State Fair & A Concert

Surprise!  Another post sooner than my typical once-a-month writing.  I feel like we had had a lot going on lately, and want to blog it before I get too behind. 

This was a couple of Sundays ago.  The kids thought it was so fun for Daddy to carry them around in a pouch like a kangaroo.  

A shot from the top - I love this.  The kids were laughing and having the best time.

Ryan carried them around for a long time, but eventually got tired.  Avery was just eating it up.

Last Thursday we drove up to Dallas (4+ hours) to go to the State Fair on Friday.  We got in fairly late into our hotel, but managed to snap a quick photo of the kiddos snuggling in bed.

First thing in the morning - ready for breakfast and swimming!  (and no, Avery didn't sleep on a bed, she was in a pack n' play).

She just wanted to jump in the water  - gotta watch that girl, she is fast!

At first, Jaxson was acting really scared of swimming by himself.  I think its because we haven't been swimming in over 2 months ... we kind of slacked off near the end of the summer.  Well, he eventually warmed up and loved it.

Check out that fish! 

After swimming, we packed up and headed to the Fair.

There were these soft bouncy "rocks" that the kids had fun jumping on throughout the fair. Looks like Avery conquered this one.

We decided to go on the Ferris wheel first before the line got too lone.  Love this shot of Avery and Dada.

The Ferris wheel said it was the largest in the western hemisphere (i believe)

Jaxson wanted to do these little "fun house" things were you walked through them (took about a minute) and it was about $3. Oh well, he loved it.  And it was fun to watch him try and get out of this large spinning purple tube.

Slide at the end of the house.

I really liked the greenhouse building. As we were walking through, this large tree went walking by...

The kids colored on tiny pumpkins

Artist in the making.

One of mine and the kids favorites ... the petting zoo.  It was fun watching the kids get so excited to touch and feed the animals - Avery was in hog heaven ;)

This camel was pretty funny.  He kept teasing Ryan and Avery.  I have a great photo of the moment right after the camel licked/kissed Avery's head and Ryan laughing.  I was not allowed permission to put it on the blog though- you will have to ask him personally to see it.

Avery just sat by the animals for a while just petting them.

This cow's horns were weird!  Never seen one like that. I think he is originally from Africa.

We are good parents.  Notice the sign (this animal can bite) haha ...

Ah I loved this little piggies.  I would have loved to hold one.

I REALLY wanted this little cute guy to come near me and eat the food from my hand, but he mostly kept his distance.

Then we went to the dog show.  Avery jumped up and down and started woofing and patting her thigh (sign language for dog) when she saw them.

Watching the show.  Notice Avery's cheeks?  It was still about 80 degrees outside, and it is mid October.  Hope it cools down more soon!

A big Texas cowboy.

This was the funnest, Texas, red-neck game I saw.  You have to use a catapult to flip a rubber chicken chicken into a rotating pot.  If you win, you get a duck dynasty stuffed doll.  Awesome!! haha

On the way to the car

Driving back home

Somehow on our 30 hour round trip, we found 3 different nike outlet stores.  Love it!

Last Sunday, I dressed Avery cute for church and tried to get a photo of her ... she wasn't too impressed.  I  told Avery to smile because this is what she did.  Couldn't help but laugh.

Sneak peek of Jaxson's Halloween costume.  We have our ward trunk or treat on Friday and are stoked! 

I made black n' white cupcakes one night this week and we took them over to a friends house.  This boy has some mental disabilities and I am good friends with his mom (she plays vball with me, and she is my visiting teacher).  Well this guy LOVES Ryan.  It is so cute, and this boy has been talking about black n' white cupcakes for a month now.  Ryan said lets make some and take them to him.  We did, and he loved it.  Great idea Ryan!

Avery licked all the icing off her cupcake, and it her cute voice asked for

The "more" was to play with, not eat.  You tricked me silly girl!

Ahhh now onto last night.  I went to the Michael Buble concert with some friends.  It was so fun to go out to dinner (cheesecake factory - one of my favs!!), chit chat, and watch a great singer perform.

Here is a little treat for all of you who didn't get to go.  You are welcome. 

