Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

Well, over Thanksgiving break, while Avery was at Brian's parents house, he learned how to walk! That is what we get for leaving him behind and going to Hawaii! We thought that he would only be walking a few steps here and there, but no, he goes all over, gets up by himself, and practically runs sometimes! Its so amazing- we love our little boy, and were sad to miss his first steps, but we are excited that he is walking!

Well, snow is finally here in Idaho and it is lovely! It has been freezing cold (below zero!) and we haven't wanted to go out in the snow to play. Today, we had a chance to go out in a little bit warmer weather. Avery got to try out his snowsuit from Aunt Candace- it looks pretty snazzy!

Some of Hawaii...More to Come!

Amanda's parents flew the family (minus the little kids) to Hawaii for Christmas. We had so much fun! We stayed on Oahu for four days and Maui for four days. Most of our pictures on Amanda's little sister's laptop since we ran out of room on our camera card. Also, our camera broke halfway through and we couldn't see what pictures we were taking, so we didn't take alot with our camera after that.

These are the pictures from Maui. The first day we arrived, we went to Iao Valley. It felt a little like Jurrasic Park. When we get the other pictures, we will give you more info on what else we did.

The day before we left we went on this snorkeling trip to a tiny little island off of Maui, called Molikini. It was really choppy in the water, so they didn't let us snorkel off the boat for very long, but then we went over to a bay called Turtle Town, where supposedly you can see lots of turtles. We (half of our group) saw 1 little turtle and that was it. But it was still fun. Then the boat took us over to a reserve area where we saw lots of dolphins.

Who Ya Going to Call?...Ghostbusters!

This is almost a month late, but here are our Halloween costumes. Avery was a little white ghost and we were the Ghostbusters. We had a fun Halloween with a party with our friends at Chris & Julie's house in IF. We did some bobbing for apples, eating doughnuts on a string, and just some fun times. Avery and Amanda went trick-or-treating to Grandma Downs' on Saturday, the 31st while Brian stayed home writing a paper :( This is Avery with Ava, our friends' little girl (she was a monkey!)

Fall Family Photos

We finally got some time to take a few family pictures. We were hoping to get some great fall colors and leaves in the pictures, but fall came quick this year. There wasn't alot of leaves left on the trees. Oh well. We think they still turned out ok!

Barber Shop!

Well we finally had to do it... Avery needed his first haircut! We have been just pushing his hair around his ears, but we decided he needed to have a cleaner look. It wasn't as hard as I imagined. I put him in his booster chair, gave him something to play with, and I snipped a bit here and there. I unfortunately cut a little too much on his left side above the ear, so there is a slight little hole there, but nothing too noticable. Overall, he looks quite handsome now! This is the little bit of hair we cut off. It doesn't look like much, but it sure made a difference.

All Done!

One Year Old & Wiser Too!

So Oct 11 was Avery's 1st Birthday! We can't believe that he is already 1 year old! He has grown up so fast. Well here is a little trip down memory lane 1 year ago...

And one year later...

The Last Bit of Fun before Back to School

Well we just had to pack a bunch of fun into the last month before school started. It sure has been a blast! Here is just a little info about August:
-First we went to the extended Downs family reunion with Amanda's cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. It was near Twin Falls by Magic Mt. Ski Resort. We did some hiking, 4-wheeling, games, and just hanging around. Avery learned how to do the army crawl there so we couldn't leave him on the blanket because he'd get to the dirt.
-Then we had a lot of fun hanging w/ Brian's brother, Mark and wife Sarah and their son Boyce. They were here from Nebraska. We played games, golfed, kayaked, swam, you name it. It was so much fun and we already miss them! We can't wait till we get to see them again at Christmas! Avery loved being with Boyce and wanted to get down and run around with him so bad! (since then, he's decided its pretty cool to walk around holding mommy & daddy's hands)
-Then we went camping w/ our good friends Chris & Julie up by Heise. There was some rock-climbing, kayaking, and game-playing going on.
-The following weekend, we went to the Turpin Reunion in Blackfoot. We floated down the Snake River behind Brian's parents house (sorry no pictures). Then we had a big lunch and played ultimate frisbee. Avery loved to ride around on the train carts pulled behind Grandpa Turpin's lawnmower. He also loved bouncing on the trampoline and trying to get the new puppy, Remmy.
-Then we went w/ the Downs family (Amanda's immediate family) to the Oneida Narrows by Preston for some camping. It rained all night, but it eventually cleared out the next day, and so we floated down the little river. Avery loved the float trip this time. He screamed with excitement as we rode over the rapids. Brian & Amanda both kayaked down the river and Amanda managed to get high-centered on a rock in the middle of rapids. It was a little funny!
-Well that is about the extent of our last-minute fun. Now we are back in school and back to busy work. (oh yeah, we also went to a ward campout the weekend school started)

July Continued...

