our 2 year old boy

Yesterday our boy turned two! We had such a sweet day with him. We started out the day by going up to his room and throwing yellow balloons in his crib while he had his morning "cha-nuk".

He came downstairs and opened his presents: a truck, Halloween socks, spiky balls, a Nutella and breadsticks snack, new boots, and a pair of pants.  He played with the truck all day! 

We went to church and I made brownies to share with his little friends in nursery and they gave him a blue balloon with his name and age on it.

We we got home John's parents came over and we had lunch together and they gave him a gift and then we spent the rest of the day outside while Pops and John played disc golf in the yard. They were practicing throwing and sharing tips. Shelley and I ate persimmons and chased the kids around.  Avett must have run at least 3 miles pushing his $1 big red truck all over the yard.

Avett is such a sweet little boy. He loves me so much and never hesitates to show it.  He loves kissing me and giving me hugs at any opportunity.  He is a naturally very affectionate child.  He loves his momma.  He wants to be touching me, in my arms, or snuggling.  He is also very active.  He loves anything but with wheels on it.

Some of his favorite things to say right now are: I changed my mind, cool huh?, and I strong. 

First thing in the morning while drinking his chocolate milk he will put his arm around the back of my neck like he is my boyfriend trying to make a move on me. I love it.

His answer to almost anything we say to him is "What?" or "Why?" 

He loves to pray and will interrupt almost anyone because he wants to pray too, he's even tried to do that at church during sacrament. He says, "Anem." at the end of prayers.

We love him so much and can't imagine life without our boy. 

We love you Avett!!

as big as your face

This past weekend we took Avett to Washington Farms for a little pre birthday celebration.  They had a sunflower field where you could cut any stalk down for $1.  John found one with 15 sunflowers on it and I found one as big as my face! Avett had so much fun exploring and walking through the fields and trying to pick up the pumpkins.  He would say, "I so strong!"  Evie was is a rough mood since she has recently decided to give up naps and her sleep schedule is completely off. She fell asleep 20 minutes before we got there and was deep asleep when we had to wake her up.  When we were paying for our warty pumpkin and sunflowers she saw popcorn for sale and cried for some. We didn't get it so it turned in to a melt down. Such is life with children.  

When we walked over to the pumpkin patch the weather was perfect.  It was slightly chilly with a breeze.  I'd say it was the perfect October day.  This is such a fun month and I just get giddy over any sort of fall activity.

women who care

Last weekend I had the opportunity to speak alongside my friend Jenn Mack at the Atlanta Stake "Women Who Care" conference.  Our topic was "It's your divine nature, own it!".  Here is a 40 minute excerpt from the conference, the last 5 minutes included the song that Jenn and I wrote for the conference.  The first 10 minutes are missing in which we took one big group selfie and talked about the things we see when we look our physical selves and then we imagined what our "spiritual selfie" would look like, or how we look to our Heavenly Father.  After our song we both bore our testimonies and those are missing too but I'm so glad we have the middle documented, it was such a sweet experience to look in to the eyes of those young women and seeing them soaking in the message.  The spirit was so strong in that room.  I love sharing the gospel and testifying of its truths. 

Evie says

Tonight I was running through the tasks of putting the children to bed and I asked Evaleigh to go brush her teeth and she said to me with a sigh, " Uh why do I have to do all the chores, I'm like Cinderella." I tackled her and laughed my head off about that one.

Then I was kissing her goodnight and she asked to say a prayer, which is rare she isn't big on praying unless it's her idea.  She started to pray and I peeked at her and her eyes were wide open so I told her that we close our eyes when we pray out of respect to Heavenly Father so we can focus on what we are saying to him.  She brushes the hair out of my face and said, "But mom, I was just looking at you because your hair looks so beautiful."

So thankful for her humor and beautiful spirit.  She is really in to giving device around the house these days.  She will load a dish or put laundry in the wash and say, "mom I'm giving service!"