We went to Austin, Texas this weekend to visit my Aunt and Uncle and we had so much fun. Earlier this week I had been working on some quilt squares for a Relief Society project and Violet thought the bucket of fabric scraps were really cool, so this picture is a reminder to me as to why I don't sew!
Roger and Erin took us on a driving tour of Austin, the hills around Austin are beautiful and there are some gorgeous homes at the top of this hill. Austin is a very beautiful city.
We went to Mt Bonnell, and walked up some steps to see a beautiful view, this sign gives some of the history of the area and how it was settled. A small group of Mormon pioneers settled here but they were never very successful in the area (probably because they had been asked by Brigham Young to continue on to Utah and they said no).
The View from Mt. Bonnell. This is the Little Colorado, it was so beautiful up there. The river is dammed up in this area so people can boat and ski on it. It was such a beautiful day I wanted to dive right in!
More of the river
One of the biggest Cacti I have seen in person.
The other side of the view.
It's a pretty easy trek up the hill, If I can do it 6 months pregnant and Peter can do it with a toddler on his shoulders, just about anyone can make it there. I'm really glad we did, the view was amazing.
The stairs up the hill. I love the trees in Austin, they are so interesting and I loved this tunnel of trees.
We had dinner at this great restaurant called Hula Hut. It was so yummy! We had tons of leftovers, which we added to a delicious dinner of fajitas and salsa the next day. After dinner we stopped at a park so the kids could play for a while. Sam and Violet had so much fun and got along really well.
At the park they have a few pools that are fed by a natural spring, this one use to be open for swimming but they discovered an endangered creature that had taken up residence there and so they closed it to swimmers.
This is the big pool that is fed by a natural spring. I wanted to go swimming so badly, it looks like a great pool. A little chilly to play in. It is a natural 68 degrees all the time.... brrr! But it would be perfect to swim laps in.
After the park we went to a bridge in downtown Austin to watch the bats come out. The bridge was packed with people and there was quite a crowd where we were down by the water. I couldn't get any good pictures of the bats, but it was so cool. When they start taking off as a group it looks like a huge cloud of black smoke. Definitely something I've never seen before, it was a lot of fun.
Sam watching the bats.
Roger has built a small pond with a water fall in their yard and some water lilies began to bloom while we were there. They are so beautiful.
Violet and Sam posing for a picture. I think this describes their personalities pretty well, just a pair of really silly girls. I have another shot that didn't turn out too well where they are both making really funny faces but it is so blurred.
Roger, Sam, Erin, Alex and Jack the fat cat. Violet really loved to chase Jack around but I think he survived the weekend intact
I caught Ben up on the computer, it's his favorite place to be. It was such a fun trip and I'm really glad that I got to see my cousins. Ben and Alex were more than 10 years younger the last time I saw them and Alex didn't even know who I was. Now that I am in Texas I hope we can see each other more often.
This picture is for my Mom. She loves grapefruit too. Mom, when you come to Texas we'll have some Texas grapefruits like this one, it was so red and Juicy I could have poured myself a cup of juice and I didn't even need sugar it was so sweet! Oh and they sell these in bulk at the grocery store, all year round :) are you jealous?
We spent some time at the Seattle Temple on Saturday and got some good pictures it just happened to be on of those rare Seattle days.
Katie is wearing Grandma Browns wedding dress last worn in 1942. This is not the dress she will wear but she and Mom had some fun trying things on. Darin and I went shooting pistols.
Darin is a great guy I think you kids will have fun getting to know him.
I wish you all could have been here it was a ton of fun ( as old men measure fun)
We went to Austin, Texas this weekend to visit my Aunt and Uncle and we had so much fun. Earlier this week I had been working on some quilt squares for a Relief Society project and Violet thought the bucket of fabric scraps were really cool, so this picture is a reminder to me as to why I don't sew!
Roger and Erin took us on a driving tour of Austin, the hills around Austin are beautiful and there are some gorgeous homes at the top of this hill. Austin is a very beautiful city.
We went to Mt Bonnell, and walked up some steps to see a beautiful view, this sign gives some of the history of the area and how it was settled. A small group of Mormon pioneers settled here but they were never very successful in the area (probably because they had been asked by Brigham Young to continue on to Utah and they said no).
The View from Mt. Bonnell. This is the Little Colorado, it was so beautiful up there. The river is dammed up in this area so people can boat and ski on it. It was such a beautiful day I wanted to dive right in!
More of the river
One of the biggest Cacti I have seen in person.
The other side of the view. 
It's a pretty easy trek up the hill, If I can do it 6 months pregnant and Peter can do it with a toddler on his shoulders, just about anyone can make it there. I'm really glad we did, the view was amazing.
