O Christmas Tree!

This past Sunday we decorated the tree with Grandma Lisa. Thomas had  a lot of fun and loved being part of the decorating. This year is the first time I've had a real tree, and I'm a big fan of real trees. 

Christmas Lights at the Gaylord Resort

It's been super busy and crazy this last week, between Thanksgiving, Dustin's parents moving here to Texas, Thomas having his 2 year check up and dentist appointments, my doctor appointments and that I had to take the 3 hour gluclose test because I failed the first one, still having no phone ( I was dumb and washed it) and been taking some anti-biotics that have made me very tired, I'm behind in my blogging. So this will be quick since life still hasn't slowed down.

So last week we went to the Gaylord Resort to see the Christmas lights and it was BEAUTIFUL.

Thomas loved it especially all the train sets, he's really big into trains right now, we've been watching a lot of Polar Express. 

We went with Dustin's mom, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. We also celebrated Thanksgiving with them, which I have no pictures of because that too was a crazy day, that's when Dustin's parents moved everything in the house, so pictures were the last thing in my mind, and as I mentioned before I have been really tired from the medicine and I have a pretty nasty cold right now so it just didn't happen. 

Anyway, this week is crazy too, but hopefully things will kind of settle down and I will be better at blogging. 

San Antonio Trip!

Yesterday we just got back from our San Antonio trip! It was a lot of fun. 

The reason we went was because there was a caricature convention down there that Dustin wanted to attend and I wanted to go for the fun of it.

We left very early Tuesday morning so Dustin could make to some seminars that day. So while Dustin went to his seminars I checked out the Alamo and some tourists sites. We also went to the Alamo on Thursday so Dustin could come with us. Than every night Thomas would be out by 6ish (are days were always packed, poor kid would be so tired) and I would go back to our resort and Dustin would be at the caricature convention all night. I had fun just relaxing in our room, our hotel was very nice with valet parking, 2 bedroom,  2 bathrooms and one with a jacuzzi, I was in heaven. So thank you grandma and grandpa Hayden for letting us use your time share!

So here are some pictures there are a little out of order, but you get the idea.

So here are some pictures of the Alamo on Tuesday and Thursday.

The Alamo was right in the middle of the city, and smaller than I anticipated but very BEAUTIFUL, I was not disappointed. It was also fun to go with Dustin because he's never been, or if he has he was too little to remember so I told him now he is true Texan!

Than on Thursday we walked through the river walk and that was beautiful and amazing, it was my favorite part of San Antonio, it reminded me of Venice with the bridges and the little shops and restaurants everywhere. It wasn't always stroller friendly because it's pretty old, but I loved seeing the old architecture and mosaics all over. 

On Wednesday while Dustin was at the caricature convention I took Thomas to the San Antonio Zoo, I almost went to SeaWorld, I know I'm pathetic, but I like mentioned before I really miss Orlando's SeaWorld. But we had a late start the morning and it was further away, so I decided to just go to the zoo, and Thomas loved it, he loved seeing the animals. The zoo was good, especially for the price but I wished they kept it up a little nicer, than it would have been really awesome.

We were there most of the day, and afterwards there is some beautiful parks next door, and they had a train you could ride around, so I took Thomas to that before we left for the day and he loved it, probably his favorite thing this whole trip, that when we left he cried for good half hour, it didn't help that he was super tired and had been walking all day, that he cried till he fell asleep in the car and was out for rest of the night. 

It was a really fun trip, I would recommend San Antonio for a place to visit for sure! We are all exhausted after this trip, and we came home late last night, and I still went to the Breaking Dawn part 2 midnight showing with a friend, ha ha I go for the girl's night not really for the movies, they aren't my favorite but I always have fun going to a midnight showings,  so I'm really tired today so hopefully we can recover for Thanksgiving next week!

Thomas @ 2

Here's Thomas at two.

He's not interested in taking pictures at two that's for sure, I got maybe 5 minutes today and it was almost impossible to get a good picture even when I asked Dustin to come out and help entertain him. 

We are reaching the terrible 2's even though it hasn't been as bad as I anticipated (knock on wood)

he is pretty good, and he will put himself in time out when he knows he's done something bad.

He's in a weird stage where he's trying to phase out his one nap, but he can't make till 7 if he doesn't have a nap, but he won't go down for one anymore, so the only way I can get a nap in is we drive to town and he gets a little power nap but even than he gets really cranky around 4ish, so we are still figuring that one out. I was hoping he would take naps till I had the baby and a little longer so I could get naps in when I do night feedings but I don't think that's going to happen. 

He's really into boy things, like cars, airplanes, trucks, buses, trains, that any time we see any of those things he gets excited, and any book he picks out from the library has one of those things in it. He also got a shirt with airplane on it that he loves to wear from Grandma Lisa.

