Farewell Holly

Well After having Holly for about a year and a half and half of the year her battling a horrible tumor on her bum, we decided it was time to let her go.  The tumor on her Bum was getting so big that it was hard for her to walk, and go to the bathroom. It was also starting to bleed randomly. We debated about whether or not she was still happy or miserable and if this was something we should do. After one morning of Holly looking particularly bad and the bleeding was pretty severe, we decided it was time. We called out vet and asked when we could bring her in. The next day James and I dropped Avery off at school and then we went down to fill out the paperwork and gave Holly to our vet. Because rats have such small veins, they have to make the injection into her stomach. She reassured us that Holly wasn't going to be in any pain but that it would take 30 minutes or so before the injection would circulate through her system but once it does she would simply fall asleep and not wake up. Because of the long process she told us that most families find it easier to say their goodbyes before instead of waiting out the injection to circulate. James and I decided to do just that. We said our goodbyes and then headed off to work. Needless to say despite our decision it has still been hard. We will miss Holly but know that she is in a better place and that she is back with her sister Hattie.

RIP Sweet Playful Holly

Geology FInal

Jan 26th
For my Geology lab final my teacher asked us to take either a virtual tour or a real tour of any state or national park and then write a paper on the geology of the area. Since we go to Snow Canyon State park so much I thought it could be a fun family outing to go out for a hike while I researched the geology and took pictures of the area. As always we had a fun little adventure and I got to get a lot of great pictures and information to write my paper. Here are some of the pictures I took. Enjoy:

Gymnastics

For awhile we have been talking to Avery about if she wanted to learn dance or gymnastics. Gymnastics seemed to win every time, which we were a little happy about because it's cheaper. :p We kept telling her she was going to start after Christmas. So on January 17th we went in to look at the gym and talk about the cost, requirements, classes, etc. Then we signed her up, she was so excited she wanted to start right then. :) I was able to pull her away from the gym with the promise of starting the following week and saying we needed to go buy her a gymnastics outfit.
The following Tuesday (January 24th) when I picked her up from school she had almost forgot that that was the day she started till I asked her to go potty and change. Then she had to run around showing everyone she could her new gymnastics uniform and tell them that she was going that day. When we got there we found out that Avery's first day was a sort of special day; it was the parents program where everyone got to show off what they were learning. After being reassured that Avery could participate and she was going to be fine I contacted James to see if he could get off work fast enough and get down there. I knew he was going to want to watch this. :)
They started off with a little obstacle course that they had to follow and do various little things at each obstacle. They had a beam to walk on and then a pad to jump on, a hula hoop to sit in and point your toes and then a pad in the shape of a wedge to do a back flip on and then salute. Avery was so excited that when her teacher asked who wants to go first Avery's hand immediately shot into the air. :p  They went through the obstacle a few times and every time she improved with her technique until pretty soon she was telling one of the teachers that she didn't need help to do the back flip. :) I love my spunky sassy girl. Next they moved them to another obstacle where they hung on the rings and then walked across a squiggly beam and then did a spider crawl across the parallel bars.Then everyone sat down to watch a special program from a few of the kids working on routines for a competition then they had all the classes come up one at a time to do a final salute to the parents and receive a ribbon. Avery was bouncing when she came over to me and became even more excited to see that Daddy had made it to watch her. :)

Pre-School Homework

Avery's school has been sending her home with some cute first reader books for her to start practicing how to read. She has a lot of fun with it, but I think learning to read for her might be a little difficult...maybe but maybe not. She has such a good memory that when we read the book once she remembers what it says and can say it back. But it is a start and she has been having so much fun sounding the words out. After a few times reading the same book we'll mix it up by going back a page or pointing out other words to try and get her mind thinking about what the words say rather than what the story's about. Its hard sometimes to see her get so frustrated but when she gets it and gets so excited her face just lights up and its so cute. :)

Happy New Years

Our plans for New Years kinda fell through so we improvised a little. We got some goodies and drinks from the store and decided to have a family night in. Avery received a late Christmas gift from Bob and Ilia; a cute little toy that you can make your own plaster animals and then paint them. So we each chose an animal and made cute plaster animals. Avery loved making these, she especially loved painting them. The rest of the night we played a menagerie of games, we played all the games Avery got for Christmas as well as a bunch of video games; mostly the lego ones. Avery tried her hardest to stay awake till midnight but she got extremely grumpy and unbearable. So around 10 we had a little new years celebration with her and sent her to bed. :) James and I stayed up watching The big Bang Theory and munching on shrimp, chips and cookies...Yup we're all about being healthy. :p We rang in the new year with sparkling cider and talked about things we have to look forward to. the biggest and most immediate being the baby. :) But we also talked about me being in school and purchasing a house. We are hoping for a great year.
WELCOME 2017!!!