Like Old Times

New best buds.

 
My brother, Kyhle, came into town (he lives in Indiana) for a work conference! He spent the first part of the week at the conference and the last half visiting all of our family! We haven't seen him in years....and years. There is family drama and the long distance to blame for that :(.

It was so much fun to have him back! Each of my three brothers have their own unique personalities, but they are all big kids at heart and I love it! Kyhle spent Saturday and part of Sunday at our house before his flight left Sunday afternoon. It was short and sweet, and I was sad that we were sick because it made going out and doing fun things impossible, but we had fun anyway :).

My Mom, Grandma Wiegel, and Briana (plus her friend) came over to our house Saturday to hang out with Kyhle when he arrived. He didn't show up until that afternoon so us girls decided to get Starbucks, mani/pedis, and have some fun girl time while we waited. Then, once Grandpa Porter dropped Kyhle off, we ordered Buffalo Wild Wings take-out and had a yummy lunch while we got to know our brother again! We talked a lot.... basically most of the time. Then we went to the park, my family went home, Austin went to bed, and Kyhle talked me into running to the closest gas station and loading up on Junk food and Slurpees so we could pig out while we watched the UTAH football game! It was so much fun and reminded me of our childhood. We grew up in Logandale where nothing happens and there is nothing to do. So we used to save up our allowance, beg our parents to drive us down to the gas station, load up on junk food, and watch movies all night!

About to embark into our sugar coma!

Josh and I are lame adults now and haven't stayed up until midnight in years. It kicked our butts and the next morning we were all lagging. I wasn't in the mood to cook breakfast so Kyhle and I made a plan to drive to McDonald's to pick up breakfast and then made a pit stop at Krispy Kreme Donuts as well because Kyhle got really excited and claimed they don't have Krispy Kremes in Indiana. We ate yet another junk food meal, and then Josh and Kyhle played video games for a while. Josh never plays because I hate them so he normally has nobody to play with, along with the fact that it is hard to find the time to do anything you enjoy when Austin is around. Austin wanted to play too and wouldn't leave them alone so we gave him his own controller to play with to help him feel like he was a part of it. He was so cute to watch! He held his controller the same way they did and mimicked all of their moves :).

Learning how to win at Madden. Just kidding, Dad won! But it was a close second!

It's hard to see but Austin is standing in front of the other guys, holding his controller and mimicking all of their moves :).

Then we went for a walk around the neighborhood and ended up at the park. Kyhle was so cute with Austin and Austin had fun with his new playmate! Austin isn't used to serious rough housing which is something my brothers love to do, so he had to get used to that part. At first he was scared but once he figured out Kyhle was just playing, he followed Kyhle all around the house calling him "Dada" and wanted to play with him constantly! I wish my brothers lived closer because I know Austin would have so much fun with them....

These park pictures were taken the night before when we all took a stroll to the park before my family drove home. We didn't take any more pictures the second day. This is everyone playing the giant piano :).

Kyhle helping Austin tap the lights he couldn't reach. Our new park has some very modern toys and games... it's not your typical slide and swings. At first I thought it was ridiculous, but Austin likes it!

Teaching Austin how to play the piano.

We were sad to drop Kyhle off at the airport after his extremely short visit and hope he will be back soon! Maybe he will even bring his wife along next time?..... we can only hope!

Halloween 2014

Our Halloween was rough. It wasn't supposed to be that way though. In fact, we had Josh's Mom and Step-Dad over for a week and all sorts of Halloween plans were made! Sadly, illness struck and there was nothing we could do about it. We did get a few fun things in though before the disease fairy stopped by....

We went to the Outlet Mall to do a little window shopping, and then headed over to the Bass Pro Shop to see the fish!

The aquarium there is amazing!

We carved pumpkins. Austin just liked coloring with the pen...

Grandma and Grandpa with their pumpkin!

Austin stuck his hand inside the pumpkin once and refused to do it again (haha).

Hence why he made himself the honorary pen holder ;).

