Doug & Randi

First day of Pre-school / Visit from Porters!

2012-02-08T21:40:00.000-08:00

Some friends and I have decided to take turns hosting a preschool session once a week as of January. We have loved it so far and I think Averi has too. There are about 8 kids in the class and of course Averi is the only girl :( Her first day was a little rough (for me probably more than her). Once she realized that I was leaving her at a house she had never been before she started to cry. It was so sad for me because she usually has no problem with things like that (after the first time anyway). By the time I actually left, though, she was fine and pretty content. While she was there I went and got her a very girlie Hello Kitty backpack so as not to get confused with all those Cars and Buzz Light Year backpacks! She also got a set of Eric Carle books and a sucker for being so brave :)

Here she is walking home from school. On the first day it was at a house just down the street.

I was SO lucky that my sisters family had a wedding to go to in Mesa a couple weeks ago! They stayed with us for 3 nights and there was never a dull moment. Averi loved getting re-acquainted with everyone and of course loved all the attention she got too :)

While Jody, Brett, and Brooke were at the wedding festivities all day on Saturday, the rest of us kept busy by checking out some shops, playing Frisbee, eating out at Panda Express, and since they were so in love with Goodyear's most famous tourist attraction (or detraction?) the "giant baby" we had to pay it a visit :)

This was probably Averi's favorite part of their visit... getting pulled around the house (and brought down the stairs after waking up) like a princess.

They brought TONS of awesome stuff for all of us which was just an added bonus to their company! Here we all are checking out some of the cool stuff they brought Averi.

They even brought Sophie a new outfit which she loves! okay maybe she actually hates it but we sure loved watching her wear it! So funny!

Here are the CRAZIES after doing the polar bear plunge! They swam across the length of the pool in freezing cold water and the outside temp was prob in the forties...like I said, they are crazy!

Brooke and Brenna taught her how to play London Bridge. I seem to get a lot of shots of her almost naked. I guess she just looks cuter that way :)

One silly girl...

2012-01-31T13:22:00.000-08:00

With one problem after another, we finally decided to just do away with our old comp and get a new one... hence the delay in blogging...

I just have to document some of the funny things that Averi has done or has been doing lately...

If she is struggling with something (no matter what it is) the problem is always that it's "too big!" ie: she is trying to blow a bubble but can't quite get it, she says "Oh, too big!" ; She trips over the computer cord, she says "Oh, too big!" ; She can't get a clothing item on quite right and she says "Oh, too big!". The list could go on forever, really. At first I thought she knew what she was talking about. Like if she couldnt get her shoe on because it is getting too small and she would say "too big" I thought "well, I guess maybe her foot is too big". Anyways, after a while I realized she is thoroughly confused about the meaning of the phrase. The problem is that it is usually so funny that I dont want to correct her :)
I have been battling a cold for let's see... about two months now! (this baby is sucking out my entire immune system, I swear) Anyway, I have been hacking a lot and Averi has come to expect that when I cough, I usually run to the sink and spit. She ususally will say "it yucky spit?". Yes is it yucky. Well the other day I heard her cough (a tiny little cough) and say "I need spit!". Then she jogged over to the sink, got on her little stool, leaned over the sink and started making a hacking noise into the sink. Then she got back down and went back to what she was doing. Doug and I were laughing so hard. I can just picture her making a scene her first day of kindergarten hacking into the sink like she is a smoker or something.
This one is not so much funny as it is annoying... Averi has entered the dreaded phase of NOT wanting to get ready for bed in any of its forms. Generally she will not cooporate while getting jammies on so I end up having to literally tackle her and force her limbs in one by one, all the while she is kicking and screaming. It is so much fun :) Same goes for teeth brushing. She used to be so good at letting us do it but I guess she decided she wants to let her teeth rot because I literally have to tackle her down so she is on her back and sit on her with her arms constrained, and then with my left hand I hold her head while forcing the toothbrush into her tighly sealed mouth with my right. Not to mention the times where she is finally all dressed and ready for bed and then decides she needs to go potty again which means her onsie pajamas get to come off and I get to do the whole thing over again. Gotta love motherhood :)
Averi loves to (and usually insists on) open doors for me. She will run to the door before me, struggle a moment to turn the handle, then open it and run in and hold it open for me. Then she will say in a very welcoming voice "come IN!" as if I am a highly anticipated guest in her home.
Averi, despite being very gentle and quiet in nature, has a definite bossy side. She loves having Sophie to boss around and to yell at for no apparent reason. If Averi is in the bathroom, Sophie will usually wander over and wait outside the door (or peek her head in) and Averi will run to the door, peek her head out and say "No Sophie! Stay Sophie!" and then slam the door. Not sure what is so offensive about Sophie waiting outside the door but I guess it is to her. She also freaks out at her when Sophie goes outside without a leash. She will stand at the door and yell "C'mon Soph! Come!" while hitting her leg.

Averi is in a pre-school group that meets once a week as of this year. There are 8 kids and she is the only girl! She is always really quiet in new situations like that until she becomes more familiar with the surroundings. The first day she reportedly didn't say one word the whole time. The next time she was vocal only because I was there helping, and the third time she went, apparently she didn't say anything except to say "No!" to some of the boys. Ha ha! I have also heard that she does this in the Moms Day Out group that she goes to. She may be shy but she is definately not one to be taken advantage of! Good girl ;)

A Very Merry Christmas!

2011-12-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

The whole month of December was so much fun with Averi this year. She is old enough now to understand the excitement of Christmas and she gets pretty into it like Doug and I do. She loved:

-Looking at Christmas lights especially blow-up characters like Santa and Mickey. She would always say "oh so peety" and then "Bye bye Santa/Mickey!"

-Watching Christmas movies... especially movies that had Santa in them.

-Opening presents

-Making Christmas crafts (I would put them on the fridge and every day she would say "I make kissmiss tee!!", etc)

-Eating Christmas goodies. I would be worried if she didn't since both Doug and I can't seem to get enough!

-The Christmas tree. She would always walk into the room where it is and point and say "oh so peety!", or "peety lights!", or ""peety kissmiss tee!"

Avers watching Christmas movies with her baby

Averi at the ward Christmas party. She preferred to sit by the tree next to Santa and she did so for 15 minutes :)

I had to just plop her on Santa's lap without asking her but she didn't really fight it. A little nervous maybe?

Reading Christmas stories to her baby

Making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve

She couldn't help but sample a few of them which later contributed to her crazy hyper second wind she got about twenty minutes later.

Putting frosting on the cookies. She was actually able to do it herself which I was pretty impressed with.

Can you tell which one I didn't help her with?

Reading Christmas storied on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning!!

Averi was probably most excited for the candy in her stocking than anything else. Here she is (with her mouth full of chocolate) showing me the sucker that was in her stocking. She was VERY excited about it :) We finally had to hide all the candy so that she would open all the real gifts. haha!

One of her trusty favorites...a new baby

Averi always gets into my closet and wears my high heels around the house so Santa decided to just bring her a few of her own pairs. She insisted on wearing them to target the next day which didn't go over to well since she has to shuffle step the whole time she is wearing them. She ended up going barefoot most of the time.

Santa brought me a sewing machine which I am SOOO excited about!

Averi showing Daddy her new farm set that she got from Grandma and Grandpa H

The wreckage

Averi exploring all her gifts of Christmas 2011

Sea World San Diego!

2011-12-29T23:15:00.000-08:00

Since Doug and I didn't go home for Christmas this year (tear), we decided to take a quick trip to visit our marine friends at Sea World instead. The third time was a charm for us since we had tried to plan this trip two other times but it never worked out. It was worth the wait and all three of us had tons of fun. We went for two days and went to Sea World on both of them so that we could see everything there and not feel rushed. Lucky for us, Doug's brother Bart lives near San Diego and he let us stay with him while we were there. It was nice catching up with him and getting to see his sweet house right off the beach!

Averi and I waiting for our first show... dolphins!

Averi LOVED the show and she actually loved the "princess" about as much as she did the dolphins.

Us with Bart and his giant Shamu, which Averi loved.

Averi giving her baby a ride on Shamu

I loved how everything at the park was so decked out for Christmas. So pretty!

Averi going for a "ride" in Santa's sleigh

Checking out Santa's reindeer

Averi is mostly over her fear of Santa now I think (who she also got to see while we were there). She will now go to him somewhat willingly. She has yet to actually smile at/with him but oh well. I love this picture anyways. SO cute.

Averi in the cage with the polar bears (not really but doesn't it look like it?)

Looking at a beluga whale

Shamu!

The shark tunnel with Daddy

She had a blast at the Sesame Street Play place too.

This is about as close as she would willingly get to the giant Elmo...not that I blame her! She wouldnt take her eyes off of him either (as you can see!)

She actually had a lot of fun on the rides that we thought for sure she would be scared of. Here she is on the flying Elmo with Doug.

That was all the fun she could handle! Out like a light.

Oh,... I have to also mention that Averi is now fully potty trained! I havent changed a diaper for almost a month now and it's great. The only down side is that she will only go in HER potty for the time being which means I get to take her bulky little potty with me just about everywhere I go... including Sea World :) I tried to suggest that she go in the normal toilet there which apparently was REALLY offensive to her.

Turkey Bowl / Glendale Glitters

2011-12-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

Every year the city of Glendale hosts "Glendale Glitters" where the whole downtown area is decked out with christmas lights and live entertainment. On Saturday night we took Averi there and walked around for a bit. We saw a huge white wolf that was on display (meaning some guy had a rope tied to it and was standing just off the sidewalk so people could see him). He was gorgeous. Then we saw some river dancers (that all seemed to be doing their own dance to the same music) and took Averi to the petting zoo. There were tons of larger sized goats that were anything but shy so Averi was actually a little intimidated at first but overall had tons of fun as she always does at petting zoos. Then to finish off our night, we got a delicious bar of fudge from a vendor there and headed home.

Averi got to meet a turkey face-to-face :) Doug got spit on by an alpaca. haha!

The REST of Thanksgiving weekend....

Here is Doug attempting to put our Christmas lights up on the very top of the house. It didn't really work out so we just put them on the bottom roof and around the windows. Looks so cute!

Here is Averi "helping":

Thanksgiving morning Doug played in the "Turkey Bowl" with a bunch of guys from our ward. It was at the park right across the street (like last year) so that was nice because the kids were able to play on the playground while the boys played football.

It was pretty chilly that morning so Averi was content all bundled up in the swing most of the time (she is finally able to get some use out of the coat I used when I was her age...love it!).

Daddy and his little cheerleader walking home from the big game.

