How do you spell trouble?

Madi and Will had a great time playing together! ... at least when Will wasn't pulling her pigtails or trying to use her to stand up. Will even learned how to say Madi and baby while we were there. Here they are bonding over string cheese. Madi even let Will watch "stuck in tower" Tangled and play with some of her babies... some of them but not Lily :)

Instant Care :(

Will had his first insta-care visit while we were in Denver as well as his first round of antibiotics. While we were working on the yard he had been bit by a couple of fire ants on his thigh. I guess because they were really close to his diaper they got infected :( So I after I noticed the red rings around them we took him to the insta-care.
It was kind of funny because they were a little confused by what a fire ant bit was and how he had been bit when it was snowing outside. I kept explaining that fire ants are quite common in Texas and there it's 90 degrees. I still think they were a little confused when we left, because the doctor said that this type of infection happens when there's a wound, which 'could' have been an ant bit. :) oh well after a round of antibiotics everything is cleared up and Will's feeling better.

Naturally, he had to have some of Grandpa Don's ice cream once we got back home for being such a trooper.

Freddy's Steakburgers

While we were out shopping on Monday we started discussing favorite restaurants. I mentioned that we had a place by us in TX that had awesome hamburgers that we're thin and crispy on the edges. My sister said, "wait where is that?" Come to find out they had a Freddy's too and my brother-in-law had already talked about wanting to meet us there for lunch. Too funny of a consequence to pass up so here we are having lunch at Freddy's.  Will's very fond of their hot dogs and frozen custard.

Denver

 This little kiddo was the star of the week. We didn't have any delays on our flights so we managed to make his blessing. We did have to go straight from the airport to the church though. Talk about efficient no wasted time!

Did you know you can fit over 5 car seats in a Suburban? Good thing to know, now that kids have to be in car seats until they're 8! The kids had a blast sitting all snug like this. Will did have a habit of reaching over and stealing Caleb's blankets and toys though.

Do I fit?

We finished planting the grass at around 8pm. That only left dinner, laundry, packing, and cleaning to be done before I had to leave for the airport at 4:30am! :) Needless to say, I think I got 3 hrs of sleep.

While we were waiting for the flight Will made friends with our pilots. So when they went down to get on the plane he wanted to go to. I would carry him over to the other side of the waiting area and he would hussle back over to the open door. Then, I would "catch" him and carry him back. We did this repeatedly  I figured he was tiring himself out so he would sleep on the flight. Well when that got tiring we started getting creative. Do you think Will qualifies as carry-on luggage?

The flight to Denver was awesome. I got the bulk head window seat and another lady with a 18 month old took the aisle. Needless, to say no one was over eager to sit in between us. So we blocked off the end and were able to let the kids play on the floor together most of the flight. They were happy and thus everyone else on the plane was happy.

I did qualify for "extra security screening" at the Austin airport... not really sure how I feel about that. Really? The lady with the baby? Traveling by herself? Really? I'm such a hardened criminal. They lady assigned to do it seemed really uncomfortable with the whole thing so I tried to be a good sport to make her job a little easier. :(

Cooties

Don't let him fool you. He loves his mamma.

In the Trenches

The yard work continues as we Till, Tamp, dig trenches for the drip system, lay pvc, and cover up the trenches

Sadie & Will's Tea Party

"Why, thank you Sadie."

"I don't mind if I do."

Will's getting better but we still have some work to do on the dog food vs. Will food topic.

Hello Ugly!

Isn't this the ugliest caterpillar? Maybe he'll make an exceptionally beautiful butterfly? I hope so because they're all over our yard.

Sprinklers!

While we were working on the boat gate I turned around for literally 5 seconds and Will was gone! I found him all the way on the other side of our yard absolutely soaked! So we went in and changed him into his swimsuit and let him play. Both him and Sadie had a blast.

Boat Gate

Yay! The boat is finally off the driveway and behind the fence. We still need to figure out a long term solution for it to sit on, it's just on grass, but the gate is done! We ordered a metal gate from online sunk some new posts, and we're able to pretty much just attach the old fence back on. It took all day and we ended up with almost no visible difference in the fence. (but we consider that a good thing)

Cute Noises

Will has been making these funny noises lately kind of a mix between a brr and a motor boat. I can't even do it! He will be sitting there just playing with his toys while doing it. so cute! We thought we would share. I have to warn you though it takes us a little bit to get him to do it on camera so it's a little long of a video. Maybe someday I'll actually edit a video before I post it.

Valentine's Day... the belated post

This is space saver post. I think Danny wanted to explain so I'll let him.
(edited by danny)
Ok so I have been supposed to be more active in this blog and I am now guilted into actually posting about this. I have been meaning to post about this for a while. Jenni awesome wife that she is decided to try and come up with something extra special for me. So she emailed my parents(unbeknownst to me) looking for pictures for the trip to taiwan and china and my Mom sent back a selection of photos. So Jenni selected one that looks cool and split the photo in three sections and then blew it up and sent it to costco to be printed off. I think this is the largest size print you can get at costco. She then glued the pictures to some MDF  and painted over it with mod podge so that it is all protected nice. I tell you what these are things are hefty and very nice. Anyway so I came home and she had put them up in our room and I was very surprised we are planning on putting them up in the bedroom along with some other chinese pictures and having an asian feel to the room. Anyway I recognized the place, one of the new members had taken me and my parents there when they came to pick me up after my mission. For those interested it was originally a fort(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Provintia) and is one of the oldest buildings in tainan which is one of the oldest buildings in taiwan as well as being the capital at the time of the fort. There are some beautiful grounds that surround it and this picture is of those though you can see a corner of the building in the one section. The two things that I most recall about this building were that on the grounds there is a small stone horse which has an almost arthurian legend associated with it. I believe that the horse is supposed to come alive if the right person sits on it's back and that person is supposed to free/rule taiwan?( I suppose I don't remember that clearly, but give me a break it was several years ago now). The other was that inside was a small section dedicated to the god of learning, where you could see prayers hung that students placed before going to take exams. Let me see if I can google something up for you.(http://dreintaiwan.blogspot.com/2009/05/fort-provintia-chih-kan-lou-in-tainan.html this guy has a picture of the prayers/offerings half way down on this post).  Anyway the whole of this is that I have an awesome wife and she made a cool thing for me.

