I'm an Aunt!

My brother and his wonderful wife had a baby yesterday. They named her Ella Nicole and I love her already! I can't wait to meet her, and introduce Austin to his first little cousin. I've seen one picture of her sweet face up close, and I think she looks like her beautiful mother. Oh how I wish my family wasn't so far away!

I like to eat eat eat apples and bananas!

Last Sunday I sliced an apple for myself. I saw Austin eyeing it, and gave him one to gnaw on, thinking he wouldn't do much with it. Boy, was I wrong! He loved it, and his top two teeth nubs are quite effective already. After biting off little pieces he started to get large chunks. He was SO MAD when I took it away, but raw apples just don't really dissolve or mush well. Sorry, kiddo. Since then I've tried giving him little pieces of banana and kiwi and he's loved those too.

In other food news, Austin's eating baby oatmeal cereal for breakfast. He seems happy enough about this new addition to his menu. The green beans he's had for dinner are much less exciting, however.  

Playing at the Park

Every now and then I babysit for a neighbor. This little girl is almost three years old and loves Austin, and  Austin gets pretty excited when she comes to play with him. On this particular Friday morning it was a nice day and  Parker didn't have work or school, so we walked to the neighboring complex to play at the park. It was so fun... can't wait till Austin can play and get excited about it too. :) T wanted to push Austin in the stroller and pushed him all the way home while running (with Parker and I helping to steer and watch for cars). She must take after her awesome runner mom.

Umm... What!?

A conversation between Parker and I as we were driving to salt lake one evening last week:

Parker: Oh, I forgot to tell you...
Maren: What?
Parker: I bought a car this morning.
Maren: Uh... what?

Ok, so it's not quite as dramatic as it sounds because I knew Parker has been looking into buying a car at an auction through a guy with a dealer license. He told me it was a possibility, but I figured he would have mentioned it earlier in the day; that's kind of a big deal! In case you're wondering... it didn't work out. About 10 minutes after that conversation he got a call from the dealer and found out that they hadn't met the seller's minimum and Parker wasn't interested in going higher. We've been a one car family for a couple weeks after selling our Ford Focus and it's been a little tricky, but not too bad. I think Parker likes car shopping so he's not in a hurry.

Ready for Driving!

Austin's growing fast, but thank goodness not that fast. :) We were waiting for Parker in the car one day and I happened to have the camera with me. He looks so little in that seat!

Spiritual Baby

Conference was wonderful. I especially loved Elder Christofferson's talk and the choir singing "Come Thou Fount." Even Austin paused his playing to watch for a few minutes, mostly during the songs. He really seems to love music.