White/Pastorik Family

What a blessing it is to be a part of such a wonderful family! We are growing and growing! Here are the group pictures from my family reunion. We had almost the complete gang: Out of 2 parents, 8 kids, 7 spouses, and 19 grandkids, we were only missing 1 spouse and 2 grandkids. The couple on the left side are my parents; the couple on the right are my aunt Kay and uncle Randall (mom's brother).

This is the core: my parents and siblings. Front row: Dad, Mom, Donna (1st), Karen (6th), Laura (7th), Bonnie (8th). Back row: David (4th), Steve (3rd), Ben (5th), Louis (2nd).

Slurpy!

funny

Avery's just so funny. My new favorite phrase is: "ooooh, SLURpy!" which means: Slippery. She says it with such expression as if to say, 'you better be careful- it's slippery!'

Next favorite phrase: "Oh, man!" She says it just like Swiper does on Dora. Hilarious!

I'm amazed with that girl. She catches on to things that I never even try to teach her. Today she:

• Put away the stroller to it's rightful spot in the garage.
• Randomly takes off Aspen's hat when we're inside and takes it to her room.
• Washes her hands in the church bathroom while effectively dispensing the soap and turning on the water which is mostly out of her reach- all while I'm detained.
• She tears off a tissue (TP) when she needs to wipe her nose or clean something.
• She identifies trash, shows me, then throws it away immediately while finding the nearest receptacle.
• Yesterday, I decided to see just how much she could help around the house by picking up. She obediently put away everything I asked- and she knew exactly where they went. I've decided I can hold her more responsible for this chore from now on!
• When Aspen cries in the car, she requests a binki or toy for the baby and will try to calm her.

This girl is a jewel.

strangers

My other girl is a darling too. I think I'm spoiled! Plus, I'll admit I like the attention from strangers who can't help but stop and sweet talk to my little baby. I always like greeting strangers and this makes it easier; the most common greeting I get is "wow, you've got your hands full..." Ha, yes. Though I only have two (and relatively angels at that), I still consider taking a toddler and infant to the grocery store to be a feat... so thanks for noticing or at least finding a way to greet me.

motherhood

Motherhood is truly a feat. It's like climbing a long upward hill. It takes constant endurance and can get exhausting at times, but the key is to look around you as often as possible to soak in the view because there's joy in this journey. Your 'pay off' is not just in the end- it's all along the way. I'll be first to admit that I see the glamorous and care-free things that others get to do without kids and get down or impatient. Being a mom means I need to take ownership of my role and remember why it is that I chose to be a mother. There's no more glorious a calling. Other things can wait. I chose this road because of what it would do for my character- so obviously there will be a struggle. However, my pay-off is the greatest of all. Not to mention, I will have a beautiful posterity. I love my children like crazy. I can't believe they're my own. I'm glad I have a family. I'm glad this is the plan.

Aspen 5 months

First time with rice cereal

That's my happy girl! She loves to smile, laugh and talk baby talk. She's extremely alert and will watch things closely, and sometimes stare at you. She blows bubbles with her lips and sucks on anything she can get her hands on- fingers being her favorite. She'll gnaw and chew with enthusiasm with licks and slobber and drool. She's got a really strong bite, too! No teeth have broken through yet. She can roll over now, but does get stuck. She sleeps well, only waking up once or twice per night (I'm lovin' that). We sure love our baby blue eyes.

Vacation!

We've been gone for 10 days on vacation, and boy did we make the rounds!

The ultimate destination was my family's reunion in Island Park, ID, but we visited other friends and family along the way. :)

Day 1: Drive 10.5 hours overnight to Provo, UT. It went exceptionally well! Avery just laughed and talked half the way down; Aspen slept. At dusk we drove through long winding passages midst tall, layered green mountains and wooded farm land valley. Just beautiful!

Day 2: Stayed and visited with our friends, Russ and Adri, in Provo! Jenni and Jared joined us for dinner at Brick Oven and we went to the playground. :)

Cleaned up after a long drive

Jenni, me (and Aspen), & Adri at Brick Oven

Katelyn and Avery playing together

Day 3: Church with the Lees. Drive to Sandy, UT for my nephew (Benton's priesthood ordination and dinner! Drive 4 hours to Twin Falls, ID to Brian's parent's house.

Day 4: Hanging out with Brian's family in ID. Went to Shoshone Falls where the water was GUSHING!

Avery on the Wii

Fun on the tramp

Avery loves Ace

Ring around the Rosies (Avery and Briley) with Aunt Jess

Quality time

Avery likes to drive

Day 5: Drove 4 hours to Island Park, ID for my family's reunion! Raining, raining. Lots of excitement and settling into the large cabin we rented.

The big crowd getting ready to eat

The dark hairds (Tyler, me, Mckenna, Shayla, Benton)

Day 6: Visited Mesa Falls, picnic, picked up my nephew (Tyler) from BYU-Idaho and hung out at campus. Dinner and Family Slide show at the cabin.

The new mini conference center at BYU-Idaho

Day 7: Big breakfast. Rainy day- relaxing and games at the cabin. Playmill theater in the evening to see "Disney's High School Musical." We love those live theaters! We indulged in fudge and ice cream during the show- oh yeah.

