The Dallas Zoo - $5 Admission

We found out towards the end of February that admission to the Dallas Zoo was only $5 for January and February.  We decided we couldn't pass that up.  We had a blast walking around for three hours.  There was a lot to see and my favorite part was watching Hyrum run from exhibit to exhibit.

There was an area where birds would come and rest on your hands or shoulders.  Lindi wasn't too sure of that bird being so close to her personal space, but she was brave and then Grandma saved the day.

This is my new favorite picture of our family.  I mean, come on! Just look as us!  What a happy little family we have.

Hyrum liked posing with all of the animal statues.

This one is also a favorite, so I'll make it nice and big.

My pregnant self was tired after all that walking, but it was such a fun trip, so it was worth it.  The kids were also exhausted.  Hyrum was actually asking to go home and go to bed.  He cried all through the bedtime routine, including family prayer.  About five minutes after the prayer he announced that dad had forgotten to pray for the cheetahs.  So, Dad came back and Hyrum prayed. He prayed that we could be happy and sleep well. Then he prayed, “Please bless the zoo and bless the cheetahs and the lions and tigers and bless the gorillas and monkeys.” I just grinned a great big smile because that boy prays from his heart like no one I know.  After that there were no more tears and he was asleep within minutes.  Love that boy!

Proof My Kids Are Cute and I Just Love Them

I still am in awe of the fact that I get to stay home and love these two little munchkins every day.  What a blessing!  I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Unexpected Family Time

Grandma and Grandpa Brown joined the Goodwins on a cruise in February.  We would have joined too except that they don't like pregnant ladies. 

So, instead, we made them a Welcome Home sign.  Woo!

The best part was that we got to spend and evening and then most of a full day with Kemp, Whitney, and Jacie.  We sure do love those people and we don't see them enough.  They spent most of Monday at our house.  The kids just played and played while we sat and caught up on life and heard all about their trip.

 We were sad to see them go and can't wait to see them again.

February 2015 Moments

February...let's see...

We enjoyed free frozen yogurt from Yogurtland on National Frozen Yogurt Day.  Mmmm...just thinking about it makes me want to go back.

Bedtime is Mom's responsibility since Dad works afternoons and evenings at the temple.  Bedtime is hard.  Bedtime means getting two rowdy kids to calm down and listen.  Teeth brushing, jammies, prayers...you know the routine.  Sometimes it's a fight.  Sometimes there are giggles and happiness.  I like to remember those nights.

We have been working on a compost pile or two in conjunction with our gardening ambitions.  Dad brings home food scraps from the temple cafeteria to supplement it.  Going out to dump and mix the compost is one of the kids' favorite jobs.

We ordered a case of 12 bottles of our favorite green sauce.  What's a family to do when the local Walmart doesn't carry them in stock?  This led to 7 batches of Green Enchiladas for our freezer meal swap with some ladies in the ward as well as lots of homemade salsa!  Dad is a happy dude.

Another project we worked on was helping Grandpa finish and clean his recent rehab house.  He buys ugly houses and fixes them up.  We spent a good six hours over there doing odds and ends.  I mostly cleaned windows and baseboards, mopped floors, cleaned bathrooms and cabinets, etc. etc.  Tony did various construction projects.  The kids were fantastic little helpers and played.  There was never a complaint.  We sure were proud of them for letting us all work.

The Dart Rail

We did have one exciting adventure in January.  We live really close to a Dart Rail station, so we decided to take the kids for a ride.  Grandma, of course, came along.  We rode downtown and ate lunch.  Tony had to jet off to work after that, but the rest of us explored downtown a little bit.  We played at the park and then spent a little bit of time in the Dallas Museum of Art.  It was a fun little adventure.

Seedlings

So,we're planning a garden for this coming Spring.  We're praying for better success than we've had in years passed.  We've just never had any luck with getting much production from our gardens.

This year I've been studying Square Foot Gardening and we are going to implement Mel Bartholomew's theories and hope they work.  We're also being a bit adventurous and trying to start a lot of our plants from seeds.  That meant starting our broccoli and cauliflower in January so that they will be ready for planting at the end of March.

They started out strong...

But as of the beginning of March, many of our little seedlings haven't survived!  We're not sure what we're doing wrong, but the do well and then suddenly decide to die.  It's a sad story indeed.  We may be buying transplants after all.

Also, in February we started lettuce and peppers.  The lettuce looks awesome and the peppers are just starting to peek out.  Hopefully we'll have better luck with them than we have with our poor little broccoli and cauliflower....

Warm January Weather

After a week of gray skies, sleet, snow, freezing rain, and a lot of time indoors, we are missing our warm January weather.  There were days when it was in the high 70s!  We spent lots of time playing in the backyard.  The fire ants are still asleep and the mosquitoes haven't come out to play, so it couldn't have been better.

Grandma also took us to the park on multiple occasions.  Hyrum enjoyed taking his bike along and making a lap around the walking paths before heading the playground.  We can't wait for the sun to come back out to play!!

Lindi Spotlight

This little stinker is a little ray of sunshine at our house.  She is spunky and full of her own opinions, but we love her to death.  We love her grins.  We love when she plasters bananas to her forehead.  We love her even when she purposely bothers her brother because she likes to hear him say "Lindi!!!!!" 

And we love her even when she climbs in the bath, fully dressed, fifteen minutes before it's time to leave for church.  (I still don't understand why I got a "Mom! Lindi's in the bath!" instead of a "Mom! Lindi's trying to get in the bath!")  Oh well, we just laugh, take a picture, and get dry clothes.

She would sleep in Mom and Dad's bed every night if we let her.  She would also strip down to her diaper every night if we let her, but she really does sleep better with her warm, footie jammies on.  She just doesn't know it.

She's also very very very excited to be a big sister.  She loves babies a lot.  She knows there is a baby in my tummy and she loves playing with "Baby Charly" who she got for Christmas.

We love you, Miss Lindi Beth!