pretend christmas card

i didnt get around to ordering and sending christmas cards this year.  i managed to get some homemade thanksgiving cards out to a few family members --  but sending out lots and lots of cards from brasil wasn't high up on my to-do list this year. we can all pretend this is official and sent out individually, right?  the picture is a little pixelly and the babe woudn't crack a smile, but i just love how green and tropical it looks.

trae graduated from college and got a job here in brasil. he stays busy with work, teaching seminary and holding 2 other church callings, and being my sidekick.  he can not wait to go back to school, he just doesnt know exactly what for.  he is the best daddy and husband. he works so hard for us and we love him.

avery, if you couldn't already tell from this blog, is the center of our lives.  we can't get enough of her and feel so blessed to be her parents.  she is learning how to test our patience and makes us laugh daily.  she is a smarty pants.  being her mom and dad  is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us. we love her.

i have been struggling learning a new language and living far away from what i call home, but am enjoying the experience of living in another country. i spend most days at our home helping our daughter create and learn new things, while learning so many new things myself.  i miss cooking (and cleaning) and cant wait to live in the US again.   i have a husband who loves me and a daughter who strengthens me.  i am happy.

we have been so blessed this year. we are healthly and happy. we have been given so many opportunities to grow and count our blessings. we have been able to develop and strengthen relationships with family members.  we have made many new friends. we have the gospel in our lives.  we love eachother.

(silly picture won't center, ugh)

Merry Christmas from us. have a great week!!

counting down

3 days until drew, mace and dave come to visit.
7 days til Christmas
10 days until we supposedly get to move into the new apartment!
14 days until we hop on a plane and head home
15 days til the new year and we get to see our other family.
21 days until our little girl turns 2.

i find myself counting down for all the events that happen in our lives. gives me something to look forward to- although i'm starting to think that when i dwell on them time seems to slow down.  we cant wait for a little change of scenes and more familiar faces around here.  not to sound in the dumps but we are needing a little pick-me-up. we aren't too overly excited to be spending christmas in a hotel, we still have no kitchen or real living areas, and i found a cocroach in one of our showers today. also, trae and i are illegal immigrants living in brasil...(not to proud of that). we have the wrong kind of visas so  we sent our passports/visas to LA to get new ones well over a month ago and they were supposed to send them back in time for us to fly home. well, they're not gonna get them done in time so we had to pay a pretty little penny to change our flights to a later date, ugh. i'm over that now, but it was a pain nonetheless. 

on a happier note, i think my christmas shopping is pretty much done. i dont know why i put it off til last minute every single year, becasue i hate the stress and hustle and bustle of it all, but its done!  trae was certainly the hardest person to shop for on my list.  he's probably the simplest person i know and so easy to please, but he gives absolutley no clues and doesnt ever want me to buy him anything.  i ask him what he wants for christmas and his reply is with-out-fail, "um, maybe just some beef jerky." well perfect honey, they dont even have beef jerky here. i swear i am constantly saying 'i need this', and 'i want this.' he asks me what i want and i could rattle off a list a mile long, and all he can come up with is beef jerky. i should probably be more like him.

we are excited for christmas this year though. avery loves everything about christmas, and i think she kinda understands whats going on.  everytime we ask her what santa says she says "ho, ho, ho, merry christmas... i need a bike," as if what santa says and what she wants goes hand in hand.  we also really cant wait to go home.  trae made a little list of the things he is most excited for when we go home: drink a glass of webb dairy milk, sit outside in the snow til he's freezing, eat a home-cooked american meal, listen the ksl sports radio in the car, wash his face with warm water, and actually be able to flush toilet paper down the toilet.   i cant wait to eat myself a cup of clean, white snow, stay up late with my sisters, go shopping in an american store, bundle up in a cozy blanket, drink a glass of hot chocolate, wear a coat, see my family, and be actually be cold for a little while. while there are quite a few things we like about here, we can not wait to be home!

and since i dont like a post without pictures, and i have been terrible at taking pics, this is what would be on my christmas tree if i had one this year... (okay we have a tree, but its a tiny little guy that fits in the corner of the hotel room). aren't those amazing!!!

funny girl

i swear three months ago i was saying that ave was in my favorite stage and that it couldn't get better. i was wrong. right now is my favorite.  she is hilarious and has me laughing all day.  the way she sings in her 'microphone' all the time, and dances to the waka-waka song, and draws and paints for hours, and ask questions about everything. i love it all. 

thanks to my friend rosie, i got some good potty training advice and went for it.  proud to say she's been diaperless for 2 weeks and most days go by with out a single accident (knock on wood).  it was much easier than i expected but there were definatly a few times when  i didnt know if it was worth it yet.  that little bum gets me everytime. 

here are some things avery said that kept us entertained today:

--this morning when ave woke up trae asked her if she slept good, her reply: "yeah, you sleep good?"

