3 'Dawg gone' great years

4 years ago Joey and I met in Orem, UT! It doesn't seem like it has been near that long! I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and could not have imagined life any better than it is. Above is a picture of us at the Manti pageant a week before our wedding:)
This year we celebrated our 3 year anniversary by going out to dinner at Taste of India in downtown Athens. It is one of my favorite places:) Jeni came out and babysat Avery (thanks Jeni) so we could have an evening to ourselves and it was FABULOUS!!! [She snapped the picture a little sooner than I expected, but hey we're married, I'm allowed to do that ;)]
Joey surprised me with some pretty flowers! & I attempted a red velvet cake...(Kristen, where are you when I need you?!?!) his favorite! & celebrating just wouldn't be complete unless there is a little bit of GEORGIA BULLDOGS, so I tried to incorporate it as best I could....I know, I know, its a little cheesy!
Jeni helped me with the cake, thank goodness or it would have turned out a lot worse!

Funny Episodes

Now that little Miss Avery is quite the talker, she has made us laugh on several occasions and keeps us on our toes...

Episode 1: Avery's prayer When we have our family prayer we take turns between the 3 of us. This night it was Avery's turn and one of us will help her.

Mommy: Dear
Avery: Dear

Mommy: Heavenly Father
Avery: Heav wee Fader

Mommy: Thank you
Avery: thank you

Mommy: for
Avery: five, six, even (& then we about lost it..... We'd never heard her count past 3 before!)

Episode 2: [Quick little preface: Whenever Avery wakes up in the morning or from a nap I always ask her if she slept well]
We were house sitting for the Beckstead's (a family in our ward) and I had laid Avery down for the night around 9:15. At 10:45, Joey and I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. A little irritated, we waited on her to get to the bottom and round the corner all the while wondering why in the world she was up. As she sees us she says, mornee (morning) mommy, I seep well! After that adult like phrase, with a sweet smile we let her stay up with us for a while!

Episode 3:Lunch

Mommy: Avery, what do you want for lunch?
Avery: cwabby patty ( I think we may watch a little bit too much of Spongebob!)
Does anyone know how to make a crabby patty?

YAY!

Avery is all ready for church, but a little cranky.... (& I couldn't get her to look at me for a picture) Her mood changed as soon as we pulled into the church parking lot. From the backseat Avery started shouting, "YAY, Church, YAY, Church!" Joey and I both smiled and pray that she always has this amount of enthusiasm for church :) This is one of the many ways she makes parenting so FUN & rewarding! We love her sooooo much!

ENGAGED

As of last Friday evening at the Roswell Mill, Jason and Hannah are officially engaged! We are so happy for them and I can not wait to have her as a sister in law! They make such a BEAUTIFUL couple and she fits perfectly in the Graham family! (she is the youngest of 5, having 4 older brothers) For details on how he proposed, you'll have to ask them...

STRAWBERRIES etc.

Another reason I love living in Athens, GA!!! During May and the beginning of June, Washington Farms is our favorite place.
There are rows and rows of strawberries to be hand picked. The first trip over there Avery and I went with a few of our friends (who are also moving soon :( .......) We grabbed our buckets and set out to pick...
Avery and Sadie may have done more eating than picking(the fronts of their shirts were clear evidence), but they had fun! (Tenille with the girls)

Tenille, Sadie and Riley We love them!!!

After we finished our strawberry picking we headed over to the petting zoo area of the farm. The girls had fun feeding the goats.

Avery and Sadie chasing the chickens!

The bunnies! I think these were Avery's favorite ;)
The next trip out there we took with the cousins! This is how excited Avery gets when I tell her Anthony is coming over!

Hurry MOM! OPEN THE DOOR!!!

Avery and her buddy Anthony! out the door and off to Washington Farms

Avery helping daddy pick strawberries! [Growing up my Grandma had strawberry, blueberry and blackberry patches just like Washington Farms but on a much smaller scale. Going here reminds me of the fun times we spent out in the garden and I love watching Avery create her own memories with Daddy]
After all the picking was done, the kids played in the play area. (Avery, Nicholas, Taylor, Anthony, & Christopher)
& while we there my sister in laws and myself got caught up having too much fun... Remember the days when you used to just take fun "modeling" pictures of yourself, well we were goofing around decided to take some pics.... Here is Jill:

Jill & Kimi.... Hotties!

& Kimi

& me... They told me to make a seductive look, but after taking on the "mom" title making seductive looks feels unfamiliar...

Cute little Avery playing in the sandbox

the rubber ducky water pump races.... gotta love the COUNTRY :)

Avery trying to help Aunt Kimi beat Daddy...

Jill slid and fell a little in the mud, but its ok there was a watering trough to wash off!
when we got back to the apartment the kids had a pizza party while we made strawberry jam and pie!
Having fun making our own Jammin' Graham assembly line!
I can't remember the name of the ingredient Joey had Jill try but it was nasty!

Almost finished with the jam

& a yummy Strawberry pie! I love how Joey is poking his head in the picture!

This is a little late...

Our good friends the Wallentine's moved from Athens the end of May and we were sad to see them go.  The Wallentine's and ourselves were both married in 2006 and moved to Georgia, then had our babies around the same time, and have had many more things in common so we were really sad to see them leave.  When I worked at Regis, Kristen watched Avery when she was 6 months old!  Thanks for all the fun times; you are already missed greatly!!! Here are some pics of Avery and Aubrey's last play date!

     Avery's fish face :)  It cracks me up every time!  & the girls playing in the toys

We had to have one last Waffle House run!  Its fun to laugh about now, but when these two were little neither one of them would sleep through the night!  It would drive Kristen and myself crazy (especially to hear some of our other friends whose babies were the same age as ours were sleeping 8-10 hours through the night).  So, when they wouldn't let us sleep we'd go to Waffle House and take the babies:)  You'd think I'm lying but twice we all packed the kids up at 2AM and went to order an All Star Breakfast at the Waffle House!  We have some good memories:)

An A+ visiting teacher

On May 13 this week my visiting teacher proved to be the most AMAZING visiting teacher of all time..... She celebrated my birthday with me for the second time this year:) Here's the story:

I get a knock at my door to find my visiting teacher (Sister Whiting with gift in hand) and her husband greeting me with the Happy Birthday Song! My birthday is actually March 13, so I nervously smiled and awkwardly (but gratefully) said thank you. She then got a confused look on her face in response to my not-hidden-so-well reaction and asked, "is it not your birthday?" I didn't know what to do; I didn't want to embarrass her, but felt a little guilty for celebrating and taking a gift for a birthday that was not really mine. I then told her that my birthday is March 13 and she said she must have misread her vt-ing sheet cause she had just quickly glanced at it. Mar and May do look very similar! We got a good long laugh out of it and she said she just really didn't want to miss my birthday! So, I reaped the benefits of having 2 birthdays this year and a new beach towel to take on our fun trips over to Sandy Creek. This is what I call an A+ visiting teacher and we will get some good laughs out of this now and for years to come! Sister Whiting & Charis (you were missed while you were in Cali)-- ya'll are the BEST visiting teachers I could ever ask for!!! (& not only because you gave me a 2nd birthday this year)