Santa!

Ava and I went with my Grandma to the mall and Ava got to sit on Santa's lap! She wasn't sure about it at first... but when I asked her to smile she put on this big grin! So it didn't take her long to adjust... Then she proceeded to tell him what she wants for Christmas and we were on our way! I have to say it was much better then last years experience! Last year she was terrified and sat frozen on his lap!

Gingerbread House

Just had to show off our cute little Gingerbread house that Ava and I made last night! I've never done a gingerbread house before so it was a first for both of us! We had a fun time putting it together and decorating it! Although I think Ava had more fun eating all the candy then actually putting it on the house! But what can ya do! Thanks again Mom for giving Ava the Gingerbread house kit! She loved every minute of it!

"Can I eat it now mom?"

"Ta Da!"

"I'm so sweet!"

Rice Family Update

Seems like so much has been going on lately, and with the stress of the holidays that have passed and those soon approaching, once again I have yet to remember to do my blogging... So I thought I'd just give a quick update of what is going on in our lives...

Where to start... Well we had a great Thanksgiving weekend with Chris' family! The entire Rice Gang came to stay at our house for a the holiday weekend and what a fun time it was! Thursday we went to Chris' Aunt Becky's house for the big turkey meal and stuffed ourselves silly while enjoying the company of the entire family! Then Friday morning Jolin, my mother-in-law, and I got up early to do the Black Friday shopping! Unfortunately we didn't quite get up early ENOUGH though because all the things on sale that we'd planned on buying were already sold out by the time we got there at 7:00 in the morning! I have never been Black friday shopping before so this was a first for me, and I guess I've learned that if your going to do it, you might as well do it the RIGHT way and be one of those early birds at 4AM to get all the good stuff! Oh well, there's always next year! Then Friday afternoon we took the whole wild bunch to see the movie BOLT! I thought it was a great movie! Ava loved it too! I was always laughing... and call me pregnant, but it also brought tears to my eyes at one part too! haha! And Saturday was exciting because all of us GiRls went and saw the one and only... TWILIGHT movie!!! And I must say, aside for a little bit of cheesy acting, it was all I had hoped it would be! (Can't wait to read the books all over again!)

Don't worry, we don't usually go for family rides on the bike! haha, we were just driving down the street... We had walked to the park and I didn't wanna walk home in my heels, so I made Chris come pick us up! Haha, these are pics at the Park on Thanksgiving...

~Ava and her cousin, Dawson, on the slide~

After a fun Thanksgiving weekend, things settled back down to normal... I keep busy cleaning house and playing with Ava while Chris goes to work at UOP. Not much is happening... I am now 17 weeks along and we should find out Jan. 5th if our new baby is going to be a boy or a girl! I don't really have a preference... my only opinion is that it would be easier and cheaper to have a girl because we already have lots of girl clothes from Ava... But Chris would love to have a boy... So either way I will be excited!
As for our Christmas plans, we will be making the trip up north to enjoy a wonderful WHITE Christmas with my family at my sister, Wendi's, house up in Provo, UT! We plan on leaving when Chris gets of work Wednesday, the day before Christmas Eve, and will return home the following Sunday! It is going to be a fun trip! I can't wait to play in the cold snow and Ava is very excited to see her cousins!
Well, I think that's it! I hope everyone is doing well and has a wonderful and memorable Christmas! We love you all!!

First Ultrasound!

Yesterday we got to see our little baby for the first time and hear the heartbeat! I know these ultrasound pictures are hard to look at even in person, so I know it's probably hard to see copied to the computer! haha! But here it is! Surprisingly the doctor said the baby is measuring about a week later than my due date, but she said due to other reasons she still wants to keep my same due date for now... So it's still May 25th! I am now about 12 weeks and almost done with my first trimester! And I am feeling it too! I can already tell that the sickness and tiredness is already starting to wear off a little bit... Which is great for me cuz I'm WAY behind on my house work!

Last Week...

Last week Ava and I went with my mom to visit my sister Wendi and her family in Provo, UT. We had a great time! It was fun to hang out with her and my other sister, Kati, who is living up there too! We always have a great time together! Ava and Tyler, my nephew, are only about 10 months apart so they get along pretty good and have fun playing together. (well, most of the time! haha)
Thanks Wendi for letting us stay with you for a while! Hopefully we will see you guys at Christmas! Love you! And also thanks to Amber for stopping by to visit! It was great to see you and Ryan! We miss having all of you guys closer to home! Hopefully we can visit again sometime soon!

Tyler, Jill, and Ava at the mall.

Then yesterday, Saturday, I had the opportunity to go to Time Out for Women with my two younger sisters and my mom! Thanks mom for taking us! I really enjoyed it and learned a lot! And I'm glad I could experience it with you, Lesli and Emeli! I'm so lucky to have such an incredible family!!

Me, Lesli, my Mom, and Emeli!

Halloween!

Alright, so I'm a little late posting our Halloween photos... Sorry!
Ava was a Princess, (of course) and she loved every minute of it! She was very good at accepting everyone's compliments all day! Halloween afternoon we went to Chris' work Halloween party. It was pretty cool, they had a few of the floors in the building all decorated and the kids went trick-or-treating from cubicle to cubicle. Then they also had games and stuff in some of the rooms. Ava played musical chairs and WON a big cake as first prize! It was pretty exciting! She had a great time! Plus, we'd never been to up where Chris' work before so it was nice to see where he is all day everyday!
Then that night we went to our wards Trunk-or-Treat at the church. It was kinda all chaos... but we still had a good time. All in all I'd say it was a great Halloween! It's so fun now that Ava is really old enough to understand and have fun with it! Can't wait for years to come!!

Carving our Pumpkin the night before Halloween! Ava didn't really like getting messy...

Princess AVA!!

Our decision to decorate the truck for Trunk-or-Treating was kind of last minute.... haha!
Pretty cheesy huh?

our little peanut!

If you didn't notice already, our little baby monitor picture has finally matured! This week our little Embryo has finally graduated into an actual Fetus! Now that all of his/her major organs have formed, (brain, lungs, kidneys, heart, ect.) it's officially called a fetus instead of an embryo! Now it has actual arms and legs and measures approx. 1 1/2 inches long! Crazy huh? Well, I just wanted to share the exciting news! haha! I think it is just so fascinating to follow such a miracle! I will continue to keep you all updated (whether you like it or not) on the growth of our new little addition to the Rice family!! My next Dr. appt is Nov. 10th! That will be an exciting one because we will get to see the ultrasound and hear the little heartbeat!! I can't wait!

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!