Austin for Thanksgiving

We miss spending Thanksgiving with our families, but it really is fun to celebrate with friends! Our first Thanksgiving here in Texas, Troy and Jazmin Owen came up to Dallas from Houston to feast with us and our friends Kalie & Spencer Knaras. This year, we decided to meet in the middle. We booked a VRBO in Austin, TX. The Owen's brought some of their friends from Houston, then last minute, the Knaras's couldn't make it. So, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Austin with the Owens (Troy, Jazmin, and 1 yr old Jaxon), and the Hansens (Rob, Gentri, and their 1 yr old Caleb.) I'm glad we made it happen!

Stopping at Buc-cee's on the drive down, of course!

The place & the people...

Owen pretty much refused to be in any picture. While we were taking this picture, Owen fell down the stairs and scratched up his face! Only Owen would fall down a spiral staircase!

I love being in new places and finding fun things to do and see! So of course I took advantage of that opportunity.

We visited Hamilton Pool, which was worth the hype!

We also rode the Zilker train. We could have spent all day at this park. Hopefully we come back to Austin soon and can do more here!

Austin's slogan is "Keep Austin Weird." Unique food places are a big part of what makes Austin Austin! For the sake of experiencing it, we went to Loro and Gourdough's for our girls night. Loro is the product of "the best bbq" and "the best Asian" restaurant in Austin... so yah... a mix of smokey barbeque and fresh Asian... it's unique! Gourdoughs deep fried donuts topped with any mixture of fruit and frosting. I wish I would have taken pictures of the food!

Also worth noting from our Austin trip is that Owen bonded with the VRBO neighbor's cat.

We have so much to be thankful for, and had so much fun celebrating Thanksgiving this year!

A Visit from Family and Magnolia Market

Sue, Shaylee, and Blakelyn suprised Owen and showed up at our door on his birthday! Owen answered the door and said "oh hi."

The next day, we went to Waco to do the Fixer Upper fan thing. I've been a few times but this was definitely the best experience we've had. Magnolia happened to be having a pop up sale that day!

PLUS, we were able to eat at Magnolia Table!

 PLUS Magnolia Market had all their Christmas decor out!

PLUS the weather was amazing so we were able to just sit on the lawn and enjoy ourselves!

With family in town, we did two other obvious things: a trip to the Arboretum, and multiple trips to Steel City Pops!

We love having visitors!

Owen is 4!

Why does "four" sound so much older than "three?!" 

Owen loves the show PJ Masks.  There is a character in just a few episodes of PJ Masks named "Master Fang." Owen wanted a "Master Fang" birthday party. Not a PJ mask birthday party. Let's talk about how easy it is to find "master fang" birthday party decor. yah... it's impossible. So, we had a few party decorations, a few PJ masks decorations, and took Owen to Hobby Lobby to let him choose a few things for his party that would make it a "Master Fang party". He chose some random pirate stuff... but if it counts for him, it counts for me. So we ended up with the most un-pin-worthy birthday party of all time but whatever. I actually did feel a little bit of mom guilt for it, which I knew was ridiculous, so then I felt guilty for feeling guilty. Why do we do that? Anyways, that's besides the point haha. Owen celebrated his birthday with some friends in our ward, then was surprised by Gavin's mom and sister showing up at our door. Owen loves his family and friends and I know he felt love from all of them on his birthday.

 Owen got all sorts of "Cars" toys for his birthday. He was in heaven! We also got him a toy doctor kit that he had been asking for. Pictured is a combination of Cars gifts from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. It was his idea to pose for the picture while reading the book!

 We love this kid!

Notes and highlights of the past year with Owen: 
He was so funny about the baby in my belly, and has been such a cute big brother. J dotes on him, and Owen loves J. Its the greatest thing ever! Parenting this kid has honestly been so hard this past year. He gets a thrill out of fighting and being defiant, plus he just loves playing rough. He does come up with creative arguments all the time and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed haha. I just hope he can figure out how to channel his fire and it can be used for good some day. His wit and audacity to goof off in some situations is something else. Send prayers.
He's continued to do joy school and is so smart and social! He memorizes things so well! He loved T-ball, and is a naturally coordinated and athletic kid. He loves games, so instead of bedtime stories, all year we have either been playing bedtime Uno or bedtime memory. He loves going to the driving range, running around and being silly with friends. He loves TV a little too much. We definitely have to monitor his screen time or he'd watch TV all day. He loves Facetiming family in Utah. We laugh at him all the time. He loves making people laugh. Our lives are so much better because he's here. I love you, Owen!
If I think of anything else, I'll add it later... I'm sure I'm missing a lot! Just trying to get some notes down while I have a few minutes.