Santa Claus is coming....

Hello Friends,
Here I am again apologizing for my lack of posting. It's been almost a month since our last post....but at least I have lots to share!!

It has been a very bust month! We went to California for Thanksgiving, which was really nice, despite the fact that we ate way too much!! We had a really nice time in the beautiful weather, and playing in the warm California sun. We hit the beach a couple of times, but it was even for us a little too chilly to brave the water. Except for Justin of course, as he would not miss an opportunity to get some surf time in.


We have really been doing much of the same...work, ect. While trying to get ourselves geared up for Christmas. We went a cut our Christmas tree down last weekend, which was really fun, mostly in part because we didn't have to trudge through the snow to get it. After much searching we found the perfect tree, and Avery even helped to cut it down!




Avery got quite a thrill sitting next to it in the car.


Last weekend we also went to a local nursery that had an open house of sorts. We got to see Santa Clause, go for a horse drawn sleigh ride (minus the sligh, plus wheels), and Avery's favorite part was the Candy Cane that Santa gave her.





Did I mention that we went sledding too? We went to Dollar Mountain where they had a bunch of man-made snow and went sledding after we cut our tree down. Avery definitely takes after Justin in her affinity for speed. She has a blast going down the hill at top speed.


Needless to say it has been busy. It has finally snowed, which as most of you know, is not our favorite thing, but our local economy is very thankful. It didn't snow a ton, but something is better than nothing, especially for the ski reports.



I am nearly 7 months pregnant now, and am feeling(and looking- as you can see from the picture) quite large... maybe I should get a santa suit myself. Justin has been working away trying to get a job finished for some clients in time for Christmas. Unfortunately he got sick at the end of last week, but he is back to his old self now.

We are now just in Christmas mode, which is really fun. Avery loves to watch the Polar Express, and to listen to the book on CD while reading the book. We have been concentrating on the fun things about Christmas, making santa projects, baking cookies and the like. Avery loves Santa Clause, but REALLY DOES NOT KNOW THAT CHRISTMAS INVOLVES PRESENTS (grandparents please note!!!) I think that this is our last year of that.

This year we are focusing on the spirit of Christmas. It seems that the world and our nation is going through so much right now, we are focusing on the important things. We are thankful every day for all of our blessings, we have our health, a warm home, our families, friends, and food to eat. What else do we really need? Nothing.
Anyway, I hope that everyone has a great holiday and in case I don't get to posting before then, Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays- whichever you prefer.
Cheers!
K,J& A

Mohammed Ali...?

Hi Friends,
Again, I must apologize for the delay between posts, I have just been out of the swing of things a bit...
Anyhow, It been less than dull around the Harris House...It seems that Avery has given a new meaning to the term "bruiser"- as in-she has been giving them. Yes, I know, It's nearly impossible to believe that my sweet angel child has been acting more like Mohammed Ali, than child of any sort.... She has been practicing her fighting skills on me, Justin, her friends, and anyone else unlucky enough to be in her path. Needless to say, the last few days have been less than joyful. In fact, I think torture-some is a bit more accurate. I'm just glad she didn't take up an affinity for David Beckham while wearing my Cowboy boots- that could have been really ugly, especially for Justin!!

While Mohammed is away, and Avery is around- we have been having some good fall fun. We Spent Saturday unloading wood, and doing some other chores. As you can see, Avery was a tremendous help as she sipped on her tea between supervising Daddy put wood on the porch, and harassing the neighbor's cat. Did I mention the Glamour Girl that visits? Yes, jewels, shades, a good novel, and some gummy bears, and I tell you, the little miss is in heaven.... I'm really in for it.
Have I mentioned that she is a Gemini?
Insane mother? check back later...


Other than the usual drama, we are getting excited for Thanksgiving, and heading down to LA for the occasion. Justin has been torturing himself (as usual) by checking the surf at any available moment, and watching surfing and Scuba diving videos on YouTube. All I can say is that there better be some surf.... Otherwise, I'm not sure he will be on the plane home with us.
All the while, I'm feeling quite large these days, I'm past the six month mark, and due to the latest dealings with Mohammed Ali, I have found myself thinking.... what the hell was I thinking?.... All I can say is the this one will NOT be a gemini, thank god, because I'm not sure I could handle 2!!
I hope everyone has a fabuolus holiday!!! Cheers!
K

We're Back!!!

Hi Everyone,
After what seems like a long departure, we are back!!I apologize for the long delay in a new post, but Justin's humid trip to Costa Rica was less than fabulous for our laptop.Let's just say that it beeps well, and has moved to the computer abyss.

