Videos from our new video camera!

We got our first video camera about a month ago. We decided that even though it wasn't really in the budget right now, we really didn't want to miss out on home videos of Avery when she was little. So we decided to spend out tax return early, and I'm very glad we got it because its so nice to catch these things in motion.

So last night Jordan showed me how to get the videos on the computer! So here are a couple cute videos of Avery.

The first was when very was sitting on my stomach as I was laying on the couch and resting her back against the couch. We were playing with her Bee and she started doing this little game, it was pretty cute so I ran and got the camera.

And the second was when we went swimming as a family. I go once a week with some friends and there babies, but this was the first time Jordan came with us. She really loves the water!

Other than that we are doing good. Edmonton has got TONS of snow this week! I really can't wait until winter is over! I can't wait for spring and summer and to go on walks with Avery and Kona, I know Kona can't wait until that! She needs to get rid of her winter blubber!

Jordan's job is going great, its busy and he has lots to do which is a great blessing in an economy like ours!

Avery has her first bad cold, she has had little small sniffles before. But this is definitely a cold! She has a very runny nose and quite the flemmy cough! I feel so bad for her, but she is relatively happy considering how she must feel. Hopefully with staying in the house and getting as much sleep as she can without being woken up from her cough, this cold can go away!

Avery's 6 months / Family Day Weekend

I cannot believe Avery is 6 months old! The thing that blows my mind, that if the next 6 months go by as fast as the last have, she will be 1 year before I know it!!!

Well Avery is getting so old lately, and I love it! I love as they grow up, its so fun feeding her solids and watching her face as she tries new things. She is pretty much sitting on her own, I don't feel comfortable propping her up and leaving her, because occasionally she falls backwards or to the side. But for the most part she is sitting on her own. And rolling lots, that is so much fun to watch! She loves our dog Kona, and she always tries to get to her, its quite cute.

The picture above is today after she got up from her nap. I had to get a picture of her sweet little face when she gets up from naps. She is so funny when she gets up from naps, half the time I don't hear her cry, but just chatting away to herself. I then open her door and she looks up at me and smiles. She is also quite out of it when she wakes up from her naps and has these sweet rosy cheeks and just sort of checks things out.

And this past weekend was really nice. My cousin Tanner McClung got married to this great girl Crystal Hall. Jordan's sister Kelli actually set them up, and they are a perfect match! It was such a great wedding, they got married in the Edmonton Temple and then had there reception that night. It was great! Such a wonderful celebration.

And today was so nice, it was the first long weekend that Jordan has had since he started work full time in January, and it was our first family day with Avery! I think its so great that Alberta has a holiday set aside for families to spend together. So we went to the Edmonton Museum, I have not been for years and Jordan has never been. Plus, it was free! And really busy because it was free, but it was worth it. And even though Avery is only 6 months, she was still quite captivated by lots of the displays, mostly the ones with the big animals. It was really fun. So here are some pics from our family day and of Avery over the past couple weeks.

Jordan & Avery by the Polar Bear at the Museum

Avery riding the dinosaur

Me and Avery hanging out with the Lions at the Musuem


Avery outside the Musuem, there was no parking because there were so many people, so we had to walk a little ways. Good thing she was bundled up.

Some stuff...

So as I've mentioned before I have just started digital scrapbooking over the last couple months. I'm really liking it and have found some great sites with great paper. Some I get for free, and some I pay for, but its worth it because you can use it again and again.
So I thought I would share some of my pages, I'm now only 4 months behind! I don't think I've been this caught up in years! I use Avery's nap times very productively!
I haven't got any pages printed yet, I've heard of a couple places to go. So if any of you digital scrapbookers have some suggestions of where you go, let me know.
So here is a sample of some of the pages I've been doing lately. I've been working on Avery's baby book at the same time, but once I'm caught up with our family album I'm going to concentrate more on her baby book and try and keep up to date. Enjoy!

