A-Z tag

Okay, Carolyn tagged me, so here you go:

A. Attached or Single? Attached
B. Best Friend? Al and my mom
C. Cake or Pie? Mmm...cake. But I would take pie too. Frankly, I wouldn't pass up any dessert except for maybe tapioca.
D. Day of the week? Saturday, but Friday is a close 2nd
E. Essential Items? diet coke, good books, chocolate, make-up, the mall
F. Favorite Color? blue to look at, red to wear
G. Gummy Bears or Worms? not so big on the gummies, but I'd take sour patch kids, or anything that is Haribo brand
H. Hometown? I guess Sandy, Utah?!? I grew up everywhere...I wanna go back to Utah. So I'm going to have to stick with Sandy.
I. Indulgences? cookie dough, Gymboree (it's an addiction), good make-up
J. January or July? How about December?
K. Kids? Sweet Avery
L. Life isn't complete without? Love? Family? This is too deep for me.
M. Marriage Date? October 2, 2003
N. Number of Brothers and Sisters? 2 brothers, 1 older and 1 younger
O. Oranges or Apples? I kind of OD'd on the apples, so I'm going with oranges, but only if they are tangy
P. Phobias or Fears? snakes-seeing them hearing about them, talking about them, imagining them, etc. I would also have to add flying, barfing (although I've gotten a little better about it since having Avery) and worms
Q. Quote: Don't have one
R. Reasons to Smile: I'm going home to see my families soon!!!
S. Superman or Wonder Woman-Superman, baby!
T. Tag 5 people: Sarah, Lara P., and whomever else feels like it
U. Unknown Fact about Me? What is there? I am an Olympics junkie. I find myself watching sports that I would never dream of watching otherwise. Go for the Gold!! I am obsessed with womens gymnastics. Oh how I wish I could do an awesome tumbling pass
V. Vegetables? Yeah, I like them. I like them even better with gravy, hollandaise sauce, cheese sauce, butter, etc. And fresh garden vegetables are always way better.
W. Worst Habit? constant worrying...there's always something to worry about... I know this trait comes genetically to me from Grandma Ann
X. X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound!! I've had some really fun ones! And some not so fun ones...but either way I think it is awesome the stuff they can see.
Y. Your favorite food? pizza, Mexican, Chinese, dessert
Z.Zodiac sign: Sagittarius

Jingle Bell

Avery and I went and ran some errands today while Al was working. One of our stops was to go to Hobby Lobby and get some cake stuff for the wedding (Jessie is going with the square). Well, Hobby Lobby has launched full-fledged into the holidays, not just Halloween, but Christmas too...even though it's August...and 100 degrees outside.

Anyhow, Avery was greatly distracted by the seasonal displays due to her obsession with the holidays. I made her go back and look at the cake stuff with me and then as we were walking back to the register Avery broke away and headed straight for the sparkling Christmas aisle. They already had their artificial trees set up, and lit! Avery got right up on the platform and said in awe, "A Christmas tree! A Christmas tree!" Then she touched the branches, took a couple of steps back and launched into her Christmas medley, which includes her very own renditions of 'Jingle Bells,' 'Frosty the Snowman,' and 'O Christmas Tree,' complete with choreography. Oh, I wish that I had my camera.

Then Avery took it upon herself to grab a couple of the ornaments that are for sale and put them on the sparse trees. After that she got off the platform to admire her work. We walked around the display and in front there was a fairly large nativity set. It was nearly as tall as Avery. I started to quiz Avery and had her point out the baby Jesus, Mary, and then Joseph. She got 100%. Then as we were heading off to the registers, Avery paused, turned, grabbed the Joseph's hand, gave it a good shake and said, "Hi! How are you?" Oh, I wish that I had my camera.

Well, I was on the floor pretty much at that point. Avery just got a bewildered look on her face because for one, there was no response of course, and for two, I was getting a huge kick out of the whole thing.

We ended up leaving the Hobby Lobby with this lovely, glittery lime green jingle bell. It was marked down on clearance for an exceptional price...I'm sure you can see why. But Avery loves it. She already has a red jingle bell at home that my mom bought her last year when she couldn't part with it at a store. I guess she's starting a jingle bell collection.

I Just Remembered...

I was driving home from the grocery store today and I remembered something that happened in Arizona while we were there a month ago. This is one of my all time favorite Avery stories. I'm not sure what sparked it in my memory today, but here you go:

After we landed at the Phoenix airport we reunited with Al's mom and one of his sisters (Sarah) and our niece Hannah. We got all of our luggage and then we had to board a mini-bus to take us to the rental car place. We got all of our stuff on board and all kind of collapsed in our seats, enjoying the air-conditioning. I was holding Avery on my lap and had turned to my right, towards Sarah and Louona (Al's mom) so that we could catch up on everything.

After a few minutes I became aware of a repetitive motion out of my peripheral vision. I looked down and saw Avery's arm moving back and forth in a stroking motion. I thought, huh, that's weird. What is she doing? Then I looked to my left and saw an older man sitting next to me. We kind of made eye contact and then I looked down and saw that he had super thick and burly arm hair....and Avery was petting it!!!

My little girl was petting some strange guy's arm hair!!! I quickly snatched her hand up and looked back up at the guy. I just kind of mumbled, 'sorry.' A couple of seconds passed and then he said, "Well, it's okay. I have grandkids so it's not a big deal." So here this guy has been, patiently sitting there, letting Avery stroke his arm for who knows how long, before her distracted mom clued in on things.

I could feel my face getting all flushed and then I had to turn to Sarah and tell her what was happening. I quickly whispered to her what had happened and then we got the giggles. But we didn't want that guy to know we were laughing. It was like trying to suppress laughter in the middle of sacrament meeting. Good times.

The picture is of Avery doing her Donald Duck impersonation. I think I mentioned it in the post the either day. She did a repeat performance and so I ran and got the camera.

Our Little Piggy

Avery picked out these strawberry marshmallows at the store for her 'special treat.' I was upstairs reading and I could hear Avery laughing so hard downstairs. Al called me down to see what was going on and Avery proceeded to do her piggy impersonation with the marshmallow snout.

I think she likes marshsmallows almost as much as Al does.