4th of July

last year we went to coronado during the 4th of july and loved it so much we

decided to make it our annual family trip!

(this is where we got married and spend thanksgiving too!)

the hotel del

(we do not stay here, but our condo's are right next to it!)

this year didn't disappoint.

we got into coronado on july 2nd.

since the holiday fell on a Sunday,

it made for a 4 day weekend for most.

the island was PACKED!!

(this would be a HUGE understatement.)

we were lucky enough to fly with dale and sheri.

our nephews darwin and hayden joined us for a couple of days!

(haircuts courtesy of grandpa dale! i have learned you have to be very careful when sending the grandchildren with grandpa, he likes giving new do's!)

it was pretty chilly compared to scorchin' salt lake.

when we left salt lake, it was in the 90's.

it never reached the high 60's in coronado.

it was a nice change though!

we spent almost every day at the beach.

avery LOVED the beach.

she never sit still in one place for long.

put her on the beach and she won't move for hours!

we dug lot's of hole's.

built sandcastle's.

searched for sand dollars.

and played in the ocean.

we didn't get into the pool once!

only the hot tub of course.

(we had a near tragic event. nick was holding ave as he was getting into the hot tub.

as he stepped in, he slipped and avery hit her head on the side of the concrete.

she was fine but we were all a little shook up!)

we also went to spreckle's park every.single.day!

it is so beautiful and green!

i wish we had something like this in utah!

(notice the vehicle? it's a border patrol vehicle! made us laugh!)

on saturday the 3rd, we watched the annual coronado parade on orange avenue.

it starts from one end of the island and ends at the other.

we walked along the entire parade route.

both ways!

coronado consists of mainly rich old people and military.

this parade consisted of both.

old men in their fancy collectable cars.

and military galore!

what a way to celebrate our country!

the next night we were able to watch 3 sets of fireworks right from the lawn of our condo!

we had san diego bay, coronado yacht club and the military base!

avery didn't pay much attention, except for the BIG one's. she'd say "ooooh!"

i didn't take any pictures because the sprinklers came on while we were watching, so we had to scramble to move everything so they wouldn't get wet!

we'll be back shortly

trying to play catch up is...

EXHAUSTING!!!

we just got back from a week vacation to coronado,

so i am trying to edit and collage a bunch of photo's.

the blog will be back up in running in no time!

she melts our hearts!

.15. months

where in the heck did this last month go?

it flew by!

little avery is growing more and more every day.

in fact, she has grown so much i had to buy new clothes for her.

i had to go DOWN a size!

midge is growing so tall, but is still so skinny, all of her clothes were falling off.

literally!

she'd be wearing a pair of shorts, and they would fall down to her ankles.

she would get so mad and scream, then look at us like she was in trouble!

speaking of screaming...

our child is prone to daily temper tantrums.

the kind where she throws herself on the ground.

she screams and cries and makes quite a scene.

did i mention it is a daily occurrence?

it drives me mad!

we are working on this, but any suggestions are appreciated!

we are also going through another bout of teething.

three teeth are trying to come through.

they must be SUPER painful because avery picks at her gums.

she chews on everything like a dog.

she has come to love chewing on our sandals and wallets.

sheesh!

it is getting better.

slowly!

avery has a few new words in her vocabulary:

ow (like ouchie..not sure how to spell it.)

dookie (cookie)

dedow (yellow. nick has a yellow car and she points out ALL of the dedow cars now.)

most of her words sound alike and they usually sound like she is saying dada.

you start to pick up on what she is describing and then we help her pronunciate a little better.

i have figured out a new nap routine.

she was trying to skip her naps and i was not liking it.

i tried to keep her up til' later in the afternoon.

no bueno.

she wanted to stay awake all day!

SO, i am now putting her down at 11:30.

she only sleep an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half,

but hey! that's alot better than no nap!

she usually goes to bed by 8:30 now and usually sleeps until 8:00 in the morning.

so, i shouldn't complain too much.

avery's personality is so funny right now.

i am not shy around her and get ready in front of her.

(sometimes in the nude...)

well, she now points to her boobies (well, covers them with her hands) and makes the funniest faces.

it makes us laugh until we cry.

she is a smart cookie.

i took her swimming at the aquatic center up here in logan yesterday.

she wanted to play with all the big kids and would walk in the water until it came to her neck.

she is not scared of anything. (which scares me!)

i did not have a life jacket, so we did not stay there more than 45 minutes.

plus, i think avery is allergic to chlorine.

anytime we go swimming, she breaks out in an awful rash on her face.

ave also has 5 teethe (3 bottom front and two top front)...
with 3 more comin'!

anywho, we are staying pretty busy with this munchkin running around.
i don't think we get a minute to sit down during the day.
but, we wouldn't have it any other way!

love you midget!

avery LOVES to be naked!

