Thanksgiving

This was the first year we had Thanksgiving at Home. My parents were planning to come but since the first storm of the year rolled in with a furry it was too unsafe for them to make the trip. So it ended up being just the three of us. It was fun to have Avery's first thanksgiving be with our special family. I made a turkey breast and all the fixings. Except for pumpkin pie which I would have had to eat alone and we all know I don't need that. That evening we took advantage of early black Friday specials and brought a new tree at Michaels. As we shared what we were thankful for the top on our list was our sweet healthy baby girl.

Our Lady Bug

For Halloween Avery was a Little Lady Bug. She looked so cute in her costume. We had lots of contributors. Our dear friend Brittney gave her the tutu, Seth's mom and our sister in law Mindy helped find the wings, her cute red shoes were a gift from Seth's sister Kara, and I made her little antenas. She showed off her costume at Seth's work and we attended our first Trunk or Treak. It made Halloween so much more magical with our little Avery.

A familiar face

Avery had a rough day today. Her first nap was at 1:45 (normally 2:45 due to daylight savings) and she only slept for about 30 minutes on my lap during sacrament meeting. So needless to say she was a little tired and kind of grumpy. I had to take her out during relief society meeting due to her bursting into tears. So I took her into the foyer and sat down in a chair. She kind of settled down and starting looking over at this picture of Christ and then waving. (She has pretty recently started waving....well actually just stretching out her hand and moving her wrist. Its how she greets her daddy when he comes home from work). It really calmed her down and she just keep looking over. It was such a sweet moment. It reminded me of how close little children are to our Heavenly Father and Saviour and brought tears to my eyes. We are so grateful for the blessing of having a healthy beautiful baby girl.

Family Pictures

While in California visiting my family we took family pictures. It was so fun to have everyone together. Even the kids cooperated for the pictures. Here are a few favorites:

Grandma and Papa with the Grandkids: Keith, Kaylin, Avery, Dax, Scottie and Brody.
The whole gang.

Our Little Family

Pretty in Pink

OK so I am a little biased but I think Avery is so cute in pink.

It looks darling with the pretty pink undertones in her skin. One fun thing she started doing just a couple weeks ago is clapping. She gets the biggest smile on face and will bounce and clap. We were in CA with my family a couple weeks ago she had fun clapping most of the time we were taking family pictures.
This is Avery's little rabbit. It is one of those plush toys attached to a blanket. She loves her rabbit. She cuddles with it every time she goes down to sleep. One of her favorite parts of the rabbit is the big tags on it side. Every time she gets a hold of the tags she will hold them up to her face and suck on her bottom lip. It is so cute.

It has been getting colder so I have started keeping socks on Avery. Well attempting. Every mother can empathize with me. Just a couple weeks ago she figured out how to take them off. Just yesterday in Winco, I noticed her bare foot and we headed back down the aisles we had been down. Luckily we found it but I did give up trying to put them back on.

This was over a month ago. One of those days that Avery didn't want to take good naps. So she feel asleep during dinner. I thought it was hilarious.

I am sure when she gets older she won't think so.

Highlights

Highlights of the past several weeks:

• We purchased a breathable barrier for Avery's crib. No more acrobat baby and more sleep for Mom and Dad. Yippee!!!!


• Avery's 6 month B-day. She tried her first solid food. We stuck with rice cereal because it is the least allergenic. She loved it!
  
• Seth celebrated his 32nd birthday. Avery loved the candles.
  Trip to Idaho Falls for Labor Day Weekend to finish the painting job at Seth's parent's. Such a great time with family!
  
• Boise State vs Virginia Tex. What an awesome game. Avery was our adorable cheerleader. She slept through the winning touch down and all the crazy screaming.
  


• Avery began sitting up. She has great control and loves the new perspective it gives her.
  
• Avery's 6 (and 1/2) month check up. Stats: 19 lbs 27.5 inches. 90% percentile. She's going to be tall!

Avery is getting happier and more fun every day. We have enjoyed the many stages she had gone through in the past 6 months and look forward to many more. This week we nicknamed her acrobat baby. Twice we found her in her crib on her tummy with both legs sticking out the bars. One time her legs were so far out they couldn't go any further. Another time she was flush up against the bars with one arm sticking out. She is very good at rolling on to her tummy but hasn't figured out how to roll back quite yet so sometimes she gets a little frustrated. The one positive thing is that she is learning to enjoy tummy time and finds that she likes to take naps that way.

My How She's Grown

This picture was taken of Avery when she was about 5 weeks old.

Here she is at 5 months! She is growing up to be the cuttest little girl
She loves to stand and put pressure on her feet. She has for a couple months now. I acutally was able to stand her up and take a couple shots. Doesn't she look darling in her princess dress?

Looking cool in her shades
Avery is starting to help hold her bottle when she eats. This day she was holding her favorite rattle and didn't want to let go. She realized it could be used to help prop up her bottle.

Everyday we wonder what we did before our precious Avery came into our lives. We are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for this amazing miracle.

Avery's First Swim

Avery has always enjoyed bath time (that is as long as she is not hungry.....which we learned the hard way) so we thought she would really enjoy a little swim. A couple weeks ago we blew up our outdoor pool and filled it with water. It was a nice hot afternoon so the day was perfect. Avery did enjoy the swim. Here are a few shots.

5th Anniversary

We celebrated our 5th anniversary in June. We decdided to spend the time as a family and headed to McCall Idaho for an overnight trip. The drive was beautiful and the scenery amazing. We had a great time and can't wait to go back soon!

Family Reunion II

The second part of our vaction was spend in Idaho Falls. We had a family reunion with all of Seth's siblings and thier families. It was so much fun to be together! Plus there is nothing better than Idaho Falls on the 4th of July.

Avery with Aunt Kristin and her cousin Kandy

Happy times with Grandma Johnson

Enjoying more cousins...Peter, Amy and Emma

Avery and Peter

Happy 4th of July!!!

Hanging out with cousin Peter. He is just 7 weeks older that Avery. My what a big boy. Don't you love their cordinating outfits. When Avery first meet Peter she was so excited. She started waving our arms and reached out and grabbed his arm. It was so cute.

We spend most of the week helping with getting Seth's parents house prepared to be painted. This is the before pictures. It isn't done yet so we don't have a the after picture to share yet.

Spending time with her couins, Kassidy, Kandy and Kally.

Cousin time. Preston is holding Avery. She sure got a lot of attention at the Egan's house.

She loved it!