Best Big Sister to Be!!!!

The past couple of days Avery has been very cute playing with her baby. Well she is always cute, but here are a few pictures of her. All of these things she has done all by herself. Well I supplied the lotion for her, but she came and asked me for it.

It is hard to tell, but here is Avery wiping her baby's bottom

Now she is attempting to put the diaper on. She had a little assistance with this.

Here is the finished product. She really likes to do cheezy smiles.

This morning she decided to lotion her baby. She came and asked me "Baby sotion Mama". That is how she says lotion.

She can't really get lotion out of the bottle, but she did a very good job of pretending. It is going to be very interesting to see how she is with her baby sister.

Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Family albums

Ready to Go

This morning Avery and I decided to do our grocery shopping. I got my purse and was ready to head out the door and I called for Avery from the other room and this is how she walked in. We had to go and show her daddy so these are the pictures he took.

Riding with Baby

The other day while I was getting ready for the day Avery came into the bathroom on her wheely bug and had her baby sitting in front of her giving her a ride. I just thought it was the cutest. Here are the pictures.

Easter 2008

Well I meant to get this blog on a little earlier, but when we got home from our Easter weekend we all ended up with a bug so it put me out of commission for a couple of days. Easter ended up being really good. The Marcel Mortensen Family has their reunion every year during Easter weekend. We usually do it up in the White mountains at Grandpa's cabin in Alpine, but this year it was moved to the Cotton City LDS Church. There ended up being 56 of us total that got together on Saturday. It was a day full of fun. The kids all flew kites, we had lots of good food, Easter eggs were hidden and found, and we also were able to have our annual talent show. Easter Sunday was also special, it turns out that the Mortensen family made up the whole sacrament meeting program. Uncle Jim and Aunt Marie both spoke, and the intermediate hymn was "Love is Spoken Here" sung by those members of the Mortensen family who were able to stay for church. All in all it was a very fun weekend. Here are some pictures of the events.

Avery's first kite flying experience. She really enjoyed it.

The Easter egg hunt.

Putting eggs in her basket.

The Easter Bunny goodies.

Avery with her cousins Marcy and Merry.

Avery in her Easter dress.

The Clinton Mortensen Family Easter 2008.

The Hartman Family Easter 2008

The Man's Project

This Easter the family has decided that they want Dave to smoke some of his amazing brisket so of course that let to the Man Project. Dave and Clint have really had a great time working together to get the new smoker ready for Easter. Here is Dave's newest love.




Clint wasn't here the day that I took the pictures, but he did his fare share of contributing. They can hardly wait to give it a test run this week sometime.

Big Shoes to Fill

Avery really loves shoes. She is starting very young fulfilling her girl desires. She is always wanting to put on whatever shoes she can find. The other day she just happened to find her Daddy's boots.

Trying to climb out.

Walking the Wagon

Avery has always loved going for walks. Since we don't have a dog to walk she likes to take the wagon for a walk. She will rarely ride in it. The only time I can get her to ride in it is on the way home. So the easiest thing for us to do is walk across the street to the church parking lot and she just has a ball. She can walk the wagon all she wants without having to worry about traffic. She enjoys filling it up with rocks and pinecones that she finds on the ground. There are times that she gets frustrated though, because the wagon is a little more powerful than she is. She really likes it when I sit in the wagon and she pulls me around. Of course I have to help push with my feet, but she thinks she is so big when she takes mommy for a walk. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Hartman the wagon has been a huge success.

Finding treasures to put in my wagon.

Getting ready to go home.

Feeding the Boorbies (aka birdies)

One of Avery's favorite things to do with her Daddy is feed the birds. She is constantly asking him to take her outside to feed the birds. We have to listen really closely to what she is saying because birdy sounds alot like another word. She just loves it though. Here are a few pictures of her feeding the birds in our back yard.

We also went to the duck ponds today and fed the ducks. It was a big hit. She is very much into ducks. She calls them quack quacks. In fact quack was one of her first words and it was most definitely her first animal sound.

She even waddled after a few of them.