Thanksgiving weekend

2011-11-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

Thursday afternoon we went to our friends the Allen's house and at a delicious turkey feast with them and the Chattertons. It was so fun and the food what YUM! Averi had fun playing with their combined three boys but didn't exactly play with them. While they were busy playing dog pile and jumping off a chair onto a pile of pillows, she was having the time of her life playing with my Christmas bag and pretending like it was her purse. She is definately all GIRL I guess!

Doug and Averi watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. Averi LOVED it!

Thursday night me and Whitney went to Toys R Us to try and score some cheap diapers. We got there AFTER the store had opened but still ended up waiting over an hour just to get in. Then they were out of diapers so we missed out. We did hide some squinkies that were on sale though and came back later and got them without the line!

After Toys R Us we went across the street to Old Navy and missed out on the free cameras but were early enough to get some free gloves. We scored some pretty good deals there. Then we headed over to Target and didnt get anything but just looked around. We got home at 2am but it was so worth it! :)

Doug and I went to Frys on Friday to check out their deals. Averi had fun pushing around her own little play shopping cart the whole time. Then she got stuck watching the Grinch movie that was playing on one of their demo flat screens. She was pretty upset when we actually had to drag her out of the store.

We took Averi hiking on Saturday.

Belly shot

2011-11-29T21:26:00.000-08:00

24 weeks and counting.

Baby Girl!

2011-11-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

We are so pleased to officially announce that we are expecting adorable baby girl number two! She will (hopefully) be making her debut somewhere around March 15th and we couldn't be more excited. She has been buggin me since 16 weeks with all of her kicking so I think she wants to come a little early and I think I would be okay with that :) I will be posting an Oh-So-Glamorous belly shot in a few days but until then, feel free to picture me as super skinny!

Halloween!

2011-11-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

For Halloween we went to the Trunk or Treat party at the church. Averi was in her cute cupcake costume, Doug was the Geico caveman and I was Flo from Progressive. I think most people got it but some needed a little help figuring it out. I made my pumpkin chilli for the chilli cook-off and took 2nd place! We had tons of fun as we do evey year. Averi was still a little shy the whole time with all of the commotion going on but she had fun getting candy from people and seeing some of her friends.

Here is my handsome caveman and my adorable cupcake. Doug got swindled (by me) into wearing MY wool pants that were quite slim fitting on him...much like the real geico caveman would wear :) Too bad theya ren't really showing in the picture.

A blonde Flo

I tried to get Averi to pose for the pic but I guess she just wanted to dance with Daddy.

About to go trick-or-treating. Averi got excited when I informed her that we were going to go get candy from the neighbors.

Averi did really good in the beginning walking, knocking on doors and holding out her own bag for them to put candy in. But after a few houses she wanted us to hold her bag for her. I was still quite impressed that she actually walked the whole time without asking to be picked up (or insisting to be picked up like she normally does). Maybe the sugar gave her the energy she needed.

Averi goes to a moms-day-out babysitting group one morning each week. She loves it and they always to fun things with the kids. She got to paint mini pumpkins the week of Halloween. She LOVES to paint and do any sort of craft so this was right down her alley. So cute.

When we go done trick-or-treating, we watched a little football while Averi did Doug's hair. You can see by her face here that she is quite proud of the bow on his head. This has been a recent hobby of Averi's (doing people's hair) and we love it because she is so gentle that is it actually feels really good!

Halloween Party!

2011-11-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Whitney and I hosted a small Halloween party for some of our friends' kids. The theme was owls as you can tell from the invites and refreshments. We played a modified version of hot potato (with a pumpkin), had a doughnut eating contest, and decorated caramel apples. The kids were all so darling and I think they all had fun.

We had two heats: Over 3 and under 3. This is obviously the little ones, and they didn't quite get that you had to keep your hands behind your back. :) So dang cute!

The kids playing Hot Potato. Averi sat in between two older boys which was probably good since she wasn't really into the game. She had fun watching the other kids pass it around anyways :)

My little cupcake eating a cupcake! She was ALL ABOUT the sweets at the party and there was no shortage of them either. I was surprised she didn't get sick from all the sugar.

Utah

2011-11-10T19:40:00.000-08:00

Doug had a work retreat in Utah recently so Averi and I decided to take advantage and tag along. We hung out with his family of course and he had to do a lot of stuff with work but it was still way fun. Averi was a lot more social and opened up MUCH quicker this time than last. Last time we went, she would cry every time Macy would walk in the room or looked at her. This time, however, Macy was her favorite person in the whole world and they were little buddies the whole time. She loved Payton and everyone else too of course :)

This is Averi playing with their new bunny. Of course she was IN LOVE with it and asked for it all the time. It was the cutest little thing!

We went to watch Payton's last soccer game of the season and were lucky enough to catch Payton scoring the winning goal! It was an awesome game. This is Macy and Avers at the park by the field Payton was practicing at. They went down the slide about a million times and mow it looks like they are working on their arm strength.

Macy, Payton and Averi (and the rooster that Payton chased for ten minutes until she caught it) at Wheeler Farm. It was SO pretty and of course Averi enjoyed the goats and other animals.

Everyone decked out in their Halloween costumes at Gardner's Village. Averi just stayed in her stroller the whole time. Usually with Averi the options are: be held, or be in the stroller. She doesnt usually like to walk on her own which makes it extra fun for me!

Macy was awesome at keeping Averi entertained while we were there.

Here is Macy helping Averi decorate Halloween cookies. So fun!

Averi got a pony ride while we were there. I thought she would be more excited about it but she was pretty stoic the whole time. Just one of those moods I guess.

Doug and I flew seperate on the way there but together on the way home. Since Averi refuses to walk, I have to get a little creative when I am by myself. I always use a wheel chair and pile my luggage on it and then put Averi's car seat (with her in it) on top of all that. When we were on our way back it was obviously a lot easier since I had Doug to help. I kept reminding him that I had to do this all by myself just to make sure he was impressed :) Here is Doug pulling Averi's car seat like a leash on our way to customs. Why dont I get that kind of treatment?!

Averi was really good on both flights, but she was perfect on the way home because we actually had the iPod charged and she got to watch movies, drink sprite, and snack the whole time.

Unfortunately when we got home to the Phx Airport we realised that one of Doug's bags didnt come in and it just so happened to be the bag that had his keys (lesson learned). So we had to spend and extra hour at the airport till 11pm and were lucky enough to get a friend to come pick us up. Poor lil Averi was SO tired but was such a good girl and just wanted her back tickled most of the time :)

Children's Museum and Farmers Market

2011-11-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

I took Averi to the Childrens Museum a while ago and she loves it every time. I took Katelyn with us (the 1st grader that I watch sometimes) and we met up with some friends so the kids could all play. Averi had a blast as usual.

Here she is playing house with her dishes all lined up in a row.

Averi and Ezra on the motion activated floor fan. She loves that thing.

Just running around being crazy

Whitney and I took the babes to the Farmers Market to look around a while back. There was a small petting zoo there that Averi would have gladly spent all our time at. There were the cutest little baby pigs there that I just wanted to hold so bad but of course they weren't in to being held!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-08T12:05:00.000-08:00

I took Averi to a pumkin patch/corn maze/etc a couple weeks ago with her friends Braxton and Kylee (and their parents). She had sooooo much fun so now it looks like its going to be an annual event for us! She loved playing in the corn kernal boxes, riding the "choo choo" and just running around exploring. But her favorite thing as usual was the animals. She could have stood there feeding scraps of hay to the horses the whole time! She is an animal lover just like her parents :)

Here she is petting the goats with no shoes on. She took them off for the corn box and then refused to let me put them back on her. Oh well!

Playing by herself in the little red house and having the time of her life.

Going down the tube slide. I thought she would be too scared like some of the other young kids but she loved it and went on it like ten times.

Playing in the corn box with Kylee

Showing the other kids how it's done :) She was the bravest of all the kids when it came to dealing with the animals.

Riding the train with Brax. I thought she would be too scared for this too but I just kinda threw her on it and hoped she didn't try to jump off. I think she actually enjoyed it :)

California

2011-11-06T21:10:00.000-08:00

Our computer has been on the fritz for quite some time now so now I get to play catch-up. Doug and I had the opportunity to spend a few days in San Deigo last month. The weather was still pretty hot here so it was a nice escape from that! I drove down with my friend Whitney on a Tuesday since her husband was already there for work. Then Doug met us there on Thursday and we stayed at their parents house. We had a blast just laying low and hanging out on the beach most of the time. The kids had tons of fun at the park that is right there by the water too. Doug and Mark were the only ones to brave the cold water though. Doug tried his hand at boogie boarding while Mark showed us his mad surfing skills.

Doug boogie-boarding

A Gorgeous California sunset

I think this is the cutest pic of Averi and Ezra walking together when we were at the street fair on evening. They thought they were so cool and grown up that they wanted to walk by themselves up ahead of us. I love how Ezra hauled around his cars in his Elmo backpack the whole time too :) What cuties!

Averi running at the park by the beach

The beach/park we spent most of our time at

A not-so-roomy car ride!

The kids making their silly faces at the park

We also got to meet up with Doug's cousins Michelle and Frank. They live in a gorgeous neighborhood right on the beach in Solana Beach. That was the first time I had met them and they were super nice. I wish we got to spend more time there with them. Of course we forgot to get a picture!

A Little Catching Up

2011-09-29T21:20:00.000-07:00

Since I havent posted anything about us recently I better document the goings-on of the DeGraw family as of late...

Averi- Loves to "count". And by that I mean that she says "two, wee, two, wee" over and over again (counting from 2 to 3). She absulutely refuses to say "one" and if we ask her to, it will go like this:

ME: "Averi, say one"
AVERI: "two"
ME: "no, Averi say one"
AVERI: "two" ... And so on. I guess she is just used to hearing "two" come after "one". SHe hasnt learned anything besides 2 and 3 so I guess we can say that she can count from 2 to 3. haha.

