Our Cute Witty Andrew

So the other day Andrew started trying to climb a really little tree and Jon asked him who taught him to climb trees and with no hesitation at all Andrew smiles at Jon and says "SQUIRRELS"!!! We laughed so hard so hope it brings a smile to your face too. LOVE YA'LL!!!

Andrew Singing Happy Birthday to Me (June 23, 2009)

Andrew learned how to sing Happy Birthday from somewhere and sang Happy Birthday to Mimi on her birthday so I wanted him to sing Happy Birthday to me on my birthday so here is the video of my sweet boy singing me Happy Birthday. TOO CUTE!!! The best birthday present I could ever ask for! =)

Mimi & Papa visit (June 21-23, 2009)

For my mom's birthday which is on June 22nd and for my birthday which is June 23rd my parents decided to come visit us. We had so much fun and Andrew just couldn't wait for Papa & Mimi to get here on Sunday. When Mimi & Papa got here we had homemade lasagna that I made for Jon for Father's Day with salad, garlic bread and cheesecake for dessert. My dad really liked the dinner which was good to hear because I was kind of nervous cooking for my parents. Then we cleaned up dinner and went to visit the Watsons (my cousin) that live here in Cedar Park too. Then Mimi & Papa went to their hotel and told me they would call us in the morning when they had gotten up because they were going to sleep in.

The next morning when Mimi & Papa got here we didn't really know what we wanted to go do so we headed down to the capitol which was fun for the first 10 minutes and then Andrew just go too restless so him and Papa went off to explore and Mom and I just sat and talked. I sure do love my mom. She is amazing. When the boys came back we went outside and played on the capitol grounds for a little while.

Then it was getting too hot and it was lunch time so we headed back to Cedar Park and went and got lunch at Texadelphia. YUMMY!!! Then we drove to the office so mom could get her surprise massage I had set up for her birthday present. While mom was getting her massage Papa & Andrew played with cars and Papa tried to take a nap but Andrew wouldn't let him.

After mom's massage which she really enjoyed we had to get some things at HEB. While we were in the store Andrew asked if we could get a toy and of course I said not today to which mom said Mimi & Papa are here so yes Andrew pick out a toy. Can you say SPOILED! So Andrew picked out a Spiderman toy which was funny b/c I didn't think Andrew even knew who Spiderman was but that is what he wanted so that is what he got. Then dad started trying to teach Andrew the Spiderman theme song but didn't really know the words so they just had fun making up their own song.

Then I canceled my Piano lessons for that Monday night and we went and saw the bats fly out of the Congress Bridge at sundown. It was the coolest thing to see and I will for sure go again. Dad said the info. he read said there were about 1.5 million bats that fly out every night. WOW that is just amazing.

As you can see Andrew has his new Spiderman toy with him. Also mom's on the phone b/c Grandma Ruth had called to wish her happy birthday!!

Then on Tuesday we went to Zilker Park. Papa & Mimi bought us slushy and we ate those while we rode the train around the park. Andrew loved his slushy so much he could have cared less about riding the train. Oh well, we had fun.

After the train we let Andrew play on the playground for a little while but then we headed home b/c it was just too hot outside.

We just hung out at the house and mom and dad took a nap.

Andrew watched movies and I just cleaned up the house and got some work done.

Then when Jon got home from work we went out to Texas Roadhouse for my birthday dinner. I just LOVE their rolls and cinnamon honey butter. While we were there they had me sit on a saddle and sang happy birthday to me. I was just loving it and even swung around a napkin above my head like a rope or something. TOO FUN!!!!

Right before we left for Texas Roadhouse dad had taken Andrew to HEB with him and had bought him some Batman and Spiderman movies. So after dinner we came back and started to watch the movies but we turned them off really fast because they were teenage theme cartoon movies with cussing and just bad stuff. Andrew was so sad when we turned the movie off but was even sadder when Mimi & Papa left. He just cried and cried but after we called and talked to Mimi & Papa he was ok.

THANKS Mimi & Papa that was so much fun to have you come visit. LOVE YA!!!

Hanging out with Chaquitta & Dave Thompson (June 19, 2009)

Chaquitta has been my best friend since she was my Young Women leader in the church. We have been able to do a lot of fun things together and also help each other through some very hard times. So, when I found out she was coming to San Antonio to look at buying a law practice and maybe moving here I was soo excited. Also since San Antonio is only about 2 hrs. away from Austin we set up to meet for lunch and just hang out.