He loves to get in dirt or sand and dig right in, which is hard for me to watch because I've never been like that, even as a kid I hated getting dirty unless I know I can shower right afterwards that I have to remind myself that I need to let him be a little boy. He also loves touching rolly pollies, or potato bugs, whatever you call them, and makes them go into little balls and than throw them, again it's hard for me to see him touch bugs, because I HATE any type of bug. 

His favorite color the last month or so has been green. He always picks the green crayon, and when we let him pick out some toys at the store with his birthday money he picked the green car first. 

He knows the shapes pretty good, and colors are coming along, but he loves learning the alphabet and he always points out letters that he knows where ever we go. The letters he knows for sure are "B,C,D,F,I,O,R,T,U, and Z" while the others he sometimes gets mixed up but he will repeat me when I correct him, but he has a hard time saying H for some reason. 

He's still a BIG daddy's boy, that he rarely comes to me for comfort, only in public when I'm the only person he knows, or in nursery because he sees me with other kids, but I love how he will randomly run and give me some hugs and than goes back and does his own thing. But any other time he wants daddy. 

This is a fun stage and we love seeing him grow, and he such a joy in our lives.

Boy Scout Museum-Norman Rockwell Exhibit

This past Monday we went to the Boy Scout Museum to check out the Norman Rockwell Exhibit they had, and it was AWESOME! I love Rockwell's art and to see the originals were amazing! 

The Boy Scout Museum is actually really big but we only went to see the paintings and were there almost 2 hours and Thomas actually liked it as well. 

We also had a tour guide that talked about each painting with us which interesting to know a little bit about each painting. 

So here are pictures of us by our favorite painting at the museum. I just realized I'm the only one standing by a Norman Rockwell painting(and I don't know if it's my favorite because I honestly loved all or Rockwell's paintings there), and Thomas' favorite was from another artist that I can't think of his name right now and he liked it because of the airplanes, than the one Dustin is standing by is an JC Leyendecker, who is also an AMAZING artist as well, and Dustin really likes him. 

Norman Rockwell's artist hero was JC Leyendecker and was greatly influenced by him, and he thought  he never compared to Leyendecker, but ironically Norman Rockwell is more well-known. 

 It was a lot of fun seeing amazing art work, and looking at amazing art makes me proud that I'm an artist as well and that I'm part of something great. 

I Finally Did It!

I finally did it!

What did I finally do?

I finally started a photography blog, now I just need to get a website....

I did my first paid photo shoot yesterday! And more are on their way! 

All day yesterday I was SUPER nervous, like I want to cry and wondered why did I agree to do this and why did I think I could do this?

But once I got there and met the Buie family my nerves were out of the window and I had a lot of fun. 

So probably some of you are wondering, "Wait a second? I thought you said you didn't want to do photography as a profession and just more of a hobby?"

Well, I did say that...

but I got thinking, I rather do photography than work at a job that I didn't like. Yes, I am a stay-at-home mom and I always want to be there for my kids, but I told Dustin once our youngest starts school I'm looking for a job during the day. I'm hoping that job will be illustration, and my office at home, but if that doesn't work I going out and start looking. 

I personally don't like working under someone, and have to work with their schedule, so I thought if not art I rather do photography or both. 

So here I am starting a photography business, along with my illustration.

 So wish me luck and hopefully I don't fall on my face!

And here is the link to my photography blog:

http://littletoldstoriesphotography.blogspot.com/

It's still a work in progress, so it doesn't look like how I want it quite yet. 

2nd Birthday

I can't believe I have a 2 year old! 

That second year went a lot faster than the first. 

Thomas had a good birthday and got spoiled, Dustin and I decided that we don't need to buy any more presents for him for Christmas because he hit the jack pot, between 2 grandparents, and 2 great-grandparents, his cousins, and us. He has enough toys to last him for a while. 

The night before I got things ready so he woke up with a little surprise when he went to the kitchen for breakfast. I also made his cake the night before, and that didn't turned out like I planned, ha ha. It didn't help that I ran out of butter and powder sugar, not smart on my part, so I had to wait till Dustin could go shopping after work, so I didn't get a chance to work on it till 11:30 that night, and by than I'm so tired. I also made another mistake, I was going to make fondant for the cake and instead of using the recipe I usually use I used a Pinterest recipe because they said it tasted better than regular fondant, well it didn't work AT ALL. And I didn't have marsh-mellows to make the fondant I usually make. So I had to compromise, and well it turned out a disaster, and I got done around 2 and my back was killing (darn pregnancy) so I rushed things in the end, BUT the cake tasted good, and Thomas kept saying "mmmm good" while he eat it, so that's all that matters right?? One day I will make that beautiful cake that I had in my head. 

