We had kind of a neat surprise when we went kayaking this morning. There was a huge flock of birds diving and swooping all over the lake. I looked in my "Birds of Seattle" book :) but I'm not sure exactly what type of bird it was. They were actually quite pretty, with blue heads and white chests. The closest match seemed to be a Tree Swallow. The birds weren't terribly concerned about us being there, so once or twice I thought we might get hit.

I was going through some old movie files and found this one; I'm not sure why I didn't post it initially. It made me smile to watch it again . . .

I'm not sure that I see it, but everytime I comb Avery's hair this way she says she looks like "Uncle Dan." shrug. Maybe it's because we talk about him so often lately. And, by the way, it's snowing again :)

New bed! Avery sitting on her new "big sister" bed. She was so excited about it, that she suggested on her own that it was time for her to take a nap. I like this new phase :)

Rock throwing contest.

Let's go fly a kite . . .So, in total contrast to my last post, this Saturday was gorgeous, clear and 75 degrees. We bought a kite, put on some sunscreen and headed to the coast for some Ivars fish and chips and lounging in the sun.

First things first, it's snowing right now. I told myself that if I could just hang on until the end of March, the sun would shine and light would again enter my life. But no, it is now snowing, at the end of March :) These pictures are from Mike and Avery's field trip to the Seattle Aquarium. While I was out of town at work for a few days, Mike took a day off to spend a daddy daughter day with Avery. The pictures here are a select few from the many pictures that were taken :0) When I asked Avery what she did with dad that day she said "say cheeeeese."

Last week was a relatively full week for us. I was in Washington DC from Tuesday until Thursday at a conference, and Thursday was Mike's "March Madness" kick off at his work. Then at 3am Friday morning we headed down to Utah to meet up with our Utah and California families. We spent a blissful two days soaking up family time, and also got to visit with friends, and then headed back 4am Monday morning. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera and Leah very thoughtfully sent me her pictures, but I'm too tired to figure out how to save them to my computer and then download them here :) So just imagine all of us smiling really big, and Avery with her short hair cut making cute and funny faces and you get the drift.

Mike was teaching Avery how to shave Sunday morning. . . she smelled like shaving cream the rest of the day :)

We took a trip to the Pacific Science Center last Saturday. We had time to visit the butterfly room and the dinosaur room before going to the BUGS 3D IMAX movie. Unfortunately, this was TOO scary! Avery was worried the bugs were going to get her and didn't want wear her glasses :)

I thought it'd be funny to mention, for those who have read the entry below where I mention that I haven't put my new license tags on my car, that I was stopped by a cop Monday morning on the way to work for expired tags :) Luckily, I had the tags in my purse and got off with a warning. MAYBE I'll put them on today, but I wouldn't place bets!

You may or may not find this entertaining :)

me: what is mom's name?

avery: sarah . . .sarah on the show too!

me: yeah, a different sarah was on the show we watched.

avery: different sarah on the show.

me: what's dad's name?

avery: sarah too!

me: michael

avery: michael walker. michael on the show too!

me: no, no michael was on the show.

avery: yes!

me: what show?

avery: the pretty momma show

:)

My turn . . .

thanks Anna, for obediently "tagging" me :) Here's my answers:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago: 10 years ago to the month I had just graduated with my bachelor's from BYU and was working in a juvenile rehabilitation center.

2. Things on my to do list: I need to put my new license tags on my car. I've had these new tags for about four months and just keep them in my purse in case a cop stops me. It's pathetic. I need to drink more water, juice doesn't count. And I need to do laundry. I hate doing laundry.

3. Bad habits: I like to eat right before I go to bed, usually cereal. I put my hands on my face while working on the computer and have constant breakouts on my chin.

4. Places I have lived: Thousand Oaks, Provo, Van Nuys, Downey, Mill Creek WA and Lake Stevens, WA.

5. Things most people don't know about me: Being that about four, maybe five people check this blog, I think it's fair to say you all know most everything about me :) You don't know that I ate penne pasta for dinner tonight, but that's not terribly interesting. Hm. Okay, here's one: I have the cutest two year old of all time. . .did any of you know that?! ;) AND, I teach the 12 year olds in Sunday school (it's surprising the difference a couple boys can make in group dynamics). I'll also be going to Washington DC in about a month to present at a conference. The only attraction of this to me is that my boss, who did a fellowship with congress a few years back, MIGHT be able to give me a "backroom" tour. Fingers crossed.

Last Saturday, we took Avery to see a Storybook theatre version of the 3 little pigs where the kids sang and danced and helped blow the house down. Now our new favorite song is "piggy power, piggy power, piggy power, yeah!"

In the last couple weeks, Avery has caught about every virus going around. Mike left for 5 days to go on a skiing-work getaway, no wives invited, thing. And pretty much the whole time he was gone, Avery slept in this spot on the couch ;) But she was better by the time he got back, and was lucid enough to be excited about her hockey jersey and matching moose from Canada!

This morning Avery woke me up, so I went and got her out of her crib and then set her on the bed while I used the bathroom. As I was using the bathroom, Avery yelled out "Good job Mom!" Can you tell that we're toilet training right now :) !

Mommy's little helper . . .at least until she figured out that a mop can also be a good horsey.

