Mason Tags Austin: 11 facts about Austin

I thought this was the cutest tag!! Thanks, Mason (and Jenn) for tagging Austin!! I would LOVE to tell a little about my sweet, handsome little boy! :0)

1. Austin is a cuddler. After having Paige, who was NOT a cuddler, I am loving having this time with my little boy!! The best time is right after he wakes up in the morning or after naps. He'll just chill on my lap with his head on my shoulder or chest. I LOVE IT!!

2. Austin LOVES to eat. You would never guess it since he's in the 10th percentile for weight, but he is. His favorite things to eat are meat (he'll actually say meat during lunch and dinner when he wants more), strawberries, grapes, apples, raisins and goldfish. Oh yeah, and Dum-dums. :0)

3. Austin has a love/not-so-love relationship with Paige. He loves to do everything that she's doing, but as soon as she gets close to his toys or me, he does his little scream. It actually is quite comical. They are getting better at just playing with each other. My favorite thing is when they're off somewhere and I just hear both of them giggling.

4. Austin was an early teether. By the time he was a year, or just after, he had all of his teeth. He definitely knows how to use them, too. See Fact #2! :0) It also gives him the cutest smile ever!! He seems much older to me because of his "toothy" smile.

5. Austin is quite the dancer. He loves music and loves to move his body to the beat. My favorite thing is when he's in his carseat and we're listening to Ralph's World (or any music for that matter) and he is just doing his little "bounce". It's hilarious!

6. Austin likes to "sing". He'll get my little hymn book out and carry it around the house and just sing his little heart out. It's a little more like yelling, but that's OK. What do you expect from a 15 month old!

7. Austin is exploding right now with his vocabulary. Literally everyday he comes up with a new word. Right now his favorite words are ball, milk, Mommy, Daddy, stuck, "dow" for window, apple, meat, puppy, papa (for grandpa), "erry" (for strawberry), down...you get the idea. His thing right now is to exaggerate the "k" sound. So when he says "milk", it sounds like "mil" ended with a "huck a luggy" sound. Quite pleasant sounding, let me tell you! :0)

8. Austin takes great naps. If any of you know Paige, you know that she was quite the opposite in this area, so I'm LOVING it!! All we have to do is lay him down in his crib and he'll go right to sleep. So easy!! We'll see if this continues in the future. I'm really enjoying not having to read a certain amount of stories, sing a certain number of songs, etc. that we have to do Paige! :0)

9. Austin is a major flirt with little girl babies. That's right, they have to be his age or younger. For instance, when we were in Yellowstone with Brian's parents, we took a break from the nasty weather and ate lunch in the Old Faithful Inn. There was a family with a girl a little older than Paige and another girl a few months younger than Austin. Austin was sitting down on some steps and the dad (who was from Costa Rica) sat his daughter down next to Austin. Instantly, Austin leaned over, put his arm around her and gave her an open mouth kiss right on the cheek. I think he was aiming for her mouth, but she turned her head just in time! The dad, in his accent, said, "Boy, he is the fastest mover I've ever seen! You'll have to keep an eye open with him, Mama!!" We'll definitely be keeping him away from the females when he gets older!!! :0)

10. Austin has his daddy's head. As I told you before, he's in the 10th percentile for weight, about 50th for height and 90TH FOR HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE!! Yes, huge "heed"!! :0) We call him our little "lollipop"! :0)

11. Austin is the sweetest boy in the world. He loves to give hugs and kisses (albeit open mouthed kisses). :0) My heart just melts every time he shares the love! He always seems to know when I'm needing a little extra lovin' and will run up to me and give me a big hug and kiss. I'm hoping this quality sticks around!! :0)

OK, Austin tags Gracie, Wyatt and Tyler.

What have we been up to?!?

What a slacker I am!! I've meant to post sooner, but other things have kind of taken priority, namely spending time outside with my kiddos enjoying the wonderful summer weather that has finally decided to grace us with it's presence!!