25 Things about me...

Hello Friends. I just wanted to do a quick post, its Sunday night and I'm pooped and feel like un-winding with a little blogging. Sundays are long exhausting days lately. We now have church from 11-2 which before Jordan and I were just... Jordan and I that was a great time for church! But now with a baby... it sucks! She usually takes her good nap then, and I know lots of moms can relate. So we rock her to sleep at church and she usually gets a little 1/2 hour nap in, but that just doesn't compare to a good 2 hour nap in her crib! So it can be a bit of a cranky day, and then we got to my parents for dinner every Sunday... which normally is a highlight of my week. But Avery can sometimes be at her limit, so until shes a bit older that too has not been a very enjoyable time, which is sad because as I said I usually really look forward to that.
So once we finally get home on Sunday and get Avery to bed, I enjoy cracking a diet pepsi (my form of beer... I know I'm bad) and relaxing! haha!

So another thing I've wanted to do is post my 25 facts. I'm sure lots of you have seen this going around on facebook, and I've really enjoyed reading lots of my friends 25 facts and getting to know more about them. For some reason I just felt like doing this on my blog instead of on facebook. So for your reading pleasure here are my 25 facts!

1. I'm a crazy neat / clean freak. Basically my day can continue once my kitchen is tidy and my room is made up, etc. And its a little excessive sometimes, like I basically know the exact angle and position of every frame, vase, lamp, candle, toss cushion etc. in my house. It drives Jordan crazy! I'm sure as more kids come this may diminish (I sort of hope it doesn't though!)

2. My whole married life I have never lived upbove ground, we have always live in a basement. Or first apartment was in the basement level in a apartment building by southgate, and then we bought our first house and lived in the basement and rented the upstairs out (more $ that way) and then we bought our next house which was bigger and nicer but still live in the basement and rent the upstairs out.

3. I have a total sweet tooth, I even like gross candy that most don't like those little "peeps" that are basically little yellow marshmallow birds with sugar over them that come out around Easter.

4. The whole time I was pregnant with Avery I was so sure she was a boy, and I was about the only one who did... so much for mother intuition.

5. My favourite color changes every year usually, right now its green - all shades of green, I guess that comes with being a decorator.

6. I'm a certified Interior Decorator and worked in the industry for 2.5 years before going on mat leave. I don't wish to go back full time, but will continue doing side small jobs which I have continued doing while at home with Avery. I love it, its my passion.

7. My favourite hobby is scrapbooking and I've been scrapbooking since grade 8. I worked part time at a scrapbook store through highschool and this is where I got lots of expirence (haha, one of my best friends tara would come scrapbook with me while I worked - best job ever) and I've just recently switched to digital scrapbooking for money and time purposes and absolutley love it!

8. I got glasses in grade 2 and contacts in grade 5. I got contacts so young because I was a competative dancer and for competitions we could not wear glasses and my eyes were so bad that I tripped over my friends foot and almost feel off the stage... so it was time for contacts.

9. I'm a natural red head, I have mostly died my hair blonde or at least blonde highlights since grade 8 on through - but I do enjoy my red hair.

10. My left front tooth is fake. In grade 5 I bit on a rope tide to a beam in our basement (don't ask why) and my sister Taren ran by and pulled the rope. Long story short my front tooth root and all popped out and after about 5 oral surgery's I now have a permanant fake tooth.

11. Through out elementary school, my school competed in county speach competitions. I was actually a big deal, and the top 3 from each grade competed against the other schools in our district. I came in 2nd in grade 4, 3rd in grade 5 and 1st in grade 6 (we had to write and present the speaches, my grade 6 speach was about losing my permanant tooth.)

12. Through out my life I have always been in best friendships in groups of three. For example my ward and school best friends were Brittany Oviatt and Chantal Simpson. My best friends from the Church that I met through dances were Stefanie Bissett and Sherry Pomerleau. And my best friends in YSA were Tara Woolley and Shelby Fairfield, they are all dear friends to this day.

13. I really enjoy cooking and baking. I love watching Rachel Ray and love imagining I'm as cute as her and have a cooking show. It gives me great delight to make a tasty meal.

14. I like all forms of music except heavy metal rock and hard core rap. I'm pretty open, right now I'm really into Duffy and Leona Lewis.

15. I always had eyes (I know thats corny) for my husband, but there were other girls I hung out with that did too. So we hung around in the same crowd for about 5 months before we even talked (we both have similar courting style, if you like someone - ignore them, stupid I know.) It took a friend (Sherry) going on a date with Jordan and knowing he wasn't for her but she knew Jordan and I were for eachother :)

16. As you can tell I have a hard time being breif, I always have to eleborate... see!

17. I really love movies and all star culture... totally lame I know. Now that I'm a momma I don't get out to movies as much as I like, so we often wait till they come to video. If my memory was as good for remebering star culture facts as it were for school, I'd be a genuis!

