Stock Show and Rodeo! Valentines! Planes! Almost a Sitter! and Cookies.

Hmm... I should probably make each of these topics separate posts, but I'm just going to put it all on this one because it's easier! Jake had the day off of school Monday, so we headed out with Aaron, Kristen, Lily, and Gunnar to the Stock Show and Rodeo. It's tradition around here! I really thought before we moved to San Antonio that I'd run into cowboys everywhere, and rodeos were a weekly thing. Not so. This time of year is the only time I ever see cowboys... at the stock show and rodeo. EVERYONE wears their cowboy/cowgirl getup to the stock show and rodeo. The really cool people there have long mustaches too. We didn't wear any cowboy clothes, or grow out cool mustaches, but we still had fun :)
Luke, Lily, and Gunnar got some cotton candy and loved it. Luke wouldn't let go of his until the paper stick thing was all sogged out and his face and sweatshirt were blue. Here the kids are looking cute with their treat. Check out Lily's and Gunnar's hats... stylin little cuties!

Luke running through the fairgrounds...

Luke hated sitting in the stroller and complained that it smelled like poop in the barns.

Mark and Courtney, Aaron, and Jake... (Mark is a fellow dental student) Also, we ran into the Zimmerman and South families there. Everyone was hitting up the dollar day!

checking out the animals...

Jake and Aaron took the kids into the fun house. Kinda funny when the big guys came crashing down the slide at the end!

Rides!

Pig races!

On to Valentine's Day...

We had a pretty laid-back day. It was great. V-Day started early for me, because Jake brought flowers home from school on Friday. What a stud!

We both thought we had picked funny cards for each other. So I don't forget them...

Luke got to party hard at Jaylie's birthday party on Valentines. It was lots of fun! Here's Luke with his buddies, all the girls, and then all the guys there. By the way Mandee, I swiped these from your blog... thanks! haha :) I'm glad we got these because there probably won't be that many more get-togethers with everyone before we move.

Since we didn't get a babysitter, Jake went and picked up some food for us at HEB Central Market. We tried some of their lasagna, and some salads and desserts. So good!! He even made it for us while I chilled with the kids. So nice. Love him. Then we rented some movies. You should watch Man on Wire if you like documentaries. It's really good.

Last week we decided to take Luke to see the airplanes on base. He thought it was the greatest thing ever. This kid tells me every day that when he gets bigger he is going to be a pilot. and an astronaut. and a train driver. and a truck driver. I can't wait to see what he ends up driving.

This one was his favorite.

My two guys...

Ella and I liked the airplanes too... just not as much as the boys.

Ella has been trying to sit on her own, but ends up falling forward after a few seconds.

Luke has been into helping me make stuff in the kitchen lately, and had been wanting to make cookies for a long time. We finally got around to making some!

Now that I've spent way too long on this computer, I'm off to do some school work. Lets hope the kiddos nap a lot longer! :)

Random Quirks

I've been tagged. So girls, here ya go!
6 random/quirky things about me...

1. I love mornings. They are so peaceful.. and it's the only time some days that I get all to myself. I feel like I'm so much more productive in the morning (like between 5 and 9 or until the kiddos wake up) then any other time of the day. Sometimes it's hard (sometimes REALLY hard) to kick myself out of bed when the alarm goes off, but once I'm up I'm good to go!

2. Unless it's with family or close friends, I don't like potluck style get-togethers. The thought of so many people touching and preparing my food (and the thought of their kids, animals, etc. poking their fingers and paws in it) ruins my appetite.

3. I love a good card game. I think I get this from my Grandma Nan... she taught me pretty much all the card games I know. Grandma, I wish you were here right now so we could play!

4. I have little contests with myself to see how fast I can do things... everything from doing the dishes... to grocery shopping... getting the kids ready for the day... pretty much everything. Maybe one day I will be as fast at cleaning as my mom. I hope so.

5. I love being pregnant. I know that sounds weird, but I do. And no, that doesn't mean we're going to have a bus load of kids or that I want to be pregnant again really soon.

6. If I miss more then a day of working out, I feel grouchy! Seriously. I guess I need those extra endorphins or something, cause if I miss a day at the gym you better watch out. haha

So, i tag Abby, Karalee, Jess, Cyndi, Nichole R., and everyone else that hasn't done this one already!

