My Week

I feel like telling y'all about my week. So feel free to read. I think it mostly felt busy because I usually don't bake this much. For some of you, you will laugh and think this looks like your normal week or I hardly even did anything...but for me, a stay at home mom, with only one kid...it sure felt busy.

Monday - Went on a really good run! Babysat for one of my friend's. Practiced a song for Easter Sunday that afternoon, "This is the Christ" that I sang with 3 other girls. Had our neighbors over for Family Night and made chocolate chip cookies for refreshments.

Tuesday - I also got a good run in that morning. Got a lot of shopping-groceries done, and that's about it that I can remember about Tuesday...not too bad. Oh! we had a really crazy hail storm that night with hail the size of dimes!

Wednesday - Also went running! 3 days in a row! I felt awesome. Had an easter egg hunt with the playgroup I go to, so I made cookies for that too.

Thursday - I had one of my friend's over and her two little girls and made sugar cookies with them during the day. Practiced the song for Sunday again. That night I was in charge of an activity for the women in our ward learning basic sewing skills(I did not teach a thing! - only learned a lot) but I helped with getting it all set up and making sure everything was going smoothly. I did have a lot of great help from other people as well. I made banana chocolate chip muffins for part of the refreshments.

Friday - Tyler, Austin and I went on a 10 mile bike ride! wahoo! (With my extra 17 lbs and Austin's 22 pounds). Drove 45 minutes to look at a couple cars since we're on the lookout for a car purchase...and stood in the heat for WAY too long looking them over. Came home in time to make dinner for 6 missionaries!!!!!!! They ate at our house and it turned out really good. Tyler didn't have school that day so he was able to help me with dinner, which was great since we didn't have a whole lot of time since we were out and about all day. That night Tyler also drove to pick up his brother, Chris, from the airport who was staying with us for a couple days and driving back one of the cars we'd been using that belonged to Tyler's family.

Saturday - Went to the Water Gardens with Chris in the morning. Went to another easter egg hunt that afternoon at a friend's house and also made cookies for that(Used the sugar cookies I made earlier in the week), and then went to the Beauty and the Beast Broadway Muscial that night, which was AMAZING.

Sunday - Went to church. Sang the song I had practiced earlier that week. Went to dinner at an older couple's house in our ward who have babysat Austin for us before. SOO nice of them. I made a salad and Key Lime Pie to contribute to the Steak, Potatoes and grilled corn on the cob. We stayed til about 10:15 pm sitting out on the lawn(til the storm hit) and playing Farkle.

Monday - You only thought it stopped with Sunday! haha. We are now down to one car since Tyler's brother drove their family car back to Utah, so I drove Tyler to school, picked up Tyler from school and took him to work, dropped Austin off at a friend's house, went to my doctor's appointment, picked Austin up, then picked up Tyler from work.

Tuesday - Hasn't happened yet but I'm making dinner for the two missionaries serving in our ward. Then this Thursday-Saturday Tyler and I are babysitting 4 kids while their parents are out of town.

Austin and Mackayla shaking their instruments together! It was hilarious

I love Austin's face in this one!

Hailstorm!!!!!

Austin trying to figure out what these darn eggs are for...

Picking up the two eggs he found that have dropped on the ground about 10 times now from his basket!

Tyler, Chris, and Austin at the other easter egg hunt

Austin - "OK, mom, I found 3 eggs. Can I go play now..." Me - "No, Austin you need to find some more so I can get more candy!"

Giddy-Up!

Trip Home!

Tons and tons of pictures to post. Hope you don't get bored! Tyler was nice enough to let Austin and I fly home this past week to visit my family in Walla Walla, WA. It was spring break for my mom and Kara and time was running out for flying home with just one kid. We had tons of fun and was even able to enjoy some sunshine...since I heard it pretty much rained or snowed every day in March and was carrying over into April.

Here is Benson and Austin. Benson is 3 months younger than Austin. He also has another cousin that is Benson's age. Hopefully they will be best buds as they grow up

Playing in the back of the truck. Lily is in the background

Austin and Lily got along great! They had fun playing in the tub. Austin would sit and laugh at her while she sprayed him with water

Austin and Kayla playing with bubbles. Lily, Kayla, and Benson are my oldest sister's kids. She left her oldest son Nathan at home with dad since he had school

My mom, Kara, and Jamie. My mom sewed us all skirts while we were there. 3 for me, 2 for Jamie, and tons for the little girls. I think the total was up to about 10 by the time we left.

Austin playing in the toy corner.

This was my dad's rocking chair when he was little. Austin would sneak off and sit in it every now and then. When I didn't hear him babbling I would set off to find him and a few times he was just sitting in the chair

He got pretty good tootin' this horn. I'm sure it had 4 other little kids slobber on it by the end...but oh well!

Here I am at 27 weeks, standing in front of my house

Austin loved riding the lawn mower! Don't we have a great view? and beautiful grass!

