Jensen's first ice cream cone...
"Bubbles, bubbles everywhere but not a drop to drink"...or at least I tried to get Jensen not to drink this troth full of bubbles! This was at the Science Center and the boys were covered in bubbles by the time we left - what a great bathtime they had when we got home - they were the bubbles.
We went to the Science Center here for the first time the other day - thanks to some great friends. Luke examined this snake to make sure it was real - he was pretty hesitant at first.
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A good friend bought me a little birthday cake for my birthday. It came in the packaging you see on Jensen's head. Yeah...it had a lot of sugary frosting on it...
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Luke is a superstar on his basketball team - go owls! I am basically the only parent that claps and cheers during the games. I like to cheer Luke on as he's running in no particular direction all over the court. It's hilarious! These kids have no idea what they're doing. The rim is 6 ft. tall and it's so cute to watch these kids try to make it! Mostly they just run in whatever direction "coach" tells them. Once I yelled out to Luke from the stands, "Get the ball, Luke." I didn't even think he could hear me. Apparently he could because he ran right up to a little girl, who happened to be his teammate, and grabbed the ball right out of her tiny hands. This guy is for reals about his sports.
Austin was planning to do an FHE on his mission and the importance of missions, etc. So he decided to make a Chilean dinner for us including main dish and salads to go along with his lesson. He made "completos" - the complete hot dog - a dream dinner come true, as you can see on Jensen's face in the background...
Jensen got this cool shopping cart from Mom Kramer. It's got so many uses!
The boys absolutely LOVE the capes mom made them of Batman and Superman. Though they have never seen a cartoon about these "superheros" so they claim Superman is a really bad guy and Batman saves the day.
After the votes were counted, the winners for hottest sister starting with the all time hottest at the top of the stairs: Heather followed by Bethany, Haley, Ashley and Cassidy (6th and 7th place winners Whitney and Sarah are not pictured)
We went on a fun hike while in Idaho for Christmas. Austin of course brought his new machine BB gun. He literally had to hide it when we were near civilization because it looks real!
Best picture of all time for Haley. Talk about "bad pictures of good people." Thank goodness Greg already proposed...
I'm not sure who this picture is of...can't quite recognize the person...
I know, what happened to the rest of mom? Seriously, she's lost a ton of weight and looks wonderful and is so happy. But true to most of the pictures in her life, she does of course have a monster cold sore in this picture.
Pretty much the cutest cougar fan.
On Christmas break, we were able to see some of our great friends in Idaho - the Montanos! It was short but so fun! We are excited to see other friends this summer!
Go Cougs! Luke and his cute cousin Grace - BFF! Luke wore this to the NHL game that he and Austin went to in Dallas, as they missed the end of the BYU vs. Utah victory! Austin is addicted to the Tampa Bay Lightning and many of our vacations are planned around going to one of their games. Boston, here we come!
We let Jensen take the wheel on the way home from our Texas Thanksgiving party. He really is a good driver - Dillon and Cassidy should take lessons from him!
Thanksgiving was tons o fun at Justin and Kelsey's. They are the perfect hosts and every part of the trip was a blast! Haley and Bethany's family came too. Haley was the favorite aunt reading to 6 nieces and nephews.
For Austin's birthday, Austin's mom got him this incredible diploma frame! He was so excited! It really is beautiful and classy. It will look perfect in his future podiatrist office. But for the time being, it doesn't quite fit in with my diploma's frame which was $2 from WalMart.
Jensen is getting taller and his fine motor skills are getting better, so Luke is having to be more creative with the stuff he doesn't want Jensen to touch. Luke has started using the refrigerator as his personal space. At first, he stuck a car or two in there on the bottom shelf. These were his favorite cars that he didn't want Jensen to even think about touching. Next it was some candy, then he added some spoons and now he's sticking his favorite junk mail on the top shelf! Just a little out of control.
We had a crazy ice storm last week. When we moved here, people warned us of them. I couldn't imagine what an "ice storm" was: rain that froze as soon as it hits something because it's so cold? Why not just snow? Anyway, it was crazy and cool. Everything was covered in ice including side walks, patios, trashcans, you name it. Icicles were hanging from everywhere and coated everything. They froze power lines and left over 28,000 people without power. We lost power for a few hours.
This is a picture of the antenna on the truck. So bizarre.
Hey, I have never claimed to have any artistic ability whatsoever - so yeah, I'm pretty proud of this cake. It does in fact say "29 Happy Birthday Austin" though you can't really tell so much. Also, Luke spent half an hour putting on 29 candles, plus 2 "decorative" ones. Incidentally, the decorative ones must have been soaked in gasoline or something because they went up in flames right away, leaving wax all over the prize winning cake. If you like frosting with an inch of candle wax on it - you would've LOVED my cake!
This was Luke's reaction to Austin's masterpiece of a "Herbie car" birthday cake. I hate to remember the way Austin reacted when I presented my birthday creation to him. The words disappointment and embarrassment come to mind. I like to leave plenty of room for improvement.
