The Fife Family

What we have been up to!

2010-01-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

We have been pretty busy lately. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Here is a short description of the past month!

Ava turned 2 on December 13th. she got alot of toys and had fun. she loved saying the word 'birthday!'

We took Ava sledding last Saturday. she loved it. I love her when she wears this hat...she's just too cute :)

Ava got alot for Christmas! She thought it was pretty neat that Santa left her all of these toys. She loves loves loves her kitchen set. Grandma and Grandpa Steffler gave her Tickle Me Elmo and she loves him to death. Ava thought Christmas was her birthday...she kept saying "my birthday, my birthday!" We all got a kick out of that!

Hunting and Ava and Update

2009-10-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

Wow its been a while since I've updated our blog (and Julie sure did let me know!) Nothing really new with us- School for Aaron is going good. He actually has a interview for an internship for Accounting at the INL on Monday so cross your fingers for him! Work is good-and long- for me. I am a temp. custodian at the INL and my 6 months is up on Jan. 27 so hopefully they will hire me on full time!
Ava is growing up so fast! she is talking more and more. she did learn a few cuss words and we're going to blame Aaron for that one :) She is going to be a monkey for Halloween. she loves monkeys so she is pretty excited. When we ask Ava to do something or ask if she wants to eat or whatever and if she doesn't want to, she'll say 'no way!' it's kindof funny. she will be 2 on December 13! WOW

Here is a pic Melissa (aaron's sister) took of Ava last week. I love it!

Aaron had the chance to go hunting for elk and deer this year. He was pretty successful! Here are some pics of his elk. CAUTION: pretty disgusting pics if you ask me

The Hunting Crew: Aaron, Derek, Ross Ellis and my dad

Derek

Aaron

New Job

2009-07-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

I got offered a temporary job (hopefully I'll get hired on permanment in January) out at the site working as a custodian. I am so excited!!! I start work on July 27th! Aaron lost his job a month ago so we decided that I would go back to work and Aaron would go to school full time and be a stay at home daddy. I am really nervous for the change and I hope I can survive being away from Ava for 10 hours-yes 10 hours (I already had my anxiety attack and now I'm just accepting what needs to be done) I am comforted knowing that Ava will be home with Aaron and not in daycare, so that makes it alitte bit easier. It is going to work out great because when Aaron has his night classes I will be home so Ava doesn't need a babysitter and then when he has his classes in Poky, his mom is going to be able to watch Ava for a few hours. It's a big change but I know it is worth it. Aaron only has 4 more semesters so the faster he gets them done the sooner I can stop working!!! I am very grateful for Heavenly Father blessing us with this opportunity and I know things will work out!!!

Fisher Reunion

2009-06-25T22:36:00.001-07:00

Aaron's family had a reunion June 17-20th at Island park. We had a lot of fun. Aaron did alot of fishing and he enjoyed that. It did rain every day but Friday was a nice day so we actually got some sun, which was nice. Ava had a blast. She has 3 cousins that are pretty close to her age so she enjoyed playing with them.

Ava and her daddy!

Ava loved playing at Grandma and Grandpa Fisher's trailer steps. she thought she was pretty cool sitting there.

Mommy and Ava

Ava sitting on the dock. I like this picture-I think it is pretty cute :)

Ava sitting on a chair by the fire.

Ava playing with cousin Carissa

Ava sturtting her stuff on the dock

Aaron's mom has a time share at the condo's in Island Park so we went swimming there one day. Ava loved the water. The kiddie pool was too deep for her-but she loved sitting in her floating whale or she loved just being in our arms. On a side note: look at Aaron's funny tan line. I think it's pretty funny.

This is my FAVORITE picture. I blew it up and framed it for Aaron for Father's Day. He really enjoyed it.

We had a fun time, despite the rain. Ava did well and loved to play on the dirt. The only bad thing about the trip was that Ava almost got ran over by Great-Grandpa Fisher. I was watching Ava run all over the place and i saw her fun towards Grandpa's truck. I didn't think anything about it, but then I saw grandpa sit up (he was leaning over getting something off the passenger side floor)so I started running towards the truck and yelling him to stop. He had no idea Ava was there or he didn't see me running towards him. By that time Ava was at the front of the truck. When grandpa started the truck Ava ran for it towards me. Grandpa put the truck in gear and drove away- no idea Ava was there. Oh my gosh, I swear my heart stopped. I bawled all evening-it was horrible. That happened the first night so we made a rule that we would loudly announc we were getting in the car and leaving so everyone could have all the kids accounted for. Grandpa felt horrible and I felt horrible because i felt I could've watch Ava better but things turned out okay, but oh my gosh, that feeling I felt for 5 seconds was the worst feeling I have felt and I hope I never have to experience something like that again!

We had a blast and we can't wait to go camping again for the Torngren reunion in July at Hebgan Lake in Montana!!!

Copy Cat

2009-06-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had Sinus Surgery and lately my nose has been bleeding-due to healing and the heat and allergies. Anyways, Ava has seen me stick toilet paper up my nose quite often, so this is what I get:

I think it is pretty funny now-but I'm just hoping she doesn't stick a crayon or some beads up there-then I won't be laughing :)

silly girl

2009-05-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Ava is so silly. She loves to sit on the counter and brush her teeth.

She thought it would be fun to pull out all of the movies and climb into the shelf. She only did this once because she found out it isn't much fun to roll out of it. ;)

Easter

2009-04-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ava had a fun Easter. She had a total of 3 Easter Egg hunts, and I'm thinking that wasn't enough for her. She LOVED finding all the eggs, especially once she realized there were goodies in the eggs. She sure is fun to have around.