--she watched an episode of calliou about loosing teeth so today she took a big white sea shell that her grandpa found, hid it under a pillow and said, "uh-oh, where'd avery's tooth go, mom?"

--trae was eating an omlette this morning and i asked him how it was then she asked, "is it good dad?"

--i called my mom on skype today and the first thing ave blurted out was "oh no! where'd avery's finger go?" as she proceeded to bite it.

--we're trying to teach ave that we go to church to learn about jesus, not just play in nursery, so today when we arrived avery said "play with toys, play with belle.... after jesus, huh?"

i sometimes wonder what goes on in that little brain.  curious little thing.  whatever it is, i love every second of it.

on a more random note:  we might get to move into the new apartment this week.  it will be a blessed day whenever it happens and we are praying real hard we're in before christmas.  i seriously don't know how much more restaraunt food i can take. 

happy sunday!!

happy thanksgiving

its been so different celebrating American holidays in a country that doesn't celebrate them with you.  its a little bit sad to be honest. this Thanksgiving has been especially different.  We still dont have a kitchen and eat out for nearly every meal so what we were going to do for thanksgiving dinner had us all down in the dumps a little.  Thankfully that wonderful little american school pulled through for us.. again, just like for halloween.  They put on a fabulous feast, nothing like what i'm used to but i cant complain. turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and a few salads.  the only things they were critically missing were: gravy, homemade rolls and pies.  for our thanksgiving dinner tonight we went out for pizza, and its a good thing it was tasty, or else.



when trae and i sat down to write our list of what were thankful for this year we came up with so many things that we probably would have overlooked had we still lived in the US. most importantly we are grateful for our wonderful families, the gospel of Jesus Christ, our healthy and happy daughter, eachother, and the United States (although thats just barely skimming the top of our thankful lists).

please enjoy a piece of pie (or two or three) for me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

i love this face

how many different faces can you make in about 30 seconds?

thankful today

In the last general conference President Monson said, “Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel Gods love.” I’ve been trying a little harder to focus on my many blessings. It really is amazing how much we have to be thankful for, especially during this time of year. Heres a short list of a what i'm thankful for today.


i miss the changing colors of the trees
but
i love that the tree outside our front window is flowering right now.

i miss wearing fall clothes
but
I’m thankful that i can still wear shorts and a t-shirt every single day

i miss putting up fall decorations
but
i love that i don’t have to worry about a house to decorate

i hate that I don’t get to see my family more often
but
i love the family that i get to spend everyday with

i miss feeling really cold (thats a stretch)
but
i thankful that it is sunny here everyday

i hate that I can’t fluently communicate with others
but
i love that I have the opportunity to learn a new language

I hate the trim I just got that turned into a 5 inch haircut
but
I love that I no longer have any split ends

I really hate that we still have to eat out every day
but
I love that we always have full bellies

I’m a firm believer that happiness is a choice. My situations might not be exactly how I’d like them to be, but there is always something to be thankful for and reasons to be happy. Our experiences in Brasil have taught us how to be thankful for so many things that we took for granted before.

What are you thankful for today?

daddy's girl

there's almost nothing better than watching your husband be a dad.  its like i fall in love all over again and realize yet another reason why i married this guy.  i`ve loved this since the day she was born but it is getting even better watching them together now that she actually plays back. 

i hope that she`ll be a daddy`s girl when she grows up.

pumpkins

my pumpkin:

avery`s pumpkin:

trae`s pumpkin:

i know which one is my favorite.

this time of year

It feels like the perfect fall day her in brasil,  but I have a feeling that wont happen too often considering its nearly summer here. I surely have been enjoying the rain and overcast skies- which seem to last approximately 1 hour a day. No copmplaining here though, we’ll take what we can get, even if our fall only lasts a few hours a day.

I’ve been a little homesick lately (okay, that’s a lie, I’m always a little bit homesick). Not because I miss my small Idaho town and my family, which I do of course, but because its getting to be that time of year where nearly everything you do revolves around family and traditions and because fall is my most favorite season. we are however, looking forward to starting some more of our own family tradtions. Its halloween time now. not a choice favorite, but it means fall is here. We were never big halloweeners at the webb home but we sure enjoyed ourselves a good dose of trick or treating. We used to hit every house possible in the way-too-spread-out streets of raft river with more kids than should be allowed to be pile one car and ended up with more candy than our little tummies knew what to do with.  We'd then go home and barter and trade our remaining candies and then eat as much as we could before mom got ahold of us.

