Avery Update

While we were in TLF she would sit on the toilet and read! 

So funny!

She is feeding cookie monster! She loves to pretend.

We took Ave to her new pediatrician yesterday for her 2 year well check-up. She acted as though he was trying to kill her, she screamed the whole time! He said she was the strongest two year old he's seen all month! Welcome to my life! 

Anyway, she is 35.5 in. tall and 29 pounds. She is getting so big, so quickly. She is 84% for height, Ben's hoping she'll be coordinated enough for basketball. If she got that from me, no chance! She is 74% in weight. So she is super healthy and is advancing well in all areas!

House Pictures

Family room - Kitchen

Kitchen - Family Room

Living Room

Living Room

Stairway goes up to Master Bed

Hallway with Ave's Room, Bathroom, & Spare Bedroom

Avery's Room

Dining Room

I finally got around to taking pictures of our new house. We still have some work to do but I figured if I waited to take pictures until everything was perfect, it would be months before you would see pics. So here are a few pictures of the house, minus the extra bedroom and the master, which right now are being used as storage! Those pics to come later. We still have quite a bit of painting to do but we'll get there in time. I try to repost as we update.

Sunday at the Beach

Taking a break from the water.

Here she is running away from the water coming in!

Daddy and Ave going to play in the water.

Making sand castles.

I think Ben was having more fun with this!

Thanks Nana & Dada for the buckets and shovels! She loved them!

Sunday was a beautiful day, so we decided to go to the beach after church. We met up with two other couples and their kids and went to Avila Beach. It was a perfect day, we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and the kids played in the sand and loved splashing around in the water. They all had so much fun, Avery was happy as could be! The coolest part was that we saw dolphins! There were quite a few of them and they were amazing. Avery loves the water and can't wait to go back. We had a great day with everyone!

The Past Two Months...

Ave and I on the train at the SB zoo.

We took Ave to the zoo for her birthday.

Daddy and Ave looking at the flamingos.

Daddy and Ave at the Market in SLO.

Me and Ave at Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Out for a walk with Grandma.

My mom and dad at the beach.

Papa and Ave playing games in TLF. (Lookin' good in the tutu)

Ave and Ben at her birthday. (I think this picture is hilarious, it looks like he is 

chasing her with a stick! Those two.)

Ben sharing Ave's smash cake at her party.

Ave and her birthday cake.

Ben's whole family!

Ave helping Dada feed the cows. 

The past two months have been crazy, to say the least. So our adventure started out by making a very spontaneous trip to Kentucky to see Ben's family. We had a wonderful time, despite the stresses. It was so great to see everyone! Ave had such a great time with her cousins, we just wish they could all be together more often. 

We returned to Great Falls just four days before the movers arrived to pack up all of our stuff. That was overwhelming, but with the few things we had left, we moved in with mom and dad for a couple of weeks. While we were at mom and dad's we had a going away party and a birthday party for Ave. She had so much fun and we were so grateful to spend some time with family and friends before we left. We were so blessed to have family and such wonderful friends in Great Falls. 

Mom, Dad, Ave, Ben and I packed up and left the first Thursday in March. We traveled all night and all day making it to Bakersfield, CA Friday night. It was a long trip, but Ave is a great little traveler! On Saturday, after having breakfast with mom's family, we made the last stretch to Santa Maria. A trip that should only take two hours, took five hours! Long story...anyway, we finally made it to Vandenberg AFB. We took one more trip to northern CA, where my grandparents live and spent some time with them and then, it was time to say goodbye to mom and dad. That was the most difficult part, it was a very lonely drive back! 

After getting back to Vandenberg, we settled into TLF (temporary lodging) for a month! Which was too long. However, I didn't have to clean or even make the beds! I wanted to take the cleaning ladies with me, they were fabulous! After a month, we finally closed on our house and two weeks ago we moved in. We love our house and are a thrilled to be settled. So this has been our life for the past two months...chaos! 

 

Pedicure Wednesday!

Ave and I finally took some time yesterday to pamper ourselves. I was so impressed, she sat still the whole time while I painted her fingernails and toenails. She loved it, she thinks she is so cool! When Ben got home, she said, "Daddy, look, I pretty!" 

Bath Time Fun

In our new house we have a jacuzzi tub in the master bath that Avery loves! She hasn't taken one bath in her own tub. She has figured out quickly that when you turn the jets on, it makes a thousand bubbles! 

