Ava's cousin Torie visits from Ohio!

...and madness ensues! Not really, but Miss Ava and Greg sure have LOVED having their cousin around the last few days! :) The days leading up to Tories arrival all I heard from G was "When does Torie get here mom? How many days are we hanging out with Torie, mom? What kind of music does Torie like, mom? Do you think Torie will want to come over and go swimming with us, mom? Is she going on a plane all by herself mom? When do I get to do that, mom?(never)" Etc, etc etc. You get the idea. They were both just a tad excited.


So we took the cousins bowling at Crestview(which was totally dead, btw. Maybe people think it already closed?). I think Ava won the first game, and G won the second(I have to add that Miss Ava got a STRIKE in that second game, though! ). Torie shouldn't feel bad tho, my kids are notorious and ruthless cheaters!!! ;) So if there was a way, they found it.






Next up was the State Fair. We didn't get to take Ava last year because I don't think there was a single day that worked into our schedule that the temperature wasn't over 105. Insane. And miss heart diva doesn't tolerate that kind of heat well at all.

Anyways though, after we visited the dinosaur exhibit and ate nasty(delicious) fried junk and once the midway opened Torie and Greg took their lil wristbands and went on the big kiddo rides while hubby and I took Ava to the kid park area and to ride a pony. So cute. But I missed getting lots of photos of all the kids together. :(











We loved hanging out with Miss Torie though, hopefully we can get out to Ohio soon for a visit ourselves!

Ava left her (unmended) heart in San Francisco

This is a super late post, I am trying to play catchup with the blog though so bear with me. ;)

A few weeks ago Greg's brother Jeff visited us from Washington, along with his beautiful girlfriend, Suzy. We had a fun few days of activities. Including a Rivercat's game as well as a day trip to SF. Which is the city little Miss Ava was calling home the first few weeks of her life. The place where she underwent that amazing first, and second, repair on her itty bitty tiny little heart which allowed her to be here with us today in all her ballet-obsessed, MO! screamin', "pince chamin" dreamin,clothing-aversion sassy glory! ;)

We started the day at the wharf, of course. The kiddos loved watching the sea lions and the boys had fun in the sports shop. Then we headed over to the California Academy of Sciences and Aquarium. LOVED it. Though we missed the planetarium showings(just another reason to visit again, though ;), the rain forest area was AMAZING. All the exhibits were great, actually. Totally recommend it to my CA locals. :)








After a few hours in the museum we all went over to the Golden Gate, parked on one side and walked the bridge. SUPER pretty views but holy moly it was windy and FREEZING. Need to dress better for that one next time for sure. A lightweight cardigan was so not cutting it. :/





Very fun day though and it definitely beats looking out at the Golden Gate(fog permitting) from Ava's favorite room in UCSF. Wind and all. :)

Document Everything

Hi all, So these photos are on here a little late. They are from the photos we had taken by the amazingly talented Megan Squires at . She did such a fabulous job with Ava that this mama had a terrible time picking my favorites and narrowing it down.

Funny story. Megan is actually someone I knew from High School. I saw a little ad for her website on facebook one day, and fell in LOVE with her work. I actually had no idea who it was, until I read her about me bio and saw her photo. Then it clicked and I was like, "Oh I KNOW her!" And what I could remember of her, she was always super sweet and kind. So that along with the gorgeous and vibrant images I was staring at convinced me enough that I wanted her to capture Ava's next birthday and heart anniversary photos. SO glad I did! She was so unbelievably personable, patient and really had a knack for getting Ava to feel relaxed and comfortable. Most of the people who read this blog and know Ava well know that as of late(re:since all those hospitalizations for caths), she has a serious case of "stranger danger" going on. Which is not all that bad, except for the serious anxiety it brings with it. Eventually she warms up to everyone, though. No "eventually" was needed on this day, though. Ava loved "Mey-an" and actually still talks about her! It's very cute.

Anyhow. It was a very special day for us, the actual four year to the day anniversary of the day Miss Ava had her first life saving repair to her perfectly imperfect heart. She was only seven days old, not even 7 pounds, she was our tiny precious perfect little girl and to go from not knowing if you would ever be bringing your daughter home to watching her run around playing, dancing and full of smiles was something so special, something I will cherish forever. And I have AMAZING photographs to document it. Oh, and did I mention the stunning slide show complete with video and beautiful music she put together for us also?! Yeah. Thank you, Megan. Words cannot express the wonderful joy and precious memories you have captured for my family and I. :)