2 Years!

This month, on the 18th Nick and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary!!! I can't believe that it was two years ago that we got married, when sometimes it just seems like it was a few months ago. Now here we are, moved away from college with a house and a baby that is turning 10 months old! Where does the time go!? I couldn't be happier with where we have come in the past two years and continue to love my husband more. Here are a few reasons:

-He has proved that he loves through good times and bad, despite how ugly I look or fat I can get. (Example: when I got pregnant...)

-He is always quick to say sorry

-He kindly laughs and my stupid questions like, "What the temperature of freezing?" and then tells me happy he is he married me... probably for entertainment for eternity.

- He is an amazing example to me of unconditional love and great patience

-He takes great care of Austin and rarely complains when I ask him to help

- He always holds true to his word

-He follows silly rules such as: 'you can only play golf on Saturday if the T-time is before 9a.m.' just to make me happy and spend the afternoons with us.

-He provides for our every need and more because he wants Austin and I to be happy.

-He makes me want to be a better wife and mom

-This last one is silly, but if you are a Weaver or know the Weavers you will understand.
He dosen't make me budget.

Those are just a few of the many, MANY thing I adore about Nick. I love my husband so much and don't know what I must have done right to deserve him! On our anniversary we happened to be in Longview, TX because Nick was sent out of town that week. I decided to go with him this time to get out of town, stay in a nice hotel and get free dinner everynight at a restuarant of our choice! The day of our anniversary I made him his favorite treat and gave him a winter peacoat he had been wanting to wear with work clothes. I feel like I am always talked into getting him a necessity and he always gets me a fun gift. He totally surprised me and got me a drop pearl necklace with a diamond on it that I had been asking for that last few months. I told him to get me a fake one for now so we could wait and get the nice one when we could afford it, but apparently he didn't and it is beautiful!!! I was shocked! He also bought tickets to see Twlight at the midnight showing on Thursday and set up for Austin to stay with me mom. I was super excited to see Twilight and even more excited Nick was going with me!

So, Austin is waking up from a nap at the moment....I will post some pictures from the anniversary soon!

BOO!

Austin had his first Halloween and he was so adorable. He was a horse this year, which I thought the costume was pretty obvious but apparently I was wrong! He was called a cow, dog or donkey all night long- who dresses their baby up as a donkey? He actually did really well in the costume and would crawl around for us so we could have a good laugh at our little horsey (not donkey)! We went to the Sugar Land trunk or treat and had so much fun! My parents stole him from us and went to all the cars to fill up his little candy bucket while Nick and I socialized. When I found him this is what he had...



his first sucker! Of course the grandparents gave it to him and made me take it away- he was so mad at me when I took it out of his little fingers :( After that we went to Chris and Sally's house to eat pizza and watch "scary" movies. The movie was scary until the end, which is fine with me cause I am alone all week and don't need another scary movie to freak me out. All in all it was a great Halloween and here are some more pictures from our night.

I Wish I Had A Brain...

I feel like I hardly ever write blog posts and I figure it is because of two reasons. One, I never feel that my life has stories that are "blog worthy", but it's probably just cause not much phases me these days. Two, I can only blog in a limited time slot- when Austin is sleeping. If I try when he is awake it takes twice as long because I spend my time stopping him from shutting the lid and then have to go back and erase his "contributions" to my blog (the random hand slaps onto my keyboard I don't catch in time).
But today I had a blog worthy moment.
Adding a baby to my life has obviously added stress and much joy, but on those days that I am feelin' like a crazy person I wonder what planet my brain has left me for. Today at Target I was shopping around as usual with my shoppin' buddy and found some of the expensive, "fancy" organic baby food on sale for the same price I buy Austin's regular food. They had a few different kinds he hadn't tried, so I tossed them into my cart. I check out and get to my car, only to find that I had missed one behind my purse. I debated for a few seconds on what to do cause it's just a dollar and remembered when I do good things, good things always come to me- I will take whatever extra good I can get right now. So I toss my bag in the car, grab my wallet, stolen baby food and put Austin in the cart to make my trek back into Target. I go pay for the food, hand it to Austin to keep him occupied and walk back out to the car. The whole way outside I am thinking this is alot of effort for a dollar. When I finally get to my car, as I am loading Austin into his car seat I realize, I don't know where the baby food is anymore. Have I lost my mind? Did I already put it in my bag with my wallet? I check and no Organic Pear Apple baby food to be found. I looked in the cart, around the cart and car and now I am just on a mission. I get in the car and head back up my aisle looking for it to be somewhere on the pavement. It isn't till I am by the front of the store that I spot it- a single baby food sitting next to the front doors. Austin must have thrown it out of the cart without me noticing. I parked my car in the middle of the cross walk, jumped out with my door left open, ran across the crosswalk passing multiple people to the front door, grabbed the baby food and then jumped back into the car and sped away. As I drove away I realized that I was insane and felt like I had lost my mind. I hope that most of the "onlookers" realized what must have happened but to others I must have just looked like a cheap mom that saw an opportunity to get some free baby food.
All I have to say is- that "organic" food better be delicious.
When driving home from Target I thought about all the craziness that happens everyday that make me a mom and I came up with a top five for everyone:

1. I carry around a bag large enough to hold a months supple of food storage for my family, which results in me feeling like I am constantly losing things because they are "lost" in my bag. I can never find my phone, keys, sunglasses, binky, bottle or toys- they are always where my searching hand is not.

