Another Fun Trip to the Zoo!

Last Wednesday and Thursday our friends, The Welly's came to stay with us! So Chris took off work a little early on Thursday to take a trip to the zoo with us! It was a great time! I love doing little family outings like this! It is my favorite thing to do! Ava is finally to that age where it's just so fun taking her places like this because she is just in heaven! We packed a picnic lunch and ate while watching the monkey's and feeding the birds! (In fact there was even a brave squirrel that came and ate out of our hands!) Then the kids played at the new little water park area and then of course we walked around to look at all the animals! Thanks for coming to visit Welly family! We sure enjoyed the company!

Ava is such a little model these days! When you tell her to smile for the camera she always has to strike a pose! haha!

Family pic in front of the parrots!

This was just a cute one I'd throw in here! Ava was posing again with our dog, Blue, and she asked me to take a picture of her... We call her our little drama queen!

Rocky Point Vacation

Dang... Snap back to reality! I can't really say that it feels good to be home... Chris, Ava and I just got home from spending most of the week in Rocky Point with my family for a few days. We left Wednesday night and got home yesterday, (Saturday), afternoon.

Seems like I had been looking forward to it for so long that when it finally got here it went by way too fast! Oh well, guess that's just how it goes! But it was wonderful while it lasted! The weather was PERFECT and the water was nice! The sun was shining and the breeze was blowing while the waves were rolling! What more could you ask for?! We spent most of our time down on the beach while the kids played in the sand, caught hermit crabs, and splashed in the water. While we got to lay out and soak up the sun while sippin' on our margaritas! (Virgin of course! haha) We stayed at the Las Palomas Resort so there was lots of places to go so it never got old even for a second! And I love the fact that you can sit on the beach under your umbrella and they come and take your drink orders!! So you don't ever need to leave the beach! haha! Needless to say we had a great time! Here are just some of the pics we took...
Thanks Mom and Dad for a much needed beach vacation!

They had lots of differnt pools you can go to, along with some good little play areas for the kids!

Ava and her cousin Tyler had a blast picking up the little hermit crabs all along the beach!

Looking at the crabs crawl along the sand...What a cheesy smile Ava!

My sister Wendi and cute niece Jill!

You can't see it very well but Chris found these little Octopus in the tide pools! They were pretty cool! Ava was fascinated by them! She even was brave enough to hold 'em!

Daddy and Daughter dancing to the Mariachi Singer!
At dinner our first night this Mariachi singer came around and sang a song to Ava!

My nephew, Tyler, and sisters, Kati and Lesli. I've got such a beautiful family!

Exciting News!

Well, I do apologize, I know that it has been a LONG time since I've posted anything new. But I just haven't been feeling like myself lately and we finally figured out why! Yep, the rumors are true... Ava is finally going to be a big sister! We figured the due date should be May 25th, but it might change when we go see the doctor next week. So that cats outta the bag! We are SO excited! Our prayers have finally been answered! Chris already thinks it is going to be a boy and has been bugging me with the weirdest boy names I've ever heard... haha. But who knows! we'd be happy with whatever of course! Maybe it'll even be twins!! haha, we can only hope!

Saturday at the Zoo!

Saturday morning we were out and about and Ava had the idea to go to the Zoo! So since we have a year membership to the zoo we decided we might as well! It was a fun day! When we go to the zoo we usually go with friends during the day while Chris is at work, so it was nice to have him along for the fun for once! We rode the train around and went to the petting zoo, played at the park, and Ava got soaked playing at the splash pad! I can't wait til they open the new water park area with a new water slide this coming weekend! Sounds like we will have to go to the zoo more often! Great idea Ava!

Riding the Train!! It was pretty hot, so instead of walking all around the zoo we decided to take the train around so see all the animals! SO worth it!! haha

Petting the goats! As soon as we walked into the petting zoo, a huge goat walked up to me and I said "Wo! Hey there big guy!" So after that every goat that Ava walked up to to pet with the little brush she said "hey there big guy!" It was pretty funny... I dunno... guess you had to be there... haha!

Ava and Daddy playing on the Tractor!

This cute little prairie dog was Ava's little friend. As soon as we walked up, it ran up to Ava and started playing around. Ava loved it! Ava tried reaching in a couple times to pick it up... it was funny!

This is our sassy little princess throwing a fit because she couldn't ride the merry-go-round...

Labor Day @ the Cabin!

For the holiday weekend we took a bunch of Chris' family and some friends up to our cabin! It was a blast! The weather was just heavenly! It rained everyday and it was nice and cool! I even put on a sweater! Can you believe it!? It was great! We all had a good time! Thanks to the Rice's and family and Fringer's for going up with us! We had a great time!
We have to get up there as much as possible from now on because they have put the cabin up for sale... Which makes me very sad! My grandparents built the cabin when my mom was in high school and it really stinks that they have to sell it now... It is my favorite place in the entire world! I love it up there and I am going to miss it when it is sold... :( But it has been a place full of great memories both as a kid and now as I've gotten older! We have been so lucky to have such an awesome place to go up and spend time away from the real world every once in a while!

