Best.Weekend.EVER.

We had so much fun this weekend. My parents came into town and we just cruised around Austin hitting up all the fun spots. We started it off by eating at one of the many food places showcased on TV travel shows- Torchy's Tacos. It did not disappoint. It was delicious. I had The Democrat and The Independent. I'm not political at all-they just sounded awesome and they were!

Our yummy food from Torchy's

 Next, after we were about to pop from all the yummy food, we headed over to Peter Pan Mini-Golf. It's this cute little mini-golf place tucked into a corner of a busy road with brightly painted ceramic animals beckoning you to come try out your putting skills. I did horrible. Heath did okay. My dad acted like it was the final hole of a PGA tour tournament the whole time.....and came in second. That's right, my mom got first place thanks to her 2 hole-in-ones!!

Me next to one of the putting green statues. It's an odd picture, but it's the only one I had so it gets published :)

After all that fun we headed over to one of many Austin's food trailer parks for a little treat. Arrested Development is one of our favorite shows and some girls who are also huge fans opened a banana stand in it's honor. So Heath finally got his chocolate dipped frozen banana with nuts!

Heath with his "Gob". He couldn't finish it because it was so big.

To finish off the weekend we met my brother at our favorite movie theater- Alamo Drafthouse- for The Ultimate Willy Wonka watching party!! We got to quote and sing along to the movie, eat corresponding candy, blow bubbles during the Fizzy Lifting scene, throw streamers when Veruca Salt throws her fit in the golden egg room, and pull a popper firework when the elevator broke through the glass ceiling! Then afterwards we got signed posters and met two of the original cast members who played Veruca Salt and Mike TeeVee. It was AWESOME! This is why we love living here. There's always something fun going on.

My brother Matt, Mike TeeVee, Heath, Me, and Veruca Salt.

So thanks for a great weekend mom and dad!

The J's Visit Austin!

Heath's brother Jeremy and his wife JaeLyn stopped by to visit on their way home from San Antonio. It was Sunday so we just hung out at the house and fed them dinner, but we had a great time. They are expecting their first child so we set around talking about babies and nurseries and all sorts of fun stuff. It was just good to get to spend time with them and we're grateful they were able to stop by and visit. We love our family!

(This is an older picture of them-we didn't get one this weekend-but it's so them-lovey dovey!)

Nursery Sneak Peek!

Heath here with a breaking nursery update,

Well I finally got around to painting the top of the nursery where Adrienne and the sister missionaries couldn't reach when they started a few weeks ago. So that makes phase one of nursery remodel complete. The walls are all one baby pleasing color. At first we weren't so sure that the color we had picked would work. We thought it looked like the color green worn by crossing guards, but as it dried it changed to the color we thought we had bought and now we are pleased with our cheerfully bright baby cocoon of happiness. Next we are going to paint trees on two of the walls and maybe add a few owls or something to tie in with the bedding we are looking at getting. Adrienne also found a cool idea where a shelf is placed right on one of the tree branches so it looks like the tree is supporting whatever is on the shelf. So we are going to try to do that on a couple of the trees.

As for the layout of the room it is still up in the air. The crib is against the inside wall but that could change and when the dresser is done being painted we will need to finalize where it goes as well. That should leave just enough room for a chair. Adrienne wants something big and comfy, but we are not sure on which one to get. Here are some pics to show you what I'm talking about.

These first two pictures make the color look more yellow then it actually is. The picture below shows that it is really more green. Strange what a difference the time of day makes.

Visiting Family!

Last weekend we went home to DFW to visit our families. We started Saturday off with a trip to the shooting range. I'm not big about guns, but Heath talked me into it and it was fun. The shooting range was really nice. We don't own guns so we rented one of theirs and went to the practice range to shoot clay pigeons (considering their disc-like I shape I wonder how they got that name).