Easter Morning:

This is Ava eating way too much candy in the morning. She was wired all day from all the sugar.

The Easter Bunny brought her a castle. She plays with it non-stop

Our Sweetie

"Ava NO NO"

2009-03-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

Oh look at this cute little angel...and CHERISH THE MOMENT because she is no longer a sweet little angel.

I swear, these past two weeks all I have been saying is "Ava, NO NO!" SERIOUSLY! Like the picture below...she found Aaron's yellow highlighter marker today and found out she likes to write on the walls with it. (instead of spanking her, I had to take a picture, no wonder why she is a little Hellian this week)

And then...Ava loves to unroll and unroll and unroll the toilet paper. This is what I found last week. Again, I'm with the camera taking pictures instead of punishing her.

These next two pictures are really hard to see, but She did draw on her face with a pink gel pen. Oh, it's also on her clothes as well. :)

Ava found her sunglasses this morning...doesn't she look so cute!

Ooops, I spoke WAY TO SOON! This is Little Miss Ava with a BIG Attitude!

ha ha ha besides keeping us on our toes these past few weeks, she has been alot of fun as well. She knows how to say the words-Hot, Dog and Two! When the heater kicks on she will go point to it and say "HOT!" She doesn't quite know what the words mean yet (except dog! She loves my dad's lab puppy)

It was SO funny the other day; I had to go to the eye doctor to get my eyes checked and I took Ava (she was really really good) and you know when the doc puts the lens thing up to your eye and will say "which view is better, One or Two, One, or Two" and then you say one is better or two is better? Well, anyways, he did that about 6 times and after the first time, Ava caught on. So when he said "which is better, one..." Ava would IMMEDIATELY say two before he could. Oh we laughed and laughed and laughed. I love that little devil of mine!

Keys

2009-03-10T22:04:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I have a bad habit of leaving my purse on the floor and you know what that means...Ava has access to it. First, she will go for my gum. I usually buy the Trident kind and she LOVES IT!!! She will stuff as much gum into her mouth as fast as she can because she knows I will take it away from her...and if I don't get it away fast enough she will eat the gum, paper and all. Second, she will go for my keys which isn't a big deal because she usually just leaves them on the floor close to the purse. Well, since we have a dozen of unpacked boxes in our new apartment, Ava obviously thought it would be fun to put my keys in one of those boxes. This happened on Saturday, so tonight Aaron and I were getting desperate to find my keys because we have the kind where you push the unlock/lock button and those are pretty expensive. We had to dig through a couple bags of old garbage, and searched every box and drawer and everywhere else we would think she would put them. I have a Cricut Machine and I didn't check the box that it is in because it opens differently, but I should have checked there sooner...because that box was housing my lost keys. Grr...that child is trouble sometimes! Tomorrow my goal is to hang up and coat/bag hanger so when I walk in my apartment my purse will go there first thing! No more losing my keys.
SIDE NOTE: I was borrowing half of Aaron's keys today so I could drive the Jeep and get in the apartment, well anyways, when we got back from town, I put Ava down after we walked in the apt. and I gave her Aaron's keys to keep her entertained for a minute (i know, dumb huh) anyways she went straight to the bathroom and lifted the toilet lid and was about to drop the keys in the toilet, luckily I was there to prevent that mishap.

Busy Busy

2009-03-03T20:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I posted a new blog. Well, some exciting news...We moved into an apartment! We moved last weekend and we love it. Now that we are all moved in, we have ALOT of boxes to unpack. It is a three bedroom apartment and now Ava has her own room. She loves it (and so does mommy and daddy) We were SO READY to have our own room again. My parents and sister Kailey had a hard time with us leaving the house. On moving day my mom watched Ava for us and when we came by the house to pick her up and take her to our own place, my mom and dad BAWLED. No, not a few tears or alittle crying, I am talking about tears just flowing down their face and they were sobbing like they were never going to see her again... We moved only 5 minutes away. Yes, we are still in Idaho Falls and yes, they knew they were going to see Ava the next day...but yet they bawled. Poor parents. Anyways, we are in love with the fact that we have our own place!!!

Playing House

2009-02-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

This week Aaron and I have the opportunity to watch his co-workers (Wendy) children while she is in Hawaii and while her husband is out of town for work. We are enjoying ourselves. We are staying at her house. I take the kids to school every morning and i pick them up every afternoon. The kids; Abby is 9 and Caleb is 7. They are the best kids; they mind, they do their homework; they go to bed on time. It's been a blast. Ava is loving it. She loves to play with Caleb and Abby and she loves their two labador dogs. (The dogs are inside dogs and very well mannered) I decided this week that this is just like playing House! I love it. Aaron is in some big trouble though because now I REALLY REALLY want a place of our own; it's been kind of nice being on our own again.

