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.