Happy Birthday Hudson!

This post makes my heart hurt! How is it possible that Hudson is already a year old? It seriously seems like 2 weeks ago that my mom and mom-in-law were here helping after he was born.

Hudson is such a sweet little boy.  He sure loves his sister.  He follows her around all day long.  Hudsie hates being alone…just like Audrey.  Luckily they are good company for each other.

Hudson is very busy.  He has never watched tv for longer than about 30 seconds. (Sometimes it would be awesome if he would watch so I could shower!)

Hudson gets into EVERYTHING! I like to call him my little mess maker.  He loves opening drawers and taking the contents out. He loves to EAT  crayons…like…he is obsessed with crayons!

Hudson LOVES outside.  He would be completely content to stay outside the entire day.  One of the possible reasons for the tick we pulled out of his ear!  He loves to play in dirt but he loves playing in water even more.

Hudsie sure loves his momma. He is 100% a momma’s boy.  I’ll take it for as long as he’ll dish it!

He still isn’t sleeping through the night, but that’s probably mostly my fault.  He goes to sleep around 7 pm and wakes up at 4:30 every morning without fail.  I still nurse him…but only at 4:30 every morning.

Huds started walking about 2 weeks before his birthday.  Audrey totally blew him outta the water there.  She started walking at barely 10 months.

Hudsie’s cakes.  Audrey requested the blue monster.

Audrey got this lizard for Hudsie.  I love this picture! She was so excited to give it to him and he was so excited to get it!

Hudsie finally has his own toys! As a side note, I totally scored on this toy.  I found it at Once Upon a Child (kid to kid) still packaged in the box for 10 bucks! Sweet! Then, I went to target and saw it there for 44 bucks! Double Sweet!

Hudsie totally looks like a big boy in this picture.

He was not shy at all! Just picked the whole thing up for a bite!

Yummy!

All done!

 

We love our little Mr. Hudsie and can’t wait to see what his future holds!

Hot Springs, Arkansas

This year for Mason’s break from school, we decided that we would just stick around home.  We had a lot of jobs to get done…and we were waiting to hear Mason’s National Board test results.  The day we found out that Mason had passed, we suddenly had the desire to head out on a trip.  After Mason’s parents insisted(thanks!!!) that we go somewhere, we quickly packed our bags, booked a hotel and were out the door within an hour headed to Hot Springs Arkansas.

Hudsie fell asleep like this in the car.  Doesn’t look very comfortable to me. And, kinda looks like he faking it!

Audrey kept herself entertained by playing with the kindle.  It definitely helped as the trip that was supposed to take 2 hours ended up taking 3 1/2 because of traffic.

We see commercials all the time advertising Hot Springs as America’s first resort.  It also holds the countries first protected park…the hot springs. 

We got in Hot Springs just in time to check into our hotel and relax for the night.  Audrey and Hudson were both so excited.  I’m pretty sure Audrey was thinking that the hotel stay was our vacation.

We left home with no plans whatsoever so when we got to the hotel, we each picked up about 20 brochures advertising things to do in the area.

This is the view from the back patio/dock of the hotel we stayed at.  The front desk also gave us fish food so we could feed the fish and the turtles.  Again, I’m sure Audrey would have been just fine if we’d have stayed in  the hotel for the entire trip.

In the morning we decided that we would check out the national park first.  We were expecting a park like we have back home in Utah, with a big entrance and lots of land.  What we found was a row of bath houses. Not really what we were expecting, but still cool. 

We went on a tour through this bath house.  Audrey was not a fan, but I really liked it. It was still the same as when it was used in 1908 or so.

Behind the bath houses are some trails that the people who came to the bath houses for therapy would use as part of their treatment.

This fountain is water from the hot springs.  It was actually so hot that I didn’t want to touch it.  It was steaming even in the 80 degree weather.

We found this little spring on our walk.

The kids loved going fast down the steep trails!

Across the street from the hot springs, we found this really cool waterfall.  I was surprised when it was cold!

After we saw the springs, we went on top of the “mountain” to the lookout.  It was actually a lot higher than I thought  it would be.  The plaque said that you could see 140 miles in the distance.

The view from the top.

Haha…it sure doesn’t look very high, does it?

Audrey and Hudsie made their own fun.  I don’t think they were too impressed with the lookout.

 

After the lookout we went to the Mid America Science Museum.  It’s a children’s museum by the Smithsonian Institute.

Audrey saw a white coat and goggles and told us that she was an eye dr.

So, she gave Mason and eye exam.

Hudsie needed to give him one too!

After the museum, we ate lunch and headed home.  It was a really quick trip, but it was a lot fun and just what we needed!

After Mason found out he passed National Boards, he went through his notes and threw most of them away.  Before he tossed them though, he stacked them all up and had a photo op!

Those are all 2-3 inch thick binders. Yuck! That’s a lot of notes!

It’s Getting Hot!

Summer has officially arrived in Memphis which means we play in water almost everyday!  Mason had to volunteer at the River Park about a month ago so we took advantage of the opportunity to play in the water.  Audrey LOVES the River Park and Hudson also seemed to really enjoy himself. We will really miss the River Park when we move.

Hudsie loved splashing and eventually got brave and crawled around in the water.

Audrey loved every second!

Audrey and Hudson…and Mason also really love to play in the sprinkler in the back yard.  Pretty much every afternoon ends with baths because the kids end up turning on the hose.  Hudsie has even figured out how to turn on the hose!

Tee hee. Audrey sat down on the sprinkler! You’ve got to click on the picture to see her facial expression…classic.

During Mason’s break, we went fishing with our friends the Jackman’s and the Watts.  The guys and kids had a blast fishing while the girls had fun chatting!

The night before we went fishing, Audrey and Mason dug through our garden to find worms.  They put them in my tupperware for safe-keeping…yuck.  Audrey was very proud of her worms.  Plus, doesn’t she look so grown up in this picture?

I just love this picture of Audrey and her friends.  You can tell that she is in heaven!  They are: Jaxon, Kaitlyn, Audrey and Hayden.

Hudsie and Ryder had a blast playing with each other.

This picture cracks me up! Ryder is looking so cute and Hudsie looks like Frankenstein!

Hudsie kept trying to give Ryder loves…Ryder was not a fan!

Cell Phone Pics

Whoa…I have a lot of pictures on my phone.  This will most likely be the first installment of lot of cell phone pic entries.

Awe…what a cute little dirty face.

 

First time trying on her halloween costume.  She was in heaven…and yeah….these pics go back a ways!

Monster Praying Mantis on our garbage can.  I’m realizing now how horrible the picture quality on my phone is!

That purple blob is Audrey stuck halfway into Hudsie’s crib.

Audrey’s gold sticker mustache.

Audrey’s “bear”.  I just had to take a picture cause it was the first thing that Audrey drew that wasn’t a monster.

 

Hudsie and Audrey watching Mason mow the front lawn.

The only snow we got all year.

Gotta love Steak n Shake.

Audrey in her bday present from Aunt Robyn.

Mason Builds a Table

Ever since we built our pergola, we’ve have some extra wood in our shed.  In an attempt to start clearing things out, Mason used some of that wood to build Audrey and Hudson a table for the backyard.  Mason threw the table together super fast and then we let Audrey paint the table.  I honestly can’t believe we didn’t do this sooner.  Both kids have just loved having the table!

Audrey is starting to look much older, and it’s freaking me out!

Isn’t it so cute?!

here’s our 1 picture from Easter…whoops.

Audrey was posing for me in the grass.  For some reason, whenever I have the camera out, she does this. 

Hudson has discovered the stairs…which is also freaking me out!