2. I randomly have spit up on my shirt for everyone to see with no recollection of the event and no explanation of how it could have gotten there.

3. Randomly throughout the day when I set my bag down, the sound of an airplane taking off comes out of it- my favorite is in the middle of sacrament meeting. The sound can't be turned off and starts with the noise of engines turning on till the plane has reached full flight- one of Austin's many toys.

4. My personal potty breaks closely resemble a pit stop in a NASCAR race because Austin is doing one of the following: gotten into the one cabinet that is off limits and quickly pulls everything out, suddenly screaming crying or has followed me into the bathroom and tries to get into the tub, rip the toilet paper from my hands or attempts to crawl onto my lap.

5. My nose constantly thinks it is smelling a dirty diaper or poo in the air- it happens in the mall, in my house, through the park and just about everywhere else. I think it is trained to find that smell and now 90% of the time it is just my imagination and I can't say it is pleasant.

So there is a glimpse into my crazy life these days, but despite all the many moments I feel I have lost my mind, I would trade it for a new brain anyday! Austin is the most amazing, adorable, sweet and well-behaved baby a mom could dream off and I just love him to death!
Watch out for our Halloween pictures!! We can't wait!


Here is a random picture from July that I think is pretty funny!

Purse!

Who doesn't need a new cute, FREE purse for the fall....
check it out!!
www.handbagplanet.com

It's a Ghost!

It seems like I haven't updated my blog in forever, things have been a bit crazy since Ike hit us. So I posted this slide show of new pictures of Austin to show everyone how much he has changed! Sorry for all the naked ones, but they are so adorable I just couldn't resist. I feel like I don't have anything new to share cause we are just in our normal routine- Nick goes to work everyday and I stay home taking care of Austin, cleaning the house, go to Sonic or Target or WalMart often and hang out with my buddies. We went out on a group date a few weekends ago and it was so much fun! There was about 6 couples that went and no kids, we felt so young again! It amazing how wonderful eating dinner in peace can be while talking to real adults and having real conversations. We then went and played games with everyone and had so much fun, we even stayed out late :) My parents are so great, they love to take Austin for us and it is nice to just drop him off and wave good-bye without worrying about him the whole night. He has started getting a bit pickier about who can hold or touch him, so I told my parents we NEED to drop him off more often so Austin knows who they are.
So to explain the title- we have come to the conclusion that our bedroom has a ghost that has a little problem with Nick these days. There are been a number of weird things happening in that room, let me share my stories and you can draw your own conclusions:
1. One night Nick decides to go to bed really early, so I hang out in the living room to watch T.V. Around 10:00 I have to go to the bathroom and I am the biggest wimp when it comes to the dark (I feel a bit more justified now), so I left the bathroom light on in our bedroom for when I returned to bed. About 10 mins later Nick comes out asking me why I poured water all over him and I tried to tell him I didn't. He doesn't believe me cause he knew I was in the room since the light was left on. We argue back and forth a bit and I tell Nick to check to see if the roof was leaking- it wasn't. So Nick has water- no not sweat- but water drops all over his forehead and his shirt was wet all over his shoulder.
2. The next night we are lying in bed and Nick says, "are you touching me?" and with my back to him I respond "ummm,no..." He then tells me that he swore someone was just touching him, once again not believing me.
3. The NEXT night I woke up with a swollen eye, like I was punched in the middle of the night by Nick. I think the ghost did it so I would get mad at him. I later found out it was a little infection, but I still believe the ghost has something to do with it. That same night Nick mysteriously ended up sleeping on the couch. I found him and asked why he was out on the couch, he said he had no idea. You might think it was sleep walking, but Nick has never done that.

There you have it, we are haunted. I don't really mind the ghost cause I think the little jokes it is playing on Nick are funny. I will keep you posted if the ghost comes up with any new tricks.
One more little story- so I was sick this last weekend and it was not fun at all! I had the swollen eye and a cold, which meant I couldn't breath out of my nose and it was really makin' me mad. So Nick was in charge of Austin and me, he did a pretty good job but not without a few good stories. First, he kept trying to drug me and I think it was so he could watch whatever he wanted on the TV and not have to get me things. He kept offering and tried to get me to take more Benadryl and NyQuil everytime I woke up. I was too sick to argue, so Nick did whatever he wanted those few days. When I was awake, I found out that he kept putting Austin in his crib for naps every time he started to cry. Austin would have woken up around 1:00 and at 1:30 I would find Austin in his crib and Nick would be like, "He was whining, I think he is tired again." poor baby. Lastly, and my favorite from the weekend- I woke up from a drugged induced nap and walk into the living room. Nick looks away from ESPN and says to me, "You know, you can't be sick too often cause babysitting Austin is getting really hard." I just started at him and really came to a realization- he has no idea what my life is like. My next thought was, I should leave more often.