Anyway, Thomas woke up really early that morning, and was very excited to see the surprise. And ran straight to the balloons. Why do we buys kids toys? Afterwards he had fun unwrapping presents and playing with all of his toys. It's been nice, I haven't had to entertain him as much lately because he's been busy playing with all of them. Than later that day we went to play group and went to a farm and fed and petted the cows and horses. We also went to a park and played for a while.

Than that night we had Dustin's grandparents come over for pizza and cake.  Thomas got excited when they came over. And he loved us singing Happy Birthday to him, and blowing out the candles, he thought that was great.

Our little boy is getting so big, I can't believe how time is flying so I'm trying to enjoy every minute.

I'm hoping to take some 2 year old pictures of him sometime this weekend, than I will give an update because he's growing up a lot and fast. He already knows about 11 letters! He's getting so big!

80's Ladies

Haven't I mentioned, Texas does everything big?!?

So last week I got an email from Megan (our primary president) inviting me and some other ladies to a 80's party. I thought it sounded like a fun party and a way to get to know more people in our ward since I don't see too many grown ups in nursery. 

So all I was expecting was going to her house, have some treats and games and some 80's music, ha ha nope. 

Dana, another new person in the ward, and I went together having the same idea of what the party was going to be like. We sat and talk to some people when Megan said "So where are we going to eat tonight ladies?" "WHAT??? We are going out like this?" Both Dana and I asked.

When the other girls said we must have never been one of Megan's parties, and we will be out in town all night long. 

So Dana and I went be back to our homes to get our wallets and told our husband's good luck and we were going to be later than we originally planned.
We went to In-n-Out  and had some burgers and milk shakes. Than we headed to Target and split in 2 groups and each each group had to find 10 random items than we switched and the other group had try put all the items in the right place and which ever group finished first won. My group won, my favorite item was the ceramic gnome lamp.
Than we went to a gas station and got some yummy donuts and door bell ditched someone's house and left them a box of donuts.
It was a lot fun, and it was fun to meet new people, and I can't wait till the ugly sweater party next month!

Trick or Treating

Last Halloween post! I swear this Halloween lasted for a week, I guess that's what happens when it is on a weekday. 

So last night we took Thomas trick or treating and it was AWESOME!!! 

I'm sorry to say to everyone else, but there is no way your trick or treating was as awesome as ours. 

You see, Texas does everything BIG and I'm learning that pretty quick and I love it!!!

 I heard our neighborhood was awesome when it comes to Halloween but I had no idea. Everyone decorates like crazy, just as much as most people do for Christmas, and almost EVERYONE was dressed up. Also most people not only pass out candy, but they dress up in a character, act like the character, and sit on the porch waiting for the trick or treaters, it seriously was a big party. I had wished Dustin and I dressed up, I thought about it, but I thought we would be the only adults dressed up tick or treating, when it turned out we one of the few who was not only dressed up, but decked out in character, well we have learned our lesson, and like other Texans we will go BIG next year.

Also they passed out really good stuff and HAND FULLS of candy, and some were even doing tricks, but they were nice to the little kids.  It was awesome, as an adult, I was having fun. 

We also had our friends, the Labonte's come with us. Thomas and Logan were so cute trick or treating, but were VERY SLOW, because they had to look at everything because everyone's houses were really decked out (I should have taken pictures) that they got easily distracted, and us moms, taking a picture every step they took, and every door, also made it slow, so we did 2 streets in an hour.

Our neighborhood is really awesome, that we had people from other neighborhoods come down, there were so many cars parked by the clubhouse, and we ran out of candy by 7ish that we started passing out Thomas' candy, and every thing else that was sweet, and again we were cleaned out, so Thomas got maybe 2 pieces of candy, oops....

We also had the Pratt's come over after the trick or treating and we had some yummy taco soup if I might say so, and pumpkin cheese cake and hung out for a little bit. I didn't take any pictures, because I was running around getting things ready, and let's face it, I'm pregnant and I get tired pretty quick that pictures were the last thing on my mind, but it was a lot of fun hanging out. 

And a side note, just ignore Dustin's outfit, he's color combination ha ha, is a little weird, I should have made those pictures B&W. I didn't say anything to him, but when we were looking through the pictures he was like "What am I wearing????" Obviously he just put the first things he saw, and the hat just tops it off!

Than this last picture, like I said everyone decked out on the decorations, but these people were over the top. This doesn't even show half of what they had, and all the characters moved and made noises, there was a ghost lady rocking her baby in a rocker singing, a girl swinging on a swing from a tree, it was really creepy. 

Hope everyone had a great Halloween like we did!