Hottest, coolest time in Texas

We had a little baby shower for one of the wives out here. She is so brave and is having her baby out here! This is her second so I'll be watching her darling 2 year old on Friday when she has her baby.

 We had such a fun time going to Schlitterbahn with a few of the other couples. The only bummer part about a water park is you can't take many pictures. 

 Carousel fun at the mall!

 I learned how to make these darling flowers. I'm so excited about them. I will be selling them, so if you'd like one, let me know what color! :)

 I've also been working on a blanket and I'm excited about the way it's turning out. 

1 year older and wiser too

We found a shaved ice place out here and it's been nice to go to on those hot days. It's called Kawaii's, it's no Bahama Bucks, but it is pretty good. 

I had a very fun and eventful birthday. The wives took me out to Firehouse Subs for lunch (so good) and to Kawaii's after. Then I went to Mindi's to make a cake with her darling little girl and to hang out. A few other wives came over to watch So You Think You Can Dance and we ate some cake and ice cream. 

 Little did I know, Brad was actually at home decorating the house while I was at Mindi's. He did such a great job and it was such a fun surprise! 

He came to pick me up and we had dinner at Panda Express, my favorite chinese restaurant. We wanted to sit in the hot tub, but when we got out there, there was tons of other people in it smoking. So we went in the other 'hot' tub that was actually pretty cold. But we still swam around in it for a little bit. We opened presents, had cake and ice cream, and he gave me a good massage. :) I had gone shopping a few days before my birthday so he wrapped those up and he also got me some cereal and fruit snacks. He knows just what I like! I also went shopping a few days after my birthday and got some stuff with the birthday money from my mom and grandma. Even though I wasn't home and with family for my birthday, it was still a very fun and special day! 

 We have a big cricket problem here and I do NOT like it. I can't even look at these pictures, it freaks me out. We've had so many in our house, I've lost track of how many. We sprayed our whole apartment pretty good and it worked great for about a week, but I've still found a couple since then. The spray kills them so we've had a bunch of dead ones by our front door, in the garage and even in our house. The picture below are the ones in our garage, and that is not even half of them. I just counted 38, gross! Call me crazy, but I don't want to use our broom that I use inside the house to sweep them out. 

Just a little of what I've been working on lately. :)

 All the boys get together on Sunday nights to play basketball. Brad looks forward to it every Sunday. 

A day in the life of..

 All of the wives! (minus a couple who were not down for the summer yet) We entered a drawing to try to win a spa day! 

We went to 6th street with 2 other couples after the boys got home last Saturday. It is a street in Austin that they close off for the weekend and is the party central for the city. It was so crazy busy, I couldn't believe it! We had pizza and walked around then came home at 2am. 

Chet, Brad, Jake

 Kiera, Jess, Rachael

I love love swimming with these cuties. There are so many kids in this office and I'm loving it!

 We went out to lunch for one of the wives' birthday to a Mexican restaurant called Mesa Rosa's. It was pretty delicious and fun to get out with most of the wives.  

 I've been working on making a blog book for the year 2011. It's coming along.. I'm half way done with it!

 Brad is in charge of the 'hat club' for his meetings in the mornings. When guys hit certain levels, they get a certain hat. We made him a crown so he could be the 'hat king' when he gives the hats out. 

 The boys played water football at our BBQ on Sunday

Every year, Vivint does a morning of 'vivint gives back' where they do some sort of service. This year, the guys helped remodel a house. I was not able to go because our internet and TV was supposed to be installed. I was so mad when they didn't show up! We finally got it yesterday though and I've been loving having internet and TV! We were just going to do the internet, but it was cheaper to bundle it with TV so we decided to do it. 

Texas here we come

We had to say good-bye to our very first apartment. We decided not to keep it this summer like we did last year because since Brad will be going to Peru in the fall, and I'll be living with my parents, it just would not be worth it. It was a sad day, and we'll miss that house, and our landlords who became our good friends! I started packing about a week and a half before we needed to move out because I knew we had a lot going on with babysitting, and Kylee and Brody coming. We finally got everything all packed up on Monday morning when our awesome helpers (Ryan Bundy, my parents, and Brad's parents) came to help us move it all. It was so nice that Bryce and Ann kept their big truck that they drive for their weekend job so that we could move everything down in one trip. Also, we're very happy that Brooke and Elgin (Brad's sister & brother-in-law) offered to let us put all of our stuff in their basement that they don't use. We gladly accepted so we didn't have to pay for a storage unit. 

The drive to Texas was so long! Being stuck in a car for over 24 hours is NO fun! So we decided to break it up and take 3 days to get there. My car project was to make a blanket. I got pretty close to finishing, but I ran out of yarn. Our first stop was Kylee and Brody's house! :) Then we drove down and stayed the night in a hotel in Lubbock, TX. That is where Stacy (one of the wives last year) is this summer so we stopped and said hi to her. It was fun to talk and catch up with her, but unfortunately her girls were sleeping.

