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!

Circus

Last night we took Ethan and Austin to see the Jordan World Circus. We took Ethan last year and his favorite performance of the circus was the little dogs doing tricks. So this year he was very excited to see the little dogs again, and I was crossing my fingers that they would actually have the little dogs again this year. Luckily, he wasn't disappointed, and again the little poodles were the highlight for him. Austin was a bit frightened with all the loud music and lights, so he sat on Adam's lap the whole time and hid his face when things got too scary. At intermission they brought out elephants for the kids to ride, ponies to ride, a big black bear to take pictures with, face painting, and the poodles from the show were available to have pictures taken with.

Despite loving the poodles performance so much, Ethan is deathly afraid of dogs (it all started when my parents tiny dog attacked Austin last year). So I was trying to take a picture of Ethan with the big black bear right behind him. The poodles were just behind the black bear and instead of being afraid that there was a huge bear right behind him, Ethan was almost in tears because he thought the dogs were gonna run over and attack him. You can see in the picture I took how scared Ethan looks while he is still trying to smile for the picture. I tried to explain to him that tiny toy poodles were not a threat, but he didn't buy it. I think he would've rather sat in the bear's lap than pet the poodles. Funny boy.

Cute Brothers

I love how much Ethan and Austin adore each other. They fight like all siblings do, but they both think the other is so cute and funny. Every day when we take Ethan to preschool, Austin and I walk Ethan into his classroom. Before we leave, Austin always calls to Ethan, "Brother! Brother! Hug! Kiss!" Austin always naps while Ethan's at school and when I wake Austin up to go pick up Ethan, he gets so excited and always says, "Preschool time! Brother! I want a kiss!" And when we get to the school and Ethan climbs in the car, the first thing he does is give Austin a hug and kiss.

Ethan thinks Austin's the cutest thing he's ever seen. He always says to me, "Mom why is Austin sooo cute??!!" It just melts my heart to see my boys loving each other so much. It's so nice that they're starting to be friends, considering the first year or so of Austin's life Ethan would've rather bit Austin than played with him.

I took these cute pictures other day while I was experimenting with my new DSL camera lens. They loves taking baths together.

Austin loves to hold this baby doll all wrapped up in Austin's favorite blanket. He rocks him and sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and gives him hugs. It's so cute. He'll be 2 in 2 weeks, I can't believe it.

Dinner Party

A few days after Christmas we had some of my college friends and their husbands over for dinner. A couple of them live nearby and a couple others were in town visiting their families for Christmas. We had a yummy soup dinner and just hung out and talked and laughed. I love those girls, we always have so much fun when we get together. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture until after a couple of the girls had already left.