May Adventures

I know, it's July, but who wants to hear about May?  It was a really fun month, so for the sake of my so-called record-keeping, I've got to at least attempt to record what we did.

Drew took his first two Orthotics certification exams on May 10th.  He had been studying really hard for them and took the day off of work on the 9th to study the whole day.  We decided to go on a picnic for lunch to give him a much needed break so we headed to Lake of the Woods and had a grand ol' time!

 Isn't this a sweet picture? Drew was just snapping pictures and he ended up with this!  He's got mad skills!

A "take-your-own" family portrait

After Drew finished his tests on the 10th, we headed out to Allerton (a huge estate with some gorgeous gardens that is owned by the U of I) and walked around for a while.  We put Ava in a backpack and she did great for the first little while, but she's not quite big enough for it yet so after a few minutes she got tired of jostling around in there so we ended up just carrying her.

May 11th was Drew's 29th birthday and we went out to dinner at TGI Friday's to celebrate.  Then on Friday night we had a little party at our friends the Stone's house.  As an added bonus, my cousin Bruce and his wife Brittney were visiting from Pennsylvania so they got to come too!  I forgot my camera, so Dan graciously took a picture for us.

The truly observant reader will notice that this is the same AH-MAZING cake that I made for Easter (The Double Chocolate Mousse Torte).  Well, since Drew wasn't in Utah for Easter and he had to hear me go on and on about it's deliciousness, I thought it was only fair to make it for him for his birthday.  Let me tell you, this beauty of a cake didn't disappoint the second time around!

On Saturday, May 14th I hosted a baby shower for my friend, Julie Maughan.  She was expecting a girl after 3 boys so, of course, we had to have a very pink baby shower!

 Kim Bode, Ethel Hawkes and Julie Maughan

 The spread of goodies

Julie with her nieces, Eliza and Abbi

Amelia Christine Maughan was born the following Sunday.  She is perfect in every way!

We took a very fast weekend trip to Kansas to see Drew's brother Adam graduate from high school.  We got there very late on Friday night, May 20th and then went with his family to the Kansas City Zoo on Saturday.  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time with the family, especially seeing the little kids get excited about the animals.

Ava and I (and and elephant if you look closely)

Drew's sister, Meriah and Emma and Isaac feeding a sheep

Drew's sister, Stephanie with her new little guy, Calvin

Drew's little brothers, Joshua and Caleb

Meriah and Isaac in front of the kangaroo hang-out

We all attended the graduation on Sunday and then had a party with friends and family afterwards.

 Adam getting his diploma

 Ava and Emma played so cute together during the graduation

 Adam received the Citizenship Award.  It is an honor only given to one guy and one girl in the whole class.  We all so proud of him!

 All of Adam's medals and awards from track and cross country

 Stephanie and Calvin and Cathrine and Landyn.  These cute cousins are only 1 month apart.

The whole Dokos gang (minus poor Isaac who somehow got left out and Robert who was home in Utah working)

The following weekend Drew was in charge of the Memorial Day picnic for our ward.  We had so much fun with great friends and great food!

 The master grillers, Drew and Dave Bode

Ava had so much fun playing with all of her friends from the ward.  Here she is with Ananyahnee Kline.

 Jeff and Susan Wheatley with Ava and William Bednar

 Ava playing with Brittney Hope and Lanie Noonan

 The kids had a ton of fun with water balloons

 KaSandra Hope and Grace Bednar

 All tuckered out after all the fun in the sun!

Later that day we went on a little walk through River Bend Forest Preserve which is just down the road

 Ava loves being in her carrier.  She just waves her arms around and giggles the whole time.  Pretty adorable!

Our attempt at a family picture.  If only my arm were longer!

Lastly, here are a few random pictures of our Ava girl from throughout the month.  They are just too cute not to share!

 May 5th

 Bath time on May 14th (Yes, we still bathe her in our kitchen since we don't have a bath tub.  This won't last very much longer though because she is getting way too big for our tiny portable tub.  Let's hope she likes to shower!)

 Sunday, May 29th.  All dressed up for church.

Isn't she a little doll?

Whew!  What a great month! Next up - June!