We met them at Mimi's Cafe and had so much fun just catching up with each other. She couldn't believe how big Andrew had gotten. After lunch we decided to go walk around the San Antonio Temple grounds together. Andrew was having so much fun and wanted so badly to go into the temple. He kept on singing the song "I Love to See the Temple" which he learned in nursery. He also was the unofficial temple grounds greeter. He helped put smiles on all the people's faces. He just has a talent for that. Then we hugged and said goodbye and went our separate ways. We decided to stop by the San Marcos outlets and do some early birthday shopping for me. I got the cutest plaid shorts and polo shirts. YEAH ME!!! I love shopping!!! It was a very fun day and I am so grateful for the friendship of Chaquitta and Dave and I really hope they will be moving closer.

Dental Hygiene School

So the reason I haven't posted in forever is a eat, breathe, and dream dental hygiene, but that is ok because I LOVE it!!!

Andrew LOVES his preschool, Goddard, and tells me so all the time. Out of the blue he will just say, "Mom, I love Goddard." He is the cutest little boy ever and his teachers absolutely adore him. He is still into Spiderman and loves to wear his Spiderman outfit he got for his birthday. (Maybe I'll blog about our summer sometime, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that.)

Thank you for the love and support I have recieved through this big time of change.

Oh yeah, we are also moving Sept. 26th back into our old ward, the Cedar Park Ward. I am excited to move and have a change but I really was worried about trying to pack during my dental hygiene schooling, BUT Jon has been amazing and packed this past weekend. He is such a great husband and father. I couldn't really ask for anything more than what I already have.

You could check back for update blogs but I wouldn't check everyday or even every month. =)

Grateful for the Word of Wisdom

Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has guidelines for taking care of our body, called the Word of Wisdom. (Click here to find out more.) In there it talks about not taking harmful substances into our body, which includes alcohol and drugs.

This weekend we attended a graduation party for one of our patients son and there was alcohol served there. It was an eye-opening experience for me, because I had never really been at a party where alcohol was present. I never knew how weird people could get and just how much alcohol can affect someones judgement. Three people we know very well had a little too much alcohol, so much in fact that one hit on me, one had to have her husband drive home and the other one had slurred speech and didn't even realize how bad off she was and tried to get me to drink some wine and was thinking about going to the bar after the party. Luckily the hostess of the party refused to let any of them drive home.

It was very sad and disappointing to see people we love that way. It just made me realize how much I love the gospel and the guidance it gives me in my life. I never have tried alcohol or drugs and I never will. The gospel has warned me of the dangers of these harmful substances.

I also am so grateful that my husband has the same values as I do. We were asked a couple of times if we wanted a drink, but our hostess knew that we didn't drink and just got us water or soda. We were able to tell some people there a little about our religion, which was a neat missionary opportunity.

I don't think we will be attending anymore parties were we know there will be alcohol and especially where there will be alcohol and those three people. It just was a very sad situation.

Scary Storms

Last night we had very strong storms that produced hail, and some tornadoes touched down close to us.

I was at a women's smoothie get together when all of the sudden I knew I had to get my NEW car home and into our garage. I had thought I would come back with Jon's car because it has some damage from the previous hail storm we had, but as I was driving home the sky was so dark and had a green tint. It just looked really scary so I decided to just stay home. Jon was so sweet and had gotten the garage cleaned up so my car would fit. The moment we got the car into the garage and wind really picked up. We ran inside to watch the weather channel and see how strong this storm was. Usually it just it a lot of rain but all of the sudden the weather woman's voice got very urgent and told everyone that was within a box to get in your safe area because there has been tornadoes seen in those areas. So, I took her warning seriously and grabbed Andrew and ran into his bedroom and got his mattress and went into our bathroom. Then I thought of our poor upstairs neighbors and so I ran upstairs to invite them to come down to our apartment b/c it is safer. As I was running up stairs there was hail coming down and almost hitting me. I really have never been so scared of the weather. I actually love thunderstorms usually but these were different. I really did have to pray for comfort and peace especially in this really scary time. I banged on all 4 doors upstairs but there was only one guy that was up there. He lived right above us, but I had never met him. He was very appreciative to us, so I guess if nothing else we met a neighbor through this storm. After the most intense part had passed over us he went back upstairs and we watched our movie we had rented, "Faith Like Potatoes." If you haven't seen this movie you should, b/c it really was a great movie.

I am just so glad that Heavenly Father protected us and our neighbors. I am so grateful to Him.