Scooping out the pumpkin guts! We had a scary moment when Janis stuck her hand inside her pumpkin and out came a bunch of cockroaches!! We women started screaming, Austin started crying, and the men started scrambling to catch the disgusting bugs! We threw our pumpkins away after that (haha).

Wearing Grandpa's hat!

Besides going out to eat a lot, that was basically all we did during their week long vacation here with us :(. On Halloween day, Austin woke up with a nasty cough. Janis and I went grocery shopping to prepare for the Halloween party I had planned later that night and left him home with the men. My Mom and sisters were coming over that night for trick-or-treating and we had our pumpkin bisque soup bowls and ham planned for dinner to carry on the tradition! When we got back from the store, Austin was a totally different kid. It was so scary! He had Croup and it had hit him HARD! Our baby could barely breathe and the coughing was terrible! It got to the point where his throat started closing off and he could barely get air through so we rushed him to the hospital. Well, I rushed him by myself and Janis/Steve met me there a while later. Josh suddenly wasn't feeling so good himself so he had to go lay down during the scary hospital drama! I was so so glad to have Janis and Steve there with me because it was so hard trying to keep it together by myself!

We waited in the Emergency Room for what felt like ages and meanwhile my child struggled with all his might to breathe. Once they finally admitted us to a room, he was given an Epi-treatment through a vaporizer and some oral steroids and then we sat in the hospital bed and waited. We waited and waited until his breathing finally started calming down and he fell asleep in my arms. I can't even describe the horror I was feeling. I laid there in that bed with my baby in my arms, praying that everything would be okay and that was basically all I could do! I hadn't eaten, drank, or gone to the bathroom all day and not even the pain in my bladder or the pregnancy nausea that was overpowering my stomach could get me to put that little boy down.

Our poor baby. Worst day of my life :(.

Steve told me to smile for the camera but I was sooooo beyond smiling! I was more on the verge of crying....

Later that evening we were cleared by the doctor to go home. His breathing still wasn't perfect but he wasn't gasping and shaking anymore so the doctor said he should be okay the rest of the night. We went home and the steroids seemed to really improve Austin's health. He was now just a sick kid with a bad cough. I went to work preparing dinner and My Mom and Sadie came over (Briana decided to hang with her friends). We had quite the feast with Sadie's homemade pumpkin bread and veggie platters, the cute pumpkin shaped bread bowls my Mom had brought, the huge ham Janis had bought, and my super yummy pumpkin bisque!

We didn't go trick-or-treating because we wanted to keep Austin warm and not overdo it, but we had some adorable trick-or-treaters come over to our house! The rest of our night consisted of eating A TON, handing out candy, and snacking on candy while we watched Beetlejuice (Josh's Halloween request).

That night was rough for Austin and possibly just as rough for Josh and I! Austin couldn't breathe whenever he laid down so sleeping was almost impossible and Josh ended up holding him all night long in our bed. Josh and I were both so worried he would stop breathing that we barely slept a wink.

Sleeping with Daddy.

We spent the next few days basically doing nothing while Austin was miserable. I had no desire whatsoever to cook with how exhausted I was, so we ate out or ordered take-out almost every meal. Each day Austin got worse and worse until Sunday night when he scared us out of our minds and we were headed back to the Emergency Room. The poor baby's throat closed off again and he couldn't breathe! His little chest was sucking in as hard as his muscles could work to get some air in but it wasn't adequate enough. He was pale, shaking, and when he coughed his breathing became non-existant. Then something strange happened! As we were on our way to the hospital, his breathing suddenly became better and he fell asleep in his car-seat! We pulled over on the side of the road and debated on what to do. Should we trust this and head back home? Or should we play it safe and get this kid some more hospital attention? He was sleeping so peacefully, so we turned the car around and came back home. Later on I realized that was probably the wrong decision because the struggle to breathe came back and we spent most of the night holding him outside in the cold air to keep his airway open. As soon as morning light came that next morning, we went over to the local Urgent Care and waited outside until it opened so we could be the first ones in line! The outside air did Austin a lot of good and he actually sounded a lot better that morning. The doctor didn't take any chances though and gave him another nebulizer treatment, along with a steroid shot and oral steroids to take home.

