Christmas in Arizona

Avery at Mesa's Temple lights

Daddy and Avery

Mommy and Avery

Mesa, Arizona Temple Lights.

Brandon and I were sealed for time and all eternity in this beautiful temple.

We got Brandon's parents a zipline tour when they go to Kauai in a couple weeks.

Tracy got a bump-its to have sexy square roosevelt hair!

Our cousins Jenn and Laurie

On December 18 we left freezing cold Roosevelt to head to sunny Phoenix, AZ to spend Christmas with my family. It was 3 degrees when we left Roosevelt and when we got to Phoenix, it was about 72. Wow! We were hot! It was great weather the whole time, which was so awesome because we were able to go on walks with Avery in the stroller, I went running a lot, Brandon and I played tennis, and we weren't freezing all the time! We loved it. It was fun to be with my family, on Christmas Eve we get together with my aunt, uncle, and cousins to have dinner and do a little $5 gift exchange. It was a lot of fun, Christmas morning my brother and his wife, who is having a baby- due July 7! yay! came over to open gifts together. We got lots of meaningful things and Avery had fun opening all her new pj's and toys from her grandparents and uncles. Before we left for Phoenix, we had Christmas with Brandon's family. They got Avery this huge bouncer toy with lots of gadgets for her to play with- she loves it!!

In Phoenix, after we would put Avery to bed around 7:30, Brandon and I would go out for dates!! It was soooo fun! I miss those days of freedom and dates! :) Some things we did was- go out to desert ridge ( and outdoor mall and entertainment place) and watched a band and drank hot chocolate, went to movies- saw Avatar which was the best movie I have seen in a long time and got coldstone ice cream, went out for dinner, drove around to see Christmas lights and our old condo, hung out and my brothers new house....etc. It was so fun! Thanks mom and dad for staying home while Avery was in bed to babysit. We stayed 10 days, a great trip and a fun Christmas. Now we're back in Roosevelt in single digit temps planning where to go next to get outta here! :)

Santa!

Santa and Mrs. Clause were at the grocery store today! Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma took me there to meet them. It was so wonderful! There were so many other babies and little kids waiting to see Santa. We waited for over 30 minutes. Finally it was my turn, mommy put me on his lap, I knew he could tell what I was thinking I wanted for my first Christmas even though I couldn't talk to him. I loved meeting Santa for the first time! Thanks mom and dad!!

Giggles...

Grandparent's Visit

My mom and dad came last week to visit us. We had a lot of fun, it was very cold for them- especially my mom. She had thermals on the whole time and would wear fur slippers around the house! Here Brandon and I are in our short sleeves, come on its only 30 out!?! haha We spent the week mostly at my house, we went over to this dinosaur museum one day and ate at cafe rio. My dad loved the museum! Brandon and another pharmacist from work took my dad pheasant hunting. That was a HUGE thing for my dad, he said it was a great time and even woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it and wanting to go again. My dad and I went running a lot together too. It is nice to run with him again, he started me in running when I was in 8th grade, I would run in the mountain preserve with him through high school and college too when I would have time. It was great to talk and run together. It was so fun to see them play with Avery and see how excited they got over everything she did! They were trying to help her roll over and showing her how to do it. They left yesterday and guess what Avy did all by herself?? Yep, she rolled all the way over onto her tummy! Thanks mom and dad for helping her! Wish they could have seen it!! We plan to go to Phoenix for 10 days over Christmas! I am so excited, Avery will be so much bigger and even smarter! What a great week!

Walmart Excursion

A couple weeks ago I went to walmart with Avery to grocery shop and get a few other things. Walmart is 28 miles away, so some planning is involved. 1- make sure to bring milk for Avy, warmed. 2- bring diaper bag with wipes. 3- bring front carrier pack because the car seat doesn't fit on top of the cart and if its in the cart then there is no room for groceries. 4- bring the list.

So my journey begins the SECOND after I feed her at home, I have to change her, make sure I'm ready and rush out the door. Otherwise I won't have time to take my time to shop before she needs to eat again- she still eats right on every 2 hours! I get to walmart and get on the front carrier pack and get her out of the car seat. She pooped so I have to change her before putting her in and getting the cart. So I change her in the bathroom and then put her in the pack, which she LOVES, and get the cart. I'm shopping around and mind you we have no groceries so I'm getting everything I see so I don't have to shop agian for a while. By the end the cart is soooo heavy and my back hurts from carry her on my front, I thought I had probably burned 1000 calories! After I check out I'm pushing everything to the car and unload it all into the back of my explorer with Avy still on me in the pack. For those of you who have worn them, its hard to bend over to pick something up, you have to do a squat. So I squat down to get the case of water and the plastic rips and it drops on the ground, so I have to get down again to pick it up and I'm sweating sooo bad! You THINK someone would help me load all my groceries in- as it looks like I have a family of 10 with all my stuff.

