Out and about...

Last Tuesday the kids and I went to the mall to get Aisley's 3 month pictures taken. I was all kinds of prepared to do pictures, eat lunch at the mall, and then do some shopping all with the kids in tow.

Keaton fell asleep on our way to the mall. He kept telling me while we were driving- "Mom, the car is making me want to close my eyes!" Ha, ha. I love this boy. (Even if he is suddenly waking up an hour to an hour and a half earlier than normal...!)

After pictures I had to find a place to nurse Aisley and decided this dressing room in JcPenney would work just fine. Keaton actually loved hanging out in here. He had a blast taking pictures and making silly faces in the mirror. And then we were all ready to get some lunch and do some shopping! So we headed into the mall... and guess what?! It was almost completely empty! And I don't mean empty of people, (although it was empty that way too) but the entire mall had a total of maybe 5 stores inside it and as far as places to eat went it was very slim pickings... I was quite disappointed to say the least. What a dud of a trip and I had worked so hard. Bummer. Well, we made the most of it by walking around the whole mall looking at the few stores they did have and then we headed back to JcPenney where we found this GIGANTIC Olaf stuffed animal from the movie Frozen! (Such a cute show, by the way, a MUST see for sure!) I wanted to buy it for Keaton for Christmas- I mean it is only $500!!! Ha, ha. I was so surprised to see that it was even for sale, I thought for sure that it was just for display. But, hey, who doesn't want to buy a HUGE $500 stuffed snowman for their child?!

And, then there is this girl. I can hardly believe she is ALREADY 3 months old. (More pictures and such to come on this milestone in our precious little baby girl's life!)

MORE baby girl stuff!

Now let's just hope that SHE doesn't turn into a HE at my next ultrasound in 2 weeks from now! :)

And so it begins...

Our 1st baby girl purchase. It makes me giddy (and a little sick... to think of all the money I might accidentally spend) on all things girly girl!

27...plus, a visit from my mom.

My 27th birthday was last Thursday, November 8th. And I woke up to these beautiful flowers from my wonderful husband! :) Such a wonderful surprise!

My mom came to visit us for a couple of days (my birthday included) and on my birthday we went to Daylight Donuts in downtown Columbus for breakfast. YUM!

And then we went shopping! (Ha, ha, if you can call going to Walmart and Dollar Tree shopping?)

While Keaton was napping we made these SUPER DELICIOUS caramel and chocolate covered pretzels! (My birthday present from my aunt Suzanne! Thanks again- they were amazing!!!)

I had such a great birthday. :)

As you can see, Keaton loves his new "hat." He wore it all that day and night. Even when we went to the movies to see Wreck it Ralph- which is such a super cute movie, by the way. :) (Justin left in the afternoon on my birthday to go hunting for the weekend, so me, my mom, and Keaton spent the rest of my mom's time with us eating yummy snacks and food, shopping, and watching Christmas movies! It was such a blast having her here! I missed Justin a lot while he was gone, but not as much as I would have if my mom wasn't here. :) )

On Saturday, before dropping my mom off at the airport, we went to Olive Garden for lunch and I managed to take this cute picture of Keaton and Grandma Melanie together. :) We love and miss you already! Thanks again so much for coming to visit us!

A busy, but very good day.

On Saturday, September 15th we all got up real early in able to join the youth in our stake for a temple trip in Omaha.

While Justin joined the YM/YW in our branch to do baptisms for the dead on Saturday in the Omaha temple me, Keaton, and some of the other kids (from left to right- Tyler and Jake Hyde, and Fatima Munoz) took a tour at the Mormon Trail Center where also got to dress up like pioneers! :)


After our trip to the temple we spend the rest of the day in Omaha eating lunch at Buffalo Wings and Rings with the Peschke's and the Spicer's (both amazing couples from our branch), shopping at Sam's Club, shopping at Target, and more shopping at a fabulous outdoor mall where I could hardly handle that our day was so quickly coming to an end! We ate dinner at the Paradise Bakery and Cafe- delish- before heading back home to Columbus. What a perfectly fun fall day if I do say so myself! I honestly thoroughly enjoyed each and every second of it!

Keaton in the turkey hat we found at Target. :)

Daddy and Keaton's new shades. Ha, ha!

Oh, look- Mario and Luigi! (These are the moments when shopping becomes fun for Kari and I- when the boys start really getting into it too! Ha, ha!)

Keaton and daddy coloring together instead of Keaton eating his sandwich like he should have been!

Well, at least he enjoyed his yummy chocolate chip cookie for dinner... yep, I'm a bad mom. But, seriously sometimes there is only so much I can do!

A last minute trip with our friends, the Spicer's.

We were supposed to go on a trip to Nauvoo (with our friends Ben and Kari Spicer) over the long Labor Day weekend, but hurricane Isaac was supposed to be visiting Nauvoo the same time as us so... sadly we decided it would be best to go another time. We cancelled our trip and didn't have any plans for the weekend anymore and we were a bit sad and at a loss for what to do that would be fun until... the Spicer's called around 5 pm on Friday afternoon and asked, "Crazy question, but would you guys want to come with us to Missouri instead?" So, about 2 hours later, we were on our way to Missouri. I packed so quickly I knew I was bound to forget something important, (turned out those important things were a jacket for myself and our camera battery charger, but I made it through the weekend without both fairly well...) but we were all happy to be heading somewhere that we had never been before to have a fun family adventure with our friends in tow!

Ben and Kari were nice enough to watch this crazy little boy (on Saturday afternoon, after they did a session themselves) while Justin and I did a session together in the Kansas City, Missouri Temple. It was an amazingly beautiful temple and it was so nice to be there together- it had been much too long in between our last visit and this one.

After the temple, we all went shopping together at a really fun outdoor mall and then ended our day with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory- so yummy!

On Sunday, after going to church together, we headed to the visitors center in Independence, Missouri where we watched a wonderful video about families, (I bawled through the whole entire thing, I loved it so much.) and learned a little about the pioneers, and other fun stuff like that. (We watched a bunch of "Mormonads" which I also really enjoyed and often got quite teary over.) :)

We also made another trip back to the temple on Sunday to take a picture with our whole family. Although Keaton wasn't all that cooperative... these two pictures were the best we got.

Our next stop was Liberty Jail. Where we were taken on a wonderful tour and learned a lot of Joseph's time in Liberty Jail and got to see the jail itself.

Our last stop of the day on Sunday afternoon was Adam-Ondi-Ahman. What a beautiful place!

Then on Monday morning we woke up early enough to do a little bit more shopping in the state of Kansas at the American Girl store! :) (The boys especially loved this place! Ha.)

Okay, so maybe they liked the Disney store and the Lego store a little bit better than what they called the "doll store."

Oh, yeah, and we got the chance to not only meet, but also get our picture taken with Justin Bieber!

And, then my wonderful husband let me get this super cute new cover for my Nook that I am just simply in love with and read with my Nook in it our whole drive home. :)

It was a awesome trip. We all had such a great time together and look forward to our next family adventure- hopefully in Nauvoo- sometime in October! It is just so fun visiting new places, exploring church history sites, and being together with family and great friends!