What to do about this blog of ours...

I realized that I'm going to have to decide what to do with this blog that I never post to. Since we use Chatbooks now to document our lives through pictures and captions, this blog seems a bit obsolete. But I'd like to still have this as a way to write about experiences or feelings. The problem is that I never seem to have time for things that don't seem as urgent. So we'll see if I get to it!

Waaaay behind.

I suppose it's time for me to update this blog... I'll work on that!

MINNESOTA, DON'TCHA-KNOW?

We are now Minnesotians! Well not really, but temporarily. We are loving it here! There is so much to do, so many things to see and so many great people we are meeting! I have been amazed at how many children there are in Rochester. Everywhere I go I see children, and the year-round activities available are family friendly and available to support those with children. I love it!

Here are some pictures from our move, and some things we've done since moving here. Beware: there are lots!

Our little family the day we closed on our home and moved in! So exciting! And we had tons of help from the Elders Quorum in our ward. We were so grateful and couldn't imagine doing it alone!!

 Our crazy messy house the day (night) we moved in. As you can see, Em and Nick had to sleep on a mattress on the floor in our living room. :) Boxes were everywhere!

 Bryndon and Avery at the parade

 We got poured on at the parade, but it was great fun! Avery didn't even care because she got a sucker from one of the people handing out candy.

 We went to a hot air balloon launch as part of RochesterFest, a yearly summer tradition of all kinds of activities for a week.

 Fun to see 4-5 balloons being "blown up" and setting off!

 Avery and I went strawberry picking at a farm nearby. She was a good helper!

I made my first freezer jam with the strawberries we picked! So proud! :)

 Avery at the beach! About 15 minutes from our house there is a park and pond called Foster Arend and we have loved going to the little sandy beach there a number of times already! It's a dammed up part of the river and the water is so refreshing but not too cold.

 On the 4th of July we went to two different parties, one of which had almost the whole ward there (plus others). They had good food and all sorts of fun games like gunny sack races! Bryndon participated in the one with the men. We were so proud!

Avery went through a phase right after we moved where she was really insecure and not quite herself. I'm sure she could tell there was something major happening and everything was changing and new for her. But she's now back to her mostly happy, silly self. :)

Here's our girl on the 4th of July. Pretty and patriotic!

Avery and momma on the 4th.

Avery has met so many new friends here, including Stockton above. She loves her friends and gets so excited to play with them!

Here are Ali and Gavin Nickolaus, who are two of the kids of our friends Brant and Katie.

I have seen some beautiful sunsets here. It's tricky because you have to be in the right spot (up on a hill) to see them.

At the county fair there was a little barn full of baby animals that had just been born. These piglets were so darn cute as they pushed and shoved in a frenzy to get some milk from momma pig. :)

Here is Bryndon and Avery at the fair. We rode the ferris wheel and the merry go round and got to pet some animals. Avery loved it!

Here we are on the merry go round.

More pictures will be coming, especially of Avery's birthday and the fun party we had!

Hawaii, April 2013

My last post was of our Christmas and New Year's celebrations... that was a long time ago. So I'm back! Going to try to keep this up a little better. We'll see if that actually happens. We moved to Minnesota less than a month ago, so the past few months have been pretty crazy. But I'll try to get caught up. The first pictures I thought I'd post are from our trip to Hawaii in April. It was wonderful! A little tricky at times (especially the long flights) to have Avery with us, but also really fun at other times to see her enjoying a new place. Here are some highlights from the trip:

Avery loved going on walks with us along the beach while sitting on Daddy's shoulders.

In front of the Hawaii Laie Temple

Little scowl from Avery on the beach

At the Polynesian Cultural Center

Loved how Avery's hair went super curly as soon as we got to Hawaii!

Pearl Harbor

At one of the Pearl Harbor museums

Playing in the sand

Avery finally became adventurous and suddenly LOVED going into the water

Eating sand. Yum!

At Turtle Bay

View from our condo's deck

Christmas with the Hatch's and Williams's

We had such a fun time with the Hatch and Williams families over Christmas!

First here are some fun pictures from
Christmas Eve with the Hatch's...

Cute Beth with cute Taizley

Avery loves sitting in the "big kid chairs" with her cousins

Grammie read a Christmas story to all the grandkids

Avery with Grampy

Avery with her bell, right before being jingled to bed on Christmas Eve!

Cutie!

Again, sitting in the big kid chair by Tommy and James

This wasn't with the Hatch's or Williams's, but here is Avery all ready to go to see Zoo lights one day with mommy and daddy. 

Now here are some pics with the Williams's the week after Christmas when everyone was in town...

At the City Creek food court

Love the temple where we got married!

The lights on temple square were beautiful (and it was freezing!)

The Christus statue in the visitor's center

City Creek with the kiddos all bundled up!

The boys with their boys

The girl Williams cousins: Sadie, Abigail and Avery

The grandkids lined up, waiting to go into the living room Christmas morning

Singing on Christmas Eve "under the Christmas tree"

We borrowed the red snow suit from Ty and Elisabeth because Avery had never played in the snow before! (What kind of parents are we?) She had so much fun while Bryn pulled us around the yard on a sled!

New Year's kiss!!!!!

You can't really tell from this picture, but Avery was freaked out by this big stranger with a huge white mane. She started bawling the minute we put her on his lap. This was in Daybreak at Ivory's Gingerbread Festival.

Hooray for holidays and spending time with family!!!