Surprise Zoo Trip!

Brady has a break from school for a while and so I am just enjoying all our time together as much as possible!  Last week Brady decided he was going to surprise me with something fun for us to do.  He told me to get ready and we were going to go do something but he wouldn't tell me where we were going.  So I got Alayna and I ready to go and we left.  Finally we got to our destination... the zoo!! :)  I was really excited!  Just a few days before, Brady asked me what would be one of the things I would really like to do while we live here in Texas.  I said that I really wanted to go to the Fort Worth zoo someday.  Not the Dallas zoo because I have had a few people tell me that the Fort Worth one is way better!

It was a blast!! There were lots of animals there and many that I had never seen in real life before!  Even Alayna acted like she liked it!  Well, I think so? Haha.  She mostly just looked at all the animals with really big eyes and a confused look on her face.  We had so much fun and I really want to go back to that zoo someday when Alayna is a little older and knows what she is looking at. :) 

   

The parrot house was probably Alayna's favorite.  It was so loud in that room and there were little parrot's all over and so close you could touch them! (If they didn't fly away)  It was so funny to watch Alayna because she just looked so confused!

Looking at the fishy's

Mom and Dad came to visit! :)

A week or so ago on the 8th, my parents flew in to visit!  It was so much fun and I loved every minute of it!  The 9th was my Dad's birthday and I was so happy that Brady, Alayna and I were able to celebrate it with him.  He is 58 now!  (Perfect Grandpa age :)  It was actually perfect timing for them to come because Brady had his last final that morning.  He ended up with 3.75 GPA.  He is such a smarty pants!! :)

  For my Dad's birthday we went to explore a little bit of downtown Dallas. We went and saw where President Kennedy was assassinated, we saw one of the original documents of the Declaration of Independence, and we saw a cattle drive made out of statues!  After we were done touring a Dallas, we went to eat at "Saltgrass Steak House" for my Dad's birthday.  It was yummy! 

The Birthday man!

Alayna fell asleep :)

                                                                                        

This statue was huge!!

The next day we went and did a session in the Dallas temple.  It felt really good to finally get to go to the temple.  I was really nervous the whole time though because we left Alayna with our friends, Spencer and Sara.  We had never left her with a baby sitter before and I was just praying that she would do well.  I'm pretty sure I had a harder time leaving her at a baby sitters than Alayna did.  Haha.  When we got back to pick Alayna up, she was just sitting in front of their little Christmas tree, watching the lights on the tree change colors.  Alayna just kinda looked at Brady and I like "What are Mom and Dad doing here?" Haha.  Spencer and Sara said that she did really good!  They just said that they thought it was a little gross changing her poopy diaper. Lol.  Brady and I had only made her drink from a bottle once, so I wasn't surprised that she didn't want to drink out of a bottle at the baby sitters.  I was just happy that she was a good girl even though she was hungry.  I am also very happy that Alayna didn't scare Spencer and Sara from never wanting to have a baby!

Later that day we went to a park really close to our apartment and fed the ducks.  It was so much fun!!! The ducks were super friendly and you could feed them from your hand!  After the park we went to the mall for a bit and then came home and watched the movie "The Help." 

Alayna got a early Christmas present from Grama and Grampa. A coat!

All the ducks started running towards us when they realized we had food!

Mom was feeding that duck from her hand!

Mom playing with her granddaughter

On Sunday we just had a relaxing day.  We don't have church until 1p.m. and so we don't get out of church until 4p.m.  Then we can't go home right away because Brady is the ward assistant clerk and always has to do clerk stuff after church.  It was really great because I just got called to be the 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency and my parents were there to sustain me in sacrament!

On Monday we went to the mall!  I love the mall! And shopping!!  Even if I don't buy anything. Haha.  After the mall, we had to go to "Dunkin Donuts."  When my Dad served his mission in Texas, he and his companion often went to "Dunkin Donuts" and so my Dad really wanted to have a "Dunkin Donut."  Haha.  That night we stayed up late playing a game and talking.     

The next morning we had to take my parents back to the airport so they could go home. :(  I was so glad that they got to come to Texas and spend a few days with us because I always miss my mommy and daddy!  I'm sure they had a great time too and LOVED holding their cute little granddaughter!

Happy Birthweek!