25 Random Things

2009-01-31T21:02:00.000-08:00

1. I have the ugliest toes! Everyone in my family makes fun of them.
2. I went to only 1 semester of College at ISU
3. When I worked at the INL, I got alittle contaminated (not bad) and I had to poop in a container and people had to survey it, for a WHOLE WEEK.
4. I had a C-Section when I had Ava.
5. I love Dr. Pepper
6. I have to SCRUB the bathtub before I can take a bath. It freaks me out if I don't.
7. I have been kind of baby hungry...and then I slap myself in the face and tell myself to knock it off.
8. We live with my parents.
9. I can't eat buffalo wings anymore. I use to crave them when I was first pregnant and now just looking at them makes me gag.
10. I hate school and I don't even go, Aaron does and I HATE IT!
11. I wish I could work full time but I know I could never leave Ava.
12. I have the BEST mother-in-law anyone can ask for.
13. My mom and Sister are my best friends.
14. My favorite actress is Jennifer Garner...I like her so much I would let Aaron kiss her.
15. I was a cheerleader in High School. Go Bees!
16. Really embarrassing: One day at work I was driving the truck out of the gate (and i was alone) and I had to scan out of the facility, well, I got out of the truck, scanned out and then I got back in the passenger seat...The guard was like "um...you are the one who drove in here" so I had to get out and walk around to the driver side while the guard laughed and laughed. At the end of the day, the entire facility knew about my blonde moment.
17. I can't go to bed without reading.
18. I shot a moose when I was in the 8th grade.
19. I love my daughters hair, it is naturally curly and BEAUTIFUL.
20. We use to have a house in Chubbuck (Pocatello) and I really miss it.
21. I dropped Ava the night we brought her home from the hospital. She was only four days old.
22. When I'm home during the day, I love to watch CNN and other News programs.
23. I am afraid of birds. Any birds. I think they are going to swoop down and peck my eyes out. I even think they can get me while I'm in the car. Seriously!
24. I am addicted to some stupid bubble game on Deadwhales.com.
25. I love life and my husband and daughter mean the world to me. I would be lost without them.

HoRrIbLe

2009-01-26T23:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's pretty long but DEFIANTLY worth reading!

Well today I had quite the experience....to begin my 'horrible mother' story, first let me tell you my mom's famous 'horrible mother' story! (she is going to be THRILLED that I posted this story on my blog) When me and my sister were younger, like 4 and 6, my mom had to run some errands in town. She had arranged for Rebecca Coon to babysit us so she left us at home and hopped in the car to pick up Rebecca. Well, Becca lived not even 2 minutes away so no big deal. Well, ten minutes go by and Rebecca called to see if my mom left yet because my mom has yet to arrive at the Coon's place. 20 minutes, still no Rebecca and so on... Well 1 hour later ( I know it was at least an hour because we watched 2 full episodes of Barney on TV) and plenty of calls from Becca, the phone rings and my aunt Jan Torngren said that she was going to come over. She got a call from my mom (hysterical!!!) and she said that she forgot to pick up Becca and went straight to town! Once my mom realized what she had done, she ran into D.I and asked the first employee that she saw and told him that she needed to use the phone because it was an emergency. He told her that she couldn't use the phone because she was a customer so my mom grabbed this guy-who was a older fella-and grabbed his shirt and said I AM USING YOUR DAMN PHONE! She grabbed it and called Jan. Not long after Jan came by-my mom come rushing into the house bawling. She grabbed the two of us and told us she was really really sorry! End of the story! We never NEVER let her forget about it, it is too funny not to re-live that funny incident...Well, I never realized that it wasn't really funny on my mom's part, until today!

So, my dad installed a new front door knob a few weeks ago and it's a tricky one! You can turn the inside knob and it seems like the knob is unlocked, without it really being unlocked. (ya, one of those!) Anyways, I am really conscious to make sure the door is REALLY locked when I leave the house to go into town. Well today I went to go check the mail and I decided it was too much of a hassle to bundle Ava up in a blanket or coat so I just left her in the house playing with some toys in the Living Room. (It's coming!) I made sure all the bedroom doors and bathroom doors were shut and that the gate to the stairs was up and I ran outside really quick and ran back to go into the house. BAMM! Locked out. The first thing I said out loud, "Oh S#@*" (my favorite word for some reason, which I am trying NOT to say) I had my phone in my pocket and called Aaron at work. He said he is on his way, but his work is like 15 minutes away. I next ran to the back to see if a window was unlocked...NOPE! I ran to the french doors out back to try to see Ava, which I couldn't. I then tried to find our hidden spare key which I couldn't find. Then I called my mom HYSTERICALLY CRYING! She told me to look for the key, which she moved and was somewhere else. There is was! It was like finding treasure, I was THAT excited. I unlocked the door and ran to Ava, who was just playing with toys, just like I left her!

I was only locked out for about 2 minutes but it was TERRIFYING! What if she hit her head and was unconscience, or was choking, etc. I have never been so scared in my life. Now the incident is funny-but I am NEVER EVER going to tell Ava that story because in 20 years she will still remind me about the day I locked her inside the house!

Ava's GooseEgg

2009-01-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

Well, it finally happened. Ava got her first goose egg :( she was taking a bath and she loves to stand up in the tub-which is a big no no. We always tell her to sit down, but she doesn't listen very well obviously. Well, she was standing up and she fell and bonked her head before Aaron could catch her. Oh it was horrible. She cried and cried and cried. Aaron swears that each time she cried, her goose egg got bigger!!! We tried to put ice on it, but she did NOT like that. Well, here is a few pictures of her first of many bumps, poor child!

