Avery won't keep headbands on her head anymore so today I decided to try a ponytail. She HATED having her hair done. I don't how often she'll let me do it, so I figured I'd better get some pictures. She looks like she has little antennas on her head!!
Avery is almost a year old. I can't believe it! She is growing up so fast. She loves to hold my hands and walk around the house. It won't be long and she'll be walking around all on her own. I hope she takes her time. I am in no hurry for her to grow up. She has been such a fun baby! She is almost always happy and she has the funniest personality. She tries to mimic everything the other kids do. Mackenzie was trying to take a picture of her standing by herself, but she'll only do it for a couple seconds. The pictures were all just a second too early, or too late! 
I really haven't taken very many pictures this summer and I can't believe that it's almost over. This is what Mackenzie and Gavin have spent their summer doing.. Playing outside. They have played in the water almost every day. We get out the slip n' slide and the swimming pool, but most of their time is spent running through the sprinkler. Gavin still loves to dig with his shovel!
Avery loves playing outside too. The other kids will walk outside and she will crawl over and sit by the door and cry until I take her out.
We met for dinner at Baja Cantina. It was so good! 
This is our condo. It was so nice! It had 4 big bedrooms, and 3 bathrooms.
The best part was that we had our own personal hot tub out on the deck. We stayed in it until about 1:00 in the morning.
Then we stayed up until 5:00 in the morning talking and laughing. It was so nice to have some time to just be "me" not "mommy"
Saturday we spent the whole day shopping. I am now officially done school shopping for the kids. YAY!! It's so nice to actually be able to go into the store and try something on! I never get to do that becuse I'm always dragging three kids along with me. We had such a great time! I can't wait till next year! 
This summer has been going by so fast and has been so crazy that I haven't haven't even thought about keeping up on our blog. We haven't necessarily done anything exciting, but we have been so busy. I can't believe that school starts in three weeks! The kids took swimming lessons again of course. Gavin loved it this year and did really well. He will hold his breath and go under water and stay there for a long time, which is a huge improvement from last year. Last year, he wouldn't even put his face under.
Mackenzie has gone through 4 sessions of swimming lessons, and still has not passed level 2. The poor thing loves the water, but HATES swimming. She just wants to stay where she can touch. She can swim and she will as long as she is where she can touch, but as soon as she gets to where she can't touch, she panicks and WILL NOT let go of her teacher. She just clings to them. She really doesn't like swimming lessons, and never has, but I keep making her go because I want her to know how to swim for safety reasons. I took them a lot at the beginning of the summer, hoping I could help her get over her fear, but it didn't help any. She is so funny. So, next year, her and Gavin will both be in level 2.
She would swim short distances, but her teachers had to force her to do it. 
The other day, Avery made her way into her and Mackenzie's room and started plying with some toys. She stayed in there and played for over 2 hours all by herself. She had never done that before, and she hasn't done it again but it ws so nice! Mackenzie and Gavin were gone, so I pretty much had a couple hours to myself! 
I did the Rely For Life again this year. This time Me and Dallas both were on a team. We were on a team with the Fire Department. It's always a bitter-sweet day for me. The opening ceremony is always really hard. It forces you to come face to face with the reality of what has happened in your own life, and to see how many people are now going through the same thing. But, we always have a lot of fun! I didn't have my camera, so I snapped a few pictures with my cell phone.
After the opening ceramony, they start with a survivors walk. The little boy in front just finished fighting his bttle with Leukemia. He was one of the Grand Marshalls.
Then all of the teams start walking, All of the firemen wore their gear for the first couple of laps. They were all dying of heat!
Here's a picture of most of our team.
The kids came on the first lap with us. They had a lot of fun. We all stayed all night. It started at 6:00 p.m friday, and ended at 12:00 noon on Saturday. We ended up leaving about 2 hours early because Avery was exhusted and very onry! The way it works, is after everyone walks as a team, you have to have at least one team member on the track at all times. All night long. There was also lots of fun things to do. They had all kinds of carnival-type games for the kids. Every team does their own fundrising so there was lots of stuff to buy, lost of auctions, and lots of food!! And all of the proceeds, go to the American Cancer Society. It's a great thing. This is one place that I don't even hesitate to spend money. I wasn't there to hear what the final count was, but last time I did the relay, they made over seventy thousand dollars. That's pretty good for such a small community!
They had this HOPE sign up in the sky, and the luminary bags all the way around the track, to light the way, each one had the name of someone who has or has had cancer, and lots of names of people who have died of cancer. They also had a band playing most of the time. In the morning, they had a magician come. The kids loved that! I hope to be involved in this event every year. It's great to see so many people come together and share their own experiences. Last weekend we had our Anderson Family Reunion. It was Braden and Rindi's turn to plan it. We went to Rindi's grandma's property and camped overnight. It was fun! We played softball, volleyball, kick-ball, badminton, and had water games for the kids. There was a pond that the the kids loved. The kids did crafts, made s'mores, and played all day! We missed Erick and Leslie and Staci and Chris. Hopefully they can make it next year!
playing water balloon volley-ball 
Big D
trying to catch the baby fish in the pond
Avery, Taylor and Joye
making picture frames
Braden took the kids out for a ride around the pond
So tired! None of the babies-or the moms got much sleep
my three munchkins
The kids wearing their shirts and showing off their picture frames
Avery, all ready to go home! What a dirty baby!! 
It looks like she's having so much fun doesn't it??
Mackenzie and Hannah waiting for the parde to start.
Dallas drove the fire truck and Gavin rode with him to throw candy.
That afternoon we went to the park for a picnic. Then the kids just played and waited for the fireworks.
Avery did pretty well until about 9:00. Then she got really tired and onry. She fell asleep about 10 minutes before the fireworks started. I thought they would wake her up but they didn't so she missed them.
