WE DID IT!!

Pictures for a Purpose was a MAJOR success!! I think out of a 9 hour shoot day, at 20min a sitting, I only had two kids who didn't want to be there - but that's totally beside the point - I think the all around tone of the day was "This is great", "This is SO easy!" "Will you be doing this quarterly?!" (NO:) Above all we were BLESSED with an insanely smooth running day, and we are just that much closer to educating the people of South East Asia about Child trafficking. God had an obvious presents on Saturday! Did anyone count how many kids we actually took pictures of?
My body apparently took a beating - I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I guess when you kneel and bend over for 9 hours its does bad things to your body. For some reason I feel like I did Suzanne Summers Thigh Master for WAY TOO LONG... When Chris finally got home from his softball tournament on Saturday night, we both were laying in the living room moaning and groaning - seriously, we're 27... is this when it starts??!
Thank you amazing volunteers for putting this together and running it, and for the talented photographers for giving your time and talent, and for all the wonderful ladies who helped on Saturday (Joe, you were a lifesaver!!) Thank you Lord for such a wonderful day! I look forward to what we can do next year!

9 years and still going strong!

This weekend Chris and I headed to a family friends beach house in Olympia for our Anniversary - Pure Bliss!! It was SOO relaxing to sit and soak up some much needed sun and R & R! I still cant believe we’ve been married for 9 years and together for 13 - WOW!!

By the end of the weekend - Chris was so annoyed with me because of all the pics!

Don't you wish you were here! And yes - that was the temp out at the pool!

The amazing view

There is a HUGE Cala Lily plant on the side of the house - such a stunning flower!

My desperately-in-need-of-a-pedicure feet (where's that Ped-Egg??!) And my personal Chef in the kitchen - ooh I love him!

Enjoying the view and company

FYI: Chris is an AMAZING cook!
On the way down to the house we stopped off at the Farmers Market and got some food for the weekend, we only got dinner for that night because we had reservations at a nice restaurant for the next night - We got some yummy clams, I got a piece of fish and Chris got a Ribeye - as we were devouring our food, we figure this food was way more delish (and WAY cheaper than what we would have payed at a fancy place - theme of the weekend - free beach house, cheap meals... clearly we didn't skimp though!!) So we headed back to the Market and canceled our dinner plans the next day!

Enjoying the good grub while watching God's great beauty

This is the look of "put down the camera or I'll throw it into the water" look

Happy Anniversary Baby, I love you! I had a great time with you this weekend!

Thank You Josh & Sadie and Mom for watching the kids all weekend!

AND

Thank you Candace SO much for blessing us with the beach house this weekend!

"These are few of my Favorite things..."

Happy Father's Day Chris!!

Yay for nice weather for Fathers Day - trust me - I prayed for it too!! ALL Chris wanted for Fathers day was Ruffles regular potato chips, French Onion dip, Curve Ball & Sun - Yes, this man is easy to please!! Oh - and don't forget whiffle ball - another game that the "boys" have made up that makes no sense (much like the beach house games...). Here are some pics of our relaxing day.

This is the kids' gift to Chris

And He's Off...

So, it's been almost a week since saying goodbye to my brother, and I'm just now sitting down to write about it. I'm not sure why - I think a big part of me doesn't even know what to say, and the other part of me doesn't fully want to accept the fact he's really gone. To say saying goodbye was hard would be a total understatement. I tried to play out in my head beforehand what it was going to be like, just to be prepared...I thought Haley and Tanner would have a difficult time and Carter wouldn't totally get it - well I was wrong - Tanner dealt with it by going the opposite way everyone else was feeling and was acting supper goofy - Carters the one that surprised me the most - he fell apart - like really fell apart. Watching that was heart-wrenching. What pulled him together...? Michael told him he could sleep in his bed whenever he wanted (saying this to the kid that asked him the other day "Uncle Michael - when you die, can I have your room?") I knew Haley was going to have a hard time too - and she did. Michael's girlfriend Krysta was over that night too, she could barely talk about it - I remember all too well of having to say goodbye to your boyfriend - there is nothing anyone can say that will make you feel better.
We got two quick calls from him, one at the airport, and another I think when he got to the base, he said he'd call in two weeks. He is having to have his wisdom teeth pulled and his cavities filled right away - I'm assuming they did it this past weekend. Mom, Sadie, Krysta and I are going to go to his graduation in August, so that is something to look forward too.
Moms doing ok, I think better than I thought she'd be doing. I think it helped that he was hardly home to begin with!
We miss you little bro - I know you'll do your best! We're very proud of you too!!!

"My Dream Room Is Spectacular!"

Alright, I've got a follow-up from some of the comments from my last post. Haley brought home yesterday a bunch of school work that has been put in a book from over the year (we're closing in on the end of the year) This is TOO good! I was just looking through it this morning...

My dream room is spectacular!

The walls are bright blue, with white cool clouds. And the floor is bright purple and as I look around my room I see my dog on the beanbags! I also see the flower carpet because I love, love, love flowers. I also see my drink stand with lots and lots of drink's and as I look around more I see my dogs dog bed and her food and water by my bed. My closet is big it has my jackets and my dresses and some of my nice shirts. Then I see my goldfish tank and my dresser with my, shirts, pants, shorts, skirts, and tanktops. My bed is so awesome it has a sky pillow and the sheets are striped!
My dream room is awesome!

Writinn by
Haley Avery (3rd grade)

In her own words! (and typos :)
Well - that should give us some good starting points to how to do her new room!!
**Oh, she aslo got a Wonderful! from her teacher!**

My Favorite Souvenir

We went to Disney World (along with various other place too!) in April with 14 of the 18 Avery family members. I know, I thought we’d loose at least one kid too - NOPE! Boy did we luck out! So anyway, we were shopping around Downtown Disney one night and I saw this guy - I actually thought he drew out the profile then cut it out. I figured the boys were off shopping in the pin store - and that was way more their thing. I wanted Haley to have it done. It was SO cool to watch - the guy just picked up a tiny pair of scissors and whipped it out in less than a minute!

By far my favorite souvenir. It may sound lame, but I hope this is something she keeps forever.

…And yes, her room is bright pink - thank you Auntie Sadie ;) The next room wont be as bright so she'll hopefully sleep in longer than when the sunrises!! :)