Our Vacation

I am FINISHED with my master's portfolio, and it feels so good. Now I can concentrate on other projects on my 'to do list' that I've been wanting to get to, namely scrapbooking for Caleb. As soon as my portfolio is graded, I'll post the website so those that are interested can look at it.

The week of June 29th through July 6th, my family took a vacation to San Antonio. We rented a house for a week, relaxed, and did some sight-seeing. Everyone was there except Lindsey, who is taking summer classes at BYU, and my sister-in-law Kari, who was put on bed rest for the last month of her pregnancy. We even had a last-minute extra: Clayton's girlfriend, Cayla. The week was a blast. Here are some of the things we did:

Monday we walked along the RiverWalk, and then took a tour of some of its history on a small boat. We also visited the Alamo.

Tuesday we went tubing down the San Marcos river. The water was surprisingly cold. Caleb was a trooper and sat with me in a tube the entire time. At the end of the river, there are some fun waterfalls that we did over and over and over again.
After tubing, we drove by the temple.

Grandpa and Caleb

Wednesday we went to Sea World. This was probably the highlight of the week. I love the shows and the fun rides.
At the water ski show
4th of July

Caleb and Dallin's matching outfits

Before we went to look at fireworks, we stopped at the Japanese Tea Gardens. They were so beautiful, and it was free!

Besides the sight-seeing, we did lots of games, volleyball, whiffle ball, and croquet. It was nice to get away for a week.

Busy, Busy, Busy

My master's portfolio is due this Monday, so my life has been really hectic lately. The only time I have to work on it is when Caleb is asleep, so I've had to take advantage of every moment and have neglected posting to my blog for a while. We just got back from a family vacation to San Antonio, so pictures will be posted soon (after Monday!).

In the mean time, Caleb has hit another milestone. He is now walking! (10 1/2 months) He took his first steps--by that I mean more than 3 steps--July 4th, and since then he has been cruising. Caleb still falls down a lot, but according to my older brother, he has incredible balance. We've recorded it on our new video camera, but are having difficulties loading the videos to our computer. So although I don't have videos to post yet, I did take a few pictures mid-walk. It's kind of hard to tell, obviously.

Best Friends

My sister, Ariane, and I discovered that our babies had the same outfit, so we just had to take pictures before Dallin outgrew his. Caleb was so tired that day that I ended up putting him down for a nap before we were ready for the pictures.

It looks like they're holding hands in this picture! Usually Caleb is trying to beat up on Dallin (actually just trying to touch his eyes and mouth), and Dallin has nightmares of "Monster Caleb". So they're not best friends yet, but one day...

We woke Caleb up for this picture.

Another of Caleb's and Dallin's good friends is Lily, one of our walking pals. We go on a walk every morning so the mommies can get in shape and socialize at the same time. That's how Caleb gets so tan!

Caleb's Favorite Past-Time

Our Future Piano Player

2-year Anniversary

Monday, June 2, was our two-year anniversary. I applaud Matt for making arrangements for a babysitter and making reservations at one of our favorite restaurants AND keeping it a surprise from me. I had already started making dinner when Matt walks in with flowers (roses, sunflowers, and the irises down below--the roses and sunflowers took a turn for the worse) and a card which said we were going to take a trip down memory lane for the night. The sunflowers represented the first flower he ever bought me on our very first date.

So we started the evening with dinner at Benihanas, one of our favorite restaurants because they have the best fried rice in the world, but it is very pricey so we have not been there since we got married. We then took a stroll down the Woodlands River Walk, which is where we had our first kiss. As we walked, we talked about memories of when we were dating. We were aided by looking through some "scrapbooks" that we made each other when we were engaged to help us remember our whole dating experience. I highly recommend making some sort of memory book or writing down memories in a journal when engaged because as we were reading through the memories, it's amazing how much we had forgotten! It was a very romantic evening and made me fall in love with Matt all over again as we relived our dating memories.

Grandparents

My life hasn't felt very busy the last couple of weeks, but somehow time escaped me, and I haven't posted in awhile.

My grandparents on my mom's side came to visit for a couple weeks in May. We love having them come because my grandma works on handiwork nonstop while she's here, so I always come away with more decorations for my home. My grandpa is an artist and worked on another painting for my home. He painted a nature scene with trees, a river, and mountains. It is gorgeous and adds so much to our home. It's nice that they are so talented and are willing to share with us!

As an outing one day, we decided to tour the Houston Ship Channel. I think we all came away with the feeling that there is not much to tour. Either way, it was a fun outing as we took the grandbabies on a boat up and down the river. Here's a picture of us before we got on the boat:

Caleb with his great-grandpa.