2 days!

Well we are supposed to leave Sunday morning and I'm not sure if it's going to happen. David, of course, gets the rush jobs at work and has worked late the last 2 nights. He didn't get home until around 11:30 last night. I'm thankful for the money but it's putting a damper on getting things done around here. We can stay as long as we need but geez, I'm getting anxious! I'm tired of looking at boxes :o)

We were supposed to have dinner at our friends, the Arriola's, last night. It ended up being Avery and me who went over. Zac stayed at work with David so it was just Jocee, her girls, Avery and me. We took the guys dinner though. On the way home Avery barfed in her carseat. That was pretty gross. She's fine. I'm thinking she may have just gagged herself.

Well, better finish up. David's getting the truck tonight. I've got errands to run and boxes to pack!

3 Days!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!!!



We had to take one last picture of where Avery was born before we left!

Bye Cache Valley!

Last night my wonderful neighbor/friends had a little going away get together for me. It was so sweet. They gave me some gifts and talked about how they're going to miss Avery and her sweet personality.

We get our truck tomorrow! Eek! Today I went and got the oil changed and tires rotated on my car. I bought Avery a DVD player because if we don't have one it will be a horrible trip!

It's about nap time so we better get ready for that--and I can get some stuff done!

Busy Week Ahead

Avery loves her some watermelon!

This was her second piece.

We have such a busy week ahead!

Cheese!

Avery loves to walk around the railing on our porch. In the 2nd and 3rd picture she was saying "cheese!"

This is Marcus. Avery's first friend :o)

His mom told me that he is starting to get sad that we are moving and giving Avery moving away gifts make him feel better. So tonight he gave Avery a new helmet! She is OBSESSED with the other kids helmets. He also gave her a new bell for her bike because he broke her other one. Apparently there is another gift that is solar powered coming in the mail on Tuesday.

They weren't cooperating with getting their picture taken :o)

I'm sad Avery has to move away from her friend. Shoot, I'm sad to move away from mine!

Apples!

I really like Golden Delicous apples. I usually cut them up in slices for Avery but decided maybe she'd be more interested in it if I gave it to her whole. It was funny. She'd open her mouth, bring the apple to it and then sigh like she just didn't know how to get that big ol' apple in her mouth.

Yesterday we went and made Avery a new bracelet but the guy made it too small so it barely fits around her wrist. That bums me out. We had a good time though. We toured one of Brigham Young's farm houses that used to be over in Sugar House Park. I love looking at old houses. It's fun to see how they lived a long time ago.

Avery drinks the milk out of her cereal bowl in the morning. I don't know where she learned it but it's cute.

I'm super excited that David is off for the next 4 days. I'll miss Pioneer Day! We've got to get some more boxes and tubs but we're making progress! I can't wait to get home. I know once I'm home I'll miss it out here :)

I think I'll miss Hyrum the most as far as where I lived physically. For some reason, I really liked living in Hyrum. I'll miss Salt Lake the most though because it's where I finally, after 3 years, met friends. It's hard to make friends out here when you're a stay at home mom and not LDS. Can't wait to get back to the Bible Belt!!!

Week and a half!

Today I woke up in shock that we're leaving next week. David has a 4 day weekend so we will be busy!

Tomorrow I think we're going to This is The Place! with our neighbor so we can make Avery a new bracelet. She loved the last one we made there. She would hold out her arm to everyone she saw so they could see it. When David's Aunt Louise came we went to the duck pond and Avery fell in and got her bracelet wet so I won't let her wear it on account of duck feces and all.

Marcus next door tells everyone that we're moving back to Oklahoma in less than 2 weeks but it's ok because he looooves to skype!

I need to make a run to the Christian bookstore today. I bought my neighbor a Bible but I want to get her a different one. Like me, she feels displaced in this LDS culture. She's very hungry to learn about the Bible. I've gotten to share many things with her and it's been so awesome! So I bought her a Bible that's easier to read than the King James Version.

Avery had her last day of speech therapy yesterday. In Oklahoma, we will have to start the whole evaluation process over. I will be so happy when this little girl starts speaking! She is saying more and more words so that is good. If there was a trophy for matching games, Avery would win! She does awesome at puzzles and the therapist started doing a new matching game with her where she has this card that has 6 squares with pictures on them. She gives Avery the actual object (plane, car, etc) and Avery will set it on the right picture. It makes me happy to see her do it :)

Well, we got out of bed at 8:30--a whole 2 hours later than normal so we're behind schedule! Ok, there is no schedule in our world but we've got to get going!

