First Steps

Avery took her first steps yesterday! And today she walked clear across the living room! So she should be crusin' around the house getting into more trouble with Madi in no time! (We took a video of it, but no pictures) Yay Avery! Good job!

NEW favorite snack!

"Woah! What is this?!? It's divine!"

"Ah, I love watermelon and pineapple!"

Avery just cracks us up! She has such a sense of humor, even at this age. She pulls this face all the time, (and I know I have posted it before) but I just can't get enough of it! It makes us laugh everytime we look at her! She shakes her head back and forth, stops, scrunches her nose up and does it over and over again as we bust up laughing, which just makes her do it more...such a funny girl! She loved the watermelon and couldn't get it into her mouth fast enough. I thought, she could eat this stuff all day! But then, even sometimes all good (and yummy) things come to an end...

"Ok mom, I think I have had enough..."

"Would you quit taking pictures... I am done!"

"MOM!!! I want down, NOW!!"

So I got a little carried away... I know, I am the meanest mom EVER! haha.

Hubby Tag!

1. What's his name? Ryan Dennis



2. How long have you been together? together for 7 years, married for almost 6!!!!



3. How long did you date? on and off for a year- we were engaged 5 different times throughout the year...finally sealing the deal in the Boise Idaho Temple! ;)


4. Who eats more? Ryan would say he does, but I say I do.



5. Who said "I love you" first? I am not sure...I will say Ryan did;)


6. Who is taller? Ryan


7. Who sings better? Ryan for sure! He has written, recorded and performed many songs! He has an amazing voice!



8. Who is smarter? Ryan is definitely more book smart, but he and I would agree that I am more common sense smarts.



9. Who does the laundry? Me mostly, but sometimes Ryan helps me fold them when he is home.



10. Who does the dishes? Usually me but he is always willing to help!



11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If laying down facing the ceiling, Ryan does.



12. Who pays the bills? Both of us



13. Who mows the lawn? Ryan does...he enjoys it! But I would if he didn't want to.



14. Who cooks dinner? Me, but Ryan is, Master of the Grill!



15. Who drives when you are together? Mostly Ryan, we take turns on long trips though



16. Who is more stubborn? Oh I definitely take this one hands down!



17. Who kissed who first? Ryan! But, I have to say I wanted to kiss him but didn't want to do it first...so I initiated it our first kiss ....I asked him if he wanted a "sucker" kiss. He excitedly said ok, ... so I leaned in, an inch away from his lips and said, "Sucker!" He looked shocked, and of course couldn't believe that I did that, so he threw me down onto the grass and laid one on me! Pretty hot, huh? :)



18. Who asked who out first? Ryan asked me, I turned him down though because I already had a date, but I asked him out the next week because I felt really bad, plus he was absolutely gorgeous!



19. Who proposed? Ryan did all the proposing...we had 5 remember?? But officially really only 3.


20. Who is more sensitive? Me, but Ryan can be too, which is not a bad thing!


21. Who has more friends? Me, at least I like keeping in contact more with my friends, and a lot of his friends have become my friends too!


22. Who has more siblings? Me


23. Who wears the pants in the family? I think we are pretty balanced, but if we had to call it, I think it's me!


Okay, now I will tag anyone who reads this! **Sorry Ashlie another tag! haha!

Happy Birthday Colton!!!

My favorite little nephew....ok he is my only nephew (but he would still be my favorite...shh don't tell!) turned ONE year old today! Yeah, Buddy!! This is my brother, Adam and his wife, Genn's little boy. He is such a cute little boy and is just so smart! He figures things out so fast, he likes to throw balls, play with cars, and loves to run around always with a smile on his face. He has such a cute personality and he loves his mommy! I wanted to show him off, so here are a few pictures of the little guy! Isn't he a cutie!? I Can't wait to have more cute nephews and/or nieces! (hint hint! ;)

Colton! (This was taken in Feb)

My dad, Adam and Colton (Colton's blessing)

Genn, Adam and Colton

Chillin' with Madi

**Cheese**



Goofing around with Madi!

Daddy and his girls

They were all playing on the floor together rolling around, so I snapped a few pictures of the trio!

Kids can fall asleep just about anywhere...

Ryan put Madi to bed for a nap. About a half an hour later, I opened the door to go upstairs to check on her and found her asleep on the stairs. Isn't it funny how kids can fall asleep just about anywhere and in any position?! Just from looking at her, I know I would be sore in places I didn't know existed. But she looks so sweet and stylish, with her bright pink, "Vogue" heels on!

