Meet Baby Addy!

Whoo's That Pink Baby Announcements

Shutterfly has custom baby invitations and birth announcements.

View the entire collection of cards.

Is it just me, or did the 4th last forever this year?!

With the 4th landing on a weekend, it seemed that the celebrations could go on AND on AND on...it was tons of fun! Here are some highlights from our Park City trip - I think it was the fifth time we've gone up for the festivities. Its becoming one of those traditions that I really look forward to every year.

Jed and Ave @ the Disco Drippers concert and fireworks on the 3rd. Look at Ave’s poor chin – lost a fight with the windowsill the morning before we left for our Park City trip.

The little train ride at Park City Mountain Resort. Avery looked forward to this ride the whole time we were there. Ollie wouldn’t admit it, but he is having a good time on the ride too! I am pretty sure the operator of this ride was on something – the kids did their first lap WITHOUT any seatbelts on – then another worker noticed that Avery was sliding from side to side on every turn and buckled them in…then the ride proceeded to go one for about 10 minutes. Extra fun for the O and A, but I am pretty sure not how the ride is supposed to run. We joked when the kids got off that it was probably the most dangerous thing they went on that day!

At the top of the Alpine Slide! Wheeee!

Classic picture with the cow at the Ice Cream Shop on Main Street.

Ryan and his darling girlfriend Erin. I heart her!! (and him too, of course!)

Magic Show

Oliver has always been interested in magic tricks, and now he is getting pretty good at some of his own. Check it out!

Family Game Night

Recently we have started doing a weekly game night, and it has quickly become a very fun tradition. Tonight we held our game night that was supposed to be last Friday (delayed by our trip to Moab). Avery plays along with us in her own way on the games we all choose, and tonight one of the games was Uno. It is funny, because Oliver thinks the best card in the deck is the Wild Draw Four, but Avery thinks the best card is the blue "0." It is one of the only letters she recognizes these days, and blue is of course her favorite color. After we got done with our regular Uno game, Oliver started sorting out the cards by color and giving one color to each person. Avery was going for all the blues, but it was so cute and interesting that she would glady accept any blue card with a number on it, but she threw any blue card that had words or a symbol (skip, draw two, reverse) to the side! Such funny little personlity traits!

*This is totally unrelated to the above post, but still blogworthy, and still concerning Avery's idiosyncrasies: Just in the last couple of days, any time we see this certain shade of green car on the road, Avery spots it and says, "that is my favorite car!" The shade is the bluish-green that was popular in the early 90's, and she spots a lot of Chevy Cavaliers showing off her favorite color!

Moab or Bust!!

Just got back from Moab today, and we had a blast!! The kids did so good on the long drives to Moab and then back home, and were AMAZING on the hikes and arduous bike rides. Ollie did a 2 mile hike without any HELP, and Ave even did some hiking/climbing. It was so fun for our kids to have some special bonding time with their cousins while we were there - I love vacationing with relatives! Bayli is Avery's new swim instructor/baby sitter, and Corbyn taught Ollie all kids of things - how to cannon ball into the pool, how to dive for coins on the bottom of the pool, how to pop the lid off a water bottle like a bullet, how to hunt lizards and scorpions, etc, etc! Grandma Geniel also went a long way to boost Oliver's confidence on his spiderman bike by coaching him along on our bike ride around the town. Some funny things I must blog about right now to preserve for posterity - Avery decided to potty train herself 4 days before we left for Moab. I was not sure how the trip would go with this new step, but she did very well. We got ourselves a little port-a-potty (that is why the back pack I am carrying in the pic is so freakin' huge!), and it was a lifesaver! There were a few mishaps here and there, but fo the most part, it went great. Another funny thing - on the car ride down to Moab there was construction in the canyon before Price, and we had to keep driving over the rumble strip in the road as the lane got diverted from one side to the other. At some point Oliver made a comment, "that's my favorite noise," (he is developing his sense of sarcasm early I think), and after that every time we drove over the rumble strip Avery said that it was "her favorite noise," and then did this very funny fake laugh after. I will post some more pics from the trip soon!

New Blog Launched

Just wanted to let everyone know I have launched a blog for my "Pea Pods" - the custom baby car seat covers that I make. Check it out, and feel free to share the blog with your fertile friends out there!! You can also see my product at Stewarts Gift Shop in Kaysville.

peapodcovers.blogspot.com

Where did 29 years go?