A weekend in SLC

2009-01-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

Aaron and I spent the weekend in Utah. Yes, just AARON AND I!!! We left sweet Ava home with Grandma and Grandpa Steffler and my sister Kailey. We had a lot of fun, but we are excited to be back home because we missed Ava a TON. I only called 4 times but I did text alot. ha ha.
For a stocking stuffer I gave Aaron a couple tickets to a Jazz and Pistons game, so that is why we decided to take a short but wonderful vacation.
On Friday we left Idaho Falls around 2:00pm and once we got to SLC we went to PF Changs. yummy! I love that place. I am now torn between the lettuce wraps and the crab wontons...I can't decided which one is my favorite. ( I was ALMOST just as excited for Pf Changs then I was for the game) We then went to our hotel, the Radisson. We chose to stay there because it only took us 2 minutes to walk to the EnergySolutions Arena. On Saturday we went to a movie...Marly and Me. sniff sniff. I cried. It was a great movie. I am defiantly buying that one when it comes out. We then went shopping and had some lunch. At 7 we went to the game. We had a good time. The Jazz won. I forgot the score, but the last 3-4 minutes of the game was boring because Jazz was like 20 points ahead.
We had a wonderful time and we loved having the weekend to ourselves. We needed it!!! Thank you Mom and Dad and KK for watching Ava. You guys are the best!

We don't have the money for the good seats so we had the nosebleeds seats. This is the view from our seats. It wasn't too bad...We could at least make out the players. (Oh, I decided my favorite Jazz player is Kyle Korver...just because he's the hottest!)

Me and Aaron before the game started.

New Years Eve

2009-01-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

( Thank you Erica for posting these pictures on your blog, and I hope you don't mind me copying them)

Aaron and I had a FUN FUN FUN New year's Eve. We went to Pocatello to our friends Colin and Vanessa's house. They had a party and it was lots of fun. (Aaron went to high school with all the guys!) We played games and ate food and had a blast. We took Ava and surprisingly she slept okay. We put her in her pack-n-play at 8:30 and slept the entire night. woohoo!!! Anyways, we played Wackee Six, some name game that was alot of fun and we played Catch Phrase. We stayed up past 3:30 am...which is pretty rare for us married folks! Aaron and I and Chris and Julie spent the night since we live in Idaho Falls. Brian and Amanda and Eric and Erica left around four and came back later in the morning to have yummy breakfast! I had a blast and I'm really glad we went...and really really glad that Ava was good.

Eric and Erica

Collin and Vanessa

Brian and Amanda

Chris and Julie

Me and Aaron (who's eyes are closed!)

playing Catch Phrase at three in the morning...That game is really really funny at 3:00 am!

Erica took this picture right before they left to go home.

pictures

2009-01-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

Here a few pictures for the month of December

Ava's Birthday Party:
she loves this soft tiger stuffed animal. She is giving it loves !!

She got this tinkerbell chair from Grandma and Grandpa Steffler and she thinks she is such a big girl when she sits in it.

Ava eating her tinkerbell cake.

Ava Christmas morning

Ava with Great Grandpa Steffler

Me and Ava on my 23rd birthday!!! I'M GETTING OLD

SO the other morning I was getting ready for work and I put Ava down by my purse while I went to go make her a bottle and when I came back to get her, this is what I found:

I forgot I put a GIANT candy bar in my purse the night before and Ava somehow managed to unwrap it and get in a few bites before I came back. She is smart...and she defiantly has her daddy's sweet tooth.

WARNING:WARNING:WARNING:WARNING:WARNING:WARNING:WARNING:

Okay the next picture is kind of gross but REALLY funny. I couldn't resist putting it on my blog!

We put Ava in the bath tub the other night and I left to get her jammies out of her dresser (don't worry her dresser is in our living room downstairs and it was right by the bathroom door-I could see her the entire time...don't want ya thinking I'm a horrible mom) Anyways, when I came back in to finish giving Ava her bath this is what I found, lucky me:

Yep, pretty gross. Ava pooped in the tub. She has never done that before and I was pretty horrified. I had to drain the tub and CLEAN IT LIKE CRAZY (the idea of poop in the tub freaked me out) and then proceed with her bath. Sorry to gross you all out!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a great Christmas! Ava had so much fun! Santa brought Ava clothes, toys, books and a stuff animal and a popping vacumn thing (which my mom and dad aren't too happy about) a pacifier and sippy cups and shampoo and conditioner. We gave Ava clothes and MORE toys She loved unwrapping the presents but she LOVED to take the presents out of the boxes. She had so much fun. Her Grandmas and Grandpas gave her clothes-which is good because she needed some! I will have some pictures of Ava posted soon.

Ava's Christmas Dress

2008-12-23T11:29:00.000-08:00

This is Ava's Christmas Dress. I got it at Target and I think it looks so adorable on her.

Ava has naturally curly hair so I thought I would wet it down and scrunch it so it would be all curly and cute for church. I just love her hair. I hope she has hair like Aaron's sisters-they all have gorgeous hair!

The busiest month of the Year!

2008-12-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Wow this month has been so busy already and it's only half way through! Our family has alot going on this month. Here is our crazy schedule: (sorry so boring)

December 13th: Ava's 1st birthday! And Aaron's mom and stepdad Sue and Kelle are getting sealed in the temple, and our ward christmas party (I don't think we are going to be able to make it)

15th: Work

18th: Melaleuca Christmas Party. Kurt Bestor is performing :)

19th: Aaron's brother Derek is coming home from his mission from Florida. We are all going to meet him at the airport in Idaho Falls and then go out for lunch. We can't wait.

20th: I have to Work and the Torngren Christmas party. Every year all the families exchange little gifts (mostly yummies) and this year I was cheap and lazy so I got a box of muffin mix (24 of them! our family is growing by the minute!) and I made a little sign that said "You're getting 'muffin' for Christmas!" Cute huh! Also we have a friends Christmas party as well

22nd: Aaron's Mom's Christmas party in Blackfoot.