Loves her blankets. She doesnt care what one she has but whenever I get her out of bed she HAS to take her blankie downstairs with her and she also loves to cart it around the house.
Still loves her babies. She is always asking me to change her baby's diaper because she is "poopy". She also wants me to help her swaddle her baby a lot and she always says thank you to me when I do. :) She likes to feed her baby and will make the chewing sound like she is really eating it.
If you ever ask her where something or someone is, 9 times out of 10 she will reply "mmmm, it up-ders" (upstairs). Then when you find it, she will say "there shee!" (there she is, there it is).
She LOVES Sophie and it's usually the first word out of her mouth when I get her out of bed. She wants to make sure I let Sophie out of her kennel so she can come downstairs with us. She also gets the giggles when Sophie peeks over the edge of the bath tub while she is bathing, or if we blow bubbles at Sophie and she tries to bite them. Whenever we are leaving in the car to go somewhere, Averi always says "Bye, Sophie" and will repeat it over and over until I say it too. She also asks about her when we are getting ready to go back home in anticipation of seeing her again.
She LOVES her daddy and usually comes running towards him when he gets home from work giving him a big hug. Then she often runs around downstairs yelling "Dada! Dada!" hoping that he will chase her. She is quite the show off in front of him.
Averi will often refuse to walk when we are out and about and cry in one place until I cave in and pick her up (it's a good thing she's so little). So I still end up carrying her about everywhere, unless I have a stroller. When Doug is with us, however, she usually wants to walk, probably to show her daddy how grown up she is.
Her best friend lately is Ezra. He is her little boyfriend and she also asks about him a lot too. She will randomely say "Eza went bye bye" and gets so excited and hyper when she sees him. They are parteners in crime. A couple days ago we were over at his house and when we went upstairs to check on them, they were in the shower pumping shampoo into their hands and "washing" themselves and the shower walls. Averi's guilty concience kicked in when they got caught and she acted really worried. Ezra, on the other hand, thought he was pretty cool and was laughing it off. (see pics below)
Averi loves to sing and dance. Whenever we are in the car with the radio on, she will bob her head to the beat adn sometimes try to sing along. She loves to sing twinkle twinkle/ABS's. Can't really tell which since they have the same tune and she doesnt really know the words... although she does sing "Now I ee I ee" which makes me think its "Now I know my ABCs"
Still pronounces "Love you" like: "I know". No clue why she does this but we think it is hilarious.
She is still the pickiest little eater. She would happily live off of ritz crackers, juice, and dry cereal if I let her (and maybe cheese). I have to get pretty creative to get her to eat any fruits or veggies. She likes apple sauce so I feed that to her every day and today I tried mixing in pureed squash. Luckily she didnt notice. That is my success story for the day. :)

Doug:

Is enjoying life a little more since work has slowed down for the end of the summer.
Is enjoying football season and continues to root for BSU, BYU, etc.
Is excited to visit his parents in SLC next month! (and so am I!)

Randi:

Is keeping busy with Scouts (8 year olds), making wreaths, and being a mom... the best job ever!
Is loving that it is starting to cool down (from 112 degrees to 105 degrees!) so that I can actually go on walks with Averi in the mornings.
Loves keeping up with the fall tv shows The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Modern Family.

Wreaths!

2011-09-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

My friend Whitney and I are starting our own wreath-making business (of sorts). It has ben fun working on these together and we are getting really good at it ;) Anyway, here are some of our wreaths that we have for sale. They are all going for $30 (plus any appliciable shipping) They are very sturdy and can be used on the front door or anywhere inside...also great for gifts! If you cant tell from the pics, they are made with yarn (wrapped around a foam ring) and the flowers are hand made out of felt. They are really cute when hung with ribbon but also look great with just a wreath hook. They are all about 12 inches in diameter (the top right one is more like 14 inches)

A close-up of some of the flowers:

Just let me know if you are interested in purchasing :)

Fake Laugh

2011-09-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

Averi started doing this hilarious fake laugh all on her own a while back. Now we beg her to do it on command and sometimes we get lucky :)

Homecoming!

2011-08-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

My parents finally came back from their mission in Australia a couple weeks ago. Doug, Averi, and I all went down to visit (me for 2 weeks, Doug for 4 days). It was fun to see Averi get re-aquainted with her grandma and grandpa since she was only about 6 months old when they left. She actually warmed up to them really quickly and loved spending time with them.
Here is Averi and Grandma teasing each other. Averi thought this game was pretty funny.

Averi and Kenley getting re-aquainted :) They had somewhat of a love-hate relationship while we were there. They would fight and pick on each other but yet they would also hold hands and ask for each other when they were apart. Averi would always be concerned about Kenley if she got hurt or went to bed. She would say "Keh-ee eh uh ny ny" (Kenley went night night) or "Keh-ee eh uh owee" (Kenley got an owee). I have gotten pretty good at cracking all her codes and translating her language for others.

This is the girlies in their strollers when we went to the farmers market.

The whole time we were there Averi was infatuated by the ponies and the horses (or as she calles them "ah-seez") The would probably sit outside and just watch them all day if I'd let her.

We had a late combined birthday party for the girls. Averi got spoiled once again with some great gifts and everyone had a great time.

The Cobbs hosted a dutch oven dinner one of the nights with tons of delicious food and of course a game of baseball and football. The girls got to play baseball but we opted to be spectators (and some cheerleaders) for the football game. As the photo shows, the guys did not play lightly and most were about dead when the game was finally over.

Here is Averi insisting on helping Kylie make the lemonade.

And of course no trip to Boise would be complete without my dad pulling the kids behind the 4-wheeler in the old toy Jeep. Averi LOVED riding in it with Kaly and she would wave and say "Hi Mommy!" every time she drove by me. So cute.

I had tons more pics but they somehow got "corrupted" on my camera so this is it.

2-Year Birthday Bash!

2011-08-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Good morning birthday girl!

That's right, it has been two years since we first welcomed that little bundle of joy into our lives! Seems like yesterday, yet it also seems like we have had her forever. Life was so boring without her :) On friday night we had a luau themed party and invited over all her friends and their families for a big hawaiian feast and celebration. Averi had a great time with friends and got SO spoiled with gifts.

Chicken/veggie kebobs. I skewered about 80 of them! Glad to have that over with. Its a darn good thing that they turned out yummy!

Doug and Eddy on grill duty.

The par-tay!

The cake (Thanks to the Walmart bakery)

The kiddos making their own fruit loop leis.

Present time!

Averi really did get spoiled with gifts. But she loves every single thing she got and is very grateful!

Cake time!

Averi sharing her cake with Sophie.

After the party we let Averi open a couple more presents just from us. Here she is playing with her new baby-doll (one of three that she got for her bday...She can never have too many!).

The after-math...well worth the mess!

On Saturday morning we went to Averi's friend Soren's birthday party at the fire museum. We got to ride on the back of a fire truck! Averi was actually a little nervous but I think she had fun ;)

We pulled the plug on Averi's binkie a couple days ago. She has actually done okay with the adjustment but it looks like she has taken a liking to her baby doll's binkie! It now has Averi teeth marks all over it!

Here she is trying to peek throught the fireman cutout. Still a little too short :)

I think that is enough partying for one girl in a weekend! SO FUN!

Pioneers, Pies, and a little string bean

2011-07-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

We went to the stake 24th of July Pioneer celebration on Saturday. Averi had so much fun with the country music they had blasting. She could hardly sit still enough to eat, she couldnt stop dancing. Here she is dancing with daddy :)

Here is the cherry pie I made. First time making cherry pie and it actually turned out pretty good.

After church today Averi insisted on wearing my belt. So here she is with my belt going around here twice (complete with tights and bloomers:). She is my little string bean. And we are dog-sitting that big awkward thing that is following her around. She loves him but has to be a little more careful to not get knocked over.

...And here she is reading scriptures to Sophie. She was determined to get her to pay attention as you can see here with her hand motion. Obviously Sophie is really enthused about it!

Dallas!

2011-07-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

Averi and I had the opportunity to visit my brother Jared's family in Dallas last week. We had SOOO much fun and Averi absolutely loved all of them. Last time we visited she was a little unsure about things and was pretty shy. This time around, however, she came out of her shell entirely. She had a blast.

Averi getting geared up for swimming. She LOVED their pool and never wanted to get out!

More swim time fun

We went to a rodeo over the weekend where Cam participated in the race to get the tag off the cow's tail. He didnt win but as pictured here, he had a great time :) Averi absolutely loved the rodeo too. She loved dancing to the music and seeing all the animals. She has a new facsination with "horshies" now so it will be fun when she gets to ride one at my parents house next month.

Anyone who has been around Averi much knows that she is obsessed with music. So naturally, she was in love with their piano and keyboard. Here is Dayton showing her a few things on the piano :)

I was able to celebrate Preston's birthday with them on Sunday. Here he is opening more precious leggos!

Averi of course loved their chickens! They had 6 young chickens that they keep next door. Kaly took me over to see them one day only to find a HUGE snake in their cage and a poor dead chicken right next to it. It was horrifying. Luckily Dayton came to the rescue and chopped the beasts' head off with a shovel. SICK! Anyways, the chickens were so so cute and totally made me want to get some. They are a smaller variety and are pretty tame. Here is Averi kissing one. Real sanitary, I know! She just loves animals (just like here mama!)

Averi loved playing anything with Kaly. Here she is enjoying Preston's new leggo set with her.

Averi loved their dog Oreo. Oreo on the other hand didn't exactly reciprocate those loveing feeling but put up with her pretty well all things considered! Here is Averi taking her on yet another mandatory indoor walk.

Oh yeah, and she loved walking Camden too! :)

Another favorite game of hers was "jumping jumping". She would stand on their couch (like so) and jump up and down chanting "jumping jumping jumping" laughing all the while. She thought she was pretty cool.

Late night snuggle with Janese. Of course Averi still loves Janese; I have my doubts that she would even miss me if I left her there with her!

Aside from the last 2 days when I caught the flu (or something equally as horrible) we had a fabulous time and cant wait till we see them again! Thank You J, J & Fam!!

This picture was taken at home but I had to include it because I just love how in to coloring she is lately. Here she is coloring with TWO hands.

Fourth of July

2011-07-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

In honor of the fourth we had bbq with our friends the Saraiva's, then went to see the fireworks in Verrado with the Taylors and Daynes. It was absolutely gorgeous. The fireworks were lit from a golf course and we were watching them from up the hill on one of the greens. Averi was a little nervous from the noise but got used to it and it helped using my hands as ear muffs.

Can you tell we are posing??

Go Diamondbacks!

2011-06-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we went to the Diamonbacks vs. White Sox game. We had a blast even though our Diamondbacks lost. Averi even enjoyed herself (or should I say she enjoyed the trail mix that's all over her face).

We considered ourselves lucky that we weren't sitting two rows up where a dumb drunk girl threw up! Gotta love the inner city folk!

Averi has taken a liking to olives (much like her mom) and loves to put them on her fingers before she eats them.

Pilates and a Pool Party

2011-06-09T10:42:00.000-07:00

Averi loves to sit in her play stroller that is meant for a 1 lb baby doll. Somehow it has held up to her much larger frame. This is how I found her the other day watching cartoons. I am so envious of her flexibility!

Our neiborhood had a community party on Saturday at the pool. Averi didn't get to swim since it was almost nap time but she did manage to enjoy the water anyways. She first got in with her shoes on so we at least took care of that!

Averi has learned to always get out of trouble by making this face. I just have to laugh every time. She gets this huge cheesy smile and shrugs her shoulders and clenches her hands together. What a nut.

Maria and Kenley visit!!

