :) He has two classes this semester and the third one is working on his masters thesis. He also is a TA/co-teaching a class for undergrads. He is also watching Ava for me while I work and looking at phd programs, so it's a busy time!

Ava looking cute with her doll. She is so attached to this doll and I hope it's helping her practice being a good big sister.

She loves watching the garbage truck come:

Work was really hard for me during September. Busy and stressful and working more than I wanted. Luckily the benefit of working from home is having ice cream therapy (although that's put on hold at the moment with gestational diabetes now).

My grandma sent me this great maternity website that had awesome deals! I got this cute shirt. And here's our mother-daughter mirror selfie.

Ava kills me because any time we go anywhere she has to pack a bag. She is such her father's daughter, packing as much in to a bag and trying to take as much as possible. Here she is ready to go to the library (and I'm holding another bag she packed).

We talked a lot to Ava about Laura's wedding coming up. She was very excited that they were going to kiss. A video:

For weekend fun we went to a Tex-mex place called Fuzzy's. These brisket nachos were the bomb.

While Brent was at school one day I was trying to get some work done during Ava's quiet time. (She resists napping but we usually can still get her to take a nap in the late afternoon. If not, she gets quiet time). I went in to check on Ava because she sounded like she was being wild. This is what I found:

Yes, that is her diaper somehow wrapped around her middle, but with the velcro still in tact. It took everything I had not to bust up laughing. I sent this picture to Brent and he was just about crying. 

On September 1 it was Ava's "half-birthday" and I decided we should celebrate since Ava is so obsessed with birthdays. I'm so happy we did because she was ecstatic. We watched the un-birthday scene from Alice in Wonderland, Brent made her a birthday hat, and we had cupcakes. 

A video:

I failed my first glucose screening test so I had to go back to my doctor's office for the 3 hour test, fasting, to find out if I have gestational diabetes. I was so nervous about it because I still feel sick if I don't eat every few hours, and the first one hour test had made me feel so yucky. Brent and Ava came along for moral support for the first bit and went out shopping for the last 2 hours. I did much better this time and got through the fasting part :) Brent sent me with a DVD player to help pass the time.

While we were in Utah I got the results- yep, I have gestational diabetes. More on that later. On Saturday morning we got on the plane and went back to Utah for Laura's wedding!