Neal's first bite!

 So this isn't actually Neal's very first bite.  We are the parents who didn't take pictures of that moment!  He was actually given a piece of an apple and a piece of banana on different occasions prior to this.  He loved them!  This is one of his first experiences with baby food!

 Here it comes!  We are eating with paper stuff since we don't have a kitchen sink yet!

 Applesauce!

 What do you think?

 Would you like some more?

 I just love those chubby cheeks!

 Neal is one sweet-tempered baby.  He has loved all food except green beans!

 We love you Neal!

 Here is a demonstration of how hard it is to get a family picture (and this is not even all of us!)  I love the sunset in the background!

 There!  Too bad Austin has frozen pizza on his face.  It was a staple for a while!  Luckily, we randomly had people bring us food for three weeks straight.  No lie.  I was so grateful!  We have an amazing neighborhood and group of friends.  Thank you!

 And this doober is one of our favorites! I can't believe he's eating food, and rolling over! 

And look at those teeth!  We love everything about this boy!  Thanks for being a part of our lives!

Tenille's Wedding and Utah

So my baby sister got married to a wonderful man, Jake Gorringe.  She is one of my favorite people in the world and I'm so happy she found someone she loves so much.  That is one of her gifts--to love without holding back!  Welcome to the family, Jake!

Her wedding was beautiful.  Mostly I loved seeing everyone!

Here are all of my siblings--all of us married and grown up!  How different we all look!

 While in Utah, we were fortunate enough to get to visit with family!  Christian's grandparents let us intrude and catch a round of Dominoes.  We just love them!  I wish we lived closer so we could get together all the time!

The boys and their basketballs!  Christian loved playing with those very ones when he was growing up! 

 Can you see the resemblance?

 Neal wasn't too happy about the visit, but the rest of us were!  We just love and have learned so much from you!  Thank you for being a part of our lives!

 While in Utah, we had to let the boys in on the best kept secret--how amazingly awesome BYU is :)  So, we took them to the creamery...

 Let them visit Cosmo...

 And Christian and I walked down memory lane.  We went to this very same Ryan Schuppe concert before we were even dating over eight years ago!  How much and yet how little changes with time!

 We were able to visit with my grandparents.  This was the last time I got to see my grandpa before he died.  He told me all about how his schedule of going to the restroom is these days.  I wasn't sure if he completely realized what he was saying, but at the end he said, "I used to fly airplanes, but now, I just poop."  It was the saddest thing in the world.  He is such a wonderful man that I will always look up to. And an incredible woman who stayed by his side--my grandma is one of my heroes.  I love you both so much!

 The day after Tenille and Jake's wedding we got to go to dinner with my dad for his birthday!  Happy Birthday Dad!  You made so much of who I am today and I am continually grateful!  I love you!

 We even got treats and I got to sit by the birthday boy!  Alisha was there (which it is always so fun to see her.  She was on an entirely different time zone--Australia to the States--yet somehow managed to stay up and talk with us at night and just be amazing!  I'm so glad she made it out for the wedding!)

 Dan and Katie came--and poor Benson had been to the emergency room for pulling a fireplace down on his face.  Just check out that black eye!  The poor doober!  They came out and helped fly with my boys on the way there and back.  They are some of our favorite friends and we have missed them so much since moving away from Texas!  Luckily, Dan started a new job in Boston, so we'll be relatively close again!  Our boys had so much fun with Benson and I just love them!  Thank you for coming out to visit!

 Jake and Sadie and Laura's family came.  I just love being all together!  Jake danced with Tenille at the wedding and it made me cry.  There's just something about those guys!  He can always make me laugh and my boys think they are both so fun!

 The Crist family came and were so much fun to see!  Hopefully we'll live much closer to them someday!  Ben and Laura were there for a total of 24 hours, so we missed them at the dinner, but all in all it was a wonderful trip!  Thanks Tenille, for the excuse to get together!  We love you!

 

 After that, we went bowling with Aunt Laurie, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Caitlin.  They were so kind to take the time out of their crazy schedules and see us!  Tyson kept asking if we could move by them! They are the best!

 We had chicken strips, root beer, and French fries.  It can't get much better than that!

 And Aunt Laurie is the best.  She was so kind to hold Neal the entire time and always had something fun for the boys.  She is one of the kindest, thoughtful, and most creative people I've ever met.  I just love her!

 Tyson was really into it!

 Aunt Laurie gave the boys new toys for the airplane ride home--genius!!  It made it so easy!  Thank you Laurs!

On our way to the airport, we were able to stop over and see Grandma Sumsion.  She was surprised Christian was married and was in a lot of pain.  We pray for her to be at peace every day.  She is an incredible woman who was full of a lot of spunk and all of my memories of her are happy, funny, and we will miss her dearly.  We already do.  We love you Grandma!  Thank you for your kindness and love!

Dan and Katie in Kentucky!

Dan and Katie and Benson were so awesome and came to visit us in Kentucky when they were en route to Boston.  They are some of our very favorite people on the planet!  Although we didn't have carpet or a kitchen, they were totally happy to just be with us!  We love them!

We fed the ducks!

We went to the fire station!

We played at Waveland Museum park!

We read together!

We played outside!

And we just hung out!  Hopefully they didn't think we were too boring!  We were just so happy to see them!  We put a carpet swatch downstairs to walk on and they were so great to run upstairs to wash produce and just make due with what we had.  Thank you for being our friends!

Da da-da!!

Thank you again for your visit!  We hope to be as amazing parents and people as you are someday!

Winter in Kentucky

So after we got back from Disney, it had been so cold in Kentucky, that our pipes froze!  We came home to a flooded house!  We ended up having all of the carpet and the walls up to a foot and a half taken out.  Also, the kitchen and downstairs bathroom were gone!  Luckily, we had a working upstairs and our insurance company was so easy to work with!  It made me feel for our friends the Riggs who had this happen multiple times in Texas!

 Neal is just so sweet! We were pretty grateful that all of our stuff in our entire house could easily fit upstairs.  That just goes to show how much more we have than we need!

 Since it was so cold, we had to find other play group activities.  Here we are at the chocolate factory!

Bridger is one of Tyson's idols.  Mine too!

Look at these sweethearts!

Of course we had to buy some penny candy! Tyson got the chocolate pretzel and Austin the chocolate marshmallow!

Our snow angels!

Tyson was awarded most outstanding student in the month of February.  Here he is with his friend Nate.  He was pretty excited!

We built this awesome snowman with our next door neighbor and our neighbors across the street.  It took me and another mom to roll those bottom legs!  It was awesome!

Sophie outlasted us all but I forced Tyson to come back out for a picture!

The freezing rain melted our tree!

Isn't that crazy?!!  I was very surprised that it survived!

On our way to the temple.  Isn't it beautiful?

I got to help with Tyson's Valentine's day party.  He's only allowed to have one party a year, so I had to do the whole thing without the teacher's help.  It was so much fun!

We did face painting, games, decorated boxes and of course handed out Valentines!  I love Valentine's day!

Austin loved being part of the craziness!  Happy winter Ya'll!!