Brady's birthday was on Monday, November 28th. He turned 25! That is still very young people! The reason this post is titled what it is, is because this whole week I have been telling Brady "Happy Birthweek!" I just feel bad that his birthday was only a day! Brady started his birthday out by driving to the airport at 2:30 in the morning to pick up a couple in our ward. 2:30 a.m.! The couple told Brady that he didn't have to do that but Brady is such a sweetheart and insisted that he pick them up.

Brady is one of the most loving, caring, and selfless people I have ever met! When we lived in Oregon, Brady would often give the homeless people on the side of the road part of his lunch. Whenever he sees that someone is having car trouble, he wants to stop and help. And I'm pretty sure that when we have lots of money, we are going to need to have a donations budget for Brady because when people come and beg him for money, he almost can't stand telling them "no." Brady just sincerely cares and loves everyone. I never hear him speak badly about anyone. He would make one AMAZING super hero like Spiderman or Superman! The fact that he is so loving, caring, and selfless are just a few of the reasons I love him so much!... He is also handsome, smart, hardworking, funny, athletic, a peace maker, fun... I could go on forever! Did I mention that he will do anything that I want to do?! If I say that I want to watch a girly movie, he will watch it with me; if I want to go on an 8 mile run, he will run it with me; if I want the apartment to be cleaned or the dishes done, he will help me till it’s all done. I make it sound like he is the perfect guy and that's because I think he is! He has me completely in love! :) I am sorry I just went to town on how wonderful my husband is and just bragged up a storm! I just couldn't help it! I need to stop so that I quit making all the ladies jealous. Lol. I just know that he loves me and he will do pretty much anything to make sure I am taken care of. I am just so blessed that he is my husband and I am so thankful that we have a celestial marriage and I get to keep him for eternity! :)

Okay, back to Brady's birthday... Haha. After Brady got home from school, we decided that we were going to go on a date for his birthday. We went to this Mexican restaurant called "Across the Border", or something like that. The food was really good and a very good price too! And since it was Brady's birthday, he got free desert! He was very nice and shared with me too. :) Just about when we were about done, Alayna started to get bored and complain. When Alayna complains, she flings her arms around and pushes off with her legs as she grunts. (It's a baby grunt, hard to describe.) Unfortunately, Brady was holding her during this time and she knocked over Brady's full glass of water all over his lap! It looked like Brady had peed his pants. My poor husband! I took Alayna to the car to calm her down while Brady paid for our food.

After dinner we wanted to go to a movie and the movie we wanted to see was going to start in a few minutes so we just went straight to the movie theater. Brady just decided that he would let his pants air dry. This dollar theater that we have gone to a few times is awesome! It really is a dollar theater! On Tuesday's it is only 50 cents a ticket! Pretty cool hu! I am so happy that we live really close to it. We saw the movie "Contagion" and it was really good! Alayna did really well through the whole movie too. I just let her nurse through most of the movie. (I know it's probably not the best thing to do but hey! It keeps her quiet!) After the movie we just sat in the movie seats while Brady and I played with Alayna. She kept giggling when Brady would say "Happy Birthday... to Daddy." Haha. It was so cute!! Anyways, Brady had a pretty good birthday and birthweek too!

1st Thanksgiving away from home

Well this isn't my 1st Thanksgiving away from home, last year was! Last year I was in Oregon with Brady's family. This was just my first Thanksgiving without any family to spend it with.  Brady actually spent 2 Thanksgivings (without family) in Argentina when he was on his mission; and they don't even celebrate Thanksgiving there!  I have to admit I have been a little bummed knowing that all my brothers and their wife's were all together at my parent's house in Idaho for Thanksgiving.  That's okay though, Brady, Alayna and I still had a great Thanksgiving!

Brady and I got invited to spend Thanksgiving with a couple in our ward.  Their names are Josh and Jenn Hee Lee.  They are the sweetest and cutest little Asian couple ever!  I get along so well with Jenn Hee.  We spend a lot of time together in the mother's room at church. Haha.  They have a baby girl too! :)  This is their first baby and she is only 8 weeks old. Very cute!