Although this was a horrible experience, it brought Josh and Austin even closer together. Normally, whenever Austin is sick, he wants his Momma and nothing to do with his Dad. This time, however, was a very different experience. He wanted his Daddy and nobody else! He would let me hold him if Josh wasn't in the room but that was it! He cried and cried for his Dad and would follow him around everywhere. Poor Janis and Steve didn't get to hold him at all because he wanted his Dad and only his Dad..... It was good for Josh because he got to experience my life for a little while and how demanding his son can actually be. He didn't get to eat, he didn't get to sleep without Austin laying on top of him, and he got the joy of trying to go to the bathroom with a screaming baby on the other side of the door, pounding for his attention. I'm not going to lie, I kinda liked it ;).

By the time Janis and Steve left that Tuesday, we were beyond exhausted. Neither Josh nor I had slept in days and the stress/anxiety of what we had gone through had put us through the ringer. Of course, with me being pregnant and going through all of this, I caught Austin's sickness. The ER doctor had warned me that it was an extremely contagious virus and there was a good chance I would catch it if I got too close to my son but nothing was going to stop me from holding him and giving him every ounce of attention he needed to survive. This sickness has been the worst I've gone through in a long, long time. I was weak, shaking with fever, coughing that horrible Croup cough, experiencing the painful sore throat that comes from the coughing and constant mucous drainage.... basically I've been miserable. Since I am pregnant, I haven't been able to take any medicine besides Tylenol. I've used Essential Oils and Vapor rub along with a vaporizer by the bed, but that was it. We have had so many wonderful friends in the ward bring by meals which was a major help since my cooking skills were out of commission. I was so grateful Josh hadn't started his new job yet so he could take care of both of us while we were ill.

On a lighter note, Halloween wasn't a total failure this year because we had gone trunk-or-treating the previous Saturday at the church! So Austin got to be an adorable little tiger and he was so good about holding my hand to each trunk and holding out his bag for candy! He tried eating every piece that went into his bag which was challenging but it was a good challenge :). We had invited Jura and Juliette to come with us (Adrien was working) which was a lot of fun! In our opinion, our little tiger and ladybug were the cutest baby costumes in the entire Ward! We are a little partial though ;) .....

Little tiger getting his whiskers on!

Mom getting the tiger ready to go!

We kept trying to take pictures and all Austin wanted to do was go play with the other kiddos....

The adorable tiger and ladybug!! They were so cute while we were taking pictures because she kept smiling at him and he kept holding her hand!

Come on guys, lets go!

Family photo! It suddenly got super windy that night so pictures were hard to take...

Our Ward is amazing and the night was a total success! We ate homemade chili and rolls, got lots of candy, and had a great time with friends :). I'm so glad we got an opportunity to at least have that memory so Halloween 2014 wasn't a complete downer!

Our INSANE October! It's long, but how many insane stories are short?

You know that feeling when life just seems to be too good? That irking thought in the back of your mind that something bad must be looming around the corner because the perfect life just isn't what you're used to? Well, we were both feeling it. Josh felt like someone must be about to die or he must be about to lose his job. My thoughts weren't quite as dramatic, but I was still feeling pretty uneasy nonetheless.

One morning I got a phone call. It was a Fresenius Clinic Manager (the company I previously worked for) who I was pretty good friends with and she wanted to offer me a job. I was shocked because I wasn't really wanting a job, but I was willing to listen to her offer. She literally went on for a good hour about what an amazing nurse I am and how she has been a nurse for over 20 years and has never seen anyone with the skills and insight that I have. Yes, I'll admit it, my peacock feathers were all puffed up at that point and I was even more willing to listen to her proposal. She wanted me to come back to work for Fresenius and help run one of their clinics. I told her I was flattered, but I would only go back to work if it was part time and had a set schedule so I could plan out babysitting. I explained to her the reasons why I had quit working and told her I didn't want to find myself in that situation ever again..... so she upped her offer. She told me she couldn't do part time, but she COULD give me 30 hours which could be split into two 16 hour shifts (they subtract an hour/day for breaks). She also said she could give me the set schedule I wanted which included a Saturday so I would only have to find babysitting ONE DAY A WEEK! I told her she had me at thirty hours and I would get back to her as soon as I worked it out with my husband.