2011-06-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

My sister Maria and cute baby Kenley came to visit last week. We had SOOO much fun playing and watching the girlies get re-aquainted. By the time they left Averi and Kenley were pretty good buds. We spent our time Hiking in the White Tanks, Swimming, Shopping at the Anthym Outlets, Shopping at Ikea, Visiting the Childrens museum, and just plain hanging out! We miss them already :(

Ikea. The girls were so good for us and had thier own traveling play pens. They were not quite ready to share one yet!

After shopping, Doug met us for a swedish Ikea dinner. YUM!

Bath Time! The girls got pretty good at sharing toys with each other. I have to give most of the credit to Kenley for being so patient with little miss territorial.

The girls got pretty good at hugging (and kissing) too. Here they are hugging each other while shopping. So stinkin cute!

Then comes the kiss. I loved how their hands were always straight at their sides :)

Kenley enjoying the splash pad at the outlet mall. Averi was not quite as impressed and refused to get wet.

Childrens Museum. Averi was in another one of her impossible moods this morning. Then midday she switched into being just wired and crazy. You can see the transformation just from the pictures. Here she is crying for no apparent reason, refusing to interact with anyone.

Here she is "shopping" at the mini grocery store. Grumpy but entertained.

Now she is totally wired running wild through the noodle forest screaming and laughing all the while.

Averi finally starting to love the water. Her and Kenley had fun jumping to their moms in the swimming pool.

Hiking in the White Tanks. Hot but beautiful. Maria really wished she got to see a diamond back snake but no such luck. :)

Lucky girls get to ride in the shade.

Maria put Averi's first pig tails in, and surprisingly Averi actually let her!

Super Girls! Kenley seems to think that Averi's pig tails make her look a lot different.

The cutest girls at the pool!

BFFs

I just love this pic so I had to include it :)

Nammy Comes!

2011-05-17T12:54:00.001-07:00

Doug's mom Nancy was able to pay us a much anticipated visit last week. We had a great time kicking back by the pool, visiting the Goodyear splash pad, feeding the ducks at Estrella Mtn, shopping, and just spending time together. Averi loves her Nammy and has even mastered saying "hi, Nammy" to her. Its so cute. :)
This is Averi teaching Nammy how to put on lip gloss:

"see watch, you do it like this"

These are my kids. Okay maybe only one of them is mine but the other two are cute too :)

The ducks were VERY friendly if not too much so. You could feed them out of your hand and practically pet them. They were adorable but maybe a little too agressive when it came to getting that yummy bread. It wasnt until after taking this picture when I realized that the duck was totally pinching Averi's hand. They did it to me too and it doesnt really hurt but I am still surprised that Averi didn't cry. Zooming in on the picture proves how much skin it really got. That little bugger!

And here is the same duck yet again harassing poor little Averi. haha. No wonder she didn't really want to feed it. Smart girl.

I didnt bring Averi's swim suit or anything so I just took her shorts off at the splash pad. Here she is getting used to the idea.

Getting a little drink...

Now she is actually enjoying it and splashing around a little :)

EASTER

2011-05-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

The day before Easter I took Averi to an Easter egg (candy, actually) hunt and festivities at the Peoria Sports Complex. She was pretty intimidated by the amount of kids attending and was petrified of the Easter bunny but she did have a little bit of fun :) This is her getting her Easter bucket down to eat the candy from it.

Good morning Easter Sunday!

Sunday night we went to Estrella Mtn Ranch where there is a beautiful lake and winding sidewalk. We fed the ducks (straight from our hands!) and took a stroll along the lake. It was gorgeous and completely relaxing.

TRI

2011-04-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Our friends managed to talk Doug into doing a sprint Triathalon with them in Litchfield Park over the weekend. He won first place! Okay maybe not but he did finish without dying which definately deserves props! He even admits he had fun doing it and I had fun cheering him on and watching the kiddos.

We were trying to teach Averi to say "I love you" the other day and for some reason it always comes out as "I know". Haha. I guess I will take that.

On Saturday we went to a petting zoo that was INSIDE a mall. There were goats, piglets, bunnies, chickens, and even a donkey and a sheep. Averi was in Heaven! She really could have stayed in there all day :) Then we went on to see the Easter Bunny and that she was NOT so thrilled about. I figured she would be nervous but she was truly terrified! Looking at the bunny though, I cant say I blame her. He was cute but just the whole concept of a human-like giant rabbit is a little freaky.

See the look of terror on her face? She was not about to go near him.

Indians, Pies, and one naughty girl

2011-04-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to a Indians spring training game at the ballpark by our house. It was a little colder than anticipated so we didn't stay for the whole game but we had a fun.

Averi is unfortunately going through a "difficult" phase where she enjoys throwing tantrums over nothing (from what I can tell, anyways) and is just overall a lot less easy to please. I sometimes find myself thinking "what happened to my easy laid-back baby girl?" Many times she will fight me about getting into her car-seat and I will have to force down her little hips while she is screaming just to get the buckle on. Here she is in the car all happy because she thinks I am not going to make her get in her seat. :)

I just thought she looked cute here because she looked like she was posing while eating her lunch.

We had a ward party on Saturday night. Doug participated in two competitions, both of which involved dessert food. Here a pic of hime trying to blow a bubble out of gum hidden in a pile of whipped cream. He also did the dessert eating contest and almost threw up. :)

A beautiful rainbow after a rainy weekend.

Tiny Gymnast

2011-03-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

We were getting Averi ready for bed last night when Averi all of a sudden started doing somersaults all on her own. She has also been extremely flexible since birth so we are convinced that she is going to be a gymnast. She will now do them on command and thinks she is pretty awesome!

Utah trip!

2011-03-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

We got the opportunity to go see Doug's family in Utah for a few days and get a big family portrait taken. We had such a fun time seeing everyone and catching up. Unfortunately Averi caught the bug I had just gotten over and she threw up all over the plane. Luckily it was right when we landed so it could have been much worse! It was only a 24 hour bug so she got over it quickly but then passed it on to Doug so he was sick Saturday night/Sunday. Makes me realize how much we take our health for granted. The pics turned out really cute I think. We are such a good looking family! :)

Averi still wasn't feeling 100% from being sick and hadn't gotten her nap yet so she was bawling throughout the whole secound round of pics. She is never very cooperative with pictures though so i went in with mediocre expectations :) What cute cousins Averi has!

We still cant find the camera but I got a few shots on my phone...

Some of us girls wen to a couple stores on Monday. Here is Averi sitting on a chair at the Quilted Bear... turns out it is a pretty cool store!

Averi warmed up to Josh pretty quick and fell right asleep in his lap during a basketball game. so cute.

I was able to go down to Provo to see my neices Kylie and Brooke. It was so fun to see them and catch up on things. We had a blast at the mall just being girls. Then I went out to lunch with my good friend Mikell which was fun, as always.

I was SOOO glad to be back to warmer weather so I took Aves to the pool in her adorable new suit. I just wanted to keep hugging and kissing her because she just looked so darn cute! :)

Catch Up

2011-03-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

Our camera came up missing a few weeks ago so that is my excuse for not making any new posts. But we do have a few pics from Doug's phone. This is what we have been up to...

We went to Averi's friend Braxton's birthday party. He had a bounce house which Averi loved despite being overdue for her nap. She held her own preetty well for being one of the smallest ones there.

Ran a 10K with Whitney.

Went to the street fair and took Averi on the jumbo slide and tea cup. We got a few smiles out of her on the tea cup ride but she was stone-faced the whole ride on the slide. :)

Took Averi to the pool for the first time this season. She had fun despite the cold water.

Went to the U of U vs. ASU Rugby game and met up with Doug's long time friend Blake who is the head coach for Utah.

Take note of Averi's hair in this video :)

5K Fun

2011-02-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

okay maybe it wasn't exactly fun. It was while I was running, in fact, that I actually confirmed to myself that I really do hate running. But after the race we had fun because we got all sorts of goodies and got to relax.

me, whit, and her sis-in-law. Me trying to act like I am having fun

Other things that we did last week include: Valentine's Dinner at the WigWam Resort, Doug got to go to the Suns vs. Jazz game (he had a blast even though the Jazz lost), I helped with the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts, had a girl's night out at Olive Garden for Megan's birthday.

Children's Museum

2011-02-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

I took Averi to the children's museum with her buddy Braxton on Thursday. It is always fun but this time was especially fun since she is a few months older than the last time. She (and Brax) had a blast running around exploring. They go to go pretend grocery shopping, race wooden cars, and even learn about dental care from the "tooth fairy" (a frizzy haired lady dressed up in tons of layers of crazy colored clothes and scary make-up). The kids all loved it and they all got to sit on their own little lilly pads. It was SOOO cute to watch Averi watching with a "what the heck is going on" look on her face.

Averi is still pretty obsessed with reading books and we are crossing our fingers it is a long-term habit! Here she is after she fell asleep reading in her crib. What a cutie!

Averi hates it when I mow the lawn (the noise scares her) but she loves it when I first get the lawn mower out and she gets to sit on it for a minute. She thinks it is a toy just for her...until I turn it on... then she cries/whines on the porch until I am done. :)

Visit from Aunt Molly

2011-02-13T19:36:00.001-08:00

Doug's aunt Molly and uncle Gunnard came to town and paid us a visit on Wednesday night. They brought us some great heirlooms and a cute little valentine's teddy bear for Averi. They treated us to dinner at Macayos which was delicious as always!

Here is Averi enjoying her black beans and diluted sprite. Doesn't that sound delicious?

Science Center

2011-02-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

Whitney and I took the kids to the Science Center last week. A lot of it was a little over their heads but they still had fun. Unfortunately it seems that Averi is returning to her head-stong and irrational days like she was a few months back. That should explain why she is one the floor crying in this picture. I love the look on Quin and Ezra's faces. They were both looking at me like "Are you going to do anything about your crazy kid?!"

Other things we have been up to include: Averi's friend Caleb's birthday party, Doug working at the bishops' storehouse Saturday, my friend Lindsay's baby shower, ward temple night, getting a new microwave installed (which we may not have even needed in the first place...rather not talk about it!), and playing in the park.

This is just a cute video I took of Averi and her friend Kylee looking for the cat under the couch.

Silly girl antics

2011-01-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Averi does thing lately when she is excited or hyper. She tenses up her whole body, hands in fists, neck strained, and gives the funniest grin. I actually got her to do it for the camera and I think it's pretty hilarious. But decide for yourself!

Averi loves music and always starts bobbing her head or shifting back and forth every time a song comes on. Here is a video of her getting her groove on.

New Years, etc.