TAGGED!

So obviously I survived Hurricane Ike, but I think I have my "hurricane fix" for a long time. I don't want one of those mothers to storm through here anytime soon, not only was it freaky in our house all night but now I have no power! I am staying in my parent's condo until the a/c turns on...I am such a wimp. They say it could be weeks but I think it will be a few more days, people are getting power back slowly around here. I did take lots of pics of the before and after of the storm- so I will post those later.
In the meantime, Jess tagged me...so here we go!

Where were you born? Houston, Texas- I am a true Texan and proud of it!

Middle name? Lynne. I like it because it has the 'e' on the end to make it a bit more feminine :) It is one of those family names

How old will you be this year? Well I just turned 21.... so next year I will be 22. I know it sounds so so young compared to my friends, but I really don't feel 21- maybe because most 21 year olds don't have a husband, house and baby?

Nicknames? JuJu, Jewels, my brother gave me another I think I won't share and my husband calls me Sweetie.

Are you taller than your mother or father? Well I am 5'9, so that puts me a few inches taller then my mom and shorter then my dad. Growing up I always thought the perfect height was 5'6 cause I hated being tall. I still can't say I have 100% warmed up to my height yet...

Do you cry often during movies? Usually when someone dies or when babies are born or...okay maybe I do- but not all the time. One thing I don't do is laugh out loud alot. I will laugh in my mind lots in a movie and only laugh out loud when it is really fun or when I feel goofy with my girlfriends.

What is your biggest pet peeve? I really hate that Nick is a picky eater and blames it on genetics, biggest load of crap ever. Or when people take up a whole lane with their bike when there is a sidewalk next to them. And bad drivers..ugh.


Favorite color(s)? Pink and Red. I am a girly girl

Favorite food(s)? Chips and Queso with Diet Coke OR popcorn with Diet Coke. So maybe just diet coke?

Favorite restaurants? Chick-fil-a, Chili's

Favorite smells? Baby lotion, Febreze, Clean clothes and Lilu, which is the perfume I wear.

Favorite time of the day? I love the late afternoon- I usually have a Diet Coke from Sonic's happy hour and have a recorded show such as Oprah or Dr. Phil on while I am preparing dinner cause Nick will be home soon!

What brand of shampoo/conditioner do you use? Biologe, Matrix and Redken. I switch out often between them, depending on my mood.

What brand of make-up products? I don't have a specific one cause I switch around lots. My mom buys me MaryKay lots but I also have some Cover Girl stuff.

How many pillows do you sleep with? 2 always. A regular pillow on top with a feather pillow on the bottom.

Do you play an instrument? The clarinet and piano

Have you ever been skinny dipping? I wish.

Did you play any sports in High School? No. Does Marching band count?

What was the last movie you saw in the theatre? Mamma Mia with my mom in Cedar City. It was pretty good except when Pierce Brosdan(?) sang, it just does fit his sexy persona.

What is your favorite article of clothing? Well I love a good pair of jeans cause they are so hard to find for me. First it is hard to find ones that are long enough for my mile long legs and then my body is not proportioned. I have baby bearin' hips and skinny minny legs- so the jeans that fit my hips are way huge in the legs. On top of that I love wearin' heels, so that add to the length drama. Next to jeans I love shoes...:)

What is your dream vacation? Cruises or an all inclusive resort to the Bahamas!

What was your first impression of your spouse? I thought he was really cute but way old. The first time we hung out we went out to a movie, which I thought was a date but he did not. He had me pay for my own ticket, so the rest of the night I was bummed thinking he was not into me at all!

If you were an animal, what would you be? I don't know- I guess giraffe too cause I am just long. Or a flamingo cause of my long legs (and it's pink)

What is your dream car? Well practical dream car would be an escalade SUV or a new Tahoe but just sports car.....not sure.

What is one of your weaknesses? Saying sorry and shutting down on Nick when I get upset about something.

What do you fix for dinner when there is nothing to fix? leftovers. If that is gone then Nick will fend for himself while I eat popcorn and Diet Coke or chips and salsa.

If you could live in a different decade/era what would it be? I like it now- especially living without electricity I realize I LOVE technology.

What is the emotion you feel the most? Happy- between Austin, Nick and the life he provides for me how could I feel less?

Do you consider yourself outgoing? yes! I love new friends and knowing lots of people but I also need to have close friends I can share things with or a feel alone.

What is something you are constantly working on? I would have to agree with Jess- Patience! It is pretty obvious after having a baby if you have patience or not and I need more! By the way- Jess is the most Patient mom I have EVER seen, I have no idea what she is talking about!

