Austin's Birthday

Austin turned 3 this week! We had a great day celebrating.   

This is Austin waking up to balloons and presents.

We had our traditional pancake breakfast with candles and opened presents before Matthew had to go to school. 

 Austin got a plasma car and we enjoyed taking it outside to try it out. 

After naps we decorated cupcakes which I think was Austin's favorite part of the day!  I let him pick out his cake and he wanted white cake with white frosting and sprinkles. 

After dinner we all went to Chuck E Cheese to play for a little bit.  Austin loved it and Kensley enjoyed it too!

I can't believe I now have a three year old. Here are some things I want to remember about Austin at this age:
-He is really into rockets, trains, airplanes, and of course cars.
-He knows his ABC and can count to 10. He has just learned to write the letter A.  Pretty sure he has taken after me and is going to be left handed.
-He really loves to dance and to find the beat of anything like when the washer or dishwasher is going. It's so funny to watch him suddenly stop and listen and then bop his head to the beat.
-He still has to go to sleep with bear and blanket.
-His new favorite phrase is "Yeah, lets do it." whenever I suggest we do something.
-He is rockin' it at being potty trained. (It's been about a month and a half)
-He has just started saying "why" to everything we say.
-Loves to give Kensley kisses or get her toys and binkie for her.
-He is a early riser and will sometimes climb up in bed and cuddle with me.
-I love his laugh so much and he laughs a lot at almost anything.
-He is definitely a mama's boy.
And there are so many other reasons why we love Austin and so grateful for his cute self in our family!

He's Done!

Matthew took his board exam earlier this week and whew, we are so glad to have that behind us.  The last few weeks we have hardly seen him as he has been studying nonstop, day and night.  But he is done! This test covered all the material from the two years of medical school he has taken so far. He will have another one at the end of his fourth year.  
We were able to have a nice extra long weekend together before his summer classes start back up tomorrow. We took that time to spend as a family and do a couple fun things.  On Friday we went to the Arizona Science Museum. We all had fun and learned a few new things.

We also used this weekend to introduce Kensley to eating solids. Big girl in her high chair!

 This was her reaction to eating rice cereal:

"What are you putting in my mouth? And you want me to do what with it??"  It was pretty funny.  It has been a few days and she is getting slightly better.  We also tried bananas and she really didn't like them! She made this face as if they were sour. We will have to keep trying. 

Pinetop

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Pinetop, AZ. It's about 4 hours north of us.  We were meeting up with one of Matthew's friend from the mission and his family.  We had been seriously trying for a couple of years to get together and nothing has worked out so though we had to make it quick (we were there less than 48 hours) we made it work.  I'm so glad we did too cause it was a lot of fun and a great little escape from the Phoenix heat.

It was so nice to see Jason and Lara again and their cute kids.  I actually hadn't met any of the kids before, that's how long it had been since we had seen them. Austin got along great with them and they all became good buddies.

Pinetop was beautiful and it felt more like Colorado than Arizona with the high elevation, tall pine trees and cool weather. We did some hiking, swimming, hanging out, and playing at the park with the kids.

It was so nice to have Matthew all to ourselves for a couple of days. Now back to hard core studying for him as his board exams are coming up pretty soon.

We Have A Big Kid

I am so thrilled to now say that Austin is potty trained!! Woo-hoo! It was about time.  Our little dude is almost three and it just needed to happen.  We had tried in the past but he has always had such a negative attitude towards the potty, never wanted to sit on it and scream when we suggested that we try.   I was so done buying his size diapers and was not enjoying having two kids in diapers.  However, I was so hesitant to try again since he really had no interest in it whatsoever.

But, one day I was talking to my sister in law, Aubrey about it as she was potty training her son and it totally motivated me to just do it. Then later that night I realized I was using the last diaper we had!  I told Matthew we either needed to go get more diapers that night or start potty training tomorrow.  I decided then and there that it was going to happen the next day.

I used the 3 Day Potty Training method by Lora Jensen.  It took the whole three days for him to really get it but I am so proud of Austin and how smooth he has transitioned.  Yes, there were lots of accidents, bribery treats, and loads of laundry being done but we are fully there now. Austin hasn't had an accident in days!  I think he looks so cute in underwear too.  It's been fun to have him hit a new milestone.  It seems like right now so much attention is on Kensley and all the new things she is learning to do so it was nice for him to have something new to be praised for.  I was sooo dreading potty training and am so relieved to have accomplished it!

I told him to show me his underwear and this is what I got

Look Alike?

Austin and Kensley both at 4 months!

Utah Trip

A few weeks ago we hit a big milestone.  Matthew finished his second year of medical school.  Woo Hoo!!  We are halfway done and I couldn't be more proud of my husband.  He has worked so hard and long and has sacrificed lots of sleep and family time into studying and cramming for tests and finals.  We had a two week break before summer term began and had nothing planned.  Yes, nothing.  I was feeling kind of bad that this was his one break this summer and we were doing zip.  So on a whim we decided we wanted to drive to Utah. So we literally packed up and drove out the next day. I'm so glad we did, it was just what we needed.

We drove out on Sunday, May 20th (our 6 year anniversary!) and stayed the night in St. George.  We actually did that on purpose so we were in the perfect spot to see the way cool solar eclipse that night.  I'm so glad we planned that right because it was really neat to see in person.  You had to have special glasses to look at the sun which we didn't but some other nice spectators let us borrow theirs. We saw the moon pass right over the sun until all you see was the "ring of fire" as they call it where it's just the outline of the sun.  Cool experience!

The first half of the trip we stayed with my grandparents in Orem.  They were so nice and willing to let us stay with them on such short notice.  Austin has only met them a couple of times but he took right to them and loved playing with them.  We had a cousins party with all my cousins who are still in the area and had fun catching up with everyone.  We also spent a lot of time with Matthew's sister Aubrey who live in the area. Her son Aaron and Austin are less than a year apart and love playing with each other. And since we last saw each other, Aubrey and I both had babies so it was fun for us to meet each other's babies.

Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

My sister Ciera got to meet Kensley for the first time

Austin trying to figure out how to do a cartwheel

Thanks Allens!

The second half of our trip we stayed with Matthew's parents in Salt Lake.  Austin loved it over there because there are so many toys.  I don't think he was ever bored!  

Kensley and Aubrey's new baby Declan

 Love that face!

 Playing play dough with Nonna. 

Me and my two fabulous sister-in-laws

The weather in Utah was so pretty! We did as much as we could outside.  Austin loved this little bike and rode it as much as he could despite his facial expression. 

 Kensley meets Granny for the first time

All of Matthew's siblings plus spouses with grandparents in the middle.

 Austin couldn't get enough of the trampoline.  I think just about everyone took a turn going outside to jump with him.

 So happy to meet each other's babies. Declan is 1 month, Kensley is 4 months

 Walking around Temple Square. Austin was pretty excited to visit a temple so close up.  We also walked around the new mall across the street from the temple and wow!   It's very amazing and I want to go back.

Austin and Aaron played so well together!

 Getting ice-cream from the ice-cream truck They both loved that and thought that was the coolest thing ever!

We only planned on staying in Utah for a week but we ended up staying for the whole two weeks since we were having such a good time.  I'm so glad we did.  Both kids did really great on the road trip there and back and I'm so glad that so much family got to meet Kensley.  

Bathing Beauty

Check out this little girl's first time in her bathing suit.  So cute!  She wasn't really a fan of the water so we hung out in the shade while Austin played.