Birthdays and Baptisms

March is always such a busy month around here. I love that our girls birthdays are so close together, because that way noone can get jealous. We just say, "Don't worry, your birthday is next week." Or "You just had a birthday, remember."

Zoe turned 5 this year! Here she is at her birthday breakfast. I always had to wait until the evening for my presents, I don't know how we got into this "breakfast" tradition, but there it is.

Zoe had never had a "friend" birthday party before and she had only one thing on her mind for it....Kangaroo Zoo. There was no changing her mind, and believe me, I tried. She was in heaven when her friends started to arrive. Here we have Jakey, Caroline, Sydney, Emmy, Zoe, Chloe and Max.


Ella has one obsession this year, Harry Potter. Everything she talks about has to do with HP. Every thing she plays with her friends, her piano music, and it's the only thing she reads lately. She is on the 5th book, and I can't believe how well she reads them. I'll find her in her room after I've put her to bed, with her eyes wide open, gripping her covers, shaking with fear saying, "Harry and Ron are being chased by giant spiders!" Then 5 minutes later she'll come ask me if she can read in bed because she can't wait to find out what happens. She knew for months that she wanted a Harry Potter movie night for her party. I had no idea she had told her friends to dress up until a little Ginny, Harry, Trelawney, another Harry and another started to show up at the door. Ella, herself, was Hermione of course.

The sorting had put them all in Gryffindor, or course. Here they are in the Great Hall with the floating candle. Ella, Brooke, Sammie, Brielle, Rebekah, Karissa, Peyton, Liam and Zoe.

Baptisms

My beautiful girl turned eight this year. She has been so excited and so prepared for her baptism for a very long time. I tend to get a little stressed over planning big events, but this went perfectly. She got baptized the same time as one of her buddies and nex door neighbor, Liam.

Her cousin, Brandon, shared the day with Ella. He was baptized that morning in Lehi, then the whole Avery crew trucked over the Heber City for Ella's. Both baptisms were beautiful. They are so lucky to have such a big, loving family.

My wonderful girl and her dad. I've never seen her as happy as she was that day. Her whole body just glowed all day. I love you so much, Ella!

Ten Years, Baby!

Snorkel Faces are very photogenic!

May 11th, 2001! That was the beginning for Andy and I! And I think ever since then we have been dreaming of going to Hawaii together, and this year was the year. We headed out for Maui, just the two of us and had a truly perfect vacation. We stayed in a little sugar cane plantation town called Haiku. It was gorgeous but also very much off the beaten path, which is just our style.

I think we will both agree that one of our favorite things we did was this run in the Molowki Forest. It was a 6 mile loop, and after every sing turn the scenery would completely change, from fern covered grounds to dark shadowy pines blocking out the light, to these tall eucalyptis trees. It was unreal, and a perfect run.

A very cool snorkeling spot, even though there was no sand. We hiked through the jungle, swinging on vines and then came to this perfect little cove.

Snorkeling at Molokini was okay, but what was really great was the huge pod of dolphins we saw. No swimming with them though. Next time.

What is this plant? Somebody tell me! A botanical garden on the road to Hana.

Cliff diving at the Seven Sacred Pools at the end of the Road to Hana. Yes, he's wearing a speedo.

Our last night at Mama's Fish House. Although, I could never forget the red snapper in Haiku, probably the best food I've ever tasted. The whole trip was completely amazing. I love you, Andy, and can't wait for the next 10 years!

Spring Break in Sand Hollow

Did you know that if you want to camp in St. George for Spring Break, you should reserve a spot about 11 months ahead of time? Well, since we didn't do that, we ended up in Sand Hollow, right outside of St. George. The only thing I had heard about it, was that it was windy. Well, as you can see here, Max is proving this to be oh so true.

We went camping with our friends, Dan and Anne Harris and their girls. They are so much fun and put our camping skills to shame. We started things off right with a trip to Zion National Park. I hadn't been in the actual park for years, and the kids all love to hike. (Which brother does Andy look like in this picture??)

Below is an infamous picture. When we got around this bend I realized Zoe wasn't with us. With four blonde girls, two 7 year olds and two 4 year olds, they all started blending into each other and Zoe had slipped away. I looked back at the last picture I had taken, about 5-10 minutes before and can clearly see, Zoe isn't in it. Dan ran one way, Andy ran the other, and I stood there and panicked! After another stressful 5-10 minutes, Dan came back with her. Phew. It was during this trip that we realized the importance of Zoe's glasses!!! She can't tell who she is following! Thanks for finding her, Dan!

All together again, hanging on to Zoe for dear life didn't stop her from trying to get lost again. She needed a leash on this trip! (We're all still laughing pretty hard here because Zoe so bluntly told Dan, "Your laugh sounds like you're crying.")

Maddie, Ella, Zoe, Emma and Max.

