In One Hour...

Yesterday was the much anticipated fly to Papa's day! (Travis' parents, aka Papa & Grandma Hunsaker aka Ben and DeAnna, back in Salem, OR) Avery has been crossing boxes off the calandar every day for a month and a half. He was so excited he didn't go to sleep until about midnight, and then he got up and 5:15 (half an hour before our alarm was set, mind) and he was done sleeping. Ugh.

All told, the boys were really good on the airplanes. Carson was a particular concern, but he did great too.

So we arrived and couldn't have been there more than 5 minutes before Avery was jumping up and down to go see Papa's tractor. What ensued seemed like I could post a whole trip worth of activities, yet we'd only been there an hour!
After playing a little with Papa's tractor, Avery discovered another in the shop and the fun thing is it's a Branson 3510 just like Papa's!
Then it was off to the plane. It rocks and the wings make it a see-saw. Avery and cousin Alli were well matched when they tested it out.
Then Avery got to meet Aunt Katrina's horse... (Aunt Megan and her Vegas are in Canada right now)
Papa went and grabbed a hat for Avery and then he was a "real cowboy"
And then he could be a "real farmer" too! It's hard to see, but Papa gave Avery a long bit of grass to stick in his mouth...
Avery really loved that hat - gatta hold it on when running!
Poor Alli. She's used to being the only one here and it's always hard when Avery comes to visit since sharing isn't much required of her. In this shot Avery and Alli were racing at the tractor from different directions. You can see who won...
Okay, so I was loving the hat too... It just made for some fun pictures...
Avery is all about trucks and trailers etc. He was actually very excited just to come and see Papa's big trailer. That's the only reason I posted this, I just wanted to remember some of the simple things that were so exciting to Avery...
Carson was LOVING exploring so much space outside...
New toys! Apparently Gma bought this for Carson, but you can see who knew what to do with it. Avery took off on it and Carson was laughing and running along right next to him... until Gunnar (the dog) ran Carson down... Carson's not scared of him, but he's very (warily) fascinated by him.
And now the bubble machine! Carson had to be held to get at them because Gunnar loved popping them too and he was a little too rambunctious for Carson. No idea what Travis is scowling about...
And that wasn't even all...

The boys each got to ride on the 4 wheeler with Papa...

Avery got to check out the sand rails, but he had to wait until this morning to pull them out to use later today...

And the pool got set up.

What a busy evening!

Swimming!

Yesterday we went swimming at my good friend Kristel's. I was surprised to realize that it was Carson's first time and that it's been 2 years since Avery last got in a pool!

I think from the get go Avery realized that Kristel's beautiful sister Bri who's visiting was going to be more fun and pay more attention to him than I was...
We bought this car for Carson, but it didn't do much for him. I think he definitely felt too imprisoned.So of course that meant Avery had to squeeze his way in! He fit, although he is well past the height recommendation, so watching him get in and out was entertaining...
Why would anyone want to cooperate and smile for the camera? Carson just couldn't be bothered and Avery flat out refused.
But wait, there's Avery's version of smiling for the camera! And yes, next to Bri with her gorgeous olive skin and Utah tan, I'm disturbingly white...The ever adorable baby Kieley (this is as far as Kieley and Kristel got in today, but that's okay, they were the resident bathing beauties). So Avery says..."Hey baby, goin' my way?"
Apparently Bri told Avery I would give him a treat if he smiled for the camera. Of course the way that "smile" translate means funny faces: a sudden burst of head flailing, tongue wagging back and forth with high pitched annoying noise, and eye rolling.
Here's a couple head shots of Carson... can anyone tell I like these type of shots?......
Such a serious guy! Serious looks are easy to come by, but I like this shot because he's really sticking his belly out...
After a while, Carson decided he'd had enough of us and went over by the gate to have some quality time with this little float...
Thanks so much for inviting us, ladies! We had loads of fun! And I can promise even with a trip to Oregon this week, Avery will not forget the promise of seeing Bri again before she leaves! :)

Tagged...

I am ... pregnant, and VERY well aware of it.
I want to be ... many noble things I'm sure, but right now I'd like to be able to go clothes shopping and not worry about a changing body shape and weight!
I need ... quality sleep!
I wish ... the joys of pregnancy didn't come with so many pains.
I'm scared ... of spiders.
I love ... to eat; oh alright, I love all my boys too :).
I will never forget ... being sealed in the temple and the birth of my boys
What worries me ... amongst many other things, "please let this third boy be a healthy one..."
What the world could do without ... much more than I prefer to think about

I tag Cyndi C., Sherri R., and Kristel S.

Strawberry Picking

Today we went strawberry picking at Barthel Fruit Farm for playgroup. This is the same place we got our pumpkins last fall. It was fun, but definitely more challenging than a pumpkin patch. I didn't take many pictures because of course I was too busy wrangling Carson and trying to hurry and pick before Avery got bored and Carson fell apart.
As you'll see from the pics, I did NOT think about what I was doing when I chose clothes for the boys this morning. To be fair, Avery was great and just barely got a tiny smear on one spot on his white shirt although I think he did sit on a strawberry. I was thankful they were a very dark wash jean short.
When Avery saw the shirt I had for Carson this morning he said "Whoa! Cool shirt!" He doesn't remember wearing it himself I suppose. And then when I saw what Carson did to his clothes with the strawberries and said "Uh, oh" nosy Avery obviously had to know what was wrong. When I explained, Avery was really torqued off. He was just so mad that Carson ruined his cool shirt! I had to promise right then I would try and fix it as soon as we got home.