We've also been busy with volleyball camp, birthdays and Father's Day. It's all been a lot of fun. First of all, volleyball camp was a success. We had more girls than we originally thought which is a great thing. We had a few players from UCCS put the camp on for us (one is a local girl) and they did a great job. I decided to take Paige and Austin to the last half hour of the last session of camp (Friday afternoon) because the girls wanted to see them, and boy, were they the center of attention, especially Paige. When we got there, the girls were finishing up some relay races and then it was time to stretch. Paige recognized a couple of the girls who are in our ward and went over by them. When they started to stretch, Paige went right into the middle of the circle (made up of about 30 girls) and started doing her own stretches. That is when one of the camp leaders noticed what Paige was doing and told all of the other girls to follow Paige. At this, Paige got the biggest grin on her face and made the most of her time in the spotlight. She lead them in jumping jacks, yoga moves, ballet, and a few other stretches. (She got a lot of these moves from our morning work out sessions.) :0) It was absolutely hilarious!! I wish I had my camera with me because it was definitely video worthy!! She is now very well known by all involved in our volleyball program!!


For my birthday on the 13th, we didn't do a whole lot because I was busy with volleyball camp. We did go out to eat the following day in Idaho Falls with Brian's parents. If you're in the area and looking for a great Mexican restaraunt, Puerto Vallarta, is a wonderful choice!! Their food is very authentic, which is #1 on our list, and if it's your birthday, they serve you a HUGE platter of fried ice cream, sopapillas, caramel and whipped cream. Can I say DELICIOUS?!?! Just have a lot of people there to help you eat it! :0) Overall, it was a great 28th birthday, which I can't believe I'm 28!! That sounds so old to me. Oh well, as long as I don't feel old, right?!? :0)


Two days later was Father's Day, of course, and it was a great day. It was wonderful to be able to really think about our fathers, and especially feel appreciation for all that Brian does for our little family. He is definitely the best husband and father in the world! He loves to spend time with us. He's a little kid at heart and I just love seeing him play with Paige and Austin. He works so hard to provide for our family and it's wonderful that because of this I'm able to stay home and be with our wonderful kiddos every day. If you're reading this, Bri, we love you and appreciate all that you do for us!! OK, I won't go into any more mushy stuff! :0) Just know we had a great day.


Brian and I decided to combine my birthday present and his Father's Day present this year. I knew all along that I wanted to get him a BBQ because our house has no AC and I really, really, really, didn't want to cook in a smoldering house all summer. When Brian asked if I had gotten his Father's Day present yet, I told him no, but that I knew what I wanted to get him. He said that that was good because he had an idea for both our presents. He wouldn't tell me what he was thinking, though, until we were on our way to IF for dinner Saturday night. When he said this, though, I knew it was either going to be a BBQ or a TV. I'm SO GLAD that he was thinking a long the same lines as me and wanted to get a BBQ!! I'd like a new TV, but that can wait until we get a house of our own!! :0) So the following Wednesday, Brian went BBQ grill shopping and came home with a beauty! We've been using it almost every night since then and it's been WONDERFUL!! I love it when "great minds think alike!!" :0)


As for Father's Day presents for my dad and Brian's dad, I have to say they were too darn cute!! They turned out much better than I thought they would, and our dads LOVE them. Here are a few pics of the finished products.

OK, this has been a long enough post. Sorry, that's what we get when I'm a slacker and have to catch up all at once!! Here are a few additional pictures of our recent doings! Enjoy!!

Paige and Austin found a ladybug and were FASCINATED by it! Paige, especially, couldn't get enough of it.

"Mom, PLEASE may I have a turn with the ladybug?!?" I LOVE it when he signs. "Please" is one of his favorites because he knows he usually gets what he wants when he says please!

Paige and Daddy washing the cars. She was the best helper! The only problem was that she'd wash what we had just rinsed off...every time, never failed! :0)

Austin's first "real" haircut

One Sunday, Bri and I were looking at Austin and thought to ourselves, "Our little boy is looking a little shaggy!!" So we of course got the clippers out and went at it. I was a little afraid that Austin would throw a fit and hate the clippers, but Oh, was I wrong!! He loved the buzzing sound and the feel of it on his head. The only thing he didn't like was when I tried to trim his neck. So, if you see him in person, don't look too closely at the neckline!! :0) We decided to leave the top a little longer so we could try to spike it. I love it! Isn't Austin the cutest boy (notice I say boy instead of baby, because he definitely is NOT a baby anymore with this haircut!!) ever?!? We sure think so! :0)

Ok, I have a video of the actual haircut, but it's not uploading. I'll try again later. For now, enjoy these pics of our handsome little boy!!

