hello again.

We have been super busy busy lately.  Avery is growing so much and she is a little toddler now. It is so fun! I will let these pictures update you because I don't have much time but haven't blogged in so long that I needed to do something.  

Silly faces with mommy! ;)

Old woman face!

Jake ran a half marathon this April.  He did great ran a 1:47! So proud of him! 

Helping Megan move. ha! 

We had a picnic for this Birthday boy! Such a great dad and husband! we are so blessed! 

Avery's allergy testing. Poor thing. We found out she has a gluten intolerance. ahhh :(

Hannah (Bytheway) and Avery! We will miss being so close! These two are the best of friends!

Love this pic! 

This one too! 

Adorable jammies...ha

Avery is talking a ton! Here are her words since last time: truck, bubbles, bath, done, moo, yucky, drink, sticker,  poppa, granma, katie, adam, and possibly sarah.  Probably more too,  but that's all I can think of right now.

We are loving life and enjoying our journey.  There are a lot of changes coming up for us but we are excited and (thanks to this talk, see below) grateful for all our experiences.

Elder Uchtdorf April 2014 General Conference talk

Recently

Wow. Where to start?! When I am overwhelmed with things, I tend to turn to lists to sort out my mind so that is what today's post will be.  Be prepared for random.

1- Avery is walking everywhere! She started walking around 10.5 months, but now she cruises all around, I need to post a video.  She walks kinda side to side like a cowboy but it gets the job done! It's adorable.  Church is now very different and even more crazy! :)

2- Avery is officially weaned.

3- She has allergies.  Milk/dairy for sure.  We're keeping her away from gluten as well right now, but I need to introduce it back into her diet to see if she reacts.  I kinda don't want to bc if she does react, it will be about 3 days of horrible sleeping for her and us, but it would be awesome if she wasn't allergic to gluten so I should just do it.

4-Jake and I decided that VCU (in Richmond, VA) is going to be our future home...at least for the next 2 hopefully 3 years!   Bittersweet for sure.

5- We took a trip out there to find housing etc. this past weekend, more to come on that one later! It was great and we enjoyed it but we were gone 3 full days and 2 half days so we were anxious to get back to our little girl!  It was the first time we left her for longer than a dinner/movie date.  We did find housing and we feel really good about it.  Richmond is great and I already love it.

6- Words Avery is saying: doggy, daddy, mommy, ball, katie, poppa, hi, bye, baby, Jesus, drink. She also says "hi daddy".  She makes TONS of other noises all the time too and it's just great!

7-She gives kisses, follows directions very well, can "find the doggy" in her favorite books.  Loves to read and will grab a book and bring it over to me so we can read it together.

Well, Avery's up and so my day begins.  This is all for now.

L is for the way you look at me....

I am just so thankful that the Lord blessed me with this amazing man to call my own! He is wonderful, caring, so compassionate and thoughtful of others.  I am so happy to be with him forever! He makes every day a good day!  I love you, Jacob! 

Also, Avery Mae.  You make our lives complete! You are the happiest little girl I know and you make everyone around you smile. You have so much joy to give to others and I know your whole life will be full of you making people happy, just by being you.  I love you, Avery! 

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I hope you all feel so loved and cherished by those close to you! I love you!

-Rebecca 

  

teeth, walking and allergies

I am sorry I haven't written for so long.

Avery finally got some teeth!  Her first two teeth appeared without warning about 3 weeks ago.  Yes, she is 13 months and just got her first teeth! No complaints here.

She is walking around like a little pro!  She really has made a lot of progress within the last two weeks and now she chooses to walk when she could easily crawl.  She walks like a little zombie.  I will try to get a video up here soon of her walking skills.

This month or so has been difficult because we are figuring out which foods Avery can eat.  She has always had problems digesting food, so I've gone slow to introduce foods for her, but we realized at about the first of the year, when we tried milk (and she had ice cream for her b-day) that she really doesn't do well with dairy.  I thought it was just milk, but after many sleepless nights and experimenting with yogurt and cheese, it looks like even those things bother her belly.  The last week or so, I have also cut out all gluten from her diet because I am suspecting a gluten intolerance as well.  We have an appointment with an Allergist on Friday so hopefully we will get some answers.  If anyone has suggestions on eating dairy and gluten-free, I'll gladly take them. It's like I have to learn how to cook again.  Jake and I do feel good eating this way though.  It is healthier for sure.

With all these food issues however, you would never know because Avery is such a happy little girl! I am so grateful for that and she brings such joy to everyone she meets.  This little girl is special, she even makes strange people smile and wave to her in the grocery store :)

Photos to come soon. 

Birthday and Christmas.

First of all, sorry this is a bit delayed.

We were all deathly (not really but it sure felt like it) sick the week before Christmas, a.k.a. Finals week.  It was horrible.  Avery got sick and threw up four times on that Monday, then had diarrhea for over a week. That Wednesday, I got sick and was extremely weak and Friday, thankfully after his last final was over, Jacob got sick and threw up a bunch.  It was crazy!  Thankfully we had friends bring us dinner, help watch Avery etc. and so we survived.  I was super nervous that we would be sick up in ID, but by about the 23rd, we were all feeling well.  THANKFULLY!