2011-01-04T20:43:00.000-08:00

For New Years Eve, we went to a brazillian dinner and samba dance that our friends the Taylors found out about. I was a little skeptical if I was going to have fun since I have no direct ties to Brazil but it ended up being really fun and Doug and I learned some new dance moves thanks so the random other couple at our table :)

On New Years Day we watched some football with friends (dont ask me who was playing or who won ;) Here are the kiddos playing during the game. Averi is giving Quin some tips on how to win with the DS.

Averi still LOVES books! Today after playing outside, she grabbed her favorite book and a blankie, and plopped right down on the floor and started studying. Averi will often get a book or flash cards, bring them over to me (or Doug...whoever is available at the moment) , and sit in my lap expecting to be read to. I love it!

Here is Averi thinking she is pretty cool trying on Doug's hat. She hates hats or bows and refuses to wear them but for some reason she thought Daddy's hat was pretty sweet.

The real Christmas

2011-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Doug, Averi, and I were able to go to Utah for a week over Christmas to see his family. We had such a great and relaxing time. It was great to catch up with family and friends and celebrate the holidays together.

The fam celebrating...

Averi opening gifts from Nammy and Papa

We went downtown to see temple square whish was gorgeous as always

Some of us went to Fat Cats to bowl, play games, and eat pizza. Even though Averi was tired, she LOVED the games with all their blinking lights and noises.

I had the opportunity to visit my friends Hillary and Rachael in SLC which was SO much fun as always.

Then later that night Doug and I drove down to Provo so that he could see his friend Dave and I could catch up with my friend Mikell. We both had a blast.

We were so excited to come home to warm weather but of course the week we get home Phoenix decides to have record low temperatures and snow for the first time in over a decade!

An Early Christmas

2010-12-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

Since we were going to be in Utah for Christmas we decided to open presents and have our own "pre-Christmas" celebration. We had "Christmas Eve" a week before the real one. Doug and I each read a Christmas story and then let Averi open a couple gifts. One of which was Christmas PJs of course. Here is Doug reading and Averi opening her PJs. She gets just as excited about clothes as she does for toys. Its so cute to watch.

Here is the scene Santa left for us on "Christmas" morning. He brought Aver a pink camp chair, a kitchen set, and a mini soccer ball. She loves all of them. Here she is sitting in her chair while playing with her kitchen.

Here is our stash of gifts... That's right Doug got me a KitchenAid Mixer. I was completely surprised and of course SO excited. :)

Here is Averi playing outside with her chair and soccer ball. Later on our "Christmas" day we went to the mall for a lazy shopping stroll. Averi had fun on the little carousel in the middle of the mall.

Family Pics!

2010-12-05T18:45:00.000-08:00

We havent had family photos taken in over a year so we went with our friends to take pictures of each other in the cotton field and at a nearby park. I think some of them turned out pretty cute.

2010-11-27T13:57:00.000-08:00

Doug and I took Averi on her first trip to the zoo on Friday. We went to the WildLife World Zoo which is actually right by our house and is the most amazing zoo. They let you get up really close to the animals (the Rhino pics are NOT zoomed in). We also got to see a lion having a full on conversation with his neighbor the white tiger. They were roaring like crazy. Then we saw the kangaroos. I was really excited to get a taste of Austrailia since my parents are there. We saw a momma kangaroo eating grass with her cute little joey's head popping out of her pouch and nibbling on some grass as well. SO Sweet! We also got to feed the giraffes which was amazing. They are so adorable. We were too cheap to buy the girraffe food though and tried to sneak them some of Averi's cheerios and they didn't seem to like them very much. Our camera died before we left so I missed some good picture opportunities. For instance we took Averi to the petting zoo area and most of the goats and deer (or whatever they were) were sleeping. Averi would squat down next to them, open her mouth, and try to kiss them. It was SO cute. We fed the rejected cheerios to the goats who LOVED them. One of them even stole Averi's NutriGrain bar right out of her hand. She didn't seem to mind. Then we went on the the aquarium section and saw tons of crazy fish and got to pet the sting rays. Averi loved watching all the fish swim around. We all had a great time.

Snow in Phoenix?!

2010-11-27T13:38:00.001-08:00

Okay it's just the cotton fields by our house. I love it though!

Thankgiving and a little mischeif

2010-11-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

Averi loves to get into things lately. Here is the proof:
She always climbs into her toy storage baskets and sometimes gets stuck and I have to come rescue her.
Then the other day I was cleaning upstairs and noticed Averi was nowhere to be seen. I went into the spare bedroom and she had climbed into her old baby swing and was just hanging out in it havin a grand ol' time. :)

Earlier that same day Averi climbed into her baby doll's crib and thought she was being so silly. It was adorable. After that she started panicking because she realized she was stuck.

Turkey Bowl!

Doug organized a group of guys to play football this morning. Averi and I (and Sophie, and a couple other people) cheered them on from the sidelines. After the game Averi had fun walking around in her new boots.

This is Averi saying "Owe". Everi time she falls, she says "owe" now. It's so cute!

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Averi LOVED watching the parade with me and sat there with me for half an hour totally mesmerized. Notice Doug's video game station in the back. :)

Dinner: I decided to cook a turkey breast this year instead of a whole turkey. I vowed I wouldn't EVER do that again after trying to do it two years ago and dry-heaving the whole time I was preparing it. Sick. Dinner turned out really good and we have leftovers for at least a week!

Averi "helping" me make the pies and chowin down on leftover turkey.

Doug and Randi's Day Off!

2010-11-12T12:18:00.001-08:00

Doug found out last week that he was actually going to be getting Veteran's day off so we decided to take advantage and have a day of fun. Doug did end up having to go into work for a couple hours for a meeting but afterwards we took Averi on a hike up a hill near Doug's office. We had to treck over some rocky terrain with the stroller before we got to the paved path (see picture).

And pushing the stoller uphill was brutal as the trail was pretty steep (see pics)

But once we made it to the overlook point we got to rest and look out over the city of Tempe. It was gorgeous and the weather could not have been more perfect.

Then we hiked back down and let Averi walk some of the way. She got tired after less than five minutes with those tiny legs of hers though so I ended up carrying her which I'm sure would have been easier than trying to restrain the stoller from rolling all the way down the mountain!

After our hike, we went across the street and stolled through Tempe Beach Park. We ate a picnic lunch there overlooking the Tempe Lake. It was SOOO relaxing and fun to actually hang out as a family during the day.

We debated going to the Zoo but Averi was getting tired and grumpy and I wanted her first trip to the zoo to be enjoyable for her. Soooo...

We went to a matinee at Tempe Marketplace and saw Morning Glory (cute and funny... I recommend seeing it) while our perfect angel baby slept the whole time! Doug and I joked about how we felt like we were Ferris Bueller. :) After the movie we shopped around a bit then finally drove home. The best day ever had come to an end. Tear.

Back Yard: Transformed

2010-11-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

We have been getting our backyard landscaped in increments over the past few months. We finally put grass in on Friday and what a transformation! Our plants are still small and we only have one tree so far but for now we are done, and loving our "new room"!
This is what the yard was when we moved in:

And NOW...

The view from the back door:

We solicited the help of a few friends and got it done an a couple hours. As you can see, Averi "helped out" quite a bit too. We were laughing so hard at her because she would push her stroller back and forth over the lawn like she was mowing it. Then she plopped right down in it (it is made for dolls, not kids) and enjoyed watching the guys slave away.

Halloween!

2010-11-03T09:14:00.001-07:00

Our ward had a chilli cook-off and combined trunk-or-treat celebration on Saturday night. I tried a new recipe that I found online for pumpkin chilli and took third place. I got an apron that says "so so" on it. Pretty funny. Averi went as a leopard kitty since "kitty" was her first word (even though she doesn't even really say it anymore!). Since I had just gotten back in town and we were both busy with other things, we weren't going to bother dressing up. Then about twenty minutes before we had to leave, I informed Doug that we WERE going to dress up. :) So we rounded up some stuff we already had and this is what we came up with... I was a golfer, and he was a baseball player. Kinda random but it works. Here are some cute pics of Averi with some of her buddies.

Notice Averi's "hand-to-the-mouth" nervous expression in most of these pics. Silly girl.

Averi won a Halloween pencil at the Bean Bag Toss. It was so cute to see her catch on to what she was supposed to do.

Sunday night was little more laid back. We stayed home and handed out candy. Then once Averi went to bed, Doug and I watched The Forgotten outside on the patio.

Traveling the Globe (or maybe just a few western states)

2010-11-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Doug went on a work retreat to Seattle two weeks ago to go salmon fishing. Since he was leaving me behind, I decided to capitalize on that and went on my own vacay (Doug is a little bitter that his trip was 2 days and mine was 10) :) Doug's tour guide got them lost a time or two but the fishing they DID get to do was pretty cool. They caught a ton of HUGE fish and he came home with 30lbs of salmon! Too bad he doesnt like fish. Here is Doug trying to reel in a big one: Turns out they went fishing where the Twilight series was filmed. Maybe we will actually watch one of them now. But Probably not. :)

I, on the other hand, went to Salt Lake City to spend time with his family (and let them spend time with Averi). Even though it felt like the North Pole to me compared to AZ, I had a blast and it was so fun to catch up with family and friends. This is how is all went down:

Day 1 and 2: Let Averi get re-aquainted with Nammy and Papa while I (with a little help from Nancy) gave her two bathrooms a facelift. I re-painted the walls, crown molding, and mirror frame, and we made some adjustments to the decor with a new shower curtain, wall hanging, and towels. Here is a before and after shot:

Day 3: Went to Garneder's Village with Nancy, Deanne, Payton and Macy. They all dressed up in their costumes and we went around to all the cute festive shops and got a Halloween treat.

Day 4: Went to Payton and Macy's soccer games. It was SOO fun to see them play (minus the getting rained on most of the time). They are so cute and full of personality. We couldnt get Averi's super duty waterproof wiskers off from the day before so she sported them for 2 1/2 days... as shown :)

That night I got to hang out with my good friend Mikell whom I hadn't seen in almost a year. We got some dinner at Pei Wei then of course did a little shopping at The Rack. I forgot to get a picture :(

Day 5: went to church (did a lot of walking around with Averi in the hallway since she was being a little crazy girl). Then later we had dinner at the house with the whole family over. It was so fun getting to see everyone again and catch up. Everyone thought Averi had grown quite a bit.

That night my sister Jody (and fam) picked me up on thier way back from Provo. Meanwhile, my other sister's Kristy and Maria drove up from Boise and we all met together for a fun "sisters" night in Logan. We stayed up all night (or til 4am or so) gabbing and watching chick flicks then...

Day 6: went to IHOP the next morning. Averi and Kenley were (and are) so cute together. Averi enjoyed feeding Kenley throughout the meal and Kenley enjoyed being fed. Then of course after breakfast we did some shopping at Down East. Got some great deals!

