Bubbles

Avalynn LOVES bubbles and loved that it was her daddy doing them with her even more!

Yellow Shoes

After the Children's Fair we headed to the mall since we were just down the street. We enjoyed lunch at the food court, I got some new makeup, and then made a little dash into Gap Kids were we found these beauties! I was instantly in love with these shoes, and the fact that they were on sale plus another 30% off, I couldn't resist. I should say that we were both in love with them because Avalynn held onto them the whole time we were shopping. They are a tiny bit too big for her and kept falling off when she was playing on the balcony, and I couldn't help but snap these pictures of her trying to be so independent by putting them on herself. I tried and tried to help her but she would just ignore me and continue to attempt it on her own. I think I am in for it!!

Singing in the Rain

The other morning (hence her still in her pj's!) we had a big rain storm and thought it would be fun to let Avalynn play in the rain. She was absolutely in heaven! She was out on the balcony for a good 20-30 minutes just singing and dancing. Here are a few pictures and a fun video of her out there.

15 Months

I know I always say I can't believe how fast time flies, but it seriously amazes me. It seems like the days can be long, but the weeks fly by. Miss Avalynn is already 15 months, and we see more and more of her personality shine through every day! We are so ready to be in Texas for the summer and be able to go outside and do things with friends. I think she is getting a little cabin fever inside all day. She goes up to the door and signs "outside" all the time, poor thing just wants to go out and play!

According to our scale at home she weighs 20.5 lbs right now, she is still a petite little thing. She LOVES being around people. Whenever we are in public or a group of people she is in heaven. This little girl thrives on being around people, and she is such a social little girl. Tonight we went to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner and while we waited for our table she would just walk up to people, bat her pretty little eyelashes and give them the biggest smile! She started to walk by the tables and just waved at everyone she passed. It probably doesn't help that people can't get enough of her, everyone always says how adorable she is, and I think she knows it!

Brennen and I are amazed everyday by how smart she is! She can tell you where most of her main body parts are, she says some words like mama, dada (although lately we are both dada), ball, please, shoes, apple, book and Jesus, but the thing I am blown away by is her ability to sign. She knows AND uses 35-40 different signs. Her communication skills are amazing! I will have to do a whole different post on signing because it truly is wonderful.

Some things she likes to do are:

-Look at pictures! We found some laminated gospel art pictures at DI and just put them with her books. She will often just pull those pictures out and look at them one by one carefully examining and taking the picture in. It's almost as if she has seen the people before because she just stares at them. She loves the ones of Christ with the children and says "Jesus, Jesus" over and over.

-Her favorite spots to make messes and get into things are my bathroom cabinets, my jewelry stand, and a cookie jar that I have Scentsy bars in.

-Play with her baby. I have never seen a little girl so young be so in love and enthralled with babies. When she sees her baby she will hold it, give it kisses, rock it, put it in it's car seat and carry her around. She loves real babies too. Whenever we see a baby she signs "baby" and will go over to the car seat to look at it, then she helps by rocking the car seat. The other night she went to nursery at a Relief Society thing, and when I went to pick her up she was having one of the YW wrap a baby in a blanket and then she just held the doll like a real baby and carried her around. The YW said that was the first thing she went to when she got there and didn't put it down the whole time. She is going to be quite the big sister! =)

I can't believe how big she is getting, but I love seeing her grow and develop everyday! Avalynn is such a joy to have in our house, and defiantly fills our home with love.

Christmas Poem

Brennen made this really sweet poem for Avalynn for Christmas this year. I knew he had been working on something for Christmas but didn't know what, and when I opened this and read it it brought tears to my eyes. He has a way with words and is such a good poet!

Avalynn's Sweet Shoppe

I had so much fun planning and creating Avalynn's 1st birthday, and am so happy with how it turned out! I'm one of those crazy people who start planning things way too far in advance, so her birthday party was started probably 5 months ago. Yes, I told you I am crazy! There are so darling ideas out there so I had a hard time deciding on a theme but went with "Avalynn's Sweet Shoppe" after seeing the amazing party thrown by Shelley on "How Does She?". Brennen has said that she is not having another birthday party until she is 10! We will have to see about that!

Party Credits:

Party Inspiration- How Does She?

Pictures taken by- Photography by Noelle

Sugar Cookies- Taija's Sweet Shoppe

Table Design- My Mom!

pretty much everthing else by me with lots of help from my sweet family!

Avalynn's 1 Year Pictures

Once again Noelle did an amazing job of capturing Miss Avalynn in all of her spunkiness at 1 year old! I love that Noelle is always willing to go with my vision for the pictures and then once we start putting our ideas together it turns out amazing!

