anyone know how to stop time?

Since arriving in Utah two weeks ago, Nicholas has:

• learned to wave hello and goodbye-he waved to Kent the very first day we were here while we were sitting in our tent.
• learned how to "roll it" in paddy cake
• enjoyed his first time in a swing
• grown two molars (that fever he had while camping...yeah, teething)
• learned to say "uh oh" whenever he drops something
• given me a kiss for the first time
• decided there are way too many other exciting things to do than spend his time eating
• become adept at communicating by nodding or shaking his head ("no, I don't want any of that food, thankyouverymuch")
• learned how to tell you what the tiger, snake, and goat say (although he's best at tiger, and he says "rawr" to all of them until you correct him)
• sent his first text message. No joke. It said "On my way 7" thanks to my quick text option and his fondness for the number keys. He sent it to my mom. Maybe he's spent too much time playing with my cell phone?
• suddenly figured out how to do all the actions to 5 little monkeys swinging in the trees as well as paddy cake
• mastered the courtesy laugh. heh heh heh.
• learned a new way of dancing-waving his arms back and forth like Frankenstein
• spent increasing amounts of time standing on his own
• and finally, today, he took four wobbling little steps in a row

It's so exciting to see him growing like this. He never changes this quickly when we are at home and it's just me and him all day long. My little brothers and my sister spend so much time with him, and he picks up fast!

Yes, it's exciting. Although it's a terrifying kind of excitement. Today he's waving with his floppy chubby hand and flashing his tiny-toothed grin, and tomorrow I'll wake up and he'll be waving goodbye at the MTC on his way to serve a mission.

What can I do to slow down this precious, precious time?

heaven on earth

For as long as I can remember, my family has camped at Tony Grove
nearly every summer.
Kent and I missed out on the trip last year because Nicholas was only days away from coming into this world.

But this summer, we came camping at Tony Grove.

It may sound silly, but there's something about this place

that just fills me up with joy.

The smell of the pine trees, the sway of the wildflowers on the hills, the soft lapping of waves on the rocky shore.

I feel so refreshed, so at peace when I'm there.

This is where I've grown up. On Wednesday morning, my mom and I walked around to the other side of the lake,

I pushed Nicholas in the stroller

and he slept.

Mom pointed out a rocky slope down by the water where she sat with me when I was only 6 weeks old. They propped up a cardboard box to shield me from the wind.

Three years ago, Kent and I visited Tony Grove the day that Kent asked my Dad if he could marry me.

And now, we're back, bringing our own little baby boy to play in the dirt and splash in the water and sit by the campfire at night.

So, Tony Grove has been just as much my home as any house I've lived in.

Nicholas learned how to wave hello and to "roll it" in Paddy Cake while we were up there.
We put him in a swing for the first time, and he wow-ed and ahh-ed the whole time.

Kent had fun, too. He was happier and more relaxed than I've seen him in weeks.

I'm sure that being assigned campfire duty had something to do with that.

Oh boy did he have fun.We all had a wonderful time, even though it was cut a bit short as Nicholas came down with a fever so we came home a night early. Sleeping in tents with a sick baby just isn't the best idea for anyone involved. He's completely recovered now, so all is well.

And I'm so glad we were able to go to Tony Grove.

I took a little break

and I haven't taken any pictures with my real camera for an entire week.
For me, that is a long time.
I generally take at least 10 pictures of my little guy every day.

Some days I even take 100 pictures or more of Nicholas.
And that is the truth.

BUT, something about this week just made me, I don't know, maybe tired of my camera? tired of taking pictures?
Perhaps it's just my rebellious streak shining through and I decided that
this week I would not take a single picture
and I stuck to my guns (as I always do when that rebellious streak surfaces. Just ask my dad. Or Kent.).

So, this is a post of pixelated, underexposed camera phone pictures.

The title of this picture was: "Meet Mr. Whiney Pants." It was a teething, clinging, finger-chewing, mommy-biting kind of day. I sent this picture to Kent so he could see what he was missing out on while he was "at work" (he went bowling with all the interns).

I sent this picture to both my mom and Cindy to show them what the Comal river looks like just after we finish going down it on a Saturday afternoon.
This is exactly why we always get there before 9 am. We get to float it way before it gets this crowded. With that many people on the river, it just doesn't even look fun!
Kent's friend Steve (from high school and a former roommate) moved to Austin to go to school and so he came to visit us. And as you all know by now, when someone comes to visit during the summer, we take them toobing the Comal.

