September Recap

We got our new camera in September. So, of course we had to take lots of pictures just to try it out. These are a few of us seeing how well it would take pictures of a moving object. Plus, Sarah was over...and Austin LOVES when she comes to play.

Check out Sarah's hair! Awesome!

We love having Sarah around!!

Katie, Trever, and their kids were in town for a day. We decided to meet at Gardner Village and let the kids see the witches.

Cute boys!!

It was fun to have to have the kids together again. Austin wasted no time playing with the girls, and loved having another little boy around.

I think this picture is so cute!

I love the way this boy sleeps. Talk about kickin' back!

Austin also finished up swim classes. Of course, right as we were nearing the end he started to love them, and was doing really well with them. I was almost tempted to keep him in lessons all winter, but thought that would be an awful lot on my plate with a new baby coming and all. So, he is done for now. We will probably start back up again in the spring/summer.

This is a picture of him floating all by himself. I was so proud! It only took 7 months to get him to this point!!!

State Fair

Sarah won tickets to the State Fair, and very kindly invited us to go with her. I always enjoy going to the fair, but this year was a little more enjoyable because Austin had fun. They had an amazing kids section, called "Little Hands on the Farm." We took Austin in, and you work way through a bunch of farm "jobs," like feeding and milking the cow,

planting seeds, and harvesting your crop, gathering eggs,

driving your "tractor,"


It was really a neat little area, and Austin had fun. When you get to the end of the area, there is a store where you sell your farm goods and get "money" to buy a treat with.


We spent the rest of the evening wandering around all the exhibits, and looking at the animals. We spent a little time taking pictures in the silly cutouts they have.

One of the areas had a cutout of Guy Fieri. Justin made me get a picture with him, since I love watching his show!

We ended the night with a trip part the Nascar car they had there. Austin thought it was VERY cool...you know Lightning McQueen and all!!!

Bye, bye Binky!

The Final Picture with a Binky!!!

We finally got rid of the binky. I had to just take it away. After Austin woke up and set it down, I hid it. When he started looking for it later, I just said I couldn't find it. Honestly, we were a little shocked at how well he handled it being gone.

To help ease the adjustment, I kept him busy that day with a trip to the aquarium (I tried to get pictures, but the stinker wouldn't look at the camera) and playing outside. The day ended with a little trauma, as Austin fell on the back porch and took a face-dive down the steps onto the cement patio. He cried a lot, but I was strong and didn't even offer the binky! He did just fine without it.

Of course there were tears and he asked for it quite often for the first several days, but he is a binky free boy now! It sure does make him seem older!

August Rundown

August was a very busy month for us. Our house was full to the brim for most of the month. My family stayed through the first part of the month. Before they left, we headed out to the Bingham Copper Mine. I knew it was close, but it took less than 10 minutes to get to it from my house.

It was pretty cool. Austin loved the big trucks.

Sarah and James came out a few days later, and Sarah stayed with us until she could move into her apartment in Provo. It is always great to have someone around that WANTS to babysit, and insists on helping you clean (or doing most of it for you) your house!

During all this, Austin discovered how fun the camera can be. Unfortunately, he got a hold of it, and dropped it on the tile. So, we spent most of the month camera-less because pictures inside turn out like this:

and pictures outside turn out as a white screen! Gotta love it, right?

A few days before Sarah moved out, Justin's sister Jacki and her family moved up from Las Vegas, and stayed with us for a few weeks while they were finding a house to rent! So, we have been very busy hosting all sorts of family members in our home! It has been nice to get to spend time with everyone, and Austin has loved having other kids in the house for the last month, but I must admit that I am thrilled to have my home back to just us!

Yellowstone

While my family was here, we also got the chance to take a short trip up to Yellowstone. It was so beautiful, and the weather was fabulous. We had a lot of fun seeing all the beauty there is to be seen there.

The first day, we went to see Old Faithful, the hot pots around it, and the mud pots. We also got to see some bald eagle right as we come into the park.

Bald eagle in their nest

The Girls

The boys

Our little family at Castle Geyser

Austin checking out a mud pot

We saw lots of animals, including elk, deer, duck, leeches (that's right!), and Austin's favorite: "buffawo."

Our second day there, we went and saw Yellowstone Falls.

Then we took the long way back through Jackson Hole so that we could eat some good Mexican food at The Merry Piglets!

More Fun with the Fam

Wheeler Farm

While everyone was here, we decided to take the boys to one of our favorite spots. We headed over to Wheeler Farm for the afternoon: enjoying a tractor ride,

milking the cow,

feeding the ducks, and

looking at all the animals

(before it was just too hot to stay any longer!).

Splash Park

We also decided to try out the splash park in Herriman. It was not very big, and didn't look all that impressive to me, but the boys had fun!

And just in case you couldn't tell from the other pictures: Austin loves when Charles comes to visit!

The Texas Crew

The end of July brought us a house full of visitors. My Mom, step-dad, sister, and step brother were able to come visit us fro two weeks. It was so nice to get to see them all, have someone to entertain Austin, and give myself a reason to go do a lot of the things I have been wanting to go do with Austin!

On the 24th of July, we laid low and hung out at home. We had saved half of our fireworks from the 4th, and Justin lit them off for us.

We went to a Salt Lake Bees game one night. It was a lot of fun, even though it was insanely hot even in the shade. (Heat doesn't work well with me right now. People were wondering what was up with the crazy lady splashing her face and fanning herself off in the bathroom! Hey- at least I didn't puke!)

Not even a slightly flattering picture of me....but proof that I was there!

Austin was really cute. He kept yelling to the players...things like "Run faster guys!" Too bad they couldn't hear him. (Family night=$3 tickets in the nosebleeds!)

Charles and Austin

Mom and Chuck

Erin