Wednesday, November 16, 2011

September

I'm going to do a quick break down of the past several months so that I can get caught up and start blogging again! So much has been going on and I don't want to forget any of it.

August ended with a bang when Mom and Dad West came for a visit! We finally went and saw the cattle drive (or The Fort Worth Herd) in downtown Fort Worth. It's the only cattle drive that runs twice a day every day of the year - rain or shine! We were pretty excited to see all the longhorns and the real cowboys. We now affectionately refer to the cattle drive as "the stampede" because that is EXACTLY opposite of what it was. We died laughing as the 9 or so longhorn strolled on by us. I'm still glad we went - I love the "old west" feel of that area. I always get the itch to buy me some cowboy boots and a hat and sing 'whip crack away, whip crack away, whip crack away'. And now I'm feeling the itch to watch Calamity Jane! Anyway, the girls had fun riding some ponies and for about 2 minutes I thought it would be fun if they became interested in horses and we could buy a couple (someday). Then I snapped out of it and realized it would be WAY too much work for me and that we will stick with things that don't poop all over the place and attract flies. Haha! The rest of the weekend we just hung out and relaxed which is just what we all wanted to do. This past summer was terribly hot and I was big and pregnant so it was nice to just be together.

Papa, Anika, and Keslie

The Herd



I had a big "30th birthday" post planned but never got around to doing it. I don't know why but I was not excited about turning 30. It ended up being a great birthday and I got to celebrate for 4 days straight! Nathan took me on a date to Outback Steakhouse where I feasted on delicious steak and coconut shrimp. The best part was when the waiter came over to our table with my free dessert and he said that I would have to work to get it. He brought it to the very front of the restaurant and then came back and gave me a baby rattle and made me shake it and yell "It's my birthday!" as I went to get my treat. SO embarrassing but I REALLY wanted it so I did it! Haha! Here we are at Outback and I have a handsome husband. =)
And we took a pregnant picture that didn't turn out so great - but here I am at about 28 weeks.
The next day Mandi and Steve and their kids came for birthday cake.

M&M and Me - I'm very lucky to have a friend like her.
Our crazy kids.
On Pinterest I found an ice cream cake recipe that I had been dreaming of so I made that one for our Sunday celebrations. Look at all this delicious candy!!
My good friend, Stephanie, and I share a birthday so we had to celebrate together!
Stephanie and Jeff
Playing Settlers of Catan and LOVING it!
And the ugly shot - because what is a blog post without one of these?!

On my birthday my kids and Nathan all gave me a little gift. They were so excited and so was I! Afterwards we met up with Stephanie and Jeff at IHOP and it was delicious. Then we came home and I got to embark on my "day alone'. I know, I'm weird, but I just wanted some "me" time. I went and saw Harry Potter and then took myself to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes and shopped at Charming Charlies and the furniture store. It was a great day - the only bad thing was locking my keys in the car out in Arlington and Nathan having to come save me. =)



The West super hero squad!
His lips are SO kissable!
And that's about it for September!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

First Day of School!


Anika - 2nd grade!

Keslie - Kindergarten

For their first day of school treat we had oreo truffles and then when Nathan got home we went and got dinner at Whataburger (gross! I'm done with fast food burgers for a LONG TIME!) to celebrate a great first day. The girls came home with smiles and nonstop talking. I'm sooo glad they were happy!


Monday, August 15, 2011

Summer Wrap-up

Well, this summer flew right on by! We had a little welcome/get to know you party with Nathan's work and Brenan and Anika found the stash of dress ups. I think I need to invest in some good boy dress up clothes because Brenan was having a ball!

We had our first visitors to Fort Worth! Granana and Papa came and we had a great weekend with them. The kids love all of Granana's games on her IPad.

Anika let her pull out the tooth that had been dangling forever! Papa gave her a dollar. She was pretty thrilled!

Anika made Papa a special nose and he was a good sport to wear it!
It was a great weekend!
We haven't gotten any furniture to fill our front two rooms yet so the kids have a blast making forts and houses. Here is one of them:

They also like to use the table:

Anika helped me make granola! It turned out so yummy! We used this recipe:
I ate it for breakfast every day!



They did a lot of backyard swimming since Fort Worth is lacking in pools and splash pads.



Weirdos! I found them both with oreo guts all over their heads!

The girls got their ears re-pierced since their holes had closed. They chose their birthstones which happen to be their favorite colors - pink and blue. =) Here is Kes getting all ready!
Then they got their hair cut and the lady cut Anika's hair about 2 inches shorter than I had said. Rarrr! She did a pretty horrid job on Keslie's layers too. I think I'll just do it myself from now on!
A friend in my ward had a "feather party" so I let the girls get a feather. They were pretty darn excited!

My friend, Winni, from San Antonio stopped by on her way home from a trip in Missouri. The kids played for the morning before we headed down to Austin.
I look LARGE and IN CHARGE next to Winni! She is so tiny. It was fun to see them.

Brooke and Scott are heading to Hong Kong for a year so we wanted to see them before they left. We took a quick overnight trip to Austin and ate dinner with them at Chuy's and then the next day we went to breakfast and an ice cream festival before heading home. We will miss them! Olsen is going to be a full fledged toddler the next time we see him! Here are some pictures from our quick trip:





It was pretty miserable outside but luckily we could have all the ice cream we wanted. It was $10 to get in so I was determined to get my moneys worth!



We went to Lake Worth for the first time with the cub scouts. The kids loved it! Lake Worth is so beautiful to drive by! I"m happy we live so close to it.



I bought museum passes last week and we've already gone a couple times. This last visit the girls took advantage of the fountain that is coming out of the ground. I don't know if it's really supposed to be a splash pad but whoever put it there was sort of asking for it by setting benches all around and having water shoot out of the ground. It was probably their favorite moment of the summer and I LOVED that they were so happy!




This little sweetie (don't even look at me!) had her first run in with fire ants.

I counted 49 bites. Those ants are nasty little things! We managed to make it 2 years in San Antonio without any of us getting bit and now we've all experienced it since moving here.
Phew! Now I'm caught up! Hopefully I'll be better at posting now that my girls are in school! I'm tired of all my boring, long, picture posts! =)