Once it all was unloaded, it was time to feed Avy before our 28 mile drive home. So I get her bottle and get in the car and feed her in the walmart parking lot. She ate well, was happy, and began the drive home. We got onto the main road and she starts crying. Oh great! I talk to her and shush her and the crying gets worse, almost into screaming. I absolutly can't stand her crying in the car, I feel bad and it stresses me out. So after trying lots of things I just started singing twinkle twinkle little star at the top of my lungs. It was so loud of a sing that my voice was cracking and everything. It worked though and she ended up falling asleep and I enjoyed my drive home. So tired!! And then I have to unload everything when I get home. ugh!

Avery is being so fun and she is getting so big! She enjoys going on walks in the stroller and playing with her daddy and mommy. Since she was like 2 months old she could stand up with me holding her waist or hands, she is so strong. She can even stand on her own just for a split second if I let go. She is smiling a ton and making lots of talking noises!! We love her sooo much!

Baby's 1st Boo!

It was Avery's first halloween, and yeah she is only 3 months old, but what the heck lets have fun anyway! Katie had bought Avery a lady bug halloween costume and it was sooooo cute! It fit her perfectly- except the hat, her head is only in the 25% We took her to the cornmaze and walked the maze with her, took some pictures. They also had a little petting zoo and little things for kids to do. Brandon and I took turns holding her as we went down this bumpy slide. I think she liked it! Avery didn't get much candy, she wasn't feeling good, and had a huge melt down at about 6:30 so we rushed her home, took her temp which was fine, gave her some tylenol, milk, and put her to bed. So much for a late night of halloween fun. Oh well. Brandon and I watched a movie together and ate some candy! It was a great day!

Brandon's Concert

On Saturday night Brandon and his band had their first concert. They did such a good job, I was so impressed at their talent. Brandon plays bass guitar, and really enjoys it. Some of the favorite songs they played were: song 3, small town, blue grass song. We had a lot of people show up- probably like 40-50. Now he wants to take a break for a little bit, but continue to write more of their own songs and keep up the practice! Good job baby!

We also want to mention how much we LOVE Avery! She is so fun now and keeps getting better every day!

What we've been doing....

Avery just had her first plane trip to phoenix last week! She did so well, she loved looking around and seeing a new environment. We got to the airport and through security smoothly, with all the baby stuff its kind of stressful. She was getting hungry and of course no liquid getting through, so we had to dump her formula. As soon as we got through she started crying, so I went to starbucks to get some hot water and Brandon went to get a bottle of cold water. She will only drink her milk if its warm so we had to mix the waters to the right temperature and mix her formula as shes crying, and we're sweating from hurrying and carrying all the bags! On the plane we just fed her and played with her, she did great!

We arrived at my parents house for a fun week ahead. One of the highlights of our trip was taking Avery in the swimming pool! The water was a little cool so for sure I thought she would cry and not like it, but I was wrong! We bounced her and splashed the water around her and she loved it. She just sat there like it was no different than being on our lap. It was so funny! Brandon would carry her in the front pack and we went to the mall-so many people would point and smile and say "oh look at the baby" and a lot of people stopped us to look and touch her. She got a lot of attention!

I went back to work a couple days, I enjoyed it, I don't think I've ever been really 'excited' to go to work. I missed everyone at the office and was looking forward to getting out of the house for a few hours. Plus Avy and daddy can have some quality time together. She has been sleeping better at night, most of the time she goes to bed around 8:30 and gets up at 3 or so to eat, then falls right back to sleep. We have been trying to get her bedtime to be earlier so Brandon and I can have some time in the evenings. She still doesn't sleep much during the day. I don't know why!! She'll be so sleepy and then I put her down and shes wide awake! Oh well as long as I can get some sleep and night thats great for now!

Avery's Baby Blessing

This past weekend was Avery's baby blessing. We had my family from AZ come for the weekend. My dad and my brothers were able to meet her for the first time. They were so excited! Jeff and Richie were constantly video recording and taking pictures of her. It was so fun to see my mom and dad as grandparents and my brothers as uncles. Wow how werid at the same time. Brandon's brother Ryan and his wife Christi also were here. On Sunday was Avy's blessing, it was so nice. Everyone got together afterward to have a nice lunch at Terry and Jeff's. Avy is doing well, we've learned that she has discovered she has found her voice and she will make the strangest noises and scream a lot! She seems a lot older than 6 weeks! She still has her bright blue eyes, I hope they stay blue- she looks so pretty. Her baths are still her favorite time of day, they calm her down for the night and she is starting to splash around more. Brandon and I are planning a trip to Phoenix at the end of the month, Avy wants to meet more of our friends and maybe go swimming!!

Brandon and I are having so much fun getting to know Avy and taking care of her and watching her grow! We are super tired though, but managing to get by. We actually haven't been doing much, just taking care of her. We had our first outing with her a couple weeks ago. One of Brandon's friends got married, so we went out to Salt Lake to go to the wedding. The next day we stopped in Park City to shop and have lunch on our way home. It went great, I was kind of stressing out about it because its hard to know how many diapers to bring, when and where to stop to feed her, etc. But it all worked out great and Avy had fun!! Brandon and I had fun too getting out of Roosevelt for a couple days and showing off our baby! Avy picked out a bunch of fall outfits for herself and they are sooo cute! :) My mom, dad, and brothers are coming to visit to meet little Avy next week and we are blessing her on Sunday. I can't wait for my dad and brothers to meet her.