Ward Christmas Party, 12/5/08

We had our ward Christmas party a few weeks back. I am on the activities committee and can I just say I never realized how much went into one of these dinners. I will never feel the same about eating and running again. Not only do you have the before hand planning, you have decorating, possibly food assignments and followups, setting up, taking down and cleaning up. Well our ward did not do food assignments we bought and prepared all the food ourselves.

We arrived at the church at 4 to start preparing for the 6:30 dinner,Brent was at his ER rotation, so I had my 2 girls in tow. Susan from my ward had contacted some of the YW to come and help me cut up onions, tomatoes and lettuce and they took turns playing with Ava. We had a taco and nacho bar, the food was good, the program was good, and Santa came too. The evening was a success and we had enough food left over that we could have probably had another ward dinner the next night! Brent arrived in his scrubs at 6:30 were he took over with the girls, and ate helped a little with cleanup and then took Ava home. As for Katrena and I, we were there until 10:30 and man was I exhausted. I really enjoy cooking and entertaining, but there is absolutely know way I could do that everyday, its exhausting.

The girls were able to sit on Santa's lap, unfortunately I missed it (I was in the kitchen), but I have to remind myself I can't catch all of Ava's firsts. To top it off I forgot my camera too! So my good friend Melinda had remembered her camera and graciously stayed a little longer to take a couple of photos for me. Ava is actually awake and she didn't cry. I guess she is still to young to be scared by the old guy in a red suit! And now that I think about it I am not even sure what Trena asked Santa for. I better ask her when she gets home, as you can see I was really not in Mommy mode that night.

Here are the girls with Santa.

Jumping ahead a little...

This photo was taken from my front porch yesterday, 12/15/08. Yes, Virginia fall has finally come to Phoenix. The high yesterday was 57 with rain and today, 50 with rain. It's about stinking time. I love fall and really hate that Phoenix forgets to have it!!!

11/30/08, our last day in Utah.

We went to church at 9:00, were 5th hour was an awesome lesson on the temple. So glad we were there for it. After church both families headed to the cemetary were we visited Braxtons grave as a family. I am glad that we were able to go when it was not covered in snow.

After the cemetary we headed to my parents for lunch and one last visit. My grandparents stopped by and we were able to see them for a few minutes before we left. And Katrena's two best friends Caroline and Charlotte stopped by to play for about an hour.

Then off to pack up and have dinner with Mom and Dad North as well as Grandma Hansen and to say our goodbyes.

We then caught the 9 o'clock flight home, which was delayed. So by the time we got on the plane, flew home, took the shuttle to get our car, and drove home, it was 1 am when we walked in the door, so every one slept in, including Ava.

The girls at Braxton's grave

My mom getting some quality Ava time in

Katrena with Caroline and Charlotte

Katrena with her Great Grandma and Grandpa Watts



Katrena and Ava with their Aunts Kayleigh and Karey

Ava with her Great Grandma Hansen

Ava with Grandma Joyce

11/28/08, 11/29/08 (still in UT)

For those of you who have said you didn't even know we were in Utah. Well we barely knew we were in UT. It was a last minute decision to go and because we were only going to be there four days two of which were travel days, we didn't tell anyone other than family we were coming.

On Black Friday we hit the stores running at 4 AM. Its a tradition for my mom, myself and my youngest sister Karey to go shopping. We love seeing all the crazies, devouring the ads on Thanksgiving and strategizing. My sister Kayleigh would rather stay home and sleep, some years I can't blame her. I think Karey wishes she had stayed with her this year. We got some great deals, and I was happy to be with my mom and Karey. We always take a mid morning break to eat breakfast and then keep on going.

After our shopping we met up with the rest of my family for Cafe Rio, I so miss the sweet pork salad. The only one in phoenix is 45 minutes away, we've eaten there once.

Then back to Brent's parents were I went to the DI with his mom and sister Shelly. While the boys all went to the movies. And then we had left overs together for dinner. Some how Thanksgiving always tastes just as good on day two.

Later that evening Ava took her first sink bath, Grandma was doing the dishes in the kitchen so we used the bathroom sink. She was a little cramped, but was such a good sport.

Here is a picture of Ava with her Aunt Shelly and Uncle Chezlyn.



Ava in the sink! Couldn't you just eat her up!?

No photos from the 29th. I ran to a couple of stores with my mom. And hung out at my in-laws and then Mom and Dad North took us to lunch at Pei Wei, love that place too. Afterwards we went to Brent's cousin Jordan's house and saw him, his wife Maria and their cute little girl Hannah,as well as their new home. Katrena and Hannah had fun playing and they had some yummy Brazillian food there. I am not sure how its spelled but something like cachinos, and then guatanar to drink. We love that stuff. Brent served his mission in Brazil and that is were Maria is from. After we left Jordan's we headed to my parents were we had pizza and just visited for awhile and then home to bed.