Wish I was a kid and the wind didn't bother me. They didn't let it stop them for a second. (Well, maybe Zoe did.)

Max, trying to keep up with the girls.

Maddie, waiting for the adults to decide what to do on a very hot Fezzik.
Getting out of the wind for some sushi, Zoe is practicing her chopstick skillz.

Maddie and Emma are referred to as their "rock climbing friends". Here they are, finally getting out and doing the real thing. I'm so proud of them for trying, because it scares me to death!

Even Zoe!

The Bookshelf Saga

Ever wonder how long it takes to have bookshelves built. I'll tell you...one year. From the first destructive rip of the carpet to the last handle screwed on, it took us one year. But it was worth it. We had my dream book shelves put in by my ever talented brother-in-law, Fred Hermansen. He custom designed them per my requests and basically he and Andy did EVERYTHING right there in my garage. It was terrifying to come home one day and see things that you had only talked about actually taking place, so I held my breath and trusted the both of them.

The shelves are basically strong enough to withstand an atomic bomb. I can't believe the number of nails and details that are put into these. During the process, Andy stepped on a teeny, tiny nail. It went through his shoe, and therefore was unnoticed for quite a long time. Until his foot doubled in size and he couldn't walk on it. He had quite the infection. Wimp.
And then came the painting. Let me explain the details that you can't see in these pictures. Behind all of the shelves is bead board. Lots of it. Meaning, days and days of me caulking prior to being able to paint. Then comes the sanding. Again, sanding one wall is no big deal, but each shelf has four sides....thankfully Andy was in charge of that. Then came the laquer and sleeping outside due to fumes and a delirious Andy. Do me a favor. Go lock yourself in a room of laquer fumes with no ventilation and tell me what you see. And then.... MORE SANDING! And the plastic and the retaping and the caulking of spots that were missed...the list goes on and on. And did you know, you can't put ANYTHING on paint for 3 MONTHS after it's painted!

Then, the day came, 12 months exactly from when they were started the cupboard doors arrived, beautiful and perfect. What I didn't think about....caulking, sanding, painting, everything all over again for the doors! But, they were finished and ready for Fred to hang the hinges on Ella's baptism day and the final product is here. Ahhhhh......

Courtesy of Precision Finish Carpentry

Christmas....a little late

Christmas at the Avery house this year was amazing. Our kids are at the perfect ages to really make it perfect. The excitement and anticipation was tangible and I hope they remember this as being one of their best!

We started the season off with the typical kids Christmas party thrown by Park City Fire. This is the only place where the "real" Santa comes to visit before Christmas!The girls were nervous as usual, but Ella had her list ready! But why are there only two kids on his lap in this picture...?

Oh, that's why!

Decorating the tree. There was a bolus of ornaments around the bottom, right about at the height of Max's reach.
Christmas Eve! Putting out the letter for Santa with cookies and carrots for the reindeer. Zoe was so tired she couldn't get off the couch for a picture, but even Max knew something exciting was going on!
Christmas morning!!! Thank goodness they're not quite getting up when it's still dark out, but it was still pretty early. Max got a beloved train table from Santa. The girls just stared for at least 10 minutes before they even tried to open a present.
Oh dear, we're in trouble....
Max wouldn't put down his train even to open any other presents.
Grammy and Poppy stopped by Christmas morning and gave Zoe her favorite present of the day...Rapunzel. You can't beat that, Santa!

Goin' Courtin'

I had a dream last night that Andy was in a play. It was an encore performance of all his "best roles" (whatever that means) and the town was mad at me because I wouldn't let him do it. I'm not sure, but I think that this dream was trying to tell me that I was way past due for blogging up the "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" performance of a Mr. Andy Avery.

I'm going to start by answering the most commonly asked question of 2010: HOW did he get into doing a play? For those who don't know, Andy has an wonderful voice, and his practice at Rock Band has really helped develop that talent. A friend of ours, Carolyn, is an avid Timpanogos Valley Theater patron and was making the costumes for Seven Brides, when I told her, jokingly on Facebook, that it was Andy's dream to be Adam. This isn't necessarily untrue, it's a dang good show, plus, ironically, Andy actually HAS seven brothers. But Carolyn promptly popped over to inform Andy that there was a part to be filled: Benjamin. Yes, she had heard his Rock Band performances and he was given the part before he even knew about it. So that's how. The hard part was convincing him to actually do it! But he was a natural, and, even though it resulted in a HORRIBLE red hair dye job, he had a great time!

There are many hilarious stories to tell of his time on the stage, but those are for those late night talks when everyone is too tired and silly and start to let things slip that wouldn't normally be put into conversation. So, the too small cordoroys and the red button up shirt that "shows all his angles" (Sorry, had to throw one inside joke in there) are put away, but now, the memories are out there forever in cyberspace. Yes honey, one day when you least expect it, someone will refer back to these pictures!