Avery is such a big girl!

I just wanted to say how proud of Avery I am. The last couple of days she has had the signs of a cold coming on. She had a fever and runny nose, and then a yesterday she started showing the signs of pink eye. So we decided to take her to the doctor to get it treated. Those of you that really know Avery she is somewhat on the sensitive side and kind of a chicken. She has never really liked the doctors office. I can't really blame her though for the first handful of doctors visits they go to it has nothing to do with being sick and everything to do with shots. Anyways, she did such a great job yesterday at the doctors office. She hardly even whined. Most the time she is in tears while we are waiting in the exam room for the doctor to show up, and it just escalates from there. Even when I have just taken her with me to one of Emmabelle's appointments she crys. The doctor doesn't even touch her there. She weighed in at a whopping 22.5 lbs. We did get a prescription for the eye, but when I went to drop it off and they told me that I would have to fork out $80, twice as much as the visit to the doctor itself, we decided to just let it run its course. One of the perks of owning your own business, no insurance. Anyway, I just thought it was such a milestone for her anyway. As a mother you take all the progress you can get. I love her to death and I wouldn't change a thing about her, but all the crying and whining sure can take it's toll on you.

PS. Emmabelle has learned to clap. She has finally mastered it. I have been waiting and waiting for it. I think it is one of the cutest things when a baby gets so excited and starts to clap. She thinks she is just the greatest too. So far with my two girls I have decided that this age is my favorite. They learn so much and change so much it really feels very rewarding as a mom.

Weekend Events

This was the first weekend in quite a while where we were just able to stay home and be together as a family. It was really nice. Dave wasn't working or off scouting, and the girls and I had nothing pressing to do.

Saturday Dave spent most of the day getting the garden started. He was finally able to till it after having my parents tiller for months now. Sorry about that. He also got the manuer spread and tilled also. The only drawback from this was that both my husband and my darling two year old smelled like stinky cow. It was so disgusting. I just hate that smell. Avery had a blast though. Dave was also very excited . He has been dying to have the time to work in the garden. Our biggest goal is to become a little more self sufficient. I am really excited to be able to learn how to can. We have decided to have a massive garden with everything imaginable in it.

I was able to attend our Stake Women's Conference on Saturday. I really enjoyed it. The theme was centered on a quote by President Kimball, "If we follow in the Savior's footsteps, we can live by faith rather than fear. If we can share his perspective about people, we can love them, serve them, and reach ou to them." The first presentation was given by a woman who recently went on a tour of Egypt and Isreal. She was able to visit Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and all those neat places where Christ spent his life on this earth. Some of the things that she told us made me very grateful to live in the US. She said that they pay 8 dollars a gallon for gas, and the taxes for vehicles were at 100% so a $20,000.00 car actually came out to $40,000.00. I know we are in a hard spot right now but thank goodness it isn't that bad. I am not sure of the lady's name who gave one of the talks, but I really enjoyed it. She spoke on how we can adopt Christ's example into our lives. I really wish I was better at remember quotes and things like that because she really had a lot of good points that she brought across. She really stress the importance of not judging other. You never know what someone's situation might be. You don't know what circumstances occured to put them in the position they are in so you have no basis to really judge anyone. This really hit home to me. I know that a lot of times I am guilty of split second judgement and I think now I will try to think twice. Another speaker I really enjoyed was our Stake President. President Harrington is such an amazing man. I always enjoy listening to his words of wisdom. He centered his thoughts on living by faith rather than fear. The point he made that hit home for me was when he started talking about the little things. He basically said that how can we expect the Lord to ask amazing things of us if we can't even accomplish the little things he asks of us. It all starts with daily prayer, scripture study, church attendance, and all those things that are suppose to be second nature to us. It was a very good day.

Sunday we were able to feed the missionaries. It almost ended up being a disaster. The roast was to big and didn't cook fast enough, so last minute we had to change what we were having and ended up serving them hamburgers. Avery was so excited when I told her the missionaries were coming. She came running down the hall telling me that the "airymissions" are coming to my house. It was the cutest. Then when they got here she pretended to be all shy and wouldn't even talk to them.

Emmabelle is getting very good at walking. She walks more than she crawls anymore. It amazes me how fast she is picking it up. She will find somewhere she can stand up, walk as far as she can and then crawls back to stand up and starts all over. She is even walking around outside. It won't be long before she is a pro.

All in all the weekend was very enjoyable. Hope yours was a great one to.

