Zoo and Botanic Gardens

Last Thursday we had a busy day. We took Ella to school and Easton and I went home while I showered then we went to four stores and by the time we left the last one we had 4 minutes to get to Ella's school to pick her up! We then went home and made a quick lunch and a picnic dinner and headed to get Andrew from school. We then headed to the Zoo. The nice part about Thursdays is Andrew has a three hour break in the middle of the day so we try and spend time with him then since he is usually gone 12 hours a day! We hadn't been to the Zoo since March when our pass expired. Well I thought it would be fun to get another one even though we aren't going to be here too long. After 1 1/2 trips the pass pays for itself! Plus when we come next year for Graduation we will be here for a week so it will give us something fun to do! The kids love the Zoo and love to see all the animals. It is nice in the fall because it is less crowded without all the school groups everywhere!

We went and saw the bears and they were right up against the windows playing.

We made it just in time for the Sea Lion Show which was better than it had been in a while. The kids watched the whole thing, they actually loved it!

After the Zoo it was 3 and we had to be back to an event at the school at 5. I didn't want to drive home and knew there were some mom's coming up to the Botanic Gardens so we drove over there. Well we ended up being the only ones there but it was still fine the kids had so much fun. Our first stop was the sand area which about 3/4 of the sand is gone since the last time we were there and it was wet but Easton can't be stopped when it comes to sand boxes so he got a lot of sand everywhere but I was glad that was our first stop because it all came off by the time we went to leave.

They love this giant dog house they have, it was Ella's request to go there first!

We then wandered to the slide area and the tunnels and then made our way to the cute houses. We stayed and played in the houses for a good hour until I was to hot and tired and it was time to go! We had such a fun day and the kids each had a 20 min nap so they were exhausted but I was too we did a lot of running around!

Corkys

We have decided that since we have four months we have left here that we would chose our four favorite places to eat at one more time. We have decided that will be our date night each month as well. This month it worked out perfectly. We had Stake Conference last weekend and so Saturday night we got a babysitter and went to the meeting. Well lucky for us our Stake schedules meetings around BYU games and so the adult meeting started an hour earlier at 6 (this is just my assumption that they do it because of the games!) After the meeting we went just a mile or so down the road to Corkys. We have decided that part of our experience here has been trying the foods that are big in this area and as we sat and ate our food last week we were talking about all the things we like to eat now that we have lived here. I didn't ever like baked beans until I moved here and Andrew didn't like Coleslaw. Well those two things are staples here and are served at every restaurant it seems so we have grown to love them!

We ordered a slab of ribs with the dry rub and also a pork BBQ nacho plate. It all tasted so good! The best part the leftovers the next day! Our server was extra nice and even brought us 4 rolls to take home, they have the best rolls at Corkys!

Yes I have red eye in both of these but that is what happens when you only have a phone for pictures!

 

Someday I want to recreate these pork bbq nachos they are seriously my favorite!

Arts and Crafts

We have been trying to have a little bit more structure in our days! This summer was go, go, go and it really was wearing on the kids so we have been trying to not go as much, although some days we still do! One day we got out our arts and crafts bin and found some fun things in it we hadn't done yet. The first one being the window crayons Santa put in their stockings last Christmas. They love these! Easton managed to get it on the one little white part of his shirt and I forgot about it, luckily it came out! They did nothing but scribble on the window and I wrote their names because Ella loves to see them written. I was a little hesitant to do these because I didn't want Eastont to think he could color on whatever surface he wanted, so far he has been ok!

 Also for my journal purposes I want to remember how they were at this point in time, the difference between the two of them. Easton has to have shoes on 95% of the time and with Ella they are the first thing to come off when we come home or inside, so funny how different each personality is! If I take Easton's off to change him he gets mad if I forget to put them back on and he really isn't a fan when I take them off for naps!

 Next we got out some markers and twistable crayons on just got a week before on the school clearance at Target. Luckily I was smart and got the washable markers since they got it everywhere but they sat there a good 45 minutes and colored while I cleaned up breakfast and got lunch in the oven.

Easton has been blinking before pictures these days because he knows the flash is going to be bright!

 He also thought that the markers tasted pretty good as well!

 This has nothing to do with anything but everynight we get 5 or 6 of these on our back windows (more if it is raining). They are the cutest little frogs only about an inch big!

Cupcakes

Our first week here we had our family night a little late in the week and then for our treat we frosted cupcakes. Ella was so excited she helped me mix them together to bake. We let them cool while they napped and then after dinner she helped me make some frosting and after our lesson we got to frost and eat them! They were really good!

 I thought it would be a good idea to give the kids each their own little bowl of frosting and I am glad I did after what they were doing with it! I am glad because I had a lot left over and was able to save it, free of toddler germs!

 She was hilarious she would get some put it on her cupcake and then lick the rest of the frosting off the knife, this is why we used plastic knives as well! She repeated these steps about 10 times, I am pretty sure she ate a good 1/4 cup frosting if not more!

