Happy Birthday To Me!

 Last Saturday was my birthday.  I got presents in the mail from my mom and mother-in-law and I opened them the day before my birthday. I couldn't wait!  My mom sent me the purse and scarf from Thailand, Tyler's mom got me some scrapbooking paper and stickers and a gift card to Joann's. and Tyler cut out a piece of wood and gathered up all my racing bibs and medals so I can make my "Running Shrine" - inspired by a lady in my ward.  So excited!

 Tyler took me mountain biking up in Arlington on my actual birthday. It was SOO FUN! A few really thrilling parts which made it well worth it.  We will be doing this again.

 Weird face!

 That evening we had a pool party, pizza, and cake. My friend Bonnie made me this Texas Sheet Cake...soooooooooo chocolatey!  No candles...just a knife in the middle.

My friends and I about to dig in to the cake. It was soooo good.

Family Pictures

 We had a great photo shoot a few weeks ago.  Despite the bright sun, heat, wind, constipated Austin, and tired Blake...we still had these pictures turn out.  Thanks to my talented friend here in Fort Worth, Karen Bell, she did a great job despite these obstacles!  If you ever need family pictures done I would recommend her in a heartbeat.

 This truck was soooooooooooooooo coool!

 Austin wanted to check out the inside of course

 Hey look! We all fit!

I love Blake's face in this one.

I'm so glad we got these done! We'd been talking about doing them for months and it finally worked out! I am very happy with them.

 The condo we rented was more like the size of a hotel room so things got a BIT crazy in there sometimes.  The best was we were able to take naps everyday and we all went to bed early every night. and it had a kitchen so we didn't have to eat out.

 Day 4:  I was feeling pretty good on this day! We spent this day at the beach. Here's the boys showing off their muscles

 I did some boarding as well.  My first time far out in the ocean!!!

 and of course there was a dolphin about 100 feet from me while I was riding the waves! Kinda freaked me out a bit and I let my imagination run wild, while I ran back to shore!  There were tons of fish jumping out of the water too.  You could see a whole school of fish riding the farthest out wave.

 Next up! Sand castles! Austin wanted to smoosh it soon after I made it.

 Austin loved riding the waves with daddy.  They went out pretty far too.

You can see Austin and Tyler way out in the waves...and if you look close you'll see a Pelican bird diving down toward the water to catch a fish.  It was sooo close to them!

 Way far out! They also saw a stingray swimming about 6 feet from them while they were out there.

 Blake took a good long nap that day at the beach.

We had to do some souvenir shopping that was a bit exhausting since we were all tired and cranky. But we survived!

Day 5: Drove home.  Blake was up the entire night before with a fever and no meds to give him. So I got about 2 hours of sleep.  He threw up a couple times in the carseat as well.  We stopped at a friend's house in San Antonio(Walch's) and made it home around 10 PM.  

Now we're all trying to get over our coughs and fevers. It was well worth it though!!

The Aquarium

 Day 3:  We spent all this day at the aquarium. This is the otter tank

 The turtles were pretty awesome

 Petting stingrays

 This is the dolphin's tank.

 We are waiting to see the dolphin show. That was by far the best!

 Lots of fishies

 There was a splash park that Austin enjoyed for a while

 Blake and I enjoyed the shade

There was a sandpit outside as well.  We were there until about 3:30 and as soon as we got in the car Austin was konked out!

1st FAMILY VACATION - the beach

Day 1:   We left last Monday to go down to Corpus Christi to enjoy the beach. Bad news...I woke up early Monday morning with a fever and throwing up. Great! I was miserable... but Tyler finally talked me into getting in the car after he loaded up all our stuff around 9:45 am.  We finally make it to our condo rental in Port Aransas around 10 pm that night.  

 Day 2: THE BEACH.  We went down around 8:30 am to the beach. We had a short walk over the dunes and then there it was. We loved being so close to the water. There was LOTS of seaweed but we didn't mind.

 Blake did real well with the waves and the water.

 Tyler and Blake walking the beach

 We borrowed a bodyboard from a friend and Austin had a great time riding over the waves

 So did Tyler!

 I still wasn't feeling good and didn't enjoy much water.  I took a nap with Blake instead.

What?! I missed all the waves!

 Austin checking to see if Makayla was good to go..."Hold on tight! This could get crazy!"

 One of my friend's was giving away boy shoes so I snagged these PF Flyers. Now daddy and Austin have matching shoes!!!!!

 Blake crawled over to Austin's carseat that we had inside so I put him in and buckled him.  He was pretty content for a while!

Austin taking his other girlfriend for a ride. Too bad Miriam moved away! So sad.