New Friends

Avery is getting more attention than I ever thought possible. I'm actually sick of hearing her name every five seconds. AVERY!! AVERY!! AVERY!! It's quite exhausting.

Here's her latest fan club. If they would just back up two feet, she would probably like them a lot more.
BUT, she has actually decided that one of them is pretty cool. I think so too.

It's kinda funny, when we come home to our little hotel room, she just plays quietly all by herself and you can tell she's SOO happy to be alone. She sure will miss all the excitement when it's just me and her again.

Tuolumne Meadows

Today we ventured out to Yosemite and spent the afternoon exploring Tuolumne Meadows. It was gorgeous. Ridiculously gorgeous. Perfect weather and great company. I have too many pictures, so I decided I'll make a slideshow at the end of our trip. We're two days in and having the best time. I don't know if I'll ever go home.

Here's some beauty from our day today:
Yes, the date is July 11th and that is SNOW on the side of the road. I told you we could have a snow ball fight.
Enjoying lunch before we begin.
Beautiful, right?
It just keeps getting more gorgeous with every turn.

My favorite face!

Later my mom came to join the party and we went for a walk around our little place.
Do you see our view? It's so rejuvenating.

BUT, beware of the wildlife. They'll sneak up on you.

Vacation Day 1

We had such an enjoyable day today. After an interesting night of Avery waking up a few times, she woke up happy at 6:45! ahh, the joy! That gave us an hour more sleep than normal. It was sheer bliss.

We just had a lazy day, spent the morning playing and enjoying the beautiful weather from our condo and Avery danced away.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We went to church here in Mammoth in the cutest little branch building I've ever seen. It's like a rustic hunting lodge with such a sweet spirit. So fun.

Then we met up with some family that's here early as well for this reunion and played games and had dinner and a birthday cake for Mr. E. Avery quite enjoyed the stairs in their condo.


Such a perfect start to a vacation. Tomorrow we're going to explore the great outdoors and maybe have a snowball fight.

ROAD TRIP!

After a nice pit stop in the shade at a school on the side of the road we made it! Avery did so good. I can't even believe I was so anxious about it. She's such a trooper. I do think it helped that we seriously exhausted the poor thing the last couple days.

Doesn't it look like we're gonna have a BLAST! I sure hope so!

Just a little video to keep you occupied in case I'm having too much fun to blog. I could have stayed all day under that tree in the 75 degree weather. But we were rudely interrupted by the sprinklers.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Perfect Day to Blow a Perfect Record.

So I know it's a day late, my FIRST day late (even though I'll post date it) but I had good reason to go to bed before blogging last night.

#1 My brother got married.
#2 I have the best new sister.
#3 Avery turned ten whole months!
#4 Good friends came to said wedding and we may have stayed up way too late catching up and laughing and stalking...just a little...for educational purposes only.

Well, so maybe it was just the last reason that kept me from blogging, but totally worth it ten times over. Let's not wait another year to get together Kilps!

It was a really beautiful day. HOT and sweaty, but beautiful. So fun to have our whole family together and celebrate baby brother.

When I get some time, I'll put a slide show together, but here's a few I couldn't pass up sharing.







Oh yeah, I guess there was a bride and groom too. I thought everyone was just celebrating Avery's 10 months! Thanks for throwing her a fabulous bash!

busy busy

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of Avery today. She was super cute and entertained everyone while we were busy with this:

Because someone is getting married in the morning. I'm excited and nervous and scared and anxious for him. Good luck brother.

In lieu of gifts all you readers of mine, just say a little prayer for these two. They need those more than a waffle iron. Plus, they have one already, a waffle iron that is.

Drum Roll Please....

We are FREE!!!! Free from the exercise ball. It took a good week, but Avery no longer has to be bounced on this ball to calm down for a nap. We have a vacation coming up and there was no way I was going to pack that thing.

Don't get me wrong. I owe my what's left of my sanity to this thing. It's been a lifesaver. From the time she was newborn she would just have crying fits and this ball calmed her right down when nothing else would. We jokingly decided we were going to market these in the baby section with cute designs because really, it's much better than bouncing on the edge of the mattress. All joking aside, I still think it's a great idea. Anyway, I'm so excited that I can just sing her a little song and lay her down and she'll usually nod off into dreamland with minimal fussing. It sure took me long enough, but we're finally there. ahhhh


Here's a little breakfast video. She's not a fan of eggs unless they're from my plate, but she was being so cute with her little dance after she took a bite that I had to get out the camera.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Duplos!

After Brian got Duplos for Father's Day, I've been in love. I have so much fun building things and Avery LOVE loves to demolish them. She's such a girl about it though. Instead of coming at them like King Kong, she pulls them off one at a time. It's pretty cute.


This made me laugh as she was perfectly content sitting on a pile of Duplos.

I scored these two sets of Dulpos and the building mat at a garage sale for five bucks! I just happened on it on the way out to the mountains last weekend. After a good soak in some bleach filled water, they are good as new!

I also realize I have yet to tell you what I've become independent from. Again, tomorrow. I'm so free from it that I have almost forgotten about it completely. Except that I do need to record it for Avery's sake. She'll laugh when she's older.

Happy Independence!

Aside from our Great Country's independence, Brian and I have celebrated some independence of our own these last couple weeks. We were too busy today getting ready for a wedding and family reunion for me to capture the subject we have been freed from. Tomorrow.

In fact, we were too busy to even get the camera out until bedtime when I realized I had no pictures. So, here you go. I cut Avery's hair again. It's just getting too messy for me and I HATE that she will jerk her head whenever I try put it up out of her eyes. Oh the joy.

Hangin'

Hanging out is pretty much our favorite thing to do on Sunday...I mean, except for going to church, and we all know how much fun that can be when you've gone through every toy and snack in your bag five minutes into the three hour block. But once we're home, the three of us play together on the floor and Avery eats up every ounce of attention we send her way.