Little Miss Independent

Avery has become quite the independent little girl. She is always wanting to do things by herself, even if they are out of her ability. Her biggest show of independence comes in the mornings when it is time to get dressed. It has become quite the little game between us.

First step open the drawer

Once she has the drawer open she must take out every shirt before she decides which one she will wear. And you better believe she picks the one she wants.

Then she attempts to put on the shirt.

She can usually get it pulled up to her waist.

Next comes the pants once mom has secured the shirt.

She is actually getting quite good at the pants. She can get her legs in but can't get them pulled up. It usually takes us a good 15 to 20 minutes to get dressed in the morning. I usually don't put up much of a fight unless we have to be somewhere. I just try to let her explore and figure it out.

Her other big independence is carrying her own bag. It is really to big for her, but she will either drag it or if it is light enough I will put it on her shoulders.

It is so fun to watch her try to figure new things out. It just amazes me how her little mind is constantly working. It most definately keeps me entertained.

Avery's Pretties

Avery's very first pony (aka pretties).

Just another cute pony.

Even pig tails were a success.

I finally got tired of people mistaking Avery for a boy so I decided to try the pony tail thing. I never thought she had the features of a boy and all the pink and purple shouldn't have been a dead give away, but for some reason people saw her as a boy.

I wasn't sure how she would do, because she would hardly even let me play with her hair. Surprisingly enough though she does very well at holding still and letting me put her pretties in. She is turning into quite the prissy little girl, playing with dolls, carrying my purse around, and getting her hair done.

Hartman Baby #2

Well the time has come for the family to grow again. We are proud to annouce the expectant arrival of baby number two. She will join our family sometime at the beginning to middle of May. We are all very excited. We haven't settled on a name as of yet, but I am sure we will know what to name her when the time comes.

She is most definately a girl.

Here is her cute foot.

What a wonderful profile.

Avery is also busy getting ready to be the big helper for her mom and baby sister.

Avery trying to feed her baby breakfast. I wasn't sure if we were going to get Avery to eat that morning. But eventually she would try putting it in the baby's mouth and then put it in her own.

Going in for a kiss. After the baby took a good bite Avery wanted to give her a big kiss.

I'm going to have to keep my eyes on her, but I think once she adjusts to sharing her parents she will be a great big sister.

Christmas 2007

I know that Christmas has been over for a while, but I thought I would at least put some pictures of Avery's first Christmas that she could actually make it fun. She was very spoiled. We spent Christmas in Flagstaff with Dave's family. It was really nice because every member of his family was there. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

Avery with the Christmas tree that we put up at our home is Safford.

Avery with her new wagon. The pile of presents behind her is mostly hers.

I really need to get better at taking pictures. I didn't even get a picture of us as a family on Christmas day. It was lots of fun though. Avery really enjoyed playing with her cousins and being with her Grandpa Clay and Grandma Mary.

Giving it a try.

Well I have finally decided to give the whole blog scene a try. We shall see how it goes.

Most everyone should know that we are now living in Safford. It has been a little over 3 months and we are enjoying it very much. Dave has started his own business and is doing very well. It has been a little slow, but he is pleased with how it is going. It has been a lot more work than he expected, but he loves being his own boss. He also loves living where he can be outdoors almost 365 days of the year. He gets together with my brother a lot and they do all of their manly things. Dave has also been called as the new scout master in our ward and is very thrilled about it. He can't wait to get those boys out there and teach them a thing or to. He does have his work cut out for him though. It seems that the program hasn't been extremely successful and all of his boys are behind. He is very enthusiastic though and should have them back on track in no time.

As for me I get to stay home with Avery. She is the joy of my life. I watch Clint and Nicole's girls two to three days a week and that provides me with some play money, or it will once the business gets going a little better. We will be welcoming a new little girl into our home in May. We are very excited. It is going to be very interesting to see how we all adjust. Avery is very possessive of her Daddy, I don't know if she will be willing to share him with her sister.

I apologize if this first blog is a little drab. I just wanted to get a feel for it and get everyone updated on our family. I will try to make them as exciting as possible. I hope you enjoy.