April 18-19, 2008

TIME OUT FOR WOMEN

It was nice to get away from the daily routine and spent a couple days at Time Out For Women with my mom, mother-in-law, sister, and sister-in-laws. We traveled down to Oklahoma City on Friday and ate dinner at Chileno's Mexican Restaurant which was so yummy!! That evening we listened to a relatively new group (I think) named Mercy River followed by really funny speaker who talked a lot about the differences between men and women and how to make your relationships stronger. Then Michael McLean entertained us with his music. So maybe he isn't the best vocalist but the lyrics and message of his songs are always touching and inspiring. And much to my suprise he is a really funny guy.

We spent the night at a nearby hotel and on Saturday listened to multiple speakers talk about different topics. They were all great and throughout the day Hilary Weeks shared her thoughts and beautiful music. She inspired me the most and I could really relate to her as she spoke/sang about the feelings and demands of motherhood. I enjoyed her advice on how to achieve balance in your life (just thought I would share for those of you who might want some tips on balancing your life---something I definately need to work on).

• Make sure you are doing what Heavenly Father wants you to do---doing His will for you
• Read your scriptures
• Take time for yourself (then you will have more to give back to your family)
• Use the Good-Better-Best Principle (Elder Dallin H. Oaks talk from Nov 2007 Ensign)

It was a wonderful weekend!! I enjoyed getting to spend time with my mothers and sisters and found it funny how we all understood fully the excitement of getting a FREE cute bag (as demonstrated by Andrea in the picture). I left feeling uplifted, refreshed, and anxious to come back home to my husband and son.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Since Craig took the day off work we decided to go out and do something fun. So we took Austin to the Tulsa Zoo along with Jackie and my mom. The weather was perfect and thankfully the rain held off until we were finished. Austin loved looking at the animals....we saw bears, fish, monkeys, birds, and well, you get the picture. We took a sack lunch and ate it at the playground but Austin was too excited to eat---who wants to eat when there is so much more to see and do.

Austin's favorite part of the day was the petting zoo. He thought touching and running around with the baby goats was the coolest thing ever!! His way of showing love to our dogs is to lay his head on them while we say "aww." I guess he wanted to show the goats that he loved them too!

It was a great day and finally at the end Austin was pooped. He fell asleep as we walked back to the car to go home.

March 2008---------HAPPY EASTER

Our Easter egg hunt started out on Thursday at Grandma and Grandpa Reid's house--just Austin and Tyler hunting for eggs---should be a sinch. Well Austin was so excited to be outside that at first he had no clue what we were there for. However, after a little pointing and coaching Austin captured a few eggs. But then he got distracted by the swingset. So after a few swings back and forth we convinced him to find more eggs. But hey it was a pretty good first attempt.

On Saturday was the Easter egg hunt at Papa Dave's house with 10 of Austin's cousins. This time he was focused on the eggs. I was impressed that he found the egg on the fence all by himself.

Overall he managed to do pretty good--there was even enough candy to share with mom and dad! Look out cousins--next year he'll be a pro!!

On Sunday after church we finished up our Easter celebration with a yummy dinner at Grandma Vicki's house. It was a great weekend!!

Mommy's Little Helper

Austin loves to find new "toys" around the house to play with. For some strange reason he is facinated with the broom and loves to carry it around the house. Trying to do the dishes while he is around is also impossible because he likes to be right in on the action. But at least he is such a happy kid and makes me laugh everyday. His newest discovery is the outdoors. He loves to walk around the yard, explore, and get his hands dirty---and his face!!

Pointguard in the Making

Craig bought this basketball hoop "for Austin" when he was only 6 months old because Austin "told him" that he wanted it. Well now at a year old Austin finally knows how to play with it. He makes a basket then turns and says "yeah" and claps for himself. So cute!!

Februrary 14, 2008 ----Suprise----

To celebrate Valentine's Day me and Craig decided to meet for lunch at Chili's. While we were there I suprised him with the news that we are going to add another addition to our family. That's right--I'm pregnant!! My due date is September 30th. We are very excited and Austin will be a great big brother.

Aqua-Tots Swimming Class

Craig thought it would be a fun idea to take Austin to swimming lessons. I agreed--as long as he was willing to be the one to get in the pool with him. So on monday and thursday nights for 4 weeks it was dad and son bonding time in the pool. The first couple times Austin wasn't sure if this was something fun or some kind of torture. But they both hung in there and soon Austin started smiling and enjoying himself. The last two classes he even went under water and although he came up a little shocked and confused he didn't cry. What a big boy!!

I LOVE THE SNOW!!!







NOW I'M NOT SO SURE!!!

I HATE THE SNOW!!!

Austin Loves to Play with His Cousins

What a bunch of Ragamuffins

A Christmas tradition in the Bastings family is playing "Smear the Mike"---Because it was cold and windy with a foot of snow on the ground, keeping warm was the challenge....but it wasn't going to stop these boys!

This year it became more serious now that trophies were invovled---"The Slobberknocker Award " for the best hit and "The Big Dog Award" for the overall winner of the game. It was a landslide as Jeff took home both trophies this year.

Christmas Presents

Clearly Austin didn't understand the concept of unwrapping presents. Instead he thought it was more exciting to eat the paper. But in the end he did enjoy the toys!!

Kicking and Screaming

Getting all the cousins together for this christmas picture proved to be more challenging than we thought! Although some were a little unhappy, we managed to get all but one in this picture.

Suprise!!

For Christmas I suprised Craig with something he had been thinking about getting--Guitar Hero III. He has only been playing it for a few months now but has become quite the pro--is already on the expert level and pretty good at it too.






Anyone up for a challenge??

December 22nd, 2007

Happy Birthday Austin!!

We enjoyed celebrating Austin's 1st birthday! I think it was the first time he had played with balloons and thought they were pretty cool. He didn't quite understanding the opening presents part but had plenty of cousins around to help. He loves all his new "big boy" toys. And I got to pack all of the newborn toys away. Of course the best part of the day was the chocolate cake (as you can see). I think he would have went for a second piece if I had let him. It was a great day and we enjoyed being able to share it with family--all 25 of you!!