Etheringtons in Texas!!

Hooray!!! I love it when my family comes to visit!! They arrived the day after Christmas which was heavenly considering school was still out and the kids needed to be entertained. This can be pretty hard when you're 9 1/2 months pregnant, so I was happy to have some help. We've kept the leaves on the lawn because not only my kids have had fun raking and jumping in them, but they have been attracting the neighborhood kids too.

Grandpa had the fun idea of making a huge pile of leaves and then having Sadie swing through them. He always pretended to be mad when she "messed up" his beautiful pile of leaves and it made her laugh all the harder. They spent a lot of time playing outside.

They came at the perfect time. It rained all day the day before (Christmas day) and once they arrived the temps shot up to the 70's and it was beautiful all week. We were able to go on walks, hit the parks, and even eat outside. I love Texas!!

Aunt Jane is semi-obsessed with turtles. I knew the perfect place to take her so she could get her fix before heading back to Utah. The university has a little turtle pond down town. I was right to assume that Jane would be in heaven watching those little turtles.

I loved watching my pasty white family soak up the sun rays. The inversion is so bad in Utah it's rare you ever see the sun during the winter. I was glad Texas was able to give them a little suntan at the end of December!!

Grandpa kept asking where we could go to climb some trees (a big kid really). Texas has some awesome material to work with when it comes to scaling up a tree. I drove us all to the Circle C park and we (not me) climbed any tree we could find.

I couldn't get enough of the amazing weather. While the kids played in the leaves, I just bathed in the sun with a nice cool breeze to keep from sweating.

Any and every visitor who comes to Austin has to experience the best view possible of the city, that being on the water...in a canoe. Not super comfortable with this huge belly of mine, but fun to show my family how beautiful Austin really is.

One night we stopped at the "Clark Griswald" house just down the street from us. This guy spends $7000 a year putting these lights up and it takes two weeks for him to put it all together. It's pretty amazing what this guy does every year just for the enjoyment of others. Love the Texas peeps here!!

Mimi brought Sadie and Jack a lot of new books; one being 100 dresses that she read to her every night. They finished it right before they had to go back to SLC. Sadie LOVES reading with Mimi. She continues to be the best "book lady" ever!!

Thanks for coming guys. I can't wait to see you again when the baby is born in January. Sadie and Jack can't wait either!!