Terrific Twos!

Yesterday was Avery's 2nd Birthday!  Wow!  We can't believe its been two years since his birthday.  We tried to let Avery decide what to do for the day.  It was rainy outside and he wanted to go for a walk, so we went for a short walk in the rain.  Later, after the rain was gone, Avery's cousins Boyce & Eve and their parents Mark & Sarah came down to go to lunch together.  Guess where we went?  To McDonald's.  It was Avery's 1st experience on the play toys there.  He really liked to go on it, but to get to the very top level you had to climb a big step and Avery was a little too short for it, so either Brian, Mark, or Sarah had to climb all the way up there to help him out.  Avery still had a blast though.  Then we went over to Fred Meyer's to look at some toys, and Avery found one that he just HAD to have (a helicopter) and Mark & Sarah got it for him (THANKS A BUNCH AGAIN).  He absolutely loved that thing.  Later, we went to dinner with Amanda's family because it is also Grandpa Downs' birthday too!  Him & Avery are 50 years apart!  We then came home to open more presents and eat a sweet carrot-cake Truck.  Avery loved all his presents- which were mostly cars and trucks.

The Truck Cake

Playing on the playtoys at McDonald's

If you can't tell, Avery is saying "Truck" because he opened some "Cars" pajamas.

Avery & Grandpa- the two birthday boys.

Opening his car "video game"

Family Pictures

Before Amanda's brother left, we took family pictures with the Downs Family.  The new photo at the top of our blog is our family photo.  The only thing is it will soon be outdated in November...

Support Our Troops

A couple of weeks ago (we can't believe its been that long!) Amanda's brother Richard left for deployment in the National Guard.  He is at training right now and then will be headed overseas to Iraq.  It was really hard to say goodbye to him, especially since this is his second deployment overseas and he has a wife and two little boys at home this time.  We are really proud of him still and he is always in our prayers.  We just want everyone to remember our troops and all that they do for us!  We miss you Richard (and Lauren & the boys who moved to Arizona) and love you!

Some Awesome News!

Well the awesome news has to do with Brian- He got an internship with ON Semiconductor!  We are really excited because it give him a lot of valuable experience for when he graduates this December as an Electrical Engineer.  I (Amanda) am so proud of him!