Our trip to Oregon

Warning: Lots of pictures of cute, silly and very, very active children (with a few mommies and daddies included.)

The slides at the playground were a hit for all the little kiddies.

Notice Brian in the background. The adults needed to try it out, too!!
Brian's score: 6.5 It was a little slow
Paige's score: 9.5 Very fast and could do it all by herself after 2 tries
Anything that Cousin Natalie did, Paige had to do.

Walking to the playground with Grandpa A.
Climbing the mountain
If Sister can do it, so can I!! He actually climbed up this by himself later. He was halfway up before anyone noticed. Crazy boy!
Grandmas and Grandpas have to have a little fun, too!!

We had so much fun with Ray, Krissy, Kate and Jack!!! Has it really been a year since we were all together?!?

Paige LOVED this little bike. She felt like such a big girl!!
Jack taking a break. He is one funny boy!!! Oh we miss them so much already!!
Umbrella fun!!
Peek-a-boo


The Deschutes River was right in our backyard at the condo we stayed in. Isn't it absolutely beautiful?!? We took a 4 mile hike by it. (We found out after the hike that it was 4 miles. Sorry, Krissy!!) We were just trying to get Krissy to have her baby so we could see Baby Hardy before we left! :0)

Rocks + body of water + throwing action = Heavenly bliss

This was the coolest tree on the trail! I love Jack in the pic. He was so exhausted from the hike that it was too much to even open his eyes for the picture!

Two of the sweetest girls I know!!

This bear was outside of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store and Paige and Austin were fascinated by it. It's kind of scary lookin' if you ask me!! Thank goodness it was locked onto the bench or Paige and Austin might have begged to take it home with us!! :0) (I think not!)

Thanks Ray and Krissy for everything! Thanks Mom and Dad A. for letting us take advantage of your timeshare! Thanks Julie for coming and making this vacation so fun!! What a wonderful week!!

Memorial Day 2008

Since we live back in the West we were able to visit a few family graves this year with my family. It has been a long time since I've seen my Grandma and Grandpa Nebeker, Grandpa Gifford and Great, great-Grandma and Grandpa Thorne's graves. I loved being able to remember the wonderful people they were, or in the case of my Grandpa Gifford, hearing other people's memories of him. It was neat having my children there to see where their ancestors are buried and hopefully they can begin to understand who they were. It was also so fun getting together with most of my family. We were missing two of my brothers and their families, but hopefully we'll be able to see them soon!! Enjoy the pics!

The whole gang!
What is with Austin and kissing?!? It doesn't matter if the cute girl is related or not! :0)

Where, oh where did our backyard go?!?

Here's a few pictures taken yesterday and today of our lovely backyard. So sad! At least Paige and Austin enjoy watching it all while eating their snacks.

Another little update!

So, it's been an interesting 2 weeks. Remember when we first moved into our house and we had a little incident with toilet water all over our basement....well, it happened again. Luckily it wasn't as bad and this time we actually had friends who own wet vacs!! This time, however, our landlords gave in and decided to put in new pipes since the old ones are "root-infested" beyond repair. This means, however, that we now have a HUGE hole with a very long and deep trench in our backyard. (I'll take a picture of it tomorrow to prove to you how big it is!) Can you say, "No more picnics or playing on the swings in the backyard for a while!" At least Paige and Austin were occupied by the "digger" in our backyard for most of the day!! They moved some chairs over to the sliding door and sat there watching the men work while eating their snacks and drinking their milk. (I'll post that picture tomorrow, also.) That was very nice, since I had to unpack everything from our trip this last week. We went to Bend, OR for almost a week and it was the best vacation we've had in a very long time!! We were able to see and play with our wonderful friends, Ray, Krissy, Kate and Jack again, play with cousins, Natalie, Lauralee and Ava, Aunt Julie, and Grandma and Grandpa A. The weather was actually pretty nice. It rained a little while we were there, but we still had plenty of sunny days for tennis, hikes and just relaxing. It was wonderful!!! Since it's 11 pm right now, I'll post the pictures tomorrow when I'll have more patience for them to load. But now we're back home and wondering when we'll be able to have our backyard back!!