Visitors from SC

Surprise!!  I am blogging about  2 weeks early!  We have had a lot more action around here the last few weeks and had taken more photos than normal.  Plus, I have 2 sweet ladies/devoted fans of this blog (Ryan's mom and sister :)) who always want to see more photos.  

A week or so ago, Ry and I were cleaning the floor (or something along those lines) and needed Avery to stay still for a minute.  I had the brilliant idea to swaddle her.  She didn't think it was too funny, but Jaxson loved it. I was actually surprised she couldn't get out of it. She is quite the Houdini as you can see in a couple of photos. 

 WARNING: NEXT PHOTO IS GRAPHIC AND ISN'T FOR WEAK STOMACHS.

Ryan's parents came into town last weekend to play and to watch Jaxson's primary program.  Well I decided to get up quite a lot earlier than normal on Sunday to make sure we got to church on time to get good seats.  Sure glad I woke up early, because when I went to go wake up Avery, she looked like this.  Took her pants and diaper off.  And pooped everywhere.  Yucky.

 Cleaned up and ready to go to church.  It was Jaxson's first primary program and he did a great job!!  We had a practice on Saturday at the church, where my friend snapped this video.  Jaxson is the 2nd little boy who said his part.  He also had another part in the program where he said "Je suis enfant de Dieu" (I am a Child of God (in French)).

After the program, we came home and had a feast ... Glazed carrots, fresh bread and honey butter, filet mignon, and roasted sweet and white potatoes AND my chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  I think it was probably my favorite meal ever.  The only thing that could have made it tastier was putting truffle butter on the steaks (I didn't have it yet, only ordered it at that point. But is it EVER tasty!) A big thanks to Lee for being my sous chef that weekend - he was always chopping veggies and doing dishes.  Please move closer and we can make this a habit :)

 The kids enjoyed some grandparent time at the park.  Lee and Rhonda are so good about playing with the kids.  Jaxson just loves it, and calls Rhonda his Best Friend.

 Awe, best buds!

 Spending more playing time with Guh Goh and Papa before we took them to the airport.  It was so much fun having them here.  Jaxson and Avery sat in these green bins and Guh Goh and Papa would scoot them across the floor- they loved it.

 And they love each other.  We are still trying to teach Avery to kiss with her tongue in her mouth! Haha

 Love these next 2 photos!

 Jaxson has a great imagination.  He and Avery were pretending to be pirates on his pirate ship bed.  ARGHHH!  They both made great faces anyway!

 After dropping of the grandparents, I tried to easy the heart break of this little guy (he honestly LOVES when people come visit, and has such a hard time when the leave) by doing some fun science experiments.  We had 2 spoons with food coloring and baking soda and a cup of water and a cup of vinegar.  Jaxson was pretty excited when he mixed the baking soda and vinegar .... a scientist in the making (its in his genes).

 Avery always brings me my (worn out) knee pads and wants me to put them on her.  She knows that we play volleyball once a week, so she knows exactly how to put them on.  Love this photo - I hope she grows up to love volleyball and basketball as much as I do!

 We just got a picnic table for the back porch, and this little girl was a GREAT helper.  She was mimicking our every move - sound effects included.  It was adorable.  She used that screw driver to screw in many imaginary screws.

 Argghh!  We found this hat at hobby lobby the day after Jax and Avery were playing pirate and like Jaxson has been doing lately, he re-dressed himself mid-way through the day. BYU pirate - it works.

 One of the nice things about tile is that you can pull the kids around in a blanket and they love it.

 Jaxson also filled up his "fuzzy jar" (he gets to put fuzzies in his jar when he listens to mommy and daddy and does good things).  Normally, he would get a date with Mommy or Daddy as his prize but I have been wanting to get the kids a kitchen for a while.  Christmas would have been a good time, but because we will be in South Carolina, we thought it would be better to get it now.  They love it, and are learning to be nice to each other while playing (avery loves to dump out all the food Jaxson just organized and it makes him mad. typical I am sure :))

 Hello?  Bye!  It's amazing and cute how much kids pick up from watching adults.  Avery loves this phone.

Happy October!!  Please send your cold weather vibes down here ... I want to start baking up a storm and wearing sweats because it is cold!  Wishful thinking ... it doesn't ever get cold here :(