Halloween festivities

 Logan's talented mom did some amazing costumes for the kids this year. They picked what they wanted to be several months ago, and she has been working on them since then. She sent them the package of costumes last week, and they couldn't wait to open it and try them on. Leah even got a Jasmine wig and matching crown to match her outfit. And Cameron wore his Batman costume for several days straight.

Logan finally went in to the eye doctor and got a new prescription for a stylish pair of glasses and contacts. 

For Family Home Evening this week, we baked some Halloween sugar cookies and let the kids frost them. They thought it was so much fun to decorate them with little candy eyes and sprinkles.

 And last of all, Leah carved her pumpkin at school with her class, and I got to volunteer to help them weigh and measure their pumpkins as well as pull out all the seeds. I had mild contractions that whole day from all the activities we did but I didn't want to miss Leah doing this with her class. It's too bad I left my phone in the class room when they went outside and didn't get any pictures of them working on the pumpkins. Cameron had fun watching the kindergarten class carving their pumpkins and was excited when Logan carved his pumpkin today. And we finally got some colder weather this weekend so I had to make Cameron put on some pants and a long sleeved shirt even though he was adamantly against it.

Austin Zoo trip

Last  Saturday we went to the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary thanks to a Groupon that I bought a couple of months ago. I had been waiting for the weather to finally cool off and we couldn't have picked a better morning to go. The zoo had lots of fun fall and Halloween decorations around the zoo which made it extra fun. The best part was that Logan was able to come with us. He has been quite busy with school starting this fall and his multiple part-time jobs so finding a free day with him was heaven for the kids. 

The Austin Zoo is not super fancy or big but I love going and seeing these animals that have been rescued or given to the zoo because they were no longer being taken care of. And you can really see the animals up close.

They wanted to take a silly picture with this duck. 

Leah looks like she was zoning out in front of the bear building, and Cameron wanted to do his classic head bent to the side when I'm taking pictures. 

This was Logan's first time to the zoo and the kids' and my second time there, and he had fun looking at the animals with the kids. 

    

Cameron has always liked tigers and lions since he was little and his favorite animals at the zoo were these beauties. It was fun to actually see them up walking around since most of the time they are lying down taking a nap.

We were amazed that this enormous Yorkshire big at the zoo. He probably outweighed all four of us. 

The zoo has peacocks and chickens that roam around the zoo all by themselves, and Leah thought it was cool when they flew up to the top of this fence. 

This is what I got from Cameron when I pulled my camera out to take a picture. He is quite the character.

The cute bear was sitting right up to the fence when we came by his enclosure like he almost wanted to have a conversation with us. 

We saw this mother peacock with her cute chicks following next to her around the zoo.

The kids' favorite part of the zoo is at the barnyard area where you can feed the goats, llamas, sheep and deer some food. I showed Cameron how to hold out his hand flat so the animals could eat from his hand but some of the time, he just kind of threw the food to them because he was scared they would bite him.

He got the hang of it towards the end. 

   

The only bad part of our outing at the zoo was when we tried to sit down the picnic tables behind Leah in this picture, and there were a bunch of wasps flying around our food. The kids were getting freaked out about it so we kept trying to change spots. We couldn't see to find an open place without the wasps so we ended up taking our sack lunches to eat them in the car.

 Another fun part of the day was finding a frozen yogurt shop called Froyoyo in Southwest Austin and stopping to grab some. The kids loved picking out a flavor to share and putting the toppings on it. It reminded me a lot of where we used to live in Utah where the frozen yogurt shops were all over the place.

Leah's field trip - Crowe's Nest Farm

 Leah and her cute little kindergarten class got to ride the bus to the Crowe's Nest Farm last Friday for their first field trip. Cameron and I along with our good friends, Amanda and Brandon, decided to meet the group there to tour the farm. Even though it doesn't look like from any of the photos, Cameron had a good time hanging out with Leah and her friends and seeing all the animals. He just wasn't in the mood to smile. Leah paired up with her cute friend, Danica, who I have heard a lot about from Leah. She couldn't go any where without keeping track of Danica and seeing everything together.

Cameron was telling me about the big ugly bug in this picture and saying how yucky it was. Along with this bug, we saw tarantulas, snakes, lizards, and turtles  inside the barn and watched a video about how the farm got started and what they do there.

Cameron listened very well to the directions from the farm workers who said to keep their hands behind their backs while looking at the animals because you don't want to get your hands bitten off. He is normally a very hands-on boy so I was happy that he would follow the directions.

He also looked like he fit in with the kindergarten class with how tall he is now. He's not even four yet, so that will tell you something.

