2009 Wrap Up

The year 2009 was a BUSY one for us! It was full of UPS and DOWNS, GOOD times and BAD times, but we had a wonderful time experiencing them together. As a family!

Here is our life from 2009:

We both have set MANY resolutions for 2010.
One of my resolution's is to get out of my comfort zone. I am picking up the hobby of photography and will be taking classes. I would like to stick with this new interest throughout this new year and capture our life's greatest moments.
One of Nick's resolution is to stick with his new found love: Cross Fit. **He also wanted me to add that he would like to try and put himself in his wife's shoes, to remember how hard it is to be a stay at home mom.**

Christmas 2009

I have had a hard time finding the time to blog. Christmas came and went by too quickly. We had an excellent Christmas and had so much fun with our Midge!!!

We did things a bit differently this year. We had our families over to our house on Christmas Day. With four sets of parents, we thought this would be an easier way to celebrate with each family. My dad was not able to make it, but we had family over from morning until almost midnight. Whew....a LONG day indeed!

Our poor baby came down with something HARD on Christmas Eve. It started as a runny nose, so we thought it was due to teething. Wrong! Her fever kept spiking to 102-103. =-( It was a good thing we were able to stay home on Christmas. Ave wasn't in the best mood all day long, but you could tell she wasn't feeling good at all. (BTW, this cold lasted over a week. No fun. It was our first bad illness that she had experienced in her short life. AND both Nick and I came down with it. It was Germ Fest 09' in our house!)

We cooked 3 turkey, made homemade mashed potatoes, stuffing, and I even tried out my own cranberry sauce. It needs some tweaking, but it wasn't bad for my first time trying. The reason for the 3 turkey's: my husband decided to try and use a turkey fryer for the first time. I made sure I made a turkey in the oven in case something happened. Good thing I did, bot of his turkeys were still raw in the middle, even after 3 hours of frying. Better luck next time babe.

Our dog, Gracie, decided she wanted to try some of the turkey and ingested an entire wing. Now....if you own dogs, you know turkey bone can be deadly to your animals. Well, we didn't realize how much she consumed until the next morning. We woke up to vomit everywhere. Grace started to vomit and we could see shards of bone. THEN, she started vomiting blood! We rushed her to the ER, spent almost $700 and came home with a pharmacy of drugs. Grrr!!!

Avery of course got spoiled, so we are set for our next 2 children. ;) We had so much fun and enjoyed the company of our family. We can't wait until next year!!!

NEW Christmas Jammies on Christmas Eve!

Good Mornin'!

My HOT hubby and GORGEOUS baby!

Ave's first stroller. She kept taking the baby out and kept trying to climb into the thing. =)

Her favorite toy from Santa. This thing is AWESOME!

A BIG GIRL car seat. She growing up!

Nick's sis Lindsay!

Sorry about the un-tucked shirt. Working hard in the kitchen.

Yummmm....

Opening a majillion presents.

The end of a LONG day!

Ave with Aunt Smash and Uncle Ty

Avery and Grandma Teri

Avery and Grandma Vickie

Here is an example of what Grace gave us for Christmas.

Guess who's 9 months old today!!!

Dear Miss Avery Lynn,

You are officially 9 month's old today! You are getting so big and growing up so fast right before our eyes! I cannot believe another month has passed us by. It seems like a blur due to the holiday madness!

* You are still nursing. We have made it this far together! Way to go midge! We are only doing it 3 times a day, so we are slowly weaning you. (Except you have had a cold ALL week, so we have been a little more lenient trying to keep you hydrated!)

* Gerber Chicken Noodle dinner is your favorite pureed baby food. BUT, you will do anything to get a piece of whole wheat bread!!! You are eating THREE pieces a day! I don't know if that is really healthy, but sometimes it is all you will eat!

* Your sleep pattern is a little up and down. Some days you will sleep 12 hours straight without a stir. Other days, you are waking up every two hours to be held. I think some toofers are around the corner!

* You say Momma, Dadda, and Bob still. All other words have disappeared. Hmmmm....

* You give High Fives, you LOVE to wave hello and bye bye, you also like to make Indian noises with you mouth!

* You are a little monkey. You climb EVERYTHING! You love climbing the shelves of the fridge, flights of stairs, your toys, the couch....basically anything and everything!

* Your naps are becoming fewer and farther in between. =( Your morning nap is maybe 20 minutes and your afternoon nap is maybe 30-60 minutes. Sometimes your mom doesn't get to shower. Sorry daddy!