I am finally blogging about my birthday 2 weeks ago, because Jed's birthday is coming in just a couple of days, and I know I will have more to blog about...so in an effort not to get behind, I will begrudgingly blog about myself. Not because it wasn't a good day. Actually, I was overwhelmed with how much attention I got this year. I have such a wonderful family to celebrate with, both my husband and kids, and extended family as well. I just don't like blogging about myself, but I will do it just this once! Oliver put so much thought and effort into making me presents this year. I got 8 hand-drawn pictures, that really almost brought me to tears., they were so sweet. A couple of them had Olympic themes, and one in particular showed him doing the long jump - priceless! My talented sister Amy, who is in hair school right now, gave me highlights for my birthday as well as a great haircut. I am in awe of her when I watch her cut hair because she does it so naturally, and I can tell you I DON'T look natural when attempting a haircut. She looks like an artist when she is working with someone's hair - it's very cool. On the night of my b-day, Jed, Ollie, Ave, and I all went to Spaghetti Factory for dinner - it was so yummy! It has been a long time since we have eaten there, but the mizithra cheese, creamy pesto salad dressing, and spumoni ice cream were just as I remember them. The kids got a kick out of the train car in the middle of the restaurant. Pay special attention to the picture of Jed and I to the side - Oliver was our wonderful photographer for the pic, and I am so glad he captured Avery in the far left corner of the picture (she is throwing quite the fit). I was surprised with a very unexpected birthday present right before we left for dinner. My brother-in-law Ryan, or master woodworker extraordinaire as I now call him, brought over a console table that he had made himself for me. It is alder to match the fireplace mantel and other woodworking in the house. He even stained it the same color! It has some amazing detail to it, and is built with the highest craftsmenship there is. He captured the knots of the tree on a couple of the top pieces - just beautiful. It is the exact height of the sofa, which it goes directly behind. I could go on and on. It is just perfect! He also made the coolest cutting board out of purple heart and hard maple. The color combination is so cool, I've never seen anything like it. Even before this incredibly thoughtful and time-consuming gift, I was forever indebted to Ry for so many other times he has been there for our family. When I married into the VanDyke family I knew I had found an amazing husband, but I was unaware of the bond that I would soon share with the rest of my husband's family. I feel pretty lucky! Ryan's woodworking company is Bespoke Wood, and Ladies, he is not bespoken for yet!!

Storage Galore

Jed can now add master carpenter to his long list of talents - this last month he built a wonderful bench in the mudroom, complete with cubbies for shoes, hooks for coats and backpacks, and a shelf for decor. He also put in a little shelf in the laundry room (like the mudroom storage was not adequate!) The mudroom bench was something that I have been dreaming about since before we built the house, so to see it come to fruitition was very exciting. Going the do-it-yourself route was a great way to save some money, and after living in the house for a while I had a much better idea of exactly what we needed for storage in that area as well. I must admit I am a bit jealous of my husband's ability to create something so cool from a measly pile of wood...I may have to invest in some girlie tools and strap on my toolbelt in the future! Oh, I forgot to mention that Jed finished painting the last cubby by the light of a flashlight because the power had gone out...he really has a drive that I envy! It makes me a little crazy too at times, but mostly I envy it!

Big Girl Bed

Avery's baby days are dwindling, and this weekend she made another large leap into childhood by moving from a crib to a full-size bed. Thanks to her cousin Savannah, she has a beautiful four post bed fit for a princess. Her first night in it (Sunday), we were cuddling, reading books and singing songs, and she started saying, "I love my bed, I love my door, I love my closet..." and went on to name all the items in her room. She slept on cloud 9 that night for sure!

Keep your goods covered!

I found some darling prints at the fabric store recently, and have been making these infant car seat covers for some baby gifts lately. I've thought about possibly selling them. I know that similar styles are offered in boutiques and such, but I was just looking for some feedback from all you ladies out there on what price would be good to offer them for - let me know what you think!

Two Times!

Avery has started saying the cutest thing lately. Anytime that someone else says they love something, she has been saying, "I love it two times!" I am thinking the phrase, "I love it too," has grown into something else for her. And so the confusion of the English language begins!

Christmas

Highlights from this year's Christmas:
Oliver exclaimed Christmas morning that "Santa brought me everything I asked for!"
Avery plainly states that "Santa Claus will bring it," about anything that is lost, even now that Christmas is long past!

Trevin and Jesse's Visit

We had such a great visit with Trevin and Jesse the week before Christmas. We had all kinds of events going on - I think they both probably feel that Utah is a much more exciting place to visit than it is to live, as we tried to really make the most of the time they were here. It is also just the time of the year where it is fun to do memorable things. We went to Tempanyaki, where Garrison amazed me with his knowledge of sushi, did some wine bottling at Ryan's (yes, bottling - he has made his own wine and this was the first batch to be bottled - very momentous!), went snowmobiling at the family farm, and went bowling. Oliver was glad to have them both back, and even thought they had moved in with Ryan for good. He was disappointed to find out this wasn't so.

