Test Drive of Parenthood

Last month we watched Maggie and Chloe from Friday to Sunday so that Dave and Serena could take a little weekend get-a-way to Austin to celebrate Serena's 30th Birthday!(Kinda an important one!) We got to get a little taste of what it's like to have kids. It was different to have to be home at certain times for naps, have meals at a scheduled time, wake up early, check on them in the night, and have it take longer to go anywhere because we had to pack the diaper bag, and get kids in carseats. (just to name a few) We have to give mad props to those of you with kiddos!=)

We did lots of fun things together while they were here, but I only snapped pictures on Saturday for some reason. Friday we went swimming at our pool, put puzzles together, colored pictures, and watched the movie Rio. Saturday, it was cloudy and rainy, so to get a little break from our apartment we decided to go to the Bass Pro Shop and walk around. When we pulled up, there was a small helicopter in front of the store. They had a company there advertising.

We got to watch it take off! Pretty cool!!

Maggie loved watching the fish!

She decided this is what she wants for Christmas! Sorry Dave and Serena=) (Check out the price tag) Look at that huge smile on her face! So cute!

After we told her it was okay to get on the 4-wheeler, she decided she'd like to try "test driving" all the motorized toys they had!=)
This is always the highlight of the trip for Joe. He loves the shooting game they have! I love this picture with little Maggie! The gun was too heavy for her to hold so she was pretending to shoot it while it was in the holster.
We walked past the 4-wheeler again and she had to sit on it one more time. This time we decided to let her hold Munchie for a picture! So cute!
Saturday night after all the fun, Chloe fell asleep in Joe's arms. So sweet! Moments like this are so rewarding and priceless.
It was quite the eye opener to go from having no kids, to two kids! I won't lie, we were exhausted by the time Dave and Serena came back, but we really enjoyed it. Joe will still randomly say "I miss Munchie and Maggie." Since we don't have any kids of our own, it's such a highlight and blessing to be close to our nieces and nephews here in Houston and Dallas. We love them so much! We miss our nephews in Utah, and love them to pieces too! We loved spending time with these two precious girls, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Make a Wish!

Once again I am WAY behind! I'm in charge of the primary program at church, so all of my spare time has been going to that. I just turned it in to the bishop today, so I should have some free time to catch up on blogging.

First things first! JOE's 28th BIRTHDAY was on August 5th. I must say that I get pretty excited for his birthdays. It's fun to try and surprise him, and to make the day all about him. His birthday was on a Friday, and he's lucky to have Fridays off. After I tucked him in Thursday night, and made sure he was sound asleep, I snuck out of our room to decorate. I always love doing that! So, this is what he woke up to.

I had his cards out on the counter when he woke up, and was planning on him just opening his cards in the morning, and his present later. You know, to stretch out the fun of presents=) When I told him the plan, he wasn't too fond of it. Joe's not very good at being patient when it comes to presents. He wants to know what it is immediately. He always shakes his presents to try and figure out what they are too, and he can usually guess! Drives me nuts!=)

Joe pretends like he doesn't need cards on his birthday, but I know deep down he absolutely loves it!

So, after card reading I pulled out his present from the guest room closet. He was like a kid!

The face he's making in the next picture is an "I told you so" face. He was trying to rip the paper evenly in the middle so he could just pull the top off instead of just ripping into it! Who does that?! Anyways, I told him he wasn't going to be able to do it. He did!=)
Look at that smile! He has been wanting a grill for so long! I bought him this same one when we were dating in Utah. He ended up not having room for it in his truck when he had to come back to Texas, so he returned it. Well, two years later he got the same one=) It's nothing huge since we don't have a house, but it works great and we'll be able to take it to the beach for cookouts. We LOVE grilling now! We hadn't had grilled food in so long, we forgot what we were missing! There's just nothing like it=)
I made him his favorite southern breakfast complete with biscuits, gravy, hashbrowns, and bacon. After breakfast Julie and the kids came over to swim. They were here from Dallas for Julie's mom's birthday so it worked out great! There's nothing Joe loves more than his nieces and nephews, and swimming! He's a fish! We had so much fun, and it really made his day. The kids are growing up too fast. It was so fun to get to spend time with them.



That night we went to dinner with our friends Jason and Jillian. As part of his present Jason thought it would be funny to get him........

a copy of the book Polyanna. Ha ha random! Joe said he'd read it=)

When we got home I had a little cake for him so he could blow out some candles. Birthdays just aren't complete without singing, cake, and ice cream.

Make a wish! I actually had to light the candles twice because he forgot to make a wish!=)

After we ate our little pieces of cake we realized something. There was WAY too much blue food coloring in the frosting!=)

Happy Birthday babe!

