What happens when you aimlessly wander Walmart . . .

. . . you end up with things you don't need.

So, Scott and I were feeling very lazy and distracted at Walmart during our last grocery trip. When this happens, we loose each other several times while we look at our favorite areas of the store (we still only have the one cell phone too!). Well, Scott found the fish area and wanted to see how Peter would react to the fish.

I have a soft spot for fish ever since my Mom brought some goldfish home from one of her college classes. After that my dad bought a fish tank and some tropical fish. My sister and I named every fish and cried when every fish died. Well, we cried a lot because fish die really easily. Anyway, you can see that I have a history with fish. Oh, during college I also had some fish. I actually ended up holding my fish in it's bowl while I rode in the car from Idaho to Utah and then back again. I just couldn't give them away. Ridiculous, I know.

So, we ended up with Hermes and Uh-Oh (Peter named this one-his favorite word). What I was thinking, I have no idea. Just more things to clean. Peter really likes them. In fact, he likes them so much that he tries to pick them up and play with them! Well here are the new additions to our family:

Peter Stew Anyone?

I know these pictures are old, but I thought they were so dang cute. Scott's brother happened to put Peter into a stock pot at Christmas and then it turned into a photo shoot. He was just able to e-mail them this weekend, so I thought they would be fun to post on our blog. So, here they are!



Let's see what have we been up to? Well, last weekend we went to Battleship Texas. It was really fun and interesting. A battleship that was built during WWI to hold 500-800 men that ended up going through WWII and holding 1800 men! Way too close of living quarters for me. There were beds in hallways and hooks for hammocks in pretty much ever nook and cranny of the ship. Oh, and 1200 men shared a bathroom. Granted there were about 30 toilets and 10 shower heads (w/o any curtain), but I'll bet the bathroom was a busy place!


We have been trading off with another couple in the ward for babysitting once a month. So, we know we are guaranteed at least one date a month. Yeah!!!

Peter is learning body parts. He knows belly button, nose, hair, and his favorite by far eyes. He practically pokes our eyes out when we ask him where eyes are and he keeps trying to lift up our shirts to point to our belly buttons (in fact he tried to do this during church today:).

Oh, his new favorite new things is to pick up the many beetles that have decided to invade our apartment and bring them to us (alive). In fact, the other day he was picking up live penny-sized beetles and throwing them onto the entry way tile because their shells made a fun sound. Scott ended up sweeping them out the door while Peter cried because his new friends were being thrown out. Mean daddy. They have become such a problem that Scott has found one in bed and I have found two. Last night my eye started to itch, but it was really just a beetle crawling across my eyelid. It is a good thing I'm not squeamish about bugs, but still it is really disgusting.

Well, I think that is the end of my novel. The only other thing I can think of is that we start house hunting this next month. I am so excited!

San Antonio to Austin

This last weekend Scott, Peter & I went to San Antonio to go and visit with some friends. We stayed at a 2-room KOA campground. We went to the temple Friday night while Shauna (my friend from college) and her husband watched Peter. Then, they went to the temple Saturday morning while Scott and I watched their twin girls. I think some people at Target looked at us and thought we had triplets! Kinda funny, huh. By the way, if you ever get the chance to go to the San Antonio Temple, I would recommend it. The wood work inside is absolutely gorgeous, and the stained glass windows are spectacular.

Next, we went to the Alamo and the River Walk. Then, Saturday night we drove to Shauna's house in Austin where we stayed the night with them. The next day we went to a few Texas State Parks on the way back to Houston.

We went to McKinney Falls State Park. The falls were the site of William F. McKinney's (a notable man in Texas State history) ranch from about 1845-1870. It was a little disappointing because the water levels were low and the falls were rather unspectacular. Well, here are some pictures while we were there. I actually took some pictures myself and made sure Scott was in some! It was a fun weekend, but we were so tired by the end.

This was the only good picture we could get of the temple because my camera would not cooperate. We just could not get the manual settings to work for nighttime.
(Scott's finally bit the dust).

Here is the chapel at the Alamo from the back side.

Peter snoozing in his carseat.

Peter, Moriah, and Clara playing with some toys in Austin.
We couldn't get all of the kidos to cooperate for this picture.

This is the cutest picture of Peter getting
his diaper changed in the car.

Scott and Peter taking a stroll at
McKinney State Park in Austin, Texas.