24th: Aaron's Dad's Christmas party in Blackfoot

25th: CHRISTMAS!

30th: My birthday and I have to work too BUMMER! I will be 23!

31st: Happy New Years Eve! I have to work too, but during the day

Also this month I have been doing crafts like no other. I made gifts for my mom and aaron's mom and his step mom for Christmas. I also made the three of us stockings. I'm quite impressed with myself. I did it all by myself (Ok, well I copied the stockings my mom made for us while growing up) I even cross-stitched the names. It was really fun and it gave me something to do for awhile.

I just love the Christmas season and I'm glad that we have been busy. It gives the boring stay at home mom (ME) something to do. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and I love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving and Ava's Scowls!

2008-11-28T23:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We had a wonderful time. Me, Ava, Aaron and my sister Kailey and her cute cute cute boyfriend Kevin went to my grandparents cabin in Montana with our Mom and Dad. We had a lot of fun. This was Ava's first Thanksgiving and she LOVED eating all the yummy food. We went up on Wednesday and we came home Friday morning because Kailey and I had to work :(

My dad looks pretty satisfied with his meal!

My beautiful Mom and sister Kailey

Aaron driving

me being a dork like usual.

Kailey and Kevin.

OKAY....Ava learned that she LOVES to scowl and people now. I guess the being spoiled thing has gotten to her head. Everytime we tell Ava no (like when she tries to climb up the stairs or when she hits us, or when we take our cell phones away from her, etc...) she gives us the nastiness scowl. It's different from her cute little happy laugh or smile, but yet it's kind of funny. We try not to laugh in front of her because we don't want to encourage this behavior...but she cracks us up. Here is a picture of her mean (cute) scowl!

11 Months Old!

2008-11-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

Ava is 11 months old today! I seriously cannot believe how fast time went by. She is getting so big. Ava learned this week and she LOVES to dance. Once she figured it out she started to dance dance and dance. It's pretty cute. I think we have a future dancer in the house. Also, Aaron taught her how to climb up the stairs (I got pretty mad at him) and now she can climb pretty fast. We can't even turn around for a second because she will already be half way up the stairs. She is such a chunker. She weighs 19 pounds and she LOVES to eat REAL food! She loves her daddy very much. She loves to give him hugs and kisses when he gets home from work...and when Aaron puts her down after a few minutes of holding her, Ava get's pretty upset. So pretty much she's a Daddy's Girl! We can't believe she is almost one!

Silly little girl!

Ava and her first pigtail! I think it is very very cute!

Ava LOVES to get right up to the camera when I am trying to get a decent picture of her. I think the pictures are pretty funny-sorry about the booger in her nose :)

Family Pictures

2008-10-31T13:08:00.000-07:00

First Week

2008-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

So I survived my first week of training at Melaleuca! It was a pretty long week but I made it. I was really worried about Ava at first, because she has never been left with a babysitter ( I leave her with my mom and dad or my sister Kailey all the time, but we live with them, so that isn't a big deal for Ava) anyways, Ava didn't even cry once for her babysitters. On Monday I left her with my cousin Kristi and I almost cried the entire way to Melaleuca and the whole night I was worried about Ava. Clearly it was much harder for Mommy! Way to go Ava, you are such a big girl!

My NeW jOb!

2008-10-13T13:46:00.001-07:00

Today is my first day at my new job. I got a job at Melaleuca as a Hot Shot! I know I know, I was already a hot shot! j/k. Anyways, I have job orientation all week from 5-10 pm. I chose the later training that way my family can watch Ava for the most part! Thank you to Janet Carter and my Grandma Steffler and Kristi for happily agreeing to watch Ava for a few hours each day! I love you all. I am only going to be working about 4 times a month but I thought it would be a good start for me to transition into working again...plus it doesn't help to have a few extra bucks laying around, we REALLY need it!

Getting to know you

2008-09-23T18:13:00.001-07:00

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:30 am
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Women
4. What is your favorite TV show? Prison Break
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal
6. What is your middle name? Noel
7. What food do you dislike? seafood
8. What is your favorite CD at moment? ???
9. What kind of car do you drive? Jeep Grand Cherokee
10. Favorite sandwich? Turkey
11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Hawaii
12. Where would you retire to? Somewhere close to my family.
13.What was your most recent memorable birthday? this was a long time ago but it was my 15th birthday party and I got my first kiss!
14. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball
15. When is your birthday? December 30. 1985
16. Are you a morning person or a night person? NIGHT
17. What is your shoe size? 8 1/2
18. Pets? a chocolate lab named Gunner
19. How are you today? alittle sad.
20. What is your favorite candy? nutrageous
21. What is your favorite flower? daffodiles
22. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? CHRISTMAS
23. What is your full name? Shaunie Noel Steffler Fife
24. What was the last thing you ate? pizza
25. Do you wish on stars? yes
26. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? PINK
27. How is the weather right now? crappy
28. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? Aaron
29. Favorite soft drink? Dr. Pepper
30. Favorite restaurant? Johnny Carino's, Garcias, Texas Roadhouse
31. Real hair color? Dirty blonde
32. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies
33. Summer or winter? Summer
34. Hugs or kisses? both
35. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate
36. When was the last time you cried? Friday
37. What is under your bed? travel bags
38. What did you do last night? watched prison break and made baby bows
39. What are you afraid of ? losing people that i love
40. Salty or sweet? sweet
41. How many keys on your key ring? 5
42. How many years at your current job? I don't have a job :( I'm looking for one though...
43. Favorite day of the week? Saturday
44. How many towns have you lived in? 2
45. Do you make friends easily? yep!