On Saturday we met Joe's family at Jake's Grill for lunch. Maggie ended up getting sick on the way there so Dave and Serena didn't end up making it and Julie was at the temple with her family. They were missed. We had a fun time chatting and being together.

Anthony, Addie, Serena, and Joe all have birthdays close together so I got a cake for all of them.

After lunch everyone came back to our place for a bit. James snapped this picture of me with the kids. We had so much fun! Look at little Grayson standing up! These kids are growing up so quickly. It's moments like this that I treasure.

We went to dinner with James and Shelby at BJ's and had a fun time with them. They spoiled us and bought us dinner for Joe's birthday! So sweet! Thanks guys! After dinner we went to watch Jack and Addie while Anthony and Julie went to dinner to celebrate her mom's birthday. We always love being able to do this! We watched Care Bears, and got ready for bed. I love being able to do their nightly routine of brushing teeth, reading some books, saying prayers, and singing them some songs. They always remind me if I'm forgetting something. We love these kids so much, and had so much fun together.
I'd say Joe had quite the birthday weekend. He really learned how to milk stretching his birthday over the entire weekend. =) I was ready for it to be over by Sunday, after hearing..... "can you do this......it's my birthday!" =) ha ha! I'm so grateful for my sweet husband! I remember when he proposed he mentioned being able to celebrate our birthdays together for the rest of our lives. So far, they've all been pretty great! I look forward to celebrating many more together! Love you babe!

SanFrancisco

One of the things I was so excited to do when I found out we were going to California, was to go to San Francisco!!! I had been once before on a business trip when I worked for InterContinental Hotels Group, but it was a short visit and I didn't get to do everything I wanted to. So, one of the first weekends we were there we decided to make the trip. I got so excited when I looked out the window and this was what I saw!

We went to 0ne of the Piers first and we could see Alcatraz. We didn't end up doing a tour of Alcatraz this trip because we thought that was something Bob would like to do when they came to visit. Too bad we didn't end up staying long enough for them to come.

Alcatraz Island

It was SO cold by the water that I had to put on my jacket! When we got into city of San Francisco it got really warm so it was fun to feel such a difference in temperature in just a short distance.

We bought a pass to ride the cable cars and buses and our first stop was China Town.

There were a lot of restaurants and little tourist shops. After walking around for a bit we decided to eat lunch at a restaurant that had this little balcony so we could have a fun view.

This was our view.

After lunch we just ventured out and walked around. This was just a picture of a random church. I love the streets of San Francisco.

We didn't ever ride on outside seats of the cable cars because they were always full. This was our first ride on the cable car together.

After China Town we went to Union Square. One word should come to mind!......SHOPPING!!!=)

The building in the previous picture was this....!!! H&M! Love it! Joe was a good sport and went in and looked with me. He even let me try on a few dresses but I didn't end up loving them on so I didn't buy anything. I didn't want to be selfish so we didn't stay long. That's definitely a girl day trip kinda thing. Too bad we didn't stay long enough to have any girls come visit=(

Pier 39 was a lot of fun! There were tons of little shops and restaurants. They had a store full of things for left handed people. Pretty cool! We walked around and eventually we came back here to eat dinner.

I wanted to go back to San Francisco another day to shop...... Joe wanted to go back and do a sailing trip.

On Pier 39 we were walking around on the second level and I heard all of these seal noises. We turned the corner and sure enough...... there were tons of seals just chillin'.

This is an awful picture of me, but I had to show you all the wonderful bread and treats. They had THE BEST sourdough bread at this bakery. There was an employee out on the streets with a basket full of bread for people to sample. They had restaurants that sold clam chowder in these awesome bread bowls but when I was pregnant clam chowder did not sound good at all. I had been craving broccoli potato cheese soup so we bought some bread bowls to take home and made the soup the next day for dinner. YUM is all I can say!=)

They had the coolest thing set up from the bakery(upstairs) to the restaurant/shop downstairs. They would put the bread in these baskets and they had a line that would take them down to be sold. Pretty cool!

I hadn't been to Ghirardelli Square before so we had to go see it. They had the best looking ice cream sundaes but we were about to go have dinner so we just walked into a few shops and got some free samples=) I love me some chocolate!

We ate dinner at a seafood place and then headed home. We were pooped! There is almost always a fog that sits over the Golden Gate Bridge, and sure enough there it was on our way out.

We had such a fun time. Wish we could have gone back a time or two, but maybe in the future we'll get the chance to. I must say that it was fun to be able to travel a little bit and sight see. Some may think Joe moving from state to state doing jobs would be a hassle, but it was actually a very fun adventure! Now, if we end up in the middle of nowhere on his next job, I may take that back=) ha ha jk!