EarthQUAKE!

I almost forgot that we got to experience a real live big earthquake! (I can be excited about this because no one got hurt). At 11:42 am I awoke from a nap because I was shaking and when I looked at our closet doors which are sliding mirrors they looked like those warping mirrors. I sat up fast and grabbed Avery out of her crib. I could hear my neighbors yell "EVACUATE!" which I thought might not be such a bad idea since we live on the second floor, but by the time I got to my door it was over. It was so exciting! But it made me realize how unprepared I am when it comes to emergencies like that. I have only felt one other earthquake but that was in Greece and it was teeny and lasted like 2 seconds. I was also sleeping that time and woke up because I thought someone was shaking my bed to wake me up (I was skipping morning warm ups because my race was through and I was being lazy). This California one was WAY better hitting a 5.4! Some of Michael's coworkers were mad at him because we have lived here for only 3 months and felt a good earthquake and they have been here there whole lives and haven't because they were driving when the earthquake hit and didn't feel a thing. I am just glad that we weren't here for "The Big One" that they keep talking about (knock on wood... we only have a month left).

Wicked Fun

On July 16 Michael surprised me with tickets to "Wicked" in LA. It was my half birthday and we have decided to celebrate my birthday then instead of in January. This helps spread the celebrations around and not have all of mine in the winter months. I had totally forgotten about it but Michael came home from work and made me cupcakes and told me he got the tickets to "Wicked" for the next weekend. What a sweet husband! We went with our friends Rob and Kari and they picked this cool restaurant that was founded by the same guy who found Chuck E. Cheese. It had a screen in the middle of the table where you ordered all your food and could play games and what not. It was a lot of fun and a nice change.
The only downside of the night was having to leave little miss Avery. We had to get a babysitter for 9 hours! P.S. Babysitters cost as much as the rest of the night (not really but a good chunk)! But she was great with Avery and apparently Avery wasn't too bad either. I was probably the most stressed by the whole experience and I made it out okay. Here are some pictures of the night:

Walking Hollywood Boulevard... interesting, very interesting...Outside of Wicked. This was after the show.

Inside the lobby of the theater about to go watch the show. WOOHOO!

Okay all I can say is IT WAS AMAZING. Everyone needs to go see it. I wish I could explain all the cool things but so many things went into making it amazing there is no possible way. It is way better than I thought it was going to be and I would go watch it tonight if I could. This has made me want to go see plays on Broadway. We will go to New YOrk one day and go to shows, but they are going to have to be pretty amazing to outshine Wicked. Seriously, go see it. Don't give excuses, it will be totally worth it.

Bath Time

Little Miss Avery loves her baths. She loves to play in the water and splish-splash a bit. Sometimes she gets tired of sitting and has found that if she lays on her tummy the can still play and see everything while taking a break.
We thought it was really funny when Avery started to do this and would laugh at her. In this picture it looks like she is saying "What? I am just enjoying bath time. Duh."
Oh and this is my hot husband. Doesn't have much to do with bath time other than he is bathing Avery in this picture. It is more for eye candy. Yum.

Oh man...

This past week has been hard. Michael, Avery and I have been stuck in California while the rest of our Adams' family has been partying it up at Bear Lake. Michael said that this family vacation has been going on since he was about 12 and the only other times he has not gone was when he was on his mission. I have gone the past two years. It is seriously so much fun. The whole family stays in a condo on the beach, there is card playing, swimming, boating (especially this year), crafts, sunbathing, hot tubbing, golfing, the best shakes ever, knee boarding, tubing, good food, and the fun never ends. We knew that we wouldn't be able to go if we came to California but we never realized how hard it would be once Bear Lake time came. And let me tell you it was hard. Michael and I talked about it daily and I would have to stop him because I would get so sad. I don't think we will ever miss a Bear Lake family vacation again.
The good news is that the family did have fun, even without us (hard to believe, I know). But I just wanted to post a couple pictures of years past to reminisce. Don't worry family, we will be there next year...

The first year:

I came right after a swim meet so the kids tried on my cap and goggles. I thought they were so cute! This is Abby sporting the swimmer's look.Emmaline and me being silly.

Chloe and me cuddling.

The picture above, I don't even know what's happening.

Nicholas attacking me, but this is a picture of when he was sweet and not trying to tickle me.

Alexis and me hanging out on the boat.

The second year:

The Pollard girls on the infamous Bear Lake hike.

James posing in the tree.

Holden is about to take off...

Super cute Austin.

Joshua and Nicholas. They did have mud on their faces and were trying to be scary, but I guess this is after they washed it off.

