Swinging

Just too cute not to post!

This picture captures her personality so well!  That's my cutie!

Summer 2011 Austin Family Reunion

We got together last weekend for the Austin family reunion.  It was great to get together and have some delicious hamburgers, salads, and best of all, and my personal FAVORITE angel food cake with fresh garden strawberries!  Yummy! :)  If anyone wants to know the way to my heart.... that is definitely the "yellow brick road!" :) 

Here is the crew!

Crafts

Here are a few of my latest projects that I have finished.  I have quite a few more in the works that I will hopefully be posting soon. :)

First off, I made a minky blanket...big enough for a twin sized bed....for myself... kind of selfish, but I LOVE it!  SO worth the money, and even  though it is zebra stripe, Nick loves it and uses it too! It is SO warm, and SO soft!

 Second, I did some cute Wooden letters for Kinleys Room.  Turned our super cute too! 

More to come soon :)  If I can get myself in gear, to finish all the others up! :)

Odds & Ends

Here are a few of Kinley's favorite things right now, at the ripe old age of 17 Months. :) 

Ride em' Cowgirl!  What is Kinleys favorite animal right now?  No questions there!  Horses!

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 Doesn't matter if we are at the batting cages watching Dad hit, or if we are just going for a  stroller ride....Kinley LOVES being outside! She will go to the door and yell "side!" and then I remind her to go get her shoes.  She runs back to her room and grabs A shoe and brings it right back to the door yelling "aside, side, aside!" I love the baby talk, and I secretly wish she would keep talking that way forever. :)

So, I have jewish blood in me, and it looks like it got passed down to Kinley....How do I know this? 

One of her favorite inside activities is counting her coins inside her piggy bank. :) 

She used to stand staring at her dresser snorting til I would take her piggy bank down.  Now if I don't get it down fast enough (1-3 snorts max) she just climbs up on the chair and gets it down herself. Oh dear... She has also figured out how to pull the plug out of the bottom herself and shake out everything inside. Its pretty funny. (til she breaks it right? :D  )

since we are on the topic of climbing...... she now sleeps in a toddler bed. :)  She is quite the climber, and wouldn't stay in her crib.  Surprisingly she doesn't fight being in her  toddler bed at all, and goes right to sleep no problem.  A few nights ago she went in herself at 7:30pm and climbed right in bed to go to sleep without anyone telling her to.

 Side Note - She LOVES wearing bracelets and necklaces now! I went in to find her sleeping with her bracelet on.  :)  It was not on when I put her to sleep, so maybe it was under her pillow or something. :)

"Bu Bu?"

Kinley got her first bubble bath a few weeks ago!  Due to her having eczema, all through the winter using anything that was scented, including Johnson and Johnson shampoo and soap (really sad, because I LOVE the smell of that shampoo on babies/toddlers) it really irritated her skin.   I  decided to let her try bubbles again this summer since she didn't have the cold to deal with too.  She loved it! Every time I ask her if she wants to take a bath her response is "Bu Bu?" :)  It is too cute. Sadly, after a few days of bubble baths her skin started getting irritated some.. So, looks like she is going to have to only get them every now and then. Every child should at least get a few "bubu"baths though! :) 

  So many silly faces!

Monkeying Around

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears!  Oh my!

Here are a few pictures from our Zoo trip! We went during the Dinosaur Days.  They had life size replicas that moved, and sounded like (what reasearch has shown) the real dinos themselves did! However,  Kinley was NOT a fan. :)  She preferred sticking to watching the monkeys, and elephants play.

They also had a special exhibit with vultures when we went.  I had never seen a vulture in real life... they are creepy! 

St George

Nick, Kinley, and I took a little vaccation down to St George this year where we got to go hike around Zions 

National Park.  We had a ton of fun, and definitely want to go back and do a little more hiking! 

Here is Kinley all ready to hit the road!

 When we first got to St George Kinley was asleep in the car so Nick and I decided to take one of the scenic drives through Kolob Canyon. It was beautiful to see the red rock, pop out as you turned the corner!  I was amazed.

 The next day we met up with Melisa and Everton!  Melisa has been one of my best friends since I was about 14 years old.  They have lived in St George the last 3 years, so it was GREAT to actually see her in person, and get together with them! Felt like we hadn't skipped a beat even though it had been over a year since I saw her last! Thats how you gotta know a friendship is real right? :)

Anyway, after our dear friend the GPS got us lost on a good 2 hour drive trying to get to Zions we finally got there!  

During our little detour Nick found some trees that had sap that smelled like Caramel. (I guess he learned about them in scouts or something) Turns out he was right! They did, and it made for a REALLY great picture!

haha...who does that?!

At Zionswe were able to see the Emerald Pools, and the Grotto. Again, it was beautiful!

Kinley was a pretty huge fan of the Emerald Pools, mostly because she got to play in the water!

Kinley Riding on the Shuttle up to the trail head

 Nick and Kinley standing under the lowest of 3 falls, we hiked to the top falls.

 Melisa and Everton under the falls

 Playing in the water at the second of the 3 falls.

 Family Picture at the 3rd of the 3 falls!  Whoohoo We made it!

 

Kinley and I

 On the way down from the the falls, and all through the Grotto trail Kinley fell slept in Nicks arms :)  Poor guy ended up carrying her for a good 3 plus miles!

From that smile it looks like she had fun!

 After Zions we stopped and had dinner at Iggys sports Grill.

Kinley got a big pickle and heaven knows that is pretty much heaven for her! 

We had such a fun time!