Josh thought it was a great idea! He figured it would help ease the financial load since we have another baby on the way and he reminded me of how restless I've been getting being at home 24/7. I had to admit it, this staying at home all the time with no money to do anything fun or interesting is hard!! I would love to be crafty but have you checked the price tags at Michael's lately? I would also love to go to the gym every day but my son and growing baby are not so inclined.... so I have been struggling with finding happiness in the simple life. I love every minute of being at home with my son and seeing his beautiful face every day. Yet, at the same time, I don't feel like I have much of a personal identity and nothing to help me grow socially and intellectually. Does that make sense? So we decided to take a few weeks and think about it. You don't just make these kinds of decisions lightly!

That's when all the fears and panic set in. I was a complete stress case that entire time! I couldn't think about anything else! I couldn't talk about anything else! This major decision was the only thing occupying my brain at all times! I would wake up at 3am every morning in a complete panic! Where was all this coming from, you ask? Well, basically it was my emotional self who thought it wasn't right, fighting with my logical self, who thought it was the perfect opportunity! It didn't matter how hard I prayed, how long I pondered, how many scriptures I read, or what I felt in the temple.... I was one confused lady!

Then, Josh lost his job. His company was doing budget cuts and he was one of the lucky ones to be chosen for lay offs. As I sat on the phone, listening to him tell me that he was on his way home at 7:30am, I suddenly felt grateful for the job offer I had been given! Maybe this was a gift from God because he knew what was coming? For a brief minute it all seemed to make sense. Once Josh got home, we had a good two hours of depressed sitting, talking, and feeling like this can't possibly be happening to us again! I couldn't help but blame this on the pregnancy. After all, the last time I was twelve weeks pregnant, Josh lost his job too! Apparently there's something about the number twelve that is very bad luck for us. Then, Josh got a phone call! It was a company who has been trying to get Josh to work for them for months now but he just couldn't see taking a job that made less money than his current job. They were calling to see if by some chance he had changed his mind! He informed them that he was now unemployed and would love to hear what they had to offer, so they took him out for lunch and basically gave him a job! He still had to go in for an official interview and they wanted him to job shadow for a day, just to make sure it was something he would be truly interested in. So basically Josh had a 2.5 week vacation! The job sounded perfect for him, but like I previously mentioned, the pay wasn't as good. They increased their offer by $3,000 which was very generous but still didn't get me out of the need for a job.

It took me over a week before I could finally get a hold of the nurse manager who had offered me a position and sadly, once I talked to her, she had gone back on everything she had previously offered. It  was like she was a totally different person! She told me she would no longer give me 30 hours and that 40+ was the best she could do. She also said she wouldn't give me a set schedule and I would have to take turns working Saturdays with the other nurses. I was so mad but I couldn't show it because there was a good possibility that I would be desperately needing this job! So I politely reminded her that she was going back on everything she had promised me and I told her I was going to talk to another dialysis company and see if they could give me a better offer. Suddenly her tune changed and she begged me not to transfer to a different company! She told me to give her a few days and she would talk to her superiors and then get back to me. I waited, but I applied for those other jobs anyway! I wasn't about to just sit around and wait for her to decide my fate for me. Literally, the next day I got a call from DaVita which is the arch enemy of Fresenius. They told me they would be willing to hire me part time AND would give me the schedule I needed!!! Was I hearing this right? Could it be possible that I might actually get a shot at having the perfect job rather than taking the job that obviously wasn't going to make me happy?! I told DaVita that I had another job offer on the table and I needed them to move fast if they wanted to have me. They took me seriously and scheduled the interview for the next day! I forgot I had an OB appointment that day so I had to reschedule it for the day after that, which is today.