* You also can stand on your own for 5 seconds. You usually only do this when you are switching your toys from one hand to the other. Still....it's pretty cool!

* You are OBSESSED with dancing!!!! (Mom is standing by saying YYYYEEEESSSSS!!!) Anytime music comes on, especially Beyonce, you shake your booty! Well, you rock back and forth and shake your hand. You are so cute we can't stand it!!

* When we came home from your 9 month appointment, you started talking in a new voice. It is the cutest thing ever!!!!

* You still love apple juice. Nothing else still.

* You now have a Britax BIG GIRL carseat. So far, you really enjoy it.

* You have a baby doll that you love to give kisses to and you make sure we all kiss her too!

***Speaking of your 9 Month Appointment, you rank 30% in weight and 90% in height. You are so active, you burn everything off!!! We are upping your juice intake to try and put some meat on your bones!!!

Ave, you are SO much fun to be with and we are SO lucky to have you. I can't believe you are already 9 months old. Pretty soon, we'll be throwing you your Sesame Street Birthday Party. We love you Midge!!!

You love napping on daddy!

You LOVE giving kisses! Even to your self!

You are a total girl, which means you know what you want...when you want it!

Yep! Still have that dang Separation/Stranger Anxiety! Grrr!

You love playing with other kids. This is you and Saylor!

You are SO curious! ALL THE TIME!

Monte and Gracie make you laugh all day long.

You hate anything that touches your head.

You are your mother's daughter. You LOVE brownie batter like me! (Dad turned me in to the pediatrician and told him I was feeding you RAW eggs. What a butt!)

You and your best friend....Mr. Sippy!

Merry Merry Christmas!

My oh my! Christmas is ALMOST here! I cannot believe it. For the most part, we are prepared. This year we are trying something different. Since we have four sets of parents and it is Midge's FIRST CHRISTMAS, we are celebrating at our home in Salt Lake. We are having the grandparents come see us and we are making dinner. Wish us luck!!! (I will need it. I haven't cooked a turkey in ages!)



Ave and I have been having a ball the last couple of weeks. We are adjusting to this new Stanger Danger phase, but we have become closer through this process. We both know how to push each others buttons. (Hee hee hee!)

Here are some of the things we have been up to:

Avery LOVES to "help" with chores. When I fold and put laundry away, Avery is doing the exact opposite. Unfolding and scattering it everywhere. It makes me laugh SO hard! She will sit there for 15 minutes playing mommy before she gets frustrated. I tell her I get frustrated too when the chores start to pile up. ;-)


We went to dinner with Matt, Emily and Grace at our favorite place, The Beehive Grill. Grace's face is priceless. "Dude, stop touching me!"

We were able to hang out with my sis Smash before she left for Christmas break. We miss her already!!

Nick baked 17 DOZEN cookies for his clients at work. (I wrapped all of them.) He is definitely Suzy Homemaker now!!!

Avery LOVES her biters biscuits. Still no teeth. BUT, she sure knows how to make a mess!

Afterwards, we head straight to the tub!

We had another playdate with Grace and Emily! The girls interacted with each other for maybe 5 minutes, then did their own thing.

Love this munchkin!

Ave is obsessed with my Iphone. (You will see why at the end of the post!) And yes.....those are some nice bruises she is sporting. My child must be "head-heavy", she topples onto everything. I must say she is very advanced though. She climbed up an entire flight of stairs at my dad's with no assistance. Told ya I had my hands full!

I was lucky enough to meet with these ladies, which I love more than they'll ever know. Thanks Clucker, Erika and Coraline. Let's do it more often!

We attended the annual Holt Christmas party. Sadly, this is the only picture I took. There were well more than 125 people there. Nick was busy mingling while I was busy taking care of our tater tot! It was alot of fun!

We also got together with some more cousins! My step mom turned the big 50, so we got together for some bday & Christmas fun. Kennedy (in the pink) is only 3 weeks older than Ave. Lincoln is 3-1/2 months younger than Ave. It was fun to see how they interacted. (They basically did their own thing, but tried to share their toys as best they could.)

Precious Lincoln!

Kennedy and Avery!

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Christmas holiday!!! We sure do miss our friends and family who cannot be with us this year. Know that we are thinking of you. We love you all!!

Below is an example of how my baby girl likes to dance to Beyonce. She is the NEXT Sasha Fierce!