Me, Maria, Kristy and the girlies drove back to Boise that evening. To my delight Averi was a good little girl the whole way home. She even slept some. I am not always so lucky. I think she enjoyed watching Kenley and 'socializing' with her long lost BFF ;)

Kenley and Averi bonding while playing with the toy magnets.

Day 7: Me, Aves, Maria, Mike, and Kenley all went to the Linder Farms pumpkin patch and corn maze. The corn maze was amazing and super fun. This is what it looked like (from the sky, of course):

We got quite turned around as you can imagine but we made it through and rewarded ourselves with some delicious home-made-equivalent donuts. Then after that we went to the Cobb's for dinner and the BSU game. SO FUN! Here is a pic of me, Maria, and the babes, Averi trying to eat a cracker with her mittens on, and the two girlies acting like they cant move in their multiple layers of clothing. :)

Day 8: Mike was kind to watch the girls while Maria and I went on a horse ride in the foothills. Even though we had a lost camera AND cell phone scare, it was so great to be on a horse again and enjoy the [freezing!] outdoors. Then that afternoon we all went downtown to shop around and grab some dinch (lunch-dinner) at La Cafe de Paris (highly recommended). That night we honored Halloween by carving pumpkins and watching Cujo... Spooky!

Day 9: We took the girls to Kiddie Kandids to get their pics taken in their costumes. We knew going into it that we werent going to get two coorperative smiling babies. However the pics could have turned out much better had the photographer not been such an idiot. ugh, long story. Since we were at the mall and all we HAD to do a little shopping afterwards :) Then we went to dinch again at Cheesecake Factory (always a sure bet and is slowly becoming a tradition). Averi was so tired that she was totally content just letting Kenley poke and prod at her most of the meal. They are so cute together.

That night we bought some supplies at CosmoProf and dyed Maria's hair. It turned out fabulous of course!

Bed time stories. Does it get any cuter than this??

Day 10: I slept in and had the daunting task of packing and going home... tear :(

Fun Weekend

2010-10-18T16:17:00.000-07:00

Thursday got up to 100 degrees (pulling hair out) so I took Averi swimming for a bit. She loves the kiddie pool even more now that she can walk. She is a little too daring though and had to be rescued numerous times (pretty much I just cant let go of her hand).

Friday night we went to the movie in the ballpark with some friends. The pro baseball field by our house is used for spring training. So in the Summer/Fall they show movies on the scoreboard every Friday night for free. This time it was The Princess and the Frog. It is really fun now that it has cooled down a bit at night. Right after I took the first pic I looked at it and noticed the big old guy sitting in a Radio Flyer. Gotta love the people of West Phoenix. :)

Saturday Doug got off early and we had a fun laid back day together (overdue!). We went toMarshalls (to get bath mats for my newly re-done master bathroom...pictures will follow soon), then onto Lowes (to get an owl for our roof in hopes of scaring off the annoying pidgens), then to McDonalds for food and play. Doug was even brave enough to take Averi up through the crawl spaces and down the slide. I thought they were going to get stuck but luckily they made it down and Averi wanted to go again. No such luck. Here is Avers enjoying an ice-cream cone when we got home. She LOVED it!

Then Saturday night we took the air matress outside and went "camping" on the back porch. We watched The Secret Window (very spooky) on the computer outside and then slept. Averi even slept outside with us in her pack and play. She didn't cry once. However I did hear her get up a couple times and giggle and yell "doggie!" every time she heard a dog bark. It was so cute I didnt mind getting woken up. Then in the morning we made pancakes on the grill (sideburner) and ate outside. Here is Aves eating her pancake in front of a very jealous Sophie.

The Camp Site:

Who needs the mountains to go camping?! :)

There is this cute somewhat non-official petting zoo by my our house that is complete with goats, ponies, sheep, chicken, baby calf, pigs, rabbits ...you get the idea. We took Averi and her buddies Ezra and Quin to go feed them on Monday. Other than the agressively hungry chickens, all of the animals were really cute and sweet. I could have stayed and played there all day. Okay, I secretly went there for my OWN enjoyment!

Update... finally!

2010-10-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Our computer crashed a few weeks ago so we had to send it in to get it fixed. 3 1/2 weeks and a new hard-drive later I finally have a computer. I cant seem to find my regular camera (hopefully it will turn up soon!) so I dont have many pics but this is what we have been up to:

Our anniversary was on Sept 23 so we got a sitter and went out to eat at the WigWam Resort. It was really fun to get out and eat a nice meal without all the interruptions that come along with eating with a baby (as cute and loveable as she is). We enjoyed eating out on the patio and eavesdropping on the neighboring table (pretty sure it was a profesional athete of some sort).

Averi learned to walk! She has been walking for a couple weeks now and has almost given up crawling entirely. She thinks she is a big girl now and is loving it. I love it that her clothes arent getting so filthy all the time now like with crawling.

We went with some friends up to a cabin in Pinetop, AZ. It was so fun to hang out with friends and to escape the heat of the valley. Averi had fun too minus the sleepless nights (I guess she was scared or something because she would wake up multiple times both nights...it was just fabulous) and the ride home. She cried for 2 1/2 hours STRAIGHT! I dont know if shew as car-sick or what but she was fine when we got home and man were we ready to get home! But other than THAT.... it was great :)

I gave yet another talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday. Apparently I slipped through the cracks and the new bishopric thought I hadnt spoke yet. I spoke on gratitude (hence Pres Monson's talk in General Conference). It went quite well but I'm glad it's behind me.

Katelyn (the girl I babysit a couple days a week) was on fall break so I got to have her all day on Monday. I took her and Averi to the Childrens Museum of Phx and met a friend of mine there. We all had so much fun and anyone who has kids and hasn't been there, I highly recommend going. We were there for 3 1/2 hours and Katelyn still wasnt ready to go. They have a pretend grocery store-complete with isles full of fake food, mini shopping carts, checkout lines and cash registers. They also had a seperate area for just babies under 3 years which Averi loved.

Averi getting the stare-down by a two year old at the museum
Averi and her buddy Sam takin a break

Averi having the time of her life pushing the stroller in circles at the Childrens Museum... wierdo.

Kids lounging on the hammock at the cabin

BSU vs VT

2010-09-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

As a tribute to the first (and most important, so Doug says) BSU game of the season, we had some people over to eat and watch the game with us. I figure since I only really watch a few select games a year, I better make it count. ;) As usual BSU did not disappoint and gave a great edge-of-your-seat game with a 3 point win! SO FUN!

Here are some pics of us decked out in our festive aparrel.

Averi got scared every time someone cheered and would lunge herself at me hoping I would save her. ;)

This last pic is just of Averi out on the patio eatin' a graham cracker. It's not related to the rest of the post but it's just so darn cute, I had to share.

Dallas!

2010-09-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

Averi and I had the privilege of going to visit my brother's family in Dallas last week. It was a blast catching up with Jared and Janese and of course their 4 sweet kids. They all adored Averi too :) I got to see the goings on in a house complete with two busy parents, four active kids and of course a dog (that will be Doug and I in a few years!). I also got to see their gorgeous new house and help make some decorating decisions which, lucky for me, demanded some crucial shopping! Kaly and Averi in her bedroom. Averi was in love with her mini rocking chair. She would climb in then get out, then in, then out about a million times. Averi loved all the attention she got while we were there. Camden and Preston got her to laugh pretty good a few times while in the car. This is Kaly and Averi at the American Girl store. Averi wasnt so much interested in the dolls as she was in pushing her stroller all around the store. I dont really know what is being said here but it looks to me like either Janese and Kaly are begging daddy for more merchandise, or they are asking Dayton what he thinks of the doll :) Averi refused to look Jared in the eyes but loved cuddling with him. She is such a little wierdo. This is her NOT looking at him but being entranced by him tickling her back. (when he walked over to her, she looked the other way and put her head on the floor like so)

The only way to enjoy the outdoors in AZ...

2010-08-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

...is getting soaking wet! Here are some pics of Avers and I hanging out outside waiting for Daddy to come home. Averi got into the dogs water dish (as usual) and got all wet. I decided to just roll with it and break out the hose. I sprayed her down from head to toe. Even though the hose water was luke-warm, it still kept both of us nice and cool.
Hose misting her in the face Averi making sure I am still paying attention to her

Soaking wet and loving it Playing with one of her favorite toys

I know our yard is bleak. We are getting some plants in next week. Until then, its a sea of grey.

This last pic is a few days ago when she was waking up in the morning. She was kicking the railing so I went in to get her out of bed. She was just laying in her crib with her blanket over her showing nothing but her cute little legs. What a weirdo.

Averi's First Year Accomplishments

2010-08-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

Now that my little baby Avers is already a ONE year old, I better jot down some of her accomplishments and of course cute little trademarks as my memory is sure to fade!

Averi...

Crawls. If she is excited or being chased she crawls at mach ten speed!
Cruises. Has even stood on her own a few times only momentarily but probably doesnt even know she did. Still no walking, but loves to climb the stairs... unfortunately.
Does not walk solo yet but will use anything and everything to push around the house including the dining chairs, her high chair, storage baskets, toys, etc.
Claps ranomely, but especially in her high chair and car seat. Lucky for me she is in a forward facing seat now so I get to enjoy her clapping performances in the rear-view mirror.
Waves -Originally started as waving "night-night". Then turned into whenever I told her to say "hi", "bye", or "night - night", and now she hardly every does it anymore because clapping is just so darn fun.
Has eight teeth. Four on top, four on bottom. Her top teeth hardly ever show though so people are always surprised whe I tell them she has that many.
Absolutely adores her baby-dolls. She has one that looks pretty real and one that is all cloth but she loves them both the same. Literally EVERY time she sees them she smiles. She will give them hugs and kisses repeatedly. Sometimes she will give them rides in her toy stroller...which brings me to her next talent...
Loves to push anything and everything around in her stroller. This includes her babies, stuffed animals, her toys, Sophie's toys, remotes, or anything else that may have been left within reach.
Gives head-butts. Not on command but if you lean your head forward she will put her forhead against yours.
Manages to look adorable with pretty close to NO hair. Has a teeny bit of hair that is about an inch long but its mostly in the back and it's all very blonde.Will not tolerate hats or head bands. I have managed to get a few pics of her with head bands but I have given up trying to make her keep them on all day. I can see now why some people pierce their baby girls' ears'. (not for me though)
Just recently kept her shoes on for the first time at church. I was ecstatic. I think she is taking a new liking for shoes. She will dig through her shoe bin now and try to put a shoe on her foot. She puts the shoe on top of her foot and carefully lets go and then acts frustrated when the shoe immediately falls off.
Loves playing fetch and tug-of-war with Sophie. She "runs for cover" when I throw a toy for her to fetch because she knows that Sophie is going to come charging back in her direction. Sophie can also get her giggling pretty good when they play tug-of-war. It is so cute.
Mimicks Sophie (and most dogs) when she barks. Makes this cute little high-pitched noise that actually sounds kind of like a bark.
Laughes hysterically when I help her walk up the stairs. She takes extra large steps so that she only steps on each stair once. It's hilarious.
Loves to prop her feet up on stuff. This is especially true in her high chair and in her stroller. Sometimes she will get herself stuck in a really uncomfortable position in her high chair and has to yell for help.
Very flexible and can literally fold in half. She loves to do pilates (since birth, pretty much) and enjoys eating her feet!
Says "Kitty" (actually pronounced "diddy" or "dee dee"). I saved the best for last because we are considering this her first word. She has said other things like "mama" and "dada" and other mumbo jumbo. But this is the first word that she only uses with reference to the real thing (which I find interesting since she isnt even around the cat that much). Every time she sees the cat she gets a big grin on her face and says "diddy!" I absolutely love it! She is an animal lover just like her folks (and their folks!).

