Snow Day

Remember how once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman, and in the sun he melted, melted, melted? We can sympathize.

All that's left of our adventures are three lopsided friends. But we had fun while it lasted.

No School in Dixie

Paradigm Shift

So, this is not an update really. We have too many pictures to make the update post a fast one and I'm into fast tonight. Therefore, you are getting the post that I've had on my mind for a while now.

My idea of Fall has changed this year...

for several reasons

A Day of Thanksgiving

I am in love with this little girl!

Leave it to Rachel Ray to make me think about how every day can be a day of Thanksgiving. And I'm very thankful to be Eliza's mommy. I love her smiles, her snuggles, her giggles and how squirmy with excitement she gets when she sees her dad. Every night we thank Heavenly Father for letting her come to our family and for being so healthy and happy and just bringing us so much joy. I don't think I really knew what joy was until she came.

And here's another story that just makes your heart swell with thankfulness. Read it, cry over it and then give a little early thanks of your own.

If you really want to shed some tears, read Mia's story as told by her mommy. It will make your heart swell with thankfulness. Well, at least it did mine.

Happy Fall Y'all

Our fall in St. George consists of hearing about the snow up north while we look out the window at our nice green leaves. Sad. Actually, the leaves around town are just now starting to turn yellow and we have had to wear jackets and hats the last few mornings. Anybody want to come visit? :)

We miss the changing colors, so we had to go find them. We went hiking in Zion National Park. We hiked up behind Weeping Rock to Observation Point and had a little picnic. We thought we would be home just after lunch, but the hike took a bit longer than we expected. It was well worth it and a great way to spend a nice fall day.

Happy Halloween

We were feeling that Halloween would not be too exciting this year - all dressed up with no place to go - but we lucked out. We were invited to a pumpkin carving party so our jack-o-lantern got carved. (Unfortunately, we had to miss the judging portion because someone just couldn't keep her eyes open - we heard it was pretty spook-tacular with 40 jack-o-lanterns all aglow.) Eliza's best buddies up the street requested that she wear their tiger costume, saved me the dilemma of "should we dress up" or "not." And then, we had some substitute grandparents to trick-or-treat to - my Aunt Joan and Uncle Arnold! We got a whole, wonderful dinner instead of just a candy bar! Now that's what I call a treat!



The candy bar was more of a hit than we thought it would be.

One holiday down, two to go. :)

Grand Canyon (Eliza's First Time)

This is a week late, but better later than never. We had wanted to go camping two weeks ago but it was very cold that weekend so I watched the weather all week to make sure it warmed up nice and warm. Well the weather said we would have a low of 38 out on the Kiabab (National Forest next to the Grand Canyon) so off we went. Friday night when Eliza was ready for bed we left. We got to our campsite a little after 10 and the moon was just coming up. From the pictures you can see that our campsite was right on the edge of the Grand Canyon and although it was cold it still warmed up quite nicely. Saturday morning we went to some viewpoints and then went on a hike along the Rainbow Rim, the only mountain biking trail along the Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was beautiful and we will have to go back when we can take our bikes. On the way we met a friend and went to Red Cave Narrows and then it was home through all of the Utah Deer Hunters. Good thing we went camping in Arizona!
This is the view from our tent. Eliza kept track of some of the sleeping bags while we packed up in the morning.
She loves her tent.
Yeah it was still a little cold in the morning.
Eliza loves her backpack too. It reminds me of her grandma and grandpa in Burma riding on the covered cabs atop an elephant.

The Trick of Tricks

I feel that a post is necessary. We've been busy, to say the least, and I'm sure it will stay that way. For instance - did you realize it is now less than 10 weeks until Christmas? Yeah, how 'bout that for an eye-opener.

But that's not the point of this little post. The point is to share a video with you. Eliza has been the proud master of this trick for some time, but she has recently added the sound effects, and I think you'll agree, it's just too cute not to share.

Aaron's sound effects aren't bad either. :)

What more could you ask for?

