Trip To Dallas Part I

My brother-in-law, Brian, is like a professional photographer and he took like 200 pictures while I was in Dallas, so this first part of my trip is going to be underwhelming to say the least. Watch for the sequel to this, though, as it promises to be picturesque. Oliver and I left last Wednesday to visit his cousins, Kate and Taylor and my twin sister, Rachel. It was sooooo much fun. Here are some pictures of the kiddos playing with the cart and strollers that they loved pushing all around the house and yard.

Kate, Taylor, and Oliver.

He was the leader of the pack.

A visit to Sprinkles... (taken by Brian)

On the trolley in Dallas (taken by Brian).

So, here comes the travelogue- brace yourselves. We came in to Dallas Wednesday and stopped on the way home at Potbelly's- the best sandwich and cookie place in Texas, possibly on this side of the Mississippi. That night, we just relaxed and planned out the week. The next day, we went to her gym where we burned 650 calories in an hour-long class- need I say more? That day we went to Old Town McKinney and ate a yummy lunch at Spoons with the yummiest chocolate cake I've about ever had. This whole town is filled with cute little antique shops and kids boutiques. It was really fun to pop in and out of the cute stores.

We burned another 600 calories in our class at the gym on Friday and then it was an all-out shopping day. For those of you who don't know Dallas- it's one of the best shopping places in the U.S.. Rachel let me know that I really have no style and since she has impeccable taste, I let her show me the way at the malls. By the way, I really do think that serving a mission kind of permanently put me about 2 years behind in the fashion world- more on that another time. Anyway, so we walked away with some crazy stuff and it was very enlightening...:). That night, we rented some good flicks and just relaxed. We probably went out to eat, too, but for all the eating-out we did, I really can't remember.
Anyway, so Saturday, Brian got home from his business trip and after a run that morning, we hung out for a bit at a really cool park for the kids with some friends of theirs. It was Rachel and Brian's anniversary, so I babysat the kids that night and watched the food network while they celebrated.
Sunday, I helped Rachel out in the nursery because she had tweaked her back while stretching that morning. Then, Rachel made one of the yummiest dinners of all time and we just hung out the rest of the night. Oh, Brian "camped out" with Kate and Taylor in their backyard so Rachel and I were on our own.
Monday, we drove into Dallas and rode a trolley around a cute little part of town. The trolley conductor was an 80-something-year old man that was soooo cute! It was really fun to see part of the city that way. We stopped again at Potbelly's for sandwiches while on the trolley, and of course, the day wouldn't have been complete without a stop at Sprinkles cupcakes in North Dallas. After dark chocolate and banana with chocolate frosting perfection, we headed home. Rachel and I had a girls night out at California Pizza Kitchen, topped off with The Bachelor before calling it a day. Oh, wait, I almost forgot one of the highlights of my trip! Rachel's indoor soccer team let me play with them in their game that night at 10:45 (Kind of an unreasonable hour, right? Don't worry, we drank lots of Coke beforehand.) . It was soooooooooo, soooooooooo, sooooooooooo fun to play again. It's been about 5 years for me, so you can understand my excitement. And, we won! Oliver and I flew home the next day and we were equally as excited to see Christian/Daddy. I love, love, love spending time with Rachel and we always have the best time. Until next time!:)

Halfsies

Reba ran her second half marathon yesterday (the first was the storied one ten years ago in which--the way Jim Tasker tells it-- Jim heard a stagnant Reba wailing in pain a few hundred yards from the finish line so he stopped to get her going and run alongside her. Then right before the finish line, when he turned to wave wave to his dad on the sideline, she took off, beat him, and has bragged about it for the last 10 years. Mind you, Reba vehemently disagrees with this version, but Jim's is better). Anyway, She decided to to start training for the run only 3 1/2 weeks ago, after hearing about it for the first time at a baby shower. And while the whole thing was nuts, she actually did very well, coming in at an 8:30/mile pace at 1 hr, 49 minutes. When Oliver and I got there at the time she told us, I saw a bunch of flabby 50 yr old ladies crossing the line and was sure I had must have missed Reba's finish. Turns out there was also a 5 and 10 k, and these ladies were just finishing their 5 k with a respectable 2 days, 20 minutes/kilometer time.

So good job Reba!

From this...to this

I was reminiscing today about how our life has changed over the past year- from apartment to house and from baby to little boy. It all happens so fast and while it is so exciting, it's also so sad that my little guy will never be a baby again.

Can you believe what a little chubba he was??? (This was one year ago, exactly.)

I used to love when he would fall asleep so peacefully in his car seat. Why is it that once they reach a certain age they fight sleep?

Yes, I actually found Oliver "reading" the other day- this is not staged.

Like father, like son, right?

Doggie Days

Christian and Jake went over to the park in our neighborhood to practice punting (apparently Christian doesn't want to look stupid in front of his brothers at the next family reunion, so he's been practicing). Well, about 30 minutes later, the front door opens and in leaps this little brown dog. I knew the moment I saw that dog in our house that Christian was behind it. So, I waited by the door until Christian finally came sneaking in. Apparently they found the dog at the park and Christian "felt responsible for him until he could find the dog's owners." Well, after about 30 more minutes of play time in the back yard with beef jerky, the owners showed up and collected their little mutt. These pictures might appear as if Oliver is an avid dog-lover like his dad, but I'm telling you, he wouldn't even get near that thing without some serious coercing.

Yes, Oliver was in full anti-dog mode- wouldn't even get on it's back.

The Dog Whisperer...

Still not loving it...

Look at those tears! You would have thought he really liked that dog! (This is right after the owners came.)

Let Him Eat Cake!

Jacob brought his birthday cake home from his office last week. It took Oliver about 3 minutes to notice it the next morning. It had a plastic covering over it and as soon as he did notice it, he panted until I let him touch it, on the counter. Then, I thought, "this might be kind of fun, let's put it on the ground, with the cover." He studied that thing, poked and prodded it for about 20 minutes, not moving from his spot. Then, I thought again, "this could REALLY be fun, let's see what happens when I take the cover off." Now, if you will refer to his b-day post from August last year, you'll see that we practically had to force-feed him his cake, so I wasn't expecting much action. I was wrong. Well, actually, at first, he just gingerly reached down and got a little touch of icing on his finger and stuck it in his mouth. Then, every bite following was a little bigger until he got a handful of cake and icing in his mouth. That's when I decided the show was over. I grabbed the cake and put it in the trash. And he screamed for 10 minutes, banging on the garage door where we keep the garbage. It was good times while it lasted, though. Right, Ollie??

The Post You've All Been Waiting For...

Finally, it's here! You got it- we are making an official, "this is our new house" post, pictures included. We moved in about one month ago and there are still a lot of decorating to-do's, but it's here and we love it. We are so glad to finally be in a house, after many long years of apartments. We love our new ward and there are tons of young families, like us. What we love most, though, is the space and privacy that we have. So, enjoy!

Main room looking at the front entry.
Main room looking at the backyard.
Looking at the main room, kitchen, and office area.
Christian's office.
Main room looking into the kitchen.

The kitchen.Master bedroom.
Backyard with a hammock that came with the house.
Christian fertilized our lawn and Jake mowed it, so it's starting to come to life.

P.S.- Oliver's room was hard to get a good picture of and Jake's room leaves much to be desired (i.e., he's single) so we left them out.