February 2015

OUR SWEET AUDREY BEAR

Audrey in a cute bow and dress from her Aunt Ruth

Little Ballerina

She is very flexible and loves sucking on her toes.

I love watching her sleep.

A day in the sun.

Our sweet bundle of love.  Audrey is very good natured and easy going.  She is by far my easiest baby.  

VALENTINE'S DAY

When I asked Jared what he wanted for Valentine's he said he'd love to see me with red hair so I got red highlights for Valentine's day. Now when people see me with Abby and Audrey, they say, "Oh, they got the red hair from you."

Here is the box Abby made for Valentine's day.  The kids were sweet about writing nice cards to mom and dad and each other.  We're trying to stay away from sweets on holidays, so the kids each got a small gift in the mail boxes instead of chocolate.  I learned how to make jewelry at a Relief Society activity so I made the girls each a necklace.  Abby chose one with a piano pendant.

Nathan decided to make his box out of Duplos this year.

Maddy with her box.

Audrey in her new Valentine's outfit.

She is a pretty sweet little Valentine.

We had a nice Valentine's morning together, but were deeply saddened later that day to learn that our dear niece Chloe was seriously injured in a bike accident.   We ended the day in tears but with faith and prayers for her.  I'm happy to report that although she was near death at the time, she is now doing much better.


CRANNEY CLAN

My parents and the Cranneys were planning on visiting at the end of the month, but because of the accident my parents went to Arizona to be with Chloe instead.  We missed having my parents visit, but were happy that Rachel and Stephen's family was still able to come.  The cousins had fun playing together in the backyard.

We had a nice day at the zoo together.

They also had fun at the Mayborn Museum.  They especially liked the pioneer room.

SAN ANTONIO

My dad had reserved a WorldMark condo near San Antonio for us to stay in for 5 days. We spent the first day visiting the Alamo.

I wasn't too fascinated by the gun collection inside the main building, but I loved the beautiful grounds inside the compound.  This tree (The Heritage Tree) was especially beautiful.  It's a live oak that is 140 years old!  http://www.therivardreport.com/heritage-tree-live-oak-at-the-alamo/

Our whole family in front of the Alamo.  We were used to the cooler weather in Waco so we were dressed a little warm for the 85 degree weather in San Antonio.

We were able to cool off by taking a nice river boat tour along San Antonio's historic river walk district.

We ended the day with some delicious gelato and some true Italian pizza.

We ran into some bad weather so we spent a day with the kids at an indoor jumping place.

We also spent a cold weather day at the Natural Bridge caverns.  

It was a toasty 80 degrees inside the caves.

There were all sorts of amazing formations.  By far the most interesting cave I've ever visited.

The kids liked how it was warmer and more interesting than the lava tubes we visited in Washington.

We also visited the historic district of New Braunfels.  Here the kids are on stage at the oldest continuously run dance hall in the country.

To get to the dance hall we passed this historic saloon, which made me feel like I was on set for an old Western movie.

Luckily the weather warmed up for our last day.  Here we are at the San Jose mission.

We also stopped by the historic Mission Conception.

We enjoyed visiting the San Antonio botanical gardens as well.

The girls loved the little fairy garden castle.

My dad would have loved the room full of orchids and other tropical plants.

Nathan liked the pond with the lily pads.

Maddy liked the purple blossoms.

The kids had fun feeding the ducks.

Audrey was an angel the whole trip and enjoyed the views from her stroller.

Our last stop were the beautiful Japanese tea gardens.  They were under construction at the time, but I'm excited to go back and enjoy them once the renovation is complete.  So beautiful!