Cute Ears

As of last night, Ella has new pretties. Well, you can just see one of them in this pic... but you get the idea. :)

Catching Up

I think I've had blogger burnout the past couple of weeks. Just not in the mood for some reason or another, but there have been some great things happening around here! Here's a little catch up!

Luke is a pro now when it comes to going potty in the toilet! Well, technically not the toilet-he still uses his little kid one (I'm hoping to change that soon... SO gross emptying that thing!) He has kept his unders dry all week... and we have even made trips to the gym, stores, and the park... all accident free! Woo hoo! We are officially done buying diapers now for this kid. Finally. No going back this time. Here he is... too cool and grown up to even smile for the camera. boo."Pwincess Ella Bella" as Luke calls her, tried baby food for the first time this week. Her Dr. suggested we try veggies and rice cereal at the end of this month, so I started her on green beans. She's not a fan... at least not yet (maybe she will be like me and never like them though. hehe.) However, she loves the high chair. She will sit in here for a good half an hour and just watch me clean the kitchen. It really beats holding her and cleaning with one free hand!

We had some great weather, so Luke has been riding his bike just about every day. I follow him up and down the street for what seems like forever. He loves it. He rode it so much the past week that he has a bruise on his back where I guess the seat of his bike has been pushing up against it. Weird. Here he is riding at the park.
Jake has been doing a little yard work. We're trying to revive the grass. It's in that gross winter dormant state. Not a nice look. Luke likes helping out his dad, and Ella chills with me on the porch while the boys are at work.
Ella keeping me company on the porch...
Another fun thing about this past week... our 1st shopping trip at the commisary! We finally got our military IDs, so we are now official. I guess we could have done that like 4 years ago, but hey... we finally got around to doing it. The commisary has some pretty good deals on things, so I'll be going more often now. Luke loved playing at one of the parks on base... I kinda wish we would have discovered it sooner! As for this weekend... we've got school work to do, a park trip, and a superbowl party planned. Should be fun :)
Oh, and I almost forgot. One of the best things happening lately is that Luke and Ella are starting to entertain each other. Yeah! She loves sitting and watching him build towers with blocks, he loves to do things like "read" to her and get her toys. It's fun to see them interact more. He was building a tower here... but when he saw me with the camera he decided to put a block on her head.

Fun Stuff

Need or want a new stroller? Here's an awesome giveaway! Check it out over at I Never Grew Up... :)

Thoughts From The Tube...

* Our country would be a much safer place if there was a real Jack Bauer watching out for it. The man is awesome. He has like 20 lives, can always predict what the enemy is going to do, and has some pretty great kung fu skills.... just to name a few entertaining qualities. I'm slowly getting sucked in to this season's 24.

* Visualizing Bob yelling at me like this every time I worked out this past week made me push myself 10 times harder. Haha. However, I'm proud to say that I lost more weight friday night/saturday then a few of the contestants did in one week. I either caught a nasty bug somewhere or ate something bad because 6 lbs of water weight is gone now. Yuck. Glad that is over. Luckily Jake was home to help out, and I was the only one that was sick around here!

* Even though it's cheesy and unrealistic, The Bachelor is pretty entertaining. It's one of those things like the Twilight series... something about it just keeps you coming back, even though it seems kinda dumb. :) Anyway, I like trying to decide who will get booted off. I'm thinking Naomi is going to go next. Since we don't have tivo, I have to choose between this and 24 now on Monday nights. I think I'm going to have to just start watching Bachelor recaps online...

* Also, go Cardinals! They went from from stinking it up just a few years ago to being in the Superbowl in 2 weeks! I went back and forth between watching the game and reading a not so exciting textbook today. Love it when underdogs win. :)

* Oh, and Lie to Me starts this week. Wednesday I think. I'm going to check it out!

This little cutie

is 4 months old today! AND,... she started laughing just this past Wednesday. It's the cutest thing ever! Haha. No surprise that the first thing she laughed at was her brother. He was kicking a ball to me and she thought it was hilarious. I love baby laughs! I snapped these pictures of her today!