I went in today for my interview and it went really well, despite the fact that I am super sick and have laryngitis so I could barely talk and they could barely understand a word I was saying. I must have said something right though because they literally called me three hours later and hired me! So I now work part time as a dialysis nurse for DaVita in their float pool! I will do two twelve hour shifts a week and basically I get to choose whatever days I want those to be! To top it all off, because it's the float pool and there will be travel involved, they are going to pay me $6 more an hour than my previous job plus mileage reimbursement! Do you see how insane this is?! I just hope it's not too good to be true.... Oh and Fresenius called back and they are not willing to give into any of my needs so I basically thanked her for making this decision easy for me!

So now we both have jobs and they are actually turning out to be pretty awesome jobs! Not just jobs that we have to take because we are desperate. Oh and here's the really great part! My Mom put in her two weeks notice at the preschool she works at and is going to come back to babysitting for us! This makes me feel so much better about things because I hated the thought of having to send Austin off to someone else's house while his mother abandons him for work. I know that's probably not exactly how he would see it but that's how I felt whenever I thought about it! Hence the panic attacks that have been happening all month! Plus there's the fact that we will have a new baby joining us in April and I hated the thought of having to send my brand new baby to someone else's house, hoping they would give him/her the proper care a newborn needs. Thanks Mom! You're a life saver!!

I would love to say that this was the only craziness going on during the month, but sadly that just wouldn't be true.... It was like every time I answered the door, or picked up the phone I was getting some horrible news or something horrible was happening to my family! To spare the pages of writing it would take to give details, I'll make a list:

1) My Mother in law found out she might have breast cancer.... We are praying it's not true and are trying to stay optimistic until she finds out for sure.

2) My sister's boyfriend also found out he might have breast cancer and had a large lump surgically removed. I actually kinda hate him though so I wasn't really as devastated as I acted when she told me.

3) My step-brother and his wife lost their baby. This one hit too close to home and actually made me more depressed than it should have. I still feel the pain of losing my baby in July and it kills me that they have to experience that kind of sadness. They have struggled to have a child for years and thought that through IVF their dreams might have actually come true! To quote my step-dad, "Life is a bitch."

4) Josh's friend from high school committed suicide

5)  My mom and I got into a major fight and I dis-invited her to Halloween. We made up later and now I look back on it and see the stupidity in the situation, but for the week it lasted, it was dramatic!

6) Our next door neighbors have been INSANE! We have had to call the cops on them almost every single night and I finally called Child Protective Services as well! It didn't help either of our anxieties and made my 3am panic attacks a million times worse!

7) There have also been multiple phone calls from friends telling me they found out their spouse has been cheating on them and one of them (actually my sister's friend) is getting divorced! Talk about anxiety causer! I am the type of person who takes on people's feelings and personal struggles as if they were my own, so hearing all of these crazy stories literally made my heart drop and I couldn't think about anything else for days!

So, imagine all of that rolled up into one, long, horrendous month. Then, just when it felt like things couldn't get any worse, our baby caught a severe case of Croup and ended up in the hospital on Halloween day! We had an entire week of no sleep, complete fear that he was going to stop breathing any second, and LOTS of steroids. Then, because I am pregnant and my stress level was on overdrive, PLUS I didn't sleep for days, I caught the adult version of Croup. The ER doctor warned us that it is extremely contagious and even adults can catch it. I wasn't about to quarantine my 15month old though because of a few germs. So Austin and I have BOTH been sick and it has been awful. There's the fever, aching body, chills, extreme lethargy, horrible cough, even worse sore throat, constant mucous flow, and of course the wonderful loss of voice. Hence why I struggled during my job interview....

Oh, and then I got a flat tire.....