Panic!

Why do they always make the panic buttons on keys a big red button? Will has discovered these buttons and loves to push them. The only problem is that they can make it through the house to the cars parked outside. I'm sure the neighbors wonder why our cars randomly start honking ALL the time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 For Dinner we had hot dogs on homemade green marble rye bread with thousand island and sauerkraut with boiled cabbage.

 Then for dessert we had grasshopper cake. mmm

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Play Date

We were invited over to a sister in our ward's house to try out their new swing set. Will was only slightly interested in the swings, but really got excited when he saw this:

why yes that is a hot pink barbie big wheels car. Will was memorized by the radio. He sat there pressing the buttons the whole time. He just loved playing the 'tunes' for everyone else there :)

Will's computer skills

Like father like son

By myself

All of a sudden Will has decided he likes to feed himself. It started with having to have his own plate, but today he decided he know how to use a fork as well. This kid is growing up too fast for me!

Photography by William

Will has learned how to turn on the camera by himself. It is also his favorite toy. Do I really need to explain the pictures?

I must admit part of me hesitates before I take it away from him... maybe if he broke it I would get my new camera...hmmm :)

Pan Pizza

The other day I really wanted Pizza Hut style pan pizza. So I went online and found a recipe. It turned out amazing. It really did taste like Pizza Hut except I cut back on the oil. I was okay comprising I little authenticity for my conscious. Oh I used this recipe here.

Will the drummer

Will really likes music. So I gave him and old metal bowl and spoon. He had a ball!

Colored Pencil on the Walls

I now have colored pencil on my newly painted walls. Will found these in the diaper bag left over from my primary class on Sunday. He thought they were fun to play with. He also thought they made a really cool noise when he rubbed them on the wall. He really wasn't trying to be bad, I don't think he even knows he drew on the wall.

More Birthday Presents

Will is going to think that birthdays last all year long at this rate :) We received a present in the mail from Will's Great-Grandfather. This is one of the first presents he's opened up mostly by himself.

Chinese Food

     Okay so this story really starts here. I was looking for Christmas presents last year and stumbled upon this on Amazon. The author is supposed to be a Cantonese Julia Child. It looked really authentic and was supposed to be half text book/ half cookbook similar to my bread book that started my food blog. 

     I was really tempted but I was worried because Danny is known to be a little snobby when it comes to Chinese food. (apparently Panda isn't authentic?) Anyways, I found something better and moved on. A couple months later somehow it got brought up and I showed it to him. He was so excited! (missed perfect gift giving opportunity) He couldn't wait to have it and all of the sudden started remembering gift checks that had just been deposited and never really used. So this Sunday we decided to show off our fancy culinary skills for Danny's parents. This is what we made:

(excuse the ugly picture, by the time it was all ready I was too tired and hungry to go find our camera so this was taken with my phone)

Long beans with Roasted Sesame Seeds

(These are cut up they really were like 18in long)

Crisp Beef

(This was A-MAZING! including sichuan peppercorn paste, hot bean sauce, sweet bean sauce, and hot pepper oil. Surprisingly, it wasn't that spicy just really intense flavor)

Beijing Baked Bread w/ Scallion Oil

Grandma and Grandpa Rich

We were surprised by a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Rich this weekend. They came in Saturday and drove all the way out to see us. We had a lot of fun with them Sunday and Monday morning! I'm so glad we get to see them so often even though they live so far away. (I may or may not have snapped this during sacrament, but it was too cute to pass up. Plus, I have impressive stealth skills with my camera phone.)

Will the artist

He seems a little young but Will really likes to color. It started when we were hanging out at Danny's office. I was trying to keep Will occupy and showed him how to color on the whiteboard. I think that was his gateway to coloring (because it's easy to make marks on a whiteboard). Since then he'll color with crayons and color pencils... on my newly painted walls (but that's another post)

Here's the little Picasso with his art work.

The Dishwasher

Who knew that the funniest toy in our house was the dishwasher. Will has figured out how to open it when it's closed unless it's latched. I've got to figure out how to curb this before he gets any heavier! On the flip side the climbing wall Danny wants to build in the backyard might be gaining support.

Spring has sprung in Austin!

Our peach tree has some of the prettiest blossoms. Yay for spring!

Diaper Boxes

 So around my house there is an abundance of these...

They are good boxes and I love that have so many the same size, and I mean who doesn't want HEB baby all over their house? Ya, not me either so check out my new, improved diaper boxes...

Pretty amazing huh? The best part is I made them out of the ugly curtains that I didn't put up here. Completely free project!

Here's the tutorials I used in case you have some hanging around your house to.
http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2011/02/lets-make-something-together-lined.html