Summer Update

***********Yes this is a long post...but mostly pictures. :)***********
I think James and I found a great way to make the most of the different seasons with these bucket lists we put together. It has been a lot easier to get an idea of the various things we would like to do and then write them down. Plus it helps when I post it here. :p So here are a few things we have being doing this summer after my last summer post. Every year Ogden Clinic had a Lagoon day (this year sadly was the last year). They don't pay for Toddlers and we didn't have the money to get Avery an all day pass, but we still had tons of fun. Our friends Karen and James have season passes; so they brought their little girl to spend a few hours with us. The only free rides Avery could go on was the train, carousel and Ferris wheel. We had a nice day. We walked around Pioneer park a lot looking at the different museums and buildings, rode the train and the carousel and did something that I never had done before at Lagoon. We actually sat down and watched one of the shows. It was fun to just listen to all the talented singers and watch my cute little girl dancing to the music and mimicking their dance moves. Avery also loved the train and the animals, no matter how much I tried I could not get her to look away. :p Also this year was the first time Avery wasn't afraid of the carousel, so we ended up going twice. :p She even wanted to ride the cat that went up and down, something that she was terrified of, but loved this year. :)

 

 

 

 We have a tradition of going to the Weber State fireworks every year, they usually have them the weekend between the 4th of July and the 24th of July ( a Utah holiday called Pioneer day). It's fun because that's usually the Sunday either before or after my birthday. :) Avery was scared of the fireworks that we had on the 4th, so I was a little nervous how she was going to react to this huge firework show, complete with music and howitzer cannon brought in by the Air force.

She still asks to see the "fireworks that go boom." the cannon didn't scare her at all and she loved the fireworks and sitting outside. She even got to play with her cousins while the adults just talked and waited for the crowd and cars to thin. We really enjoy doing this every year. :)
I had a great birthday too the same day as the fireworks we had a fun little birthday dinner for myself and Ilia (my new sister in law). My actual birthday I got a little surprise from James. I woke up to find a cute little James and Avery made candy bouquet waiting for me.

 

 

 

 

Avery had no problems helping me eat some of the candy. :p

 We have had fun play dates with our good friend Deacon that Avery loves. But after he leaves she does feel a bit tired. :)

 We have made giant cardboard box's into playhouses and played with it till it fell apart.

Daddy had a fun guys weekend in park city, so we visited the park before we drove him up there.

 

 While James was away we had a garage sale which was mostly Avery and I racing match box cars down our steep driveway. :) We did get a few sales but not enough to cover the cost of going to the upcoming family reunion at Lake Tahoe which we were hoping for. So we decided to have a little stay-cation of our own. 

We had built a blanket fort, made popcorn and homemade ice cream and finally rented the movie Frozen to watch. Avery didn't make it to long through  it all, but it was still fun. :)

I know she looks naked but she has her pajama shorts on, she decided she wanted to take off her shirt. We have also had fun in Avery's tiny pool in the backyard.

 We tried to go camping but due to an unforeseen expense that took up the rest of our money we didn't have any way of getting food to go camping, so we set up the tent and had a little camp out in the backyard too.

 Avery loved helping daddy set up the tent, but when it came time to sleep in it she wanted to play. But when she started getting sleepy she said she wanted to go sleep in her bed. I guess being so close to the house she had a hard time understanding the concept. But camping is still a plan this summer and hopefully when we are actually in the mountains she'll have no problems. We also went to the Brigham City pool with the family.

 I didn't get any pictures since my phone or camera isn't water proof :p, the one above is just a generic picture off the web. But we had a lot of fun. Avery surprised us all by asking to go on the big slide. So her uncle bob took one of the twins while James took the other and I had Avery. I thought for sure we were going to be heading back down the stairs, but Avery was determined. She watched Bob and Parker go and then her daddy with Andrew, and now it was her and her mommy. Again I thought one we sat down she would say no and want to get out. She loved it, so much in fact that she wanted to go again and again. She went on it about 4 more times before we left. She also found that there was kiddie slides too which she also went down quite a bit. We had a lot of fun at the pool with cousins and aunts and uncles. After we had a fun birthday party for my father in law.
We've also been doing a lot of fun games like hide and go seek...

 We've also gone to parks, hikes, and just had fun being silly

 I have also had the wonderful chance to volunteer at a private stable for these sweethearts

  Avery has even done some flying. :)

We have even had a lot of really great storms roll through.