 This is where we sat and listened to Farmer Eric tell us about their dairy cow, Bella, and how the milk machine vacuums the milk from the cows' udders and stores it in a big container. I don't know why Cameron was frowning but he enjoyed the demonstration too.  Maybe he was a little jealous that Leah was paying attention to her friend.

 We got to see these longhorn cattle up close and we were told that the big bull was the daddy of all the calves born on the farm.

 This was a big highlight of the tour where we got to see the dairy cow, Bella, and her one-day-old calf.

 We also got to ride on a hay ride to see other animals in the fields including ostriches and bison. Another mom snapped a picture of us, and I was so glad to have a picture of us in our matching Shark shirts.

 Leah's favorite part of the farm was this section called Faerie Wood where they had little statues and displays of all kinds of fairies in the trees, in little villages. It seemed so magical to all the little girls from  her class.

 My only complaint of the field trip was that the group had to get back to the school by noon for other moms to pick up their kids, and I wished we could have stayed longer there. They had so many fun farm animals like pigs, chickens, goats, llamas, mules, and miniature ponies just to name a few. I think we might have to go back another day to spend more time there.

Conference weekend

 My sister Angie, her husband Evan and their adorable 6-month-old baby Aubrey came to visit October 6-7 from Houston to stay the weekend with us. We were so excited to have them visit and to watch the LDS General Conference Broadcast in the comfort of our own home. It's a chance to hear from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, and many other church leaders as they provide counsel, teachings, encouragement, and loving words spoken with the spirit of the Lord. It always gives me the inspiration to be a better mother, daughter, wife, sister and servant in my community.

 Since the kids are a little older, they were able to sit quietly through the majority of the speakers, and I hope they also felt the importance of listening to the prophet and centering our lives around Jesus Christ.

We loved having Angie and her cute little family in our home. My kids love their Aunt Angie and Uncle Evan and spent time playing with them, sitting on their laps and showing them around our house. The cold and windy weather that weekend made it feel just like fall, and the kids loved playing with Evan and Angie outside in the backyard. They also loved playing with Aubrey and her toys on the floor since she was rolling around. Aubrey was also fascinated with watching them as well. My sister even made us yummy freezer meals that we can eat when our baby is born. It was so nice of her to think of us and also bring some cute onesies for the baby. 

 They had to drive back to Houston on Sunday afternoon after lunch to get home in time for Aubrey's bed time, and we were sad to see them leave so soon. But we were so glad they made the effort to come and visit us.

That night Logan and Leah decided to bake a chocolate cake together, and she loved every minute working with her dad. She even read the recipe to him and got all the ingredients out. I love that he takes the time to do such special things together with them in the kitchen. The cake turned out delicious and didn't stay on our counter much longer that week. 

Three weeks before baby #3

Wow, it's a blog post. It's been about a year since the last one. I post so much on Facebook that I really didn't feel the need to blog as well. But here we are. I thought I would write a little about what it's been like to be pregnant with my third child, mainly for my own record and posterity.

When we moved to Texas for Logan to start school, I knew I wanted to add another child to our family. Logan had been a little hesitant in the past because we weren't sure of what our future would be with his job and going back to school. So when things settled down eventually, we decided that it was time to try again.

I knew I was pregnant in February but we didn't really say much to our families for a little while. We actually waited until my parents came down to Austin for a visit to tell them and to tell our kids in person. I think I was 3 or 4 months pregnant already. They were all so excited! The kids' reaction was great because they started looking at me different and rubbing my belly. Leah was especially excited because she had been wanting another baby in our family for the last year or so. 

I felt the usual tiredness and sick to my stomach feeling in the first trimester but I am lucky enough not to throw up or feel too awful. We found out we were having a baby boy at the end of June and got to tell the news to Logan's family while we visited them in Utah in July.

Cameron was so happy to find out it was a boy, and Leah was a good sport about it even though she wanted a sister. I know they will both be great older siblings and helpers when he is born.

The worst part of the pregnancy was making it through the incredibly hot days of the summer. The only thing that made it bearable was going swimming with friends each week and staying inside the house on most days.







Overall I've been blessed to have a healthy pregnancy, and on most days I have the energy to get most everything done that I need to. I feel bigger with this pregnancy than the last two, but at least I'm still strong enough to cook, clean and take care of the kids.

 It is harder to get down and play with the kids on the floor or wrestle like we used to. But I'm sure I will have plenty of time for that later. The best part is just talking with the kids about having another baby, and they love to tell all their friends and neighbors about it. Leah loves to ask me questions and feel the baby's movements. She will be a wonderful mother some day. She has been practicing taking care of her baby doll and stuffed animals for a long time.