Christmas was awesome.  We spent it up at Jake's family's house and then the cabin.  Everyone was there and it was great to be all together.  I enjoyed seeing his family's traditions and being part of that.  It was the first time I have been up there for Christmas so it was a great time.  I'm lame, but I'm not gonna give details, but I will just put a lot of pictures here so hopefully that will suffice.

However, before I do that, I need to say...Avery is ONE! It is seriously mind blowing how fast these little ones grow.  She is almost walking, doesn't have teeth, everyone at church loves her and she has inspired at least 5 women to tell me that they are baby hungry. ha!  :)  I tell them it is the best thing in the world, and it is true. 

Avery is very vocal and "talks" a TON, she is always making noise, but she clearly says, Dada, Momma, hi, bye, duck (i swear), doggy or Buddy (sorta), she has stopped saying Jesus as much as she used to, but she still says it.  She also says Katie...my younger sister's name, which makes Katie feel like 100 bucks. haha! Avery loves Katie!  She loves to dance, play on our laptops, play with the stacking cups/ball thing, and she got a bunch of new toys from Christmas that she loves to play with! She loves reading books too which just melts my heart! She is very observant and loves people.  She will go to almost anyone.  It was so cute the other day at church, she recognized our friends from across the room, also one of our friends has a little girl that is 6 months older than Avery, and they love each other so much! It's the cutest thing ever! Avery has so much personality and it so happy pretty much all the time, except if you are trying to get her down for a nap and she still wants to play. haha.  

She wakes up once during the night right now.  It took her about 1 week to get back on her schedule of sleeping after our Christmas vacation.

I think Avery may have a milk allergy.  I need to make a doctors appointment to be sure, but I am almost positive that's been whats going on.  After I have cut out cheese and yogurt from her diet,  as well as not giving her milk, (or ice cream) she has slept better and does not wake up in pain.  UG.  Hopefully, it's not as serious as I fear, but I need to get her in to see the doc.

Here' the pics you've been waiting for!

best time of my life

I am most happy, fulfilled and full of the Spirit when I am focused on others and how I can help them.  I am so happy right now.

I am invested in my calling, or church responsibility, and I love it.  I am excited for our Visiting Teaching Conference that is coming up.  I feel that our ward is turning a new leaf and people are wanting and excited to do Visiting Teaching!!! Visiting Teaching is when each sister in the ward receives and assignment to visit two or three other sisters every month to check on them, become friends and share a gospel message.  People haven't really been doing it as much as they should but I feel like that is slowly changing! Boo Yeah! We finally have some people who are called to help me and that has made such a difference.

Avery is a doll and I love just playing with her and being with her all day.  She is hilarious and is my best friend. We have so much fun together.  And I hope that continues forever.


 Jake is a wonderful husband and works so hard to be able to provide for us now and in the future. He's been focused on getting ready for his interviews (he's done 2 out of 3) and his last one is coming up...VCU which is in Richmond VA! We want to go there the most.  So pray that it goes well; it's this weekend!


I have just set New Years resolutions.  One of them is that I want to make a bucket list. Any suggestions?  

11 months and CHRISTMAS!

My babe is 11 months!

CRAZY!

I really don't know how to deal with this girl growing up so much!  She is doing everything but walking on her own.  I'm pretty sure that will happen before Christmas.  She is crawling everywhere and talking all the time.  She does this little whisper too that is so funny!

She seriously takes my breath away with her sweet little personality and she makes me laugh all day.
Love her and life right now.

Jake has had one interview at Trinity already and two more at Minnesota and VCU are scheduled for Jan 10 and 17 respectively.  He really liked San Antonio and especially the warm weather.  He was in 75 degrees and came home to a huge snow storm and ice...pretty sure it was 1 degree at night last night.  He hates the cold so that was not fun for him at all.

Fun Thanksgiving in IF. My first Black Friday was a success.  We went at like 9:30 am and got all the deals we wanted, the crazies were mostly gone or tired, and Avery did great!  I think I will be doing that again, the deals are just too good to pass up when we are so poor.  haha! It's also nice to be mostly done with shopping so we can focus on doing fun festive things besides shopping and focus ourselves on the reason for the season.  :) We will be up there again for Christmas so that should be fun.  However, I am also a little sad bc this will be my first Christmas (minus mission Christmases) away from home but I'm sure it will still be delightful.  Exiting and busy times!

I love CHRISTMAS so much! Everything about it is amazing.  I love the traditions of Christmas! Sugar cookies, hot chocolate, making gingerbread houses, shopping, Christmas music, The Christmas Carol, etc.  I love being prepared with thoughtful gifts and I love giving them and seeing people react to them!  I love making gifts for people.  It is a wonderful time and a perfect time to focus more on our Savior.

We decided yesterday to focus our reading in the Book of Mormon on the Saviors teachings for December, so we will start today and read from 3 Nephi 11- end of Saviors teachings.  I am excited and happy to do this so I can remember what this time is all about.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?