Austin Zoo

The group!

My cute little duck

Standing in front of a peacock

Feeding the goats

The goats would climb on the fence and lean over to get the food. My hair was crazy frizzy because of the humidity and mist. Something I don't like about Texas.

Feeding the goat all by herself.

On Wednesday, Emily, Joanie, and I headed to the Austin Zoo with our kids. The weather was very misty and humid. The Austin Zoo was kind of ghetto but you could get really close to the animals so the kids loved it. The animals were also really active too in there cages. They had areas where you can actually feed the animals. I thought my kids would be scared, but they had no fear sticking their fingers up to the goats and sheep's mouths. We had a great time but only spent about 2 hours there because it was small.

UT Basketball Game

Emily and Darrin eating good deep fried food.

Joanie, Baby Jaxson, and Ryan eating yummy food too.

The girls hanging with Bevo the mascot.

Ella doing the "hook em horns" sign.

Daddy and McKenna

Mommy and McKenna

Go UT!!

The ladies

She was really asleep!

Last Tuesday, we went to the UT (University of Texas) Basketball game with the Burtons and Harbors. We first went downtown and ate at some local trailers that served some good deep fried food. We ate at the "Mighty Cone" trailer and I had deep fried chicken and avocado wrapped in a tortilla. Pretty good. Then we headed to the Iowa State vs. UT game. It was awesome! UT kicked booty. They are ranked in the top 5 so it was fun to see a really good team play. Ella loved to see all the Longhorn attire worn by others. She had so much fun that she fell asleep right at the very end.

Ella's Party

I took this after the party but some of the decorations!

Decorating Valentine Hearts

Birthday girl

Waiting for cupcakes

Blowing out the candle

Our friends!

Pin the heart on the poster

Ella had a Valentine's day birthday party a few days after her birthday. There were about 15 kids and 9 adults in our small little apartment. It was crazy but Ella loved every minute of it. We served lunch to all kids and adults. We had heart shaped food and pink drinks. The kids enjoyed running around an playing games. It was exhausting but worth every effort to see how much Ella enjoyed it. Happy birthday Ella! We love you!

Ella Turned 4!

She is 4!

Birthday celebration at preschool

Eating cupcakes at Inflatable Wonderland. Major sugar high!

McKenna thought the day was great too!

Birthday Girl!

Eating at Chick-fil-a

Present time!

For Ella's actual birthday, She first woke up to a visit from the birthday fairy. She then went to Preschool. I came at the very end with cupcakes. After preschool, a few friends met us at Inflatable Wonderland where the kids got to jump in bounce houses and enjoy more cupcakes. Then we ate dinner at her favorite place, Chick-fil-a, and then headed home to open presents. She enjoyed it so much she asked if everyday could be her birthday.

San Antonio Rodeo

Ella and Carter

My Hubby and Me

Lorein, Carter, and Chris

Ella and Mommy

My happy girls

My cute cowgirl

Happy Birthday Ella

About a week ago, we were able to attend a real Texas rodeo. We went with our good friends from California, the Cralls, to the San Antonio Rodeo. It was awesome and Ella was excited to see some real cowboys. The rodeo actually entertained my girls allowing us to sit and relax for quite a while. After the Rodeo, we heard Easton Corbin in concert. He was really good. After all that, we went to Chris and Lorein's house and had dinner and a mini birthday party for Ella. We love hanging out with the Cralls.

Austin got Snow!!!

A pipe busted right outside our apartment and left this. It was FREEZING!!!!!!

Right outside our apartment

Playing!

Rain boots turned into very good snow boots!

After a freezing week of single digit temperatures, we woke up to snow. They say it snows here about once every 5 years and and only for a few minutes. Not this year, Austin got an inch of snow that stuck to the ground. It was so rare that schools were cancelled including the University of Texas. It was pretty funny. By 2:00pm most of it was melted. We got to enjoy it early in the morning right when we woke up.

Cake

On a cold afternoon while McKenna was sleeping, Ella was able to frost and decorate her very own cake. I let her do whatever she wanted to it. She put pink frosting on it along with rainbow spinkles. She had a great time and then her and I got to eat a piece. It was yummy! We love Ella and mommy bonding time.

Children's Museum in Austin

Playing in the chicken hutch

shopping at the market

cute little construction workers

Addi and McKenna

My friend Emily and I went to the Austin Children's Museum. Every children's museum is unique and different and like to go to as many as we can. One thing cool about the museum, is that it was in downtown Austin. It was kind of small and geared toward little kids. My kids loved it. We spent a few hours there and then headed home. One more museum to check off my list.

Christmas in Portland

Making cookies for Santa with Auntie Marcie

Excited on Christmas Morning!

It was all about the girls!

More presents

Minnie Mouse dress up!

Portland Children's Museum

Jeff and Marcie

Ella and Grammy

Our family in front of the Portland, Oregon Temple

Santa Brought Ella a purple princess bike for Christmas. She was so excited to actually get after we got home.

After going to Utah, we finally flew up Portland to spend Christmas with Jordan's family. We ended up staying 3 1/2 weeks. It was so nice just to kick back and relax. We did tons or shopping, eating, shopping, and eating. It was a blast. Marcie was able to be there for 2 weeks and her boyfriend was able to come up for a few days and celebrate New Years. Shortly after Marcie went home, she was proposed to. It was so fun to celebrate that with Jordan's parents. Can't wait for the wedding. I have been asked to be the maid of honor and my girls are the flower girls. We are so happy for Marcie and Jeff. They belong together.