Any hidden talents? Like what? If it is still hidden then I don't think I would share now :)

What is a word or phrase you overuse? probably 'whatever'. I know it is valley girl but I say it often and can't stop or 'like'. One day I will break the habit but whatever!!! :)

What was the hardest thing that happened to you this past year? moving from Utah, nick starting his career, having a baby and buying a house all in about 5 months. Yeah it has been a crazy year!


What is the best thing that has happened to you this past year? All of those things would be on this list too. They were all so positive and have brought us great things, but all the changes were so hard.

What is one thing you hope to accomplish this year? finding something that I love to do for me and actually taking time out of every week to do it. I just put my effort into Austin and Nick all the time that I need to find a hobby and make it my own personal time!

The best piece of advise you learned this past year? Live in the moment and stop looking forward to the future. After being so excited to move to Texas, I realized that I loved our life in Utah being really poor and students and I miss it. Now I find myself being excited for Austin to be able to do this or that or Nick making more money so we can do this or that. I just need to be content with the moment cause it passes and you can never go back.

NOW I TAG Cristina Harris, Janey Luper & Sally Weaver

A Hurricanes Uh Comin'!!!!!

So Nick and I are sittin ducks here waiting for hurricane Ike to hit us! It is a beast and the eye of the storm is heading right for Houston. I guess it would be smart to evacuate, but then we would miss all the fun! Everyone is going crazy here and are in what I refer to as "survival mode"- meaning they could care less if they run you over in the WalMart parking lot. Yesterday Jess and I were brave and went to WalMart and Sam's for her to get some last minutes necessities. My list included diaper genie refills, hair mousse and PAM spray- as Jess says, "Only the essentials." Nick and I had done all of our shopping the night before AFTER I had talked Jess out of worrying because it was "no big deal." Then when we got to Walmart that night and there was nothing all the shelves I felt kinda bad for talking her out of getting her stuff. So yesterday I went with her to check out the craziness and it was just entertainment. The lines at Sam's were about 25 mins long and the parking lots were packed. As we were walking through the WalMart parking lot, this crazy lady that had a handicap sticker literally almost hit us speeding into her spot. Today we drove through Sugar Land to see what was going on and it was so weird to see everything closed- even WalMart!! You know if WalMart closed down, things are gettin' bad!
Nick is really excited about the storm and has been saying that he wanted to see a hurricane forever! The winds are going to be around 90 miles an hour at our house unless the storms moves and the eye hits us right on. I think it would be cool to see the eye going over us, but I might change my mind if one of the dozens of tornadoes hits our house. So that is our update and as I have been saying to Nick all day, "We're all gunna die!"


Here is a view of Ike- looks friendly huh?

Unoriginal....

All of the interesting fun things that I have to write about in my blog are usually covered by Sally's blog too. I told her yesterday that we needed to stop doing so much together because our blog's were exactly the same. Maybe we should just start coordinating who writes about what. So since Peyton is her son and it was a party she threw I will let is slide that the most recent events were once again covered in her blog- Peyton's 3rd birthday party...just click on Sally's blog to check it out!

The Wedding

The wedding weekend went great and we are so excited that Chelsey is happily married. We met Jeff this week and he is just perfect for her, plus he fits into our fun/weird family so great. They are adorable together and I think it made the whole family more excited for the wedding when we got see them together and know that it just fit. Here is a run down of the weekend and them I am just attaching a link to my facebook pictures to see her wedding. On Friday morning Chelsey went through the temple and the whole Weaver family was there, except Sally. Brooke refused to continue taking a bottle about a month ago and Sally just couldn't leave her that long, we missed her.
The temple session was GREAT but no event goes without a good story. It was a bit chaotic getting to the temple in the morning because we had to meet Brodie at the Target parking lot to give him Austin after his pool route, who was meeting Jennika on her way to work to get Brayden, while Chris is wanting to meet somewhere to car pool together. All of this is getting figured out and Jeff is in our car getting a call from Chelsey saying that he was supposed to come early, while I am on the phone with the EZ tag trying to get Sally's old EZ tag in the Maxima reactivated in our name so we can take the toll road into town! Yeah...it's the unplanned Weaver way. But it gets better. Chris isn't at Target to meet us so we call to find out that he is still at home tearing their house apart with Sally cause he lost BOTH of their recommends. We head out without him and Nick and I realize that our recommends aren't those new updated ones and Jeff tells us he had a hard time getting in with his old one 3 months ago. We are half way there, Chris still hasn't even left and laughs saying, "It's lookin' like Chelsey might be going through alone.." But as always, it some how all works out- we made it on time, got in and Chris makes it right in time to join us. It turned out to be a great day.
On Saturday they got sealed in the morning, then a family luncheon and a reception at the Young's house. At the sealing, we were all seated and waiting and it was taking forever for Jeff and Chelsey to come in- I never remember waiting that long....So Nick leans over to me and whispers, "If she backs out, I'm goin to play golf today" and he is totally serious. Who says that!? I hit him- hard. The luncheon was my favorite part cause Chelsey wanted each of us to stand and say a little something and some funny stories came out about Chelsey. We were all having a good time. All in all it was a great weekend and we are so happy for you Chels!!! Have a happy life and a wonderful marriage!

