Our New Schedule!

Jeff's program started full force this week and he has been so busy. He is loving the stuff he is learning! This is kind of what our schedule looks like:
5 am: Jeff wakes up, exercises and studies.
6 am: Brett and I wake up to join him, fix him breakfast and have him out the door by 6:30ish.
Then me and Brett exercise and get ready for the day and have a morning nap.
12 noon: We take Jeff his lunch at school and spend about 15 min with him. Then he studies while me and Brett try and find fun things to do in Austin (splash park, museums, farmers market, ect)
6 pm: Jeff gets home and we have dinner together, bathe Bretty and get him to bed. Then me and Jeff have a few minutes to hang out.
8 pm: Back to studying for Jeff, while I try to keep myself busy (practice piano, sudoku, read, blog, scrapbook, ect)
12 midnight: Jeff finishes studying, drags me off the couch where I fell asleep a few hours ago.
Then we start all over at 5am the next morning, Monday-Saturday!

16 hours of study per day
2 hours with me and Brett
5 hours of sleep
1 hour exercise/get ready
He is such a hard worker! I love that guy!

Here are some cute pics of last weekend, before the program started. We went to the splash park with friends from the school. Brett is starting to like the water splashes. When we first got here, he would cry every time someone splashed him. But you can see in the picture, he is learning to love it!Saturday we drove about 30 miles outside of Austin to a place called Hamilton Pools. It is a natural spring that is perfect water temp, we had such a blast. We also went on a 3 mile hike! It felt so good to get out and be active!
Me and Bretty got the best package in the mail from our sister-in-law/aunt, with all sorts of loot! She spoiled us... and we liked it. Thanks Alissa! Getting good mail is the best! Click on the picture to enlarge to read the card. The inside says "Trying to stay sane here. And you?" Haha, I love it!

Rain dance and much more...

Rainstorms in Texas are amazing. The rain drops seems so full and heavy and they come down in the sheets! It is pretty awesome and the best part is it's still 70+ degrees while it is raining, which makes for some fun in the rain. Even Brett was loving getting all wet....so fun. We splashed in puddles and tried to catch the rain in our mouths. I felt like I was 8 years old again.

Brett discovered his toes a while back and he is a bit obsessed with them. Here I am catching him in the very act. Side note: check out the awesome widow's peak! I think he is going to be a vampire for Halloween.

Brett's ears are starting to stick out a little bit more each month, so we decided we would try some things to help them stay back. My brother Dave suggested a sweat band. I thought it was a great idea...but Brett didn't like the idea so much. He had that dang thing off his head in 10 seconds. I did manage to capture this hilarious shot before he ripped it off! Haha.

Hailee bought Brett these awesome foam letters and numbers for tubby time. They are awesome because they stick on the tub so easily. Jeff would put them up on the side and Brett would rip them off and put them right in his mouth. They are the best bath toys, thanks sis.

Saturday we were wanting to get out of the house. We decided to go kayaking in the lake outside our apartment. We bought Brett a little life jacket and headed for the lake with our inflatable kayaks. We tied the kayaks together and Jeff paddled in the front kayak while me and Brett lounged in the back kayak. After a while Brett started crying and so Jeff took him up front to paddle with him. Brett was magically better and lovin' time with his daddy. I'm sure it was a site to see. Jeff up front with a little baby, paddling 2 kayaks, with me in the back lounging and sunbathing, I kind of felt like a loser. Everybody we passed in the lake was like "now that's the way to ride".

A Few Favorite Things

We've been in Texas now 3 months and everything is going really well. We are on our 60th consecutive day of >100 degree weather! Ahhh... it's crazy, the low at night is in the mid 70's. Jeff is loving school and is preparing to start the full program August 24th, yikes here it comes. Here are some pics of a few summer happenings.

Brett has a little addiction...it's his giraffe "G". This is his favorite toy in the whole wide world. When I give him a variety of brightly colored, noise making toys, he goes for his giraffe every time. He loves to shove it in his mouth and chew on the head and feet. He even fell asleep in the car the a giraffe leg in his mouth. It's the new pacifier.

I love this picture. I'm no great photographer, but I think this is a pretty good shot. What a little tooter.

Brett loves to shred paper. When we go to get the mail, read scriptures or look at books, he is constantly trying to grab the paper and crinkle. It is hilarious. So we give him an old magazine and let him attack. It's quite a site to see, he gets his feet involved in the shredding process as well. Way to go Shredder, you shred those papers.

We give Brett a bath before bed every night and he LOVES it. After he is finished eating his squash or green beans we say "Brett do you want to take a tubby?" He starts smiling, and grunting and waving his arms up and down. Bretty loves tubby time.

We found a free splash park with waiting pools last week and we are lovin' it. It's perfect for Brett now that he can sit up. He likes to sit in the waiting pools and splish splash. He does get a bit concerned by the water that shoots up out of the ground, as we can see from this picture. We spent 2 hours there on Friday and I lubed Brett up with the good SPF 50, but didn't put any sunscreen on me. I wanted to tan becuase I am pasty, you would never have guessed that I have been in Austin, TX all summer. Yeah well, I am now a cherry tomato and I am going to peel and have to start from ground zero. Dang it.

This is Bretty's good friend Saira. They have a typical Boy-Girl love relationship. She is obsessed with him... she wakes of from naps crying "wetty wetty" and she bangs on her front door crying Brett's name. When they are together she is patting his head and giving him hugs. He doesn't do anything to encourage her and yet she just loves him. It is the sweetest thing.

Jeff and I went on a date last night to see the musical "The Music Man". They have an outdoor theatre at the base of a hillside, then people come and bring blankets to cover the hillside to sit and enjoy the show. It is free and amazing! We played Phase 10 and ate Mike-n-Ikes while waiting for the the show to start. It was so much fun to have an evening out together, thanks Phil and Emily for babysitting. Also, notice the redneck. Oh man, my skin is achin' and it seems to be getting worse every hour. Oh dear!