Balloon Fiesta 2011

At the beginning of the month we went to the Balloon Fiesta.

Last year we watch from a random field.

This year we went to Balloon Fiesta Park.

Sean and I woke up at 4:30 and we all left the house at 5:15.

We were worried about traffic.

But it turned out that we didn't need to worry at all.

Since Sean audits out at Honeywell (which is next to the park) we got to go down streets that were closed to the public with a special pass.

So it took us 15 minutes to drive to Honeywell and 15 more to walk to the park.

So we got there when it was dark.

But that mean we got to watch the dawn patrol.

Lexi was so excited.

She begged us to let her ride in a balloon and bawled when we said no.

A new world record was set for the most balloons to go up in one hour.

I can't remember the exact number but it was over 350.

It was awesome.

Balloons were literally going up everywhere. All around us.

2011

2010

Lexi watching a Flounder balloon.

We left around 8:30. The girls were exhausted and we were too.

We could have stayed and seen hundreds of more balloons.

Maybe next year.

Avery Was 17 Months Old

This week Avery will turn 18 months old.

In fact she went to nursery today for the first time (she did great and loved it).

So yeah, as you can tell I'm really behind on blogging.

It's not because I'm pregnant, because I'M NOT PREGNANT!

We moved, the girls both had croup, Sean has been in Dallas and I just didn't feel like blogging!

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Anyway, Avery is adorable!

Avery is communicating a lot more.

She says so many words now.

Whenever Avery wants to go anywhere she grabs her "does" and says "bye?"

And then will bring everyone else their shoes too.

Avery loves coloring and loves stickers.

Every night when we read scriptures every is really great about grabbing scriptures for everyone and sitting down and "reading" with us.

Avery loves books. She especially loves a Beauty and the Beast book we recently bought at the thrift store. She will look at it for 10 minutes straight turning the pages and saying "Belle" and "East" (Beast).

This picture was taken when Avery had croup. To help the girls breath I would take them out in the cold air. In fact, one night I wrapped up Avery and took her out on our deck at 1 am.

Avery insisted on having her own keys and wearing a backpack.

Avery loves, loves, loves Caillou! She loves Dora too.

This girl just really loves TV, a little too much if you ask me.

Her she is mesmerized by Caillou.

Sitting in her baby sing read. She loves this swing and is still small enough,

well lite enough to sit in it.

And here are the girls at the zoo a few weeks ago. I just think Avery looks like a doll.

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Avery loves to put chap stick on, brush her teeth, comb her hair and pick out her own jewelry to wear. She is so girly and so independent. Anything Lexi can do she can to.

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Avery loves, loves, loves the Disney princesses! She says "Rora" for Aurora. "Rella" for Cinderella and "Belle."

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Avery recently learned out to say no. Which she now says all the time. But she is just so darn cute when she says it. She just makes me smile and want to kiss her.

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Avery loves throwing things. She gets in trouble for it pretty much every day now.

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Avery is a great helper. When we say it's time to clean up she happily helps to her toys away in their bins.

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I swear Avery is growing because she is always signing and saying eat.

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Avery is just so much fun and we love her so much!

(For fun here's the link to Lexi's 17 month old post)

First Field Trip & Fair

Last Thursday was Lexi's first preschool field trip (she has one a month).

We went to the state fair.

My girls had never been before

and I hadn't been since Sean and I went together right before his mission.

We had a lot of fun. At first Lexi was upset. She is really, really shy and

gets really, really stressed out sometimes when we are with big groups.

Eventually she warmed up once we got to the petting zoo.

Avery especially loved the petting zoo.

This girl LOVES all animals!

Avery went up to each animal and made their sounds and would wave and say, "hi."

She was very friendly.

Avery would have been happy to stay at the petting zoo all day.

Here's Lexi with her preschool class.

Eventually we broke up into smaller groups.

We went off with Evelyn and her daughter Tess.

We decided to take the girls to the rides.

Lexi had only been on a carousel before this.

I was expecting her to be terrified of the roller coaster but she loved it.

I think it really helped having Tess there.

Luckily for Evelyn and myself all the rides were only $1 that day instead of the usual $3.

So we let the girls go on several rides.

The height requirement for all the rides was 36 inches, which Lexi luckily met.

She was 36 inches at her 3 year check up.

Now, I know Lexi would love Disney Land but I want to wait to go until Avery is big enough to enjoy the rides too. Which might be a while since Avery is even smaller than Lexi

(percentile wise and real size wise too).

Avery did great. She loved watching Lexi ride the rides and loved eating all the treats I had brought for her and Lexi to share.

Evelyn's baby did awesome too. Kaylie just slept most of the time.

Lexi is always asking if we can go back to the fair.

Avery's First Dentist Appointment

Last week I took the girls to the dentist.

Lexi has been once before but to a different dentist.

I took the girls this time to Spencer Tasker. He used to live in our ward and he's awesome!

He's one of the people that helped us move into our old apartment,

when we first got to Albuquerque.

Avery had 14 teeth at her check-up (since then #15 has cut through).

She wanted nothing to do with anyone.

She was a pill, just like I knew she would be.

Lexi has 20 teeth.

She (we) need to be a little more diligent with our brushing and start flossing.

She was a little nervous and shy but did great.

Then and Now

We went through our storage unit today.

We're trying to get everything organized for our move NEXT WEEK!

Anyway, I pulled out our baby swing and bath tub.

And then girls loved playing with them.

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Here's Avery 4 weeks old.

Avery now. 16 months old.

Avery 2 months old.

Avery now.

Avery 3 months old.

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Lexi 3 weeks old.

Lexi now.

Lexi 3 months old.

Lexi now.

Lexi 4 months old.

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It's amazing how much my girls have grown!!!!