Fall Fun!

We have had some great fun these past couple weeks! With picking out pumpkins, our church's annual Harvest Party, carving and painting pumpkins and trick or treating at a local nursing home! This year Avery was a kitty for Halloween. She was able to dress up for our church's Harvest Party and for trick or treating at a local nursing home. She was a pretty cute kitty!
Hope everyone has had lots of fun this fall too!

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Dancin' With My Father God...

Tonight we put worship music on for us all to listen too and Avery just started dancing away! It was bringing tears to my eyes because the lyrics of Big Daddy Weave's song Fields of Grace say: "Dancin' with my Father God in fields of grace" and "I love my Father, my Father loves me, I dance for my Father, my Father sings over me." It was just so sweet to see my daughter dancing to a song like that, definitely one of the most precious memories I will have of her. I pray that someday she will know that God does sing over her and I hope that she will dance for her Father God.

Labor Day Adventure

Yesterday we decided to take a family hike up to Waterfall Canyon. We were very excited to go on this hike and interested to see how Avery would do. So we loaded her up in the backpack carrier and off we went!

The description of the hike said it was a difficult hike, but it was only a little over a mile so we thought even if it is difficult it would be a short trail. The first half of the hike wasn't too bad it was pretty much dirt and a little rocky. The second half...was all rock, absolutely no dirt. Just so you know too this trail was uphill the whole way. Finally we made it to the waterfall! It was gorgeous and the view was just as amazing. Avery played in the water and did a little of her own mountain climbing on the rocks at the waterfall. After a half-hour of playing and eating snacks we headed back down the trail. We were very impressed with how well Avery did. The only time she was unhappy was when we put her back into the carrier, but as soon as we took off she was fine.

After the hike we were very tired and sore of course! We also had a BBQ with some friends afterwards so needless to say by the end of the day we were all ready for bed! Hope everyone else enjoyed their Labor Day!

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Our Vacation Thus Far...

Well, our vacation definitely started off with a bang. I woke up an hour later than I needed to the day Avery and I were flying to MI. Thankfully, I still got it all together and we were out the door only 7 minutes later than I originally planned. Only to get down the road from our house and realize that I left the stroller in the Explorer. No problem, we would just turn around and go back and get it right? Easier said than done, I had closed the door to our house and didn't have any keys. Not to the house not to the Explorer. So we called our friend Zak who is a tow truck driver and thankfully he lives just 5 minutes from our house. So he came and broke into the Explorer so I could get the stroller. Then we were off to the airport now 30 minutes later than originally planned. I got to the airport an hour before my flight was supposed to leave so things were kinda stressful. We got to the airport and I can honestly say that I have never seen the check-in line that long in my life. Thankfully we quickly did curbside check and breezed through security because I had Avery we could go through the "family" line. Otherwise we would have been waiting in line for a long time there too. We made it to our gate just as they were boarding first class passengers. Perfect timing right? At least, as stressful as it was we didn't have to wait in the airport for several hours before our plane took off.

Avery did really well on the plane with only one 5 minute meltdown because she had to wait for the beverage cart to bring her some juice. She had a couple restless moments, but not bad at all. When we took off she said, "Weeeee". She loved it! And when we were descending she pressed her nose up against the glass and loved looking at all the fluffy clouds, she kept saying, "Wow and coooool." Then she was falling asleep with her nose still pressed up against the window. I pulled her away from the window and she dozed on me for the rest of the flight and when we landed. When we landed and everybody was up getting their stuff, she stood up on the seat and waived to everyone and said, "bye, bye!". Everyone though that was hilarious. I just have to say thank God for Benadryl!

So far it's been a great trip. We miss daddy because he had to fly back on Monday, but he'll be back out in 3 weeks. Today we went to the fair. She had a blast petting all the animals and was even kind enough to share her goldfish with them. She also went on her first carousel. She loved that too, she kept saying "weee!". Tomorrow is play day at Chad and Amber's and then Thursday we're spending the afternoon with a friend in Grand Rapids. So far our vacation is going well! Sorry this is so long!

