Comment if you read please

Hello everyone. I am just curious if anybody can see/read this, to make sure that I set up the private settings correctly. If you read and can see everything well please comment and let me know. If something is a miss then also, please tell me and I can try and get it fixed. :) Thank you! :D

I've HAD IT!

Avery and I both have needed haircuts for awhile now, but due to time, money, whatever we haven't been able to get it done. Well today I have had it! Poor Avery is constantly pushing her hair out of her face and looks like she has developed quite the twitch. So this morning I put Peppa Pig on the computer to occupy her and I tried my hand at cutting her hair. I think it turned out rather well. It looks cute and doesn't seem to bother her anymore. so overall I call it a success. :)

 I gave her swoop bangs because that is just the way her hair seems to go.

and I cut off a little over an inch. Her bangs I cut off closer to 2 inches. Finally she stops the "twitch" :) and her hair doesn't look as messy.

Happy Halloween

We hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Halloween. We had a busy and yet very fun week full of Halloween stuff. First James has been working as the butcher at the field of screams at Staheli Farms. He loved every minute of it but says that he is happy to be back home at nights and being able to spend time with us and rest.

 He said he had a knife (the one in his hand in the pictures) as a prop as well as a skill saw without a blade. He said he liked using the skill saw and going after peoples ankles to freak em out.
Avery's teachers did lots of fun Halloween stuff too. Avery always came home with a new song she was singing or a new story, or mummy, bat, spider, etc that she had drawn or painted and made. The day before Halloween she painted a pumpkin and her teachers gave her a bag of fun little toys and candy with a donut and rice krispie treat. She was on a sugar high almost the entire weekend if not the week. :p She said she wanted to add a face to her pumpkin she painted. So I pulled out the googly eyes and she got so excited and a little googly eye happy. :p

 On Halloween day (Saturday) Avery and I got up A LOT earlier than James, poor guy didn't get home till close to 1 AM. So Avery and I decided to get all our errands run that morning so we didn't have to worry about them anymore. We went to the farmers market to get the big pumpkin and then we to the grocery store to pick up some grocery's and odds and ends. We also picked up a couple more pumpkins. Then we had to run to the pet store to get some food and bedding. By this time Avery was getting really grumpy and hungry. It didn't help that there was a big pet adoption going on at Petco. We all want a dog SO bad. We need to wait though till we can get into a place that allows pets.
We headed home for some lunch and then a nap...which of course she refused. :p but the food helped lessen her grumpiness. We carved pumpkins while we ate a very early dinner. After we all started getting costumes on a ready; making final touches to them before heading over to the church for our ward's trunk or treat. We try and make our costumes every year, just cause it seems to add to the fun of Halloween and its fun to see how creative we can get. We also (sometimes) save some money when we do that. :) We find that a lot of our previous costumes can help us out too. James was happy to be able to dress up with us for a little bit, but he was sad that he was going to miss Avery trick or treating. He was only able to stay for about an hour before he needed to head out to the haunted house for the night. Avery and I stayed at the church to play games and then do the trunk or treat. We waited for a little before we left to go start walking the neighborhood where a lot of our ward members live to go trick or treating. Avery's anxiety was really bad at the beginning, she was worried about us parking the car and leaving it, she was worried about missing a house. But after we got into the middle of the neighborhood and started into a type of groove she was fine. :) I had to keep reminding her that houses that didn't have their lights on weren't giving out candy. She had fun but it wore her out really fast. She would knock on the door, ring the bell and then lay down on the door step to wait for them to answer. Poor girl was so tired but she kept saying "just 8 more houses mommy" Why 8? who knows :p Its just the number she picked. After that neighborhood (which had quite a few steep hills) we went to the neighborhood just above ours to go to a few friends houses. Finally I was able to convince her to get in the car to go get a drink at Artic Circle and then head home for the night. We got home a little after 9 and turned our lights on both Halloween and non. :) We only got about 5 trick or treater's though. We watched part of Jack Skellington before I noticed it was time to take the candy away. :) She was pounding it down rather quickly. Despite that she didn't argue to much with me for bed time and fell asleep rather quickly thank goodness. :) James got home a little after 12:30 which was quite surprising. I wasn't expecting him to come home until closer to 2 AM. It was a great Halloween and we were all grateful that daylight savings was the same weekend so we got a little extra sleep before church. Here are some pictures of our fun. :)

 James did the lantern, mines the cat and Avery wanted a happy face. :)
Happy Halloween

Dessert Garden Fun and DSU Trunk or Treat

Saturday we realized that we have really been slacking on our time we spend out doors. So we decided to go to the red dessert garden and explore. It is a really neat park with dinosaur tracks and a man made stream to resemble the Virgin river. They have all the plants labeled and facts about deserts and desert living. It was a lot of fun and it was so nice to be out walking in the sunshine.