Happy Birthday Josh!

Today is my brother-in-laws' birthday and we wanted to give a shout out to Josh! He is my sister, April's husband. He is a guy that from the look of him you think, "Ok, so I never want to get in a fight with him!" He can bench press 325!!! That's crazy heavy! ;) Yet, Ryan and I have never met someone so kind, caring and selfless as him! He treats my sister so good and we are so happy he is a member of our family! Hope you had a great birthday Josh!

Josh and April Peterson

They are so cute together! We love you guys!

MEMORIES

I got this idea off of my friends' blog, and thought that it would be fun to share a memory of either me or Ryan, or both of us!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Sunny Sunday

I thought I would post some Sunday pictures we took earlier today. There are but few moments when everyone is CLEAN, CLOTHED, and CALM! We took these pictures in our back yard, and I think they turned out pretty darn cute.

Of course our CLEAN, CLOTHED, and CALM moments never last long....but that's just what they are, moments. But they are GREAT (peaceful) moments! Because of course after church this is what we get, CRAZY, CHAOTIC, and yet, CUTE. They are also GREAT moments, just louder and more frequent.

"Littl' Punk"

Today Madisen was playing in my closet, again...surprise, surprise! She wanted Avery to come over, get in and play too. She kept telling Avery over and over again, "Come play Avery, come play." Well Avery wasn't paying any attention to Madi, she was busy doing her own thing...plus, the obvious fact that she doesn't understand our gibberish English- language yet. It just added to Madi's already growing frustration. Then out of nowhere, Madi calls out, " Come here, you littl' punk!"

It happened so quickly that I started to chuckle at little. There was really no mean tone in the way she said it, but was just so funny, but of course I had to wipe the smirk off my face before I could face her as a parent to let her know we don't talk like that. I told Madi, "We need to talk nice to our sister."

--I thought where in the world did she learn that?!?!

Two hours later, Ryan came home from class and started joking around with me and said, "Hey littl' punk what are you doing?"

Not to make Ryan look bad or anything, because I have said things that she has repeated too, I think we all have...however, Ryan and I have learned we always have to watch what we say and do! And be a good example even if we are just joking around!

***This picture was taken of Madisen back in May of 2007, but to me, she looks like a "littl' punk"!!

Messy Madi

So lately I have been taking a lot of pictures of Avery. She is at that stage where everything she does is funny and cute. She is starting to do so many cute facial expressions and is very curious. That is always such a fun stage! Well, I think Madisen has been feeling a little left out. She sees Avery getting all these laughs and tries to act out exactly what Avery did to get the laughs too. Yet, as we all know, a 3 year old coloring all over herself or dumping dinner in her lap just isn't as cute or funny as a baby doing it. Madi asked me today, "Mommy can you take pictures of me, too." AWWW...that just broke my heart! Of course I will take pictures of you sweetie! I take pictures of Madi just not as many lately as I have been of Avery. And it is just recently, that she has even cared about pictures. As with all babies the focus tends to go to them. Madisen has a special place in my heart, I think the first born always do. So for Madi, I wanted to post some of her messes from when she was a baby!

Eating the local news... Where's the Jello?Sorting the whites from the darks... Caught in the act! Baby powder and cotton swabs.Have you seen my chocolate bar??1st birthday cakeOur clown in the making...
We love you Madisen!

Automatic kitchen-floor cleaner…

It's amazing to me how dirty a kitchen floor can get in just a few short hours with kids. Even though I sweep almost every day, the amount of food that gets swept up and thrown away could seriously feed a small village of people for many weeks! I try and sweep the floor every day, but sometimes forget or don't get around to doing it with all the other endless 'things' to do. And that's when I find Avery doing it for me...my own little kitchen-floor cleaner, how nice. Avery will roam the kitchen floor until she finds a "treat." She almost seems annoyed with me when I do sweep, and crawls around the floor to get in my way in protest. Even though finding her under the table with a mouth full of leftovers from lunch or dinner is totally disgusting, it sure makes us laugh seeing the look of acheivement in her eyes, as this time finding an overlooked piece of chocolate cookie, a grand prize indeed!!!

I had just cleaned Avery up after her chocolate cookie discovery, when not even five minutes later, I found her back in the kitchen, this time somehow getting a hold of a marker and giving herself a few body designs...how nice. She sure is proud of herself!

