Grandparents came to town!

January has been all sorts of exciting with Bryan's promotion and both sets of grandparents coming to visit.  My parents came at the beginning of the month.  Both girls were out of school for winter break and we were able to have lots of fun checking out the area.

 One of our first stops was Salado, Texas.  It's a cute little city with antique shops and a fun water feature.  

It got a little chilly in our house, so we used our wood fire place for the first time and the girls roasted marshmallows.  

 We played games at night when the girls were asleep.  Dad got really mad at Bryan once over a game called Cover Your Assets.

 We played at Urban Air (grandpa included).

 We traveled to Dallas to go to an indoor water park called Epic Water.  It was really cool and reminded us of a lot of the swimming pools in Europe.

We had to make a stop at Buccee's- the biggest gas stations in Texas.  It is more than just a gas station.  They make amazing fudge, BBQ, and beef jerky.  They also sell clothes, toys, kitchen ware.  It is amazing.  Just don't expect to go there with car trouble, they don't sell anything for that!

 Grandma reading to the girls.

 One of our last adventures was a trip to the zoo

 and the Sillos in Waco, Texas.  

Grandma came to visit!

 We were so excited to have grandma come visit us for the week.  I had made some fun plans throughout the week.  Before we picked her up, we went to the Alexandria Zoo.  For such a small zoo, it was really nice.  There were high decks to look in the cages and we saw all the animals.  We even went on a train ride, although you don't see much on the ride.

 Tiger!

During my mom's stay, she helped me plant grass seeds in the front yard and plant flower beds to help make our house more presentable for sellers.  It would be nice to sell before our upcoming move!

 We drove to Lafayette, LA on Friday and stopped for lunch. We had our first crawfish and shrimp po-boys.  Basically, a fancy sandwich with fried meat inside. It was in a cute little down town area of Breaux Bridge, LA.  

 We had to hurry to Champagne's Cajun Swamp Tour, which I scheduled for 1 o'clock... and because we were eating at a fancy French restaurant, we kind of had to tell the cook to hurry... Yikes!

 The swamp tour was fun.

 It was a little difficult for Kate to be held for 2 hours on a boat with hungry alligators all around us.

 This alligator is HUGE!

 We went swimming everyday at the hotel.  Kate LOVES the water. She has no fear and will just jump into the pool so we had to be extra careful with her.

 We went to Avery Gardens, LA on Saturday.  The Tabasco Factory is on the island and we took a tour of the factory.

 Then we drove through Jungle Gardens and Bird Island, located on the park.  It is so beautiful there.  Alligators were sun bathing around the lakes everywhere.

 Kate loves her grandma Sue! We can't wait to see you in June!

Kate's First Birthday

We traveled up to Oklahoma to celebrate Kate's first birthday with family and see Stratton after his 2 year mission in Mexico. 

The last time all the brothers were together was December 2011 Ahlympics.

Michael, Stratton, Bryan, Adam

 Kate enjoyed the dogs at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 For Kate's birthday we went to the Tulsa Zoo.

We watched the monkey's get feed

 and pet a goat. 

 Before we had cake, we went swimming at the YMCA. I made a cupcake cake, but I definitely need to work on how to frost a cake. I guess you get better when you have more kids and lots of birthdays! 

Kate really enjoyed her cake! 

She even opened up most of her presents! She got lots of clothes, a vacuum popper, a giant chicken, books, a toilet, and shoes. 

Bryan and I made a growth chart for Kate (and for our other children) for her birthday too.  It turned out perfect!