It was at that point when I watched all the air quickly hissing out of my tire that I felt like I had lost it. I was finally to the point of saying, "Why God, have you forsaken me?" It seemed like the bad karma was steaming off of us and I literally started warning people to not come near our house or they would catch the curse too! My best friend didn't listen, bless her heart, and she learned the hard way. She came over to drop off soup and essential oils for our illness and the poor thing suffered through a flat tire of her own, along with somehow breaking her front door, and a lovely visit from Aunt Flow gone horribly wrong. Yes, that was all in one night as she was trying to come to my aid. She couldn't believe that I might be right about the bad karma, but after that night, she became a believer!

Now then. Here we are, hopefully on the brink of a fresh start. I would like to think that the no good, very bad month has come to an end and we can now move on with our new lives and our new jobs and hope for the best! Fingers crossed....

I also have to put in a positive plug for the women in our ward. They have been so good to us during this extremely hard month with thoughtful texts, dinners, and the positive affirmation that this too shall pass! We have felt like the ward charity case lately because of how much attention we have been getting, but it has made life so much easier to deal with so I guess I am okay with that ;).

 

Happy 30th Birthday Josh!

Josh had a pretty rockin' birthday this year! He turned 30 after all, so we had to make it good! The party started the weekend before his actual birthday. My Mom and Briana came over to watch Austin and I took Josh out for his big birthday surprise! I tried so hard to keep it a secret but he always guesses what my surprises are! Somehow he knew we were going to see the show Rock of Ages at the Venetian and eat at the Grand Lux Cafe. Either he is just that good at guessing, or someone took a peek at the credit card bill when I told him not to....

The meal was AMAZING! We decided to be brave and try the Asian nachos for an appetizer and split a pizza. Seriously, it was to die for! We also had a great time wandering around the Venetian while we waited for the show to start. The Venetian and the Bellagio are our two favorite casinos because of how beautiful they are. You could wander around for hours looking at the beautiful gardens and cool Parisian style shops. The greatest part of the whole night, however, was Rock of Ages! Josh was soooooo excited! I had the most fun just watching him :). He is a HUGE 80's rock fan and he has been wanting to see this show for quite a while now. They gave us these plastic lighters so people don't feel the need to pull out a real lighter and set the place on fire. Most of the people were drunk so there were still some rebels who pulled out their real lighters anyway and we had fun watching security try and explain to their drunken brains why that wasn't okay ;). The music was great, the acting was hilarious, and to be totally honest, we felt like a young childless couple again! We didn't want to go home just yet, so we bought a chocolate covered caramel apple at a cute little cafe and talked for a while before the night came to an end. Josh said it was the perfect birthday and I couldn't argue with him there!

The birthday boy!

Wandering around the Venetian.

A little pre-show lovin'

Walking around the beautiful Venetian gardens.

The AMAZING ASIAN NACHOS!!

Seriously, best rock show EVER!

Josh's actual birthday fell in the middle of the week and it just happened to be "Financials Week" at work which meant he was home super late and was feeling pretty stressed out. When he finally got home on his birthday, he came bearing gifts from his coworkers. It was very sweet of them and they were very generous. So we took one of the gift cards they'd given and went out to eat at Chili's. Then we came home and had birthday cake that I had made earlier that day. Austin thought the candles were pretty cool! It was a nice, relaxing evening.

The Birthday Cake!

Blowing out the candles!

The party continued into the next weekend when Josh's Dad flew down to celebrate with us! I kept joking with Josh that his birthday was the day that just keeps giving. We had a great time with Papa Art and crammed a lot of fun stuff into one weekend. We started by going out to eat at Lucille's BBQ at the District. We had never been there before but are now HUGE fans! Seriously, it was the best dang BBQ any of us had eaten in a long time! The weather is so beautiful now so we chose to eat outside and I'm glad we did because it kept Austin entertained a little longer than usual. The funniest part of the whole meal was when Josh told the waitress that he turned 21 and she actually believed him and brought out an ice-cream sundae and a card saying Happy 21st Birthday! It's sickening that he looks so young.....

YUMMY!!