AND she LOVES to sweep!

but...she LOVES being on the phone the most!

father's day

we're playing a little bit of catch up here.

we had an awesome father's day!

we started the day off by going to breakfast with nick's dad at The Park. (our fave!)
then we swam ALL...DAY...LONG!
it was awesome!
we rounded out the day with a deelish dinner at the salt lake country club.

nick, thank you for being such a wonderful and hands on dad!
you never hesitate to help and are always willing to play or just hang out with midge.
i love how she is such a dadda's girl!
she LOVES you SO much!
thank you for providing us with such a wonderful life.
we LOVE you!!

dale and steve, thank you for your example and for being such great grandparents to avery!
we appreciate everything you do for us and we love you both so much!

.14. months old

little midge is growing up so fast.

she is now 14 months old. (going on 3 years old!)

she seems in such a hurry to grow up.

tsk..tsk.

avery's diet has changed quite a bit!

luckily, for me, she will almost eat anything i make her! yay!

her favorite thing right now is hotdogs with ALOT of ketchup.

sometimes she just goes for the ketchup!

she also LOVES all fruit.

she still will not eat pb&j's.

OR drink any kind of milk.
BUT she loves cheese!

i got her to drink 3 ounces of strawberry milk one day and was so excited about it!

she is trying so hard to eat with her utensils.

she is pretty good with the spoon. the fork, not so much.

i really don't let her drink out of a cup unless i have a tight grip on it.

she loves to CHUCK things clear across the room.

it gives me quite the anxiety attack.
also, she is a PRO at dipping her food into sauce. especially ketchup!!

avery is obsessed with kissing!
she makes the cutest noise when leaning in for the kill.

melt..my..heart!

avery loves being outside.

she would live out there if she could.

we spend MANY hours at the park, pushing her in one of her cars, walking in the stroller or taking Monte outside.

a new favorite is playing with the garden hose!

she will play with it for hours!

avery is having a hard time keeping her weight on.

she is back to just 20 pounds. we think its from all of her running she does!

avery has quite the vocabulary too!
she says many things that maybe only nick and i can understand. (you start to pick up on your kids language in no time.)
most of her words start with the letter "D".
she says:
dadda, mamma, dog, doodie (woobie), deenee (binky), dar (car), dis (this), more, hey, des (yes), hah (hot), no no, dos (nose), and die (eye).
i know she says so many more, but this is what i can think of now.
she also knows 7 body parts:
head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, belly and toes.

she LOVES to point at your boday parts when you ask her to find them.
sometimes she pushes way too hard and it can hurt. she doesn't know her own strength yet.

avery tries so hard to keep up with all of the older kids at the park.

she climbs up the steps and goes down the BIG KID slide all by herself now!

last week, she tried jumping off of the top of the playground tower.

just about gave me a heart attack!

luckily, i got her by her hoodie just in time. phew!

avery has absolutely no desire for tv.

i keep it on the sprout channel sometimes so i have background noise.

really, the only thing she likes to watch are real animal shows.

we rented LIFE and she thought the fishies were pretty cool!

i've always had ave sleep in a "sleep sack" at night due to her moving everywhere at night.

we are just about too big for it now, and she is in the largest size made.

so, we are going to have to adjust without it. tear!

speaking of sleep, avery has changed her sleep schedule on me.
her naps are getting fewer and further between.
i am fighting like hell to keep them though!
sometimes she only takes a 30 minute nap!
HELP!!
her bed time used to be 7:30 pm sharp.
now we are lucky if she is in bed before 9 pm!!
she wants to get the most out of her day.
i don't blame her.
being a kid rules!!

avery is also attached to her woobie!

it is a pretty tight relationship she has with it!

nick learned the hard way to only wash it when she is alseep.

she saw him put it in the washer and she bawled in front of the washer and dryer until it was done.

it was so sad!

 

well, midge...you are growing up so fast!

we can't wait to see what changes are ahead in the next month!

we love you!

last day at little gym

today was our last day at Little Gym for the semester.

sad day!

we are going to miss seeing our buddies every week and their mommies and daddies too!

we decided to take summer semester off so we can travel

and

take swim lessons!

before we started taking our monday morning classes,

avery was TERRIFIED of strangers.

this was the main reason we signed up.

she would scream if anyone came around her.

(and mommy needed some socialization with the outside world too!)

by the second class, avery was comfortable being around others.

by the third class, she was mingling and playing with her new buddies and their parents.

it was a sigh of relief.

she picked up some bad habits along the way too.

such as pinching and hitting.

yikes!

we can't wait for our fall semester and to see what new buddies we will have.

we will truly miss our "Birdie" buddies!

here are a few pictures from today, our last day:

i'm a big girl!

avery with her teacher, miss katie.