Day 8: Yellowstone drive. Picnic lunch there. Brrr, it was cold! Lovely scenery and wildlife.

A cute pic of mi mommy & daddy

My bro Louis with Savannah

Good times with the cousins

It's not Yellowstone without these guys

Day 9: Drive 3.5 hours to G&G's house in Ogden, UT. Visit, relax.

Grandpa Great

Grandma Great

Day 10: Drive 11.5 hours home. Avery did super well again; Aspen had it more rough, and Brian and I both got sick and threw up. He was doing that all night long, too. We're happy to be home again.

We don't know what Avery will do now without all her cousins ("friends" she calls them); she knows all of them by name! We had a blast! I feel like my kids have grown up so much over this short vacation. Aspen was dazzling with all her smiles and cooing and awareness; Avery is constantly becoming more mature.

Life is Peachy

Summer and House Project

The town is buzzing because this was the last week of school. The sun is bright and shiny. After months of anticipation, the summer has at last arrived and I get the feeling that it's going to go by all too quickly!

We're not planning a lot of trips; Brian will do camping with scouts (he's now YM 2nd counselor) and we'll probably plan day activities for the family-- nothing fancy. I look forward to getting out the bikes! Mostly, we're working on this good ol' house and it's coming along. We ripped out the carpet upstairs yesterday (*Can I get some angelic rejoicings?*)! We have some prep work to do before laying down the laminate wood, so this won't be a weekend project like I was hoping. Nonetheless, you get used to things dragging out longer than expected, so it's no biggie. While we got the floor up, we're going to access the ceiling downstairs and put in recess lighting (cool, yeah?). Brian began screwing the hallway subfloor down to eliminate our outrageously squeaky floor... it's WORKING and it's AMAZING!!!! I can't tell you how sweet that is!!

Shortly we'll be taking a trip to Utah/Idaho for my family's reunion and it's so exciting that it's just around the corner! We wish we could stay there much longer.

Avery

I love my "little mommy." Avery watches everything I/we do & say, and I smile every time I see her copy us (except when she gets a stern face and says NO when we've done something wrong...). She's becoming an excellent helper in the kitchen. She can stir without big spills, help pour things, throw away things, load dishes, etc. I've got my little protege.

We received a package in the mail and without thinking twice, Avery pulled open the silverware drawer, fished out a butter knife (without looking because she wasn't on a stool to see), and attempted to cut open the tape. She is obviously very observant when I do this; it's just a good thing she didn't fish out the sharper knives that I use for this!

• Avery is very concerned and loving when we hurt ourselves.
• She always wants to climb in her car seat by herself.
• She can unlock the car using the key by herself. (She even taught me that if you hold the key turned on the driver's side, the rest of the doors will unlock... who knew!)
• She loves doing dishes under the running water.
• She likes to use the water/ice dispenser on the fridge and will constantly get us drinks.
• Avery simply wants to try everything we're doing and she surprises me at how well she does them. She gets antsy pantsy and says "Avie do it!" all the time. :)

Aspen

She is a ball of joy! She loves to stare, smiles big, and follows you with her eyes like a hawk. I want to kiss on her like crazy. Since Avery was my first, I was more tentative with her in all I did... with Aspen, I just want to smother her with loves! I feel so much attachment to both of my babies and get really emotional when I imagine them hurt or gone- what can I say- I'm a mom now!

Garden

We had to replant our poor garden at mothers day, but as I see budding life, it gives so much satisfaction and happiness! Avery got to throw a bunch of pinto beans in a dirt-filled butter tub and hers are doing the best by far! :)

i draw

Avery is sitting here drawing and naming off what she is drawing. For each thing, she draws small circles and tight squigglies. Her dialogue goes like this:

"i draw.

a kite!

Q, P.

a car? k, a car.

eh (let's)-see-here...

a hole.

I-cream.

Boat? a boat.

kware (square).

see? (mom says: what is that?) righ-here. (mom: what is that?) kware. righ-here. see? (mom: oh, a square). yes.

eh-see-here....

cup o' juice.

Dowa (Dora)!

monkey? k, monkey.

swiper.

Avery.

mommy.

A_pen (Aspen).

daddy.

big balloon. (mom: big balloon?) yeah.

A horse? yes? K.

apples.

eh-see-here...

bear? bear. ok. a bear!

B."

Aspen 4 months

Sweet baby Aspen. Cooing, Smiling, and sorta Giggling. I love hearing her talk. She still has gas somewhat (sadly, it did not go away as I thought), but mostly she is teething. She likes to suck on her fingers to soothe her the best (which is something we try to steer her away from, but sometimes it's the only thing that helps her... and my sanity is at stake). We kicked her out of our room and she's sleeping in the office... so far it has not proved to be helpful (I was up at least 4 times last night, ugh), but I have high hopes for improvement. I might have to start giving her tylenol for the teeth.

She is in approx. the 33% for weight and height and 60% for head. (13 lbs., 23.5"). That's backwards from Avery's stats. Avery inherited her small head from Brian.