26

26 weeks pregnant on my 26th Birthday!

 Kelsey's Birthday is the 14th so we wanted to do something fun together to celebrate and decided to load up the kids and do a day trip to Fredericksburg. Its a little German town with tons of shops and restaurants. The kids lasted about two hours of walking around and we had fun going in and out of the shops. We decided to hit up frozen yogurt and skip the sit down meal for Mcdonalds on the way home ;)

 Saturday Brads Dad happened to be in town. He took Jaxon on a Grandpa date to Panda Express (Jaxons favorite) and to HEB to get ice cream after. It was nice of him to take Jaxon so Brad and I could enjoy a date night. We went to a new place called the General Public that is a farm to table American small bar/restaurant.  It was so good! Brad got the steak sandwich and I had the Ribeye. As we got there they have a tradition of handing out free shots at sunset on Saturdays and since we didn't want the free shots they gave us a free soda instead! Free Dr. Pepper..yes please ;)

My actual birthday was Sunday. I felt really special and was spoiled by a few people at church including a few favorite coloring pages/ birthday cards from my primary class. That afternoon Brad cooked up a sushi dinner buffet with tempora, miso soup, and a few rolls. We had our friends the Beans and Cooks over for cake and Jaxon enjoyed helping sing and blow out the candles! It was a great day and I felt very special...25 was a growing year and I look back on it and I am proud and happy with everything we accomplished. I am excited for what this next year has in store and have a feeling it will be great!! :)

Fall

We really have loved living in Texas. We love being in a big city with lots of things to do and places to eat. We love the friends we've made and the pride our state has. We've loved the winters and enjoying the parks and pools throughout the year, however; with all that being said.. Fall in Texas is just sad. Every September and October I get depressed over the humidity and heat and just want to put a sweatshirt and jeans on. Every Halloween sneaks up on us because it literally feels like it should be the 4th of July outside. It was my absolute favorite time of year through college and living in Logan and so it's always is a little depressing to see peoples pictures at football games or hiking through the fall leaves while I'm packing two water bottles for Jax to go to the park because I'm worried about him getting dehydrated. After 3 years you'd think we'd be more used to it, but for now Fall is still our least favorite season here in TX.

Here are some pictures and updates from the last few months. 

Thursday walking group...Love my mom friends! 

Date nights with Craig and Kelsey. Lisa gave us some free coupons for Melting Pot dessert so we enjoyed ourselves. Craig insisted on being in on of our pictures lol

Warm October night popsicles!

 I love lazy mornings when Jaxon comes in bed with me. Sometimes he wants to cuddle but most of the time he just wants to jump on me and be tickled ;). The second picture cracks Brad up.. I sent it to him in class one day. So, I love to take baths! Every once in awhile I set up the ipad and watch a show and soak in the tub while Jax is napping, and when I'm feeling extra special I bring a snack up lol.

Watching our favorite Sea World show, Pets Ahoy! Also it's inside so it's a nice air conditioned break when you're walking around in the heat.

I started babysitting two girls, Nova and Avalon, a day or two a week while their mom works. It has been really good for Jaxon and we have really enjoyed having them around.

We had a rough month or so coming out of constant shows and treats while I was sick the first trimester. I had a meltdown after church one week wondering where my happy boy was and who was this terrible toddler that replaced him. Part of it is just growing up and being an independent little boy, and part of it was that we needed to get back into a routine. We made cookies to go and apologize to his nursery leaders, and had to start leaving play dates as soon as he would act out. We even took a fast from TV shows for a while, but after a month, he started to act better and to listen and obey. Sometimes this mothering thing is hard work, with long unrewarded days, but then I look at pictures like this and I don't want to wish away this age. He is a sweet boy with a wild personality, but that is exactly what makes him our perfect little Jaxon.

 Fall means Tot-School is back on. The class is a little older this year, which has made it easier and more time consuming at the same time. I love thinking of fun activities to do and Jaxon absolutely loves it and looks forward to his friends coming each week.

Quilts I made for baby Vivian and Clark

Kelsey and I threw a shower for Emily before her twins came in October. Emily and Richard waited a long time for these sweet babies and it was fun to celebrate her with all our friends.

Last girl's night out before the twins arrived! 

 Jaxon proud of his cucumber that grew in the garden, and working on his chore chart. I've said it before but Jaxon and his dad are both a little OCD haha and he seriously loves this kind of thing and really does do his jobs and enjoys moving them down each day.

Our friend went into labor late on a Saturday night and I had offered to take their toddler when that happened. You can tell Jaxon was really excited to see his friend Nora at our house Sunday morning when he woke up! ;)

Last two pictures are fun with Dad. One day, Brad text me he was on his way home so we sat in the front yard and waited for him. When he got back he let Jaxon jump on the motorcycle for a ride around the block. Jaxon was more freaked out than having fun and when I sent the picture to Brad's mom she agreed that Jaxon shouldn't be doing that haha. Maybe when you're older buddy. We stumbled upon the Home Depot Kids Club one Saturday morning and it was so fun. They do different projects the first Saturday of each month and we are definitely going to try and start going. Jaxon had a great time making a wood helicopter.