Here are the pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2205472&l=1e85e&id=17809751

Another Weaver Wedding!!

So this post is all about my sister-in-law Chelsey, who is the final chapter of the Weaver weddings and we couldn't be more excited for her. She is marrying a guy she met in her BYU ward named Jeff, who seems to make her so happy and perfect for her, so we like him. Nick and I actually have never met him, but I did interview him on the phone for her shower... so we have "voice" met. He seemed so easy going and funny, we can't wait to meet him next week before the wedding.
One of Chelsey's benefits of having everyone married in the family is she gets lots of "advice" and "tips" from Lisa, Sally, Ruthie, Teresa and I. She decided that along with her bridal shower she wanted to have a girl's night out with the family. It was such a great idea and everyone had so much fun- it is rare that we are all in the same town together these days. So that night we all went out to BJ's and then back to my house for some girls time. Nick was kicked out of the house for the night with Austin- but he came home too early so all of us girls banished him to the bedroom! As much as I love Nick, we were just having too much fun. We played a few tell all games, opened presents and had some good healthy snacks cause Chels is on the bride-to-be diet that we all can relate to when your engaged. Here are some pictures...even baby Brooke was invited, we just covered her ears!

A few nights after the girl's shower, Lynn Moore gave her a beautiful bridal shower. She had lots of friends and family come with some great gifts. Don't you miss the wedding gifts? New, expensive kitchen stuff just handed to you left and right- it's the best. I also had a game for Chelsey where I interviewed Jeff and asked her a bunch of questions, it was fun for her and me cause I got to know him better! But in my opinion the BEST part of the shower was someones brilliant idea to get chips, queso and salsa from Pappasitos. It was so good- Sally and I pretty much ate all of it while Chelsey was busy opening gifts.

From what she has told/showed me, the wedding plans are going great- stay tuned for some pics from the wedding next weekend!

Austin's Crib!

Austin's Grandpa (Nick's Dad), promised us he was going to build a crib for Austin back when he found out we were pregnant. We were so excited to have something made by his Grandpa that we can use for all the kiddos and pass through the generations. Grandpa Weaver took on the project and worked for months and months late into the night to get this crib done. Meanwhile Austin has been in a little cradle, which was fine when he was a newborn, but after we got back from vacation he had enough of the little bed! We had him in a pack and play the whole vacation, which is probably twice the size of this cradle and Austin never wanted to go back. He would wake up in the middle of the night with both legs sticking through the bars, crying in frustration. When he didn't feel like sleeping and would roll onto his belly, his little eyes could peek over the edge! It was time to move on up...

When he was a newborn in the cradle. I can't believe he was so small!

This is still back in June

We were so excited to get the crib and it is even more beautiful then I expected. It looks like it cost us hundreds of dollars, but all made from hand so it is nicer then any cribs in the stores! I think Austin thinks he is in heaven too, he just rolls back and forth and turns around in the crib, it's a mansion to him!

The Top 5

So the title to this blog is a continuation of the last post- remember how I said our vacation had a few mishaps? Well since this was our yearly vacation and wasn't too cheap, I am not going to dwell on all the negatives and just made a Top 5 list to share- mostly because I think it's pretty entertaining. Note: this list goes in no order from worst to worstest (?), just in order of actual events in the vacation.

1. United Airlines

Our plane ride up to Utah was almost as bad as ripping toenails out one by one. Well maybe not that bad- but just hideous. It wasn't a direct flight and had a lay-over in Denver for 2 hours, which isn't horrible but I will never fly a non direct flight again with a child. Anyways- once we got to Denver we were already pretty worn out with the baby but only to find out our connection was CANCELLED! We were so ticked because they claimed the plane was malfunctioned, whatever that means. Closely after finding that out they claimed that they had "found" a plane to take us on to Salt Lake but it would be an extra few hours. First off, how do they just find a plane, like is their just an excess of planes everywhere? So we went and sat at our gate and were grouped with a bunch of dead beat teenagers right out of high school that were reporting for their first training in the military. These kids were all so so weird- tattooed, pierced, cussing, some drunk, girls that had shaved their head and probably had no interest in men....yeah. So as we are getting on the plane, we just so happened to be surrounded by them with one drunk guy behind us. The first thing he said to me was asking if we could stow Austin up above with the carry-ons. Then half way into the flight he saw me rubbing Nick's neck and asked me if I could give him a neck massage..... Then on Nick's flight home his connection in Denver was cancelled again because of a malfunction with no excess of planes anywhere to get him home. He had to spend the night in Denver and catch a flight at 6:00am Monday morning. Never fly United.

