Monkeying Around

Grandpa Lyons and Margaret invited Preston and I to go with them to the Oakland Zoo last Thursday (02.23.2012). I thought that Preston would love seeing all the animals and listening to the noises they make, so I was excited to go with them. We got there and Preston saw a few animals and wasn't as interested as I thought he would be. I think he enjoyed watching all the other kids run around more than watching the different animals. It was fun though. I haven't been to a zoo in such a long time!

Here are a few pictures of our adventures:

Here is a shot of the entrance of the zoo. 

 Thanks Grandpa and Margaret for taking us to the zoo! Here they are in front of the flamingos.

 There were lots of pink flamingos right in the entrance. By the way, if you are wondering...my favorite animal just happens to be the flamingo. oh yes, you better believe it!

 The monkeys had it the best though. They were just laying here in the sun on their own little island. 

 Here we are! Preston and I were watching the elephants for quite a long time. 

 There were 4 huge elephants.

 There were quite a few giraffes too. They were in the area with several other safari animals. 

It was a fun day. After the zoo we went to an amazing restaurant and ate some delicious food. It has been fun living here in California and being able to spend time with our family here.

My Little Mover

While we were home for Christmas Preston decided to start crawling, well...really it was more like an inch worm thing that he did to get around. I think it came from watching his cousin Jakob race to the toys. Preston really watched other kids and then seems to decide that he can do whatever they can do, especially when it means that he can have what they have. It is so cute to watch him move around in his own little way. His crawl has since changed from his inch worm moves to a full out crawl. He now moves so much faster and is starting to stand up again all the furniture he can. It often scares me. I hate it when he falls. He definitely needs a helmet of some sort since he has hit his head so many times. He has learned how to sit back on his bum though, which has changed things for now, but we'll see what happens once he starts walking!

Here are a few videos of his progress:

This is his transitional crawl. He is started here to get up on his knees and yet can't give the inch worm up. 

 Preston has also started talking quite often. He likes to talk to himself in the morning after he wakes up and is starting to form more definite sounds. Can you hear it on this video?

 This shows him crawling over to stand on the coffee table. This happens daily! 

I get so excited to see him develop, but them I get so worried when I find out what it all means. I wish I could protect him against everything, but them I realize that he needs to learn and grow...that helps him develop better than if I were to coddle him. I guess that is probably just a little piece of how Heavenly Father feels.

Teething!

Preston started teething January 8th, our first Sunday in our new ward. It lasted almost all week and you could tell he was in so much pain. It was so sad. I kept giving him Tylenol and tried teething tablets, numbing gel, and frozen teething rings. He didn't really seem to like any of them, but like everything else...enough time passed and he was able to feel better soon.

Here are a few pictures of my little man. If you look close you can see his two little teeth on the bottom. It has been hard to get a picture of them, but when he was eating I saw them pretty well so I had to attempt. 

I definitely loves eating, but not really baby food. He thinks it is a happy time, which it totally is. What is better than family and food!

After he eats baby food I usually give him some sort of real food to chew on and entertain himself while we are eating. He seems to really like apples that are peeled and cut. He has gotten really good at knowing how to not make himself choke, which makes me feel better giving him different foods. This is his normal look while he is eating.

 This is Preston enjoying his toys. He really likes the darts from the Nurf gun and usually sucks on them. I then decided to stick it to his head. He couldn't reach it...and it was hilarious to watch. He then got distracted by other toys and just kept playing. 

He is such a cute little boy and I am so grateful that he is able to bless our lives. We love you little boy!

I'm Seeing Stars

Once again I have waited a whole month to blog about out lives. There really has been so much going on with trying to unpack and get all settled that it has gotten lower and lower on my to do list. I have made a new resolution to be better though and blog more consistently. We'll see what happens!

In the middle of January Neil had to take a business trip to Austin Texas to learn about a tool he needed to use at work. Since he was going to be gone for a whole week and we just barely got all of our things we decided that I should go with him and of course bring Preston along. It ended up being really fun. Preston and I really got to see lots of Austin while Neil was at work. We stayed in a hotel that was within walking distance for Neil's work and the downtown area, which made it even more fun.

Here are a few pictures of our little adventure:

We did a few different tours while we were in Austin. We did a walking tour, a capital tour, and a few self-guided tours in different places. This is a picture of the capital building from inside the top floor of the visitors center, which was right next door. Isn't it such a pretty place!

 When we were on our walking tour the lady stopped in front of this sculpture and told us a story that changed the history of Austin and taught us about Texas women. I guess there was a bunch of men sent to collect documents that were held in Austin. They were sent by the Governor who was trying to get the capital changed to Houston. He told the men to get those documents but to not kill anyone in the process. Once she saw the men coming she jumped out of bed and ran to the town cannon and lit it up. The men didn't advance once they saw this, but turned around and went back. (I might have gotten that wrong, so if it is feel free to correct me. I'm sure there is much more to the story anyways...) The tour guide said that this was a good illustration of what Texas women are like and how proud people are of their beautiful capital. 

