While We Were Out

While Neil and I were in Australia, Barrett got to have tons of fun staying with his grandparents.  He did so well and didn't even notice we were gone (probably).

The first week we were gone, he stayed at Papa and Grandma Johnson's house.  They were sweet enough to send a few pictures to us.

Eating some bananas.

Getting ready for bed.

Playing with this fun ball machine.

And laughing with Jessica.

He was at Pops and Lala's house the 2nd week (yes, we were gone for 2 whole weeks without him!  And yes, it was too long!)

He got to celebrate his first Halloween with some of his cousins.

 

The angriest Mario ever!

And it looks like there was some nice enough weather to play outside.

Thank you guys for taking such good care of Barrett and keeping him on his schedule :)  It made leaving him bearable to know that he was in such good hands!

Family Pictures

We recently had some family pictures done.  Everything went well, I was just a little disappointed in Texas' "autumn."  Since the 3 of us aren't together very much over the next month and a half, we really only had 2 options for picture taking; either take pictures in mid-October in Texas before Bear and I went to Utah and hope that some leaves change or take them when Neil comes back to Utah around Thanksgiving when all the earth is dead and wet and ugly.  We opted for mid-October.  I really wanted some fall leaves, but the pictures turned out fine even without pretty leaves so oh well...  Maybe next year!

The leaves did actually start to change, it just wasn't as amazing and dramatic as the autumns I'm used to.

This is my "behind the scenes" picture I took while the lady was taking Barrett's pictures.

Here's some of my favorites that she took...

Happy Halloween

Neil and I are missing Barrett's first Halloween since we're in Australia but I know he's having a blast with our family in Utah! 

Here's Bear in his bear costume from when I tried it on him before I left.

 

Airplane Luck

Barrett and I have had some of the best luck on our flights lately (minus that one bathroom incident).  On our last flight to Utah (which was October 17th, so that tells you how far behind I am on blogging!) we were on one of the smaller planes so it was pretty crowded but the flight attendant (my hero for the day) moved the guy next to me so that Bear and I could have both seats to ourselves!  That made a huge difference to us especially because this small plane didn't have a baby changing shelf in either bathroom (I swear that should be illegal) so I had to lay Bear down on his seat to change him and I wouldn't have been able to do that if there was a man sitting there!  Plus it was just so nice for Bear and I have to extra space for all our crap!

And he liked sitting in his own seat like a big boy!

Finger Painting

Before we left for Utah, I thought it would be fun to let Bear make a big mess and try doing some finger painting.

I put a poster board in front of him and just plopped some baby food out on the poster.  He definitely had a good time with it and I learned a lot too!  

I had planned to do this outside but when we went out there it was only in the 70's and it was breezy so it was too cold for Barrett to be out there naked.  I brought everything back inside and decided to just try it at the table.  The table stayed clean because I had the big poster over it, I just didn't plan for him to get food all over the chair and floor.  Once he started making huge messes, I hurried and grabbed some towels to put on his lap and on the floor to try to keep things a little cleaner but it was too late.  Oh well.  It's times like these when I'm so glad this isn't my house!

I know it looks pretty gross.  He had fun though and next time I'll know to be a little better prepared for big messes!

Dallas Arboretum

Barrett and I went to the Dallas Arboretum last week with a friend of mine and her daughter.  This place was INCREDIBLE!  It was just gorgeous and so festive for fall!  We took lots of pictures of Bear with all the pumpkins!

Oh yeah, I saw a squirrel running around digging for food too!  Pretty cute.

Neil drove an hour to come hang out with us for a little while too!

Seriously, the Pumpkin Village was so freaking cool!

I've never seen so many pumpkins in my life, they were everywhere!

They had a little petting zoo too.  Barrett gets so excited to see animals.  I think this lamb was his favorite.

We were lucky enough to go to the gardens while the Chihuly exhibit was still there.

They had at least 10 more Chihuly pieces that I didn't get pictures of.  There was so much to see there, I really wish I could've stayed longer.

The Stock Yards

Last week, the three of us drove to Fort Worth to go see the Stock Yards.  Apparently this is where "real cowboys" hang out.  As you can see, these fellas are riding their horses as I'm driving next to them (well, Neil's actually driving).

They do a cattle drive down the middle of the road with their long horn cattle (I think that's what they're called).  This is Bear watching the cattle drive.  You can't see the cattle as I was much more interested in watching Barrett's reaction to them.

Barrett got to ride a long horn- he wasn't as excited about riding one.

He was really into this pony though!

This is by some stable type things.  Animals don't live in these ones right now I guess.

We were really glad we were able to make it there while we're still living here in Texas.