So, yesterday was my birthday. It's strange, some years I want everyone to remember and recognize it, and some years I don't. This year was an "I don't" year. Now, that doesn't mean I didn't want anybody to wish me happy birthday, I just don't mind if it's forgotten. But a lot of you did remember and so I wanted to say THANKS! I was delightfully surprised by some of the people who remembered and it was really fun to get messages all day. Thanks, friends and family! You made the big day be just a little more special!

Aaron was great - he gave me just what I wanted for my birthday (and mind you, it's not what's in the parentheses that counts): something I would never buy myself (dvds) and something he just made the decision and bought without any deliberation on my part (a family-size tent). Of course, we had to put the last one to the test right away and slept out in the backyard last night.

And Eliza gave me a gift too - loving to sleep outside just as much as I do!

Just some fun snapshots...

BFFs

Paisley and Eliza got to spend some quality time together last weekend. Wig and Steph came down with Steph's family to go to Tuachan. They let Paisley hang out with us while they went to the show and we had a great time watching the two munchkins try to roll on top of each other and eat each other's fingers. They even got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa via the webcam. We also discovered that Eliza is going to be the bully - she stole Paisley's keys and poor Paisley just didn't know what to think about that. But despite that, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Eliza's Daddy

So, yesterday, out of nowhere, I got sick. Body aches and tiredness - right in the middle of my Saturday project. No energy and all I wanted to do was lie there. Well, thanks to Eliza's wonderful daddy, that's exactly what I did. Aaron did the dishes, played with Eliza, and even gave her a bath - all by himself (baby-bathing is a tricky feat, as I'm sure many of you know, especially since she has gotten so squiggley!) And she loved it. Eliza loves her Dad more than anyone. She lights up when he comes in the room and gets super excited when he chases her down the hall. And he loves her and it shows. So this is my big thanks to such a wonderful husband who loves both his girls so much! Thanks, Silly!

Aloha!

We're back in the mainland and what a trip it was! After one failed attempt at blogging our adventures (Aaron was half way finished when the blog ate his post), I've decided the best thing to do is just let the pictures do the talking. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the show!

The Averetts do Hawaii

Starring

Eliza (and her parents)

Kevin, Melanie, and Bennett Hallstrom - our most gracious hosts on the island of Oahu (Mel was my roommate in college, Kevin was the boyfriend who finally saw the light and asked for her hand, and Bennett is Eliza's cohort - you'll see what I mean later)

The Averett Clan

and Cameron the Cousin-ator!

And now .... the show!

This film was shot on location on the islands of Oahu (Honolulu at the Hallstroms, Polynesian Cultural Center, Hawaii Temple, and hiking to a waterfall somewhere on the island) and Kauai (Po'ipu beach, Ke'e beach, various waterfalls, the Napali Coast, Lihu'e and the resort swimming pool), Hawaii.

No animals were harmed in the filming of this movie...although we did see lots of fish while snorkling, lot of sea turtles swimming in the sea and one that beached on our beach (yes, that was WAY cool), and some seals that also liked our beach (and by our, I mean Po'ipu beach where we stayed on Kauai).

Extras

Behind the Scenes

On Location

Boring Update

I finally got a chance to sit down and blog our trip with Scott and Brandee's wedding and the first half of our Hawaii trip. Our internet here won't let me upload pictures though. So no pictures for now. We enjoyed our time in Salt Lake and Tridell and then were home for a week. Wednesday we went to Oahu where we did get to spend some good time with Melanie and Kevin and go to the Polynesian Cultural Center and Pearl Harbor and hike to a sweet waterfall. We are now in Kauai in a city named Poipu. There are large sea swells on the south side of the island where we are staying so we have only been able to do a little snorkeling and watch the surfers and big waves. We have a list of things to do this week so we should get some good pictures this week, and post an update hopefully at the end of the week.

How did we get this busy?

I really don't know how it happened, last month we had time to work in the garden, go for walks and other enjoyable things, the last three weeks have just not allowed for any of it. It probably has to do with the Family Reunion the first weekend of the month, 2nd Scout Camp the 2nd week, and then this third week trying to play catch up for the last two and all along Angela helping with wedding plans. On top of it all we left our camera in Tridell so we can't take the cute baby pictures you all were probably hoping for. Well I found some to pull out of the archives, all the way back before all the craziness started, hope you enjoy.