2. Golf

So half of Nick and my vacation was not together, he was playing golf somewhere and would stay the nights up in Salt Lake. In his defense this was approved by me as we planned the Utah trip, but I had no idea what I was committing to. It was so hard to be out with family and friends and be away from Nick, with no break from Austin. I know I would have been able to handle it if he had come back home every night to help put him to bed and give me a little break. By the end of the first week I was close to going insane feeling like Nick was having a great vacation and I was just doing the same stuff in a different location, which makes daily routines more complicated. On top of that Austin was way more fussy during the day then usual, but for a reason that brings me to....

3. Austin's First Tooth

Now this isn't a bad thing but like I said, he was way more cranky on the vacation. Once we felt it breaking though I medicated it much better and he acted like normal. But before that it was frustrating for him to be acting fussy when I usually can predict him to be on good behavior! Austin is such a good baby and not that I am totally selfish because I did feel bad his gums were sore! Here is a cute picture of his little tooth!

4. Zoe Died
During the time in Cedar my parents decided that Zoe had seen her last days. She was getting so old and acting skiddish- so it was for the best. But it just had to be when I was there that they decided to kill her. We have had Zoe since she was just a little bitty puppy and all our family memories include her- I was really sad but know it was right. I was selfish and told my mom I wasn't going with her to murder our dog, so she had to go to the vet's by herself. She stayed with Zoe while they gave her the sedative telling her she was loved and a good dog until she was fast asleep. She then left because she didn't want to be there when the vet gave her the murder drugs. Poor Zoe- we love you.

5. The BUG of all Bugs

While we were in Brian Head for the girl's weekend my cousins tell us that they had a "nasty" bug a few days ago but were over it and felt find. Nasty isn't much of a word to describe this bug, more like disgusting death. They described the symptoms to me and it sounded exactly like the one I got on Christmas Eve this year. It lasts 24 hours of barfing your guts and and spewing from other areas. I remember not being able to hold down small pieces of ice for more then 15 mins and having to run to the bathroom to sit on the toilet while leaning into the tub to throw up at the same time. The worst part of it is you have no warning symptoms, like my Aunt who got it the first night we were there. We were all playing cards and decided it was time for bed, all was well and 5 mins later my Aunt is in the bathroom- it had begun. It also spreads like wildfire... taking down it's victims quickly. At Christmas Sally had given it to me, who got it from Chris and I gave it to Nick, Clark and Teresa. So the next night at the cabin I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and found my mom in the bathroom. I think the only reason Austin and I didn't get it was cause I already had it and then gave Austin my immunity through breast milk- see that breastfeeding has come in handy! So for the next 2 days my poor mom was so tired and weak and I tried to take care of her while keeping a distance. Austin and I entertained each other in good ol' Cedar!

So there it is. I did have a wonderful vacation, despite the mishaps and I thought I would share.

Utah Vacation

Nick and I recently had our first "vacation" together as a family.....lets just say we learned lots of things to help make our future vacations go smoother. I will first start with all the great, fun things that happened while on vacation and then we can go over a few of the um... mishaps. We flew in Tuesday together into Salt Lake and went straight from the airport to visit our friends Lisa & Brandon. It was so great to see them, they adopted a little baby about a month after Austin was born and quickly found out that she was pregnant as well. She is due this November, so her babies will be 8 months apart!! She couldn't have looked cuter with the little belly and Nick and I are so excited for them.

We then headed down to stay with Houston and Cristina in Orem for the remainder of the week in Utah. Wednesday Nick left super early and I didn't see him until Friday afternoon because he spent the week in Salt Lake golfing with his brothers. During that time I got to spend time with so many great friends and family that I have missed so much. I spent a whole day with Janey, which was so much fun it actually made me sad I lived in Texas. Our babies played together on the floor, rolling into each other and laughing really hard. It was the most adorable thing ever. We then went to Wal Mart to visit all the old friends and co-workers and then headed to the famous Cafe Rio for a late lunch. The talking and laughing was non-stop, which made me super sad to leave that evening. I miss you Janey!!!!

I spent the nights at home with Stina, which was so much fun!! I don't think we have had one on one girls time in a really long time, which was pretty much what we did all of senior year. So every evening she would send Houston on his way to work and I would get Austin down and in bed, then it was just us! She introduced to me some really great 80's movies, which made it even better to watch their horrible clothes and hairstyles. We had sonic runs, popcorn and fun chats- once they move down here we can start making it a tradition and leave the babies with the boys!

An old Prom pic of Stina, Halie and I!

Another day was spent with Julie, who I miss so so much. Stina, Julie and I all went to Zupas for lunch but had to drop Stina off to school right after. During that time Julie and I ran errands together and went to her apartment. It was so much fun to see her again and have fun like how things were when we lived together. The summer before I got married Julie and I lived together, worked together, had the same gym membership and when we weren't doing those things we were either swimming or shopping together. It was some of my fondest memories at BYU. It was so great to catch up with her and I can't wait to see her soon!