Our trip to Cost Rica did not go quite as planned, but it turned out fine, so that's all that really matters I guess.
To start, I didn't go to Costa Rica, my doctor advised that I not go, so I went and spent the time in LA with my mom, which was really great. Justin did however go with his Dad, and well, had a wet time. It rained for nearly 7 days straight. It was a 100 year event in Costa Rica, and the country was in a state of emergency when they got back. In fact, I think that they are lucky that they got out. Had I gone, and wanted or needed to leave. I couldn't have. The roads were closed, and it was a rainy mess. To top it all off, Justin's dad got sick, and Justin barely got any surf. All I can say is.... I'm so glad I didn't go!!!


My time in LA was great. Avery went to preschool with Debra a few days, and I did yoga, and enjoyed the warm weather and sunshine. I actually read a book- usually something I never have time to do. Needless to say I had a great time. We also did a few tourist-y things with Avery that were really fun. We went to the Santa Monica Pier with Avery and rode the carousel, and Avery did a few of the other kiddie rides which was really great.




Upon our return, it was back to work. And now, all of a sudden it November!!! We had a great Halloween, as you will see from the pictures. Avery started out the day (and went to school as) a Black Cat. However, by the time it was "trick or treat" time, she was over the kitty. We managed another cute "costume" for the evening. Geisha girl?? 2 year old geisha girl- not to sure about that, but who knows. Anyway, she looked cute, had a great time, and got wired on candy-so I guess thats all that really matters. I am proud to say that by some small miracle, we averted the sugar-induced tantrum/metldown that I fully anticipated to endure. Phew!!! Now, I just have to ditch the rest of the candy while she isn't looking...




So that's pretty much it. We are sitting here in the dark like everyone else.... why do we change the clocks again? I promise to post again before New Years.... we are working on another laptop, so it will be a little easier to be at the computer.
Hope everyone is well!
xoxo
Krista, Justin and Blackie (aka Avery)

1st Haircut!!

Hey everyone,

It's been another busy week her in ID....the "work" part of the week went by fast enough... and we have found ourselves at yet another too-short weekend. 

It rained all night friday, and was pretty overcast for most of Saturday. I must say that fall weekends are great for just hanging around. Saturday morning I left Justin and Avery to make yet another mess while I went to yoga. While I was gone, they got a little laundry done (into a big heap on the floor). Really, Avery had a great time playing in the laundry basket, but lets just say it was quite a disaster when I came home. I can't imagine what I would come home to if I left them alone for a whole day..... Oh my.

After some lunch, a little play-time ( aka mess making time) it was time for a nap. Yes, this is really how Avery fell asleep. I'm not quite sure if she fell asleep mid-mess, or if she loved her latest mess so much she wanted to sleep with it. Either way, it was pretty hilarious that she actually slept like this for an hour and a half.  

During her special nap,we baked some cookies to take to our friend Skooter and Nina's house for dinner. They have a little girl named Katie that Avery had a great time playing with. They played for nearly 3 hours straight!! It was really fun to actually enjoy a dinner with friends rather than having a bite between dramas. Katie and Avery did lots of giggling, and managed to fit both of their tushies into this chair. It was pretty cute. 

Today was largely uneventful. And we even managed to keep the house in a relatively clean state ( thank god!) Our day consisted of Football, naps and yes, Avery's first haircut. I was inspired by Katie's cute "bob", and I was getting a little sick of the rag-a-muffin look that Avery has mastered so well. Her refusal to keep barettes in her hair made it a constant battle to keeping her from looking like a homeless child. Anyway, after years of honing my barber skills on Justin and other members of the Family, I decided to go for it. It turned out really cute, though I can't decide if she looks like she has a "bob" or a bowl cut. I did my best to avoid the curse of bangs, but Justin kept insisting I keep cutting. You'll have to judge for yourselves. Either way, it looks pretty darn cute.




So that's probably it until we get back from our trip to Costa Rica, from which I hope to return with lost of pictures, but probably not too many of Avery unless the Grandmas take some good ones. Hope all is well!
Love Krista, Justin & Avery

Oops!

Okay friends, I'm sorry for not posting for two weeks... however we have had a little camera problem....We haven't taken any pictures. Crappy parent move, I know.

Either way it has been a busy two weeks. Last weekend we went bowling with some of our friends. It was really cute, however my camera forgot me, and my friend that emailed me the pictures she took didn't send them as an attachment, so I cant get them on the blog. But, I assure you it was very cute. I'm not so sure that the guy that works they thought it was very cute because he had to keep coming over to our lanes to get our ball out from the middle of the lane. The girls loved making the balls go down the lane, but they didn't usually make it all the way to the pins.... details details.