Christmas Vacation

We got back from our Arizona Christmas trip on Sunday. As always, it was lots of fun and hardly seemed like we were there for a couple of weeks. This year, the bulk of our Christmas festivities were with my side of the fam. We switch off with every other year being with Jake's side or mine. Just makes things easier that way! Anyhow, here are some of our favorite Christmas memories from this time around. I want all of these pictures in our future blog book... so there are a lot!
Christmas Eve was spent roasting hot dogs and making smores. We all had so much fun... I hope it's going to be a new tradition. Luke especially loved watching Grandpa Paul start the fire and could not get enough marshmallows. After stuffing ourselves with food, we played games and opened presents. Christmas Eve has always been my favorite part about Christmas!
Our little fam...
Luke and Grandpa!
Fun roasting!

Even more Christmas Eve...

Luke was excited about Santa, but thanks to a late Christmas Eve, he didn't wake up until 9:30 or 10:00! Jake was off at about noon with Ben to go to the Spurs vs. Suns game. I guess it was a pretty slow game, but picked up in the end. The Spurs won on a 3 point buzzer shot! Jake is a pretty die hard fan, so it's only fitting that he was watching them play on Christmas with Ben!
Luke checking out his stocking loot...

Ella's first Christmas!

Last year when we were in AZ for the holidays, my mom put some chocolate ornaments on a little tree in the house, and Luke loved it! So, this year she and my dad had some waiting for him. This little dude couldn't get enough. He had fun picking oranges off of the tree outside too.

We went to see The Polar Express in 3D. It's Luke's favorite movie now! After we saw it at the IMAX, Luke watched it like 10 more times on DVD before we left. Grandma sent it home with us, so he can watch it even more! haha. We were stylin in our glasses...

Yeah for riding the merry-go-round in the mall!

Luke, Abby, mom, and I made a gingerbread train....


Another highlight of the trip was wedding dress
shopping with Abby! She didn't find the dress
when we went this time, but we had fun! Here are some dresses she won't be wearing. Haha. I found the most ridiculous dress in the whole store and she tried it on for kicks. Haha. It's that green and black beauty. :)
We had fun. Love that girl!

We went to the park one day with the Smiths. All the cousins had fun running around together and riding bikes while the adults got to hang out. Joe, Rick, Ben, and Davey made and launched rockets and the kids counted down for them to blast off!

more park fun...

We got to go listen to Joe and MC6 perform at the temple again this year. Nice work guys! They are awesome. It was fun seeing all the lights again, too.

Dad took us to ride the ATVs one day. The sun was deceiving! It was soo cold. Totally worth it though! It was such a fun place to ride. Luke is still talking about riding the "tractors" and splashing in the muddy water. Thanks for a fun time, dad!

We had a late Christmas Eve dinner with the Smiths. It was great being with everyone. Luke was soaking it up. He likes being Ethan's shadow. Cute cousins!

Jenny and Todd introduced us to the goats at Jenny's parent's house. They are funny little guys! Luke kept eating their Lucky Charms. Haha. He did give them a few though. We took them for a little walk.... fun times!

My dad's birthday is Dec. 31! So, we had a birthday party for him. Everyone came over to eat waffles and omelettes for breakfast. Abby and I had a fun time decorating the kitchen for it. Happy 48 dad!

We went to visit Grandma Taylor... Jake's cute grandma. Isn't she the most stylish little lady around?! She and Ella got to meet for the first time.... and yep, ella's headband is falling off in this picture and it looks like Luke is eating his sleeve. oh well..
I found some new favorites on this trip! First up, Fresh and Easy's Strawberry Lemonade! Sooo good! Even beats out Chick-Fil-A's lemonade in my opinion, which is pretty hard to beat. Also, my mom introduced me to Naartjie. They have super cute baby and kids clothes! Such a fun place. Last but not least...




















I finally got to try Sprinkles!! Mom and I took Luke and Ella with us one afternoon. Their cupcakes are so yummy. I want to go again! Between us, we tried strawberry, orange, lemon-coconut, and white. Strawberry was my fav! Go next time you're in Scottsdale!

I got to see two of my cute BYU roomies and their families. Love these girls!...

We had family pictures taken. Here's one of a billion :)...

It was a memorable trip. We were lucky to be able to do so much with family! Luke and Ella were great on the plane rides. Luke is in a crazy airplane and rocket loving stage right now so he was a happy guy!
Checking out the airplanes in the airport and once we were on the plane...

Santa left a present in TX for Luke, so he got to come home to it. Woo hoo!
Now we're just getting back in the swing of things here! Jake is back to school, and we're getting back to our normal routine. It was fun having a break from everyday life for a little bit!