 Now, i'm still not a big halloween fan, but i want my little girl to have those same kind of memories as i now have... although i doubt any traditions made at this age will stick- since her rapidly growing brain cant remember what she ate for breakfast, let alone what she dressed up as for halloween this year.



Thankfully, Brasil celebrates halloween, so we were allowed to have a little bit of fun. Its different and there is certainly no trick or treating going on around here, far too dangerous for those types of activities, but the American school where the Jones kids go, threw a halloween party for their families. Ave dressed up in her over-priced (man i miss my sewing machine and local DI) minnie mouse costume and we were off to her first ever halloween extravaganza.  i dont think she had a clue what was going on but she loved to twirl in her minnie skirt, wanted to kiss the witches and thought that anyone with a mask on was a 'funny guy.'  She was pretty solemn and wouldn't crack a smile or look at the camera if her young life depended on it but she was cute in her littel costume nonetheless.

have a happy halloween!!

right now

 i don't know what got more paint, the paper, the table, or the girl. either way it kept her busy for over an hour and has now become a daily activity.  i loved watching her be so focused on one thing.  usually, she begins an activity until her eye catches her books or a toy and then were off to the next adventure.  i love watching her be creative and learning to do new things.  that little mind of hers has been in overdrive lately.  she suprises me everyday with the things she comes up with.

  i have lists in almost every notebook in the house and every spare paper i find about the new things she says or does.  instead of wasting more paper i'll jot down a few things that i've been loving about her right now:

she sings her abc's with a little guidance

counts like this- 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 11 12.  usually its just a jumble of those but yesterday it was that exact sequence

knows the colors- green, blue, pink, yellow and sometimes orange.

sings the cutest versions of twinkle twinkle and the wheels on the bus

goes poop in the potty 85% of the time

speaks using the cutest, simplest sentances like- "where papa go, huh?'' or "watch movie on dvd player."

what would my life be like with out this little fireball. well, right now, i dont have a kitchen to cook in, or a sewing machine to be creative with, or even bathrooms to clean. i feel quite unproductive most days and wish i had 'things' to keep me more busy. but then i stop and think about it, and the one 'thing' i have in my life that keeps me busy all day is the greatest blessing in my life, and how awesome is it that she gets my (mostly) undivided attention all. day. long.

her ability to find joy in the simplest things helps me remember what is most important to me. so right now, i'm going to enjoy this stage of our lives, (and enjoy not having a house to clean while i'm at it).



 didnt she just grow out of the baby stage herself like last week.  now here she is thinking she is big enough to babysit without supervision.  she adores little babies.  i knew this after spending a few weeks with meag and baby preston but i love watching her get so excited when there's a baby around. 

 

adorable.

most of the time...

most of the time i am pretty darn good at the mom duties. other times, i give in and let the little nina win. after begging to watch shrek 37 times a day it gets hard to say no, and if she gets any cuter while watching movies i doubt i'll ever be able to say no.  i do however try to sit and watch with her and teach her along the way... just so i dont completely relinquish my motherly duties, in case you were worried about her little addiction.

what a girl. the picture below though gets put right at the top of the ranks of favortie pictures ever. i laugh everytime i see it. she's a goofy one and 80% of the pictures i take are just as ridiculous. her wearing my socks and pulling up her shorts, swollen mesquito bites on her little leg...funny- but that toothless grin...priceless.

have a great sunday!

my sister emailed this over to me the other day and i am loving every second of it. my dads super cheesy smile mixed with averys super crooked grin, their funny shades, averys raggity-ann look, the thought that they were just about to go on an hour long motorcycle ride, and how happy they look together.  this little avery loves her grandpa.  i was worried how she was going to do with my family after spending so much time with my in-laws, but she didnt even skip a beat. it was like she just picked up where she left off and had a ball.  she's been rather fond of my dad since she was born and my dad has always had such a special way with her. they have quite the little connection.  oh how i love those two. 

adjusting...again

we made it back to brasil safely last week after a fabulous 3 week visit home.  now we are finding ourselves adjusting to this place all over again, and in different ways.  our visit home was so great, our schedules were free and we found ourselves doing lots of relaxing and running around.  but, 3 weeks was far too long to be away from the Mr. and ave and i wont attempt that again anytime soon.

