Utah trip

Over a month ago, the kids and I went to Utah, and I am finally getting around to posting the pictures from our trip. I love our annual busy season Utah trip. It really helps the busy season go by more quickly for me and the kiddos. I just wish there was something we could do to help the busy season go faster for poor Clark. This is Clark's first busy season as a manager, and we have definitely noticed a difference. Trying to juggle more clients has made for much longer hours than in the past. Not fun. Not fun at all.

Anyways. On to the trip!

We played at the park

Corbin played a million games of checkers.

And, of course we had to go to Jungle Jims!

We had dinner with Grandpa Burton. And, despite the fact that Corbin looks like we are punishing him, he had a really fun time riding on Grandpa's walker.

We played at a fun trampoline place

Grandma had foot surgery the day we got to town, and Corbin thought it was fun to try walking in her boot.

We went out for lunch, and for ice-cream (see below) with the Loganites.

Troy took us flying. It was pretty dang awesome. Thanks T-Butt!

And here we are at the play area at the Salt Lake Airport. Notice the blanket Avery is holding. That was her favorite blanket. Until it got left behind in the play area, and we didn't realize it until the plane was on the runway. Oops. Luckily it only took her a couple of days to switch to a new favorite. She is like a little Linus. She carries her blanket with her all over the house.

We had a fun day yesterday, at the Museum of Nature and Science. I almost didn't take the kids because a) I'm lazy, and b) I knew it would be crowded because of the free day. But, I am so glad that we went. Corbin loves this museum. It's huge, and there's lots of fun stuff there for kids. Corbin worked up a really good appetite while we were there. We ate our lunch when we arrived, and by the time we left Corbin was complaining about being hungry. So, I stopped and got him a happy meal and he ate all the fries and the whole hamburger! Amazing, because Corbin is not a big eater. I'm usually happy just to get him to eat his fries and a couple bites of the burger.

Snow fun

We woke up to some surprise snow this morning. It has been a really snowy year, but this was Avery's first time coming out to play in it. And, while Avery didn't really play in the snow, she was very happy just to putter around outside. Corbin is my good helper, and he helped clean off the car, and scrape the driveway and sidewalk. And then, of course, we had to have a little snowball fight.

15 month stats

Here are Avery's 15 month stats (taken at 15 1/2 months):

Weight: 20 lb 1.5 oz------15%

Height: 31 inch------------70%

Head: 18-------------------50%

Avery also had to get 3 shots at her doctor appointment, and Corbin was so cute about it. All morning he kept talking about how sad he felt for Avery, and he would say to her in the sweetest little voice, "I'm sorry, Avery, but you have to get shots today." I love it when I see my kids being sweet to each other. When Corbin gets hurt and cries, Avery will often go over to him, all on her own, and give him a hug and say, "awwwww."

"Call me Jimmer"

During busy season, the kids cherish any bit of time that they get to spend with Dad. These pictures and video were taken last Sunday evening.

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15 months (almost)

Avery will turn 15 months next week! Here are a whole bunch of pictures from the last few months.

First up: Avery's 1 year pictures.

And this is Avery's preferred way to ride in the grocery cart. Although, she is usually standing up, not just kneeling.

Avery has become really, really attached to both her paci, and her blanket in the last couple of months. The picture below is not her favorite blanket, her favorite is a pink one. She loves to carry around her blanket. And if we don't bring it downstairs after nap time she will climb up to her room, and pull it out of the crib to bring it downstairs with her.

In the picture below, Avery is wearing a dress that I wore as a baby.
Avery climbed up on the toy boxes, and she was bouncing up and down on the window ledge.
Eating Oreos.

Climbing on chairs is a favorite activity
Her hair is long enough for little pig-tails.
Corbin and Avery have been getting along better lately. They still fight over toys, but it's getting better.

Avery's absolute favorite places to climb are on top of the kitchen table, and on top of the toilet. I am really ready for her to be done climbing on top of everything...
Making a big mess.

Avery climbed into the closet and hunkered down on her little chair that I had stored there. Avery is pretty happy just to putter around the house. We took the baby gate down around 14 months, and she was so much happier after that. She loves being able to move freely around the house.

birthday weekend

It's official. Clark and I are getting old. I actually found my first grey hair a couple of weeks ago. Not cool. I am still a little bit in denial about that. I'm pretending it didn't happen. Anyway, we had a fun birthday weekend. We went out to eat a Red Robin (We ate there at Corbin's request. He loves the Red Robin commercial..."Red Robin. Yummmm") We also enjoyed lots of ice cream cake.

Diving board

Corbin has been taking swimming lessons at the Parker Rec Center for the last couple of months. I think that he has been progressing really well. Last week, his class got to jump off the diving board. When it was Corbin's turn he made his way to the end of the board. I could tell he was scared because he was inching along, taking teeny, tiny steps. He finally got to the end of the board, and he froze. His teacher had to climb out of the water, and help him back off the diving board because he was too scared to move in either direction.

Fast forward to this week. The class had the opportunity to jump off the diving board again. I expected that Corbin would not want to participate. However, this week, he walked to the end of the board and jumped right in! It made my little heart quite proud. He's a good kid, that Corbin. Now, Corbin loves the diving board. He said the prayer at dinner tonight, and he mentioned the diving board at least 3 times during his prayer. One of the things he said was, "and thank you that every pool I will ever go to will have a diving board..."