galveston

 these moments right here, captured in these pictures, are one of the happiest of my life. 

we had a little weekend trip down to galveston, which is just over 3 hours from here so it was a perfect little weekend getaway. 2 days crammed of beach, food, beach, and food. 

and can i tell you how much this boy loves his daddy??!! Like crazy. Ryan and I both agree this was the best part of the trip was hearing Lincoln laugh hysterically as daddy chased him around in circles. Something small and silly was simply melting this mama's heart. 

All of us laughing on the beach, the boys chasing each other while me, myself, and my growing belly sprawled out on the towel watching the show-- yep, one of the happiest moments in my life. 

and we'll end with a blurry family photo. I love this one. :)

boys rule!

Wow... I'm back to posting baby bump pics?

It's pretty funny, mainly because it's true, how the second child doesn't get as much attention as the first did. A little sad, but let's face it, Lincoln requires like 99% of our attention. Taking weekly bump pictures like I did with Lincoln? Yeah, that's not happening.

Although, baby boy 2 does have all of our attention (shared with Netflix and popcorn) after Lincoln goes to sleep each night. Naturally, that's when he's most active and kicking and punching and somersaulting in the belly.... I feel as if it's his way of saying... "Okay Mom and Dad, focus on me!!!! Look how hard I can kick!"

When I was pregnant with Lincoln, parenthood/baby/pregnancy talk is what consumed our lives. It's exciting because you're experiencing something for the first time. And although this pregnancy isn't exactly how it was with Lincoln, it's still exciting, but in a whole new way that's special on it's own.

It's special because I know how much happiness and joy has come into our lives with Lincoln, and to know we have been blessed with another baby.... I can't even imagine life getting better than it is now, but it is! And for that, I'm excited for our second boy to come join this house of shenanigans with us.

Dallas & Fort Worth Weekend-- the things we do for our kids........

5 day Labor Day Weekend. WHOOOOWEEEEE!

5 wonderful days of exploring some Dallas/Fort Worth. 

2 of those days spent right here at the Perot museum. Lincoln LOVED it. He was running around and with his little curious mind wanting to try everything, and play with everything, and throw everything....talk about stimulation overload. 

We weren't planning on going 2 days in a row, but someone gave us free tickets to come back for the next day. And when your child lights up like Lincoln did, you'll go to the same museum, to see the same things, the very next day, just to see him happy......until the following situation happens.......

This child of ours can sometimes be that child where you say under your breath, "Don't his parents teach him any discipline?" We do, but he has his days.... or in this case, he has his situations where no matter how sweet he is the moment before, he will flip a switch if someone tries taking him away from the wheel of any motor vehicle device, especially this big blue one at the children's museum. His chubby fingers are deceivingly strong. Go on, just picture me trying to pick up Lincoln so another child can have his turn and Lincoln clawing the wheel with all his might screaming bloody murder. I may have tried putting one of my legs up on the truck to get better pulling leverage....but try as I might, I cannot get that kid to let go. I can be yanking his legs high in the air until he's practically upside down... does he lose any grip? Nope. If anything, he may just rip the steering wheel off with him. 

Sigh. 

We had a few parents, heck, even children, watching the show of mother trying to defeat 17 month old son. He's one happy kid when he has it all to himself. But bless that child who happens to get a spot behind the wheel instead of Lincoln.... you're Lincoln's target now. 

 ^^^^They look thrilled don't they? I told them to tone down their excitement. ^^^

Ryan met up with his brother and friend for a preseason football game: Broncos vs Cowboys. Broncos won, so they were pretty happy about that. We stopped at these water gardens in downtown Fort Worth the next day before his brother and friend left town. 

 And our last stop before heading back home was walking around the stockyards in Fort Worth. We went there first thing in the morning on our way out of town. We fooled ourselves thinking we timed our stockyards trip right-- beating the heat, crowds, and Lincoln's nap time, but we were the suckers walking around the strip with all the stores still closed. DOH! No wonder why we had no trouble finding parking.

We walked up and down the streets, very slowly to kill time, with a few other out-of-towners like us who came too early. We stuck it out until the cattle drive, the "big" event that everyone comes to watch. It was getting extremely humid and hot and I was so ready to head back home, but I really wanted our fussy Lincoln to see all the cattle come through. So we waited and waited until FINALLY, the moment we had been waiting for all morning. 

10 seconds of only a handful of cattle???? Really??? Uuuuuggh.