Next, we went over to the Silverton where the Bass Pro Shop is because Grandpa has been looking for bullets for his 22 but they seem to be all sold out everywhere he goes in Utah. Sadly, they were sold out in Nevada too! Apparently people are stocking up for the end of the world. We had fun wandering around the store though and looking at all the cool fish and taxidermy. There was a mermaid show that we wanted to see but didn't have time because it was Austin's nap time and Josh and I had a movie to catch! So we headed home, put Austin to bed, and headed off to the movie theater! We love our baby, but nothing beats a few hours alone with your spouse. It's like you suddenly feel freedom you never knew you had! We saw the new DRACULA movie and, like everything else we did this week, it was dang good! After the movie we picked up a pizza and headed home for dinner. Austin had a great time with Grandpa and they were at the park when we got home. It normally takes Austin a little while to warm up to men for some reason but this time he had no problem being Papa Art's little buddy all weekend long!

Mom and Dad on our movie date!

After dinner we headed out for the last fun event of the night, the pumpkin patch! Austin was starting to get really tired so he didn't show much excitement in any of the pictures we took, but he had a really great time! He rode the train with Momma, braved the huge slide with Dada, attempted to pick up every pumpkin he came across, and had a blast at the petting zoo with Papa Art! The petting zoo was by far his favorite part. We thought he might be timid with the animals but we were so wrong! He went right up to them and started petting them! He loved petting the goats and had fun chasing the chickens. It was all fun and games until he discovered the yucky water troughs and then it was game over.

He loves his Papa.

Farmer Austin trying to pick up all the pumpkins.

The best part of the whole night! The petting zoo!!

Too cute :).

Papa rescuing Austin from the disgusting trough water...

Riding the train.

Right as Josh was about to go down the slide with Austin, this little boy asked him if he could ride on his lap too! It was too funny!

Such a good night :).

Josh had to speak in Sacrament the next day and it was nice to have Art here to help me wrestle with Austin while Josh was up at the podium. Josh did a fantastic job on his talk and we were all so proud of him! Austin liked watching his Dad talk and kept pointing and saying, "Dada!" It was the perfect end to the perfect Birthday week. After church we went to IN N OUT BURGER and picked up lunch/dinner and brought it home so Austin could take his much needed nap. Then Art left soon after that. We were sad to say goodbye and sad that our super fun weekend was coming to an end.

Taking some Sunday pictures before church.

Austin wasn't intrigued....

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY JOSH!!! We love you so much and are so grateful to have you as a husband/father!

Milestones: 15 Months Old

At 15 Months, Austin:

- Is still getting his top molars. We are going on a month now! It's getting ridiculous. Part of them have popped through but the rest of the teeth just don't want to come in. It makes the poor boy miserable and in turn makes Mom and Dad crazy.... :(

- Has this new game he plays with his Dad where they head butt each other. Austin thinks it's hilarious! He keeps trying to do it to me but I don't find it so amusing. Their relationship is one of a kind I tell you....

- Started screaming one day while we were sitting in the living room watching a movie. We jumped and ran to him only to find that he was scared of his shadow on the wall! Every time he saw it move, he freaked out! We couldn't stop laughing once we realized what was going on. To try and calm him down we started doing shadow puppets on the wall. He stared at our creativeness on the wall in awe but stayed close to us the rest of the night.

- LOVES HIS MOMMA! All throughout the day he will stop what he is doing and run over to me with open arms saying, "Mama!" and hug me. He also holds my hand in the car (our car is pretty small so it's not as tricky as it sounds with him being in the back seat). Not only does he hold my hand, but he hugs it and lovingly says "Mama...." People always told me that boys are so much fun because they adore their Moms and I am starting to see that it's true :).