Here's me in my expert stance :)

And here is Heath:

After that we went out to eat with my mom and did a little shopping. We got a gift for a family friend who just bought a house, my mom got our nieces/nephew an Easter outfit, and I bought my friend a baby gift for her brand new little boy. I used to hate looking at baby things. Now I love it. I touch the soft clothing and dream of the day when we know what gender we'll be having so I can go crazy spoiling them with tiny clothes. We have given in a couple times when we find stuff we cannot let go so boy or girl we already have a good collection going.

After that we went to Heath's brother's house to visit with his family. My mom gave the kids their gifts and we hung out a bit. Heath's other brother was also there with his wife. They are expecting a baby in October and we thought about how cool it would be if we were also placed this year and the babies could grow up together. We feel very blessed to have family so near and are excited for the day when our kids can play with their cousins. My mom and I left and Heath went with his brothers to see 'The Hunger Games'. We had already seen it so I opted to save the money and not go.

We also got to see my best friend Tami, her husband, and their 4 month old baby Jaxen. He was born last November and it was my first time seeing him. So much fun! He was such a good baby-just chill the whole time. It's hard for me sometimes to see my friends become mothers. It is bittersweet. I am so happy for them, but sometimes it's like salt in an already stinging wound. Infertility is like a chronic disease. Although I will never be completely free from its grasp I have slowly learned how to live with it. Also, some days/weeks/months are better than others. Mostly it is good though. I truly feel that the Lord has been preparing me for adoption all my life and I am giddy with excitement to meet our birth family. Infertility is painful. Deciding to place your baby must be a very difficult decision. I feel that adoption brings together these two families who have this unbelievable understanding for one another even though their circumstances are very different. I think about this all the time. I hope our birth mom knows how much we already love her. How anxious we are to begin this life long relationship with her. How even though we wouldn't wish this pain on her, we know adoption is Heavenly Father's plan for us, and we hope she finds us. The expectant moms click through hundreds of profiles online. It must be like picking a needle from a haystack, but I have faith that she will find us. It's an odd place to be. It almost feels as though you are trying to "sell" yourself as parents. I hate that. I feel like a cheesy car salesman. We simply want to be parents. We know that Heavenly Father wants us to adopt (and we feel blessed to go down this path). We have faith that we will be chosen.

Before I go I had to share a picture of our nieces/nephew all dressed up for Easter. They were adorable.

And we wanted to send a big Thank You to Heath's family for the surprise box of goodies we found in the mail. They were delicious!

No more vacuuming....the living room!

We had been planning on replacing the living room carpet with wood since we bought the house. Last week we finally did it! We actually bought the flooring about a month ago, but never got around to installing it. So we finally gave in, and had a company install them. We love it! Although, I didn't realize how close to color our couch is with the flooring. Oh well! The dogs, however, are having a harder time getting used to them. It's a lot more difficult for them to gain traction on them while running, so play time has become quite comical around here :)

Here are some pictures. I apologize for the quality-our lighting is horrible in the living room.

(Before: Note the vinyl at the door.)

(The Start: These guys were fast and did a great job!)

(Done: Wood all the way to the front door!)

(Done: A view into the kitchen)

(Finished: A view into the kitchen. New rug.)

(Finished: View to the front door.)

Till We Meet Again...

In our church we are very lucky to have young men and women (and some older folks :)) who are out serving the Lord and us for 6-24 months. We have been blessed with having Sister Missionaries in our Ward (congregation). These are young ladies who serve full time missions for 18 months. They leave home, sometimes learn new languages, and spend their days sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others. They do many other things too. Like service. I became very close to the two missionaries from our ward. They shared in my joy, they comforted my pain, and they were always there when we needed a helping hand. For example, they knew we had bought paint to paint our future baby's room but hadn't done it yet. They decided they were going to come over and help us, and wouldn't take no for an answer. They are very awesome, sweet, caring girls. One Sunday we found out they were leaving-missionaries often get transferred to new areas within their missions- and we were all sad! It was even more hard because both of them were getting transferred out at the same time-usually it is only one. I'm excited about the new adventures they will be going on though. I know they will do great things and help a lot of people out. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father. He always knows who to send into my life at the right time to help me out. These girls were definitely two of those people. I will miss them dearly, but wish them well!!

