Birthday, Christmas, and a New Year!!

I have to be honest and say that I have been a huge slacker on my blogging. My New Year's resolution is to keep very current. It is hard for our followers to keep up because being private doesn't show our updates that we post. Oh well, that is what we deal with in order to keep our family safe. Well, Avery had her FIRST birthday on December 23rd of 2009. I can't believe that she is one now. Time truly does fly. She runs, loves to blow kisses, give kisses, give hugs, smile, laugh, and DANCE! Yeah! I knew she would be a dancer. It is in our blood. She loves it. She hears music and she dances. She moves her feet up and down, shakes her head (sometimes moshing), and waves her arms to the beat. Eric and I just love to watch her. I caught her in her room one day all by herself. She was playing with her doll house. It reminded me so much of her Aunt Amber. She is just growing up so fast. I could not love her more, but I do each day. My favorite is coming home from work and having her see me and get this huge smile on her face, run to me and give me hugs and kisses. She is the sweetest thing. My mom started her tradition that on the weekend before Christmas all of her children and their families come to her house and we have a party. This year was the first. We LOVED it. We had to finish a 1000 piece Christmas puzzle and it is framed and given to one of our families the following year, we had a party that SANTA showed up to, we opened our presents, had yummy dinners, and we also went caroling with a horse and buggy. My most touching part was when we decorated a little tree and took it up to my Grandma Joyce's grave and placed it nearby. My Grandpa was in tears. We then started to sing some of her favorite Christmas carols to her and when we started singing "We Wish You Merry Christmas", I broke out into tears. I miss her so much. I know that she loved hearing us sing to her that day.My Mom and Dad did a really awesome gift for the boys. They made levi quilts for each of them with their favorite sports team. It was a lot of hard work to finish three quilts by the party but they did and the boys loved them. Eric's was a Phoenix Suns one. Eric also got a Train for the village as his gift. I got a deep freezer for the garage. I loved it. I wanted one of those. Thanks Mom for the new Tradition you started.






















Now on to her birthday...
She had a fun little party with family. We had all my family over, and Eric's family through the web-cam. Except we did have the pleasure of having Eric's sister and her little family over. It was so much fun. We had pizza, cake, and opened her presents. It was fun to watch her pull at the paper. She got some outfits, and a few toys here and there. It is hard having a birthday so close to Christmas. You get all your toys at the same time. But our goal is to make it truly special for her. She did have a timid time eating her cake. She is such a girl. She finally got the hang of it with some help.









Christmas was fun. Christmas Eve we had Derek, Jen, and Houston come over and we did a Candy Cane hunt and then made shakes with the Candy Canes found, watched the Grinch, opened PJ's, and played Mario on the Wii. Christmas morning, Eric wanted to record Avery coming out to see if Santa came. He did!! And her reaction was so funny. She came walking out, with crazy hair, and saw the tree and the presents and just leaned over and said "OOOH". We laughed so hard and I am so happy we got that on film. I have to learn how to post videos of her as well. And this New Year, we want to accomplish quite a bit. We have a yard to do, some personal goals, getting my photography business up and running, and just enjoy our time with Avery. We wish you all a great New Year!