Thanksgiving time

Right before Thanksgiving, Austin was playing with the pots and pans. He decided that the steamer pot would make a great hat. He walked around for about 10 minutes with it on his head saying "hat" over and over.

Austin figured out how to take off his pants, and put on his slippers. He got so made when I took them off and put his pants back on. I know, I am no fun...

For Thanksgiving we went to Brandon's parents. They live in Colorado and have horses right on their property. Austin was fascinated with the horses and would stand at the window and just watch them. If they left his line of sight he would let us know.

Now, he has meet the horses before, but was so little. Bill, Brandon's dad, went riding the day after we got there and when he got home he came right up to the house. I put Austin on the horse and Bill was holding it still. This didn't go over very well and Austin wanted nothing more to do with either horse.

The day before we headed home, Brandon decided that he was going to take Austin down to the horses and let him see them on his own terms. He was hesitant at first, but warmed right up when he fed the horse. Austin didn't want to leave them, and talked all about the horses on the way home.

I am happy that he likes them, and he might start riding them with daddy next time we go!

Dinosaur Museum

I went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with my class and found out that teachers and one guest get in for free. That night I told Brandon because we had been talking about going but hadn't yet. He decided that on Saturday (two days after I was there on a field trip) that we should go. Getting in for free is a nice perk for teachers, especially since we could probably spend hours there reading everything.

When you have an almost 2 year old with you on the other hand, you don't have hours. I felt like we breezed through and it took us about an hour and a half.

Now, over the summer we went with my friend Heather and her kids. Austin loved it of course! He wasn't so sure of the water feature that they have. It is a play area with sand and very slow running water. The kids can make dams and then watch the sand slowly erode. When we went with Heather, Austin would put his hand in the water willingly, but if he touched the sand he would get this disgusted face and then start to cry because the sand was stuck to his hand. Her daughter tried to help him, but he didn't want her help.

Kaylee trying to help Austin

This time, he was a little better with the sand but he really just wanted to splash in the water (which is against the rules). After we pulled him away from the water he went and sat on this dinosaur statue. He kept giving it a hug.

Austin is fascinated by turtles, thanks to Heather. So, when we entered the room with the giant sea turtle Austin freaked out saying "Turtle!" over and over. He didn't want to leave that room.

Right before the end they have a sand pit that you can "dig" for fossils like an archeologist. Austin had a blast in here. Afterwards, he however was upset because he had so much sand in his shoes and socks.

Pumpkin Carving

This year we decided to only carve one pumpkin. Halloween snuck up on us and we carved our pumpkin the night before Halloween. I was expecting Austin to hate the pumpkin guts but I was willing to let him try. Here are the results:

Not so sure at first

Brave enough to stick his hand in and loves it!

Going back for more

Trying to make it in the bag

Finished product

Halloween 2.0

For Halloween we had some professional photos taken of Austin. 

We have a friend that was offering

a steal of a deal to help her get her name out.

We think that she did a wonderful job. 

Thank you so much Crystal!

Look at those blue eyes!

 

I love this one in black and white!

Photos done by Crystal Spencer

Lately

Well, we have been very busy. Brandon is now working on coding for Android at work. This is great because it is challenged and busier than ever. Also, school is just whizzing by. I feel like the school year just started but it has been 50 days. Weird! These kids are so fun. We just went on a field trip to the dinosaur museum a couple Thursday's ago. The students had a great time, and many fell asleep on the way back to the school.

Austin loves to help cook. He tries so hard to actually stir anything on the stove, luckily he does not touch the stove. He is getting so tall that he can put the spoon in the pan and touch the food. He also gets out all the pots and pans, asks for a spoon, puts toys in the pans, and then stirs the toys to "cook." Of course, after he is done cooking we just taste it! Quite the imagination.

Austin loves to also color. He will climb up the chairs at our island and say "cajur" over and over again until we ask him if he wants to color, to which he replies "k." He will then say please and once we give it to him he will thank us. It is so sweet to have a very polite little boy.

Austin is now starting to say prayers. He is very good about it sometimes and other times just wiggly. He gets very excited for church, but he of course has a very hard time sitting still. He does pretty good, but he is still learning. Austin still loves nursery and could care less if we are there. He will walk right in and he doesn't look back. When we go to pick him up he doesn't run to us, he sees us but keeps on playing. Seriously, who would want to leave fun toys and a bubble machine?

"Spookies" and Halloween

When Austin would go to the sitters he would walk around all the time saying "spookies" and putting his hand over his mouth. I recently had a whole week off from school and I decided that I would put up some Halloween decorations that he could play spooky with as well. So, one day we headed to the dollar store and brought some decorations. It wasn't much but as soon as I put them up around the house he started walking around and saying "spookies." It was so funny!