Family Birthdays! 11/27/08

To finish off our Thanksgiving day, we headed over to my parents house at 5:00 pm to celebrate my Brother and baby Sisters Birthdays. They were also the week of Thanksgiving. And my Grandma made her yummy Sundae Pie, so I had to have some of that too!!!

Ava got to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa Watts for the first time as well as her Aunt Traci and Cousins Tyler and Preston. She met her Uncle Wade (he was our photographer), Cousin Megan, Uncle Tyler, Aunt Joy, and future Uncle Taylor that morning at the photo shoot. There was a lot of meetin and greetin for our little miss that day.

Ava with her Great Grandpa and Grandma Watts


Our beautiful new cousin Preston, who we all got to see for the first time.

Ava with Taylor and Kayleigh

Katrena with Tyler and Joy

Funny, I didn't get a single photo of anyone opening presents. Nor do I have a photo from this day of my sister who's birthday we were celebrating. Boy am I slipping.

Family Photos 11/27/08

Knowing we had limited time and my Brother and his wife were only going to be in Utah on Thanksgiving day, we hurried to get family photo's taken about 2 hours after we arrived in Utah.

Yes, these photos were taken at a cemetary, no we are not morbid, and no we do not mean any disrespect. My mom really loves this tree, she considers it our "Family Tree". When we lost Braxton he was burried at this cemetary and we wanted him to be burried by this tree, unfortunately the only places still available were in the shrubs and Brent and I did not feel good about that being his final resting place. So he is burried just a little ways down under another tree.

Katrena with her aunts Kayleigh and Karey

My mom and brother Tyler

My Mom and Dad

Mom with her daughters: Karey, Kim and Kayleigh

My Dad with his daughters

Us kids

My brother Tyler and his wife Joy

Kayleigh and her boyfriend Taylor



The whole Fam Damily

Our little Family

Probably a little more accurate picture of our family

We wanted to get a picture of my parents with the grandkids and just our girls, but our beautiful little Ava decided she'd had enough and was screaming her head off. It was a little chilly and nap time. We were glad to get photos taken though. Now we just need to photo shop out flowers and headstones...

Thanksgiving 11/27/08

We flew to Utah early Thanksgiving morning to spend the four day holiday. We started off by going straight to Mom and Dad North's house. Where we had Thanksgiving dinner and Dad's Birthday.

I felt really bad that we did not contribute any food, kind of hard to carry on a plane, but the food sure was delicious. The best part though was the strawberry rhubarb pie, yummy!!!

Here is Ava with her cousin Kyndra



Shayla, Katrena, Ava and Kyndra

Grandpa with Ava

Mom and Dad North

I am four months old and I have the bandaids to prove it...

Ava went in for her four month check up on 11/25/08.

Doctor says she is doing well and is on schedule developmentally, except for rolling over. Well there is no mystery why she is not! This turkey butt is spoiled rotten and won't lay and play, sit or swing more than 10 minutes before she screams for attention. Of course it could also be that she is end to end in her bassinet with no room to move and Daddy won't buy her a mattress for her crib because he doesn't want her in the other room! Again, spoiled. So her and mommy now have to practice rolling over during the day.

4 month stats:
I weigh 13 lb, 8 oz (50th-75th percentile)
I am 24 1/2 inches long (75th percentile)
Not bad for a tiny 5 lb 14 oz, 3 weeks and 2 days early baby, huh?

Fountain Hills Park

On Saturday, November 22 2008, we went to Fountain Hills Park and walked around. It was so beautiful. The fountain goes off every hour, and we happenrd to get there at sunset adding to the beauty of the water on the lake.

Ava 3 months, Katrena 7 years

Random photos of Ava at 3 months...

Random things about me from 10/24-11/24
1. I can hold toys
2. Just me in a cute outfit. Guess what though, I can sit up really good, I am very strong, I fall over or forward eventually though. I always want to sit up and look at the world, I don't want to miss anything!
3. In a dress that belonged to my Aunt Kayleigh (who is 19)
4. I still love Raggy, and I control her by grabbing her hair bun.
5. I really love my soft blanket toys. They are easy for me to grab and cuddle.
6. Don't I look cute in Karey the dogs sunglasses?
7. This dress was my sisters, Mom says I look beautiful in blue, especially with my Daddy's blue eyes.
8. Me and mom in my mom's favorite pajamas. My Great Grandma Watts sent it to me and it has little tiny elephants all over it, its even the same colors as the bedding in my crib.
9. My sister and I have matching dresses, Daddy thought it would be funny to put the bottoms on my head. Now I look like a chef!

Katrena is learning to cook...