(This was when we found out they were leaving. Sad faces!)

(Our "Till We Meet Again" picture. Love them!)

(Sister Ferguson, Me, Sister Bruce)

The Eagles!

(The eaglet by his nest. Taken with an iPhone through a telescope!)

This is the second time we have been to see the bald eagles in Llano. They come back each year to these nests and give everyone a good show. The eaglets hatched around my birthday- exciting stuff! There were two of them for 2012. One was flying when we were there, but the other did a lot of flapping but could seem to muster up the courage to take the plunge. That would be a hard thing to- take that leap of faith and learn to fly! Tis truly and analogy for life isn't it? There was this really nice guy there with multiple telescopes set up so everything could see the eagles up close. We got some decent pictures with our new camera, but you would defiantly need a much larger lens to get anything close up. It's always fun to see my dad's excitement at things like this. It stirs up the history, American loving side in him and seems to transform him into a young boy again. I'm glad, by doing things like this, he reminds me to slow down and appreciate the simple things in life. This birds are truly amazing looking though. So we spent quite a but of time watching them through our cameras and binoculars, but they didn't do much. So we did what any true Texan would do- headed to the local BBQ joint! In fact, it is our favorite place. Cooper's BBQ! After a delicious meal we headed back and got to see one of the adult eagles back at the nest and a little flying from the one eaglet. Always a good time with my family. I'm grateful that my dad and brother always find these odd things for us to do- so much fun!

(One of the parents flying by.)

(Dad looking like a true bird watcher)

(Me and my parents checking out the Eagles)

(Me and my Mom. Don't we look alike?)

(Heath and I enjoying the nice, sunny day.)

Visitors!

We love living in Austin, but often miss our family who live spread out across Texas and Utah. The good thing is that we only live 3 short hours from most of our family-The Texas Breinholt's and Barnette's! This weekend we excitedly welcomed Heath's brother's family. As always, we had a blast with them. Saturday we spent the day out doing lots of fun things, but most importantly our traditional visit to Chuck E. Cheese's! This is something we started with Sydney and have continued with Malla and now little Ty. It's so fun watching our nieces and nephew run around (well Syd and Malla-Ty can't even wok yet :)) with a big smile on their face. We can't wait for the day when we can chase our own kids around these type of places. I always went with my family as a kid and can't wait to do it with my own kids.

(We didn't get many pictures at CEC, but this is Malla enjoying a ride!)

Sunday we laid low, attended church, and tried to tend to everyone's cold. The latter was due to another tradition we have- spreading germs! The kids call me Halla so we used to call it the Sydney-Halla strain, then the Sydney-Halla-Malla strain, and now it has morphed into the Sydney-Halla-Malla-Ty strain. Needless to say, we all had the sniffles by the time they left, but it WAS WORTH IT! The girls also whipped out trunks of makeup and hair accessories so they could beautify me. I, as usual, came out looking hot :)

(All "did" up. Me with the girls after our makeovers.)

(This is my GQ face. The girls showing off their masterpiece)

On Monday, when it was time to go, Sydney began her usual flow of tears exclaiming that she just didn't want to leave and that she would just miss us too much. It is sad indeed, but feels so good that she loves us as much as we do her! Earlier we had told her that Summer would come soon and hopefully she would be able to come and go swimming in our neighborhood. Mer texted while they were driving home to tell us that Sydney was crying and saying "Halla was wrong! Summer is never going to come!" Haha, I love that girl. Malla is much more chill. I'm pretty sure she stated that she was glad she could come and would see us again soon. Tyson was too young to understand any of it. We sure enjoyed having them here! We love visitors!