Park Time!

The clouds parted yesterday so we rushed to the park! Avery is always a little hesitant at first, but after 10 minutes of clingy-ness she finally gave in to the awesomeness of this park. The Twin Lakes Project Playground is an awesome park centrally located in Juneau. It is our favorite to date! Avery ran around like a maniac and did one of the tunnel slides about 30 times. She also figured out this balance thing (pictured below) and was VERY proud of herself.



Avery is still fighting off a nasty head and chest cold that she came down with a week ago. She appears to feels fine, but has a bad runny nose and a cough. She has slept great the past few nights so hopefully we are on the up and up.

Hiking it up.

There are TONS of trails around the Juneau area. A lot of them are really out of the question with Avery in tow, but there are quite a few that are short enough for Miss Avery's attention span. We headed over to blueberry hill and conquered the 1.5 mile trail and then came back down without any major toddler meltdowns. She was a little scared at the top, but it was pretty high so I don't blame her. My hair is a disaster in the photo as it is pretty humid here, I was sweating like a pig and I am trying to grow out my bangs because they just are not gonna work in this wet environment. Mendenhall Glacier is pictured behind Sam and that is Auke Bay behind me. This trail is within a mile of our house.

The dogs got totally muddy and loved every minute of it. They very shortly regretted their mud dwelling adventures as soon as the soap and hose were busted out and they were given a good dog washing. I feel a little bad giving them a hose bath outdoors when it is only 60 degrees out, but they made the choice to lie down in a mud pit and we do not have a way to give them a bath indoors. Sorry guys, but you were due for a washing anyway!

stink butt

This kid has been seriously exhausting lately. She has made the decision that she will not sleep in her own bedroom in her crib. We ended having her in our bed for about a week and were exhausted because she is not the most polite person to share a bed with. I finally gave up on attempting to get her to sleep in her own room and moved her crib into our room and converted it to a toddler bed. It is up against my side and she has been doing great. Except for the fact the she refuses to go to bed before Sam and I go to sleep. So she is up at 6 AM and goes to bed between 8:30PM and 9PM. I am lucky to get a nap. There is no way she will lay down by herself. Sometimes, I get Tasha to lie with her until she falls asleep and sometimes she will sleep in the car and sometimes she is go go going all day long! I was lucky enough today to get a nap. She fell asleep on her walk and is sitting in her stroller passed out in the living room!

She has been a busy toddler!

What's New:

• She knows quite a few colors: orange, yellow, black, brown, white, blue, pink and purple (I think she knows red & green, but cannot really say the words yet). At JoAnns yesterday she was running around to all the fabric and yelling the colors. She was beyond pumped.

• She is attempting to count, but it often sounds like this: "two, two, four, three, nine, ect"

• "Dada, HOOOOOME", is a new short sentence that she will say when she sees the truck pull up the driveway.

• She is REALLY into lining up her dolls and taking them in and out of her "doll purse" as she now refers to it.

• She knows a few letters: A, B, D, G, K, M, T, W are the ones that have stuck. She recognizes them all over the place, gets excited and will yell "T, TASHA" or "B, BABY". She also thinks the number 8 is a B and will say "B, Baby" when she sees an 8.
  

Happy Anniversary!

I seriously find it hard to believe it has been 4 years since we were married and 7 1/2 years since we met and began dating. Crazy! So many memories and so many more to make. I am happy to say I think we have found the spot we will settle down and raise our family (knock on wood). Sam is really happy at work and that is a huge stress release for us all! I never thought I would be living in SE Alaska, but I am happy we found our way here! Cheers to a new beginning!
I love you Sam!

On to August

We just had a wonderful visit from Sam's Mom and Rick. Although we are still not completely settled and we do not have the entire layout of Juneau figured out yet, it was still nice to see some people we know. Sam worked the majority of their visit, but they really only cared about seeing Avery. She was so excited to see them. She screamed for about 5 minutes in excitement. We did some shopping, some lounging, some eating and a lot of driving around checking out the area. We also got to go on a whale watch! Avery saw her first humpback whale and rode on her first boat! She was a little scared when the engines got loud and we went fast, but she did really great. She is still talking about the blue boat and the whales.

