Keep Austin Weird

Austin is a unique place. We have been couped up doing projects at home since we moved, so we thought we would finally have some fun for a Saturday.

One thing Matt and I love about Austin, is that everyone is always outdoors, and there are a million places to enjoy the fantastic Texas landscape. One of those place is smack dab in the middle of Austin. The Greenbelt. There are several places to enter it, but most are off a couple of the main highways through town.

You would never know you were in almost the heart of the city. People love to bring their mountain bikes down here to ride, and walk their dogs. It is shady and the trees are stunning.

The weather couldn't have been more beautiful.

I love these little unexpected beauties. It's little things like this that remind me of God's presence here on earth. These beautiful berries were so vibrant and there were just little patches of them scattered here and there.

They were fun for throwing too! I had told Colby a story about how his mom used to pick all the holly berries off her grandma's bushes and have holly berry wars with her cousins. It didn't take long for our own berry war to start.

Matt and I knew we were walking to the twin falls, but we had forgotten about this awesome little swimming hole. Darn, should have brought our swim suits!

Who needs swim suits? They are boys...right? We tried to keep them from getting too wet, but you know how that goes.

I had so much fun, and it was pretty awesome to share with them all the fun stories about how my mom and dad took me to do things like this all the time. We grew up in the woods, no I am serious, we really did grow up living 95% of our childhood outdoors. It was so much fun, and I am glad that they got to experience a little piece of that.

After naps, we continued the fun, and took them downtown. Austin prides itself on its "small town" feel, and love of all things unique. In fact right before we left 5 years ago, the city was trying to keep a new Super Walmart from being built and they succeeded. Aside from a few necessary chain stores (and I do love Walmart) there are lots of fun one-of-kind eating and shopping experiences here. Every where you go, you can buy shirts that say "Keep Austin Weird."

Matt and I had been wanting to try this little place called Home Slice Pizza...we will now be regulars. The wait for the actual restaurant was too long so we went right next door and ordered from the to-go window by the slice. It is seriously the best New York pizza I have had. Yep, ate right there on the dirty sidewalk. Totally awesome. The boys loved it.

This was our view across the street. All the fun shops on Congress. And...better still live music. Austin is all about live music, and across the street someone was singing at another restaurant so we got to hear that too.

After dinner, we walked just one street up to all the mobile food vendors (very popular here - and totally awesome) and had an amazing cupcake at Hey Cupcake! Once again there was a guy with his guitar playing and singing (he might have even been homeless). The food and music were fantastic and the boys got to experience what we love so much about this city!

I'm all about keeping Austin weird!

Knights of the Guild

This morning Colby's school had a special assembly called Knights of the Guild. It was the kick off to a special program they do at school to promote good character traits, especially service over self.

They bring in horses and knights and do a whole presentation about how the knights of old had exemplary character traits like respect, integrity, loyalty, honesty, compassion, and self-discipline. Throughout the year the kids have opportunities to earn medals and rewards that will be presented at an Assembly of Champions later in the year.

The knights had a sword fight, and jousted rings that were held by "squires" and then thrown in the air. There was music, and a knight that narrated everything. Look how close they were! It really was incredible.

Brody even got to watch. They invited parents and siblings and we got to sit right behind Colby's class.

Yep, there's the playground, right there! Pretty awesome, hugh?

This is going to be a great school for Colby. We have been working closely with the vice principal, his teacher, and the other staff, to make this be a really positive year, and so far, he is doing fantastic!

At the end of the assembly they brought out a little horse that they adopted last year who is being trained to take part in the ceremonies! All the kids loved him! They told a story about his adoption and how over time, he was accepted and loved by the other horses even though he was different.

We are so blessed!

Belated

I seem to be making a habit of forgetting to post...but we couldn't go without a Happy Birthday post to our amazing daddy! He really had a humble birthday, but the chocolate eclaire cake made up for it, right daddy? We love you!

Rain Rain Don't Go Away

Today it is just dumping buckets of rain. It hasn't stopped all day, thanks to tropical storm Hermine hitting the Texas coast last night, and I don't want it to. I might change my mind though when I have to pick Colbs up from school! One thing I really missed about Texas was the rain and thunderstorms.

I love the sound of rain. Brody and I spent a lot of time this morning just sitting on the front and back porches listening and watching the rain! I love the views from our new house. I promise to post pictures soon!

This past weekend. We had so much fun with Matt's parents. Mike took all the pictures on his camera, so I will post those soon. Matt and Mike spent the majority of Friday and some of Saturday morning building the boys new play-set! Isn't it adorable? My job was helping Matt organize all the hundreds of parts, count all the screws and bolts, and call customer service to order all the pieces that were missing (oh yes, there are always missing parts)! But the boys absolutely love it, and the weather was beautiful on Friday.

First Day Of School

Colby's first day of school was August 23rd. It started early because school starts promptly at 7:45am, and of course we had to have the classic first day of school picture out side the house. Cooperation with pictures at 7:20am - keep dreaming! But we got a few good pictures.

The walk to school is not all that far, but far enough to make driving worthwhile on hot and rainy days. He was so excited to get there and find his class we were on a serious mission that morning. He couldn't wait to get to go to recess and lunch in the cafeteria.

Each room is really nice. They have their own locker and cubbyhole built in, a restroom, and a water fountain in each room. And, I'm not sure how this happened, but it seems like all the tall kiddos ended up in Colby's class. We went to meet the teacher night and there were probably 5 kids almost as tall as Colby...even a girl! He also has 2 or 3 of our neighbors in his class which is fantastic considering the boundaries for his school.