 This past Wednesday we had a chance to attend the Dixie State University Athletic Department Trunk or Treat (Wow that was a mouthful :p) Avery was a little afraid of some of the costumes that the athletes were wearing but had a great time overall. James was ale to join us for about 30-45 min before he had to head over to the Haunted House. (I mentioned that he got a job there right?) After he left Avery took a few laps up and down the football field getting all of her energy out which was fine with me ;) More energy gone the easier getting her to bed will do...at least that what I thought. :p She had a lot of fun, She was excited about all the different candy she got and would tell me about them after they got put in her bucket. :) She got to meet Rapunzel and get a picture with her and of course introduced herself to some other kids and made some new friends. :) Avery is REALLY good at that I love it. On a more serious note I also noticed some odd behavior from her; after reflecting on it I realized that Avery has anxiety. She was worried about walking in the parking lot because she would get hit by a car, she didn't want to walk on the side walk because it was to close to the road where there was a lot of cars driving. She was worried about the cars staying on the road because she didn't want them to drive on the side walk and hit her. Then she was worried about the people. Are they going to come in and get candy too, did that little boy/girl get candy, or will they take her candy. On and on at first I was just a little baffled and not gonna lie kinda frustrated about it. But after thinking it over and talking it over with James we really think she may have some anxiety. So I will be talking to our doc and see if he can recommend any good books or other research options so that I can learn how to help her recognize and cope with her anxiety. I am very thankful that this is something we noticed now so that I can prepare myself on how to help her and handle her as well as help her understand a little better about how she is feeling, what she is feeling and have more conversations about her feeling. If anyone has had a child I would like to know your input as well.

Halloween Carnival

Avery's pre-school had a Halloween Carnival this past wed (Oct 21) I tried to get everyone's costumes done before the party but it wasn't happening. So I focused on getting Avery's finished and then James and I just dressed up as a pirate and a witch just for the party, I am going to work on all of our costumes this weekend to get them done and ready for next week. We were a little late but it really worked out for the better. There wasn't as many people there as I was expecting. Avery hopped right in and started finding her little friends to say hi to. James loved being able to see that, because I drop her off at school I am the one who gets to interact with Avery's teachers and her friends. It was fun to see how excited James was to watch Avery interact with her friends. Avery loved seeing all the different rooms all decked out in Halloween stuff. Every room had a fun game to play and then they got to go trick or treating to the teachers. They could play the games as much as they wanted, but they usually only gave them 1 treat. Avery had so much fun playing with all the games and seeing her friends. James and I were surprised that not as many parents and adults dressed up. Avery had made a cute cheese cloth ghost that the teachers had displayed in their room for the carnival. At the end of the carnival she got to take her ghost home with her. The second reason why I was happy we were a little late is because it was a pain to get her away from everything. It was a lot easier once they started closing everything down. It took a little while to get Avery calmed down after the excitement and the content of sugar intake. But we drove around and looked at Halloween decorations for a little bit and by the time we got home and ready for bed she didnt last long before she crashed. Which was excellent because James and I wanted to sleep too. by 9:30 we were all in bed and two thirds of us were happily snoozing and snoring away. :) It always takes me just a little bit longer to unwind, so I read until close to 10 before I fell asleep. Overall it was a lot of fun, Avery was still a little sleepy the next day and her teacher said she was one of the first to fall asleep which is not like her at all. :) She is usually the last IF they can get her to nap. :p