I also got to see Kylie, Kevin & HolliJo and some other close friends, I miss them all! I wish I could have spent more time with Houston but with him working overnights it was a bit harder. He was really sweet with Austin and I while we stayed. He always wanted to hold and play with Austin and always offering to make me food because he knows I love his great cooking. I finally saw Nick again on Friday afternoon, he met up with Stina and I in Park City to do a little shopping, which brings me to my first memorable story. As Stina and I were walking through Nine West I had Austin sitting in his stroller...unbuckled. Now don't judge me because he has been so little and not wiggly but recently he has been changing and wanting to move more. Anyways- I was pushing the stroller and Austin was whining and then all the sudden the stroller got really light. I looked forward and Austin had fallen to the floor in the middle of Nine West and to make me feel even more embarrassed and worse, we were surrounded by a group of people. Stina still claims that no one noticed, but I think she is trying to make me feel better. It was a good lesson for me to not leave him unbuckled and Austin was fine- just felt pretty stupid.

That night we met his roommates for dinner but also got to see some of the Butler clan- John, Emma, Josh, Jake and all the babies on the way! John kept calling Austin "Victor" or "Vic" because he thinks he looks like my dad- don't know how I feel about that.... So after seeing Mandy Saturday morning I was on my way to Cedar with Nick to join me the next Tuesday.

Cedar city was great to spend time with the family and Forrest came down to join us for that week. The guys played golf and helped my dad with some moving things, while my mom and I shopped and took care of Austin. My mom loves Austin and says she thinks he is going to be smart because he has a "big frontal lobe." I am pretty sure she doesn't even know what the frontal lobe does, so I just take it that Austin has a big forehead and we need to teach Austin that Grandma will always say "funny" things. :) We just loved spending time with the family, eating great food, seeing movies and being away from the norm. Fo, Nick and I saw The Dark Night, which was really good. My mom also said she "didn't like that movie because it was dark and reminder her of hell."Anyways, by the end of the week Forrest was gone, Nick was catching a flight and my dad was on his way to Houston. My mom and I spent the next with lots of girl plans. We went up to Brianhead to my Aunt's cabin for a girls weekend with my cousins and grandma too. We all made blankets, ate food, played games, watched movies and acted very unlady-like. It was great. Then my mom and I headed to Vegas for some shopping and family time, then caught a flight home a few days early!

Here is a 5 generation pic- we couldn't get my Great-Grandma to smile.

Fun Memories

Just came across this from my friend's blog and thought it sounded like fun! Give it a shot!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot...anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :)

...and stay posted for some great stories from our Utah vacation!

Happy 4th!

I just can't believe that the 4th of July has already come and gone! In my head that means we are a week and a half away from my Utah vacation, a few months from fall AND half way to Christmas! I would have to say that fall is my favorite season because I just love the change of weather, colors and embarrassingly enough- wardrobe! I think fall to winter clothes are the cutest with all the fun jackets, dark colors and jeans with boots- don't get me started!

Back to 4th of July- Nick and I had so much fun this year with a FULL day of fun activities. I had to wake up early and start making 2 Texas Sheet Cakes. I don't know if you have ever had Texas Sheet Cake but it is extremely good, just don't ask how many sticks of butter or cups of sugar goes into it! Nick helped me make the sheet cakes, which was a treat because it is rare for him to be in the kitchen baking. After they cooled we took one of the cakes and Austin to our neighbors house for a craw fish boil. We just chatted for a bit and let people tell us how cute Austin was and then we were on our way to the BBQ and Nancy Weaver's house. We always have fun at Nancy's house and they always have the best food and activities. Laura was in town, so it was fun to see her and other couples like Rob & Jess, Brodie & Jennika, Brent & Kelly, Jake & Sabrina (the Nielsen's cousins) and all the little kids running around. Rob and Paul spent most of the day cooking up some good food like brisket, sausage, chicken and Nancy made all the great sides. Nick and I had to restrain ourselves from eating because we had originally made plans with Chris and Sally for that night- it was really hard! Everyone went swimming and I got a few fun pictures of the boys trying to catch things off the diving board.

Brodie and Brent

After a few hours at the Weavers we left to spend the rest of the evening with Chris and Sally, which is always fun. We ended up going out to dinner to Olive Garden and was so nice because the place was dead! Katelyn sat by me at dinner and kept my attention on her with random stories and funny comments. She dared me to eat the yellow peppers that come in the salad but I told her only if she took a bite and that girl can take a dare! Their kids are super picky so I thought I got myself out of eating that sick pepper but I looked over and Kate took a bite out of it and handed it to me! I just couldn't get out of it now- it was pretty sick. After dinner we headed out to Chris and Sally's undiscovered PERFECT spot for fireworks- I'm not going to say where it was so it stays that way! But the fireworks were literally right above our heads and the babies did so well! Austin just watched them all and I have to admit, I covered my ears a few times because we were so close. Here are some pictures from the night...

