Avery's Blessing

We blessed Avery on January 6th.  My Mom, Dad, Sister Shaleah and her family were able to come up for it.  It was a wonderful Sunday.  There were 3 little baby girls being blessed in our ward that day.  All the blessings were beautiful.

I feel so blessed to have an amazing husband who lives his life in such a way that he is worthy to act in God's name and bless our family.  He got emotional as he blessed Avery.  These are some of the words of the blessing that I was able to jot down as Wesley spoke:

"Heavenly Father, we ask thee that thou might bless her to know that she has been born into a loving family that wants the best for her.

Bless her to always strive to grow closer to thee, to know thee and to gain a testimony.

Bless her with the desire to be baptized and to follow the path that leads back to thee.

Bless her to be a good example wherever she goes, that she might be a shining light.

Bless her with the desire to be educated.

Bless her to be a fine young woman, to be able to find a worthy companion and continue on the path to the celestial kingdom.

Bless her with the desire to want to be good and follow after her older brother, Jesus Christ."

We love our little Avery Hope.



My Chubby Bunny

I was getting my backdrop ready for a newborn photo shoot I was doing at my house yesterday.

I had to use Avery to test the light.

She makes a great subject.

She is such a smiley, happy baby.

Love those blue eyes.

She has filled out so much.

I call her my "Chubby Bunny" all the time.

My sweet girl.  Love her to pieces.

Christmas

My parents came up Christmas Eve and spent the night and stayed through most of Christmas Day.  It was wonderful having them here.  We wish we had all our family close by to celebrate holidays and special occasions with.

We didn't do anything special Christmas Eve.  I had a lot of good intentions.  We made Ginger Bread Cookies, but didn't decorate them.  I was going to make a yummy dinner, but Wesley ended up making it all and Mom and I went to Hobby Lobby.  We were going to go and see Christmas lights, but it got too late after we opened up our jammies.

We always open up one present on Christmas Eve.  It is always pajamas. 

The kids were pretty disappointed.

Mallory helped Avery open her jammies.

She's super excited about Christmas.  Can't you tell?

"Haddie" with Avery.

Christmas Day was one of the best ever.  The kids slept in!  We actually had to wake Zachary up so we could go into the living room and see what Santa brought us.

Zachary got this Hot Wheels Trike.  It is too big for him, but he'll grow into it.  He loves riding it down the driveway.

Mallory got a scooter.  She's been wanting a two wheeled one.  A neighbor gave her a 3 wheel scooter a while ago and she outgrew it super quick.  She now needs a bike.  She taught herself how to ride a bike without training wheels (she just borrowed her friends bike), so now it's time to get one of her own.

Wesley got a Weather Station from Santa.  He is a bit obsessed about checking the weather on the Weather Channel App we have on the iPad. 

Dad was enjoying setting it up with Wesley.

After Santa gifts and Stockings and Plates, we started making breakfast.  The kids wanted to open one present before breakfast. 

Mallory got a helmet ... and then went right outside to play on her scooter.

Zach opened up our family "Caterpillar Train Set" that will go under our tree next year.

We didn't need to get him anything else after this.  He was in heaven.

We had breakfast around 10 and slowly started opening up the rest of the presents.  We didn't get done till well after 2.  It was a perfect day.  I didn't take any other pictures .. just this one of the mess of Christmas.  I love it.  It took me over a week to clean it all up and get everything out of the living room.

Avery slept through everything.  I took this picture of her Christmas night.

I love those cheeks.

We kept the train up for Zachary well into January.  When I put it away, he was SO upset.  He would just lay on the ground and watch it go around and round. 

My Christmas Present came a few weeks after Christmas.  Wesley bought me new couches!  We ordered them from RC Willey before Christmas, but they took 6 weeks to get here.  That's for another post. 

December 2012

I know December was a while ago ... but I am finally getting around to uploading pictures off my camera and blogging about all the happenings around here.

November and December were busy months for us.

The day that Avery was born, Wesley went in for a job interview at a Civil Engineering firm called TRC Solutions.  He got the job and gave his two weeks notice to HNTB.  He has loved working for HNTB these last few years and has learned SO much.  TRC just felt like the right way to go at this point in Wesley's career.  He took two weeks off the end of November, first part of December, and we all just hung out together.  It was wonderful.  Before he started his new job (on December 10th) we took a day trip and went to Apple Hill.  Wesley took some pictures while Mallory rode a horse. 

 Those are the only pictures we took.  I was dealing with a HUGE blowout that Avery had.  It was .. awesome.  Gotta love those parts of motherhood.  People don't tell you that you have to deal with a lot of poop when you're a mom.  Let's just say I have thrown out a LOT of onesies this time around.  They have been "tie dyed yellow" and I just don't even bother with the stain remover.  They just go straight in the trash.

Mallory's Christmas Concert at school.  It was hilarious seeing all those kids in their red Rudolph noses and antlers.  Super cute.  Mallory just waved and smiled at me every chance she got.  I love that girl.

Our ward did a great "Breakfast with Santa" on a Saturday morning towards the end of December.  It was great.  Delicious food, lots of people, great program, and Santa came.

We didn't get pictures of the older two kids with Santa .. just Avery. 

She smiled up at him and was so happy to meet him.  It was too cute.

Also towards the end of the month we had some friends over to decorate Ginger Bread Houses.  It's a Cullumber Family Tradition to make houses each Christmas.  I LOVE this tradition and I am so grateful to a husband who loves it and wants to carry the tradition on.

The houses turned out great and there was a TON of leftover candy.  I might have gone a bit overboard when buying candy. 

Mallory decorated a small house for her teacher at school.  By "Mallory decorated", I mean she did one side and Wesley finished the rest.  She told him he did a great job.

The Sunday before Christmas we all went to church with coordinating outfits.  Wesley was wondeful and got the camera all set up to take our picture after church.  He knows me well.  I had been wanting a family picture for weeks.  It was raining outside, so we had to do it inside.

The kids were VERY good sports.  I love them.

Zach's face is too cute in this one.

This is the best we could do with a self timer.  We really need to take some more.

My mom bought Mallory and Avery matching dresses.  I had to get some pictures of them together.  Mallory is at a wonderful age - she really wants to match with Avery.  It is so cute.

I love my girls.  They are so sweet together.

Whew.  That was most of December in a nutshell.  I haven't even gotten to Christmas yet.  Aren't you glad it's January?  I'm so over all the holidays.

Avery is 2 months old!

I have so much to catch up on.

But first!?

I give you Avery.

She is two months old and the greatest baby that has ever blessed our home. 

She is all smiles .. all the time.

She is constantly sticking her tongue out.  It's so cute.

She is just a sweet girl and we feel so very blessed to call her ours.