The bestie comes to town

After my last posting about friends I thought I would post about my bestie Mel coming to visit me. We have known each other since we were 3 when she moved in next door. She is one of those people who knows what I am thinking and can finish my sentences. She is my "childhood" friend (as mentioned in the previous posting) and knows everything about me. It was so much fun having her here! We are excited as she is expecting a baby in April (she thinks March).

We went bowling with the dental wives club. I was sporting a tummy like Mel. I actually think I should not go bowling as I am really horrible. I like bowling on the Wii much better :-)

The dental wives club. I am going to miss these girls!

Silly faces!

Melanie came with us to our weekly story time adventure. Here are Austin and Reagan acting silly as they normally do.

The weather was really nice one day so we got to go to the zoo. Okay the term "really nice" is relative....to us Canadians 55 degrees in winter is like a tropical heat wave! Austin and Mel had to pose by the gorilla sign. It is a must.

Okay so they say never to feed the animals at the zoo. Now my question is: Do the ducks at the zoo count? If so, we are busted. We were feeding the ducks Austin's cheerios and he thought it was hilarious.

I love Austin's face in this one.

Preggo lady giving Austin a ride. Aren't they cute?

Taking pictures of ourselves.

We went over to the Cluffs while Mel was here for game night and Bachelor night and we caught this picture of Austin and Harrison in their matching jammies . It was alot of fun. We also ended up watching this show called Hoarders on A+E. It is crazy! Melanie and I had a great time and now I am really lonely. Come back Mel!!!

8 friends who can make you healthier - TODAY Health

8 friends who can make you healthier - TODAY Health

Friends

I was watching the "Today Show" at the gym and saw this really interesting story about how friends are good for your health. Here is the link http://today.msnbc.com/id/34752540/today-today_health/

It states you need these 8 types of friends
1. A childhood friend
2. A new friend
3. A workout friend
4. A spiritual friend
5. A younger friend
6. Your partner's friends
7. Your mom
8. Yourself

I am so thankful for all the great friends in my life and I really feel blessed! Let me know what you think of the article

Christmas Part III- Christmas Day and beyond

Well Christmas Day finally came and so did Santa! Cousin Landry got this really neat pirate ship that Austin loved to play with. Why are other people's toys so much more fun?
Auntie Jen and Uncle Ben have a really cute dog named Albert. For some reason I dont have any pictures of him. Anyway Austin loved the dog and would follow him around wherever he went. He saw Albert eating out of his dish and then began to eat like him :-)

Hans spent many hours in the backyard making this sledding track for everyone. It was really fun to get outside and go sledding.

Uncle Shugi was going a little too fast down the ramp and busted through the fence. Too funny!

On Christmas Day Eve we headed over to my Aunt Gayle's house. Her house is like a second home to me as Aunt Gayle was my Utah mom while I was in college. I spent many holiday's over there and she really is one of the sweetest and most generous people I have ever met. I am so glad to call her family! Anyway while at her house I got this hilarious picture of Austin looking at Ang. He is thinking "Where did you come from?" Classic

Angie bought all the girls these new trendy little head scarves. Too cute! They are all the rage in Utah right now. I dont know if it is just me but I really never know what the "new thing" is.

Angie is one of the best cooks. I love it when she comes to visit because she cooks for me and it is always delicious. She made fondue and my favorite crab dip. She made these Korean beef wontons that were to die for. I am drooling a little right now just thinking about them.

The day after Christmas the girls went out and got pedicures. I love getting pedicures and I dont care if that makes me sound girly. There is nothing better than having someone massage my feet....ahhhhhhh....bliss.

One of mine and Hansi's traditions is making gingerbread houses. It really makes a big mess but it is sooooo worth it. We always have a great time making them.....and eating them. Lyndsey and Jeff were making their house extra special. They cut windows out of the gingerbread and put a flameless candle in there. What crafty people.

This is a typical Hans face. He thought of the genius idea of using Necco wafers for the roof. My hubby the genius :-)

Finished product

One night I was able to go out with one of my good friends from Labor and Delivery days, Deborah. She actually trained me when I was a brand new nurse and I am so thankful she did. She was so patient with me. It took me awhile to figure out IVs at first. Now it is one of my best skills. Thanks Deborah!

My bestie from college, Catherine, was also able to come over for a visit.....okay her husband and son came too but we really did all the talking. Her son is a month older than Austin so we always have alot to talk about. We pretty much talk everyday on the phone. I am so glad I have Catherine in my life to tell all my inner thoughts too. Love ya girlie!