The rest of last weekend was pretty uneventful, as it rained most of the time. It was the perfect opportunity for guiltless laziness.

The bulk of last week flew by, and yesterday we headed up to Stanley for the day. For all you weather buffs out there, during the winter months, its usually the coldest place in the nation on a regular occurence . Nonetheless, we caught a beautiful day- the sky was amazingly blue, and all of the leaves are beginning to change color. For anyone who has never seen the leaves change in person, it's pretty spectacular. We had a great lunch at the Stanley Baking Co. ( the Cowgirl cookies were the best I've EVER had!!!) and then headed out to Stanley Lake. We sat on the beach and watched a guy catch some fish from the beach, and then proceed to get his large dog, and large self into a small red canoe. It was really quite hysterical, but Justin thought it would be rude to take a picture. His other large dog (a chocolate lab of course) swam alongside the canoe ( though his largeness kept him from swimming as fast as the canoe). We were actually amazed that all of them made it to their camp without going for a swim (except the lab). Avery had fun frolicking in the water, and insisted on being naked, despite the breeze and chilly water. Ah, to be a kid again!



From there we headed to the Fish hatchery, where we saw about 300,000 "fingerlings" which are Chinook Salmon that are about 1 year old. We got to watch the girl feed them, which was pretty cool, and talk to her about the fish. It was very interesting. The Chinook will be released into the Salmon river in April. There were no adult Salmon at the hatchery, though Steelhead season is coming up. Apparently, this year they had 3 times the Salmon return than they had last year. This year's return was the largest since 1982, when the facility was opened.

This is a picture of Avery in her car seat on the way home. She finally fell asleep like this after throwing a total fit about something or other....Needless to say we were ready to get home.




Today we are spending time at the house, doing important things like laundry and football. I have Yoga on my agenda later, but that's about it!
Anyway- hope everyone is doing well, and I promise that my camera will cooperate this week....
xoxo
Krista, Justin, and Avery

Hot Springs!

Hey everyone,
Since our last post we have been spending as much time as possible outdoors. The weather has been really beautiful, so we are trying to take advantage of it while its nice. We have been going to the park a ton and Avery has been playing with her friend Gigi, who was gone for more than a month this summer, so we have been catching up. We have also made several trips down to the river. For the most part, the water has been too chilly to entertain the idea of going in, but on Sunday we trekked up to The Frenchman's Bend Hot Springs several miles out a dirt road from Ketchum. It was really fun. Justin and I had not been out there since our Wedding (except for when Justin was out there last summer fighting the flames). It was interesting to see all of the burned areas. I of course got a full narrative about the places that Justin was during the fire, and the different things that he was doing in each of the areas. I even got a hog pond story!! It's really amazing that Firemen fighting a 48,000 acre fire have time to fish, and catch hogs no less!!! Anyway, we had a great time, and Avery loved the hot springs despite her initial hesitance. She even did the dunk into the cold water willingly, and on her own!!!






In other news, Justin and I are going to Costa Rica for a week in October. This is a bit of a spur of the moment trip, but Justin has been enduring the Surfing itch, and we figured this might be our only chance to so somewhere on our own for quite some time. Avery will be staying in LA with Mimi and Noni, and I'm sure she will get plenty of attention from a smogasboard of relatives. I'm sure she is going to have a blast! As I'm sure will will too.

So really, that about sums up the last week. Check back soon!!
Love,
Krista, Justin and Avery

P.S. For those of you thinking that Avery is drinking Soda, please rest assured that it's just sparkling water.

Catch-up

It was a nice weekend at home for the Harris'. It was the first weekend in quite some time that we really stayed at home and played catch-up on sleep, house chores and normal weekend activity. However, I don't think that I have ever done so much laundry in one day! I definitely got in a few decent naps which was quite nice.



On Sunday afternoon we went for a "hike", which was well.... more like a walk a few hundred yards. Which, I guess what else do you expect with a 2-year old in tow? We drove out to a place called Hyndman trail which is really beautiful and surrounded by amazing peaks. We spent most of our "hike" down by a stream that runs through the trail (though no far from the parking area) looking at the water and throwing rocks into the water. It was nice to get out of the house and get some fresh air. That's about all for now... check back soon!
Love Krista, Justin and Avery


I know that it's Wednesday, and I'm only now getting to the weekend, but I hope to post a bit more frequently....:)