Avery's Second Birthday!!!

Avery turned two last month!! It was a long time coming for her, as she wanted it to be her birthday ever since Ollie had his birthday in November. She loved planning her little "party", and even picked out her decorations and party favors (funny story there - she picked Tinkerbell decorations and lollipops that were shaped like tanks and jets!) We went to Farr's Fresh Ice Cream Shop to celebrate on the day of her birthday, I reccomend everyone try this new ice cream shop - it is different from the traditional Farr's ice cream but very good in its on rite. We then had a birthday party with family for her the weekend following her birthday. We did a pasta bar - very yummy - with rhodes parmesan rolls and a homemade version of the Olive Garden salad dressing. Avery was smiling from ear to ear the whole time, she felt very special. When it was time to open presents, she pointed to the pile of gifts and said, "Ollie's?" Needless to say she was excited to find out they were all for her!!
I almost forgot to mention this, but the picture above of Avery covered in shredded paper was one of the activities that Ave got to do for her birthday. Everyone kept asking me what Avery likes to do and what kinds of toys she likes, hoping for some inspiration for birthday presents. I would answer everyone with simply, "She just really likes to make messes these days (of course, she is a two year old!)" This got me thinking about what we could do to make her special day a little more special, and decided I would let her make a BIG mess! She really enjoyed it too - we searched for things in the paper, "swam" in it, and threw it at each other. It wasn't so bad to clean up that day, but a few weeks later in a weak moment both Avery AND Oliver asked to play in the paper, and two kids playing in paper make a much larger mess than one!

What's wrong with this picture?

Jed is trying to start a new onesie style I think!!

I have to brag about Avery - today Oliver was counting (he days left until Christmas I think), and he started 1-2-3-4-5-6, and then paused. Avery chimed in, "7-8-9-10-11-12." What?! She isn't even two years old yet and she can count to 12!? What else is in her little brain that we don't know about yet?

Catch-up

I haven't blogged in a while, so bear with me...this could be a long post! BTW - happy thanksgiving to everyone - I am morally opposed to skipping over Thanksgiving and going straight into Christmas without a mention, but I did not take any pics on Thanksgiving (Maybe because I was coking all day - it was a blast and so yummy!), but when I borrow pictures from my father-in-law I will give Thanksgiving the attention it deserves. For now, this will have to do!

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Temple Square to see the lights, as well as Gateway. We ate out (it's a good thing, because I was DONE cooking for the rest of the weekend!), then rode the TRAX train up to Temple square. The train ride was Avery's favorite part of the night - the second we stepped off, she started saying, "again, again." She talked about it the whole time we were walking around seeing lights, the nativity, etc. After our ride back, she was a bit sad to say goodbye to the train for good! The tree at Gateway was lit as well, and the fountain was going, "dancing" to all your favorite Christmas tunes! It was a bit chilly, but nothing like the weather is now. Good times! I was exhausted by the end of the night because of my 4:00 AM "Black Friday" shopping rendesvous at Walmart, Home Depot, and Shopko, but it was worth it!

Flash Forward to this last weekend: We went to the Festival of trees, where Oliver and his cousin Kade got to make crafts in the kiddie korner. The kids loved all the themed trees and gingerbread houses too. Avery decided that day that she would truly become a two year old, terrible and all. She "asserted her independence" all day, which is really quite fun in public! Check the pictures - there is a really good one of her during one of her fits! Wendy, me, and the kids all ate at Spaghetti Mama's afterword.

Then on Saturday, we had our "Meatball" holiday party at our house. I got the idea of a meatball party from my cousin Mark - it is an annual tradition for he and his wife, and it sounded so fun that I thought we would give it a whirl. Basically, a meatball party is an appetizer party where everything is ball-shaped. Everyone got really creative with their recipes and it was super-yummy - chicken cordon bleu balls, sweet and sour meatballs, mozzerella balls, truffles, bleu cheese and bacon stuffed mushrooms, rice balls, grape balls, and ice cream balls. A bonus to the meatball party over a regular appetizer party is that the food is its own conversation piece - the jokes never ended! It was great to get together with all our friends and celebrate the holiday season.

Oliver's Self-Portrait

I love it!! The colorful thing on the right is a pack of smarties, and if you notice there is some orange by his mouth. He informed me this is because he is eating an orange smartie.

Help Me Build!!

This is Avery's new favorite phrase - whenever she needs help with anything, she says "Help me build." It is so cute!! Other things about her right now:
-She loves to sing
-She can name virtually all the candies in her Halloween bag by their real name!
-She repeats the last two words of every sentence Oliver utters.
-She is really into play doh and stickers right now
-When she doesn't want to go to bed, she tells us she is "happy." I explained to her tonight that even happy girls and boys have to sleep so their bodies can grow, and she said, "shoot." That was that!