This is what Avery does when I say "Smile" and "Look at the camera" didn't even get him to look at me with his "funny guy" face

Here, Carson has finished smashing his first strawberry all over his shirt, crotch, left leg (hard to see) and finally decided to try and get some of the smashed goods in his mouth. I don't know what the scowl is about. Bright sun and no strawberry in hand?
AND........... Stick a fork in him, Carson is DONE. He walked straight over to me and plopped down just like that. Sending me a message you suppose?
P.S. I rock it in the laundry. That's right, all traces of strawberry are gone. Avery will be very pleased.

Superhero Avery!

Change the channel now if you're uninterested in young parent concerns... :)

Avery has been toilet trained for a good year in one department and 6 months in another, but of course night time is a whole different story. Lately we've been reinforcing the idea of dry nights with him and that he's big enough to get up in the night if he has to.

It's been hit and miss but he's slowly been picking up steam. 2 weeks ago he started having more dry nights than not and we got to celebrate a 2 day run. After a day off, this morning made for 7 days in a row! A whole week! Yea Avery! What a superhero! ("Superheroes are always dry at night and don't have to wear diapers, just like Mommy and Daddy") He's very proud of himself now too.

After he showed that this was really happening we got the pull ups back out so if he got up in the night he wouldn't have to come in for help getting put back together. Such a lovely moment that first night I heard him thump out of bed, do his business and run straight back to bed without a glance in our direction.

Now I just hope going to visit Papa and Grandma Hunsaker in Oregon on Friday won't dampen the roll he's on (haha - I only just caught that - no pun intended!)

P.S. I have no idea what the deal is with the peace signs in the pictures. He wanted me to take his picture and started throwing peace signs all over the place.

Story Time... In Spanish!

Every night for bedtime Travis always reads the bedtime story. For Christmas we bought Avery the Book of Mormon Stories and The New Testament Stories and after first going through the Book of Mormon, last night we finished the New Testament. I figured we'd go back to the Book of Mormon and Avery must have thought the same since he just about had a fit when Travis pulled out a board book with Old Testament stories (I've read him that for nap times when he chooses). "No! We have TWO special stories! Do the other one now!" (He knows their names, but for bedtime stories that's what he calls them generically) Apparently scriptural stories at bed time have to have a specific binding!
Anyway, instead of getting the the Book of Mormon, Travis grabbed the Spanish version he had from long before. He asked Avery if that would be alright, it was agreed on, but the first thing Avery did when Travis started reading was cover his ears and laugh! It took a bit for the laughing to stop whenever Travis would try again. Avery kept saying "That's a funny story! I've never seen that Spanish story before!" ("I've never seen ___" is a common phrase when he's amused.)
As we kept going, Travis picked out specific words to translate for Avery which of course led to Avery asking every other word "what does ___ mean?" How cute to hear him try and repeat the Spanish.
In the end I suggested from now on we read the story in English first one night and then in Spanish the next. It will be fun to see if some Spanish understanding can develop for Avery.

Picture Push

I used to send lots of pictures to the grandparents. Since now I just use the blog, perhaps the grandparents are happy to not get bombed with so many pictures in their email, or perhaps that's the down side of doing the blog. Anyway, today I shot lots of the boys playing outside and I decided I'd throw a bunch up here, mainly for the grandparents benefit. :)
This post is rather Carson heavy, probably because I LOVE the faces Carson makes. :) I think I post a fairly even amount between the boys, but in my own collection I've noticed Avery gets quite a bit more camera time (he's easier to shoot!), so maybe this is me making it up to Carson a little in my own mind...

Look Gma B, another profile of Carson as requested:

This is me being a good parent... a fall waiting to happen and a poke in the eye or fall or both waiting to happen...
Avery really wanted a leaf, unfortunately for him they're quite healthy and wouldn't pull off so easily without ripping. Again, this means lots of hard pulling and a fall from his truck even more likely (tho he didn't).
"Please Mom, quite calling to me if you're just going to point that thing at me..."


Avery was just hangin' out with me and had decided to go barefoot like me...
Carson was sat here for a while just looking down the street. This is yet another "whatdaya want" look...
Done hangin' with Mom - or of her taking pics of his feet - he's rapidly scooting away backwards.
Carson really enjoyed Avery giving him rides although that's hard to tell from this look - but he's so expressive, I love that he can raise an eyebrow!




"What are you doing down there, Mom?"

When I take so many pictures, it's definitely hard to pick and choose favorites, so that was a lot of pics to post but of course it always proves difficult cutting back even this far. :)
Hope you enjoyed the glut Grandparents!

Baby words while Daddy's away

Right now Travis is on a rotation in Appleton, an hour and a half away. He left Monday night and will be back Thursday night. Rotations are always great considering he can actually work away like a proper dentist. You mean it's possible to see 7 patients in one day (todays count)!? Of course, except in the dental school clinic. Only 2 generally there. Sherri (and Eric) say it quite well here.

When we talked to him on the phone tonight Carson had some choice words for him. He has long been repeating the sounds da da and ma ma and many others, but we don't know how many of them are really applied, and when he says them he usually just keeps saying them making it feel like he's just enjoying that sound rather than naming anything. But when talking to Travis and asked to say Da Da, he looked right at the phone and repeated it. Then repeated Ma Ma for us.

Later at the dinner table I was looking for a repeat performance but more specifically I was looking for "Avery." Many times it has appeared to me that Carson is yelling "A-ee" directly at his brother when trying to get his attention. Sure enough, at dinner, when asked to say "Avery" we heard a very clear "A-ee." What fun.

We miss you Daddy! Hurry home to us!