Instagram

After succumbing to the pressure of friends, I joined Instagram a few weeks ago. I'm totally technologically challenged and I'm still figuring out how to use it most of the time, but as a result I've taken a few more photos on my phone than usual. It's kind of fun because the photos show a little more daily life than I would normally record with a camera. I thought I'd post a bunch of the photos I've taken recently for those of you who don't have Instagram.

*Disclaimer: this is a major photo dump because there were just too many cute pictures, though I definitely did not post all of these to Instagram.

Tuckered boy; the first fire in our first fireplace; W insisted on putting a sticker on his cheek & then forgot all about it :)

 

 

Winston & I surprised Daddy at work with some pink 'It's a girl!' balloons the morning we got the news. [We've been working on it, & I think W can finally smile without closing his eyes]

 

Bundled up for another 20 degree day; partying with no pants cause it's 70 degrees & the day after the first photo was taken

The day we brought Koa home

Winston had a cold that turned into pneumonia & he had to use a nebulizer 3 times a day for 5 days. Luckily, AristoCats and some post-nebulizing Hershey kisses got us through.

 

Watching for 'brrrms' (airplanes); 'found one! '; 'where did they all go?'

The best crafts are the kind you eat :)

Kisses!

24 week selfie

Awesome bedhead; just reading some books (which is soooo cute to see)

 

Clearly Dad and W were paying attention while I was reading scriptures... 

 

My cute boy enjoying some fine weather and a chocolate chip cookie

W spends most of his days speeding around on his scooter right now

 This photo might be my favorite right now- Winston was making sure Koa ate his dinner & a second after I took this picture W turned around & proudly showed me that he was eating dogfood too! I couldn't help but smile and tell him how awesome he is :)

Turner Ski Trip 2014

For the last week of February we headed up to Utah for the annual Turner Ski Week. Formerly these trips have always taken place in Aspen, CO, but this year we all spent the week at Tyler's mom's new cabin in Midway, UT and did the skiing there. Unfortunately, the skiing was not great. The weather was a balmy 65 degrees for the first half of the week, and rainy and wet for the second half. Tyler still managed to ski four days and I fit in half a day.

The good thing about going to Utah though, is all the family, friends, and favorite places you get to see. We spent lots of time with both mine and Tyler's families, saw a few friends and I got to roam Provo a couple of times (which is awesome because I truly do love Provo, UT). I took very few pictures on the trip and several of them are from my phone, so I apologize for the quality. Sometimes you're just having too much fun to stop for a good photo :)

Some of the awesome things we did:

1. Skied with my sister Jenny (it was only her second time and she was pretty awesome).
2. Ate at J Dawgs (twice!), Cafe Zupas, & Cafe Rio.
3. Winston became obsessed with a ping-pong ball & paddle.
4. Went to the BYU Bookstore and picked up some new cougar gear and books (because, of course).
5. Went to the Springville Antique Mall with my mom and it blew my mind! I picked up some vintage cookie jars and a vintage toy we had growing up.
6. Found some awesome steals at the outlets.
7. Sealed my mom to her parents at the Salt Lake City Temple :)
8. Visited the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with some L.A. friends.
9. Went on a double date with Jessie & Marcus to The Pie.
10. Played with family... lots.

 Tyler & Jenny on the slopes

 Playing around with Jenny... she probably fell right after this photo was taken :)

 I know this photo makes Tyler sooooo happy!

 While picking out a BYU shirt for Winston, I turned around and saw he had picked something else out :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was pretty low-key for us this year. When Winston woke up I brought him downstairs to find a special Valentine's gift: a new red ball and a box full of sweets! We also gave Koa a new stuffed animal to chew on. Most of the day we spent as usual; running errands and cleaning up the house. I did sit outside and enjoy the 75 degree weather while eating chocolate chip cookies during Winston's nap, and that might have been the highlight. I think I'm pregnant... or maybe that's just me :)

Tyler came home early and surprised me with flowers and a new spot cleaner! Then we all went out to Jamba Juice to celebrate since we still aren't ready to leave Koa alone for too long. Afterwards Winston went to a friends house to play and eat pizza while Tyler and I caught a movie. Nothing too romantic, but it was still special.

