Visiting the Strongs

On Friday we spent the day at the Strongs' house.  Dallin's siblings that live nearby came over for the day with their kids.  Luckily Carrie's kids don't have school on Fridays, so they were able to come from Buckeye for the whole day.  We loved seeing and spending time with all of them.  Thanks for making time for us everyone!  

Landon loves men (especially grandpas) and riding his cars up them.

Justin's family

  The kids were getting restless so Grandpa took them all outside to help "rake" the leaves.  The adults joined a little later and we had lots of fun.  

 Landon did NOT want to go outside because I wouldn't let him bring the toy out with him.  But he was happy and throwing leaves after just a few minutes.

 

 You can't tell in this picture, but Allison had just thrown a big bunch of leaves on Landon and he loved it.

 

 Afterwards the kids all took a break and watched a movie.

 Landon spent a couple of hours outside with Grandpa, Carrie & Tanya playing with the dog.  This kid loves dogs, especially Laddie.  He wore himself out good chasing Laddie all over the backyard. 

 When I came outside to check on him after a while, Landon showed me his "ball" and said "Mommy!  Ball tree!!!"  He was so amazed that there was a whole tree just full of balls waiting to be picked and played with.  Luckily he only picked one of Grandpa's grapefruits and carried it around the whole time.

Landon and Trenton were the best little buddies and played together pretty nicely the whole day.  It will be fun to watch them and Rusty together as they all get older.

 Trent and Landon even built themselves a "fort."

 A big "HI" from Matthew

 On Saturday I dropped Landon off for the whole day while I was at the wedding.  I think he loved having Grandma & Grandpa Strong to himself for a day.

Landon & Lauree's Arizona trip

On Thursday, January 17 Landon and I flew to Arizona.  The purpose of the trip was for the wedding of one of my best friends.  Dallin dropped us off at the airport right after we took the kids to school.  Dallin was able to work from home a couple of days and the older kids also went to a friend's house one day after school as well.  They did a great job keeping the house together and getting everything done.  I know this trip wouldn't have been possible without Dallin being so supportive.  Thanks Dallin! 

 This time Landon had his own seat and it was SO much better than when we went a year ago.  I brought his car seat and strapped him in just like a car trip.  He didn't know he could get out and I didn't tell him.  I didn't even have to use all the new little toys I had bought for the plane, he did so well.  He mostly just held his new Scooby-Doo and watched shows on my Kindle.  I love that Kindle.

 When we got to AZ we had lunch with Grandma & Grandpa LeSueur.  In the evening my mom took me to get a pedicure with her while Grandpa took Landon to the park.

 Friday we spent at the Strongs, but I'll do that as a separate post.  Saturday was wedding day!  When my mom and I got to the temple we ran into my mom's best friend and her daughter, also there for a wedding.  They live in eastern AZ, so it was great and a major coincidence for us to get to see them and talk to them for a few minutes.

 On Sunday we went to church with my parents, and then had my aunt and uncle's family over in the evening.  I really appreciated them making the long drive out to see us.  Landon enjoyed using Todd as a racetrack.

With the Garbisons, "Shapes," "Mer-silly," and Todd

 

 Landon LOVED playing with Shae, who he called "Shapes."  They did legos and she played lots of hide-and-seek with him.  He was missing his siblings by then, so it was a nice play date for him.  Oh, and he wore that Santa hat any time we were at my parent's house.

 Landon enjoyed having lots of one on one attention with family during the whole week.

 

 

 We left on Tuesday after lunch, but stopped at Grandpa's work to say good-bye before we left, since it's right next to the airport.  I used to go visit my dad in that building when I was a little girl, and now all of my kids have been there to visit Grandpa.

 Landon got a new "puppy" for the way home, and is still carrying it around non-stop.  He did great on the flight again, and even took a nap for half the time.  After both flights the guys sitting next to me complimented him on what a good boy he was, which made me happy.  It was a fun, fun trip, but it's nice to be home and back in our routine again.