we came back to brasil to a new home.  its nice and simple.  and in simple i mean a bathroom and few bedrooms.  not even a kitchen,  but we're working on that part. since the inlaws live in a hotel, and we live in a kitchenless apt. we eat out for every.single.meal.  never thought i would dislike eating out but after about the 2nd day i was craving a good home cooked meal.  i wont tell you how many times we've had mcdonalds for dinner since i've been back but it was for dinner tonight and uhhh....for dinner last night as well, and when we came upstairs to eat avery looked at her dinner and said 'chicken nuggets and french fries,' if that gives you any idea.  i can feel the greasy pounds piling on as i type (and finish off my cheeseburger). 

we don't live right on the beach anymore so i dont find myself walking out the door and across the street to play in the sand and the sun, and its not super safe where we live so i can't just strap the girl in her stroller and go for a walk... so i'm on the look out for ways to entertain the little misses, but she sure is a busy one and keeps me on my toes. today she figured out how to open all the windows upstairs so she could wave to the cars driving by. oh the joys.

 it is nice, however, to have our own little place and some privacy, and it is nice to have trae working downstairs. i can sneak down there as often as i'd like to say hi, or tell him i need a 5 minute avery break, or ask him to come upstairs and play with us for a few minutes.  this place has its perks. 

yes, life is still different here and we're still getting used to it, but it cant be that bad when i've got these two with me everyday.  my chocolate-milk loving girl keeps we lauging and busy, and my sweet, handsome husband keeps me sane and patient. 



corn

we are having such a great time at home. its hard to believe that we only have just over a week left here.  it always goes by way too fast.  ave is getting spoiled and her grandma and grandpa are loving every minute with her.  my mom pretty much cleared her entire schedule so that she could spend every day playing with ave, and my dad has been busy showing ave his cows and taking her on motorcycle rides.avery is taking complete advantage of all the attention.  this week my mom and i froze 113 bags of corn. lots of work, but so good to have done.  here's some of the process, and some fun in-between.

  and this is what ave did the whole day, well, this and watch Shrek and Fionna a couple of times. she played by herself so well, and made us pay for ignoring her the whole next day.

fd1bdd4d-d729-4203-b6c5-e3b0ed7efe21

1.03.01

home

we made it. 

it was an extremely long two days... as i expected, but ave was a champ.  she got very little sleep but managed to be mostly delightful.  we got to the miami airport thursday night at about 5:30 and after we got our bags through customs, checked them into storage for the night, grabbed a bite to eat, and had avery laying down ready to go to sleep in a make-shift bed, i thought we were smooth sailing. but naturally it couldn't be that easy right? right. at 9:30 the entire airport got evacuated because there was a questionable item/bomb scare going through security. perfect. from 9:30 till 2:30 we were kicked outside. finally from about 2:30-4:30 they let us in one little area and luckily we found a chair to rest. ave fell asleep at about 11:30 and woke up at 4:30. bless her little heart. she had a bit of a rough morning in the airport but once we finally got things going again she did pretty good. i on the other hand didnt get a wink of sleep for 30+ hours.

but, now we are home and it is marvelous.  i've slept in the most comfortable bed the last two nights, washed my face in warm water, eaten the most fabulous sunday dinner, blow dryed and straigthened my hair for the first time in a long time, listened to church meetings in english, communicated with anyone i wanted to without restrictions, and spent time with my wonderful family. the only thing that could make it better is if my husband could be here with me. 

it sure is good to be back.

ready to go!

our bags are packed--actually they've been ready for a few days--i guess i'm excited to go home.  i am nervous to be making the looooong trip by myself with a squirmy, busy 19 month old, but maybe she'll suprise me and do great just like she did on the way here (prayers greately appreciated).  we fly to miami tomorrow, spend the night in the airport and then make the rest of the trip to SLC friday morning. it will most likely be a long two days for us but i'm praying that we wont run into any complications that will make it even longer. oh, how i cant wait to be home, even though i will miss the husband terribly while we're gone. this little gal is ready to go. she's got her new backback with a few prizes for the airplane ride, and enough suckers, cookies, chip and crackers to last a good week.  sugar makes little kids sleep during airplane rides, right?

oh sweet little avery, please please be nice for me. i really need your cooperation on this one. thanks, love you!

anniversary get-away

my sweet husband planned a quick little get away for us this weekend. since he just got called to be the early morning seminary teacher, we couldnt go during the week on our anniversary so we slipped away yesterday and spent the night at a really nice resort about an hour away from where we live.  it was lovely. we had such a relaxing time and it was nice to have some alone time.   the beach was beautiful, and the pool was 'posh' (as trae liked to refer to it). can we have a semi-anniversary get-away in 6 months please? 

(lots of pictures)

 thanks again babe. i love you!!