Utah

We have had a fun trip here in Utah so far! The kids were really good on the airplane ride over. The first flight was hard and they were pretty crazy and Evie's ears hurt her but the second flight they slept for almost all of it. In Dallas we got to ride a train to the next terminal and Andrew thought that was awesome!

Yesterday we went to my cousins wedding. Gram watched the kids so I could go to the temple for the wedding. I've never been to a wedding so it was really fun. I don't remember much of what was said at my wedding so it was nice to hear my Grandpa give the little talk and do the ceremony. It was very sweet and the spirit was so strong when they were getting sealed together for eternity. I feel so old now that I have 2 kids and have been married 4 years! It was nice to be reminded of my wedding day and all the covenants and blessings that come from marriage. The weather was really rainy and cold so they couldn't do many pictures outside but they had a really nice reception in Provo. Andrew had so much fun running around the room a million times with cousins. My cousin has a daughter who is 3 and Andrew just loves her. He takes her hand and tells her come, play, haha, it's pretty cute. Evie had fun playing peekabo with everyone. She would walk around these brick pillars and poke her head out and back, she thought it was pretty funny. She was pretty cranky for family pictures so hopefully they got at least one without her ripping her bow off and screaming.

It has been really nice to have some colder weather. I keep getting these hot flashes though so I am still hot even when it is 30 degrees! Don't know what I am going to do with myself. We went out on a walk the other day and the kids don't seem to mind the cold too bad. Evie usually hates it but we bundled her up so she was pretty cozy. Evie just loves playing with the dog. She doesn't even care about the cat at all but she follows the dog everywhere. Andrew loves the cat and is scared of the dog, haha.

Birthday, zoo, splashpark

 Brandon's 27th birthday

 Evie adores her daddy :)

 haha, this is what happens when trying to take a family picture

We went to Coldstone for Brandon's birthday treat. Andrew really wanted pink ice cream so he got to have his own strawberry ice cream and at the whole thing! Evie really loved the ice cream too.

 Learned how to make bibs!

 Brandon's birthday present from me; all of my favorite memories of us

 We went to Chilis for date night with the kids. They were pretty good. There was a balloon lady there who made Andrew an alligator balloon that he thought was awesome! He was so scared of it at first and then he loved it. Helped us finish our meal

 Andrew loves to eat chips and salsa

 Painting wooden cars

 Having fun digging in rice still. Evie just eats it, haha

 Evie loves the pool. She is a really good swimmer! I bet she could learn to swim on her own really fast if we keep taking her

 Went to a splash park down the road from us. It had all sorts of fountains and things to run through. Evie and Andrew loved it! Andrew gets to cold so we can't stay long at the pool or water fountains but it is still fun.

 Andrew has been growing up and wanting more control over what he does this past week. I have had a hard time trying to figure out why he is all of a sudden throwing tantrums and acting out a lot. I think it is mostly from not being able to express to me what he wants. He has started saying a few sentences so hopefully soon he can start telling me what he needs better so we don't keep going through so much trauma. He can say "where are you?" and "don't drop it", haha, wonder why he likes those phrases. Mealtimes have also been a really hard time. I read some good articles that suggested I just provide some choices and let him choose what he wants and what he doesn't want to eat and when he is done just let him down even if he didn't eat much. I tried that out tonight and he ate almost his entire plate and then wanted more after he got down. Maybe I have been stressing him out too much with the eating and need to just let him regulate it himself. Other than the tantrum moments it has been fun seeing him grow up more. When i take him to the bathroom he tells me he wants to do it himself so I let him go pee pee himself and he does it great! At church he is so wild we have to retreat to the halls after about 10 minutes of sacrament meeting. His friend always ends up out in the hall too so they play together. Andrew is so nice; he shares his toys and gives hugs. He loves to play with other kids and is a very sweet boy. I'm glad he is not aggressive at all; just a  nice guy.

Evie was really scary the other day. I was sitting with her at the table feeding her breakfast in the booster seat and turned my head for a moment and she pushed back on the table and knocked the chair backward. She hit her head pretty bad on the back of the chair and when I picked her up her eyes kind of rolled backward like she was going to pass out. I was so scared! She is ok but it  made me feel like the worst mom ever to let that happen :( No more booster chair for Evie, she only gets the high chair from now on.She has become a busy little girl. She walks all over and opens all the drawers and cupboards and takes anything she can get out. I didn't have to baby proof much for Andrew but might have to start doing that for Evie. She loves to pull down the big lamps we have and the vacuum cleaner. Her favorite show in the world right now is Nemo. She gets the biggest smile whenever we start it; it's pretty cute. Can't believe she will be 1 soon. Andrew never touched his birthday cake but I bet she will dig right in. She is really good at feeding herself!