My Baby Girl

This picture was taken today.... Now let me give you a little background. Avery is now 2 1/2 years old. when she was 14 months old, we took her off the bottle. When she was 20 months old, I took away her binkies-That was a sad day. Here we are, almost 10 months later and look at her. Every now and then, we will stumble across a stray binki. This has happened 2 or 3 times so far. This one was just found in the bottom of a toybox. Most kids, once they are off of the binki for a few months, forget about it and can be around them without wanting one. Not my little Avery.. She gets SO excited! She pops it in her mouth, and it stays there. She won't let it out of her sight! So, I let her have it for the day, and once she is asleep, it dissapears. When she wakes up, the first thing she does is look for that binki. She must have a very addictive personality! She is going to be one unhappy little girl in the morning. I hate taking them away because she loves them so much and I still see her as my little baby but I know she is WAY too old to have them. I just think it's crazy that she still wants them after all this time!

Mackenzie's Baptism

Last weekend Mackenzie was baptized by her dad. She was so excited and we are so proud of her for making this decision. I took a few pictures of her in her dress a while back. I just haven't gotten around to editing them. I finally got a few done. Hopefully one of these days I will get to the rest of them! We took some outside with her pink sweater on and these ones have got to be my favorite but this is the only one I've got edited so far..

all ready to go!!
she was confirmed by Grandpa Anderson

Mackenzie with her best friend Jaydee and her cousin Sara.

After the baptism, we had lunch at the church. My kids were so excited having some cousins there to play with. I think they all had a good time!
Jaxon, Gavin, and Rylee. I don't know where Alek was hiding- I didn't get any pictures of him.
Avery, Joye, and Tylor in their tutus

Rylee was teaching them a song. It was so cute!
Mackenzie got new scriptures, earrings, a bracelet, and a necklace from Dallas and I, a bracelet and a ceramic figurine from Grandma Anderson, a bracelet from her primary teacher, and a necklace and earrings from aunt Jeannie. She was pretty excited!
We also had her name embroidered on a white towel. It has a cute poem that goes along with it.

It was a pretty good day! Thanks to everyone who came and supported her. It means a lot to us. You all helped make her day extra special!

Living Planet Aquarium

Last weekend we went to the aquarium for Tage's 7th birthday! The kids love that place. Avery loved the penguins! she had so much fun. She wouldn't even take a break to eat lunch! Petting the sting rays.. Mackenzie didn't dare touch them but Gavin sure did! Carson, Chloe, Mackenzie, and Gavin The kids with their snakes they got from the gift shop.. Avery didn't care about the toys... All she wanted was a treat! Big surprise!

Fun Fun Fun!

This is Gavin's favorite Christmas present- from Grandma Sill (she is pretty much the coolest person on earth now in Gavin's eyes). She gave him a K'nex ferris wheel and Roller coaster.. Dallas and Gavin put the ferris wheel together the weekend after Christmas and they just put the roller coaster together the other night. Dallas was up half the night working on it. I think he has had more fun with it than Gavin has! It really is a cool toy. I just don't know where I am going to keep it.. It's pretty big! I guess we will keep it up for a while, then take it down and they can have fun putting it back together another time!

Happy Birthday!!

My baby girl is 8 years old!! We didn't have a party since we went to build-a-bear but we did have a few friends over for cake and ice cream! I didn't get any pictures of them though- What was I thinking? Mackenzie really wanted a turtle cake. I am definately not a talented baker but we did our best! She was happy with the results so that's all that matters! She has wanted roller skates forever so that's what she got!She also got some toys from her friend Kolby!

and a baptism pillow-case that she gets to color with some special crayons..and a robe- she has been wearing it pretty much constantly since! She also got some money from Grandma Anderson and she really wants to go spend it!

We hope you had a Happy Birthday Kenzie! We Love you very much. You are such a special girl and you have been such a blessing to our family! We are so proud of you!

Party Time!!

Mackenzie's birthday is on the 15th and every year for their birthdays, the kids get to choose to either have a party with a few friends, or to go and do something with the family.. boondocks, chuck-E-cheese, the zoo, the aquarium, whatever they want. I try to make a big deal out of their birthdays and I want them to choose how they want to celebrate! This year, Mackenzie said she just wanted to go to build-a-Bear. So, saturday we went to Layton and rode the "train" (the frontrunner) to Salt Lake to the Gateway. Grandma, Trey and Tage came with us! Waiting for the train!

Avery was happy until she saw a train pass by. Then she decided she was NOT riding it. Our train came and as I went to step on it, she dove out of my arms, and into Grandma's. Too bad grandma was getting on the train too! She cried for about the first 10 minutes saying "get me off!" Then she settled down and was ok. We went to Jason's Deli for lunch then we were off to build a bear!

Waiting in line to get their bears filled! So excited!
Bath time!

On the train waiting to go home.. We didn't know the train scedule so we just got on it as soon as it came to the station. We waited and waited... after about 30 minutes, we asked someone what time the train would leave and they said we still had another 30 minutes! So we waited some more.. the kids had fun playing on the train though I think!

I think we have a happy Birthday girl. The smile says it all!

Of course Avery made her favorite animal.. a monkey! She named the monkey Seven but since we got home, the monkey's name has changed to Three Seven
Mackenzie made a dog that carries a puppy in her mouth. She named the dog Isabelle and the puppy Bella.

Gavin made an army wolf named Rusty

Trey made a star wars bear

and Tage made an OwlMackenzie with her dogs in their house. After an hour and a half on the train, we made it back to Layton. Grandpa ordered us some pizza for dinner, then it was time to head home! Avery sleeping with her monkey when we got home. We all thought it was a pretty fun Birthday party! I also got to see my sister Sherin's new baby Sydney while we were in Utah. She is 6 lbs of cuteness!! I wanted to bring her home with me!