Summer Fun!

2008-09-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of what we did this summer (mostly they are just cute pictures of Ava)

Here is Ava when we went swimming at Ross Park. She wasn't feeling too good that day, but she still had fun. I love this big bonnet that she is wearing. She looks so cute in it.

OK, another hat! I bought this cute hat at the Fair in Blackfoot. I so cannot wait for winter so she can wear it everyday! I love it, i love it!

This is Emma! She is Ava's new friend. She is almost one year old. Ava and Emma seriously see each other at least 3 times a week. Emma's mom and dad (Lisa and Scott Croxford) have become really good friends of ours. We love them to death!

This is Lisa and Emma! Like I said, WE LOVE THEM TO DEATH! We haven't had any close friends really, so it's finally nice to hang out with a couple that have a baby and also who have the same interests as us. We get along wonderfully! Lisa and Aaron are currently taking the same classes and they are study partners (that's how we all met). While they are doing homework, Scott and I are in the living room, chatting and playing with the kids (babysitting really)

Sorry it was such a boring post this time; I haven't really taken any pictures that are work telling a story! Take care!

She's On The Move!

2008-08-29T21:48:00.001-07:00

This week Ava learned how to crawl! Woohoo!!!! We are so proud of her. She LOVES to crawl and it's so fun to watch her. Aaron calls her our "Frankenstein Crawler" because she crawls kind of funny (imagine frankenstein crawling). She'll get better with time.

Sometimes she takes a pretty good fall, but she gets right back up!

She loves how independant she is now! Good job Ava!

Bag Tag

2008-08-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

Kim had this Tag and I thought it looked fun. You need to get your purse and write down everything you have in it! (take a picture too!) You will be surprised!

1. chapstick

2. lipgloss

3. lotion

4. cell phone

5. binki's (two)

6. hand sanitizer gel (2)

7. hand sanitizer spray (2 of them, oh my gosh, I need some SERIOUS help!)

8. hand wipes (Ok, now I'm embarressed, sign me up for therapy)

9. wallet

10. check book

11. pocket calender

12. pens (4 of them... I kind of have a pen obsession, it started when I worked at Options in high school) I'm a dork!!!

13. WIC checks

14. money

15. tylenol

16. other pills

17. camera

18. gum

19. wrappers and other garbage

20. stretch cord elastic stuff that I bought so I can make Ava a bracelet. How it ended up in my bag is beyond me!

21. hair bands

22. bobby pins

23. hair clips

24. mirror

NO WONDER I CAN NEVER FIND MY PHONE OR CAR KEYS!!!!

i HATE school

2008-08-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

You know what day I hate? August 25! That's right, school begins for ISU. I HATE SCHOOL and guess what the funny part is...I'm not even going! It's Aaron who is the unfortunate one! Another semester of not seeing my husband all day. He'll being going to work and then going straight to class afterwards. He'll get home around 9-9:30 pm and then off to bed he'll go! And when he IS home, he'll be taking some on-line courses or doing stupid homework! He is such a freakin' good student, it kills me sometimes. He get's nothing but As, he is on the Deans List every semester and really, I AM proud of him. What bugs me is that he will say "I'm going to do homework now" and go into the office for HOURS and study. Who has the right mind to look at a book for hours? I would go completely nuts! (maybe that is why I'm not going to school) He is so dedicated about getting finished with school so he can have a really good job (he's going into something Business: Business Finance of Computer Information Systems, blah blah blah) so he can support us and hey, maybe even move out of my parents house one day! I'm just jealous of school, how pathetic is that! Can't I just have my husband all to myself and not share him with some boring teachers and some REALLY expensive text books? I know it will all be worth it in the end so I guess I will just shut up and stop whining (for now) Good luck Babe!

All The Proud Mommys are Tagged!!!

2008-08-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

ALL THE PROUD MOMMYS: Fill this out!-

Age of baby/babies? 8 months old

Names? Ava Nicole Fife

Birthdays? December 13, 2007

Time of birth? 7:58 pm.

How long did labor last? about 9 hours

How long did you push? Not even one minute, I ended up having to have a emergency C-Section

How much did your baby weigh? 8 pounds 8 ounces

Any hair? Yes, and it was pretty dark but now it is blonde

Who does your baby look like? Everyone tells me Ava looks alot like Aaron

Be honest...how much weight did you gain? 30 pounds.

Was baby early or late?- 3 days late.

How many baby showers did you have? one

Did you breastfeed? I did and I'm still breastfeeding, but I'm weening her right now.

Who keeps your baby(ies) the most? Aaron and I do, but we live with my parents so after 7 pm, we have three babysitters; my mom and dad and my sister Kailey

When do you wanna have another? Not for awhile. I at least want to have our own house first.

How did you know it was time to go the hospital? I didn't. I had to get induced.

Anyone spend the night with you on your first night home? Again, we live with my parents, so of course!

Who cut the cord? The doctor, probably because I had a C-section and Aaron wasn't allowed past the sheet?

Did you cry when you first held the baby? I did, but not that much. Maybe it was because I didn't hold her until 45 minutes or so later because I was in soooo much pain.

Where was the baby born? EIRMC

Did you record the labor? Nope. We wanted to (kind of) and my mom was going to record it and take pictures and all that stuff but she wasn't allowed in the room because it was a C-Section.