(yes, she has bubbles in her mouth.)

hmmmm...what should we play with today?

hey! whatchya doin'?

i'm a monkey!!

wooooo!

jumping off of mats.

hey maaaa!

BUBBLES!!!

we love the parachute!

well, mostly!

i'm tired now!

momma's day

i can't believe i just celebrated my 2nd mother's day!

that year went fast!

we had a fun filled weekend.

busy..busy...busy!

friday night, nick had a guys night to Flogging Molly.

(his favorite band!)

he works so so hard and deserved a night out without his girls.

we kept busy and had fun with my family celebrating my grandmother's birthday.

saturday, we went shopping for our new house.

new fridge, new tv's, new window coverings.

ouch!

needless to say, i had a few panick attacks!

my friend erika and i had a date set for sushi and a concert.

poor coraline got sick with an ear infection, so our girls night

turned into a date night with nick!

my mom had aver's from noon to midnight.

thanks mom!!!!

we went to dinner at caputo's, then headed to our concert,

mutemath and 30 seconds to mars.

OMG! Aaaamazing! what a great show!

we had so much fun!

on actual mother's day, we had a whole day planned out.

first, we went to breakfast with nick's mom at Trio.

YUMMY!

we all went home and took a nap together as a family.

(very rare. very fitting on momma's day!)

then, we gathered my mom and nick's step mom

and headed to salt lake country club for a rather delicious lunch!

it was so fun to have two families together at once!

after the club, we headed to the hogle zoo.

this is a tradition we started last year on mother's day.

and i am so glad we kept the tradition going.

we didn't get there until 4:30.

it was dead.

perfect!

it was like we had a private tour of the zoo.

our favorite animals that day, the monkeys. the BIG monkeys.

one of the orangutans came right up to the window and stared

at avery's pink shoes.

seriously, FIVE MINUTES of uninterrupted stares through the glass at my baby's shoes.

it was a bit freaky, but avery was having fun with it.

after the zoo, we went to nicks dad to go swimming with avery.

i didn't get into the pool.

i'm a whimp!

but avery and nick did. for ten minutes!

a bit too cold.

ave preferred the hot tub overall.

 

AND....she was out for the night by 7:15!

Glorious!

we had such a wonderful day and weekend.

thank you to our mom's for always being there for us, for giving us advice and parenting tips, for always offering to babysit, for helping us clean, move and unwind.

without you, we would not be where we are today.

we love you all!

and to all of my wonderful friends and sibling who are mom's,

i hope you had a wonderful day with your families!

thank you for you unwavering support through the years.

you are all fabulous mom's and i am grateful for all of the advice you have given me.

love you all!

happy mother's day

we are looking forward to this weekend

filled with fun, great friends and wonderful family!

thank you to all of our mom's.

we hope each and every one of you have a

Happy Mother's Day!

we love you!

....uhm, midge does not like looking at the camera apparently!...

just a few obsessions

in our house, we all have a few obsessions.

avery, by far, has the most quirkiest ones.

as of late, she is obsessed with getting into my underwear drawer and puting

each.and.every.one around her neck.

(TMI maybe? Sorry, it's funny.)

Plus, I am finding a new pair everyday in a different drawer around the house.

avery is also obsessed with dogs.

whether it be in a book..

driving in a car..

watching tv..

she will always be on the hunt and will let you know when she has found one.

she squeals DOG really loud.

such a cutie!

avery is also OBSESSED with her woobie.

we can not leave home without it.

she cannot go to sleep without it.

when she gets an ouchie, it is really the only thing that calms her down.

sometimes, she even wants it in the bath tub with her.

she likes to throw epic temper tantrums over her woobie too.

just like her mommy.

**she even sleeps with her momma's woobie at night!**

(the other night avery would not go to sleep. WOULD NOT. after rocking her for an eternity, we finally got her to sleep by wrapping her in my baby blanket and snuggling her head against her own.)

avery is obsessed with cleaning just like me.

whenever i am cleaning, ave must have a paper towel of her own.

she goes around wiping tables and the floor.

i just love this little midget of ours!

as for nick and i, we have a new show that we are obsessed with.

have you ever seen Parenthood on tuesday nights?

it..is..awesome!

i think each and every one of us can relate to atleast one of the couples.

i think they based one couple off of nick and i.

seriously!

not much is going on due to this wacko weather we are experiencing!

cabin fever may never leave!

well...except that we

bought a house!!!!

(our other one is still on the market, so we are praying that we get an offer.)