I was also a very lucky girl and got a new rain jacket (much needed, my old shell was from high school) AND I got a new camera! Sam's parents are awesome and I am VERY grateful. Thank you Rick and Paige! I am so pumped to have a digital SLR! I have not gotten to play with it very much yet and Avery has not been a cooperative subject, but here are a couple of cute ones I have gotten.

So now we are back to getting to know the area. I have found a newly forming group of moms in the area and we have become organized. We have been to a couple parks, on a few walks and to the open gym at the gymnastics academy. It is super new, but really great so far.

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Sam has been back to work and busy setting up Smith Equine, LLC. He should be up and running able to see appointments in the next week or so!
Avery and I are settling in. I have found a few things around town for us to do and made contact with a group of women with kids Avery's age in the area. Thanks goodness for the internet and social networking...otherwise I would be lost! Hopefully, we will get to meet some of these people in the next week or two.

The weather has been UNBELIEVABLE this past week and we set out and found some great spots. Auke Village Recreation Area is just 5 miles from us and has a great beach! Avery loves it!



There are a couple other spots within walking distance from our house that we have hit up as well, but this beach is by far the best we have come across.

Our bear friend keeps on coming. The trash is in the house, but he still comes by almost every night. I know because he takes out the baby gate to gain access to our deck and occasionally rips something up. Like the "bear proof" trash hatch that we found out is not so "bear proof". It was repaired, but he decided to come back and rip it up again even though this time there was not trash to rip up. I have yet to see him/her, but apparently he/she is BIG!



We also have a great rhubarb plant. It is HUGE I had more than enough from 4 stalks to make 2 pies. It was delish! Seriously, it is the easiest recipe ever and was so good. The best part is that the plant will be ready to harvest at least 2 more times!



Avery has been on fire as of late! The kid is CRAZY exhausting. I have a hard time coming up with things for her to do and get the things I need to get done in the meantime. Her attention span has gotten better, but she would prefer to be in the middle of what I am trying to accomplish than play with her toys.

She has picked up some bad/interesting habits.

• One of her favorites is to pick my flowers. Not cool, Avery!
  
• She has become quite obsessed with chasing the dogs around the house. We are trying hard to break this habit, because the dogs are growing tired and have been unbelievably tolerant lately.
• She loves purple. Seriously, LOVES it and will point out everything purple EVERYWHERE!
• She insists on having every single stuffed animal in the house in her crib at night and then has to take every single one out in the morning. This is an excruciatingly long process. Sometimes, I can help, but most of the time she insists on doing it herself one plush toy after another.
  
• Rocks. We often cart around a large rock or two. She takes them in the car and to the store and back home.

We are really liking Juneau. Sam really likes his job and it is breathtakingly beautiful here. I have met quite of few of his coworkers and they all seem easy going and enjoy each others company. Basically, all we really dislike is the housing situation. Rentals are few and far between and rentals that will take 2 dogs are even more rare. Our lease goes through May and hopefully by that time we can find something better.

the Smiths head to SE AK

It has been looming and now is official, we are moving to Juneau, Alaska. Sam is actually on the ferry at the moment with a Uhaul full of our household goods. He will fly back for the truck and the dogs and I will fly out the 3rd. Avery gets to spend a whole week with her Kooka and Papa. Then my mom will fly her down on the 10th, giving me a whole week to get everything unpacked and set up for the little monster! THANK YOU, MOM & DAD!!! Sam and I have become experts in last minute packing and moving, but I am over the moon that I will be able to get the house set up for Avery before she shows up.

Sam has not been happy with his work situation for quite some time now and this has all been building. He had gone to Juneau to work on some horses in the area several months back and really liked the area and people. After a bit he finally decided to contact a small animal hospital in the are and they flew him down for a meet up and there you go. Sam is also starting up his own LLC and will be servicing the horses in the area on the side. He is very excited about this opportunity (maybe I will convince him to blog in more detail in the near future). SE Alaska lacks an equine veterinarian and there are at least 130 or so in Juneau alone and pockets of horses through out the entire area. Not enough to make a living on, but enough to make it worth his time and effort. We have our fingers crossed that this is it for us at least for the next few years and maybe even for the long haul. This practice is different and Sam has a really good feeling about it and I just want to stop moving ;) I am beyond bummed that we wont be as close to my parents and my brother's family. I think Juneau has great potential. People in the area seem to really love it, but you definitely have to get past the gloominess and rain.
Juneau is one of the last places I ever thought we would live, but we are really excited.