Michael holding Luke.

The family that went on the hike.

Michael and I about to tube, and yes I was pregnant in this picture.

PAUSE!

Please! Can someone just pause time for a second? Last night as Michael and I were going to bed, Avery woke up. So I just put her in bed with us and fed her. She fell asleep as she was eating and so did Michael. But I took in the moment and realized how lucky I was. I had this beautiful healthy baby cuddled up to me and a dedicated loving husband holding my hand. How does life get any better? My heart was full and I just didn't want the moment to end. But soon I started getting uncomfortable (I can't stay in 1 position longer than like 1 minute, I swear, it is totally annoying), so I moved Avery to her crib and went to sleep.
Everyday I look at Avery and she seriously gets bigger as I am watching her. I have photos of her when she was a newborn around the house and when I look at them I can hardly remember those days. How sad is that, it was only 7 months ago (I think it is so I will want another kid, if I remembered everything about that time having another kid would be out of the question)! How is this big baby the same as that little biddy baby? She is just growing to fast. I need to pause time before I wake up and she is a teenager.
She has many new skills. She can pick up Cheerios and put them in her mouth with an 80% success rate. She loves to stand and hold on to things. She likes to pull herself up to stand on things. She eats tons of solids. She starts on one end of the room and makes it past our couch and table to the other side of the room, not by crawling but by strategic rolling and scooting. She has realized that if she lays her head on my shoulder I will hold her for a little longer before putting her in bed. And she now has two top teeth coming in. I think I might start crying right now.

Standing up and hanging out.

Tootsie toes working hard.

Eating yummy Cheerioes all by herself.

Can you see the two top teeth, especially the one on your right? Mike is afraid that they are too big and will be buck teeth, but my mom has told us not to worry... I guess we will see when they come in. She'll be cute no matter what though. By the way this photo was pretty hard to take, so I hope you can see them.

Can she be any more chubby or cute? I love this little girl. She makes everyday exciting!

Happy Happy!

It is a week late but Happy 4th of July! I love this country! I love freedom! Woohoo to America! We had a fun 4th, nothing too exciting, but we had a good time. We were sad to miss all the Idaho Falls traditions, but hopefully next year we will be there!
Not only was it the 4th of July but it was Avery's 7 month birthday! She is so big. How does she grow so much? She is starting to do beginner crawler stuff, but Michael and I are trying to hold off crawling. our apartment is not baby proof and we don't have many places to put stuff to make it baby proof. But we can only hold off so long. I am sure by the time she is 8 months she will be crawling. My baby is growing too fast.

Avery and Michael before we went out. Auntie Lolo gave us the dress, isn't it cute!!

Avery being cute. We were watching some breakdancers in the middle of the street.

Aren't the leaning trees cool!

Hanging out on HB Main Street

Avery tried macaroni and tomato juice (Adams' family tradition)for the first time. She LOVED it.

Sunset. You can see the little moon just left of us. Pretty.

Avery loved the fireworks and was quite enthralled with them at first then just got bored. I was trying to get her to watch them, but playing with the blanket was more fun.
Pretty Fireworks. We went down to the beach and they let them off the pier. It was a pretty decent show.
Avery was tired and soon fell asleep after this picture. What a fun day.

There are also other happy Julys: Happy Birthday Lauren M., baby Ella, Kim C., Uncle Mark, Carden, and Grandma! Love you guys!

Back to Cali!

Well Avery and I have made it back. Our flights went really well both to Alabama and back. They were on time and we even arrived early both times. I have a new love for Delta. Our flights back to LAX were better than the ones to HSV too. The first flight Avery got her own seat and we sat by a somewhat nicer person on the long airplane ride. We are glad to be home with our Daddy but miss all our fun cousins and aunts and nuna and papa. We will go back for Christmas though, and I am sure that will be here before we know it. Here are some pictures of our airplane riding day. I will post more about the vacation later. I still need to get the disc of 1500 pictures that we took the week we were together (ahem, Kiara, Alisha, or Beth will you send me yours when you have downloaded them?).

Avery waiting for our plane in HSV. Watching the lady teach Avery to buckle up.

Buckling up!

Taking care of lovey bear.

Oh! We took Avery's 6 month pictures the day before we left. Alisha's super talented friend, Kim, did them and I love the ones I have seen. I will post some once I get the disc, but for now she has about 5 or so on her blog. Here is the website:
http://greenfield-kmg.blogspot.com/
Avery's post is on June 30. It is the 3rd one down (as of now, she could post more).