Avery's First Swing Set

Today Steve went and got Avery a swing set! He found it for free on our news channel's classifieds. Other than some rusting and fading it is in great shape! Some of the stuff is still a little big for her yet, but at least she'll have something she won't outgrow right away! We are going to get a baby swing for her, but today she used the big kid swing and didn't have any problems. She fell off a couple times, but she just got right back on. We sat outside and let her swing for about a half-hour to forty-five minutes, and she was still not tired of swinging! I'd have to say this was definitely a good purchase considering it was free!

Our 4th of July

Wow, what a weekend! Our weekend started out at our friend's Tammy and Rik's house with a BBQ and fireworks. They have the best view of the fireworks right in the front yard! Avery was a little uncertain about the fireworks at first, every once in awhile she would put her blanky over her face, but then she liked them and kept saying "Ooohh!!!". She did so well with not being scared and with staying up late! While we were there Avery got to ride one of their horses. She was not scared of them at all! She pet the horses and even stuck her fingers in their nose! She really loved riding the horse though. She really has no fear!

Then today our church had service and a picnic up in the mountains. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful view! After lunch we took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain. We were a little worried about how well Avery would do, but once we got on she was in a trance. The ride made us all feel very relaxed! At the top we had a beautiful view! We had to wait an hour to go back down so Avery and daddy played. Avery loved exploring. She saw a huge bee, a caterpillar and lots of other fun stuff! And when we got to our car Avery fell asleep not even 5 minutes into our drive home. We had a great drive down the canyon too, our God is so awesome!

I hope you enjoyed your 4th of July, we can't wait to see everyone soon!


Our little sparkler!!!


Riding the chair lift with daddy


Having fun with dad!


The view from the lift, amazing!


All tuckered out!

Air Show at Hill Air Force Base

On Saturday we headed to the air show up on base by our house. We all had a blast! Avery loved watching all the planes and jets. The weather was great, maybe a little too great since Avery was the only one out of the three of us that didn't get sun burnt. Oh well, it was worth it, we had a great family day together!

A Memorial Day To Remember

We decided to go hiking on Memorial Day, but the weather man said that it was supposed to rain in the morning and then again in the afternoon. So we decided to go to the children's museum in Salt Lake City. Then at last minute because the weather was nice out at the moment we changed our minds again and decided to go to This Is The Place Heritage park. It is basically an old pioneer town where you can go into old houses, stores and other buildings. Kind of like a Fort Mackinac type of thing. Anyway, it was very cool! We rode a "train" up to the "town"; Avery pet lots of baby animals; she played in a "mini" village with about six different playhouses; she also played in a manmade stream; and she took a "mini" train around a pond with mom. We all had a
great time, and the weather ended up being beautiful for the entire day so we could have gone hiking. Oh well, we had fun anyway!




Playing "house"


Playing in the stream


Uh oh, Steve died...


Uh oh, Heather died...

Wet n' Wild!

On Sunday we thought it would be fun to play with Avery in her pool since it was so nice outside! Unfortunately, she was not interested in being in the pool. Steve turned the sprinklers on in the backyard and she had a blast with that instead. She played in the sprinklers until her lips turned purple at which we decided it was time to go inside. Avery definitely disagreed, but was happy to play in the tub instead. I got some great video of her playing in the sprinklers, sorry it's kind of long!

Potty Time!!!

We decided to get Avery a potty because twice while giving her a bath she's had to go #2. The first time it ended up on the floor and the second time in the tub. I figure I don't want her going in either of those places and she's scared to death of the big toilet so we thought maybe a froggy potty would help. So far she hasn't had to go during bath time so we'll just have to wait and see how she does. She hasn't done anything in the potty, but as you can tell she at least likes sitting on it backwards to watch tv and the bowl makes a great hat. We aren't full on potty training her yet, but just trying to get her comfortable with the potty, which she seems to be.

