While we were gone in California, Laura had her baby!
Austin was born on July 30th, the same day we were at Disney. Mom was wonderful and kept texting us updates and pictures throughout the day. I couldn't wait to meet him and on August 2nd, I got my wish!
He is a sweet little guy and seems pretty laid back. Three boys. Laura is in for some fun!
August 6th found me and the kids back up in Ashburn to visit with my Aunt Linda and Kailey who were also in town. Austin was, of course, the main event. How can you not want to snuggle a brand new little baby?
Cousin Kailey with baby Austin
Jude thought he was pretty neat, too.
Checking out his toes:
They thought his tiny piggies were pretty funny.
On August 9th, a miracle happened.
We found snake in our house. It was this tiny little thing slithering under our kitchen table. At first glance, I thought it was worm. He was pretty cute, but after all the kids had a good look at him, we set him free outside.
No, no, that's not the miracle.
The miracle is that we found another snake in our house that day. While we were in California, we had a nice gentleman come over a couple times to feed the fish and make sure Lance's snake Molty had water. When he returned the key to us, he mentioned he was worried Molty escaped, as he had a hard time figuring out how to latch the top of the cage. Molty often hides for days, so I wasn't too worried, but I checked anyway.
He was gone. Cage empty, no sign of him anywhere. Lance was still in California and I wasn't about to tell him his favorite thing in the whole world was gone. I tried everything the internet told me to do to find him: left out a heating pad with a dead mouse on it, made a little hide for him to slither into, poured flour across all the door frames so if he moved from the room, I could see which direction he was going. Pulled all the books of the of bookshelves, got up in the middle of the night with a flashlight to see if maybe he was on the move out in the open. Nothing worked.
I had almost given up. Lance sent me a couple texts to remind me to water Molty and I reassured him that there was plenty of water in his cage (a true statement). I was scared of how hard Lance would take the news that his snake was gone once he got home.
On the 9th, I was vacuuming and doing a better job than normal. I had to clean up all that flour, after all! I had the hand tool out and was getting the dust from the nooks and crannies from around the computer desk when all of the sudden I see a little head peek out from under our subwoofer. MOLTY! I couldn't believe it. I was shaking from joy (and nerves from the realization that I could have so easily sucked him into the vacuum without knowing). I said a little prayer to thank Heavenly Father and put that snake back in his terrarium, ensuring that the latches were indeed secure.
Crisis averted. When Lance got home, I told him all about our snake adventure while he was gone. So grateful it ended with laughter instead of tears!
August 16th found us once again in Ashburn. Jason was leaving for BYU in a couple days and we wanted to see him one last time before he flew out.
We got to see Austin again!
Lily really wanted to hold him, so Grandma helped.
She loved it! It took quite a bit of convincing for her to allow Grandma to hold him again.
Lance loves Lily (although he does like to remind me that he thinks Madison--his other sister--is cuter). Madison really is a doll, so I can't fault him for that!
Aunt Linda was still in town! It was so good to see her. We're all very sad she moved to Utah after being so close for several years. She is wonderful.
Lily found this bonnet in the toy chest and insisted on wearing it.
Cole couldn't pass up the opportunity either. :)
Silly girl!
The next day, August 17th, we spent a few hours with Jason and Laura's family at the Calderwood's house. Laura and Tyler were housesitting for Tyler's uncle and they invited us over to swim in the pool. No way we were turing that down!
I hadn't packed swim suits for the kids, but we made do with underwear.
Hooray for fun uncles!
(Love Lily's naked bum while Lance gives her a ride around the pool on the float!)
It was a great way to spend our last day with Jason.
We were also able to spend some time with George's family. Awesome creation, Cole! Grandmom got out all her neat toys from years past and Cole sat there and built this tall tower.
He was so proud it was taller than he was!
Lily loves the attention she gets from Grandmom and Pop Pop. She has become quite the "sharer" and had a blast feeding Grandmom who was a great sport about it.
Cole is perfecting his train drawings. His trains now have lots of cars that are connected and his engines are completely recognizable with their funnel, steam and the coal car behind it (or the "tinder" as Cole informed me it's called).
Love it!