Last night as I was falling asleep I thought about how quickly I was willing to knock on total strangers doors and tell them about the storm and offer safety. Why do I have such a hard time sharing the gospel with others? Really that is the best safety anyone could have. I love the gospel so much, so why do I have such a hard time sharing it with others? The missionaries are coming over for dinner tonight so maybe I will ask them what to do. Do you guys have any good advice about how to be a member missionary and how I can get over my fear of sharing the gospel?

Air Conditioning & Sonic

On Monday, June 8th, it was just extremely HOT in our apartment even though the air conditioning had been on all morning, so I called up our apartment office and told them that it might me the filter b/c I don't think it has been cleaned in a long time, but either way we need to have someone come look at our air conditioning. Well, I called them up about noon, so at 4 pm I decided to call them up again, and just stress to them that this is now an emergency and they need to get it done tonight. The person up at the office told me they probably wouldn't be able to come over until tomorrow. I was so upset that I called Jon, and when he called the office and asked to speak to the manager so he could find out how to get them to re inverse us on our hotel bill b/c we are NOT going to stay in our HOT apartment that night...then all of the sudden there was somebody at our door. We have the best maintenance man who lives by us and is a great neighbor too. Andrew knows his name and is so excited when he comes over to fix something. The moment he walked in he agreed it was WAY too HOT in here. He tinkered around for a little while and then said that our air compressor had blown and it would take some time to fix it. When Jon got home it still wasn't fixed so we went to Sonic for dinner.

At Sonic while we were waiting for our food Andrew was being irritable (b/c it was so HOT all day in our apartment he couldn't take a nap) so Jon decided to roll down his window. The moment Andrew's window was down he said, "Um..I'd like tots and soda." It was so funny we just busted out laughing. He just wanted to order like he had seen his daddy just do.

When we got home our air conditioning was fixed and Andrew immediately laid down on the ground and fell asleep. He didn't wake up that whole night. Poor guy was so tired from the HOT day we had in our apartment. YEAH for air conditioning & Sonic!

I guess he was pretty tired!

I LOVE JEWELRY!!

My whole life I never really got excited about wearing different jewelry or anything like that. I just had my one necklace that I wore all the time. Well, I guess I am now entering a new phase of my life b/c all of the sudden I really like wearing different jewelry to go with my outfit. So my friend told me about two cute jewelry stores close by which are Hannah D's and Charming Charlies. Oh I am in big trouble now. So here is a picture of me wearing one of my sets of new jewelry. Also I have never been able to wear earrings or wanted to but now I am just wearing them anyways. I LOVE JEWELRY!!

Andrew's First Camping Experience

Jon took Andrew to the church Father and Son's campout on May 29th. I was really happy that I just got to hang out with friends, eat pizza and swim without worrying about Andrew. I just didn't know what to do with myself being totally free like that.

Jon totally took care of everything for camping. He went and bought Andrew a Cars sleeping bag, and packed everything up in the car. I didn't have to do a thing. Here are some pictures from their fun campout.

Jon said that when Andrew saw the Cars sleeping bag he loved it so much that Andrew just wanted to stay in the tent on his sleeping bag. TOO CUTE!!

Once Jon got Andrew to come out of the tent they went on a little walk. Andrew didn't like the sound of the bugs buzzy by his ears so that is why he is covering his ears with his hands. Hmm kind of sounds like what Aunt Lisa does. =)

They went to McKinney Falls so of course on their walks they found water. Jon said Andrew just had fun being a boy and jumping from rock to rock. I think he did have fun judging from his smile in this picture. What do you think?

I am so glad that Jon is a cute daddy and took Andrew camping. Andrew is so lucky to have a daddy like that.

Zilker Park Train

A couple of weeks ago we had playgroup at Zilker Park, and of course we went since we have our cute car! =) The kids played on the playground, but there is also a little train ride so of course after lunch we went on the train. Andrew really liked it. Throughout the ride he kept on saying, "Choo Choo". We will definately have to do that again.

Zoo Fun (Memorial Day)

So I know this is way late, but I just wanted to blog about our Memorial Day fun at the Cameron Zoo in Waco, TX. We took a little friend of Andrew's with us. They had so much fun seeing all the cool animals. Here are some pictures.

The first thing we saw was the galapolos turtles. The boys were just in awe at how big they were.

The boys liked looking at the big birds.

Then there was a little kids play area that we stopped at. There was a tube that looked like a snake. In this picture the boys are going into the snake's mouth. TOO CUTE!!

On the way to the zoo the boys watched Finding Nemo so as soon as they saw these blue fish they both got so excited and yelled Dori. TOO FUNNY!!
The boys were very interested in the alligators. Andrew's friend kept asking me with each animal if they were good or bad. With the alligator I said they were good but only in the zoo. =) What would you have said?