Temple Ground Breaking

The ground breaking for the Gila Valley Temple was on Saturday Feb. 14. I didn't end up going, but I heard that it was a really good experiance and that the speakers did a really good job. I am planning on going to the site soon to take pictures so that I can keep up on the progress and I will post them as soon as I do. It is going to be so neat to see a temple being built, and it will be even more exciting when it is done and we get to actually start doing work there. I am very excited to have a temple so close. We don't go near as often as we should and I hope that this will help us to start doing the temple work that we should be doing.

President's Day Weekend

This last weekend the girls and I were able to go and visit Papa and Grandma Mortensen. Dave was super busy and needed to focus extra hard on his work so he kicked us out of the house and what better place to go than the grandparents house. Avery loves going to visit her grandparents. I always take my camera, but then fail to take pictures so once again there is nothing to show for the weekend. We didn't do much just visit and play.

We were able to go see Trina and her family. They have been working hard to get settled into their house. It was really good to see them again though. Avery was terrified of Levi. He kept trying to give her hugs and play with her, but she just didn't like the idea of that. She would come running and crying to myself or grandma to save her. Beau was the cutest about it. He acted as her protector. He would stand right by her and any time Levi came after her he would stand between them and keep Levi away from her. He even started putting his arm around her. I thought it was adorable.

We stayed through Monday afternoon. Other than the sleepless nights, and thanks to my mom I got more sleep than I should have, it was a very good weekend. I always enjoy going over there and not having to worry about anything.

9 Months and First Steps

Our little Emmabelle has turned 9 months. It is amazing how time flies. She is such a big girl now. On our scale at home she weighs in at 18.5 lbs. I am making a doctors appointment for next week so we shall see how accurate that is.

She loves to jabber and make noise. Her favorite noises are sticking her tongue in and out and blowing zerberts on the furniture. Along with dada and mama her new favorite word is uh oh. She says it anytime she drops something. She still hasn't started using mama and dada to call us, but she has the sounds down.

Her biggest accomplishment in the last month is starting to walk, and she loves it. She started taking her first steps around the 9 month mark and is getting it down really fast. This last week she has started to get brave and ventures away from the furniture. I have no doubt that by 10 months she will be a pro and chasing her sister around the house. I hope you enjoy watching the video of her.

Her current teeth count is 8. Four on top and four on bottom. They are very sharp and she knows how to use them. Everytime I go to get something out of her mouth that she found on the floor I have to pry her mouth open so she will let go of my finger. I am very surprised she hasn't drawn blood. We even bought her first tooth brush the other day. She enjoys chewing on it.

Emmabelle Crawling

Here is a video of Emmabelle crawling. She is so good at it now and very proud of herself.

Busy Life = Quick Post

I am sad to say that I have not had time to blog. The only good thing about it is that I have kept myself busy with other things. I will try not to bore you as I catch up on all the exciting events in our lives this past month.

A few weeks ago we were able to get together with a few friends and have a bbq at Thatcher park. It was a lot of fun. We grilled hamburgers and the kids had a good time playing on the slides and swings. Those in attendance were: my brother Clint and his family, Jason and Shannon Green, Jarom and Nicole Lunt with their kids, and then Dave, the girls and I. It was nice to be able to just get out and enjoy the company of such good people. We really like spending time with the friends that we have.

Emmabelle really loves to swing.

We also tried out the slide. She wasn't sure about that.

Avery with her friend Brooke Lunt.

Could you feed us already.

Just being goofy. They are so cute though. They go to nursery together.

The biggest news of this month that I am so excited to share is the small vacation that Dave and I were able to take together. Yes, I mean just the two of us. I would first like to thank all those that helped in making the weekend possible. My parents were more than willing to come and watch the girls for us, they had so much fun with Grandpa and Grandma I don't think they even really missed us. They did so well for it being the first time we have actually left them overnight. Even more incintive to do it more often. Another big helper in the weekend for us was Dave's brother Dan. He was so generous and had some extra points on his credit card that he got us a free hotel stay. Not only was it a free hotel stay for two nights, but he put us up in the Hilton in Mesa. We stayed on the eighth floor. That is the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in. Then on top of that he was able to get us tickets to The Lion King which was sold out. Thank you so much for helping to make our weekend so special.