So far he has done absolutely fantastic! He talks about his friend Ben all the time, and we hear all kinds of stories about he and Ben's adventures each day in kindergarten! I have to admit it was a little emotional for me. I really thought I was ready for him to take off to kindergarten. The first week was rough, realizing that he was out of my hands and in the care of strangers for 8 hours a day. I no longer had control over everything he heard and saw, and Brody and I were pretty lonely. Change is never easy, but we are settling into things now, and Colby is really loving Rooster Springs Elem so far!

Happy Day

Brody turned 2 this past Monday. We began our celebration early because Matt had to leave out of town and was going to be gone on his actual birthday. Saturday we kicked off the celebration with my mom still in town, and all week he has been spoiled rotten by family and friends. He loves to sing Happy Birthday, but he can't say birthday so he just says "Happy Day." So in honor of Brody I will share a little bit about what it's like to be Brody at two.

TwO iS: joyful SQeaLs at the simplest of pleasures, an ExPlosIoN of new words,

EnDleSs energy, knock down Drag-out FigHts with my brother "Kaabee", InSaTiaBLe aPPeTitE for all things junk - a.k.a. "shhnaaks,"

TeRRiBlE tAnTruMs that quickly change to LaUghTer, BiNkeRs and BeAr bEaRs, fLirTacIouS and FiCkle, and best of all...ChuNkAliCioUsly ADoraBle!

Some things we love so much about Brody right now are:

His love for his blue "bear bear." His Great Grandma Shirley gave him this bear and he has loved it since he was tiny. His favorite part of his "bear bear" is the silk tags on the back. He runs his fingers through those tags and carries it by the tags so much that he won't accept the original bear anymore because the tag is in shreds. Oh, yes, there are 4 additional backups that are rotated, two of which he has determined are frauds because the manufacturer changed the tag and took away the tail!

His incredible vocabulary - some of our favorite are; no way, watch this, I do it, mine, happy day, Baaahney (Barney), Punge Pob (Sponge Bob), Shhnaak (snack), panpake (pancake), I dit you (I get you), I miss you, La loo (love you), and how he says sentences, he says the noun first and then the adjective or verb. So he will say " Kaabee (pause) push" or "bus (pause) big (pause) yellow"

His sweet temperament. Despite normal tooty two tantrums, he really is a sweet boy with a very mild temper. He often says uhhmee (excuse me) if he bumps into anything or toots. He loves to give kisses and hugs, and we swear he is European because he insists on kissing both cheeks. His favorite foods are all junk food - snacks, pizza, bacon, yogurt, apples, rice, sketti (spaghetti), chokit (chocolate), and water. Nothing but water. Occasionally he will splurge on a little chocolate milk but he won't drink juice, he tries to be healthy after all the junk food I guess. :)

On his real Happy Day we woke up and had his favorite bacon and cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Colby gave him some rides on the blanket. And then we headed off to the mall for a surprise.

Build a Bear! It was fun, but I have to laugh because he was totally creeped out by the floppy lifeless bears (can't blame him). He insisted on holding the display bear until I could secretly swap it for the one we had stuffed. He wanted nothing to do with the stuffing process. Colby did better with it, and they loved the rest of our time there.

We ate pizza at the food court and found the little train to ride.

After the train ride we got chewy cookies at a little place and headed home.

After nap, we finished off the day with presents and ice cream at Amy's ice cream with Auntie Marcie. The boys finally got to see what I have been telling them about Amy's. They do all kinds of funky things to put your ice cream in the cup. This time the girl threw it up about 4 ft in the air and caught it in each of their cups. I have a heard a little rumor that sometimes they throw it across the street run and catch it. Seriously is that not insane? We had so much fun.

It really was a Happy Day! Happy Birthday Brody! We love you!

Cheerio

We had to say too many goodbyes, to way to many amazing, neighbors, friends, ward members, and family members when we got back from vacation. Time literally slipped away from us, and it was incredibly hard for us to say goodbye. This move was seriously bitter sweet. It was an answer to prayers in so many ways, but on the flip side it was also completely devastating to move away from Matt's whole family. We love them so much. The boys have a special relationship with their Mimi and Papa and we miss Sunday dinners and being so close that we can visit whenever we want. We miss our cousins so much too! There just are not words.

We tried for about a month to figure out what to do with Colby's fishy "Blackie." A mention of giving him to a friend brought him to inconsolable tears. The thought of him not making the trip to Texas was unbearable, and the likelihood of him actually surviving an hour out of his tank without an aerator was unrealistic. Matt and I seriously googled humane ways to take care of this problem if you know what I mean. Bleach came to mind. But we never could bring ourselves to do it. My dad had a great idea. He said to let him go in the Power Ranch pond and make it a party. So we did just that.

We made cupcakes, had bubbles and balloons, and we sent "Blackie" off in style. Colby was still sad. There were many tears before and after but he was very excited that his fish got to go live in the big pond.

Literally the night before I left my sweet girlfriends and I went out and had a girls night. I can't thank Jen enough for the awesome send off and all my girls for their amazing friendships! I miss you guys so much! Katie thank you so much for bringing your camera so we could take this picture. It was really awesome to be able to spend one last GNO with you all! Love you all and please keep in touch!