Science Fair

Zach had to do the Science Fair this year, and did his project with his friend Tyler.  Their project was titled "How Different Liquids Effect Plant Growth."  They started out trying to grow beans in cups, but the bean seeds were duds and none of them sprouted.  Then they tried flower seeds in bags, and finally did bean seeds in ziploc bags and that worked great.  They put cotton balls soaked in different liquids in each bag.  They had a fun time doing it together.

Dino Pit

On Saturday I took the little kids to the Austin Nature & Science Center downtown.  The older boys didn't want to come, so we left them at home.  We haven't been here in 2 or 3 years and Connor & Landon LOVED it.  It's free too, so you can't beat that.  I didn't get any pictures by all the fossils and stuff because I was trying to keep Landon from breaking the microscopes and magnifying glasses.  The kids are free to touch things, he's just a little too rough still.

 Landon love "whooing" to all the birds in the aviary.

 Of course Connor loved the snakes and fish.  They also have a few local rescued animals, like fox, racoon, etc.

 Then we headed to the dino pit.  Connor has gotten into dinosaurs lately, so he was very excited about this part.  He was only 2 or 3 the last time we came.

 Landon just followed Savannah around the whole time saying "Dig!  Dig!  I dig!"

 Until he found a nice hole to dig in.  Then he stayed put for a while.

 Connor thought it was great that I let him jump off all the rocks, since it was just sand to land in.

 It's such a pretty place to visit.

Through the eyes of Savannah

Savannah loves to use our old camera and take lots and lots of pictures (I wonder where she gets that from?).  Last week she had the camera and brought it to me when it was full so I could delete them all.  I just  went on to it today and it just made me smile.  Here are some of my favorites.

We have felt faces that you put on a flannel board, but we like to put them on each other.  It's much more entertaining.

 

 

 Self picture

 Landon always carries his toys in one arm so he has his other arm free to play.  That particular day he carried around Velma & Daphne all day.

Dogs & Fences

Lucy gets to sleep in the garage whenever it gets really cold outside, and it's been pretty cold the last week.  We were watching our friends' dog Ginnie for a few days, so Lucy had a buddy to keep her company.

Landon LOVES Lucy lately, and was thrilled to have Ginnie here as well.  Every time someone opens the garage door he comes running to go out and pet Lucy.

We've had a lot of strong wind this week as well, and a couple of posts on our back fence were about to fall over.  Dallin and our neighbor John started fixing it yesterday.  They had lots of helpers.

Connor stayed out there to help the entire 4 hours or so that they were back there.  John even gave him two quarters for being such a good helper.  He started playing in the hose towards the end and came in with some pretty frozen fingers.

Remember the Alamo

It has been our tradition the last few years to do a day trip during Christmas break.  On Friday we had great weather so we drove to San Antonio to "Remember the Alamo."  Jacob & Zach have both had Texas state history since the last time we came, so we though they would enjoy it.  Landon, however, did not think it was great to stand in front of glass cases looking at old things.  After just a couple of minutes in the annex nearby he started throwing a horrible tantrum.  So Dallin took the older kids inside the Alamo while I stayed outside to calm Landon down.  Luckily the weather was nice so it wasn't too bad.

The six flags of Texas - all of the different countries that have "owned" Texas.  This is where the theme park "Six Flags" gets its name.

 We were lucky to get there just before the huge crowds started and they only had to wait a few minutes to go inside.  By the time we left there was probably a 45 minute wait.

 In front of the Texas tree.  There were so many orange shirts everywhere because Saturday was the Alamo Bowl, and the University of Texas played Oregon State (which are both orange schools).

 After having lunch at McDonald's we took a boat ride on the Riverwalk.  The last time we came and walked and walked and walked the kids wanted to go on the boats, but we didn't.  They all loved the boat, especially Landon.