We weren't able to get a picture of it, but this alligator all of the sudden swam over toward the boys and they freaked out. Jon and I had to hold in our laughter.

The bears weren't very exciting at all. The boys kept on hitting the glass and asking us to make the bears move. TOO BAD!
Here are the sea otters. We spent more time here b/c they were just being so playful and fun. Andrew is at the very edge of this picture b/c once he saw there was a slide here that is where he was off to.

There were too many people around to get a good picture of Andrew on the slide that went through the sea otter area. TOO COOL!!

Seeing the leopard was cool b/c it was right up against the glass.

Over by the bison there were these teepees. Andrew loved going inside them. In fact he loved it so much in there we had to physically go in that drag him out so we could go see other animals. Also I thought it was funny that we wanted to carry the zoo map the whole time. He never put it down the whole time, until his friend wanted a turn so then he had to share. But the moment his friend was done it was back in Andrew's hand. FUNNY!
Andrew's friend was really good and would hold our hand but Andrew just couldn't contain himself and would run every chance he got.
Here is daddy and Andrew by the giraffes. This zoo was great b/c we were able to get pretty close to the animals.

Elephants are Andrew's favorite animal right now. He has his arm up b/c that is what he does when we ask him what the elephant sounds like. He also tries to blow like an elephant but instead spits all over. We are working on not spitting though.
By the end of the zoo the boys were so tired. They fell asleep on the way home, but woke up b/c they were hungry so we had a fun little lunch at Sonic. The toy was a tatter zoo animal which was the perfect ending to a fun zoo day.

I am a FREE woman!!!

We have been talking about getting a second car, but we were waiting to see if I had gotten into school and if it really was a necessity. As soon as I found out I had gotten accepted to dental hygiene school my heart longed for a car. I just hate the feeling of being trapped at home. So, we went car looking. I say car looking b/c we had promised ourselves that we weren't going to buy a car the day. We first looked at and test drove a Pontiac G6 which I fell in love with immediately. It was such a cute and fun car, but we were worried about the mpg since it was a V6. So, we next looked at and test drove a Ford Focus. I really liked this car too, but I still was stuck on the Pontiac. Last of all we looked at and test drove a Kia, but it had so much hail damage we just couldn't see ourselves driving it, also the sales man was one of your typical stereotype, doesn't listen to what you really are looking for sales men and we didn't want anything to do with him.

After car looking NOT shopping we went home and did our homework on the Pontiac and Ford. They actually were pretty close on most things but the Ford was newer, had less miles on it, and got better gas mileage so we decided we were going to go with the Ford. I just got so excited that I talked Jon into buying it that night.

I LOVE my cute car. She is a metallic light blue, has a audio line where I can plug in my ipod, is pretty roomy, and drives so great. I LOVE having a car and not being trapped anymore. I have noticed a difference in Andrew too. He is not near as aggressive and LOVES going places. In fact the other day we walked up to the office to pay rent and he wanted to ride so bad in the what he calls the butterfly car (I have sunshades with butterflies on them). We go to the gym, playgroup, even pick up friends to go play with us. I just LOVE having a car!! YEAH ME!!!

Broken Sandwich

Tonight Jon brought home left over sandwiches from his New Patient class. Andrew wants to eat whatever we are eating but the sandwiches were just too big for his little mouth so Jon decided to be a good daddy and cut the sandwich in half. Andrew had such a fit and was hyperventilating from crying so hard. We tried to explain to him that he could still eat the sandwich but he just kept on screaming, "No, it's broken." We let him just cry thinking that he would either fall asleep or just cry it out and be OK. That did not work, so after about 1 1/2 hrs. of him bawling he finally says, "I want Papa" which is grandpa. So we called grandpa as fast as we could. Aunt Lisa answered the phone and Jon immediately asked to talk to Papa or Mimi. Sorry Aunt Lisa but we just needed him to stop crying. So Mimi got on and talked to him for a little while and of course wanted to make things better so said if she was here she would make him a new sandwich that wasn't broken. Then she got Papa on the phone. Andrew absolutely LOVES his grandparents, but him and Papa just have something special so when he heard Papa's voice he really calmed down. Papa told him to just eat his sandwich which to that Andrew cried, "No, it's broken." So he never did eat his sandwich but talking to his grandparents really calmed him down. THANKS PAPA & MIMI!!!! So if you child is upset about something just try to call the grandparents. It worked for us, but we also have the best grandparents ever.