Butterfly Museum

We took a preschool field trip to the Houston Natural Science Museum. We've been studying dinosaurs this past month so we went to the dinosaur museum and also got a great deal on the butterfly museum as well. They had a great time! Carter especially enjoyed all the butterflies flying around him.

Road Trip

Our Spring Break vacation was a one-day trip to Austin. One of my good high school friends got married on Friday so we decided to make it a mini-family vacation.

We left early in the morning, and the boys and I got about an hour nap. We made really good time and got there over an hour before the wedding! To pass the time, we took in the scenery and took some pictures!

Carter is saying "cheese."

Some family shots

Loving on little brother :o)

Carter's attempt at a kiss

So cute.

And finally the wedding began...

The bride and her dad

The ceremony was very nice; the vows were beautifully written.

Here are the bridesmaids.

We enjoyed a nice luncheon after the ceremony. Fortunately for us, there was a park right outside the restaurant. We made frequent trips during the course of the meal for Carter to have a chance to run around outside. Sitting in the car for 3 hours plus having to be "good" at the wedding...by lunch he was at his limit of sitting still.

We didn't stay and do any sight-seeing after lunch. We figured it would be more advantageous for us to start the drive home during Carter's nap so he would be asleep for half of the trip home. But we did stop at Brenham and check out the Blue Bell factory. The boys enjoyed their ice cream!

Stretching their legs and having races.

Caleb kept wanting to use the camera to take pictures. We finally let him take a picture of Matt and I. Pretty good as I only had to do minor cropping.

Not the most exciting vacation for the kids, but it was a chance to get away and break up the routine. It's always fun to be together as a family.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The boys woke up to a green breakfast this morning in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Rodeo 2012

We get tickets to the rodeo each year through Matt's work, and we have a great time every time! Last Thursday night, Matt took the two boys by himself since I had a women's meeting for church that night. The boys loved all the animals.

Carter trying to crawl in to see the calf.

Petting and feeding station

Carter giving the baby goat a kiss

They left before the concert, but it still made for a late night.

Matt and I went last night together to see Blake Shelton perform. We had incredible seats again and enjoyed being close to the action. Unfortunately, the the concert was a disappointment because Blake Shelton didn't sing my two favorite songs of his: "She Wouldn't Be Gone" and "Nobody But Me." We waited until the very end just for those songs. :o(

Watching the rodeo events beforehand are so fun. The mutton bustin' is my favorite event...we want to sign Caleb up for it next year because we think it's so fun. 5-6 year-olds ride a sheep, hanging on as long as possible. It's adorable.

Half Marathon No. 4

Today I completed my 4th half marathon. Having done a marathon, I am grateful to finish the race at 13.1 miles. 26.2 was so taxing on my body and quite time-consuming. I love that my body doesn't feel dead after a half marathon, but 13 miles is still enough of a stretch that it's something to work towards.

My last half marathon time was 1:52:13 or an 8:34 mile pace. My goal each time I run a half is to improve on my previous time. 3 weeks ago when I ran the distance of a half marathon, I finished in 1:49 so I was only praying that I could do as well today. Today I had the run I've always longed for but have never had. Between cramping or bathroom issues, something has always come up to prevent me having a really good run on race day. So in the past I have been disappointed with the race simply because I knew that I could have done better. Today, I felt so good almost the entire time. Around mile 10 I started having some side cramps so that mile was my slowest at 8:32. My fastest miles were #1 at 7:55 and mile #12 at 7:05. My overall average was 8:15 mile pace and I finished at 1:48:05. I felt really good after finishing and definitely could have continued running for a little longer. I felt good enough to play doubles tennis for 2 hours an hour after I finished!

While I was running, the kids were having a great time doing some of this:

waiting in line to get on the inflatable slide,

hugging this dog,

and following this cookie around. (Carter kept saying, "cookie, cookie.")

After the race. (Matt didn't get any pictures of me running.)

It was such a thrilling day knowing that I had such an awesome race. I've never run that fast for that many miles ever! Running is so invigorating, and as always I'm so grateful for my husband's support in this "crazy" thing I love, according to him.

Bridal Showers

These are my girls from high school. Abby, Leticia, and I have been friends since elementary school, then we met up with Miranda and Nicole in middle school choir. We did 6 years of choir together! Of course we had a nickname for ourselves--the Fab 5.

Nicole is getting married in March and Miranda is getting married in April. Abby is due with her first baby--a boy--in April. And Leticia will be starting as an assistant professor at Georgetown this fall! We've all gone our separate ways, but it's fun to keep in touch every once in awhile.

Abby, Miranda, me, Leticia, Nicole

Valentine's Day

We celebrated our Valentine's together the weekend after by going to Fleming's. Fortunately we had a gift card to this very expensive restaurant, but it was a lot of fun to eat out nice and enjoy a delicious steak. Plus the yummy chocolate molten lava cake to top it off!

I think Valentine's is a nice excuse for a couple to genuinely show they love each other, sometimes with more effort than they regularly do throughout the year. I always enjoy brainstorming a clever way to surprise Matt each year! Matt knows me well and as long as I get some chocolate and a foot massage, I'm a happy girl. :o)