All in all it has been a very fun summer so far. :)

4th of July Fun

We hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July weekend. We had a nice fairly relaxing weekend. Perry city had things going on all week long and every year after the softball tournament they have a firework show, so they don't have to compete with the Brigham City fireworks. I spent most of Thursday getting my booth ready for my business Everythings Ducky Boutique but I did stop to watch the fireworks with everyone. We have a steep hill for a backyard; we climbed up the hill and had a perfect view of the fireworks. I tried to take a few pictures of them I got a few good ones but I decided to take a video instead. Here are some pictures of the ones that turned out ok.

On the actual 4th I spent most of my morning at the festivities. :) I got there just as the fireman's breakfast started and got my booth set up. James came by later with Avery to play at the park and have some breakfast. They stayed there playing on the playground till the parade started. this was Avery's first parade so I was a little bummed that I had to stay at my booth and not see her reaction. James said she loved the fire trucks siren; she kept telling it to be careful. She laughed at the people riding there horses and doing tricks on them. But James said she really loved the marching band; especially the drum line. He said she kept patting her hands on her lap to the beat.
After the parade he took her home for some lunch and her nap. I stayed at my booth. I had a really nice spot under a big shady tree across from the baseball diamond so I could watch the games. I also had a nice view of the dunk tank; it was fun watching all the kids and adults get excited to either throw the ball or be the one getting dunked. :p After the softball tournament ended and they crowned the winner people started to filter out, and vendors started to pack it up. I watched for awhile to see how many people were actually packing up before I packed up my booth too. Back at the house everyone was enjoying a nice 4th. Out of my Sil's 6 kids only her twins were there, so it was quieter than we were use to. When I got there the twins and Avery were starting to get a little wound up from being inside so much. The little kiddie pools where in the back warming up; so we decided it was time to let them play outside. The rest of the day was pretty much playing outside with the kids. Nikki and I made a firework run and when we got back everyone was in the front yard and ready. We had pop it's for the kids and sparklers; none of them were very interested in the sparklers though so we just started our little budget firework show. :p It was actually perfect timing though because when our little firework show was done the Brigham City fireworks started. It's kinda nice being able to watch them from home so we don't have to worry about the crowded park. :) After the show we got the kids in jammie's and down to sleep while the grown ups had a game night. :) We had a fun 4th and a relaxing weekend. :) Here are some more pictures.

 My little ham. She loves getting her picture taken.

 She just learned how to roll down the hill so it has quickly become one of her favorite things to do outside.

 James having fun with the rest of the sparklers that the kids didn't want to play with. :p

Hair Update

So I realized that I forgot to post about my change. My hair was getting so long, and I was trying to grow it out, but I noticed that I couldn't do my hair everyday; having such long hair took awhile to do, about an hour and a half to two hours to be exact. I just didn't have time to do it, so I would usually just braid it or stick it up in a pony tail, bun or messy bun. It got to the point that if I did have my hair down even if it wasn't straightened or anything people would say how nice it looked and how they hadn't seen my hair down in awhile. Having my hair up all the time mad me feel frumpy and kinda dumpy. So I decided it was time for a change. I searched and searched and researched and made up my mind on the hairstyle I wanted. I made the hair appointment and the day came. I was very nervous. Here are my before and after pictures.

Nope no smile. :p I was really nervous and unsure about what I was about to do. I printed off the hairstyle I wanted and went to my stylist. she was shocked at what I wanted to do, but so nice and sweet and very encouraging too. I was at the salon for a little over an hour and here is the results when I came home.

I cut about 13 inches off my hair ( I think). James had no idea what I was going to do. He knew I was going to get my haircut but he didn't know how drastic. So I put my hair in a box, I had a plan to tell him. but he came home a little earlier than I thought, so I asked my mother in law to give him the box and I ran down the hall right as he walked in. My MIL gave him the box, he asked what it was and my mil told him that she was told to give it to him. He opened it up and my mil said that he just stared at it and then smiled and asked where I was. I came up to him so he could see. He was shocked but really liked it. :) Here is what my hair looks like a month after the cut.

It now takes me about a half and hour to do my hair, I still have a lot of different ways I can do my hair and its a lot cooler. So yes I love it. :)