A Few Pictures

The other day when I went to the family history library, David stayed with Avery and she fell asleep. Which meant I got to stay up with her later :)

A view from David's hike yesterday.

Avery got her Thunder shirt that Grandpa sent her :)

Such a big girl!

Avery still doesn't pedal the trike but she is getting pretty darn fast on it.

Growing Up

It really amazes me when I see Avery do something new. I guess a mother never grows old of watching their child learn something new. Last week we were at the park and I was sitting on the bench with my friend Alicia, when I looked over and Avery was sitting on a big kid swing. I looked for another kid who might have put her on there and there was no one around. I went over and pushed her and she swang (swung?) like a big kid! A little while later I saw how she got on the swing, which was what I assumed--she just held onto the chains and lifted herself right into the swing. Ever since David has brought our pull up bar into the house she loves to hang from it. Well, now she hangs from everything...door handles, the handle off her trike, basically anything. Gymnast in the making?

The kids in the neighborhood all ride scooters. Our neighbor has a small 3 wheeled scooter so Avery scoots around on it. Yesterday she finally started riding it like you're supposed to. She was scooting along like a big kid.

My neighbor says she acts more like an older 2 year old. She always goes on about Avery's fine motor skills. Maybe she's more impressed since her 5 year old lacks in that area. He's smart but he doesn't like to write or anything like that. She's going to have his IQ tested in September and I bet it's a lot higher than mine! That kid is crazy smart.

I can't wait until the day we pull out of here and are on our way home. This will be our 9th move in our 7 years of marriage. That's crazy. I'm really hoping this is our last for a while. The longest we've lived anywhere was our house in Edmond; we lived there for 2 years before we moved to Idaho.

I can't wait to sit on my back porch while Avery plays in the back yard. My grandma used to have a glider on the back porch. I have memories of sitting back there with her and smelling the honeysuckle that grew on both fences. I used to love to pull the stem out and suck the sweet juices off. Sadly the honeysuckle is gone. I have big plans for that back yard though :) I'm so happy I have pinterest to give me great ideas!

Can't wait for Avery to have a big girl room! Thankful again for Pinterest :)

I want to get a dog but I don't want to get a dog. I really feel that no childhood is complete without a dog. However, I don't want dog hair inside and I hate leaving dogs outside. Maybe I'll get some hairless type dog :) Yeah right.

David turned in his notice on Friday and it went well. His boss is going to allow him to stay the 2 weeks. We were concerned that he may not. I bet his foreman is going to be sad that he is leaving. He already told the higher up bosses that they needed to do something because David was about out the door. The foreman had no idea that we already planned to move. He really likes David and David really respects and likes him too. I really hope David can find a CNC job in OK. He'll be so much happier if he can do that.

Well, time to go be productive :)

I'm moving!

My Neighborhood

Another thing that I'm going to miss about living here in Salt Lake is our neighborhood. We have activities like family swim night and we had a 4th of July kids parade. There are also activities for kids during the week like going to bird shows at the zoo, splash pads, picnics at the park, touring factories and other fun stuff.

I went to the LDS church's family history library which has spurred my geneaology interest again. I decided to try to do my dad's side of the family. They are hard to find. I finally made some headway.

My cousin told me yesterday that her mom says we are related to Andy Griffith. I said "ew! David is supposedly related to Andy Griffith!" haha but David said he thinks it's by marriage. I'd hate to find out now that I'm related to him ;)

My cousin said she also thinks we're related to Patsy Cline. Don't know about that or Andy Griffith for sure. My aunt did say we're related to the McCoys as in the Hatfields and McCoys.

David is hiking up in Logan Canyon I think. I hope he's having fun.

I've been packing up some stuff today but then got tired of it and we went outside. I better get started again.

Going Home

So I've had to refrain from writing about our exciting news for months now and today I'm talking about it! Woot woot! I can't believe that in just about 3 weeks we will be HOME. Home. Whew.

It still feels unreal.

We are so excited to be back in our own home. Renting sucks. I can't wait to get Avery's room all set up and painted. I am excited to have a back yard that she can play in. Well, she can play in the one we have here but we don't. I am bummed that we don't have sidewalks in OK.

It'll be nice to not be by ourselves.