Easter 09

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We had a beautiful day here, and Ave is at such a fun age we had so much fun this year. She really enjoyed decorating eggs, they were quite interesting looking. We set up in the garage and let her go for it! Once she figured out that when she put them in the cups they'd turn colors, she put each egg in every different color. By the time we were finished we had brown eggs! But it was great fun. Then she helped us decorate Easter egg cookies, which she ate way more sprinkles than went on the cookies! But it's the idea that counts I guess. 

On Easter day, we went over to some friends' house and had Easter dinner and Ave played outside all day. When we got home we had an Egg Hunt for her that seemed to never end! It was a blast, she'd say, "more eggs!" We had a great Easter. It was nice to have such beautiful weather!

Expectations...

We are finally up and running for good this time! It has been a chaotic couple of months but we are in our house and finally settled, we mostly. We have a mere four boxes left to unpack but we're getting there. We got into our house two weeks ago and are loving it. We have wonderful neighbors and we are really enjoying being in Santa Maria. 

We also have some big news to share that I have been putting off. We found out just days before we left Montana that we are expecting baby number 2! We have not posted anything about it because we hadn't seen a doctor or had an ultrasound until this past week. We had no clue how far along I was. But after going to the doctor and having an ultrasound they determined I am twelve weeks along. Which is quite a bit farther along than we thought so the due date is October 25. So we will also be keeping you up to date on this! 

We're Back!

I figured it was time to finally start posting again. It will take weeks to update our blog with everything that has been going on but we'll do our best!

First off, we made it to Santa Maria and have been living in temporary lodging for three weeks now! Much too long, but we move into our new house on Tuesday. With the process of buying in a horrible market we have had our ups and downs since we put in an offer over two months ago. But, patience has paid off and we love the house and love the neighborhood. We can't wait to get settled. We have spent the past few days cleaning and painting, which is extremely difficult with an energetic two year old who wants to help with everything! But we are trying to adjust to life here in CA which is incredibly different, not having any friends or family around, but we are doing our best. It is often lonely and Ave misses everyone terribly, however, we are excited about the new adventures God has for us here. 

Secondly, Avery is two! Avery's birthday was on the 21st and we have entered the Terrible Two's with full force. She has changed so much in the past month. As she has had much, MUCH more to say and has an opinion about everything! We had a birthday party for her before we left and then, on her birthday we took her to the zoo in Santa Barbara. We've had so much fun. Lots of pictures to come!

Finally, with so many changes we will try to update you as often as possible. We will be without internet for a week or so, again. But will start blogging as soon as we get it back. We can't wait for you all to see what we have been up to and as for everyone in Great Falls, we miss you! (But not so much the weather.) God bless you!

Updates

Things around here have been extremely busy, as you can probably tell from my lack of new blogs. We made a very quick, unplanned trip to Kentucky to see all of Ben's family and just got back Wednesday. It was a great time, we really enjoyed seeing everyone. And now that we have come back, the reality has truly hit that we leave in two weeks. The stress has definitely hit as this weekend we are running around trying to get the house organized for the movers to come on Monday. Needless to say, we will be limited on time and there won't be much for new blogs in the next couple of weeks. But I will be sure to update as soon as I can. 

Also, yesterday we heard from the realtor that the house process is going along as planned. The bank ordered an appraisal yesterday which is the last step before they accept our offer. They marked the house contingent and are no longer showing it, which is great news. We will be moving into temporary lodging upon getting to California (which should be interesting). But we will make things work. Our realtor says if things go as expected we could be in the house as early as mid March and as late as early April.

We'll update as soon as possible, God bless!

Say Cheese!

Avery is obsessed with the camera these days. She is such a ham and loves to have her picture taken. When we were in California we bought her an Elmo camera which she loves. Every time I try to take a picture of her she gets her camera and takes a picture of me!

Ben's LFA

Ben & Steve Ford 

Both going on their last alert and both going to Vandenberg.

Avery was not quite as excited as everyone else. She was exhausted!

Today was Ben's last alert EVER! If you can't tell this is a big deal, we have made it! It has been a long haul but we have come out much stronger. Ben has spend almost an entire year 50 feet under ground! And he has driven enough miles to the missile sites to take you around the world twice!!! Amazing! Ave and I went to work this morning to hear him give his LFA speech. He did a great job and we are so proud of him. We have had a lot of ups and downs in this job but he has truly come out on top! So in four weeks we will be stationed at Vandenberg AFB in California where he will be instructing. His new job will be perfect for him! 

Thanks Mario for taking the pictures!