All around Austin are these guitars. They are in the airport, on the streets,and in the important building around the town. They are all done by different artist, but represent the "Life Music Capital of the World" which is Austin, Texas. I was told that it got this name because of the sheer quantity of live music all around town. Almost every restaurant or bar has live music playing most of the day. 

This is a picture inside the capital building in the dome. Texas sure does love their stars. They really are everywhere...even at the very top of the dome. Can you see it?

 This is Preston after one of our tours. He seems to really like it when we walk and see things. He was a happy guy most of the trip and really is pretty easy to travel with. We couldn't be more blessed!

 Here we are in front of the Museum of Texas History. There was a huge star there, so I thought that it would be appropriate to be in front of their largest symbol. 

 This is Diana and her little daughter. She also has a new little baby boy who was sleeping at the time in his stroller. Her husband works with Neil. He was the one that really got Neil interested in the company and put in a good word to get him here. They were so sweet and invited us over for dinner at there house while we were there. Diana and the kids came to hang out with us too! We went to the visitors center and then walked to the University of Texas campus. It was so fun!

 This is the Omni Hotel where we stayed while we were here. It was a really nice hotel with an extremely helpful concierge. Almost everyday I went down and had to ask him where I should go and how I could get there. They were super helpful and very nice. 

All in all it was a very fun trip. I was glad we got to go to Texas and see what it is like, but I was glad to get home and start unpacking all my stuff. I am excited that we finally are able to feel like we have a home!

Baby's First Hair Cut

Preston's hair has been growing and growing lately and has gotten a little bit too scraggly for me. I have been hesitant to cut it myself though. I was afraid to take scissors to his head knowing that when I cut his finger when cutting his nails I was a mess, so we went to go get it cut. We walked from Grandpa's house to a Great Clips that is just across the street. A lady named Dziem Le cut his hair. She was so great! She even made him a little Baby's First Hair Cut Card with all the information about his cut. Today he was much better than the last couple of days. He has been teething and now has his two teeth on the bottom and I think he is working on his top two.

He was actually really good for Dziem. She was Asian and sang to him little nursery rhymes while she cut. It was so cute! She had me hold him and put on a smock and put a towel around his neck and a smock on him too. Preston really is good when he has lots of new things to look at, and this place really allowed him to do this, which was one of the reasons he was so good for Dziem.

Here are a few pictures of the whole event:

Look at that face and crazy hair!

 It was all over his ears and really all over the place. 

 Now it looks so much better! She cleaned up the edges and cut some off the top and sides. His hair isn't too thick, but now it looks more put together. 

Niles District: Fremont CA

We are currently staying with my Grandpa and Margaret while we wait for our stuff to get here. We did find an apartment, and I will blog about that a little bit later when we get all moved in and I can click some great pictures. They have a tradition that every Thursday they go out and do something or discover something new in the area. It is usually a walk or museum or something like that. This Thursday Preston and I were able to go with them. We first took a load of our stuff to our new apartment in Fremont and then they showed me a little cut district that is part of the city of Fremont, but is called the Niles District. This place is known for the railroad that goes through there as well as the place where they filmed black and white silent movies. The whole main street is so cute and well put together. There are lots of antique shops and cute places to look at. They do still show silent films with live accompaniment, which sounds so fun! They have a museum that features this theater and then another museum for the old railroad history.

Here are a few pictures I got of Niles:

A shot of the train station

 One of the trains that was on display outside. We weren't able to go to the railroad museum because they are only open on Sunday, which is a bummer. 

 Here is a shot through the window of one of the old shooting films for the movies. The famous man Charlie Chalpin himself starred in a few movies they shot here. 

 They have these cute street signs on the lamp-posts that tells you where things are. They are all different and support the things the district is known for. 

 Cute Main St.

 They had these amazing little details all along the way that really added to its cute feel.

 This was the look Preston had pretty much the entire time we were there. He did take a nap through most of it though. 

I like their tradition to go out and try to discover something new everything Thursday. It really helps them know what is around them and what the possibilities really are. We have gone with them when we have visited before and have such a fun time wherever we go!

Back in Cali

Well, we are back in California a little earlier than I was expecting. Neil was scheduled to come home on Sunday night and then I was supposed to fly in on Wednesday night, however...we changed my flight since we didn't have an apartment still. We thought we had one, but we didn't feel like we were completely sold on it. I have come to learn that usually that doubt is the spirit telling you that it is not the right choice. I know that most people don't think that Heavenly Father really cares where we live, but I know that I wanted a place where I felt at home and could feel the spirit there. I wanted that confirmation that we were where we needed to be in order to serve others and learn and grow ourselves, and so the hunt continues.

Neil did still fly in on Sunday night and I flew in with Preston on Monday morning. We went right to it that day and looked and looked and looked. I was pretty depressed by the end of the day, but still felt like we could find the right place. After we were done looking we went to Jenn and Evan's place to celebrate Jenn's birthday with her family, Donna and Mike. We had a great enchilada dinner and then some amazing cake that Jenn made. We opened gifts and had a fun evening visiting with family and catching up from the holidays. We really love having family close!

How cute is this! The girls all blew out the candles together. 

 The girls were so excited to show Jenn what they got her that they had to get as close as they could to watch her open her gifts!