8 months old!

2008-08-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

8 months ago our sweet little Ava Nicole was born. It is amazing how much our lives have changed (for the better of course). Everything we do revolves around her. We love her very very much. It is amazing how fast she has grown. She went from 8 pounds 8 ounces to 16 pounds today! (holy cow, my baby is chunky, but that's the way we like it.) She loves to sit up by herself, eat baby food, drink from a sippy cup (the one with the straw, she LOVES that one) and she is trying to figure out the whole crawling thing; it's almost painful (and entertaing) to watch her try. She knows how to scoot, but she scoots backwards; she hasn't mastered scooting forward yet. She is getting better at sleeping at night and we love her cute giggle. She has grown up so much since and we love her very much! The pictures at the bottom are her 8 month pictures. What a cutie!

SiLlY AvA

2008-08-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Ava decided she liked to play with her toys inside the laundry basket now. I usually set a bunch of toys out on the floor for her to play with and if I left the room for a second or got up to get a drink of water, she would get upset. But not when she is in her clothes basket. It keeps her entertained for a while, which is heaven! She is too cute so I had to get out the camera (okay, I basically carry the dang camera everywhere I go)

stuck at home

2008-08-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

Aaron's car broke down a month ago and we took it in to get fixed and our computer in the engine is broken, so we have been waiting and waiting for the part to come in. Aaron has to get to work somehow, so he took our jeep and I'm stuck at home with no vehicle. On some days I would wake up early and take him to work and then pick him up in the evenings if I have errands to run that day, but it's a hassle. I have to wake up Ava, put her in her car seat, and put her in the car and then she gets angry because she woke up too early. Hopefully (crossing my fingers here) the car should be fixed by next week, but then we're going to be 700 dollars in the whole. IT FREAKIN SUCKS!!! I just wish I could get Ava and go into town whenever I want, it kind of sucks being home all day with no where to go! (Sorry for the whining, I'm just alittle frusterated and sick of this stupid LeBaron!)

WHY?

2008-08-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

On an earlier post "We finally did it" I said that we finally got Ava to soothe herself to sleep and sleep through the night. Um, well not the past few nights! grr. Last night was the worst of them all. We laid her down to sleep at 9:30 pm and she slept until midnight, then all hell broke loose. no matter what, she did not want to soothe herself to sleep. We tried this for about an hour and failed, so we sang to her while she was in the crib, we stroked her face, turned on her mobile that is in the crib, gave her a stuffed animal. NOTHING! So finally about 2:30 a.m, we just put her in our bed. We gave up. Still, she wouldn't sleep and she tossed and turned and Aaron was getting sick of this and he had to go to work in the morning, so he went out and slept on the couch (sorry hun). I decided to nurse her (I usually don't feed her during the night) and FINALLY at three in the morning, Ava decided to go to sleep, in our bed. It seems like we took one step forward because we got her sleeping pretty good, now we took two steps back. Tonight is a new night and we are crossing our fingers that she will sleep well IN HER CRIB! Cross your fingers too!!!
Today I had quite the ambition list of things to do. Clean the house, help great grandma Torngren clean her house, give Ava a bath (i have yet to do that and it is almost two in the afternoon) take a shower myself, sand an old dresser and then paint it. Well, I helped my grandma, showered, and now I am being lazy and not doing anything worthwhile. Here's an idea: maybe i should get off the computer and get my butt in gear!!!

Grandma Sue

2008-08-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Aaron's mom's house in Snake River...Blackfoot (personally, i don't think it really is that much of a difference, but don't tell Aaron that, he always lets me know there IS a difference from Blackfoot and Snake River) to have dinner. We had a really good time. Aaron's brother Brandon and his wife Harmony and their two kids Jarrett and Alex from Texas were in Idaho for the summer. But sadly, it's time for them to go back to Texas, so we stopped by to see them one more time. Sue's cat had kittens a while back and Ava got to pet one today.

Ava petting the kitty. Maybe we can convince my mom and dad to let Ava have one (we currently live with my parents right now, just in case you were wondering) All Ava would have to do is look at Grandpa with those pretty eyes of hers and she can get anything she wants ;)

Ava got a kick out of Jarrett and Alex. They would pretend to fall down on the floor and Ava would just laugh and laugh. Of course Jarrett and Alex got a kick out of this and pretty soon the whole deal got realy boring pretty quick.

Ava is playing on the floor with Alex and Grandma Sue. Alex and Jarrett call Ava "baby Ava" I think it is so cute.

It is defiantly time for bed. Ava was zonked out before we even left Blackfoot. She slept the whole way home, it was heaven!

Anyways, we had a good time and we were glad we were able to Brandon and Harmony and their kids and to see Grandma Sue.

we FINALLY did it

2008-07-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

For at least a month Aaron and I have told ourselves that we are just going to have to sleep train Ava (it sounds so mean) but being the new parents we are and hating it when Ava cries in her crib, we would always say "one more week". well, we finally put our foot down and we started to get Ava used to her crib and have her fall asleep on her own. We would put her in and let her cry for 5 minutes, then go in and put her pacifier in and give her tummy a little pat and then leave. Oh, the crying-i couldn't stand it :( Then we would have to wait 10 minutes and repeat, then 15 and so on. I alway hate it when Ava gets upset and cries, so Aaron did it the first night. She got up to 30 minutes of crying and to my surprise ( i really thought it was hopeless and that she would never fall asleep on her own) SHE ACTUALLY FELL ASLEEP!!!! Well... 4 nights later, Ava is a pro at falling asleep on her own. Aaron and I can't wipe the smiles off our faces, we act like we just made a really bigh accomplishment, but really...Ava did all the work. We are so proud of her. To make things even better, she actually sleeps through the whole night now! Hallelujah.