Happy Mommy's Day!!!

I hope everyone had a great mother's day today! My mother's day was kind of relaxing which is the best kind of day to have when you're a mom! Steve let me sleep in this morning and made french toast for breakfast. He also bathed and got Avery ready for church for me. He also brought in some beautiful lilacs and tulips from our backyard. Then he fired up the grill and made a good dinner for all of us. Next weekend he's going to take care of Avery all day one day so I can go out shopping for myself. I don't do that very often I always seem to find something for Avery instead of myself. Not a very busy mother's day, but it certainly was a nice one!

Avery Meets Elmo!!!

A local gym for kids had an open house today so Avery and I went along with my friend Heather and her 1 1/2 year old daughter Olivia and baby Sawyer. Avery and her friend Olivia had a great time just running around the gym, climbing on stuff and dancing during music time. But the best part was when Elmo showed up! The instant Avery saw him she was in awe and she loved him! She would not stop giving him hugs! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! Unfortunately her friend Olivia ended up being scared of Elmo even though she is an avid Elmo fan. Oh well, what can you do? After and hour of playing in the gym and time with Elmo it was time to say goodbye. Avery did good she even waved goodbye to him. I would say that today was a day well done. All in a day's work right?

A Visit From The Krakers

We had a blast last week with Chad, Amber and their kids! As Steve said one night at dinner that it was definitely the weirdest vacation ever. We did a lot fun stuff, but a lot of things we wanted to go do were closed. However we did go feed ducks, geese, and swans, Chad and Steve fixed our Explorer, the kids played in the pool, we went to the Air Force museum, we celebrated Elijah's 2nd birthday, and we went to Salt Lake City and Park City.

We wanted to drive a scenic byway south of Salt Lake, but when we got there we found out it was closed. We also wanted to go to Olympic Park in Park City but again when we got there we found out that was closed. We wanted to take the kids to a hands-on children's museum in SLC, and you guessed it closed as well. We've come to discover that pretty much nothing is open until May so we made due with what we had!

The weirdest thing of the vacation though was the motorcycle accident that we witnessed (or I should say heard). A guy on a motorcycle had somehow went off the road and flew full speed down at least a hundred feet over a drop-off into some trees. This happened just as we were starting the scenic byway. We were the first and only ones there so we called 911 and made sure the guy was okay while waiting for the paramedics to show up. Talk about God's hand in us being at the right place at the right time!

We were very sad to see Chad and Amber leave. We pray everyday that somehow God would allow us the chance to move back to MI someday. Until then visitors are welcome after May that is if you want to do stuff!

Like Mother Like Daughter!

I took these pictures of Avery the other night, looks like she's taking after her mom already!

A Wonderful Easter!

Avery has had a great Easter so far! She looked so adorable in her Easter dress (the same one as Jordyn's!)! We all had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, then we went to church, then after church we finally had time for Avery to dig into her Easter basket. She got clothes, a pinwheel, a small stuffed Elmo, a noisy book, a new Sesame Street DVD, sunglasses (not all of this was from us). This afternoon we are going to watch her new Sesame Street movie and eat jello jigglers! Two of her favorite things! I hope everyone enjoyed celebrating the resurrection of our Lord!

Curly Sue!

Last night I had a women's event to go to for church. When I got home Steve was giving Avery a bath for me. For which I was very thankful for! These pictures are after her bath, obviously things get crazy when mom's not around!

Basket Case

Avery thought her laundry basket was the perfect place to curl up with her blanky and take a nap! What a funny girl!

Brown Eyed Girl

Everybody always comments on how big and brown Avery's eyes are. I love these pictures because they really show off those beautiful eyes! She did get something good from Steve ;) Oh and be sure to check out the new videos of Avery on here (It's under Family Videos).