Katrena has had some difficulty lately with finishing her food. Something we did not have a problem with in the past. Some nights she will sit at the table for 2 hours, just willing me to give up and give in. I don't. So then we tried the whole, if you have not finished eating in 30 minutes you have to go to bed rule, didn't work. She kept asking if it had been 30 minutes and if she could just go to bed.

I have had talks with her about the fact that she is lucky that she has a mom who is willing and able to cook her a good wholesome meal every night. I am not tooting my own horn, it just seems to be becoming more and more of a rarety. And I want to teach respect for adults, myself included. Sorry back to my story. So I finally decided that maybe if she had to take the time to prepare the meal once a week, she would appreciate the time and effort that goes in to her dinner a little more.

So here she is preparing her first meal on 11/11/08, (no worries family, I was right there the whole time, no cut fingers, no burns). She made taco pizza's. They were fun and yummy too. She cut up veggies, cooked the meat, and made beans with tomatoes and cilantro. She then loaded meat, veggies and cheese onto tostado's and slid them into the oven to bake. She was a little to nervous to pull them out and so was I, so mom took over that part.

Here she is cutting the tomatoes.


and cooking the ground turkey.

She's up again saturday night.

8 favorite things...

So I was tagged twice in two days, lucky me it was the same Tag "8 things", so here we go...

8 Favorite TV Shows

1. The Biggest Loser

2. The Practice

3. Grey's Anatomy

4. Samantha Who?

5. John and Kate plus 8

6. America's Next Top Model

7. Rachel Ray

8. Ellen

*I have to make a note here, I don't actually watch any of these shows on the day or time they come on. I don't even turn my TV on. So if by some crazy chance the TV is on these are the shows I would hope to see. Now also on that note, most of these shows are not shows that I would have on with Katrena in the room, so 2,3,4, and 6 are only ever watched online after the kids are in bed. Katrena loves to watch 1 and 5 with me though.

8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Cafe Rio (technically not a restaurant, but who cares)

2. Costa Vida (same)

3. PF Changs or Pei Wei

4. any Mexican or Italian restaurant, and I really like seafood especially crab cakes.

5. Tony Roma's

6. Rumbi Island Grill (same)

7. Tempanyaki

8. Brent and I just went to My Thai and it was really yummy.

* I am so easy to please when it comes to eating out, I really don't care as long as its good. I love all types of food.

8 Books You'd Recommend

1. Gone with the Wind

2. Pretty much anything by Jane Austin

3. Twilight series

4. The Host

5. Jane Eyre

6. Work and the Glory series

7. Wuthering Heights

8. I really like the LDS author Michelle Ashman Bell, yes she is romantic fiction, but sometimes you just need good cheese.

8 Things that happened yesterday

1. Let Ava sleep in my arms for 3 hours straight.

2. Worked on a baby present.

3. Cooked dinner.

4. Helped Trena with homework.

5. Cleaned up the kitchen.

6. Got asked to speak in church on Sunday :(

7. Blogged.

8. Read a book.

8 Things to look forward to

1. Christmas in Utah.

2. Ava's blessing.

3. Katrena's baptism.

4. Going to see Twilight.

5. Spending quality time with my little family.

6. Brent's graduation!!!

7. Being settled and having our own home.

8. Watching my girls learn and grow and discover new things.

8 Things on my wish list

1. Lose 48 lbs.

2. A happy, healthy family.

3. A craft room (Ok, I'll just take a bigger place!)

4. To get my hair done

5. A family vacation (not counting visiting family; however I am really looking forward to that).

6. To watch my children grow up and become mom's, and to be someone they want to call everyday just to chat with.

7. To grow old with Brent by my side and for us to always remember the love we felt for one another on the uncharacteristically sunny day in December that we were married.

8. I could find a hobby I really loved (Amanda, I really like this one)

8 Things I love about Fall

1. leaves crunching on the ground

2. The smell

3. Pumpkins.

4. Kids in snuggly jammies.

5. Hot chocolate.

6. Family.

7. Jackets and sweaters.

8. Remembering all I have to be thankful for.

8 People I tag

1. Sara

2. Krystal

3. Ashley

4. Karey

5. Carla

6. Annie

7. Melinda (I know I haven't gotten around to your tag yet, but I will I promise)

8. Amber

New cousin to love...

I am so excited my families newest little miracle has arrived. My Dad's brother and his wife welcomed their third baby today, I hope they don't mind me posting the pictures. I am posting totally and completely out of love for my family. I wish I could be there with them to share in this happy occasion. I love you guys, congratulations!!!

Preston Wade

Born: November 12th
Weight: 8 lbs 2oz
Height: 20 inches

Isn't he just beautiful.


With proud mama

Proud Daddy

And adorable brother and sister, Tyler and Megan.


Welcome baby Preston we can't wait to hold you in December.