Fort Collins was so much fun and we had a blast with Kylee and Brody. We got there on Tuesday night and Ky made us a yummy dinner. Then we went on a little walk to to get some frozen yogurt and then played some rook. Brad and Brody stayed up late playing on the x-box.

Wednesday, Kylee had to work and Brody had to study for his finals so we were on our own. We went to a yummy crepe place for breakfast and then went on a bike ride to this cool park place. My tire went flat on the way home so we had to walk home. Luckily we were only about a mile away from their house. We came home and Brad took a nap, and then we went to see some boutique shops near their house. When Ky and Brod got home, we went to Big Al's for the best hamburgers and to walk around the town. We saw a taco bell on the way there that looks like a house. I thought it was pretty funny! When we got home, we played some more rook, and then the boys played some more x-box. We left Thursday morning. I am so glad we were able to spend 2 nights with them on the way to Texas.

 We got to our apartments in Austin on Friday at about 3 so we had time to unpack and relax before Brad had to work on Saturday. We walked around our apartment complex and there is so much to do here. There are 3 different pools, 2 hot tubs (although one is cold), a park, volleyball, basketball, tennis, mini-golf, and a nice work out gym. And the best part about it all is our apartment is right next to everything! I'm loving it! Our apartments are nice, although I'm not loving the tile floors in the front room. We had been told that everyone's apartments were 3 stories, but ours is only one, so that is kind of a bummer. But, less stairs for us to walk up/down, so that's ok with me. I'm also loving that we have a garage... but not loving that Brad takes the car everyday.

We had a BBQ with the team on Sunday at the pool. It was fun to meet everyone, and the boys enjoyed playing basketball together.

Weekend with the Hatch's, and Hess'

BABY ANIMAL DAYS:

We babysat the Hess kids again for 5 days. We took them to baby animal days. It was so much fun.. I had not been forever! We got to see baby ducks, chicks, lambs, rabbits, goats, calves, and ponies. The kids loved all the animals, but the train ride was probably their favorite. My favorite were the bunnies! 

HATCH VISIT: 

Kylee and Brody were able to visit for the weekend last week. Unfortunately it was the same weekend we were babysitting, but we just brought the kids with us to hang out with them lots. The Bundy's were also able to join in on all of the fun as well. While they were here we played games, had a yummy  dinner, and we had everyone over to the Hess' house for dessert and games. I just love those Bundy girls so much!

We also all walked over to the park on Sunday night for an adult recess (we also did this the week before with the Bundy's, which is why we're in different clothes in some of the pictures). It was so much fun! We played on the new playground that they have, had relay races, played basketball, tether ball, and took some family pictures. Probably one of the funniest parts of the night is when we'd put Lydia on the thing that spins around (and makes you really dizzy) and then watching her try to walk after. Or when Lucy and Lydia were playing tether ball together and the ball kept hitting them in the head and they were both just laughing so hard! Good times!

 I love the picture with all the boys walking back from playing basketball together. That was not staged at all! And also the poses that Lydia does when the camera is out. Love her!

JENKINS:
We also had an overnighter babysitting the 6 month old twin boys that I nanny while they took the older two to Lagoon. I love these two and am so sad that they'll be so big when I see them next. I tried to get a good picture of them both smiling at the same time, but it didn't exactly work so well. I love their 6 month photo's that they just got taken.

NERD HERD:
Brad's group of friends from High School named themselves the Nerd Herd. 3 of them are married, the other 3 are not. Bryce and Laura are moving to New York for a few years for Dental School, Brett is going to DC for an internship this summer, Jason is going to school in Salt Lake and we're going to Texas to sell this summer so they decided to take some pictures before we all parted ways. They are a fun group of guys and I love the other two wives. We'll miss them!

BRAXTEN'S BLESSING:
After a couple of weeks of Braxten being sick with RSV, he was finally able to be blessed! We had a little lunch after outside at Ben and Katie's apartment. I made sure to hold him a lot since I won't see him till he is almost 7 months.. he'll be so big! I even got him to smile at me, so cute! I love my sweet nephew!

On a little side note: Brad is done with school! Yipee!! Well, not technically because he still has to do an international internship in the fall, but he is done with classes. I'm so proud of him. He finished his last semester with grades of B+ and higher, even with all his senioritis. I'm also proud of him because he applied to go to Peru with the SEED program for his internship and they only let 2 people to go out from USU, and he got it! He will be leaving for Peru just about 2 weeks after we get home from Texas. Unfortunately I won't be going with him the whole time, but I will go out the whole month of November. We'll go to Machu Picchu the last week we're there then fly home together the first week of December. I'm really looking forward to it!