Anyhoo, I need to get back to cleaning. We move out tomorrow and I must take advantage of Avery's nap!

we are at it again...

I am really sorry for the lack of blog updates, but the Smiths are on the move again. Sam has taken a job in Juneau, AK and we are moving in the next couple of weeks. It was a little sudden, but he was really unhappy with the practice he was working for here in Chugiak. We are excited, nervous and anxious to get there and get settled in for what we really believe to be the long haul.

Avery has been growing up WAY too fast! She is really starting to develop more language and is busy, busy and more busy. She has become VERY fond of a our 7 year old neighbor Faith! She woke up from her nap this afternoon HYSTERICAL! Like seriously hysterical. I could not get her settled down until I asked if she would like to go see Faith. She stopped sobbing, said yes and went and put on her shoes. So we walked to Faith's house and Avery was happy as can be. It was really funny.

I will try to get back into the swing of blogging in the near future, but be patient with me.

almost JUNE?!?

Summer has begun and we have been busy, busy and more busy. Avery has been ON FIRE as of late and I have no time to sit on the computer and blog. Not to mention the weather has been ridiculous so every chance we get we have been outside soaking up the sunshine. I can't believe Avery is 20 months already and I know she will be 2 years in a blink of an eye. She is communicating more clearly now, but still not talking a whole lot. She is getting VERY stubborn and I have fallen to bribing her at times. She has been having a blast hanging out with her Kooka and Grandpa and often asks for them. She is so silly when we take her to their house. She marches around like she has got the place figured out and knows exactly how to get everything she wants. She is truly turning into a "Little Princess". Her newest obsession is Disney's "Tangled", she LOVES it. Don' t worry, she is equally obsessed with Elmo.
Sam has been busy with work. He is on vacation for the next 2 weeks, but is in CO bringing up our things that have been in storage. He turned 29 on Saturday! We celebrated by eating out and going to the Anchorage Museum. He also got to pick out a grill a couple of weeks ago! Then we got to see a movie last night before I dropped him at the airport. We saw Bridesmaids and pretty much peed our pants. It was freaking ridiculous.
I am not going to lie. I am not going to be blogging as frequently. I just don't have the time or patience and eventually I will get back on into it.

Okay, so sorry about the lack of blogging, but I have been running around doing a million different things. First we had Sam's Mom and Rick in town and I totally neglected to take pictures. Shame on me, but we did have fun! Avery had a blast with them and she was spoiled rotten! They took her clothes shopping and bought her a new car and an Elmo doll! They also brought with them clothes and toys! But, she definitely favors her cozy coupe! It was a busy weekend and lots of fun! THANK YOU Paige and Rick for making the long trek up here to see Miss Avery!!! She is still asking for "Baba" (Grandpa Rick)!
Sam and I also decided to go ahead and paint. We had permission when we moved in and just didn't want to deal with it at the time. Well, Sam is headed to CO in a couple weeks to get our things out of storage and move them on up here. So we figured now would be a good time to whip out a stellar paint job. I have to say the color we picked out is not great. I tested it in all the rooms and knew it wouldn't be great, but whatever! It will be better than the salmon, gold, green and old white paint that is throughout the house. It is a strange color. It looks very different room to room. It is the same color from the same bucket so it must just be the lighting and other colors in each room. Now, if we can just get the landlord to do something about the 30 year old carpet!
Yesterday, I watched my niece for a couple hours. It was fun the girls had fun playing together and loved running around our big yard. They "took turns" with the cozy coupe or one would get out and the other would jump in as quick as possible. I had to show them that pushing was fun and that seemed to stop the fighting. They were really funny to watch. Lillian was copying everything Avery was doing. Silly girls!