The things we do for our kids. I'm sure the experience will be one Lincoln looks back on fondly throughout his precious life.  When he's old in a rocking chair and his grandchildren are asking him to tell them stories, he'll speak of waiting 2 hours for those 10 seconds of  watching the cattle come by and how magical it was. HA :) 

say "sheeeese"

I'm so ready for fall. SO ready. I'm becoming one of those people who would be okay if the summer season just went away. I blame it on the fact of not living in Idaho anymore. Those summers in Idaho....sigh. Let's just say my love of summer will never be satisfied until I can have another summer there. These Arizona/Texas summers just take a poor beating on this old girl now.

This past weekend though we had rain, and a whole lot of it. PLUS, we had "COLDER" temperatures in the high 60's low 70's, I know right? Freezing. AND, it wasn't muggy and sticky! We were outside more than we have been all summer. We had the back doors open to bring in the fresh cold air, sat on the porch and watched the rain (mostly just watching Lincoln's rain dancing), and had a little breakfast-dinner picnic without having beads of sweat dripping down our face. Glorious!!!!!!

One big plate of warm french toast for all three of us. Raspberries mostly for the chubby hand that snatched them all up before anyone else had a chance.

And a bunch of blurry photos of us trying to get a family photo that never quite turned out smoothly. Lincoln has an attraction to the camera and feels the need to jump up after it yelling "sheeeese". 

 oh. and this boy turns 18 months in a few days. this is the best age. THE FREAKING BEST. He is pretty dang special. 

Hello there, Emma Long

eating his popsicle like a boss ^^^^

Ryan's work schedule has been a little demanding..... who am I kidding? It's been very demanding. Longer hours than what we were accustomed to in Arizona, so it's been a bit of challenge--probably more for me than Ryan. I need someone to slap me silly next time I start complaining or to gouge my eyes out for checking the clock every five minutes in the evening wondering how much longer. We know it could be worse. Everything could always be worse, but we also have so much to be grateful for and this lady just needs more practice focusing on that. So here I go: I'm grateful my husband has a job. I'm grateful that he is able to provide for our family so I can be home with Lincoln. I'm grateful he is home to at least play and see Lincoln before Lincoln's bedtime. I'm grateful that he has (mostly) all weekends off. I'm grateful that my husband has such a positive attitude with everything, even though it results in me feeling completely guilty for my negative-nancy outlook. And I'M SUPER DUPER grateful for that random Friday he got off work a few weeks ago.   

It was stupendously perfect. 

The weather was perfect. The location was perfect. And the fact that it was a Friday morning and we were at the lake with no one else there was even MORE perfect. 

We laid out our beach blanket, dumped the buckets and shovels into the sand for Lincoln, opened our little cooler of drinks and snacks, and enjoyed our view. Even more so, we relished our Friday "DAY" time together as a family. :) :) :)

Mayfield Park

If you ever need a gorgeous backdrop for a photo, just find a muddy brown lake like this one. She's a real beauty huh?

Well this trip to Mayfield Park was back in our hotel living days shortly after moving to Austin. We did everything we could to stay out of the hotel as long as possible on the weekends. But it was the middle of June and hot and humid, so our trips to the park were most enjoyable on the drive there and back inside the AC blowing car. We also became regulars at one of the mall play gyms........AND around Costco pretending like we're shopping but just there for the samples, just being honest here.

Back to this park: we went on a Saturday morning before it was extremely hot and sticky and it was actually a beautiful place. I heard there were peacocks that roamed around here and thought Lincoln might get a kick out of it. So we walked around the trails trying to track a peacock down-- we could hear them, but never did quite spot one until the very end. Turns out they roam around this garden and pond area by the parking at the end of the trails. Good thing the trails were a hit with Lincoln because he wasn't a fan of those peacocks. C'mon peacocks, can't you be a little more entertaining for my boy?

we're sure glad we have you Zilker

Probably my favorite place in Austin right now. I know we have so much more to explore, but Zilker Park is a tiny taste of what I imagine Central Park to be like-- but for now I'll just say it's the best.

It's huge (that's what she said), with trees everywhere, running trails, a train ride the goes around the park, volleyball courts, playgrounds, up against the lake and next to the botanical gardens, an outdoor theater and stage for concerts, PLUS a great view of downtown.... you get the idea. These pictures don't even showcase the beauty since we were only in one secluded section of the park.

 Lincoln will just run around as far as you'll let him. I've brought toys every time, but I'll probably stop. He's not even interested in them when he's there. He loves to wave at people walking by and point out the planes flying overhead. He stares at the dogs...maybe gets trampled by a few....he will chase the birds....and then get chased by a few. As for me-- I sit and relax and watch people obsess over their dogs with other dog owners and then pick up their dog's warm poop.... I get to watch a double feature of an outdoor yoga class and a moms&strollers fitness class while I lazily lay there eating all of Lincoln's animal crackers. Oh, and there's always some random person doing something like baton twirling or practicing their own version of martial arts. Either way, we're kinda in love with this place.