Halloween 2016

I couldn't decide what to do for Jaxon this year for Halloween. He probably would have liked one of those superheros or ninja turtles with the costumes from SAM's, but Brad was really excited when he had the idea for him to be Nacho Libre. Our friends were over when he thought of it and it made us all crack up thinking of Jaxon as Nacho so the next day when I was at Walmart it seriously just all came together. There were the perfect teal leggings in the little girl section for $3 and a plain adult red T-shirt for $2 in the craft section. I made the cape, underpants, and knee pads out of the red shirt and finished his outfit off with red socks we already had and $2 black hair color spray! Overall a total easy success. Brad convinced me Jaxon was fine without a shirt and he definitely had the personality to pull it off ;) He made a lot of people smile and laugh when they saw him and proudly yelled "Nachooooooo!" when they asked who he was.

The tot school Halloween party is always fun. They all get to dress up and I plan lots of fun activities and games including a small pre -trick or treating to some of the houses in our neighborhood.

We love going to library time on Mondays. This was our third year of going to the special Halloween theme library time. They read Halloween books and dance to spooky songs and at the end they get to trick or treat around the library.

Brad had to be at school late on Halloween, but when he got home we enjoyed our dinner in a pumpkin that Jaxon helped me make. Afterwards we went and hit up a trunk or treat at the local Christian church across from the library and a few houses. Jaxon had a great time and really enjoyed Halloween this year. His dad and I are still not big fans, but overall it was a fun week, seeing Jax so excited.

Brad turns 28!

Ever since August when Sammy turned 3, Jaxon has been very interested in birthdays and everything that goes along with them. He was really excited to know his dad's birthday was coming up, and so even if Brad doesn't love to be spoiled on his birthday, we made him, for the sake of Jaxons happiness ;). On Friday night we had a group of friends over and celebrated with cake and hanging out.

We decided to take a trip to Austin for Brad's Birthday. We went to visit the Hydes before they move in November one last time. That morning Brad opened up a few small gifts and we sang and had a good breakfast. On the way to Austin we stopped at the outlets in San Marcos and got Brad some new shoes at the Nike store. In Austin we went to Black's BBQ (so good!!) and Gourdough's for dessert. That night we all went to the UT volleyball match! This has been on our bucket list and was a fun match to watch. UT is always ranked in the top 5-10 teams and it was cool to watch such a good team and see a gym full of volleyball fans ;)

That morning during breakfast, we Facetimed with Brad's mom. She told Jaxon that she waited a long time for Brad to join their family and that she was so happy when he was born and that he has a special place in her heart. I've heard Teresa say something like this a lot. I know it took them a long time to have another baby and that Brad was a special blessing they had waited for. This year when she said it though it made me tear up and really hit my heart. I'm so grateful Brad came exactly when he did. God has a special plan for all of us, and although it's not all clear sometimes our trials can bless the lives of others later. I'm so lucky Brad was born exactly when he was, that our paths crossed and that he is in my life. I get to be married to my favorite person and best friend. Happy Birthday Brad!! We LOVE you!

General Conference

Brad LOVES doughnuts. They are one of his all time favorite treats. I've surprised him by making a few recipes but they never taste as legit as fried doughnuts or the kind you'd get from a doughnut shop. Anyway, we like to try making new things and he mentioned maybe 6 months ago how he wanted to start a tradition of Fast Sunday doughnuts. lol I was like we already make Pizza almost once a week I don't know if we should be making doughnuts once a month, but he seemed really excited about the idea. We decided this General Conference that we would make it a tradition, to make real fried homemade doughnuts for General Conference weekend. We bought a deep fryer, some good ingredients, then watched a few YouTubes and tried it out. We made an old fashioned recipe and a regular yeast rising recipe and they both turned out pretty amazing (he might have me on the fast Sunday thing lol) We took a plate around to a few houses in our neighborhood to share the goodness!

On Friday and Saturday we worked on our bathroom tile project and we have officially finished both bathrooms and are pretty dang proud of ourselves.  

I wish I could upload the video of him falling asleep painting his spider
...lol He loves little art projects

We had FHE that week and talked about what was going to happen with General Conference. Jaxon has the kind of personality like Brad's, that as long as he is warned well in advance many times about what is going to happen he's fine with it. He's not super spontaneous, lol, and when things don't go according to plan he gets a little worked up. Anyway he was really excited to use his magnet board and find all the Apostles and President Monson when they spoke. One of my favorite moments was when the rest hymn was "I am a child of God." He jumped off the couch with so much excitement as it was "his song" and he sang his little heart out. Another highlight was when they scanned the temple and he jumped up and proudly pointed out "that is Captain Moroni" ..I didn't know he remembered that from when we talked about it in FHE a while ago and it made my mom heart so happy! 

I've always enjoyed General Conference, but it just felt like exactly what I needed this year. It was so nice to have a weekend at home with my boys doing simple things and listening to so many inspiring talks. I felt like there was so many things said that were exactly for me and my family. I know we really do have a living prophet and apostles on the earth today that are inspired to share what our Heavenly Father needs us to hear. I also know that we all have the power to personal revelation.