I also found some more pictures of Aveline.  Enjoy! (Click pics to make ‘em bigger.)

Then we went to their freakin’ corn maze. I went a couple years ago with my 4th/5th grade class and it took us like 20 minutes tops. So I was thinking, yeah, this is gonna be quick. EEEEE! No freaking way. We spent a hour and a half in that Pit of Despair and came out the entrance–twice. We even tried using the map! Twisting, zigzagging, dead end after dead end!! Miles of switchbacks! Hordes of man-eating corn hogs! The end of the world! Never did make it out. Curse you! It is so ON! We are going back for a rematch. I’ve been to many a maze, and this is the first time one’s kicked my trash.

Earlier that same day we made a trip up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. We met up with my family and Uncle Mike & Co. Roasted hotdogs and drove a dune buggy. We just missed the fall colors; which is too bad because that canyon gets all bright pink. Maybe next year!

Blacksmith Fork River

Travis’s practicum is going well, he’s working with adults who have bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.  I think he still prefers working with adolescents, but he’s doing a great job and is enjoying this practicum.  He’s started to look at internship sites, seeing as how he has 1 more semester to graduate.  There are some in Arizona, Wyoming, California, and a couple in Utah he’s looking at.  I’m voting for staying in UT, but sites are VERY limited here.  Cross your fingers we can stay!!!!!!

I’ve moved to swing shift when I went back to work.  Travis starts work @ 4AM.  That means on Mondays–practicum days–I see Travis for 20 min before he leaves, then Tue-Fri I see him for about 45 min before I go to work.  Then when I get home at 7pm we have a couple hours before he has to go to bed.  So I don’t see him all that much.  I’ll be blunt–this sucks.  I have to tell myself to be positive and say at least we have jobs! A lotta people don’t.  And at least we don’t have to put Aveline in daycare, we have enough to meet our needs, and God bless the weekends!!

Baby update: Aveline is getting to be  (or thinks she is ) quite independent.  She’s on baby food now–rice cereal and peas.  We get to give her another new food Sunday.  She loves to try to feed herself.  She also loves standing up.  If she has something to grab onto she can do it all by herself for about 10 sec… Who needs crawling, right?  Loves “crinkly” things, kicking insanely fast, dancing, and reading/eating books.  Outside fascinates her–loves watching the cars, shredding leaves, and scrunching grass.  Lately she’s taken to making a sort of high-pitched Tarzan call.  She weighs about 12 lbs and is about 23 in. long now.  Love my baby girl!

For the past few weeks Travis told me to keep Fri (Sept. 2) open.  I was curious… then, when I was leaving for work Travis told me to text him when I was on my way home.  When I did he said, “Wait! Can you give us 15 min?”  Hmmm….”us”? So I rode my bike around a couple extra blocks before going in.  I saw Todd in the driveway (Travis’s coworker).  He just said hi and scurried off into his car.

I walked in and the first thing I noticed was the kitchen table was gone!  Then I saw it in the living room–set up with crystal wine glasses, formal settings, and a delicious smell coming from a huge pot covered with a cookie sheet. (cookie sheet?!) Later we added tea candles and 2 long-stick candles to the table.  Travis said dress up!  How much “dressed up”? “I’m wearing my tux!” he says.  ”You have 30 min before everyone gets here.”  Travis, Todd, and Jared had been reading/talking about the “Men are from mars, women are from Venus” book, and got the idea to make their wives a fancy-pants, candlelight surprise dinner!!!

I dressed up myself and Aveline.  Lisa and Marissa came soon, looking very nice.  Travis and the guys seated us and served us pozole, homemade tortillas and rolls, sparkling peach cider (i.e fake wine), and chocolate-dipped strawberries with French vanilla ice cream.  It was all homemade and delicious!!  I was absolutely impressed and gave Travis a million brownie points.  Awesome times! It was a ton of fun and totally made my day/week/month.

Travis is (hopefully) starting his last year of school next week, and will start looking for internships.  It’s likely he’ll end up out of state, but I’m crossing fingers, toes, arms, eyes, and ears that he’ll get one nearby.

My mom’s birthday was yesterday! To celebrate we’re going to the Box Elder county fair and rodeo Friday.  I’ve never been to a rodeo, we’ll see how it is. And now… enjoy the bajillion pictures!  Just click on them to make ‘em bigger.

Aveline is just so cute after a bath. I just had to share this!

We’re getting ready for a family reunion, and so I hope it goes well. It’s Aveline’s first camping trip…  cross your fingers!

Aveline was so cute when I got home! Travis had just finished feeding her.  I sat down next to them, and as soon as she caught my eye, she got this huge smile and started making all sorts of jibberish baby noises! She kept smiling and “talking” to me for a good 5 minutes! Pretty long for her attention span.  I’ve rarely seen her smile that big! It made me feel loved and missed.  Especially since she usually will only have “conversations” with Travis.  She’ll just kinda stare at me… And now she just fell asleep on me.  I love you, Sweetie Pea!

Aveline has taken a liking to having daddy copy the sounds she makes.  She’ll make a weird sound, wait, then smiles and flails when Travis mimics her.  It’s cute to watch.  She gets her shots on the 7th… .  And just the last few days she’s developed a new cry–or blurt, I should say.  At night when she wants to play, she’ll kick both legs at the same time spread her arms wide, and blurt.  Loudly.   BA!……silence……BA!  It’s so stinkin’ cute it’s really hard to resist.  But she has to learn night time is for sleeping, not playing.  Or being way freaking cute.  Okay, she can still be cute.  But cute while sleeping!

Well, Aveline survived her first Fourth of July! Slept through it, actually. And I was so worried about the noise scaring her or hurting her ears! But I guess it shouldn’t surprise me; after all, she did sleep through a diamond saw going through metal in our living room…

It was a bugger pushing her stroller up The Spawn of Evil hill (800 east), but we made it! We set up camp on the HPER field- a pretty good view! You can even kinda hear the music from the stadium.

To bring the decibel levels to below 80, you’re supposed to have your wee ones wear earmuffs. But… Aveline’s head is to small. And besides, where do you get earmuffs in July? So with some inspiration from mom I made some with a fat headband and lots of those flat round cotton things you use to get off makeup. She looked so cute! Like Princess Leia!