Sledding: First Attempt

We decided to try and take Ave sledding for the first time. We've been wanting to do it for the longest time and finally found a Saturday that we had open.

We headed over to Sugarhouse Park after a snowstorm the previous night.

There weren't too many sledders out, which actually surprised us. (Probably because it was only 9:00AM. We are early risers now!)

Ave seemed excited. We marched half way up the hill and I took Ave down first. She did great so we decided to march to the top of the hill next.

She would not sit on Nick's lap whatsoever. (It hurt his feelings. Sad face!)

So I took her down again.

Since there was so much new snow, powder kept flying in our faces. I think this is what scared Avery. She was fine at first, but soon broke into tears. It was so sad.

We tried a third time and she basically ran away from us.

(We learned from a wise friend to never let your child leave an activity upset. They will then have bad memories from that particular activity. Try to leave with the child happy or content. Then they will want to try again.)

She started to march back to the car all by her lonesome. So we started throwing snowballs at each other. She laughed for a minute and then we are done.

We are hoping to put Ave in ski school next season, so hopefully she'll like the snow by then. :)



In the meantime

Once again, I cannot find my camera cord to my new camera! Boo! This move has really jumbled my brain!

In the mean time, I let Avery play with my old camera. Here are a few of her own masterpieces:

Good Job Ave!

Rushed Delivery

So on Monday, I received a call from Nick about 4 in the afternoon. He sounded upset and said he needed to talk to me. I was expecting news of a death, but actually got news that we had to be MOVED back to Salt Lake by the weekend so Nick could start his new position the following Monday.

Although I am VERY excited, I started to cry. The first person I called was my sis. I couldn't stop crying. It is going to be very hard to not be able to see her whenever I want. Or to see my friends Em and Rachel. Or hang out and talk to my gym buddies!

At that moment, I realized I had a little niche in Cache Valley. I guess it's true that sometimes you don't appreciate what you have until it is gone!

This will be our SECOND move in ONE YEAR! I HATE moving! Add a hyper toddler and multiple home showings almost every day on top of that, it makes packing and keeping the house tidy EXTREMELY hard! EXTREMELY!

Our movers show up on Saturday to haul away our LoTown life. Wish me luck that I get everything packed!

On the bright side, Nick and I have had a trip planned to Maui for a while and it is coming up! Like, next week! Great timing! I guess I can handle the stress for a few more days and then relax on the beach sipping a margarita!

Chocolate Vanilla

I just finished The Help yesterday afternoon. Yep, only took me 4 days! It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I did I couldn't put it down. In fact I dreamt about it. Alot.

I won't give away too much in case you want to read it, but it is a book about black maids in Jackson, Mississippi who work for white people in the 1960's. It gives their stories and perspectives, but also a third perspective from a white person trying to tell the story.

Some of you know, I grew up in Sugarland, Texas. I remember not knowing the difference in the color of skin until I was in first grade. It never mattered. My best friend was a girl named Wellina. She was a plump black girl who lived across the street from us. Her dad was black and her mom was white. I remember playing in their garage one day and we were asking each other about our skin colors. I remember we asked each other if we tasted like chocolate or vanilla. We decided to lick each others cheek to find out. Now it being summertime, in Texas of all places, we were sweaty and sticky. The only thing we tasted was salt. We both said "Yuck" laughed and never brought it up again.

The next year we moved to another part of town and I had to change schools. Fort Meyer, I believe, was the name of the school. I was ONE of only a handful of white people in this school. But I still knew no different. We all played together. The only groups we formed were boys against girls. My best friend at the time was named Asia. I loved going to her house because she had so many siblings. My mom told me they had cockroaches the size of cats!

The following year we moved to Sandy, Utah. It was different. There were no colored people in my class. It. Was. Strange.

I am so glad that things have changed and evolved over the years. I am glad that there is not as much segregation as their was in the early years. I do, however, feel that we are starting to change. That everyone is beginning to fear everyone again.

There is a quote at the end of the book that I love.

"Wasn't that the point of the book? For women to realize, We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I thought."

There are SO many great messages in this book!

Absent...