The stairs up the hill. I love the trees in Austin, they are so interesting and I loved this tunnel of trees.
We had dinner at this great restaurant called Hula Hut. It was so yummy! We had tons of leftovers, which we added to a delicious dinner of fajitas and salsa the next day. After dinner we stopped at a park so the kids could play for a while. Sam and Violet had so much fun and got along really well.
At the park they have a few pools that are fed by a natural spring, this one use to be open for swimming but they discovered an endangered creature that had taken up residence there and so they closed it to swimmers.
This is the big pool that is fed by a natural spring. I wanted to go swimming so badly, it looks like a great pool. A little chilly to play in. It is a natural 68 degrees all the time.... brrr! But it would be perfect to swim laps in.
After the park we went to a bridge in downtown Austin to watch the bats come out. The bridge was packed with people and there was quite a crowd where we were down by the water. I couldn't get any good pictures of the bats, but it was so cool. When they start taking off as a group it looks like a huge cloud of black smoke. Definitely something I've never seen before, it was a lot of fun.
Sam watching the bats.
Roger has built a small pond with a water fall in their yard and some water lilies began to bloom while we were there. They are so beautiful.
Violet and Sam posing for a picture. I think this describes their personalities pretty well, just a pair of really silly girls. I have another shot that didn't turn out too well where they are both making really funny faces but it is so blurred.
Roger, Sam, Erin, Alex and Jack the fat cat. Violet really loved to chase Jack around but I think he survived the weekend intact
I caught Ben up on the computer, it's his favorite place to be. It was such a fun trip and I'm really glad that I got to see my cousins. Ben and Alex were more than 10 years younger the last time I saw them and Alex didn't even know who I was. Now that I am in Texas I hope we can see each other more often.
This picture is for my Mom. She loves grapefruit too. Mom, when you come to Texas we'll have some Texas grapefruits like this one, it was so red and Juicy I could have poured myself a cup of juice and I didn't even need sugar it was so sweet! Oh and they sell these in bulk at the grocery store, all year round :) are you jealous?
I had my big ultrasound today, it was so much fun. The baby was not super cooperative so it took about an hour to do the ultrasound and we had to poke and prod the baby to move around so the tech could get all the major organs and body parts. Here are the pictures I got to take home. This first one is the profile. There is a little hand up under the chin, the baby was thinking really hard this morning!
Here is a hand and a scary alien face, that is what the face looks like from the front, I think it looks like a ghost. But the hand is extended and it looks like the baby is waving.
It's hard to tell what this one is but the tech said it was the head on the right and that blob in the top middle is a hand, the baby is sucking on her fingers. So cute!
Oh and the most exciting one! The first ultrasound picked up a small blob that we all thought meant it was a boy, but apparently that was the umbilical cord because this baby is definitely a girl! I'm so excited and I get to pull out all the pink stuff again. How fun to have another girl. Now I just have to start looking at girl names.... I knew I had picked a boy name too easily!
We went to the Galveston County Rodeo yesterday. We had so much fun. The kids got to "drive" some tractors and mowers and we all went into a great little petting zoo. It was such a nice day I'm really glad we were all able to go.
Sam on a mower
Violet taking a turn on the mower.
Wesley on the mower
We tried to get a picture of all three on the scoop but it didn't work. It rarely does, but that's half the fun.
Wesley and Violet checking out the animals in the special pen. There were some fawns, a kangaroo, a pony and in the far corner a porcupine.
The BBQ's are huge in Texas. We walked through as the competitors were cooking up Brisket and Ribs. I wish I could capture smell with a camera it was wonderful.
Here are some of the funny animals we saw. A cow with an actual ring in it's nose.
A turkey making a break for it. He was put back in his cage pretty quickly.
A goat tasting the diaper bag.
Violet loved the goats, they were just her size and she kept going "maaa" at them.
Last night we were suppose to go and see some really cool acrobats from China at the Outdoor Theatre in downtown Houston, but as we were getting ready to leave we heard a crack of thunder, saw a bolt of lightning and down came the rain! Oh well. Violet had a late nap and woke up a little grumpy at about the same time the storm started, we tried everything to calm her down she didn't want anything except to take off all her clothes and go outside in the rain. We let her kind of dance around naked on the balcony as we watched the thunder and lightning but then she needed to be wrapped up and snuggle. It was a fun way to spend the evening. The acrobats would have been cool but a thunder and lightning storm and a funny toddler was just as entertaining.
Our little Wood stock baby. Peter is reassured that she is neither an Idaho Spud or a True Texan because she loves the rain so much, she must be a Washingtonian!
Watching the storm with her Dad. Peter was having a chat with his friend Bryce.