This past weekend we took advantage of having a friend with a lodge in the Cascade Mtns (Basecamp), and took up a little cross country skiing. It was a lot of fun, and QUITE a workout :) If we lived there permanently, I'd have my New Years resolutions finished in no time. Avery had a lot of fun playing with my friend's daughter in the snow. You can see her in a snow cave in the picture below. She even strapped on some ski's herself, and trudged around a bit.

So, this month it was my turn to leave the "twenty-something" crowd on my journey to old age and, eventually, death. But, to keep things fun for the moment anyway, we celebrated by going out to dinner with some friends. This was the first time sampling sushi for a few of our friends, and they were good sports about it. Leann gagged on her roll, but ultimately managed to keep it under control. Happy 30th to me!

I guess this is what Avery thinks I sound like when we read her stories :)

I know all my stories about Avery lately make me sound like a neglectful parent, but I think the truth is that Avery is cleverly learning the craft of parental manipulation. In any case, here's a new one:

This morning I was reading a book while Avery was variously watching cartoons and playing with toys. Occasionally, she'd come over and try to jump on my head (or something) and I'd shoo her away or try to get her REALLY interested in another toy, etc. So, finally, Avery comes over to me, and as I'm about to suggest that her dolly needs to change her clothes again, Avery says "mommy . . .I miss you." ! Naturally, that did it and we spent the next half hour putting the dolly's clothes on together. (Didn't that put a tear in your eye!). Anna's sales and persuasian skills must be floating around in the gene pool :)

M-I-C-K-E-Y! All the training I'd be doing with Avery paid off when we finally went to Disneyland and she could recognize Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and "princesses" in general. What a fun day. The day started off kind of . . .smelly when Avery threw up in the car on the way there. My mom came to the rescue and bought her a shirt, which was very cute, but Avery did look a little conspicuous when we went to Princess land and literally every other girl under the age of 16 was wearing a princess dress. Avery was a good sport, though, and participated in the dancing nonetheless. There were some changes since the last time I was at Disneyland and I enjoyed going on the revamped Space Mountain, and seeing pictures of Capt. Jack Sparrow plastered on every available surface between New Orleans Square and Tom Sawyers Island. Avery's favorite ride was definitely the new Winnie the Pooh ride by Splash Mtn, followed by climbing through the caves on the island. My favorite was sitting down and eating a pineapple smoothie :)

California here we come!! Or, rather, came and went. Sigh. It was lovely to visit sunny CA for a week and a half . Avery left her little cousins to play with her grown up aunts and uncles, who were arguably the louder and more rambunctious group (!). Example, the picture of Avery running around with Beff. Avery also got to spend some quality family time with her Great-Grandpa Kerr. One of the first days we were there we went to the beach, it was a beautiful day apart from the hurricane-force winds. Please notice the picture of the rainbow in the sea spray (I'm very proud!). Seriously, I think I had forgotten how beautiful the California coast is - no wonder the cost of living is astronomical. For Christmas, the family got a Wii and it was a lot of fun watching my Grandma and Grandpa Cusworth learn how to bowl. Grandpa Bob got a higher score on his first try than I ever did :) I love this picture of Mike playing the Wii because my grandparents are peeking out on either side of him.

We had a really great Christmas in Moscow, ID with the Walker family. All the brothers and associated spouses and kids were there, so it was a lot of fun. Plenty of cousins for Avery to play with. She loved playing all her cousins, but she and Jesi were especially cute as they ran around together, leaving destruction in their wake. As you can see, the family put on a nativity play (the sisters in law were mercifully spared!). We had to keep bribing Avery with candy canes to keep the halo on :) Other fun activities included bowling, building a gingerbread house (I got quite a lesson on physics, fluid dynamics and pressure with that one), and of course, the Christmas morning deluge of presents. So fun!

Avery on the carousel at the FigPickles Toy Emporium. Isn't that a great name?!

This past weekend we all went to Moscow. Mike and his dad went fishing on the Snake river (Mike caught one fish, Monte caught three). Sandy, Avery and I went on a lovely Christmas field trip to Couer d'Alene where we shopped 'till we dropped. Literally, we couldn't even stay awake through the ABC broadcast of "It's a Wonderful Life" that night. We also went on a boat cruise of Christmas lights that made a stop at Santa's house at the North Pole. Avery talked about "Santa's house" for the next couple of days. We had SO much fun we're going back in FIVE days for Christmas :)

Here are some pictures from our Christmas-themed Saturday. We hit the children's museum Santa party that morning and then went with Kyle and Rachael to pick out a Christmas tree that afternoon. That night we went to Mike's Christmas party. It was a fun day, but I was pretty beat by the time it ended :)


Getting zapped by the static ball at the children's museum.














Avery strapped on some "ice skates" and mom and dad helped her skate around. Pretty cool, actually.





















Checking out the wildlife at the tree farm.



















Avery helping Kyle and Rachael pick out the perfect Christmas tree. . . not too big, not too little, not too blue, with branches spaced far enough apart for ideal ornament placing but not too skimpy looking.

Here's a picture of the sunrise this morning. This is one of the perks of it being dark for so much of the day . . .I'm awake when the sun rises :)

This how Avery and I communicate when we're in different parts of the house.

Snowy fun for Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving with Monte, Sandy and Darren - and there was just enough snow for a few trips down the hill. It was COLD, and Mike and Avery lasted longer outdoors than I did :)