Allison texted me this picture to document our first ever mariachi experience.
Nicholas was a bit frightened. They were loud, but very good.


I am sending this picture to my mom so she can send it to Josh for his 20th birthday while out on his mission in Michigan.
Nicholas is holding the straw that came from one of our $4 snow cones. It's a cup of ice, people.
$4?!
But yes, we were desperate.
It's hot here.

But if you come visit,
we'll take you down the comal to cool off.

when your birthday is on the 4th of July

You always get your very own fireworks.

Our friends came over to help us celebrate on Saturday.
I might have gotten a little carried away with the decorating and preparations.
But it's a big day, right? A birthday for both my sweet husband and our beautiful country!
I made these pendant banners out of fabric I found 5 yds for $5 at Walmart, an old pair of jeans that I had already sliced into for another project, a string, and red paper stars. Easy, cheap, and so fun to make!

We tried to semi-duplicate the meal we made at the beach house: spicy grilled chicken wings, grilled pineapple (sprinkled with brown sugar), macaroni salad, french fries, watermelon, green salad, corn on the cob, and croissants.

I'm not sure how it stood up to the gooey goodness at the beach, but
it was quite good. Everyone ate in silence, which is generally a good sign.

After dinner we drove out to the hill country to where they sell the fireworks. They had a big grassy field out there that you could go to light off your fireworks.

Sitting out there, with the warm summer night, a soft cool breeze, my baby falling asleep in my lap (yes, falling asleep with the fireworks all around!), watching Kent help light off the fireworks he's been dying to use since we bought them three summers ago,well, it was a night where I liked Texas.
Maybe a little.
Maybe more than a little.

(You can't do big mortar-in the air-fireworks in Utah.)

We came back here after the fireworks for cake and ice cream.

For the birthday boy I baked a cake.
It was really, really good. Red velvet, white cake, white cake dyed blue, and cream cheese frosting.


And now, the most awesome birthday present.
As you know, Kent already opened his big present of the year (the projector), and so although I didn't want to get him anything big,
I wanted to find something special for him.

If you know Kent, you know something about him. He likes root beer.
He really likes root beer.So I gave him an entire cooler full of 12 different brands of gourmet root beer and included a sheet I made with rules and criterion for him to judge each root beer.
The idea is for him to figure out which brands he likes best and why.

I got the idea from this blog post.

I knew he would like the cooler full of root beer, but I wasn't sure if he would actually go for the whole "five stars judging system" idea.
I'm happy to see that he thinks it's awesome. We both sat down today after church and taste tested a few of the brands. (For the record, you shouldn't try BundAberg. Bleh!)

Happy, happy 25th birthday, my Love! I'm glad you were born!

on the first of July

There's a little ghost behind my curtains. Nicholas likes to stand up against the glass patio doors and look outside.
I love the little foot peeking out the bottom.

Yesterday Kent worked for 17 hours straight, then he woke up at 5 this morning to head back into work.
I wish I knew what I can do to help him somehow.

Nicholas has been playing with my laptop. The "a" key now is really hard to press down.
If I don't py ttention, my typing begins to hve problems becuse the A won't work.

We are experiencing the outer edge of Hurricane Alex (or hurricne lex if my finger gets lazy). Rain, rain, rain. We live the perfect distance away from the coast, and because of that, hurricanes are good news for us.
But hurricanes aren't the best 4th of July barbecue and fireworks weather.

Speaking of the 4th of July, I have the world's best birthday present ever planned for Kent. He's going to love it.
I think sometimes I get more excited about presents I'm giving than the people I'm giving them to do.

Yesterday when we were grocery shopping, I ran out of room in the cart to put the watermelon I bought, so I set it in the seat with Nicholas. It would seem that there's nothing that makes that boy happier than sitting next to a watermelon.
I left it on the floor when we got home and he's been playing with it all morning.

In 19 days we are heading to Utah. Warm days and cool nights. Soft, lush, Utah grass. Mountains. Big night skies full of stars. Camping, swimming, family, food. It's going to be great.

In 47 days my baby turns one. What has happened here?

Ready for it or not, it's July!