February 25th-March 5th: Hansens and Millers Come to Visit

I was so lucky that my sister Lisa and her husband Jeff, and my cute nieces, Heidi and Kara wanted to come visit us. Jeff has never been to the rodeo, and so they came down to go to the rodeo with us and visit for a week. It was so much fun, especially because there was no big event, like a wedding, or holiday, to have to work around. We could just do whatever we wanted. So it was way fun. I think we had a good mix of at the house type stuff, like jumping on the trampoline, and making crayon cookies (that ended up looking more like snakes, but oh well.) And also going out places, like, to story time at the library, Pump It Up, and the Zoo. Andrew had a blast with his cousins and thought they were hilarious. ANything Heidi said or did would throw Andrew into a fit of giggles. It was really funny. And Andrew and Kara (Ware-wah) enjoyed playing too. So Thursday we went to Story Time at the library. My sister Lindsay came from San Antonio on Thursday too and we all went to Pump It Up on Friday. I got to play with Heidi and her vivid imagination there quite a bit, which I loved, because Lisa and Lindsay were both pregnant and watched Andrew (who didn't really want to play). Kara was a trooper and kept up really well and wanted to do everything Heidi did.

Aubs went to school on Friday, and was bummed she couldn't come with us but they had the school Book Parade that day and she didn't want to miss that either. Their class used the book, "The Night Before Thanksgiving" a book about kids who take a field trip to a turkey farm and then smuggle out turkeys because they feel sorry for them. So they stuffed pillows under their shirts for turkeys. They all thought it was really funny, and it turned out cute.

Saturday my sisters and I got pedicures which was really fun, and the ladies there spoke pretty good english so that was a bonus. Then my Lisa, Jeff and the girls headed over to a park to have their pictures taken by Ginger. This was one I took:

I'm excited to see the ones Ginger took. I saw some when she was taking them and they looked really cute.

Sunday we played pretend school, which is always very interesting. Somehow I became the teacher and the kids kept us very entertained. Sunday night was when we made the cookies. I had promised them we could make cookies together so Aubrey and Heidi looked through several of my cookbooks before they found the ones they wanted, the Crayon Cookies, which needed the dough to be dyed various crayon colors and then rolled out like snakes. While I was explaining how we were going to do it, Heidi interrupted me and said, "at my house, we just bake the cookies." It was SO funny, we all just laughed and laughed... it was a good reminder to keep it simple. In the end, it was a ton of fun. And the snake like cookies tasted pretty good, so that was a bonus.

Monday I pulled Aubrey out of school for the day so we could go to the Zoo. We have wanted to get a zoo pass for a while, and then we got this thing in the mail so we went ahead and got one. The day at the zoo was super fun. There was a baby giraffe that was very cute. They could stay forever at the children's area, and Andrew was especially excited for the petting zoo. He has a fascination with goats and was very enthusiastic about brushing them. He probably could have spent all day in there. This picture is one I took after he pointed to my camera and said, "cheese!" and lifted up his brush just like that. The carousel is always fun also. The best part was, everybody except Aubs got a good nap on the way home.

On Tuesday we went to the rodeo. That was so much fun. We had delicious rodeo food including sausage, a foot long corn dog, a giant turkey leg, cream cheese stuffed pretzel, and through some connections, Chad was able to hook us up with free funnel cake and fried oreos. Awesome. I can justify eating all that food at rodeo time. It only comes once a year.

The rodeo itself is always entertaining, we had awesome seats. They now do mutton bustin' as part of the rodeo, which I only caught a tiny bit of. The calf scramble is always fun too. The concert was great, we love Rascal Flatts. And they have a new stage this year, which is really cool.

Lindsay stayed at home and partied with the children. It was nice of her to watch them, but we missed her coming with us.

Wednesday, we went to pet the horses at my parent's neighbor's house and invited a friend over to play with Heidi, which was very fun.

We also spent plenty of time at the park, taking walks, and playing on the trampoline. It was such nice weather while they were here! The girls also amused themselves with dress ups, Polly Pockets, Barbies, and Littlest Pet Shop. We ate lunch with Aubs a couple different times too. My sisters and I ate ice cream and talked and laughed ourselves silly every night. It was SO much fun. I was sad to see them all go. Luckily, I will be making a trip to Utah in April so I will be able to see them again fairly soon. Thanks for coming, Lisa, Jeff, Heidi, Kara, Lindsay, and Ritchie! You're welcome to come back any time!