Halloween a bit early

Since we will be in Hawaii during Halloween, we decided to celebrate early! We started off the day taking some pictures on the porch in Averie's cute Halloween outfit.
Can you believe how grown up she looks? She really is starting to look like a little girl and not a baby! Brian and I wanted to take Averie to a Pumpkin Patch this year to pick our pumpkins. It was so busy! The line was ridiculous, and we decided to just buy our pumpkins at the store. Not before taking a picture of Averie on one of the tractors though.

Can you see the huge line of people behind Averie? It was insane.
We weren't even going to get Averie a costume this year because we knew we were going to be gone. AmyLyn and Andy decided to have an early Halloween party at their house so that the kids could dress up and carve pumpkins. We had to come up with a costume idea at the last minute. Brian gave me the idea and I slaved for 2 days on this costume. We tried to buy one for her, but there was nothing in her size.
Let me introduce you to our little "Angry Bird". Averie dressed up as the Yellow Angry Bird. I think it turned out pretty cute.


And how would she be an Angry Bird without a green pig?


Trying to get a picture of the two of them had its challenges. You get the idea though!

Brian was a good sport and took over for Sergeant.

Easton was a little green dragon. He looked pretty cute. We had to get their picture together.

After we got Averie out of her costume we started carving the pumpkins. Averie was not too thrilled about this. She didn't want any of the goo on her hands. She was ok watching Daddy and Mommy do all the work.




Pumpkins sure do taste good!


Brian's pumpkin turned out...beautiful?
Here are the three finished.

Elmo-Averie's

Cookie Monster-Mom's

Sir Warts A lot-Dad's
The last activity of the evening included decorating sugar cookies and watching Hocus Pocus! The cookies were delicious and the movie was not as great as I remembered! Oh well, good food and good company equal one fun night!

Rockwell Mud O Cross

I am so proud of myself. I finally did a 5 K. I know that it is not much of an accomplishment, but if you knew how much I despise running you would be proud of me too! This wasn't just any 5 K. This was a 5 K with a muddy obstacle course at the end. It was such a blast.
My good friend, Jeanni called me Friday night and asked me to run in the race with her. Everything with Jeanni is a party. We dressed up for the run as Taco Bell Hot Sauces. I know, kinda crazy, but it was so funny.The first two miles of the run were in a dirt field. I was proud that I ran the entire way. Jeanni and I stayed together for most of the run. We definitely were not in the lead, but we weren't dead last either. After the two miles we got to the Obstacle Course. It was intense.If you ever want a good workout, try running through the mud. Well, make that swimming through it!
The trenches were by far the worst. The mud was so sticky. Ehhh.
I cannot tell you how exhausted I was by the end of that race. I am so glad that I finished.Jeanni and I were disappointed that we weren't muddier at the end of the race. We took care of that!What a fun day! If you have never done this kind of race before, you should!! It was an awesome workout and it was a blast!

Hiking up to Camel's Back

Ever since Brian and I have been married we have talked about hiking the mountain in Herriman by Rose Canyon. I have no idea if it has a name or not, but I like to call it "Camel's Back" because that is what it looks like!



Well last week we finally did it! The hike itself was not very far in distance, but it was straight up. Such a good work out! We stopped halfway up for a quick shot.


On the way up, Sergeant decided to chase after some deer. Usually he is pretty good about coming back when we call him, but when deer are involved, this is not the case. He was gone! It took us probably 20 minutes to get him to come back. When he came back he was all bloody and his pack was ripped up from running through the trees. Stupid dog...
Well after climbing up the boulders, we made it to the top. Such a beautiful view!





Look how small our truck looks from where we were at!

I zoomed in on my camera and found our house!

I was brave and sat on the edge of the cliff. It was pretty scary, but such a great view.


Averie was loving the ride.

On the way back we spotted this:

I was totally freaked out. We couldn't get down the mountain fast enough after seeing the snake skin. Luckily we didn't come across any snakes that were moving.

Well we have almost hiked every possible area around our house. I love this area!

Finishing up the Summer

The past couple of weeks we have been trying to get the most out what is left of the summer. We have had a blast. We went to Red Butte Gardens with our friend, Wade, and his two kiddos. If you have never been, you should make the trip to Salt Lake and check it out. It was so neat. It is such a nice little walk and there are so many different types of plants to look at. They had all the different trees and flowers labeled. It gave me some great ideas for our yard. What a fun day! We had to take a picture of the kiddos on a moose. Averie was a little hesitant at first, but once she was up there, she didn't want to get down.

I really liked that the gardens kept kids in mind. They had a separate Children's Garden and fish pond. Averie loved feeding the fish and playing in the fountains.

I tried to upload some more pictures of her at the fountains, but it wasn't working so just enjoy the video of her instead. She was having the time of her life!


Yesterday my mom and I took Averie and my nephews, Issac and Caleb to the Zoo. It was Averie's and Caleb's first trip to the zoo. They absolutely loved it!

They loved this crazy monkey. The animals put on a good show. Usually when I go to the zoo, the animals are always sleeping. It was the perfect weather and they were all awake and running around.
We loved the elephants!


But most of all, the kids loved the monkeys the most.

Here is how Issac compares to the apes.


Here are the camels and tigers.



We had to get a picture with the lion drinking fountain.

My favorite animal by far was the giraffe.

Averie loved the "kitties". She kept trying to grab them through the glass.

The two kiddos riding on the wood horse.


To finish our trip at the zoo, Averie picked out this tiger. She literally would not let it go. Every time I tried to put it back, she freaked out. We are going to have a problem with this one.

Would you say no to this cutie though?
I hope everyone is having a great summer! I know we are!

First Haircut

Averie had her first haircut this weekend. I have been sick of her hair always being in her eyes so I decided to trim her bangs.
Before:After:
She looks so grown up! Brian was pretty sad when he saw her. He just looked at her and said, "Where's my baby?" She was pretty good for the trim. She just sat there and watched. My little girl is growing up so fast!

Here we go

Ok I am making the decision. Private we go. I'm not sure if there are many that read this blog anyway, but I think the time has come to go private. Please leave a comment with your email and I will send you an invite! Thanks for reading!