No longer in Dominica.

Ava is now 10 months old and still enjoys days at the beach. Miami is now our temporary home, so she won't have to give the beach up yet.
The water was fairly cold but Ava didn't seem to mind getting all the way in. Mom, however, just got her feet wet.
There was a nice view of downtown Miami from Matheson Hammock. Matheson Hammock is a neat park that has a nice man-made beach.
Ava still needs a little help walking. She doesn't have the best balance yet. Her swimsuit bottoms are just a little too big on her.
There was a photo shoot for a Macy's catalog going on while we were at the beach.

Ava and her friend Isabella.

Here is Ava stealing a toy from her friend Isabella. Ava doesn't know the meaning of sharing yet.
Isabella is also the daughter of a Ross medical student.

Photo shoots.

We entered Ava into the Beautiful Baby Contest on the Regis and Kelly show. Here are some of the pictures that we took. We could only pick one, so it made our decision fairly difficult.
The first set of pictures were taken on our front porch.



This second set of pictures were taken at a nearby park.

Florida.

The morning that we left all the snow and headed for Miami, Florida.
Katie and Ava were ready to go. It took us 3 full days of driving to make it to Florida.
Somewhere between Denver and Kansas, we stopped for lunch. The food was actually pretty good at Biscuits.
A few pictures of our new apartment. We are renting an apartment in downtown Miami and we are really enjoying it.
It is a two bedroom apartment so now Ava has her own room. Yeah!
Ava has plenty to explore.

Ava's bedroom.

One thing that we didn't have in Dominica is a bathtub. I don't know who is happier about that, Ava or her Mom.

Katie got this picture of Ava doing a pull-up on the chair. She actually slipped underneath it, but it could pass as a pull-up.


Ava loves the dishwasher. We feel spoiled having one since we didn't have one in Dominica. Ava never loads it, but she likes to unload it.
Ava's fake teeth.
Ava's real teeth.

Ava's first Christmas.

Ava loved being able to see Poppy.
If Ava could, she would have thrown the ball for Poppy.
We had a lot of places to go to, so Ava got pretty used to her car seat. She never had to wear this many clothes in Dominica.
Ava sits in front of the Christmas tree at Grandma and Grandpa Sturgeon's house.
Ava liked her reindeer antlers from Grandma and Grandpa Jones.
Merry Christmas Ava.


Grandpa Scroggins reads out of one of Ava's new books.
Ava had a great time with all of her cousins. They showed her the art of opening presents.
Ava enjoyed going to church with Grandma Sturgeon at Fruita Christian Church.
We were able to see our good friend Melinda the night before she gave birth to Madelyn.

Leaving Dominica and heading home to Colorado.

Before leaving Dominica, we said our goodbyes. Here is our friend Yoriko, with her daughter, Neo.
Here Katie and Ava are with our good friends Rachel and Teri.
We'll miss seeing all of the rainbows in Dominica.
Katie and Ava on the plane leaving Dominica. Katie was officially done with her first two years of medical school.
One last look at Dominica. We couldn't believe how fast our 16 months on the island had gone. We will miss it.
Due to all the snow in Colorado, we were unable to fly into Denver. We stayed in Atlanta with our friend Filippo for the night.
The next morning, Filippo took us on a motorcycle ride. Katie had to borrow Daniel's pants and shoes for her ride.
All ready to go.
Coming from a hot and humid climate to a cold and dry climate took some time to adjust to. It was nice to see all of the beautiful snow.
Since we couldn't fly into Denver, we flew to Salt Lake. These pictures were taken near Salt Lake City.