Birthday Party #2

2010-07-31T12:13:00.001-07:00

We were lucky to have Doug's brother and Family come to AZ this weekend. Macy and Payton are their little girls and they are just adorable. Macy's birthday is this weekend too so we had a double celebration at Dave and Busters Friday night. Daddy won Averi a D&B teddy bear (which she loved and gave kisses to immediately).

Three tuckered out little girlies

Birthday Party #1

2010-07-25T22:15:00.001-07:00

We had Averi's first birthday celebration on Saturday. Her birthday isn't until Thurs when we will have another modest family party. It was so fun to have some good friends over to celebrate Averi and her One Year accomplishment. We swam at the pool, had a good ol' fashion barbeque and then went back to the house for cake and presents. It was adorable to see the little kids playing together with all of Averi's new birthday gifts. She is such a lucky (or spoiled?) little girl. Averi loved her birthday cake and ate a whole cupcake in about two minutes. She has a major sweet tooth just like her mama.

Babies do the cutest things...

2010-07-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

At least MINE does! :)

Averi has been pretty whiny the past few days but this morning was a nice change of pace. She is just so adorable. I was doing the dishes a couple hours ago while Averi was playing with some toys in the living room. I began wondering why she wasnt in my face wanting to "help" me do the dishes like she usually is. I looked over to see what mischeif she was up to but all I could see from my angle was that she was standing hunched over on the seat of the couch totally enthrawled by something. My first thought was that she was calling people on my cell phone or something. I walked a little closer to see that she was reading her Dr.Suess alphabet book and actually turning the pages taking time to digest the information on the pages. I watched her for a minute wishing I had the camera in hand. no luck ... just trust me... it was SO precious.

Then a little later, I decided to spy on her while she was playing with her baby doll. She had her baby and a bib in hand. For about 10 or 15 mins she would put the bib over her baby (I guess maybe like a blanket or something) and then just look at it and giggle to herself. Then she would take the bib back off and give her baby a hug or just look at it a minute. She would then put the bib back on her baby and giggle all over again. I wish I was as easily amused!

Here are some pics of Averi with her first birthday presents (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks!!) and her playing with Sophie. They are good little buds.

Lazy-fun weekend for Aves

2010-07-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening we decided to bring the air mattress downstairs so we could watch movies all night. I decided to leave it there for a few days (w/t, I know) just because Averi LOVES it so much. She is totally content to hang out on the mattress and play with her toys all afternoon. It is so cute (not to mention easier on me having her stay in one place!).

Averi's buddy Ezra also turned one and had a party at the pool on Sat morning. She had a great time. Although most of her time was spent by herself playing with the stroller...one of her favorite pastimes. :)

In other exciting news: We are getting our back yard landscaped! So far, the patio, curbing, and sprinklers are done. Looks great so far. I will be posting pictures of the final product. We cant wait to actually spend time outside when the weather cools down a bit.

A few firsts...

2010-07-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

Averi learned how to wave a few days ago. It is so so cute! She uses her whole arm and waves it side to side. We always have her wave "night night to daddy" when its time to go to bed. I swear she waved and said "Nye Nye" the other night completely on her own. I couldnt ever get her to do it again though so who knows, it could have been a fluke. She also learned to clap today! SO CUTE.

Happy FIRST 4th of July! Didnt really do much but watch fireworks (or what we could see of them) from the park across the street. It was really fun and relaxing.

Averi LOVES to put toys (or remotes, kets,etc) in her stroller and push it around the house. It is so adorable. It is amazing to me how much she picks up on.

Averi has also been getting into more and more mischeif now that she is becoming so mobile. Here is a shot of her demonstrating that hardly anything breakable is safe in my house. When I was taking this picture I didnt even realize that she was reaching for a glass plate but I caught it just in time! Close call!

Dad the Grad

2010-06-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Doug's graduation ceremony was on Saturday so his parents came down to spend a few days with us... or should I say with AVERI. :) The ceremony was awesome (but LONG, like always). Averi was a good little thing like always and managed to sneak in a nap despite all the noise. She was a little freaked out by the "man with the wierd outfit and hat". You can tell by the way she is looking at him in the pic below :) It was so fun having Doug's parents here (even though I was sick the first two days!). Doug recommended a famous hot dog joint in Tempe that we went to one day, and we also went to Macayos which is always fun. Averi got to show off her swimming skills to Nammy as well. She really CAN swim (while in her floaty). She always wants to swim to the edge and climb out.

Peter Piper Pizza! , and then some

2010-06-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

We took Avers on her first trip to Peter Piper Pizza Saturday night. Daddy won her a braclet and an army guy. We debated playing through the night to try and win her the Hannah Montana notebook for only 2,000 tickets... but decided against it! :)

Averi's new tricks:

-Nervous laugh

-"cruising"

-Growing her second set of top teeth... the first one came through, the second one is on its way

Sophie got spayed on Friday too... :( She is recovering well though, dont worry!

We also just took a perfecly good clothes dryer from the street and replaced our squeeky one with it. Gotta love stuff from the curb.

Last 2 weeks...

2010-06-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

No major events this week. We did go to the Cheesecake Factory though (which is as good as a theme park, in my mind). We sat outside and Averi was wired the whole time. She was the patio entertainment for the other guests.

This is Avers in the swim suit I wore when I was a baby. I guess Carter's has always made cute clothes!

This is a demonstration of how Averi plays with Sophie. When we throw a toy for Sophie, Averi gets all excited and crawls towards "safety". She has since then even learned how to throw the toys herself. Cuzzy Kenley may have taught her that!

Maria and Kenley visit!!

2010-05-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have my sister Maria and her baby Kenley (who is 1 week older than Averi!) visit for the last week. We had a great time hanging out at the pool, going to the Diamond Backs game and who can forget...Shoppping!!! We got INCREDIBLE deals at the Anthem Outlets. They were pretty much giving stuff away for "free". We spend a grand total of 7 hours shopping in one day with two babies. We both attribute our shopping endurance to our mom. She raised us right! :) Then we went to Scottsdale Fashion Square and spend 83 cents! (Maria did anyways, I spend like $4). The babies liked each other but I wouldn't exactly say they are best buds yet. Maybe in another year.

Baby Doll

2010-05-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

Averi can't NOT lay like this when she is drinking her bottle. Legs are always folded up like that...so cute!
Sophie and Meiko are shedding lie crazy lately with Summer on its way. This is a little Meiko hair ball that flew onto Sophie's magnet-like nose.

Averi has discovered the "baby doll" (Thanks to "Aunt Kristy" for giving this to her for Christmas!). I think she thinks it is a real life person. It's so cute because she is always really interested in it and wants to touch its face and hands.

Cute baby videos

2010-05-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

St. Louis!

2010-05-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to go to St Louis with my "other mother" Nancy last week for a few days. We visited Rob, Jen, and their cute family (Doug's Bro and sis-in-law). It was SOOO fun getting to hang out with them. We got to see Bryce get baptised and little baby Chase get blessed. It was awesome. Averi never quite got used to having to share the attention with another cute baby though.
Me and Bryce

Averi having a good ol' time with her Cuz Nate

Emily and Averi getting
acquainted... didn't take much time.

Averi being curious about the "other baby"

Cute lil' family playing Spoons

Nammy holding lil "Chasers"

March of Dimes

2010-04-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

I did the March of Dimes on Saturday morning with Averi and some friends. Aver was a good little thing and I got a little tan so it all worked out!

Bathroom Re-Model

2010-04-15T22:54:00.000-07:00

So over the last few weeks I have been slaving away on the esthetic appeal of my house. I have done the guest bedroom, the master bedroom (I will post pics of that as soon as I get around to painting my bed...I've decided that painting furniture is a much more daunting task than painting walls!) and now I have finally finished the half bathroom downstairs. When we bought the house, the bathroom was plain boring beige with absolutely NO personality... and no bead board panelling! Now it just looks AMAZING!!! (ok, maybe not THAT amazing but pretty good nonetheless) There are a few minor flaws of course but overall I thinkI did a pretty good job. I will definately chalk this up as a great learning experience. I made several trips to the Home Depot to get supplies and ask stupid questions to workers that I hoped I would never see again. When I admitted to a worker that I didnt know how to get the Liquid Nails out of the container and tried to push it out with a hammer handle, he then asked me where my husband was and if he was aware of this project. haha!! He then proceded to show me what a calking gun is and where to find one. Even though he made me feel pretty stupid, he was really nice and was a huge help! Anyway, here is the final product:

... I painted all four walls (the blue/gray, and the white panelling) put up bead board pannelling (with base board/chair rails of course) and added the Space Saver shelving aver the toilet... all for about $150!

Life is Rough

2010-04-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Doug and I looked a Averi when we realized she hadn't been making her usual squawks and cute baby noises. This is how we found her: fast asleep in her high chair with her head FACE DOWN on her tray. Poor thing was exhausted. Ps... look at those long skinny feet! Not your typical chubby baby feet. :)

Averi's First Easter

2010-04-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny came and brought lil Avers a basket full of goodies. Her favorite thing was a bunny rabbit bowling set. She hasnt exactly gotten the bowling part down but he does like to chew on the bunny pins. Sophie quite enjoys playing with the bowling ball so I guess it all worked out. I was devastated when I finally realised that Easter Sunday she wasn't going to be able to show off her Easter dress. So I got her dressed up first thing in the morning, took these pics, then changed her back to normal clothes so she couldnt barf all over her cute Easter dress. :)

PS...dont worry, the gum is for Doug and I ;)

Football Champs!

2010-04-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

DeJa Vu from last year. Our tough guys had yet another undefeated flag football season. Way to go guys!

Averi's Push-ups

2010-03-27T18:39:00.000-07:00

Averi is still trying to master the art of crawling. Right now she is basically doing push-ups.