You can tell by this series of photos that Winston was pretty excited to have a box of candy all to himself...

 

Open it!

I opened two of the Hershey kisses for him to eat before breakfast & when he asked for more I said no. Then I thought he was finishing eating those two for a while before I realized he had figured out how to open them himself & had eaten about eight. Lucky boy got a special holiday breakfast :)

Cool boy with his very own Jamba

Koa

 8 lbs. (The first time I held Winston he was 8 lbs. too :)

We have a new puppy! We brought Koa home Saturday and we already love him so much. He is an eight-week-old Toller and is very mellow as far as puppies go. He and Winston already love each other (Winston probably loves him a tad more...). He is still peeing all over the house, but hopefully we'll have him trained soon. He goes to bed great at night (no whining), but he does wake up once in the early morning to go potty. He is super cute and shnuggly and we're excited to have him join our family!

 

Winston's always putting his hand out for Koa to lick. He also gives Koa kisses on the nose and doesn't like to let him nap.... Oh, and if Koa has a bone, Winston has to have one too.

 

 Beautiful red coat

 He has pale blue eyes and a pink nose right now. His nose will stay pink, but his eyes will turn brown eventually.

 Sleeping in the sun; puppy heaven.

Best friends- I saw them sitting like this while I did the dishes this morning.

Hapai

18 week bump- baby girl due July 4th!

Snow Day

 

It snowed in Austin! When we moved here we were told this never happens...

 

It's really not much, but all the schools were cancelled and several roads were closed. Tyler still went to work, but he was one of the few. Just another day in the south :)

18 mos

In December Winston turned 18 mos and he is quite the big boy now. He is running, climbing, kicking, talking, and everything else. I don't think I can begin to cover everything he is up to, but I'll still list a few of the highlights.

We recently bought two of these wing-backs, and this one has become W's chair.

• He loves to kick and is really good at it. He'll line the ball up (and you), dribble it or jog in place for a minute, then kick it perfectly straight with a follow through. No idea where he got his amazing skills from, but he practices 24/7 so I guess we'll be putting him in soccer before long.
• He is talking a lot and says quite a few real words including ball, hot, hello/hi, dada, mama, baby, yes (several variations here), no, oh no, bye, whoa, all done, thank you, Pa, Ben, & Dane (the neighbor boy). I know there are a few others, but I can't think of them all right now. He also does a million animal sounds, my favorites being butterfly, dolphin & donkey.
• His face is extremely expressive, so you always know exactly how he feels about something. He gives stink-eye like no other.
• He is all boy- balls, tools, legos, rocks, sticks, cars, and scooters are his favorites.
• He also loves to read. His current favorite books are There's a Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Suess, Peter Pan, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, & The Zoo I Drew by Todd H. Doodler.
• He is VERY particular. He always knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it.
• He is also very clean. He frequently picks up his toys and books on his own and whenever he finds trash or crumbs, outside or inside, he says "oh no" and hands it to me to dispose of.
• He is still a pretty picky eater, but has recently started to eat more of a variety. I'm crossing my fingers it sticks :)
• He loves it when Daddy tosses him "high in the sky" and asks for it over and over again.
• He also loves to watch Daddy throw anything else (mostly balls) high.
• At night when we do his bedtime routine, he always asks Daddy for a kiss, then tells him to kiss Mama, and then gets a big smile on his face as he waves goodbye. He is such a sweet boy!
• When he's not really eating we'll ask him to do airplane and he'll do it to himself to take a bite each time.
• He is very proportionate- in the 85 percentile for head size, height & weight.
• He still loves baths; especially bubble baths.
• He is obsessed with putting lotion, shaving cream, chapstick, hand sanitizer, & deoderant on.
• I think his favorite food right now is probably graham crackers.
• He often dances/prances around on his tip-toes when he's really excited or having a lot of fun. We call it his 'happy feet'.
• If he could spend all of his time outside, he would.
• He likes to sing and dance and he loves it when Tyler and I sing "If You're Happy & You Know It" & "Jingle Bells".
• When we give him a bite of something (anything!) he'll often slowly close his eyes while he takes the bite as if he is savoring every moment. It's an eyes rolling back in the head kind of thing.
• He likes to help out around the house; especially emptying the dishwasher and putting clothes in the dryer.
• He started nursery in December and seems to enjoy it and do just fine so far.
• He is still pretty attached to his swaddle- he takes it everywhere, sucks on it and plays with the tags, & can't sleep without it.
• When something doesn't go his way he furrows his brow and smacks his thighs with both hands or stomps his foot.
• When he colors he only wants to use blue and orange.
• He is a sweet, well-behaved little boy and we love him!!