Well here is the rest of the fun stuff that we did in July. I didn't want to take forever loading pictures, so here is slide show with all the happenings!:

We went hiking to Bloomington Lake one Saturday. Its a beautiful lake in the mountains by Bear Lake. It was one of Amanda's childhood memory spots. We hiked in 0.6 miles to the lake. There is a sweet rope swing, along with cliffs and snow to go sledding into the lake on. We just went on the rope swing this trip because it was just the three of us.
Then we went up to the Salmon River Scout Camp along with Brian's cousins, Jason, Alex, Mitchell, and Kyle. It was last minute trip, so we didn't get to Salmon until 2 a.m! Alex knew one of the kids working at the scout camp who said he'd take the guys down the river. We had to wait for a couple of hours until he got back from the morning river run. So we just played around in the kayaks in the eddy by the camp. Avery loved it (and eating the rocks). Oh yeah, we discovered Avery's 1st tooth!
When it came around for the guys to go down the river, they somehow convinced us to take Avery down in a raft! (we are really dumb parents sometimes). Avery wore a little kid lifejacket and we headed down the river. The first rapid we got soaked, and so Avery didn't really like the rapids after that (plus he was tired).
The next weekend we went to the Lott Family Reunion up in Twin Bridges, Montana. We stayed with Brian's aunt Lynn for the three nights we were there. The first day there we hiked the Black Butte. It was a crazy hike. First, we didn't end up following a trail, and second, there was a lot of steep parts with only loose rocks. The last section of the hike was kind of scary, but we made it! Avery fell asleep on the way up. It was great view from the top! The rest of the reunion was hanging out with cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, mom, dad, you name it. We learned alot about the Lott family and how they settled in Twin Bridges. It was fun to learn about Brian's heritage. We also had a kazoo show and a stick pull contest. We were in the semi-finals. It was so much fun!
On the way back, we went the Island Park way (which adds another hour to the long trek home). There was some really beautiful scenic areas. We stopped at Mesa Falls in Island Park and got a few pictures. However, Avery by this time was getting sick of the car, and so we hurried home and were sooo glad to be back in our apartment and beds!BLOOMINGTON SWING:

JuLY fUn!

Ok, so we haven't posted anything for a really long time, and so we thought we would just bring ya'll up to date on what has been happenin' with us.

Well in the beginning of the month, we were able to Avery to his first parade & fireworks for the 4th of July. It was just a small Pocatello parade, and we found out about it right before it started, but it was still fun. The funny thing about it was that they weren't allowed to THROW the candy instead, they just HANDED out candy. Apparently Avery doesn't look like he needs a lot of candy, because we only came home with a handful of tootsie rolls :). Later that night, we went to the IF fireworks (Amanda & Avery's 1st time). We went with Aaron & Shaunie Fife, Trevor & Candace (Shaunies cousin & husband), and Colin & Vanessa Carr. Avery did really well, but was very sleepy when the fireworks started. He tried really hard to keep his eyes open, but eventually fell fast asleep.

Well over the month, we have been doing some other fun things. We have been kayaking a few times (Amanda learned how to roll the kayak!) There will be more about our kayaking adventures to come.

We also got Avery's swing finally put up. We have had it for a while, we just needed a couple of screws and that for it. Amanda went to put him in it for the 1st time, she tried to adjust the strap and ripped it apart with her super human strength (the strap was a little weathered, and it turned out that it didn't need to be adjusted). The swing still works with only one strap though. Avery loves it and does not like to be taken out of any swing.

Avery has been eating more solid foods (like noodles and veggies and stuff). He tends to get a little bit messy though, so we thought you might want to see what we have to clean up after lunch. However, Avery loves having his face washed- he loves wet rags. He will play with them like its his favorite toy.

We also bought Avery a blow-up swimming pool for him to splash around in. (He doesn't get to splash alot in water because we don't have a bathtub). He is fascinated by the splashing and doesn't mind that the water is cold and that it splashes his face.

to Bone & Back!

Well Brian's brother Lance's work sponsors a race called "To Bone & Back." It is a 20 mile run to Bone and then 20 miles back to Idaho Falls. Some people run the whole 40 miles (it is quick elevation rise, so a lot of hills), but most people divide up into teams of 8, each person taking 5 miles. Lance asked Brian as well as family Taunya, Bret & Jane and Jill to participate. Brian & I had been running a little bit in the mornings all month to get ready.

However, a few days before the race, Brian's grandma passed away and the funeral was the same day as the race. So instead of running the relay, all the Turpins ran the 5-mile solo, which was 2.5 miles from the start of the race, turn around, and run the 2.5 miles back to the start.

Well I was hanging out with Avery in the van waiting for them to come back. I saw the first couple of runners come in at about 34 1/2 minutes or so, so I decided to move the car closer, thinking I had a while before anyone else came in. I was wrong, because as I was parking, Brian sped passed me and through the finished line!!! He made it in just over 36 minutes!!! A little bit later, Bret came in, then Jane, Taunya & Jill. I didn't get a picture of Brian coming in because he was just too fast!!! Hopefully next year they (and maybe me) will get to run the whole relay!

Down the Oneida Narrows!!!!!

Brian has been wanting to try kayaking down the Oneida Narrows near Preston. Amanda's brother Michael bought a kayak, and so they decided to go. We heard that people floated down it on tubes, so Amanda and Brian's nephew Dawes floated down the river in tubes. It was a blast! It was a little crazy with some of the rapids, but we were cautious, even though some of the rapids were smaller than they looked. Amanda and Dawes only got out once in order to dodge a big rock.

After we had made it down the river, Dawes wanted to go over to Glendale Resevoir to try out a cool rope swing. It was a pretty sweet swing!

Then we went back to Brian's sister Joy's to get Avery. All in all, it was a grand day!