Apparently Austin and Colton really liked each other. He will hate me for posting this when he gets older but it is too cute!

Christmas Part II- Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is a big deal at the Meyer home. Hansi's family incorporated the German tradition of opening all the gifts from eachother on Christmas Eve. I really enjoy the tradition as I feel it spaces out all the present opening. As many of you know, Christmas is my favorite holiday, so any way to space it out works for me. Hansi and I will be including this tradition into our own family. It really was a fun night with LOTS of presents. As you can see from the picture, all the presents didn't even fit under the tree. Then after Santa came the next morning, there was a whole batch more. Crazy! Here are all the cousins cuddling in their matching PJs. That was a tradition from my family. We always opened PJs on Christmas Eve. Thanks to Auntie Jen for the lovely pajamas for Austin.

Here are the cousins just being silly. Austin always wanted to be sitting next to his cooler, older cousin Landry.

Hansi had to get into his Elf costume for the night. He disappeared for awhile then came knocking at the back door and everyone had a good laugh. Here is the silly Meyer family :-)

Papa Elf and Austin opening the first present.

Austin got a handmade pillow case from grandma and he loved it! He has now graduated to having a pillow.

Lyndsey reading the Night Before Christmas.

Papa Elf got an emergency kit for the car and Austin wanted to drag it around everywhere. He then started waving "bye bye". So cute! We really had a wonderful and present-filled Christmas Eve!

Christmas in Utah Part 1

Austin in the grandparents huge tub.

This year we travelled to Utah for Christmas to spend it with Hansis family. We had such a great time with family and friends. This first post is dedicated to food and fun. What I love about Utah is that they have the greatest food ever. I don't know why the great food is centered in Utah but it just is. Cafe Rio, In N Out Burger, Panda Express, Edo, Zupas and the list goes on. I think we ate at In N Out about 4 times and Cafe Rio about 3. Yes I gained a bunch of weight but it was all for a good cause and I came home and ran it off. Now for the "fun" part. Utah has lots of things to do for kids. I did not know this before I left because little Austinator was not here yet. We went to the Dinosaur Museum with Michelle and all of her kids, the Children's Museum, a huge indoor waterpark, Cabela's and even the malls in Utah have these huge indoor playplaces for kids. Who knew?

Here is Austin at the Children's Museum in Salt Lake City. It was sooooo much fun for him. They had lots of things to do for kids his age. Here he is running down a ramp. He would climb up and then run down, repeat, repeat repeat.

Austin with Grandpa Hans at the museum in the "truck" area (aka little boy heaven)

Hans and Grandpa Hans wanted to join in on the fun. This is the picture before Austin came and knocked it all down.

Daddy and Austin at Cabelas. Hunting stores are so much fun!

I couldn't believe how many people work at In N Out Burger so I had to take a picture of it. To be continued.....

Catch Up

Well I was downloading my Christmas pictures and I realized that it has been a LONG time since I have posted anything. As many of you know, keeping up with an active toddler can be exhuasting and between that and getting Christmas gifts together I have slacked on the blogosphere. This year we did not have alot of money to spend so I ended up making most of my gifts. All that being said I need to catch up on the last few months before I post about our wonderful Christmas vacation. It was Hansi's birthday this month and we had to make the pilgramage to Red Robin for his birthday burger. No matter where we go and eat, Hans always ends up getting a burger anyway so might as well go to the place that specializes in them. The Dicksons joined us and were kind enough to provide the birthday hats. Our waiter thought the birthday was for one of the children.....ha ha
Somehow my child always ends up with food all over! On Hansi's real birthday our lovely friends, the Cluffs watched Austin and we went to P.F. Changs (our all time favorite) and had a great time just the two of us.

This year for Thanksgiving the Evans' had us over for a lovely meal and we watched Elf. This made Hans very happy!

Brian made a deep fried turkey which was absolutely delicious. Yum!

One of my favorite days of the year is Black Friday. Okay dont hate me for this because I am really not much of a shopper but I always have sooooo much fun. This year I went with my good friend Yolanda nad we got some great deals. I dont know what I am going to do when I move to Canada! I will probably have to fly down for Thanksgiving because Americans really have this holiday down.

Austin update: his new favorite thing to do is get into every cupboard and empty it. Silly boy!

Here he is in the pots and pans cupboard. He can spend a good half hour taking everything out and banging all the lids on the pots.

Never a dull moment around here!