Happy Birthday Dougie!!

2010-03-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

For Doug's birthday we....

We went to the Jazz vs Suns game on Fri. It was really fun even though our Jazz stunk it up! This is us at the Jazz game. Thats right, that a wall behind us...we were in the very last row. STILL fun though! :)
We went to a Reds Pre-Season baseball game with Samara and Brax on Sat. Here is Lil Avers all geared up for the WARM weather we had for the game (and Brax in the background...stupid Walgreens lost the rest of the pics I took there...ugh!)
Had a bbq in the park across the street with some friends and got a little beach volleyball goin! Then came home and opened presents. Doug was nice enough to let Averi help open them. :)

Happy Birthday Doug (I won't divulge your age!)

I Love you!

Quite the weekend :)

2010-03-15T14:55:00.001-07:00

This weekend...

I re-did (if that's a word) the guest bedroom. The previous owners treated the walls like cork boards so there were holes EVERYWHERE (as well as duct tape residue). I had been meaning to do this pretty much since we moved in but of course, 8 months later, I am just now getting to it. Here is a pic of one of the walls right after I spackled it. Every single white spot you see means there was at least a small cluster of holes. Then of course there is the awesome after picture!! :) ...I dunno why its crooked

We went out to dinner Fri night to Ruby Tuesdays with the Goodmans (in their new sweet ride!) I got to waltch Finding Nemo the whole way there and back!! :) This is the Averi and Braxton in their high chairs like big kids. They couldnt sit too close 'cause they kept flirting. haha.

Saturday was gorgeous so I hung out at the pool for a bit with Whitney and her cute lil babes. Ezra and Avers are so cute together. Quinners and Sophie hit it off too ;) This was the first time that Averi got in the pool water. It was a little chilly so I kept it brief, even though she didn't seem to mind.

We went to the PBR on Saturday night (pro Bull Riding) with Trisha (old work bud), her bf Nick, and thier adorable tike Hayden. This is us in all our cowboy glory! Okay so we're a bunch of posers, big deal. I do give Nick props though for growing out his mustache for it! haha. awe man.

Sunday Avers got little sick with a cold. Probably our fault...see above! She seems to be feeling a little better now though.

This is just a pic of Averi trying to show off her TWO pearly whites!

Rain!

2010-03-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

little miss dramatic...

We actually got some rain in Phoenix last weekend and a lot of it! The park in front of our house fills up with water when it rains so there was a big pond all weekend. There were a few cute lil' ducks that Averi and I really wanted to feed. We all bundled up (it has been relatively cold here recently) and went outside to feed them. But of course they flew away at the first sight of us. So we just got some pics anyways.

These are just some adorable pics of Avers in her Spring attire!

Averi's new high chair

2010-03-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

I finally broke down and bought a high chair. ($25 at Ikea...can't beat that!) Here she is showing off her eating skills as well as her new sun hat. Im sure we will get a LOT of use out of when we start using the pool every day!

Too Cute!

2010-02-26T10:20:00.001-08:00

Just a cute pic of the lil' tad pole takin a bath. Awe man, I can't get enough of her! Doug's lil' Valentine. We took her out to dinner with us the weekend of Valentine's Day. She looked a lot more festive than either of us! Sweat suits with hearts all over them just look cuter on babies I guess. Doug is such a cute dad. Last night he got home after his flag football game and Averi was already asleep. He asked me if he could wake her up and bring her to bed with us! haha, yeah right. I cant blame him though...just look at those innocent blue eyes!

Quick notes...

2010-02-18T14:24:00.001-08:00

So I dont really feel like making some big elaborate post... However I DO want to mention (more for my own record keeping than anything else) that Averi is now sitting up like a pro! I was beginning to think that she was never going to sit up since she had no interest in it and would always straighten her legs when I tried to get her to sit. But it only took her a few days and now she's awesome at it!

She also got a tooth!!! Its so weird to me but its true. It's not really even noticeable yet but I can feel it and after a few sleepless nights, she FINALLY got it to come through. YAY! (only like twenty more!!)

My parents have also left on their mission and are safe and sound in the land down under! I miss them already but I cant wait to hear about all their adventures. :)

2010-02-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

So I haven't been updating as well as I should so I am playing catch up. Things that have taken place in the last couple weeks:

1. Doug's mom Nancy came to help out with Averi for two weeks in January. It was SOOO fun having her here and she was a huge help. Doug got promoted to Branch Manager with Ecosure recently so I put in my two weeks as manager for ALC. During the two weeks that our jobs overlapped "Nammy" took over the babysitting and household duties. It was GREAT! We had delicious home cooked meals every day, free babysitting, and most importantly... a shopping buddy! We loved having her here and miss her already.

2. Since stepping down from working full time I put hardware on all my cabinets/drawers in the kitchen. I was under the impression that this should be a half day (or less) project. Wrong. Four days and three broken drill bits later, I finish. Turns out maple is about the hardest wood out there. I learn something new every day.

3. I got a calling. Doug has been the Assistant Cub Scout Master (Or should I say Assist TO the Cub Scout Master) for a few months now but they just called me to be the Sunday school teacher for the 5 and 6 year olds. They are so so cute and of course say some pretty funny things which I will be making note of on the blog as they come. :)

4. Averi turned 6 months old and learned to roll over. Yay! Her other tricks include:
1. yelling/babbling - She is especially good at this while in church, laying on the floor in the living room while I'm making dinner, in the morning before I get her out of her crib and, well, pretty much any other time except when she is tired. She is a noisy little thing. I love it!
2. walking - with her hands held of course!
3. Dancing in her ExcerSaucer (see video)
4. Barfing - any time of day really. Doesnt need to be right after a meal.
5. Eating cereal and baby food. She loves it but often gets distracted by the dog, her Bumbo seat, or anything else that she can see/touch/hear/grab/etc.
6. She has mastered the art of being bashful. When someone talks to her, she will smile and bury her head into by shoulder. It is so stinkin cute!
7. Crunches - She has been practicing Pilates since she was about 3 months old. She will sit in a perfect V formation with her torso and legs up. She does this constantly (hence the frequent spitting up) and has abs of steele. In the morning sometimes I will watch her on the monitor and she will be lifting her head up to look into the camera as if to say "Hey, I'm up. You gonna come get me or what?" Makes me laugh every time.

The Break!

2010-01-25T20:50:00.000-08:00

We went home to Utah for Christmas then on to Boise for New Years (and of course the Fiesta Bowl...GO BSU!)

Averi meets Santa for the first time. She loved him!Averi hanging out with her cuz Macy with Nammy's supervision (not that she needed it!)

Averi and her cute cuz Kenley

Doug and Mike workin up a sweat playing foozball The Snowman that my dad and Doug made. It was so awesome that it deserved a spotlight.

Averi eating Kenley's hand.

"Is anyone going to DO something about this?!

Me, Maria, and the babies (I'm holding Kenley, Maria's holding Aves)

Averi eating lunch in her bumbo. I know there is a lot on the spoon! I guess thats just the way I roll.

Averi doing her daily crunches. She does them

all day long and has the abs to prove it... wish it would rub off on me!Averi NOT acting impressed by Kenley

Avers hangin out with her cousin Kylie

Averi got the giggles over Nammy's game of Peek-a-boo

Glendale Glitters

2009-12-19T10:25:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to Glendale Glitters for the first time. It is basically a festival of Christmas lights, music, dancing, crafts, entertainment, and most importantly... FOOD! We went straight from work so of course I forgot a hat for Averi. We had to improvise with a burp cloth. haha she looked like a little pilgrim or something. She was really quiet and wide-eyed the whole time (as you can see).

Averi's first "real food"

2009-12-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

After a visit to the doctor saying that Averi is ready for "real food", we decided to give it shot. Turns out she loves food as much as her mom and dad! She grabs the spoon and tries shoving it into her mouth on her own!

Mom and Dad come!

2009-12-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

My mom and dad went to Vegas for the Rodeo Finals and were sweet enough to drive the extra 5 hours to come see us! It was SO fun to hang out with them even if it was only for a day (and a hlaf). I was AMAZED at how much they (my dad in particular) was able to accomplish in just one day! So much so that I had to add a post about it.

1-He went with Doug to buy a new tire (I hit a curb and busted a tire. Drove on a doughnut for over a week!)

2- Replaced a headlight that was out (I got pulled over the night before. Luckily I got a nice cop and he didnt ticket me) as well as fix the internal lights.

3-Put up a ceiling fan in our bedroom. Anyone who has no experience with ceiling fans... its much more complicated than you might think!

4- Put up a light fixture in Averi's room. We had been using a lamp until then.

5- Put up a clock that my mom got me forever ago.

We also went to the Nativity Festival again with them which was really fun!

Doug and I are both so greatful for their help and support. I will miss them when they leave for Austrailia in January.

Nativity Festival

2009-12-05T10:27:00.000-08:00

New Flip Camera ! We got a new camera for each other for Christmas (on Black Friday...got a screamin deal!). Here is one of our first videos...

We went to the Nativity Festival last night with the Goodmans. It was so fun. It was really sweet to see all the nativities and remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Gobble Gobble

2009-11-27T13:52:00.001-08:00

Doug and I (and Averi) spent Thanksgiving with Judy and her neighbor friends in Leisure World, (no, its not a theme park) Mesa. We had a grand ol' time eating the delicious staples of Thankgiving. mmm...sweet potatoes. One of the old dudes there asked what tribe Averi was from since she was wearing a headband. haha, gotta love old people. Averi looked quite festive in her "happy thanksgiving" shirt. (I know it says 2008...that's why it was only $.97!).

Avers and Daddy

2009-11-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

Averi does this cute little thing with her hands. For some reason it is just comfortable for her to hold her thumbs in between her index and middle fingers. It is so stinkin cute.

Averi and daddy hangin out on the floor at work.

Halloween!

2009-11-01T21:33:00.001-08:00

Grandpa and Nammy came to visit (and Grandpa finally got to meet lil Averi) last week. We had so much fun with them here and they were such a huge help with everything since I have recently gone back to work. (notice the shelves Cliff and Doug put up in the back of the garage). We miss them already!

Averi went trick-or-treating for the first time in her young life. She went with her buddy Braxton and they had quite the blast. They were pretty tuckered out by the end though!

Averi's first Halloween Candy! Too bad mom and dad ate it all! Skeleton outfit Grandma Hendricks gave her. You can tell by the picture that she is stoked to be wearing it :)

Sophie got to go too in her princess coat. She was pretty annoying most of the time but at least she had fun. The other trick-or-treaters liked her too.

She got her bottles filled with candy a couple of times!

Brax and Sophie were pretty entertained by each other. They were so cute to watch.