McKinney Falls State Park

I am amazed that this umbrella stroller did so well off-roading; it really took a beating. Peter enjoyed the ride quite a bit. Also, Peter was scared to walk around on the rocks by himself, so we had him hold Scott's hand and he felt much more confident. I thought it was funny to see Peter leading Scott around because usually it is the other way around. It was funny to watch his reactions to the water because he couldn't make up his mind wether or not he liked it.

Quirky

I have been tagged to list 6 quirky things about myself, so here it goes (sorry I am getting to this so late KaraLee):

1 - I have an obsession with brushing my teeth. I brush them after every meal and even after snacks or before I go anywhere. I cannot stand it when my teeth are not clean and smooth.
2 - I walk around on my tip-toes around the house.
3 - When I am standing without shoes, I often only stand on one leg; I bend my right leg and rest my foot against my left leg (I think it is some sort of ballet pose or something). I often wonder if I did a little ballet in heaven, and then I remember I have absolutely no coordination in the lower half of my body!
4 - I have to have the kitchen clean. No matter how tired I am, I always find myself in the kitchen before bedtime. I can sleep with any other room dirty, but not the kitchen. I just find it so discouraging to wake up to a dirty kitchen.
5 - I am very picky about deep cleaning. Now, I often have a dirty/cluttery house, but when it comes time to deep clean, I get into every nook and cranny. I've asked Scott to clean the toilets a couple of time, but I always end up re-cleaning them because I still see dirty spots when he is finished. So, we have a deal where he picks up clutter and takes care of Peter while I do all the deep cleaning.
6 - I eat grilled-cheese sandwiches with a fork. First, I cut away and eat all the crust, and then, I eat the middle (the best part)! This way I don't get my hand greasy. It sounds weird, but I've had a few friends and my hubby do the same thing after they saw me do it. It's a good idea; you should try it.

I sound like a clean freak. Well maybe I kind of am-oh well.

A Little Bit of Everything

So I lied. I have not posted any pictures of the alligator park. Sorry! Our blog has been under reconstruction. I think I may have finally settled on background.


Here is a picture of my latest project. I recovered the cushions of this glider. My parents let us use it when Peter was born, and then, they just let us have it when we moved. It was a lifesaver when Peter was a newborn; I firmly believe that a rocking chair is a MUST with babies. Anyway, the bottom cushion turned out great, but the top cushion ended up looking a little sloppy. Oh well. The upholstery buttons were fun and I think they turned out well. However, Peter thinks they are toys and cannot leave them alone while he is in the chair--bad idea! Oppps. Other than that though it turned out better than I imagined.


Here is Peter making a funny face because of the flash. He looks so grown up in this picture.


Here I am cooking dinner, holding Peter, and talking on the phone. I never thought I could multi-task like this.


I promise to get more pictures of Scott with Peter. I am not a very good picture taker, so Scott often gets left out of pictures because he takes them. I promise I will repent.

Peter's Room

I just finished one of my projects. I have been wanting to do a collage of picture frames in Peter's bedroom for some time. I finally got up the courage to do it. I bought unfinished picture frames at Michael's for only $1-$2. I painted them the colors of his animals and then glued felt on three different frames to make 1 zebra frame, 1 tiger frame and 1 giraffe frame. I think it turned out pretty well. I just have to get the pictures developed now.

Here are the wooden animals above his closet that I bought
at Hobby Lobby (only 59 cents, yeah).

Peter has been learning how to do SO MANY things the past couple of weeks. Here they are: he has learned how to unlatch and open the dishwasher, to unscrew his sippy cup, to unvelcro his shoes and remove them in stores (we almost lost a shoe in IKEA!), to unzip anything with a zipper (our CD & DVD cases are now in great danger), and to pull the caps off of pens & markers. It is so exciting to see him learn so quickly, but I really cannot keep up with the kid.

He has also started to have many opinions about food lately. Last night he decided he didn't like mac'n cheese, bread or chicken pockets anymore. He threw them onto the floor and screamed for the bananas on the counter. Both Scott and I just about lost our patience. We sent him to his crib for a few minutes until he decided he was hungry enought to eat, but he just ended up walking around while screaming and whining the rest of the night. So, we were mean and sent him to bed early without any dinner. I figure he has enough fat to get him through a dinnerless night every once in a while when he decides to be picky.

I'll make another post about the alligator park and some other things that we've been up to tomorrow. Bye!