Avenlie

Here are more pics of our beautiful, sweet baby Avie! She is so sweet and quite! She has been sleeping all day! We love her so much and are so happy to be home! Keep looking for more pictures!

Avenlie Mae has arrived!

Avenlie Mae Ward was born February 23, 2008 at 4:29 am weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz., 19 1/4 inches! She made her arrival quickly, and without time for Mom to get drugs! She is beautiful and was worth every minute of the natural labor! We love her cute, kissy cheeks, tiny toes & fingers and the sweet little squeaks she keeps making! We will keep you posted as the day goes on!

Hard Monday night!

How can a child be so cute, yet drive you to almost an absolute meltdown?! I love my little Landon so much, but tonight was really, really difficult! Chris was home all day with us, yeah! Him and Landon got to spend some quality time together doing "boy stuff" while I worked! It was great and then we ran some errands as a family! Well Landon never took a nap and was playing and running around all day! Beautiful day today! I thought sweet, bed time should go smooth, cause he was gonna be really tired! Chris left for work and we made dinner. Around 8 I decided it was time for Landon to go to bed, so we started the process. Not an easy one with him lately either! He has been going through so many changes and I think this is one he feels he can control! Well it went really bad tonight! I was exhausted and there was no end in sight, so my dad took over(tried)! Well that didn't work either and things just got worse! You would have thought the devil was inside of him, he was CRAZY and inconsolable! I just kept asking my parents what do I do? Were we like this when we were little? Of course their response was yes and they weren't sure how to get this little fighter calmed down. So finally I had to break down and be kinda terrible and give him just a little bit of Benadryl. I have never done that or thought I would do that, but he was about to hurt himself if something didn't happen quick! Well after a slap in the face from him, a hard one, me crying, and my dad discovering Landon has a great right hook, he started to calm down. This was about 9:40 at this point! We sang primary songs and finally got him to sleep! Thank Heavens!!! I don't know what I would have done without my parents, they are so amazing! Does anyone out there have any advice on great bedtime tactics? I have tried so many different things, and have yet to find the one that works! I love Suppernanny, but that's just not working! I am in desperate need quickly too, cause our little girl will be here before we know it! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Fun Saturday as a family

So Chris was finally home today, so we got to go out as a family this afternoon!!! We went down and got a new stroller for Landon and his Baby Sis! We have now upgraded to a BIG Double stroller! CRAZY!!!! But it is cute! We then headed over to Victoria Gardens for our new favorite treat, Pinkberry! Landon can't get enough of the stuff! So we got some cute pics of him today and thought we would share them!

Moved Out

So the past month has been extremely hard for us. We have had one set back after another it seems, but we are moving forward! With much thought and much saddness we decided we needed to rent our house out. Let me just say that renting out your "home" is very hard to do. We had some very interesting and scary people call and look at our house! I was being picky though, not just anyone was going to be aloud in our home. With much prayer and fasting we found a wonderful family to move in for awhile. Unforunatley for them their home caught on fire and is going to completely be gutted. They are a cute little LDS family and have a 4 yr. old son and one on the way. Our Bishopric hooked us up and it was meant to be! We had people who wanted the house and were ready to sign the lease and then all the sudden they would back out. Heavenly Father sure answers our prayers in interesting ways sometimes! We are so sad for them, but feel so fortunate that we could rent our home to them! They will be there anywhere from 3-6 months and then we will probably rent it out again. So that means we are back with my parnets for awhile. We feel so blessed that we were able to move back in with them! I will admit, it is not easy though! I have had many break downs and I really miss our space and freedom! Poor Landon is a little confused and his tantrums have kicked into high gear for us! NOT FUN!!! He misses home and knows something is going on, but it's what we have to do to survive and make it through these rough times!
Chris has been substitute teaching and driving for Service Rock lately. We are grateful he has had something to do! It's not all his favorite and we wish it was more money, but it helps! He is training at night right now to drive bottom dumps( Bigger tucks w/ 2 trailers) so he is gone from 6pm- 4am! Though! We miss him so much, but we are so thankful for all his hard work! He is going to be applying for the Sherriffs department in April and we are hoping he can get in and go to Academy in July! And we are still going to see if we can appeal the CHP, just waiting on those darn papers!
As for me, I have 3 weeks or less left of pregnancy and then our sweet little Avenlie will be here!!! I am feeling good, just tired and very up and down emotionally! But my wonderful hubby and I were able to sneak way yesterday for a yummy lunch date and some adult time! I needed it BAD!!! He spoiled me and bought me a beautiful watch I was wanting! I made and gave him a few of his favorite treats and lots of love all day long! He is the best thing in the world and my abesolute best friend! I couldn't have ended up with a better man!!! LOVE you honey!!!

Finally Updating!!!!

Well its been forever, but finally a new post! We have had massive camera issues and I finally got my hands on one of Hillary's old cameras! We have had lots going on lately! We had a wonderful holiday season! Thanksgiving so lots of fun up in Idaho with Chris' family and also in Sundance with Kim, Jordan and Hillary. All of December was wonderful with the Christmas spirit all around us! We got to go to Disneyland with all my family! It was part of our Christmas from my parents! We had such a fun time!!!! It was Landon's first time and he did great! He was actually really excited and was pulling on us to get in the park faster! He did great on all the rides. His eyes were filled with amazement all day! It was so much fun to see Disneyland through our child's eyes! He was definitely the center of attention all day! And his grandparents couldn't have been prouder and more excited! What a great memory that day will always be for us! Christmas day was also fantastic! Landon got lots of fun new toys from all our family and a power wheels jeep from Grandma and Grandpa Tucker! That was for sure the highlight of the morning! We had such a wonderful time just hanging out with everyone and truly enjoying the meaning of Christmas!

New Years was a sadder time for us. My dear grandpa Durnford passed away on the 31st. It was a blessing for him, but is still always sad when you lose someone you love so much. I was truly blessed to have such a wonderful Grandpa who I knew loved me and wanted the best for me! I will miss him dearly and can't wait to see him again someday!

We also just celebrated Chris' 31st birthday and Landon's 2nd birthday! I can't believe our baby is 2 already! He is getting smarter and more handsome everyday!

We also got some bad news about Chris' job 2 days before his birthday. He was laid off. We knew it could happen, but thought he would make it through this 4th round. It has been a really difficult two weeks, but we know we are still so blessed and appreciate every one's prayers and love. We are hoping and praying to hear from the CHP very soon to get a start date for the academy! We are still really hoping for April! Keep us in your prayers! We have faith that we will make it through these hard times and that life in the future will be better!

As for me, I only have 7 more weeks left until our new little girl joins our family! We are so excited for her arrival! Chris keeps saying he thinks she will be here in February, but I am hoping for at least March 1st!

That's pretty much it for us in the last 2 months! Lots though, lots! These pictures are the ones I have from Christmas and hope to have more to post soon!