Oliver is 5!!!!

Oliver had his fifth birthday last week (OMG!!!), and just like Halloween, the celebration seemed to go on for a week! Lucky kid! We celebrated his big day as a family on the actual day (last Thursday. Jed took the day off, and Oliver pretty much played with toys and his dad all day. He did go to preschool that day too, where he got to be king, show off some pictures of himself, and share a treat. In his own words, "You also get to do all the stuff," which I think means you get to be the leader for the weather, the pledge, etc. His teacher also sent home a cute little bag of goodies to make him feel special. We had a Yoda cake at home for dinner, and Jed cooked up some #5 grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner (Oliver requested a birthday dinner last minute, had to think fast, and got out the #5 cookie cutters - phew!) He had quite a few visitors that day too. We decided we would show Oliver one of the old Star Wars movies on the night of his birthday as he is very interested in Star Wars, and even chose it as the theme of his birthday party, despite the fact that he has never watched a minute of any Star Wars show. Still trying to figure out where he has gotten his Star Wars knowledge from...but anyway, we made it through about 15 minutes, and he said he wanted to play with his toys and that was that! He wasn't scared, so it must have been boredom that caught up with him! We'll have to try again soon :) We had his party with all his little friends on Saturday afternoon, and it was a blast. Oliver was so excited for it. We had decorated the basement with black tablecloths hanging around to inclose the room, then stars hanging from the ceiling to make it feel like "a galaxy far, far away." We put together some cute little clone trooper and darth vader guys that I found on the internet - they were a really cool, cheap party favor, but the kicker was each one took about an hour to put together. I am a little crazy, so yes, with Jed's help I put together 12 of the little things. We played some fun games including pod racing, save the princess, hot lava, and astroid hunting, then ate a Star Wars lunch complete with light sabers (corn dogs), Vader taters (french fries), and Yoda soda (lime sherbet floats). It was a great production, and after we just cleaned up the mess at our leisure - you can do that when it is in your basement and not in your primary living space (very convenient). Oliver had more guests to visit him through the weekend, and Sunday night, after all was said and done, he asked me, "Now what are we going to do tomorrow?" I think he would have the celebrations go on with no stops in between - that is the beauty of a kid. I am glad for a little break before Thanksgiving, Ave's birthday, and Christmas! But I am getting excited for all of those too now....more to look forward to.

Happy Halloween

Let me just get confession out of the way...I have been a blog-slacker the last month or so!! But I have been busy too, so something has got to give! I know it is late, but here is a run-down of our Halloween celebrations (seriously, I think it went on all week!) We had a great kid party at Nicole's house - she got the week kicked off with painting pumpkins and decorating cupcakes. Then we got booed (with a treat, it is a good thing even though it sounds bad!), so Oliver helped me make caramel popcorn to do the next round of booing. He took it upon himself to draw and cut out a ghost for every popcorn we had (four of them, plus one for me because they were so cute). I mention this part because Oliver has really blossomed as an artist recently. He is spending a lot of time these days coloring and creating things, and it is one of the things I enjoy most as a mother to see how he recreates the things he sees in his life. He also did an amazing self-portrait this last week. I'll post it in its own post. Anyway, he and I went out after dark to deliver all the treats, and he LOVED it because we had to be sneaky to avoid the neighbors seeing who was booing them. It turned out to be a great family activity. We carved pumpkins the same night we did our booing (I think it was Wednesday) - and we had some great jack-o-lanterns this year. Jed did a classic Jack, Avery wanted a cat, and Oliver picked out a really cool monster thing from his book. I was very nervous to cut it out for him, but it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I also did a Dora the Explorer for my pumpkin. Jed baked up some pumpkin seeds for us too, and they were the BEST pumpkin seeds we've ever had!! I think we will do a second batch they were so good. Next came Trunk-or-treat on Friday. You actually have to decorate your trunk for trunk or treat, so Oliver and Avery made some ghosts out of napkins earlier in the day, and we strung them up in our trunk. It was our first trunk or treat ever, and everyone had a great time. After we got done, the kids came home and dumped out their candy in piles, and just started playing with it. The didn't really ask to eat any (I think they had one piece that night), they just kept playing with it. Oliver sorted it by candy type, and Avery made a little "nest" with her blanket and put all the candy inside, then she sat on it! So cute! The next night was the real Halloween, and we visited my family, then headed up to Sharma's for Chili and rolls before trick-or-treating in her neighborhood. We also went to the Harry Potter house before calling it a night!