Our trip to Oregon!

The first week of January we took a trip to see Kelsey's grandparents (The Original Stuart's)!  They live in Bend OR- so we flew (with some help of airline miles) & it was Allie's 1st plane ride!  I was really nervous about the trip considering I'm a cranky pregnant mess traveling with a "terrible two- year old".. Ok so I worried for Kelsey!!  But I was SO pleasantly surprised how well the trip went!  We left on a Friday and returned on Tuesday!  Friday we parked at the Airport and took a shuttle to the terminal.  Allie was pretty excited about riding on the "school bus" (shuttle) the gate.  We had 1 lay over in Orange Co- then caught our 2nd flight to Portland OR-  Here we rented a car- and drove about 3 hrs to Bend.  Allie Slept most of the car ride and even was "accident free" thru the entire day of travels!  I was SO proud of her!

We decided to take Allie's Car seat on the plane... the bungee cords were so helpful to carry thru the airport.

Allie's very first plane ride!! She did so good and was very excited to be going up in the air!! 

 This car made us laugh!! It was on our way to BEND- it reminded us of the car in Planes, Trains & Automobiles!  Its about 36 outside & the top of the car was ripped off, the windows had plastic on them and the kids riding in the car were bundled up to stay warm... they saw me with my camera and smiled for the photo!

Beautiful!!! Also on our way up to Bend- this was at the top of the mountain pass we drove thru... we were lucky that the roads were so clear!

In this picture you can see the moon in the background.  It is about 4:30 am OR time, and  6:30 TX time... Allie didn't know the difference... So every morning we woke up and left the house so that we wouldn't wake the grand parents... prob some of the most fun on our trip.  The first morning we went to Walmart & Shari's for breakfast. The next day we went to Starbucks- Another morning Kelsey was sick so we stayed in and watched TV very quietly- and later on found an indoor bounce house to play in. 

The above pictures are from us playing in the Starbucks!  The good thing about a retirement community is most of the Seniors sleep in so the town is a "ghost town" until about 8am! So from 6am till about 8am were were the only ones out and about!  Kelsey's grandparents slept until about 10ish so we tried to stay out in the mornings until they were up! 

 

Saturday morning, after our trip to Walmart we went exploring thru the town... we found a road into a national park and turned in...  Some of my favorite pictures from the trip! 

 

Daddy & Allie Running in the snow... 

Mommy & Allie running in the snow... sounds like a great idea to run in the snow with your toddler- unless you are 7.5 months pregnant!! Right after this picture was taken I slipped and fell in the snow!  Kinda scary but we (Lindy & I ) were just fine... just a little cold!! 

On Monday Robert & Bernice (the grand parents) treated us to breakfast before we drove back to Portland- so sweet to get some pictures with her great grandparents!

After our breakfast we drove to Portland stayed the night at a hotel and caught our flight in the am..  here are pictures of our drive back and fun times swimming at the indoor pool!

Allie got to sleep in her own bed at the hotel!! 

Fun times on on the plane.. Allie got her nap in! 

Allie was invited into the cockpit by the captain!!

And, well it has been a while since my last belly picture... her is me, 30 weeks! 

Catch up

We have so much to catch up on!  First of all our Christmas was wonderful!  We had such a good time- we did Christmas with "Grandma Bo" on Wednesday, cousins on Thursday & Friday was Christmas eve and we had "Grandma Abby/Betty" come stay the night with us!  We decorated cookies and said goodbye to Toby.  (In case you were wondering how we were able to hug him good bye - he looses his magic when we touch him, but its ok on Christmas Eve bc Santa takes him back to the North Pole).

Christmas morning was great. Allie got a ton of toys and it took us about 3 hours to get thu all of the gifts.  She was so cute passing out the gifts.  She would say "Here you go Grandma, Merry Christmas" each time she passed out a gift... we all took turns and had a nice morning.  In the afternoon after nap we went over to Kris & Leslie's house to have Christmas dinner and exchange gifts with them.  This was Natalie's 1st Christmas and it was so fun to see Kris & Leslie as parents!!

We also have been spending a ton of time on the nursery furniture.  (though I don't think I'd ever do this again, we were able to get ALL of our furniture for under $200- & accessories for under $200 as well)  The down side is that we had to sand, prime & paint all of the furniture and it took us FOREVER to finish!

My Nursery Score Sheet:

Crib- $120 craigslist

Dresser- $15  craigslist

Changing table- $15 craigslist

Baskets for table- $ 65 Target

Glider/ Ottoman- $40 craigslist

Material to recover cushions - $15 

Side table- Free- my mom gave it to me

Armouir- Free- left over from college furniture

Bedding & Valance - left over from Allie's nursery

Paint for walls- $40 Sherwin Williams

Paint / Primer for furniture- $50 Lowe's

Letters-$8 Hobby Lobby

Decor for letters- $10 Hobby Lobby

Total So Far: $378

(I'll prob spend another $50- $100 on decor items.. we shall see)

After Christmas we made a trip up to Arkansas to see Teresa & her family!  We were able to spend NYE with their family & friends we had a really nice trip!! The above picture is from our drive up there... Allie did SOOO good with her potty training the whole way- and told us when she had to "go"!  In the picture we are on the side of the highway- and Allie is "going potty" :)  She went the whole trip with out an accident!  I'd say we are FINALLY done potty training! :)