1 Year Old

{photograph taken by Photography by Noelle}

I am still in shock that my baby girl is one year old! It amazes me how fast time goes by. Avalynn is so full of life and such a happy little girl. At 1 year she is:

18.6lbs (10th Percentile)

28.5 in (31st Percentile)

-has 4 teeth, 2 top and 2 bottom

-finally sleeping a straight 12 hours through the night

-walks with things, but not on her own yet

-can go up AND down the staris by herself

-is into EVERYTHING and such a busy body

-can sign: mom, dad, please, thank you, more, all done, dog, cat, baby, signing time, eat, drink, down, bye-bye, milk, cereal

-sings and dances whenever music is on

-gives high-fives

-loves to yell "Da. Da. Da" throughout the house looking for Brennen

11 Months

I was sitting there helping Avalynn eat lunch today and couldn't believe that she is almost 1. She no longer seems like a baby, and is becoming more and more grown up and independant every day. She has such a fun personality and is so sweet and loving towards everyone. Here are a few things about her at 11 months:

-Gives hugs and kisses

-Walks with her push toy

-Says: Mama, Dada, Please (peas)

-Signs: more, please, dog, all done, baby, signing

-Wave and talks to everyone she sees

-Still wakes up once in the night usually between 5-6. When we moved from Texas it messed up her sleeping and has been doing this since then

-Pretends to talk on the phone

-Can show you where her teeth are

-Still just 2 teeth

-Loves food and wants anything and everything we are eating. This girl would eat all day long if we let her!

Avalynn's Surprise

The other morning Avalynn woke up and was talking in her crib while we tried to catch a few more zzz's. After her starting to kind of fuss Brennen made the comment that we should just get up and get going because we needed to get ready to go to the temple, and Avalynn needed her diaper changed. We are in a studio apartment so her crib is right next to ours so we could smell that she was poopy. The night before I had put her down for a nap thinking she would wake up in a couple hours but she never woke up, so she was just sleeping in her dress from the day before. I turned on the light and started freaking out, she had taken off her diaper and poop was everywhere! All over her blanket, the blanket along the sides of the pack n play (so she can't see out when we put her down for bed), her clothes, her body, and face!! She had to have gotten some in her mouth because she had her binki in and there was poop all over that as well. We were both so grossed out, it was disgusting!!

Colorado Trip

Brennen's Camaro was being stored in Colorado over the summer, and to allow his dad to park in the garage during the winter we went to pick it up and bring it back to Idaho. It was a fun trip to relax and spend time with Brennen's parents. Avalynn enjoyed having a big house to roam around, lots of attention from Grandma and Papa, and becoming more familar with her 4-legged friend Salem.

We were able to go to two softball games of Brooke and Shanda's on Saturday. Avalynn loved being outside, but I think she loved all the attention she got even more!

Traci was holding Avalynn and I couldn't help but to keep snaping pictures of her, I just can't get enough of this little girl!

After the softball games we went to Osborne Farm in Loveland to pick some pumpkins. Avalynn loved being pulled in the wagon and quickly learned that she felt much safer holding onto the front (top right picture). While we were in the pumpkin patch looking for that perfect pumpkin, Miss A decided she wanted to get in on the action and took a tumble out of the wagon. She is one tough cookie though and only cried for a few seconds.

On Sunday we went to Aunt Deana's house in Parker for a BBQ and to see Grandma Pearl who lives with her. It was fun to spend time with them and see other family members as well. This 4 generation picture will be one I'm sure Brennen and Avalynn will cherish forever, as Grandma Pearl is the one Avalynn's middle name, Rose, is after.

These pictures are just a few of our little princess from the trip

I had the chance to meet up with my 2 best friends from elementary school, Lacey and Karissa. It was so fun to see Karissa's little girls and to catch up with them.

10 Months

I can't believe in 2 months our little girl will be a year old... please hold back the clock! Avalynn is such a good little girl with such a happy disposition.

Weight- 15th Percentile

Height- 23rd Percentile

- She is a pro crawler now. If I look away for 5 seconds she can be clear across the room

-Pulls herself up to everything

-Loves to open and close doors

-Climbs up the stairs

- Thinks she is a big girl and can do things by herself

-Has 2 teeth

- Can sign "dog"

- Tests her limits.... when I say "no" to something she will keep doing it until I really get firm with her (I think I might be in trouble!)

-Waves bye-bye whenever someone walks away

-Loves to give big slobbery kisses

9 Months

16lbs 14 oz- 30th Percentile

26 3/4 in- 48th Percentile

-Loves to explore all over the house

-Has mastered the army crawl, and starting to actually crawl

-Whenever there is music on she sings and dances

-Upgraded to a big girl car seat, and loves being able to see outside

-Eats any food we give her

-Still as cute as can be!!

The Army Crawl

Here is a video of Avalynn doing her Army crawl. This is when she first started doing it, so she is much faster now!

Worth a Thousand Words

My friend Noelle did an amazing job with these pictures of Avalynn. I am just in love with how they turned out. I guess it doesn't hurt when the subject is quite possibly the most beautiful little girl ever! ;)

The ones of her in the pink polo dress were some that Noelle took of her while she was watching her one day. I love how these ones seem to capture her every detail.

If you are in the Rexburg area and looking for a photographer give Noelle a call. She is so much fun to work with and does an awesome job!