Mostly Pictures

It has been quite a while since I've last updated and many things have happened, so I'll try and get down the highlights as best I can. It will probably be mostly about Aves.

Avery says "Mama" now. She started saying it on Labor Day (September 3rd). She also smacks her lips, claps her hands, blows raspberries and zurbits, and loves looking at lights. She loves turning the light switchs off and is currently working on turning them back on. She just noticed the moon the other night and was very impressed. She still doesn't like the waves too much when we're at the beach. We think it's the noise. She loves to sing and has started clapping at the appropriate times when we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It". She also loves to whisper. She likes eating Mom and Dad's food better than her cereal and strained fruits and veggies. She makes the most of it, though. She likes to scoop the food out of her mouth and fingerpaint. (She hasn't learned that it's easier to spit it out yet, thankfully). She isn't crawling yet, but she scoots around and is starting to lift her tummy off of the ground more. We play a game where she will call out, "Mama!" and I'll say, "Avery!" then she repeats, "MAMA!" and I say, "AVERY!" It's really cute. She opens her mouth really wide and tries to growl before she gives us big kisses.

Erik is really enjoying school. He's working in the Reading and Writing Center as an academic tutor. He has a couple of women following after him at school trying to flirt and get him to help with homework. It's a little annoying, but only really bothersome when they show up at our apartment at 10pm. Erik's had me and Avery walk him into class a few times and that's sloved most of the problem. He's helped even more than usual with Avery this past week. I've had outer ear infections in both ears and he's been a life saver.

I am doing well. I've been accepted to BYU-Hawaii for the Winter 2008 semester starting in January. I'm going into teaching, I'm just not sure what yet. Avery and I hang out during the day and have so much fun with Daddy when he gets home. I've been reading when I get the chance and life is great. Here are some cute pictures.

This is Avery at the beach a while back. She's wearing Daddy's shirt because the breeze is chilly.

Avery's first sink bath

Naptime. (she doesn't normally sleep like this, I just had to get a picture before I moved her)

Her First Oreo Cookie

New hat from Lil' Swimmers

Bundling up to go see Daddy at work

The only time she's ever worn a beanie here

Cheeseball Grin

So in love

Life is beautiful

Amy

Our New Adventure

Well everyone, we've been in Hawaii for almost a week and a half now and we are finally settled in enough for me to sit down and write. The 6.5 hour flight went wonderfully. Avery is such a trooper. Not only did she charm the socks off every flight attendant and passenger, she didn't cry once. They were amazed. We arrived in Honolulu at 7:13pm Hawaii time. The shuttle didn't pick us up until nine, which worked out great, because that's about the time they got our luggage off the plane. We had fun passing the time.

The shuttle driver and his friend, Joseph and Jeremi, are both very nice and share a lot of the same interests with Erik. They took us by McDonalds before taking us to our apartment at Hanohano Hale. They also helped us take all our luggage up to our seventh story apartment. (I think we were all very thankful for the elevator). The apartment itself wasn't quite what we had expected, but we were grateful for what we had. I guess the sadness really started to hit me when Joseph and Jeremi left and Erik and I started getting ready for bed (Avery was asleep in her carseat - poor baby). It was about two in the morning Arizona time and we were exhausted. It was nearly dark when our plane landed and we couldn't see a thing on the drive, so the beauty of it all and the excitement of being in Hawaii wasn't there to combat the realization that we had just flown an ocean away from everyone we've ever loved besides each other. Erik was amazing. He's already done this all before so he spent his would-be-crying time comforting me. He's such a great guy. The next morning was so much better. Avery woke up, ready to play, at five thirty in the morning, so we went down to the beach. We watched the sunrise and had scripture study. It was beautiful. I think that's when the excitement started to set in. The next few days were a blur. We didn't unpack more than we had to, which turned out to be a very good thing because on Wednesday we were offered on-campus married housing, which is several hundred dollars cheaper each month, so much closer to everything we need, and we have great neighbors that are a lot closer to our same situation in life. (I was excited at the prospect of getting to know the 60+ year old neighbors at Hanohano Hale, but there's just something more comforting living next to young couples going to school and starting families. I guess it's just easier to relate to them.) Another plus is that Lorraine, the woman who took care of us in the housing department decided to put us in "A" building instead of "Q", where we were supposed to be assigned. "A" building is the closest to campus and catches the best breeze from the beach. It's almost like having air conditioning ... almost. It's also great because we're across the way from Joseph and Jeremi, who are both in "B" building. We were excited to move into TVA (the Temple View Apartments), but we felt bad canceling our lease at Hanohano Hale. Thankfully, everyone there was very happy for us and completely understood. They took good care of us and are in the process of showing the apartment to other people so we won't have to pay two rents for much longer. Our new apartment is farther away from the beach (Hanohano Hale is right next to it), so we have to walk a few blocks to get there now, but it is so worth it. We will miss the ocean view from our window though.

Another problem with living at Hanohano Hale was that we had an entire wall - floor to ceiling of slated windows and then a seven story drop to the parking lot below. Now, Avery isn't crawling yet, but she would have plenty of time to figure it out before our six-month lease was up. That was just too big of a safety risk for our little girl. The people at Hanohano Hale told us that our room had "lots of windows," but didn't explain that they went down to the floor. They approved of our move to TVA even more when we mentioned that little problem. They were very kind about the whole thing and said that their apartment was not the best place for a little one.The apartment (#716) was on the top floor (shown below).Thankfully, our new apartment is on the ground.

The rest of the week was spent moving from the old apartment and getting Erik ready to start classes on the 29th. It wouldn't have taken nearly as long if we had had our car, but between waiting for buses, riding buses, walking several miles a day, and doing it all with a patient baby who deserved every second of the time that was spent on other things, we are thankful to finally be unpacked and relatively sane again. We've even found the time to go to beach and play in the water. (Avery's not too happy with the waves yet, but she has plenty of time to get used to them.)
We are meeting loads of wonderful people and are making quick friends. Our neighbors are all very kind and everyone in our ward is great to us. It's not quite home yet though. We miss you all terribly and my heart aches every time I think of how long it will be before I get to see you again, but each day makes it a little easier and brings us a little closer to our reunion. I love you all so much. Loads of other things have happened and I'm sure there's plenty more to come, but now feels like a good time to stop. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update this next but I hope it's soon. I feel less homesick when I'm writing. Erik and Avery send their love to everyone. We hope you're all doing well and we'd love to hear from you if you have the time. (If you've read to this point I've already taken a lot of it though so don't worry if you can't). Aloha!

Amy