Christmas Photos

Have you ever tried to take Christmas photos at the last minute before you take down your Christmas tree?
Well, here are ours. We had to get something formal with Harper since it was her first Christmas!

Christmas in Michigan

We celebrated an early Christmas in Michigan and had a great time. One of the highlights of our trip was visiting Frankenmuth and going to Bronner's. If you are ever in Michigan, you need to go. It is Christmas all year long!

We have been pretty bad with using our camera lately, probably because we are too busy enjoying the moment and making memories and the camera isn't always part of the moment!

The best picture of 4! Notice, my [hot] babywearing husband!

Avalyn & Grace; Tucker; Jackson; Aunt Joyce & Avalyn

Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving day at our favorite fire station and had a delicious meal. Then we celebrated with family on that Saturday and had another delicious meal. We had a great time at both celebrations and are so thankful for so many things.

Avalyn has always been a little bit scared of the fire trucks but every time we visit she gets more curious and this time she asked to get in and drive! She even got to turn the lights on and she thought it was so cool.

(iPod photo, sorry for the poor quality)

Giving Thanks #7

My sister...we have had so many sweet times together. Here are a few of my favorite (recent) memories with Lacey. I really need to scan in some old photos.

Love you, Lacey!

 

weekend update

Saturday was a lovely prelude to winter here in Colorado! Josh was working so the girls and I stayed in for the day. The wind was really blowing a lot so I didn't want to go out in it! Avalyn and I took one trip out to check on the chickens but it was so windy she did not even want to touch the snow. I made these sweet potato fries that I thought were pretty good. Avalyn was a little let down that they weren't really french fries but Harper liked them!

 

Sunday we went to church and then took Avalyn to get her staples removed. She was sure that her "owie" was all gone now that they took the "stables" out. Both girls took naps and we read lots of books. Avalyn kept saying she wanted to, "read a couple books." Which turned into 10-15 books per sitting! She is getting to be a really great "reader". Although she can't read yet she can tell us the story to her favorite books, some of which include Thomas and the Big, Big Bridge, Put Me In The Zoo, Where the Wild Things Are and Because a Little Bug Went Kachoo.

It was a nice and relaxing weekend!

Fall Drive

We went on a fall drive to see the aspens changing. The color change was the best we had seen in a long time. We took quite a few pictures and I couldn't decide which ones to share so there are quite a few here.
Enjoy!

 

Avalyn - 28 Months

Avalyn, you are 28 months old. I wanted to take a minute and record some of the sweet things you say and do so that we don't forget them when you are older!
You are a great big sister to Harper and lately have been asking to pick her up and move her. You want her to be wherever you are. You are a wonderful helper in the kitchen, putting your laundry in the basket and putting things in the trash.
You love going to the zoo to see the giraffes and feed them lettuce. You really like to watch baseball and to throw your ball outside.
You are sure to tell us "um yuv you" (I love you) and your compliments at dinner are so sweet, "Very dishus" (Very delicious) and "yummy."
You got to ride the carousel at the zoo the other day and you loved it. You cried when it stopped and didn't want to get off!
You are learning how to share your toys and take turns. Not always fun but you are doing a great job with figuring this out.
You can count to 5 on your own and to 10 or sometimes 20 with help. You can identify quite a few letters on your own too.
We love you Avalyn and are so thankful for you and your sweet spirit!

Just keepin' it real here.

 

 

   

Honor Flag

Last week the Honor Flag visited Colorado Springs and Josh got to participate in the ceremony. I decided to take the girls to the ceremony since it is a piece of history for our country. I actually didn't even get a glimpse at the flag because of where we were standing to watch the procession but it was a very nice ceremony with about 80 people in the honor guard and a pipe and drum escort as well. Harper wasn't a huge fan of the bagpipes at first so I didn't get any pictures once it started. Here is Avalyn waiting for the ceremony to start. :)

random pictures

I imported the photos from my iPod this weekend and found quite a few that I had forgotten about so I thought I would share some of them today. Of course the pictures are a little grainy because they were taken with the iPod.

Also, experienced a a first today...went to the feed store to get chicken feed and straw by myself. And I was wearing heels. Awesome.

Harper eats green beans

Avy eats cantaloupe, pre recall. ;)

Avy and I, fun with photo booth and my new glasses.

family

Here is a great picture of us with my sister before she left for her new home overseas. We had a great time with her before she left. We have been able to skype a few times and she is doing great and we are doing fine with her being so far away!

Happy Anniversary!

Josh and I are celebrating 4 years of marriage today. What a wonderful blessing we have in each other.

Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. 

Your people will be my people and your God my God. 

Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.

(from Ruth 1:16, 17)

I love you, Joshua! I am so excited for what is in store for our family!

Fun Tutorial

I saw this tutorial the other day on Dana Made It and I had to share. If you have a kid who is a fish lover like mine is and a stack of paper plates that you wonder how in the world you are ever going to use them all, this one is definitely for you!

I made a few out of some orange plates we had in the cupboard and Avalyn was flying them around the house in no time. She loves her some goldfish!

Big Girls!

Last week I had my first real day out since Harper was born. I have had short jaunts out by myself but have never taken off for a whole day so I was well overdue for this! My sister is moving to China in a few days so we went out for brunch and then went to IKEA and shopped around for a bit. We also went to see The Help the next day. We had a great time together and it will be a very special memory to hold on to through the next year while she is living away from us!
While we were out having fun Josh took the girls to the zoo and they had a great time!

Here is Harper looking so big in the stroller at the zoo.

 

Avalyn got a big girl bed last week and she is sleeping so much better at night! Josh did a great job building the bed too. He is such a talented guy, I am surely blessed to have him as my husband and dad to our sweet girls.

presents from mommom

Avalyn and Harper recently got a fun package in the mail with NEW CLOTHES! :) Thank you mommom!
Here are some of the outfits...this picture is from July 10, I guess a month ago!

my beautiful girls!

Harper is getting so big!

Avalyn doing her Dana Carvey impersonation!

zoo!

Last week we finally went to the zoo. We all had a great time! Avalyn loved seeing all the "big" animals since she has only seen most of them in books. She got to feed the giraffes and has been telling us since we went that the "g'affe eat hands". Hope she is not scarred for life! We saw monkeys, zebras, fish, snakes, chickens, turkeys, a pig, goats, rabbits, lions, mountain lions, bears, kangaroos, snow leopard, moose, birds, and elephants. I think there was more but I can't remember them all now.

First look at the giraffes

Feeding the giraffes lettuce, she enjoyed it but was a little freaked out at first

Koi...Avy loves her some fish, she tried to climb over the edge

Sprinkler/mister in the kid's section

Me and my girls...Avy is distracted by the chickens and Harper is hiding in the ergo

Go Rockies!

Last Friday we were able to go to a Rockies game with some friends, we all had a great time! Both girls did a great job and we stayed for the whole game.