Weekend Away...

Last month we took a little labor day weekend getaway to visit our good friends the Anderson's in Austin and Weston's sister (and fam) in College Station. After a lame summer filled with the end stages of pregnancy, having the new little one c-section and complications wazoo...

we thoroughly enjoyed our time away. 

Swimming at Barton Springs with the Anderson's. 

Oliver had his first little dip. 

It was so hot...I felt bad for the little man. 

If anyone knows Weston....they know that when he gets hot, he gets grumpy. After the springs we went to eat at the Hula Hut...a restaurant right on Lake Austin. Still a little grumpy we ordered and when the waitress brought Weston his beverage in this larger than life glass.....

all grumpiness dispelled and he was oh SO happy. It's the simple things. :) 

 The Hula Hut

Picking out our future boat parking space at the dock on Lake Austin. 

 In Austin, under the congress street bridge lives the largest bat colony in the US. At peak season, which is the end of August, there are anywhere from 750,000 - 1 million bats which live underneath. We have been waiting to take the boys since last summer and smokes was it worth the wait! It was one of the coolest things we have seen in a very long time. It was amazingly magical. Check out the video below. :)

Watching the bats fly underneath. 

Here is the video- If you are receiving this via email you need to go to our blog to watch it. This video is a little small so if you watch it on YouTube you will be able to see the clouds of bats better. :) 

NEXT STOP was the BIG TOP candy shop. Yes, it too was magical. Any candy you could ever think of plus 100 times more. In addition to a full service ice cream and soda parlor, fine chocolates and old fashioned shaved ice. We spent a ridiculous $28 on candy but it was worth it.

I was so bummed. I had been looking forward to getting my delicately shaved ice but when we got there they were out. We thought of you Ronna and then we came back the next morning to get our fix! :)

Next stop was onto Larry & Misty's house in College Station. Weston had been there helping them unpack their truck but it was me and the boys first time. We had a fun Whataburger picnic under a shady tree at the George Bush Museum and had fun walking around seeing the sights.

Cute cousins. 

Mayson loves little Oliver and snuggled him every chance she could. 

It was so great spending time with friends and family. 

Just read this Winnie the Pooh book the other day with my boys:

"Some days can be kind of bland,

For reasons we don’t understand.
And so we droop and slump along,
Not knowing how to fix what’s wrong.
No activity’s appealing,
While we have that ho-hum feeling.
Then friends arrive and ring the bell,
And just like magic—all is well!
Oh, how wonderful life can be
When instead of 'I', there is a 'we'.”

I love it and it is so very true. Life is much better when shared. (:

Oliver's Blessing

On September 11th we had the opportunity to bless Oliver! I finished his blessing outfit just in time and  thought it turned out precious. I have made all my boys blessing outfits from the same basic pattern but each one is a little different. I make them each out of white linen. For O's I added a collar and pockets. I also had it monogrammed on the front. Weston gave a really thoughtful blessing and we were happy to be able to share that special day with close friends and family. Weston's dad was here from Utah and his sister Misty and family drove down from college station as well. 

Priesthood in the circle: 

Weston Hall, Lynn Hall, Larry Kalke, Kevin Fronk, Jereck Boss, 

Scott Challburg, Rico Maranto, Elder Hunt & Elder Axtel. 

 Oliver was a perfect gentleman during the blessing. 

He is such a sweet boy and we are so grateful to have him in our family. :)

Afterward, the cousins ran around crazy, eating like hungry monkeys and

 gave our play structure a serious run for its money. :) 

Money well spent for sure. 

O Lovin

I have been way behind on my updates on our new little man and trying to catch up. Here are the highlights of Oliver's first two months (chosen from about 9000 pictures). 

He truly is such a sweet baby and as you can see he is very loved. :)

 1st day home from the hospital (5 days old).
Cuddling with mom on the bed. 

 1st bath at home. Dad always gets the first baths causes mom can't bend or lift.
He loves his baths now but he was pretty unsure about the whole concept.

It's a hard life...getting a bath.  

The boys love holding him.  

As you can see Oliver is sleeping on the bed and after an hour he had been decorated slowly with his stuffed animals. Ben often brings him toys, blankies and binkies. He's sweet little helper.  

Everybody gets their turn giving kisses.

2nd lunch siesta... 

 

I kept trying to comb his hair but its so long and it always does this fwing thing on the side so I decided to embrance the faux hawk. It works out much better. 

Oliver's first ride in the stroller.
Back to school shopping at the Woodlands Mall.  

Brothers are always finding ways to entertain him.

(Here is the video of it) 

This boys loves his milk. He can already hold the bottle!  

Handsome Boys. 

 "Brother Campout" is what Warren called this. Only Ben was not invited this time. 

As you can see he has his social smile now. He is a really happy boy and quite charming actually. He has been gaining weight steadily. At his 2 month appt he was 13 lbs 3 oz and 24 inches. I had a newborn shoot done but I am still waiting for all the pictures. I will post them when I get them. :) 

3 Times Around The Sun...

Aug 15th Benny turned three! We had lots of fun. 

Warren greeted Ben first thing that morning with several homemade gifts which included.... 

A warm and fuzzy, one dollar, a dinosaur ring, a bakugan and

 his very own (and very prized) soccer medal. Benjamin was tickled. 

Oliver tried very hard to stay awake for festivities but sleepiness prevailed. 

Warren also helped me make soccer cupcakes for him. He also decorated the house with streamers and even made a homemade pinata out of crate paper and his lunch box. 

He was so sweet to try to make Ben's day fun-filled!  

(Click here to view the video)

For his birthday he wanted was a football (pictured in his hand), soccer cleats and to go to CiCi's pizza. 

It was a really fun day. We are grateful for Ben and all the happy energy he brings to our home. 

We love you Benny Boo! Happy Birthday! 

Grandma's Visit

My mom able to come to Texas to visit us about 3.5 weeks after Oliver was born. It was sure nice to have her come out. Especially after all the recovery madness. She helped do a lot of deep cleaning of things I couldn't get to the last trimester of pregnancy and after surgery. She also had fun with the kids. I sure appreciated all she did and that she was able to take the time to come out. 

In recent years it seems she has acquired some seriously kid-friendly entertaining skills. The first being that she knows how to make these magically large bubbles AND in case you didn't know.......
magically LARGE bubbles = magically happy kiddos! 

It's one of the perks of having a grandma who is a "professional" clown. Yes, literally. No, I am not joking. You can just call her "Tizzy the clown" if you like. 

Yes, she shared the recipe and the trick, so if you want to learn...I'll share it for 5 bucks. ;) 

Skill #2. Tizzy can magically turn any grandchild into their secret creature within... 

in the wink of an eye. 

This day Warren was a snake and Ben was a puppy. 

 She also brought my little brother Ethan. It was great to have him and get reacquainted with him. Each time we go to Utah he is usually at school or off doing something so we don't get a lot of time together. It was nice he shared his musical talent with us all week by playing the piano most of the day. He is very funny and has some serious "charm skills" he has been working on. lol

She helped Weston hold down the fort so I could make a few appearances at girls camp. I was the assistant stake camp director again this year but could not go for obvious life events. I was sad I missed out on going for the whole week but still made it up to give the opening kick off speech and for a few other key moments. (More to come on camp 2011, later.)

Thanks for coming mom. We appreciate all your help and we love you!