 Always happy with a ball

 

 He learned to blow kisses and I think it is the cutest thing ever :)

We couldn't love him more!

Holiday Re-cap

Sorry for the 2 month hiatus, but I promise it will all be explained shortly. In the meantime I thought I'd better do a quick holiday re-cap before I forget everything. Tyler and I hosted his older sister, Kelly, for Thanksgiving. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and had a pretty quiet meal at home. Kelly was our first visitor to Austin, so we also checked out a few local places we hadn't been throughout the weekend. Those included Lady Bird Lake (very pretty to walk around) and Walton Fancy & Staple (owned by Sandra Bullock). On Saturday we headed down to San Antonio to see the Alamo and Riverwalk--a first for both Tyler and Kelly.

For Christmas this year we flew up to Utah and spent some time with my family as well as with Tyler's mom at her Midway cabin. While we were there Winston got to play in the snow for the first time. He mostly liked walking through it and hearing it crunch beneath his boots, but he also liked throwing a few snowballs. Tyler fit in a day of skiing with some friends, we went to the Timpanogos temple, had lots of good food and sweets, we went sledding twice, and of course celebrated the birth of our Savior. I think Winston's highlight was seeing his Uncle Ben (my 16-year old brother). Winston has been pointing at Ben's picturing and saying his name for a long time, so his was pretty excited to see him and play with him for real. Every morning he woke up and started wandering around the house calling for Ben :) And since we've been home he asks for Ben several times a day.

First day in the snow- we didn't have boots for him yet, so we just tied plastic bags over his shoes.

 

Winston's first bubble bath

 

Ready to fly! Winston was a great traveler on both flights :)

When we came home from Utah we did another mini Christmas here because we hadn't taken a bunch of gifts with us. Winston got a little scooter from Santa and rides it all around the house all the time. He also really likes the blocks, books, and tools he got. Tyler got some new tools as well and he also got a new bike so he can ride to and from work which he is excited about. Tyler gave me some shoes and a necklace, but I mostly got gift cards because it was one of those Christmas' when I just couldn't think of anything I wanted :)

 Santa came!

 

He was so excited about daddy's tools that we got him his own set a few days later.

 

 New bibs & a cheesy smile

 

 New dump truck and blocks

 

 Winston modeling mama's new necklace :)

For New Year's our good friends the Killpack's drove down from Dallas. They brought their dog, Prez, with them and Winston loved playing with the dog... eventually :) It was a quick trip, but we managed to go out for a dinner & a lunch, watch a fireworks show (which Winston did NOT love), play lots of games, and eat Amy's Ice Cream twice. At midnight we all jumped into the new year and popped some poppers, followed by a sparkling cider toast! It was quite the party :) We loved having the Killpack's visit though- there is always lots of god conversation and lots of laughing!

It was a great holiday season and we hope everyone's was just as good!

Just Like Daddy

 

Getting ready for church this morning :)

Happy Halloween!

Love Mary Poppins, Bert & one of those cute dancing penguins :)