Dave and I left on Friday afternoon. When we got to Phoenix we went and ate at Olive Garden. My choice of dining for the weekend. We went and said hello to James and Silvia and visited with them for a little while. I decided that I wanted some ice cream and so about an hour later we finally found a DQ. We know our way around Phoenix pretty good, but it always seems that when we want to find something we can never find it. Saturday we had some errands to run. I had to pick up some stuff for my mom, and I also had some shopping to do for my sister-in-law's baby shower. We went and saw The Lion King at ASU Gammage Auditorium. It was such an awesome show. It pretty much follows the story line, but the best part is the costumes, and the music. I would recommend it to anyone. We ate at Pete's Fish and Chips, Dave's choice of dining, and then we went and played a round of put put golf at Golfland. We also had fun afterwards playing video games and such. Sunday we leisurely got up and then headed home. When we got home I was so excited to see my girls. It was such a good and needed weekend. We really enjoyed being able to be together and just worry about us. I think I have convinced my husband to make it more of a tradition. I would really like to start doing it about twice a year. Once around our anniversary, and then again around the 6 month mark. The only bad thing about the whole weekend was that I had a major tooth ache the whole weekend. I pretty much stayed drugged up and I had a real hard time eating.

When we were gone on our trip Grandpa decided to take it upon himself and build the girls swingset. Avery was so excited to see her swing finally hanging and capable of being swung on. She had been begging us since Christmas to swing on her swing, but with time constraints Dave just hadn't gotten it done. Thanks Grandpa the girls just love it.

This Saturday we had Nicole's baby shower. I got together with her mom and sisters, and my mom and planned the party. It was John Deere themed, since that is what the baby's room will be decorated in. I had a lot of fun planning it and I think that Nicole enjoyed the finished product. I made my first ever diaper cake. It really isn't all that hard, but I was very proud of my finished product. I will have to get a picture from my mom and post it later. I made a recieving blanket, and a quilt, and used them to decorate the second and third tiers with. We played a couple of games and just enjoyed visiting with friends and family. I will have to post pictures later.

Avery and Emmabelle are doing well. Emmabelle is moving more and more every day. She crawls all over the house, and she walks along anything she can hold on to. She is also starting to get brave and lets go and stands all by herself. She does pretty good. She will be walking before we know it. She definately has a temper on her and gets very frusterated when she can't get to where she wants to go. She is following in her sister's footsteps and is head over heals in love with her Daddy. All he has to do is walk in the room and she is at his feet begging to be picked up and crys when he puts her down. Somedays it is hard for me, and I don't feel very loved by my children. I don't know if other moms feel the same way, but I try to remember that they are with me all day long and Daddy is just a change of scenery. Also Daddies don't have to discipline all day long and say no all the time. Oh, big news. Emmabelle said one of her first words with real meaning behind it today. She has been saying dada and mama but not for their true meaning, but today she dropped her bottle while she was eating and said uh oh. It is so cute. We can get her to mimic us also and Dave just loves to play the uh oh game with her.

The other evening after we had given the girls their bath I was sitting on the couch watching TV and Emmabelle comes walking over and this is what I saw.

At first I couldn't figure it out so I went and look where she was playing and I found a pretty blue crayon. Everything goes in the mouth.

Avery looks forward to the days that she gets to play with her friends and she loves to go outside and swing on her swing. She does really good at swinging on her tummy when I have had enough of pushing her, and she is doing pretty good at sharing when her cousin Merry comes over to play. She really loves to go high. I am working on her whining and crying the best I can. If anyone has any suggestions on that one please let me know. I have a hard time keeping my cool when she is crying all the time, but I have learned that I do have the self control to not yell so much and am very proud of my progress the last couple of days. She is becoming more aware of Heavenly Father and Jesus. In the past she has asked questions about the moon and wondered why it wakes up at night and my response to questions like that is usually "because that's the way Heavenly Father made it" Well the other day we were in the car and I had just rolled my window down to talk to Dave and as we were pulling out of the drive way she asked me if I would roll her window down. I proceeded to tell her that her window didn't roll down and this was here reply:

"Mom I just want Heavenly Father to make my window roll down."

"Well Avery Heavenly Father can't make your window roll down. The car just isn't made that way."

"But I just want Heavenly Father to roll down my window."

"Heavenly Father didn't make the car honey, people made the car and it just won't roll down I am sorry."

Seriously how do you explain something like that to a two year old. It was so cute though, and it always makes me feel good to hear her talk about the gospel. I really feel like she is learning and that somehow I am helping to build her testimony and planting that seed.

The other night Dave made the girls a fort. They just loved it so much. Avery wanted to sleep in it. Dave made her a little bed and gave her a flash light to play with. Emmabelle just wanted to tear it down. It was really cute to watch them.We have been very excited about the business that we have been getting lately. January was a busy month for Dave and he has even been booked out about a week so, that is good. His usual goal for the month is 9 appraisals and in January he got 11 or 12. This is such a comfort to us since the economy has been declining, but with the decrease in interest rates that has really helped the business keep going.

I will continue to try and post more often so that I don't have to do so much catch up when I finally do post. That should help to keep it interesting.