9 years

We have been enjoying one of the best months out of the year. :) We have been trying to get on our feet still from me being out of work for so long so for our anniversary we got a little creative. I woke up the morning of our anniversary with a sweet text from James explaining that he was going to do random text messages through the day looking back on our time together. I wrote him a 4 part love story distributed over 5 cards with a few candy goodies on a few. It was really very sweet and lots of fun and it felt like we were taking advantage of still having a special all day anniversary despite the fact we had to work. I cant really explain how amazing it felt, I think just because of all that we have been through in the past year....or even 3 years. It was nice to have something like this that was a little more intimate and thought out and helped us look back on our time together through the whole day. When James got home he had picked one of the flowers on our hibiscus plant and gave it to me which was so cute. Pont des Arts. Where people have been placing love locks on the bottom of the bridge. We climbed up there and I had a lock that James and I added to the bridge. With everything that we have been through and the hardships that we have faced particularly this past year or two, I felt like this was a good way to once again cement in our love and commitment to each other. I'm sorry if this offends someone; I know there is a lot of controversy over the love locks all over the world.

 Then we got ready and headed out to dinner at Dixie State's Red Rock Cafe. So my work ;) After dinner I had planned a walk at the nature park, but I had a special treat planned  that needed some light and since it was already getting late and dark, I told James and Avery that we had to go straight to the the second half of the evening. For those who don't know St George very well, there is this place called Pioneer Park. It is a red rock park with tons of hiking and fun; there is this hike up to this very large rock that over looks the city of St George and has the word DIXIE painted on it. You can repel and rock climb off the rock or just sit and admire the view. To get there though you climb up these hand chiseled stairs and then cross a metal bridge. A tradition has started on this bridge that is a lot like the
After we just sat and watched the sunset over St George. Avery loved spending the time with us and looking at all the lights of the city. I think she could probably feel that that was a special day and just the love and wonderful feelings the day had contained. James and I have had hard time some harder than others. We have come close to separation and even divorce (not gonna lie) and I was afraid this move down to St George was going to break us. It has been hard, we've been battling crippling depression, anxiety, job loss, financial difficulty and even expulsion from a daycare. But through it all we have tried to focus on our marriage and our personal and coupling relationship with the Lord. We have tried to turn to each other and relying on the Lord. Looking back at the past year, yes it has been hard. But James and I are so much more the better for it. We appreciate each other and the relationship we have together. We have grown together in the gospel and have felt the spirit more fully in our home and lives. It kind of feels like we are having an opportunity of getting to know each other again and the more time we spend with each other (how little or great) the closer we become. I know James doesn't read this but I just want to declare my love for him. He is my best friend, partner in crime, cuddle buddy and my husband. I am falling in love with him all over again and this time it feel like a more solid love (if that makes sense) and I am loving every minute I get to spend with him. Our 9 years together so far have been a roller coaster ride but I really wouldn't trade them. I never knew I could grow so close to someone over the course of these years to the point where I can honestly say and feel that James truly is my other half and without him I wouldn't be whole.

Staheli Family Farm

James came home one day very excited. He found out that there are haunted houses in St George and he had applied to one. Well long story short he got the job at the Field of Screams at Staheli Family Farm and was very excited about it. So the last 2 weeks of Sept  he got to help them set up the haunted house. On Sept 25th I took him to work and he introduced me to one of the owners. She showed us around the farm and let Avery and I stay and play for free while James went to work.At first Avery was shy and a little unsure, but that didn't last long. :p Before I knew it she was going crazy over all the exciting things. She finally settled on starting with the petting zoo, until she saw the funnest thing there, in her opinion. The only way to describe it is the blob, like the one on Heavyweights. Except half of this one was buried, so you could jump on it like a trampoline.

Anyway she spent a good 45 minutes on this thing before she decided that she wanted to go somewhere else. She didn't really give a lot of the animals the time of day. Until she saw the pigs, this girl LOVES pigs its kinda funny, but cute. We spent the whole night going from swings, slides, games, mazes, (except the corn maze it wasn't open yet) and many many more. She was afraid of this witch that wondered the farm until she plucked up the courage to go saw hi. She got a big witchy hug and a sticker, which she was very excited about. She got a butterfly painted on her face and was off for more adventures. When James was finished he came to meet us at the farm. He played some games with us and went down the slide with Avery and such. But we were all pretty hungry and wanted to go get some dinner. We had to almost literally drag Avery away from the farm she really had a lot of fun and loved it.

 She wasn't a fan of the minion and it was like pulling teeth to get her to take a picture with it. :p