I can't wait

2008-07-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

I finally got a free minute (and some $) to go to Barnes and Noble on line and pre-order 'Breaking Dawn'. I cannot wait for it to get here. I am needing a new book to read and I'm counting down the days!

Aaron's new job

2008-07-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

Aaron started his new job this week. He is working at the Sleep Institute. He is a lab technician. They help people with snoring problems or sleep apnea. He really enjoys working there. It is an upgrade from his previous job at Budget Rent-a-Car. He get's paid 10 dollars and hour for 3 months and then he gets a raise. We get insurance and he even gets to do homework there. At Budget they started to cut his hours and that really started to make him mad. He is the only provider in our family and he needed those hours. We hoping that after 3 months he will be making enough so we can get an apartment. No offense mom and dad; it has been nice living with you for a year, but we are ready to be on our own again.

Aaron is such a wonderful guy. I am really proud of him. He is doing awesome in school and he is really dedicated to getting good grades. He has straight A's and he is on the Dean's list. He works hard for our family. He is a good daddy and a wonderful husband. I love you hunny!

SwEeT aNgEl

2008-07-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

This is just a photo of Ava that I found. I love how the littlest thing get's Ava's attention. I call her my curious baby. I find it interesting that being a mom, I have began to see things that I have seen before for granted. I now see them again through Ava's eyes; like watching her see a leaf for the first time or seeing the first snowflake in winter, it reminds me how beautiful our Earth is. I just think it is wonderful!!!

About my Hubby and Me

2008-07-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

About my hubby and me.. pass it on.

1. What is his name? Aaron Louis
2. Who eats more? Defiantly Aaron
3. Who said, "I love you" first? I think Aaron did
4. Who is taller? Aaron, but not by far.
5. Who is smarter? Aaron. He has straight 'A' is college, is on the Dean's list. I'm so proud of him.
6. Who is more sensitive? ME ME ME.
7. Who does the laundry? I do it mostly, but Aaron will help out if he is home.
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me
9. Who pays the bills? both of us
10. Who cooks more? I do.
11. Who is more stubborn? Aaron. I think stubborness runs through the Fife blood.
12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Me. Aaron's stubborn remember.
13. Who has more siblings? Aaron. There are 7 kids in his family and on there are just me and
my sister on mine.
14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We share them...
15. What do you like to do together? we like to go camping, watch movies, spoil Ava.
16. Who eats more sweets? Aaron
17. Guilty Pleasures? For him, Food, fishing, camping. For me, books, scrapbooking, taking tons of pictures of Ava
18. How did you meet? We met at an institute dance.
19. Who asked whom out first? He asked me to go to a swing dancing lesson. we only went to one because he dropped me on my head.
20. Who kissed whom first? He kissed me.
21. Who proposed? Aaron did. We went to look at the lights at temple square. it was perfect and very romantic.

Torngren Reunion

2008-07-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

Well everyone, we made!!! We survive 4 nights of camping. We actually had a lot of fun. The Torngren Reunion was at Hebgen Lake in Montana. We have been going there for years and it is my FAVORITE place to be. This was Ava's 2nd time camping and she had alot of fun. She was a really good baby and that alone made the experience even better.

This is Ava and her 3rd cousin, Tyson Torngren. He is only a few weeks younger than Ava; but he is a Torngren Boy so he is quite bigger. We put them in a Pack n Play together and they got along quite well. In this picture he is trying to still Ava's pacifier from her. He actually got it in his mouth and Ava didn't care a bit...but then he puked all over it. I ended up throwing it away, I didn't bother with the whole sanitizing crap.

Aaron took this picture when he woke up for fishing at 6:30 am.

My sister Kailey and her boyfriend Heath (we are crossing our fingers for this one; we really like him)

Ava all bundled up for bed time.

Ava floating in her tube in the lake.

Ava's first boat ride. she HATED the life jacket

CuTe CuTe CuTe

Aaron caught all of these fish.

Aaron is still a little boy at heart :)

My beautiful mom

My mom and dad holding Ava around the campfire.

Ava all bundled up...It rained quite a bit

Me and Ava

Hebgen Lake

We are ready to go HOME!

Anxious to go camping...I can't wait for Wednesday!

2008-07-14T21:45:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Hebgen Lake...We are going camping there for the Torngren Reunion, it starts on Thursday. I am so anxious to get up there and enjoy the water and to waterski and all the other water sports. This will be Ava's first time on a boat, so that should be interesting.

Seven Months Old

2008-07-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Ava is already 7 months. Seriously, where has the time gone?!?! I am amazed that she is growing so fast. We love being parents. Ava makes it so I am eager to get out of bed each morning, to see her happy smiling face. She truly makes our lives happier. We love her very much and we love watching her grow and explore new things.

I just LOVE her pretty smile

all dressed up for church...

Family Pictures

2008-07-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

OuR pIgGiEs

cute cute cute

Girl Power

Daddy and his princess

Ava was really good for pictures...she laughed the entire time :)

Silly Ava

aaww, how cute.

2008-07-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the pretty fireworks to start... Look at those pretty dimples

Red...White...Blue

2008-07-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ava Nicole on the Fourth of July