A picture of Austin laughing at Kate and Peyton running and slamming into each other. He must like violence because he laughs when they hit each other or Peyton is swinging his bat- I am not sure what to think about it all and his laugh is so adorable.

Nick and Austin enjoying the show.

Kate was a little freaked out and Peyton brought his elephant.

Overall it turned out to be a great day with our friends and family. It is fun to start making new traditions for our own little family!

Nick's Out of Town

Nick had to go out of town this last week for some training in Ohio and I was pretty upset when he left on Sunday. I hate when he leaves me, I guess I am not much of a loner. I figured that I would spend most of the week hangin out with Austin here at the house- I hate to make Nick feel bad but I had so much fun. I spent the whole week away from home hanging out with friends and family. My sister-in-law is in town with her four kids and my best friend Sara came home this week, so they kept me pretty busy. I spent many days at the pool with the kids and found out that Austin loves the water! I have this floaty for him and he just leans back with his arms propped up on each side wearing hat and sunglasses- not even a whine for over an hour, it was pretty entertaining! When we weren't swimming we would hang out with Ruthie and the kids, where Austin stayed amused with his cousins. We even stayed the night at Clark's house one night so Ruthie, Teresa, Lisa and I could have a girls movie night after we put Austin down- I loved chatting with Ruthie late into the night!

I think one of my favorite days was when Sally and I decided to run some errands together with ALL the kids- there were defiantly moments of "what were we thinking". Just imagine- in her Armada we had Kate and Peyton in booster seats in the way back of the car with Austin and Brooklyn's car seats in the bucket seats, plus strollers. Mine didn't fit into the back with her double stroller so we had to squeeze it on the floor between the two car seats, which had to be moved for Kate and Peyton to get out of the car. It was even better when it randomly started pouring as we walked out of Target and had to load all the kids and babies into the car as fast as possible- let's just say no one stayed dry. It turned out to be really fun though and her kids are so adorable, constantly saying the cutest things.

The last highlight of the week was spending time with Sara. I hadn't seen her since Christmas, so we had so much to catch up on. She hadn't even met Austin yet! We went out to dinner together and she spent the night with Austin and I at the house. From the time I picked her up at 6pm to when I dropped her off late the next afternoon we were just talking away. She is one of those friends that know you so well there isn't anything you can't share and no matter how long you go without speaking, nothing is different. I wish she could stay here longer cause I miss spending time with her!

Just a cute picture of Austin getting tangled in his blanket during tummy time.

Father's Day

So this is a bit late for a Father's Day post, but I have been wanting to do one all week! I was pretty bad this year cause I sent my dad a card in the mail that didn't even get to him on time and all the gifts Nick got he bought himself. But I am so very grateful for the Dads in my life- my Dad and now Nick! I grew up with the greatest Dad there is, who fondly referred to me as his Hugmuffin till this day. My dad has this dominant personality that often leads people to believe he is a bit hardcore and hard to talk to, but he is the biggest softy I have ever met who sends me really corny text messages and calls me often to say he loves me. He always makes me feel really important, I couldn't ask for a better Dad. Then there is Nick, who is such a good father and surprises me everyday. He is always so willing to do anything to help me out when he comes home from work that involves Austin. He always gives him his nightly bath and I love to listen to them "talk" to each other. I love that he will argue with me over who gets to pick Austin up from a nap because he loves how Austin cuddles. And most of all I love that when Austin falls asleep Nick can't help but give him a few extra goodnight kisses with an 'I love you'. He is so great. Here is the card he got. It spells out Happy Father's Day with golf greens- I thought it was cute!

So for Father's Day I gave Nick some golf stuff- you can't go wrong. We had found a bunch of nice golf shirts at Marshall's and Nick got like 4, so I said that 2 of them would be for Father's Day. Well I had also planned to buy him a magazine subscription and possibly something else until he came home from work that week with a rather interesting comment. "Julie, I accidentally won a putter on ebay today." Well, it just so happened to be the putter he really, really wanted and been talking about for months and he somehow accidentally won it on ebay. I wasn't really sure how this could be labelled an accident- you bid on it with the intention to win the auction, which he did. And he just looked so upset and heartbroken about it- NOT. I sarcastically answered that it was probably best to cancel his ebay account because I would hate for ebay to accidentally win him another golf club that we would pay for. Honestly, I really didn't care cause Nick really never buys anything for himself and he is so strict with money that I figure if he thinks we can afford it, we can. I like for him to have things that he loves. So when the putter arrived I tortured Nick and refused to let him open it until Father's Day (which was all of 1 day away) but on Saturday night at midnight he convinced me to let him open his presents. You can only guess we went to bed late that night cause I had to sit in the living room watching him practice with the new putter.

Here he is with the new shirts and putter that has a little bow tied around it.