Swinging with you

My sister, Celeste took these pictures of Avery and I swinging together...I thought they turned out pretty cute!

Next Top Model!

She climbs in to my closet almost everyday, trying on my shoes and hats, ususally I just get annoyed and think "why does she have to mess around in my closet everyday..." But when she started modeling my hat and smiling I couldn't resist not smiling back!

She kept posing for me, something she rarely does so I just kept snapping pictures! I thought these pictures were really cute.

And I think she is really cute!

Me, Quirky??

I was tagged by my friend, Yvonne to list 6 Quirky things about me. I honestly had a hard time thinking of things that could be considered quirky... After a few days I still couldn't think of much. By this point, I was thinking I must be a pretty normal person and maybe even cool! haha! But then what is considered normal or cool? So with no luck, I asked my husband if he thought any thing I did was quirky...I shouldn't have opened my big mouth! He laughed and started listing off all these things about me that he thought were so weird, like he had a list right there just waiting for me to ask! Geesh! I was thinking, "Ok, ok, you have already named six things....ok, thanks." Anyway, here are quirky things my husband and I came up with:

1. I pick at things...pimples, scars, scabs, sunburns, hang nails, anything that is pickable I pick! And NO, I don't pick my nose...haha! for that I like using a kleenex. That's just gross, we won't even go there! But everything else is fair game! Sometimes I don't even realize I am doing it, until Ryan tells me. "Honey, quit picking at my pimples!"

2. I talk in my sleep. Ryan gets home late from work and by then I have already been sleeping for an hour or two. I like to know when he gets home so I don't worry...(not that I would really know, since I am sleeping!) So when he tries to wake me up, I say weird things to him. For instance: "Did you give Celeste a bath?" (Celeste being my younger sister who is 15 and lives in Rexburg!) "The cookies are still cooking." "The water is shut off." "Did you get the dishes done?" Or sometimes I just stare at him for a long time he says, before I realize where I am. Which those times I can usually remember the next day starting at him, but don't remember some of things I have said.


3. I am easily startled. If I am frightened by a noise or a touch that I wasn’t expecting I always jump, scream, shake, run or sometimes…well, I probably shouldn't go there... So whenever Ryan comes into a room where I am, or comes home he gently calls out to me while knocking on the door “I’m coming in…” so I won’t jump, or scream. And something that kind of goes along with this is, If I sneeze more than twice in a row usually the third sneeze always gets me, I pee my pants...ok, so I went there! It was inevitable. Yes, I pee my pants, not a lot but enough! I know, I know, I seriously have the weakest bladder on the planet, that's what comes with having kids and a mom that has the same problem. It must run in the family! lol. thanks MOM! ;) But you can't judge me on this, sneezing is totally involuntary and so is the pee! "Free the Pee!"




4. Ryan says a quirky thing that happens, that he wished didn’t, is when we play card games or board games... 9 out of 10 times I win. I don’t know how or why, I just do. The first five years of our marriage he seemed ok with it, and it didn’t seem to bother him. BUT then all of a sudden just this one day while we were playing, he literally blew up at me!! I guess it was just one game to many that he had lost and well… I guess I can’t blame him!




5. He says, I eat food weird and too fast. For example, today we grilled some hotdogs today for lunch. After every bite I would tear a little bit of the bread off of the bun and put it on my plate. It’s not that there is too much bun for the hot dog; I just like more meat then bread when it comes to eating hotdogs. And I eat really fast because I grew up with two brothers, and if you didn't get your helping, it was gone in a flash!


Or when I eat a Reeses Peanut butter cup; I eat only the outside and throw the middle away. It’s way too much peanut butter! I guess that’s why they call it a ‘Peanut Butter Cup’??

6. I have two left feet. No, not really but I am constantly running into walls, doors,tables, desks, tripping on stairs, my own feet and falling into people. It's great fun, let me tell you....I mean, I can hold my own on a tennis court, but you bet I am tripping all the way there! Just yesterday, I smashed my toe into a step stool and as I was yelling in agnoy as I tripped and hit the bathroom door on my way down. At least once a day, I bash my foot, elbow or head into something!



Phew! That was really exhausting! It probably was for you too, having to read all of that quirkiness! So take a break and get ready to post your own quirks! Anyone that reads this is tagged by me!!