I didn't take very many pics over the weekend, I was havin' such a good time I forgot to get my camera out! But here are some family pics we took on Sunday!

We took a lot more good family pics with the Rice's, but I think Jolin is going to use them for Christmas cards... so I won't spoil them!

New Web-Site!

Hey fellow bloggers! Just got my new web-site finished! Check it out!

http://www.primerica.com/jennirice

Ava's First Bike

Chris' aunt Becky gave us this little bike that was sitting in the garage at her house. Originally it was painted blue and yellow and red. So it was kinda boy-ish looking. But we fixed that! It also needed a couple links taken out of the chain, so Chris fixed it and I painted it and now its a brand new bike for little Ava!
She still has to get the hang of the whole bike concept, she hasn't really figured out how to pedal yet. Chris had to push her the whole way around the block. But she did get better at the steering aspect of it! So I'm sure it will all come together eventually! She looked so cute though! I can't believe my little girl is old enough to ride a bike! Mommy and Daddy love you and are so proud of you Ava! Keep at it and you can do anything you put your mind to! All it takes is belief in yourself and you can learn how to do achieve anything you want in life!

Primerica in Palm Springs!

This last weekend Chris and I took a very much needed vacation! We went to Palm Springs for a Primerica Weekend Retreat and it was AWESOME! The 5 Star resort we stayed at was just incredible and the education and motivation we got was priceless. We have now returned with a whole new outlook and are ready to grow our business like never before! We've set some big goals for ourselves so it is going to be a great next couple months! I am so excited and so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and partner. I know he is going to do great things and we are going to be able to provide an incredible life for our family in the process!

Here are some of the pics that we took over the weekend!
We had fun going around the grounds and taking all kinds of pictures...

In the lobby of the hotel they had these parrots. They were pretty and fun to look at!

These are the views from our room...

This is after one of the sessions Saturday morning. The resort was so neat! Definitely a place I want to go more often when we are rich some day! haha! In the middle of the resort was this little lake! And you can see it very well behind us, but in the lobby there was this dock that had boats and you could get on the little boats and they took you across the small lake to the restaurant! It was a pretty snazzy place!
This is at dinner Saturday night. It was supposed to be a sailor/pirate/ aquatic costume themed party but we didn't dress up... It was fun to see the creative costumes some people came up with though!

We car pooled with some friends of ours that actually introduced us to this business last year. Brett and Malori Kartchner. We have become great friends with them so we all had a good time hanging out for the weekend! We owe them a lot for introducing us to this incredible opportunity! THANKS BRETT AND MALORI!!

Hard Work Weekend

Well, I don't have any pics to show, but yesterday Chris and I went and finished landscaping the back yard at my parents rental house over in Queen Creek. And we didn't bother to ask any one for help because we had done most of it a couple months ago but we ran out of rock. So the trees and plants were all done, we just had to spread the remainder of the gravel which was about 5 tons. Anyways, boy did we learn our lesson! Never under estimate how long it takes to move 5 tons of gravel... ugh! Needless to say, instead of it taking the two hours we thought it'd take, it ended up taking us about 5 to get it all done. So we are definitely feeling it today! In fact, I'm so sore that I swear trying to pick Ava up this morning it felt like she weighed ten pounds heavier than usual! haha... so we won't be volunteering to do any more landscaping any time soon... But it was still a great weekend! It is nice to work hard like that every once in while. It definitely gives you a feeling of great accomplishment when you push yourself to your limits! Never thought I'd say this, but I am grateful that my parents taught me to work!

Little bits from Last week...

Here are just a few pics from last week! Nothin too exciting, but we are just keepin it real! haha!

--Ava and Mommy wasting time at McDonalds on Thurs while our truck was being fixed across the street.

--Well, I am getting old... Friday was my 22nd birthday and although I didn't take any pics, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone! And Thanks Chris for taking me out to dinner! I had a good time! Love you!

--Saturday Chris and I decided that it is coming down to the last wire and so we packed up our puppies in the truck and camped out on the side of the road to sell our puppies! I know... pretty red neck right? Well, it was kind of the last resort option! This is also a pretty popular place to sell puppies, every weekend there are always people on this particular corner in Queen Creek trying to sell random stuff... So we thought it was worth the try! And surprisingly a lot of people stopped to come and see the puppies! We only sold two, but it was better than sitting at home all day and not selling any! And we gave out our number to lots of potential puppy buyers! So hopefully the puppy selling will pick up!

Can't believe we've had these puppies for 10 1/2 weeks now! Boy, how time flies!

I was out in the yard trying to get some decent pictures of the pups to post another ad in the paper and Ava just insisted on getting her picture taken too! Silly girl....