One thing that I am really bummed about is leaving my friends Maddy and Alicia. Avery and the little boy next door play EVERY day. Maddy and I sit outside and chit chat the afternoons and evenings away. Maddy has been telling Marcus that we will be leaving. He has a hard time with some things and she said he will miss her and so she's trying to prepare him that we're moving. Good thing they have skype. It makes me a little sad that I finally found friends that I click with and now I have to leave.  I am so very thankful that I met those ladies.

I'm also really sad that Avery isn't old enough to understand we're moving. I feel bad that one day we are going to leave her home and never come back. I know she'll be just fine though. It's my own weird thing I guess :) I know she'll have fun in a bigger house with a back yard and family around.

I will miss all of the pretty flowers in Utah.

I'm really going to miss Utah. I miss Idaho too but maybe since I've lived in Utah longer it feels more like home. I don't know. I am going to miss the weather! Maybe not the winter weather so much but definitely the summer weather. I love the dry heat.

Washing the Car

Avery helped her Daddy wash the car.

I just think she is so precious! Yesterday at the grocery store a lady crashed her cart because she was looking at Avery :)

We usually spend all of our time outside but this week it's going to be in the 100s and that's just too hot, even with no humidity. So we'll be inside I think a lot more this week. Maybe I'll go rent some videos to help pass the time.

Avery had so much fun helping her dad wash the car. She really liked drinking out of the hose!

I feel like she's felt a little warm the last 2 days but the thermometer yesterday said she had a temp of 99.1 which I guess isn't anything really. I bought an ear thermomether but it kept saying her temp was 96 or 97 something which I knew that wasn't true. I tried under her arm and that's when I got the 99.1 but I haven't checked today. She's been acting fine just feels a little warmer than usual.

Avery has started trying to sing the Elmo's World song. It's funny. She sings it loud too. I love to hear her sing. She also does the hand motions for the itsy bitsy spider and it's cute.

This morning she brought me a puzzle piece that was a duck and said "duck" and "quack". Finally! I can't wait until she talks more.

I am uploading a video to youtube right now so check it out.

Cousins

David's great Aunt Lousie came into town yesterday with her 2 granddaughters. So here are 2 pictures of Avery with her cousins, Mandy and Sam.

It's a hot one today. Bleh.

Friday night we stayed at a hotel in West Jordan. It was so fun! Avery loved it. She had a blast in the room. Too bad I forgot our swimsuits or we could have swam but it was an awesome relaxing evening.

Thursday my neighbor and I are going with another neighbor to the Family History Library that the LDS church has. I am supposed to take my 8 foot family tree with us. Not sure what they want me to do with it there. Maybe they'll want to scan it, I don't know.

I can't believe it's about to be the middle of July. Time is going so fast. If only it would go a little faster...

Children's Museum

It was a rainy day here yesterday and we were going to go to the splash pad but instead went to the children't museum.

The whole first floor is perfect for Avery's age and she just ran around and loved it.

Avery working for the local news station :)

Avery and our friend Alex

Avery acted a little off yesterday and then she puked a little on David's lap when he was getting her out of the car. She's been fine ever since though. She's also been making a new face that I find pretty funny.

I'm super happy it's Friday! I love having David home on the weekends!

Major Picture Overload!

Avery loves to wear her daddy's hat.

Avery also loves to hang from the pull up bar. She's getting pretty good at it.

On our way to the parade.

Sittin' right next to her daddy. This didn't last long!

Neighborhood parade.

Some neighborhood kids were selling snow cones for 25 cents. We had to support them :)

Avery's becoming a cuddle bug. Wow. My face is fat!

Avery is obsessed with helmets.

We had a great 4th of July! Our neighborhood had a parade that the neighborhood kids could ride in, so we watched that.  Then in the evening we had a BBQ at our next door neighbors.  The kids got to play with pop its and sparklers. We missed the fireworks set off at Sugar House Park but we could sure hear them. Also everyone in the neighborhood was shooting off fireworks. I can't believe it's legal to shoot off aerial fireworks in neighorhoods in Utah! So it was a loud night.

We were going to go to the splash pad this afternoon but it's drizzly so we're going to the Children's museum with our neighbor. She has passes :)

Avery's starting to say more words. That's exciting! She says "Elmo" but she says "melmo" and it's super cute.

I'm happy tomorrow is Friday. It was nice to have a break in the week. Only a few more weeks and David will be off again for Pioneer Day :) One of the perks of living in Utah...having a holiday no one else has!