I also bought some of that spiderweb stuff to put up outside. It looked wonderful when I was done and Austin was asking all the time to go outside and see the spookies. However, if you know anything about where we live you know that it is super windy all the time. The spiderweb started to get all tangled and just look like cotton balls. Epic fail on my part! I thought it would last but it clearly didn't. Oh, well, I won't be trying that again any time soon.

For Halloween Austin was Brobee from "Yo Gabba Gabba." He loves that show and just loved putting on his costume. He would walk around the house asking for "Bobee" if we mentioned it at all. Seriously, he would go crazy for his costume when he saw it; we couldn't put it on him fast enough.

Of course, Brandon had to dress up, too, as DJ Lance Rock from "Yo Gabba Gabba" as well. We went trick-or-treating at the mall to help Austin get used to the idea of it. Once he realized it was candy, he tried everything to get some and eat it. Sometimes this included the wrappers if needed (Tootsie Roll wrappers to be specific). He had fun but was done after about 30 minutes.

Precious Life

Tonight I am having a hard time getting to sleep due to all the thoughts in my head. My heart is heavy tonight for a sweet family in the ward. They lost their 6-month-old little baby today. She put him down for a nap and that was it. I know that this is not a totally uncommon experience but still, it breaks my heart. I can't even imagine what that family is going through.

Now, I am not trying to diminish what that family is going through but I don't know what I would do without Austin. He brings so much joy and happiness into our lives. The thought of loosing him at any moment tonight really has me thinking. I have to admit, there are times when I come home and I am worn out and don't have any energy left for Austin. I know that this will sound terrible, but those hard days I don't put that much effort into playing with him, and yet he seems to know. He will compensate by being extra sweet, polite, funny, and just the wonderful little boy he is. I am going to try my hardest from now on to be better about that. Austin amazes me everyday with the things he does, and I don't want to miss any of it. Life is so precious. We were told after I had Austin that if they hadn't taken him a week early we probably wouldn't have him with us today. I thank the Lord everyday for our sweet miracle.

I don't want to have regrets if something happens to anyone close to me like: I was angry with that person last time I ever saw them, didn't kiss them goodnight or goodbye, didn't tell them I love them. Please, hug your little ones a little tighter, and live like it could be the last day you have with them.

Also, please pray for this sweet family that they will be comforted during this hard time.

Hand - "and"

On a recent trip to Colorado Austin was in the back "reading" Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. I noticed that he was studying the pictures. He noticed on one page that the monkeys were holding hands. He then looked at his hand and stuck it out towards me in the front of the van and asked, "and?" I asked if he wanted to hold hands and he shook his head yes. I then stuck out my hand and he grabbed it. He then pointed to the picture on the page and said "and" again. He is so sweet!

Now, he will be walking next to us or sitting with us at church and asks to hold hands. How did I get such a sweet boy? I absolutely love it!

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Getting ready to go in the oven

I found this recipe on pinterest and we absolutely love it. Seriously, cinnamon rolls are wonderful and cake, well, that is easy to make. Therefore, you get the taste of cinnamon rolls without the big process of making actual cinnamon rolls. This cake doesn't last long in the house. We eat it for breakfast, as a snack, and for dessert. Well, I guess it is a good thing that I don't make it very often.

Just out of the oven

Cinnamon Roll Cake
from: Chef In Training

Cake:
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter melted

Topping:
1 cup butter softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 glass baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In an electric or stand mixer add the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well , slowly stir in the melted butter. Pour into the prepared 9×13 baking pan.
3. For topping, In a large bowl mix the 2 sticks of butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together until well combined and creamy. Drop evenly over the batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
4. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean.
5. FOR GLAZE: In a medium bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together with a whisk. Drizzle evenly over the warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Ready to eat. Yummy!

Feeding the ducks

Brandon's mom and sister came out to find Chloe a place to live. Austin and I tagged along for the apartment search. After meeting up for lunch with Brandon we had some time to kill before the next appointment. Carla, Brandon's mom, thought of the great idea of stopping and grabbing a cheap loaf of bread then going to feed the ducks at the Duck Pond on BYU. This was Austin's first time feeding the ducks and he LOVED it!

 He would hunt down his Nana and ask for more bread, then break off huge pieces and throw them in. It was so funny to watch him because most of the time it landed on the rocks but he was not deterred. I think that each piece of bread that he broke on his own was broken into maybe 4 pieces. I told you, HUGE chunks!

The ducks loved the bread and were chasing us around the pond.

This little duckling was staring at me and would just keep quacking. I didn't have any bread to share.

So sad! There was a dead duckling in the pond. I wanted to scoop it out and bury it.

Sleeping duck deserved some staring from Austin.

These turtles got most of his attention. Have I told you how much Austin loves turtles? This has been ever since he spent a few days at the Davis' house and they were turtle watching. He loved the turtle and on the way home each day he would say "tur-tle" over and over again. Then he would ask for it as soon as he got back there in morning. It was so cute how much he loved it and was sad once the turtle was gone.