Benson and Austin. Austin LOVED being pulled around in the wagon. I would love to get one

This is my beloved car I used to drive. 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix. My dad bought it brand new before he married my mom. It has lasted through all 5 of his daughters!

"Wow mom! You used to drive this?"

Of course, if you go home to the Goodwin House you better believe there will be car washing, lawn mowing, and spraying weeds that will get done. So here I am washing the car my dad drives. 1978 Bonneville.

Here is my treasured rocking horse I played on till probably middle school. haha. I always dreamed of having my own horse so this was the closest I got. Austin loved it and rocked pretty good on it. You can see he is standing up here trying to make it go faster.

Austin reading a book to grandpa

I met up with one of my elementary school buddies while I was home. We used to ride the school bus together and just recently reconnected, and now she's my email buddy! It's been so fun to catch up with her and meet her cute little family.

We had an inside easter egg hunt since it was cold that day. Austin is actually dumping the eggs out of the basket that we put in

Me, Jamie, and Lily in our new skirts. My mom had some material she got from her older sister that screamed 80's all over! You can tell by the skirt I'm wearing that this is no longer found in stores.

Grandma ended up pulling out her scissors and cutting everyone's hair. Now Austin, hopefully, won't get comments from strangers asking if he's a boy or a girl! We skyped with Tyler that night so he could witness the first haircut as well.

It was such a fun trip home! I stayed up too late, woke up too early, and played a lot! It was definitely well worth it.

A Special Visit

Lyette has been my REALLY REALLY good friend since elementary school. She is now teaching 5th grade in Denver. This past week was her spring break, so I convinced her to come visit me! :) She flew in Tuesday afternoon and flew out Saturday afternoon. Lyette and Austin really hit it off and it was great to have someone helping me with him and keeping him entertained all day. He loved it when she read books to him.

A random picture one morning. He LOVES this Teddy Bear that his Aunt Amanda gave him. He will hold it and hug it all morning long!

Yes, we know how much you love your bear Austin. He will just babble and babble the whole time too, telling us all sorts of stories.

Until he sets his eyes on a ball. Then the bear is forgotten and he runs around the house throwing the ball and chasing it. This was the best $0.99 I ever spent!

On Wednesday, Lyette, Austin, and I hung out and did some random shopping, involving Diaper deals for me, Tangled for Lyette and ingredients for her DELICIOUS key lime pie(That I will be making every week from now on), and using my $10 free coupon to a new Kohl's that just opened up here. Lyette and I ended up buying the same shirt! Funny how that always seems to happen when you go shopping with your girlfriend!

On Thursday we ventured out early and went to the Water Gardens in downtown Fort Worth

Lyette and I standing awkwardly for the picture! haha

It was hard to get Austin to smile since he just wanted to run off on his own all the time. Lyette is a natural! I think she should have one of these soon

He decided he had enough of the stroller and wanted to push it himself

Here we are trying to make sure we fit in the picture that was timed, and getting Austin to hold still

I got lucky and snapped this shot! Love his expression!

Lyette and I on top of "The Mountain". It is sooo nice and green in Texas right now! Gotta love Springtime in March!

Tyler jumping off the ledge with Austin. He loved it!

After the Water Gardens we went to the Stockyards to experience more of the Texas Cowboy feel. Here we are going crazy on the spur...well, I am. It's harder than you think holding your legs up like that with a pregnant belly.

In front of the statue of the guy(forgot his name) who started the sport of steer wrestling

Watching the Longhorns being herded down the street at the Stockyards

Here they come! They do this twice a day, EVERYDAY, at the stockyards

That same day I taught Lyette how to make flower clips, which we are wearing, and made Calzones(Fancy style) for dinner. It really looks like we're wrapping a mummy or a cacoon don't you think?

On Friday we drove to Sam Moon and shopped around for a bit. Then hit up the stand alone JC Penney's store right by Sam Moon that was awesome! Lyette got a really cute summer shirt. So jealous! :) Then we tried to find a new way back to avoid traffic that didn't work, so we followed a long stream of cars slowly home. Then we took a stroll through the Botanical Gardens in 85 degree weather at 3:00 that afternoon. Not the smartest thing, but we had fun! We summed up the day making whole wheat bagels....however, I did not add enough flour to the dough so they ended up being too sticky and did not form right! AGH! But they still tasted good! :)

Saturday morning we went on a nice, relaxing walk through our neighborhood and watched the first session of General Conference. Then we drove Lyette to the airport and said goodbye. The week really went by WAY too fast. We really loved having her here. It was a FANTASTIC week and I am going to need a few days to recoop! I leave for Washington on TUESDAY though, so I better recoop fast. I'll be going home with Austin for a full week! I can't wait! April is going to fly by fast

AND! Forgot to mention we played Ticket to Ride twice, Burn, 13, The Farming Game, and Quiddler late into the night every night. Not every single one every night, but I don't think I will be staying up past 11 again anytime soon. Oh the joys of married life with children!