- Is becoming more and more independent. He hates his stroller (grrrr...) and feels the need to run by himself everywhere. This means he is extremely difficult to take anywhere because he freaks out in the shopping cart, freaks out in the high chair, and freaks out if I try and hold him when he wants to get down and wreak havoc. Honestly, I wouldn't care if he wanted to get down and stand next to me like a good little boy, but instead I get the child who instantly runs away, throwing things on the ground and leaving utter destruction in his wake. Because of his need for independence and our need to keep him safe and alive, he has started throwing tantrums. We have already entered the terrible two's! He will literally lay on the ground in the middle of the store or restaurant and dare us to try and pick him up. We have our hands full to say the least!

- Loves to be outside, especially when we are exploring our new park! They just put two new parks in down the street from us and we are LOVING them! It's hilarious watching him enjoy his freedom. He runs around screaming in complete happiness, playing in the park sprinklers, digging in the dirt, and trying to do what all the big kids around him are doing. We are at the park at least twice a day. Now that fall is here the evenings are perfect for a family stroll :).

- Throws things on the floor and adorably says, "Uh-Oh...." It's so cute when it's a toy or a ball..... and not so cute when it's his dinner.....

Some Fun Moments over the Past Month:

Playing in the sprinklers at the park!

Spending Saturday morning walking around the community garage sale with Mom. As you can see, he is very interested in the cute Halloween wreath I got for two bucks!

He gets at least a million kisses per day from Momma. I can't resist those squishy cheeks and adorable smile!

Making a new friend at the park. She was so cute with him and even though she was at least 3 years older, she played with him anyway.

He fell asleep on the car ride home after playing over at his friend Emmett's house. They have a great time together and I love anything that will tire him out ;).

He is obsessed with the dishwasher and all day long I am yelling, "No!" at him as she his reaching for the steak knives or trying to eat the detergent. I've tried the time out corner but I realized it wasn't working when he ran and put himself in time out. He just sat there smiling at me with that mischievous face....

Eating Italian ice with Dad at the new park grand opening.

Baking banana bread with Mom. Yummy!!

He prefers to push the stroller now, rather than sit in it.

We love gymboree! He runs straight for the jump rope every time :).

Playing peek-a-boo with Momma. He was laughing hysterically until he ran into the table. After that incident he had no interest that game anymore.

So handsome! Heading to church.

Celebrating Auntie Sadie's birthday at the Cheesecake Factory! He made us all work for our supper. He wanted to be passed around from person to person and run around the restaurant. Basically I asked for a to go box and ate my dinner at home :(.

Auntie Bri was a big help at the Cheesecake Factory. She took him into the bathroom and entertained him by taking pictures! lol

While we should have been enjoying our cheesecake...

On a side note, speaking of Sadie, she got into the fire academy for a second time!! Fingers crossed that there will be no political drama this time and all her dreams will come true!

Baby plumber's crack.... cutest thing in the world!

He has had shoes for months now but never wanted to wear them. They always made him trip and fall down. Well, all that changed on day when he grabbed his shoes and begged us to put them on him by saying, "shoes! shoes!" He now LOVES wearing shoes because he knows that means he gets to go outside and play!

Dad likes to push him around in the laundry basket :).

He loves his Daddy so much!

Walking around enjoying our Friday morning and Starbucks.

Sitting in his wagon waiting for Mom to give him a ride!

Playing at Emmett's house. Emmett loves to feed Austin his snacks and give him drinks. They are so stinking cute!!

He wasn't feeling good thanks to those dang molars so I asked him if he wanted to watch his favorite show and he quickly grabbed his big fish pillow, his blankie, and a cracker and made himself comfortable next to me. He's never done anything like that before!

The two of us have a lot of fun at home :). Sometimes we just lounge around on the floor playing with toys and taking pictures!

Love my Bubbas!

Sometimes taking pictures in the bathroom is the only thing we can do to keep his mind occupied while he is in pain from teething :(. Poor kid! He has been so miserable!

Mom hasn't been feeling very good with the pregnancy but that doesn't stop Austin from running 100mph. Most of the pictures we take of him are blurry!

Ignore how large my butt looks here... it's just a bad angle okay! I just wanted to show Austin's other favorite past-time. He likes to sit on my back and play with my hair! I don't mind it one bit :).