Disney on Ice

Adam has been in Las Vegas for the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament this weekend, so my mom and I took Ethan and Austin to see Disney on Ice yesterday. I was hesitant to bring Austin since he's so young, but he actually ended up enjoying it much more than Ethan did. Austin sat perfectly still in Grandma's lap and watched the whole thing. He clapped, snapped his fingers, and danced throughout the whole thing. Ethan enjoyed it, but he has a pretty short attention span for stuff like that. He kept telling me he wanted to go down and walk on the ice, and everytime the crocodile that was trying to eat Captain Hook came on the ice, Ethan would tell me what he would do if the crocodile came up into the stands and attacked him ("I would hit him! I would grab him and throw him!"). Overall it was a lot of fun; nothing like paying $10 for cotton candy



!

Playing in the snow and hoping for spring...

The boys got a sled for Christmas, but sadly, we haven't had a chance to use it since Christmas. We got lots of snow for about a month after Christmas, but during that month there was always someone sick in our house, so we didn't venture out into the frigid snow. Once we finally got better, we didn't have any more snow storms. All that was left was icey, hard snow, so we didn't play in that either. Yesterday afternoon it started snowing, and Ethan begged and begged to go outside and play. But since it was so windy that the snow was blowing sideways, I told him we'd have to wait. So this morning it was bright and sunny, and even though there was only an inch of snow, we went outside and played in it. Austin was really excited to play outside, until he realized he had to wear snow pants, mittens, hat, boots, sweatshirt, and a huge jacket. He screamed and cried until I just took off all the clothes and let him stand at our back door and watch. Ethan had me pull him around on the sled all around the backyard. Wow, what a workout. Finally, just when we were ready to come inside, Austin ventured out the back door with no shoes or socks on. I told him he could only come out if he put boots and his coat on. So with about half as many clothes as he should've been wearing, he came out and played for a few minutes. Until he discovered that it's not too fun to play in the snow without mittens, so we headed inside for lunch. The snow was fun, but we're ready for spring!!

Cool Shades

At the beginning of the week, I really felt like we were on our way to spring. The weather was in the high 50's and low 60's. I was wrong though, because it snowed a little last night. Luckily, while it was still warm, we got to play outside a little. Austin found a pair of his sunglasses from last summer (that he refused to wear) and put them on and would not take them off. He pushed his huge dump truck up and down our street with his sunglasses on even though it was very cloudy. And Ethan pulled out his old tricyle and did some off-roading in the empty lot next door to our house.

Austin's home photo shoot

I just had to post these adorable pictures I took today of little Austin. My mother-in-law needed a recent photo of Austin to send to Adam's brother, Landon, who is serving a church mission in the Philippines. I decided to take a few, because I haven't gotten a chance to use my new lens very much. So here's a few of the many I took. Some of them aren't perfectly in focus, but they were too cute to not include.

Disneyland!

Last week, Adam and I took our boys to Disneyland for a few days. My Mom and Dad and my sister, Kristin, also came with us. We stayed at the Disneyland hotel. We had the cutest 2 bedroom suite for all of us, which was so nice because we could put the boys to bed early and stay up late in the other room.

Here's Ethan & Kristin standing outside our hotel. Kristin was Ethan's best friend the whole time we were in California. He only wanted to ride the rides with HER, not me. He wanted to walk holding her hand all the time. And he made up nicknames for her all week... Kris, Kristy, etc. I'm sure Kristin was ready for a break by the end of the trip.


Ethan had soooo much fun at Disneyland. He has grown up so much since the last time we went. He loved every ride that he went on. His favorite rides were Matterhorn and Splash Mountain. Every time he rode them, he'd yell "Again!!!!" as soon as the ride ended. He was so patient anytime we had to wait in line for any rides (and luckily we didn't have to wait hardly at all because the park is so slow in February). Austin was a bit more difficult. He loved all the rides he went on, but in between the rides, he only wanted to run around and be free of the stroller. Not a good idea for a 2 year old at Disneyland. So he spent a lot of time crying because we made him sit in his stroller between rides.

We flew in early Sunday morning, and after checking into our hotel, we went straight to Disneyland. It was kinda rainy off and on that afternoon, but not enough to slow us down much. While we were in line to buy ponchos, we looked over and in line next to us was Diane Keaton buying ponchos for her grandkids. That night we ate dinner at In N Out Burger, yummm...



The next day, it poured rain and was freezing cold almost all day. The kids were getting a little stir-crazy in the hotel room, so Adam and I took them to a nearby children's science museum for a couple hours. That evening, the weather cleared up a little, so we went to Downtown Disney and did a little shopping. Ethan went to Build-a-Bear and made a panda bear dressed in a Batman costume (which he appropriately named "Panda Bat"). That night we met my aunt and uncle, who live nearby, for dinner at Rainforest Cafe.





Tuesday we spent all day at Disneyland again. The weather was sunny and a little cool, so it was perfect. We had another run-in with some stars while waiting in line at the Rocketships. Seal and his supermodel wife Heidi Klum were there with their kids.





You might notice in this cute picture of the boys hugging that Ethan is holding a June toy (from the show Little Einsteins). He carries June with him EVERYWHERE (except preschool and church). He loves the Little Einsteins, but seems to have a certain infatuation with June. She came with us all over California.

Wednesday was Austin's birthday. We went to California Adventure. Ethan and Austin's favorite ride there was the Monsters Inc ride. We only were able to stay at the park a couple of hours because we had to head to the airport.

Sesame Street Party

We had Austin's 2nd birthday party yesterday. We are lucky to have both sides of the family live close by, so it was a full house. It was a Sesame Street theme, since Austin loves Sesame Street, especially Big Bird. I made a cute Big Bird cake (it took forever!!) and drew some pictures of Austin's favorite Sesame characters on posterboard to hang on the wall. I made cute Cookie Monster treats for everyone to take home as well. I made a big Cafe Rio-type feast, with the help of my parents and my mother-in-law; homemade tortillas, sweet pork, yummy rice, guacomole, beans, cilantro ranch dressing, etc. My kids were in heaven since they LOVE Cafe Rio. Austin loved opening presents, and got tons of fun stuff. Ethan had so much fun at the party, you would've thought it was his birthday. Every time Austin opened a present, Ethan would exclaim how cool the present was.

Happy Birthday, Austin!

I can't believe my little baby turned 2 this week!! We spent his actual birthday in California, but we're having a family party for him this weekend, Big Bird themed. We love him so much!

Austin 1 week old

Austin's 1st birthday

Austin- 14 months

Austin-21 months old

Austin-2!

Baby Samantha

My sister and brother-in-law, Mandi & Tyler, had their second baby last week, Samantha. She is the first girl on the Winn side; Adam has all brothers and all the grandchildren born so far have been boys. We're all so excited to have a girl! We weren't able to visit her while she was in the hospital because we were all sick, but now that we're all better, we took a trip to their house this morning. Ethan has been soooo excited to meet her. He loved holding her and asked to do it several times. Austin loved her hair and when he saw it, he said, "I touch it, I touch it!"

She is so cute, we love her!