So, I've been absent for a while.

Nick had to take a business trip to Palm Springs a couple of weeks ago and I was lucky enough to join.

While he was busy in meetings and conferences, I had one goal...

To read a book!

It had been YEARS since I had picked up a book. (Well, besides parenting and pregnancy books.)

Life gets too busy and too crazy to be able to read, right?

Well that seems to be what I had been telling myself.

So, back to the conference.

I did get a facial and massage, but spent the rest of the three days holed up in my hotel room reading!

I decided to start with The Hunger Games.

Well, by the end of the trip I finished it.

And within the next ten days, I finished the trilogy! It was soooo good!!! I highly recommend it!!!

I just started The Help last night, so hopefully I'll get into it like the others.

If you don't hear from me in a while, my nose is probably stuck in my Kindle. :)

KaBoom!

Ave had her first accident of 2011 already!

My sweet sis was babysitting so we could go see a movie. She was making Ave some dinner when all of a sudden, KABOOM! Avery fell face first off the sofa onto the edge of the baseboard. Ouch! It could have been a lot worse!

We felt more bad for Ash than Ave. It didn't phase Avery that much, but my sister thought we would be mad. :( It happens Smash, you'll see!

See, she's still her same spunky self!

Love you Long Time Smash!

New Years

We realized that every New Year's Eve that Nick and I have been together, has been spent up in Logan!

Sad that this was our last one here!

We spontaneously planned to have dinner with our friends Matt, Em and Grace. Our party largely grew to include Matt and Emily's two friends. Emily's sister Karli and brother in law Robby. And my sister Smash and her boyfriend Feller.

We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse (MAYHEM!) and went back to our house afterwards. We had so much fun watching Avery and Grace run around all night and play! Surprisingly they lasted until about 11:30.

I only took a couple of pictures...

Ash and Fell

Avery would not leave Grace alone!

Dancing?

Silly Grace!

Christmas

So I am now just getting around to posting about Christmas!

I cannot believe Christmas came and went in a blink of an eye!
It makes me quite sad.
I LOVE the holidays!
It's an excuse to see more of your family, decorate your house from top to bottom, bake special treats (that even the husband can't deny) and feel kindness and gratitude from others.
But POOF!
It was over like that!

We had an amazing Christmas!
A bit hectic.
But amazing none the less.
We were able to see ALL of our parents over the weekend.
Avery had sensory overload and I think it was all a bit overwhelming to her!

Avery got spoiled.
So spoiled that I am really embarrassed.
We kept quite a few presents in their boxes to rewrap for her birthday in March.
(Sorry Ave...if you ever read this in the future!)
This is what happens when you have 4 sets of grandparents who LOVE to spoil their granddaughter!
Note to self, buy one present for Ave next year & leave the rest to the grandparents! ;-)

Nick went above and beyond, as usual, but my favorite present was a book he made for me.
He turned our blog into a 250 page family journal!
This will become a tradition (sorry babe, you started it!) that I will look forward to every year!

I hope all of my family and friends had an amazing Christmas spent with their loved ones!
We love you all!

Soooo excited for the kitchen Santa brought her!

Avery didn't like opening her presents. She'd open one and we'd have to bribe her to open another. She just wanted to play with her kitchen.

I made Monkey Bread, which will now be a traditional Christmas treat!

Proud Daddy!

Opening presents at Grandpa Dale and Grandma Sheri's!

Grandpa gave her a book with his voice recorded on it. It is one of Ave's FAVORITE books ever!

A little tired from the exciting morning!

Pretty sure our family is obsessed with facial hair.

Christmas Morning with Thhe Holt's.

Christmas afternoon with my mom!

(My camera died right after this picture! :( )

Ty trying to have Ave show us her muscles. (Wasn't happening.)

Ty and Smash!

Ave with her Great Grandma Shirley.

Grandpa Glen.

Christmas dinner with Nick's mom, Vickie.

Love you Linds!

Day after Christmas my Dad and Dee Dee came by!

(Ave showing her muscles.)

Thank you to our wonderful families for providing us with such a wonderful and loving Christmas!