18. I have to brush my teeth before going to bed, even if I fall asleep watching a movie and wake up at 3am, I have to get up and go brush my teeth half asleep, I can't sleep a full night without doing that.

19. I HATE blood and gore and basically anythng to do with the body! I get very quizey and when I was younger I came up with a way to describe what I feel, and I call it "weak wrists." I basically just feel weak and have to roll my wrists to feel better... I know I'm so weird. My dad is like me and now also descibes when hes squimish as "weak wrists."

20. When I was little I was always a eary riser, and even on Saturday morning when I didn't have to get up early, I would get up by 6am before anyone else got up and get a bowl of cerale and go watch cartoons. I guess this was my alone time when I was younger. As a teen ager that faded, and now I'm a early riser... but not my choice!

21. Me and my mom budded heads lots growing up, but now she is probably my best friend and we talk pretty much every day (even though she only lives 15 mins away.)

22. I love having a daughter and being a mommy, and especially having a girl. I get more excited to dress Avery everyday than I do for myself.

23. I love McDonalds, totally another guilty pleasure... there I've admitted it! Of course right now as I'm trying to get back to post prego weight I'm avoiding it like the plague.

24. I love doing my hair & make up, always have! I'm not saying I'm amazing at it, its just fun to do. And I can't wait till Avery's hair grows and I can do cute little things to it!

25. I have kept a journal pretty consistantley since I was 7! Its fun to look back and read the things I've written over the years.

Sorry I don't know how to be more breif! Thats all for now, I'm going to try and get some of my digital scrapbook pages up here that I've done recentley next week some time. TTFN!

January 09 update

Hello all! I hope everyone is enjoying 2009. I'm quite enjoying it, and already cannot believe that half the month has gone by. And once again... cannot believe my baby is 5 months! Wow times flys when you are watching your baby grow!

I now have a full time working man! Jordan finished his degree this past December and got a job with Meyers Norris Penny (the accounting firm) down town in Edmonton here. He will be working as a Business valuations analyst. He will be doing correspondence starting in May to earn his CBV (Chartered Business Valuator.) It is exactly what he wanted to do and really enjoying his first 2 weeks. We feel very blessed that he was able to get this job, especially with the way the economy is these days. MNP is a great company to work for also. And since we live so close to downtown Jordan is able to take the bus and it takes no time. He starts work at 8:00am and doesn't have to leave the house until 7:35am and gets there early! So its nice because I'm able to have the car during the day.

This is very important I've realized this past couple weeks in order to keep my sanity! haha, I've sort of been used to have Jordan around during the day for at least parts of the day because of his school schedule (since I've been a stay at home mom and not working.) So I realized at Jordan's first week at work that I need to get out once and while because I was getting a little cabin feverish and probably talking Jordan's ear off when he got home from work! haha, I do talk to Avery and Kona during the day... but a dog and a 5 month old don't give you much in return!
So this week as been nice, I've gotten out a few times and done some errans with Avery (shes a great shopping companion) and went swimming one day with my friend Rachel Wolff and her 9.5 months old son Zach.

I've also been helping my mom pick out the interiors for there house they are building. That has been lots of fun, and exciting because its all coming together quite nicely.

And Avery is just getting bigger and cuter by the day! I love watching her learn and grow. Her co-ordination is really coming along and she makes so many fun facial expressions. She is quite a happy girl these days. Definitely at 6:30 rolls around and it time for bath she gets a little fussy, but right when she hit the water she knows bed time is coming and shes happy and relaxed.
So here are some recent pictures... mostly of Avery. As I mentioned I took her swimming this week for the first time this week, she was a little nervous at first. But we took a stroll around and checked everything out and then she got quite a bit better. I think it helped watching Zach with Rachel too. Well that's all for now!

Avery watching cartoons with Dad Saturday morning

Avery really enjoys her saucer latley

This is Avery's new thing latley, sticking her tongue out just a little bit, I also love this picture cause it shows off her sweet long eye lashes.

1st time swimming

Rachel & Zach

Avery in her bathing suite my mom got her, so cute hey!