 Another lick!

 Easton loved the frosting as well! He loved it all and was a huge mess by the end of his!

 She went back to the frosting after trying the cupcake and would close her eyes with every lick! Silly Girl!

 

Thursday School

Ella started Thursday school again on September 6th. Thursday school is a free preschool put on by a local christian church here. There are about 20 LDS kids that attend which is kind of funny. They hold it in their classrooms at their church. They go over a bible story each week and this semester they do a new color and shape each week. Ella loves to go and is in Mrs. Judy's class. She has a couple friends from our church in her class. It is a nice break for her and for me each week. Easton and I try to pack as much into those 2 1/2 hours each week. We run as many errands as we can! It is so much easier to get things done with just one! Easton wasn't very happy the first week when I put him in the car after we dropped her off he wanted to go (come to find out he totally could have gone this semester as well!), but we enjoy our time just him and I!

 

I forgot my camera and so all I got was a phone picture so not the best but I think they did the color red hence red juice stains all over her face!

Hats

 Easton is loving hats recently. He found his Mickey Mouse ears one day while I was unpacking our stuff we brought back with us from Utah. He brought them to me and wanted them on. He walked around the rest of the day with them on and looked pretty cute doing it!

He has also started liking his hat I bought him at the beginning of the summer. I bought it for our trip but he hardly would wear it. Now he can't stop wearing it. He loves to wear it to bed and will sleep with it on. I love pictures of sleeping babies and so I took a few because he looked so cute in his hat! Although when they sleep they look huge and not like a baby.

 

Big Boy Bed

We decided to set the crib up as the Toddler bed when we were getting everything set up. Easton just hasn't been as happy sleeping in the crib the last month and was taking his naps in Ella's bed so we decided to go ahead with it. I think he really would do better in a twin but right now this is all we have, plus one less thing to have to move. He has done really well with it. He has only gotten out twice and gets right back into bed. He does have a little problem in the morning he wakes up earlier then he ever has and immediately yells to Ella to wake up and that same week we got here he learned how to open doors so he is our new wake up call. (Ella still doesn't get out of bed until we come get her but Easton is slowly helping her out with that!) Luckily we put blankets up in the windows and he has been sleeping an hour longer but not as long as he used to!

Trip "Home"

Friday the 31st we started our trek back to Mississippi. My idea of leaving at 7 or 7:30 was not very realistic and we finally left about 10:30. I really just wanted to get there and not take forever doing it, I wanted to make the drive in two days. We have done it before when Ella was a baby so I figured no problem. Well with a late start the first day I knew in reality that we were going to have to make up a lot of time in order to make it. Well by the middle of day two I realized we weren't going to and a nice friend had opened their home to us if we decided to stop and not keep going. It just takes longer to do everything with two kids and they needed breaks. The first day we drove and stopped for the night in Goodland, Kansas. We were exhausted and lucky for us the kids weren't. They finally went to sleep at midnight. We have stayed in enough hotels that it should not be an issue for them to fall asleep but they were all sorts of wound up and didn't want to sleep. Too many treats and cat naps in the car can do that I guess! The second day we got up and got going and we left by 8 or 8:30 I can't remember. I have a love-hate relationship with Kansas I love how pretty all the corn fields are but I was ready to scream by the time we crossed into Missouri I was done with Kansas! We had thought maybe we would make it all the way to Southaven but then I decided no we will stop in Columbia, Missouri but my nice friend text and told us we were welcome to come to their house. We continued driving and got to St. Louis about 7 and got some dinner and went to there house! It was fun to catch up! The next morning we got up and had breakfast with the Lants and then we headed on our way so they could get ready for church. We pulled into our driveway of the house we are renting at about 4 or 4:30. It was a long drive but I feel like I am used to it now. It really isn't as bad as people say it can be and our kids did amazing on the trip (the car DVD player had been worth every penny)!  We went and got some dinner at one of our favorite local pizza places and then tried to move stuff from our storage unit. Lucky us the remnants of Hurricane Issac hit that night and we had half our van loaded with stuff when the rain started to pour and the tornado sirens started going off, so we called it a night and went home and set up our beds! It was such a warm welcome back to the south! We are excited to be back we really missed it here but sad that that week half our friends moved to various places all over the country! We are trying to enjoy our time in the South before it comes to a close, this has really become our "home" and we will be sad to leave it forever! (Not sad to leave the bugs, humidity, and tornadoes!)

We have never drove through Kansas so late in the year, the corn had already been harvested and it was dying!

The kids aunts spoiled them each with a backpack and it was full of fun things to keep them entertained in the car!

Hadn't even been in the hotel room two minutes and they both already had their hand prints on the mirror!

Driving through Spanish Fork Canyon on our way out of town, I was happy to get to enjoy a little bit of Utah fall before we left!

 

It was so fun seeing our friends the Lants! It is weird here without them! We are so thankful for them for opening their house to us for the night!