Wedding

Gabe officiated his first wedding this weekend up in Denver. The groom was from St. Francis (Gabe's hometown), so he contacted Gabe to do their wedding. It was a very small wedding, but a very pretty setting. We were more than happy to go as a family.

So many FIRSTS!

The last week has been filled with many FIRSTS! Avery is just growing up on us! We have loved every minute of watching her grow up, but it truly does go so fast! I would also like to mention that she slept about 9 hours lastnight...that is a record! I could get used to that!

Can you tell she loves to fly with her Daddy?

Her first trip to a lake. We went to Chatfield Reservoir with some friends the other day.

She loves hanging out in her highchair while I cook dinner! I love having her at my level, we have a lot to talk about while we cook!

Her first time in her new highchair! She was excited to eat applesauce. So far she has had rice cereal, applesauce and her newest liking is bananas!

Her first time ride forward in her stroller without the infant carrier! I couldn't believe she was already ready for this, but she loved looking out! That makes me a little sad because I can't look at her on our walks anymore...

Reading her bible

One of her first times sitting up! "Look, no hands Mommy!"

A week full of JOY!

Jayne and the cousins came and hung out for the day while Gabe and Scott went hiking together! Avery has so much fun with her cousins! They were helping her work on sitting up! She is getting so strong! It's hard to believe Jayne had a baby 5 days ago! She looks so good and just seems to have everything figured out! I guess Brody IS her 4th child. He was so chill the whole time...even with hanging out with ALL girls! Such a sweet little guy!

The first BOY cousin!!

Brody Scott Jenkins was born on August 10, 2009 at 2:30 am. He was 7 pounds 12 ounces! And he has a full head of dark hair. Gabe and I got to meet him on the day he was born, that was so much fun! It's amazing how big Avery looks compared to him. It really made me realize how much she has grown! I just loved holding little Brody Bear! And his sweet noises, oh my goodness!

Avery finally got to meet her Uncle Scottie last week! Scott has been in Iraq serving our country since February. He is home now only for two weeks, but Avery has been so excited to meet him! Thankfully Scott was able to come home earlier than planned for the birth of his first son, little brody bear!

Garden of the Gods and Manitou Springs

On one of our vacation days, we took Avery to Garden of the Gods for the first time. We walked around for a bit and then made our way to Manitou Springs where we enjoyed some great Mexican food at "The Loop". Oh, and I can't forget to mention that we made a Sonic stop beforehand. We love sonic! I think we went there almost everyday to catch happy hour! Avery loves sonic too...she really wants our drinks!

Yummy Vanilla Diet Coke!

First trip to the ZOO

Gabe took last week off from work, so thankfully we got to enjoy another Colorado Springs Vacation. There is so many tourist activities to do around here, so we thought we would continue down the list of many things to do! It was wonderful to spend time as a family before the busyness of the football season begins!
The first item on the list of things to do was to take Avery to the zoo for the first time! She was wide eyed the entire time. There was so much for her to take in and process that I don't think she smiled at all, she was way too interested in the animals to take time to smile. She spent her time studying them! We think her favorite animal was the giraffe, so we spent a lot of time looking at them. We had been telling her about the giraffes for a long time because she has a stuffed music giraffe of her own. She got to see them right up close!
Thanks to my mom, we were able to get a video camera just in time before going to the zoo! It was fun to capture Avery on video! Hopefully I can get that onto the computer soon to show you all!

Our trip to the zoo was such a fun day and a great way to start off another vacation together!

We saw this hippo walk out of the water, he is HUGE!

Avery was a little bummed the Elephants weren't out...

She is studying those giraffes