Avery is getting much better on her belly, hopefully it helps progress the crawling (she hasn't been too fond on her belly so far.)

Christmas has come and gone

Well Christmas sure comes and goes fast. I really love Christmas, but I must say I'm always happy to take down the Christmas decor the first week of January and get my house back to normal. I guess its the control freak in me, I have realized I have a bit of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) when it comes to taking care of my house and making sure everything is perfect. I'm sure as our family grows that will die down a little... lets hope or I might go crazy!

So we had a nice Christmas, it sure is fun having kids at Christmas, in my case kid. Next Christmas will be even better when Avery is older, but I honestly was more excited to open presents for Avery than my own!

So we went to Vanderhoof this year. It was nice, all the kids were home and we played lots of games! There was no ice rink this year because it was so cold, so we stayed warm inside and played games. Jordan's family got to spend more time with Avery too and get to know her more. Avery is blessed to have so much extended family that love her so much!

Avery also did great with the long car ride there! It seemed that the last hour both ways she would get a little fussy and sick of her car seat, who can blame her! But she was a great little traveler!

We came home on boxing day so that we could spend time with my family, and especially because my Grandpa who lives in Powell River BC and his wife Yvonne were visiting. They have not met Avery yet so I was very excited for them to meet her. They just love her of course, and we also had the opportunity to take a 5th generation picture! It is very unique that Avery has 3 5th generations on earth right now! I'm not sure if we will be able to get a picture with the other 2. I will explain her 5th generations:

1. The picture you see below is me (of course) and my mom and then my Grandpa Johnson (who is my mom's dad) and then my Great Grandma Johnson (who is my Grandpa Johnson's mom.)

2. The other 5th generation is on my mom's side. Again its me, and my mom and then my Grandma Johnson (my mom's mom) and my Grandma Johnson's Mom; my Great Grandma Edna. My Great Grandma Edna doesn't have great health right now and lives in Winnipeg MB, so hopefully we make it out there soon so she can meet her Great Great grand daughter and get a picture with her. This one is neat because its all the oldest girls of each family, pretty unique!

3. The third 5th generation is on Jordan's side. Now I'm almost positive we wont get a picture there because Jordan's Nana and great Nana live in England! That is a little far and pricey to go! So that picture would go Avery, her daddy, Jordan's mom, Jordan's mom's mom, and Jordan's Nana's mom!

So that is pretty impressive, to say the least Avery has a very young family!

So that was the highlights of our Christmas. It was nice to get home and get Avery back into her room. She is a great little sleeper and before we went away she was doing 8-10 hours a night at least (sometimes more) and going down between 7-8. That is nice cause me and Jordan have our evenings together. But I've realized that trips kind of put a wrench in babies good schedules! She is just now getting back to her good sleeping habits, and I'm very happy about that!

Anyways, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Years!

5th Generation picture with the Johnson's

The whole Heavenor family

Avery opening a present on Christmas day, with some help from mom and dad.

Our family going to church on Sunday in Vanderhoof

Tis the Season!!!

Well, it finally feels like Christmas! Because of the late snow (in Edmonton we didn't get snow until December!) it really seemed to take a while for it to feel like Christmas for me! I wasn't even that pumped to get the tree up which usually Jordan has to keep telling me to wait until December.
But now that the house is all decorated and we did our Christmas shopping last week I'm feeling the Christmas spirit!
Its fun to have a baby this Christmas, even though Avery doesn't understand what Christmas is yet! I have this little shirt that says "Babies first Christmas" on it and put it on her with some little red socks and took some pictures the other day. I tried to get some with the tree in the back ground, but its a little hard when she has to be propped up.
So we are off to Vanderhoof this year. We will see how Avery does with the 8 hour drive there and 8 hour drive back! Thankfully she is pretty good in her car seat, it might just mean we take out time!
And Avery is just growing like a weed. The last couple days she has really figured out her voice... and seems to really like hearing herself. Last night while I was making dinner she was in her swing just chatting away to herself so loud! I was just laughing listening to her and Jordan comes rushing in the kitchen cause he couldn't believe she was so loud! He said "Avery, is mom beating you!?" haha, obviously a joke! But she just loves making happy baby talk! Its quite funny to listen to her.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and drive safe if your traveling!