It was really nice because when I asked Jenn Hee what to bring over for dinner all she said to bring, if I wanted to, was some homemade pie!  She said that they were just going to buy all the food already made.  (Her husband's a dentist :)  I was a little excited to try and make some homemade pie all by myself!  I have never made a pie without my mom's supervision.  Sad right?  Lol.  I didn't realize how much work a homemade apple pie was.  It's really time consuming because you need to peel and cut up all those apples!  It's okay though; I made Brady do that part. :) Haha.  And it is really time consuming to make a homemade pie when you have a baby to take care of at the same time!  Needless to say, I didn't have the pie's done till 2a.m.!

I'm so proud of them! :)

On Thanksgiving morning Brady went to play in our ward's Turkey Bowl.  He had tons of fun but came home very sore. :(

Brady after the Turkey Bowl.  He's so sweaty! Haha.  His first and last Turkey Bowl at 24 years old. 

After The Turkey Bowl we went over to the Lee's house at 2p.m to go and eat our feast!  It was a beautiful dinner and lots of fun!  Alayna loved being over there and using all of their baby's stuff! Haha.  Alayna loves their baby's bouncer!  She even fell asleep in it for a couple minutes.  Brady and I are going to make sure we buy a bouncer for our next baby. :)  She also really liked their baby's little jungle thing.  It's just a big thing that you put your baby under and they can swat at the toys above them and it makes jungle noises.  Alayna also used their baby's Bumbo. 

Alayna and Isabella.  It was really funny because they were talking to each other at dinner.  They are going to be best friends!

After dinner we played the game "Rummikub" and watched the Dallas Cowboys game!  Brady sure did love that!! Since we don't have cable he hasn't been able to watch any football. :(  After 4-5 hours Alayna decided that it was time to go home.

Alayna is ready to go

Jenn Hee took a picture for us

My mom sent us a Thanksgiving package and Alayna's little bib was in it.  Thanks mommy!  It's Alayna's first Thanksgiving! :)

We sure were thankful for the Lee's and we are so blessed to have them as friends!  After we went home we drove to the closest gas station to buy the paper so that we could get all the Black Friday adds.  We looked through them and decided that we wanted to go out and do the Black Friday thing.  We saw that Wal-Mart was having a sell starting at 10p.m.  I really wanted a crock pot and they had one on sell so we decided to go.  It was completely packed!! I couldn't believe it!!  Anyways, they were all ready out of those crock pots so I was a little sad but this Indian guy, who couldn't read very well, asked me if I could read this word on his paper.  I read it to him and he was happy.  I noticed that he had one of those crock pots in his cart and he noticed that I kept glancing at it.  He just smiled at me, took the crock pot out and set it down and left!  I was so happy! I got my crock pot for like $9! :)  I'm sure his wife might not have been so happy with him. Lol.

We got home about midnight but we were not done with our Black Friday shopping!  Target had a sell starting at 4a.m. and Brady and I wanted one of their Christmas trees for 50% off.  So at 3:30a.m. we drove to Target to get our Christmas tree.

Our Christmas tree!  With Alayna's first ornament. :)

Cute right?!

I was really suprised how well Alayna did doing this whole Black Friday thing.  She was really funny how she just looked around Wal-Mart at all us crazy Americans with her big wide eyes! Haha.  Anyways, It was lots of fun but we were really happy to finally get home and go to bed for good!
 

     
    


     

First giggle!

I decided that I wanted to start a blog! Cool hu?! :)  I am not very good at writing in my journal and I want to be able to remember stuff and typing is so much faster! So... let the blogging begin! Haha.  I guess for my first post I will write about what happened yesterday...  Alayna had her first giggle!!!  We had just gotten home from my run and I needed to get all un-sweaty and so I put her in her bathtub with a blanket and some toys to entertain herself.  She seemed really happy in there trying to eat her rattle so I decided to leave her in it while I started dinner.  After about 10 minutes she lost interest and started to get upset and complain.  One of Alayna's favorite things are our little dance parties so I picked her up, turned on the radio and started to dance.  She instantly stopped complaining and replaced her cute little frown to a huge, wide open smile.  Brady got home from school during this time and so he took her from me and started to dance with her too.  All three of us were just dancing in the kitchen when her wide open smile turned into a little giggle!! :)  It was so cute!! We were so excited and I pretty much spent the rest of the night trying to get her to do it again.  Haha.  We just love watching her grow and reach new baby milestones.  She is such a blessing in our lives and we love her so much!!