Second Spring Break!

So luckily for me, after our Spring break, Christian's parents came to visit during their Spring break! It was the most wonderful week imaginable! Every day I got to spend time talking, gardening, and sight-seeing with two of the most incredible people I know! Tyson even started preferring Grandpa to his own Daddy--That is really saying something!Here we all are at the Riverwalk under the most beautiful smelling flowers! Tyson with his new favorite person!Here Tyson is helping Grandpa! They helped us plant raspberries in the back and flowers in the front and it is beautiful! That was one of my favorite things we did...gardening with Sandra!On Sunday evening we went to the park to feed the ducks. It was in the 70s everyday and beautiful! By the way, didn't I marry a handsome man!?One day we went to the Japanese Tea Gardens. Greg went around and around for nearly an hour to find us a parking spot! Finally he parked at the bakery we had stopped by earlier. What a champion!Sometimes Tyson will let me hold him. You have to capture the moment though! It's not every day!
Aunt Laurie made us a book for Christmas with all of the letters in it. This shot will be perfect for G--Grandma and Grandpa!Grandma and Tyson by the waterfall!We got to go to Sea World together and we had a blast! Especially Tyson who would jump and clap during the shows! He absolutely loved every second of it! Thank you so much Sandra!This shirt with fish is from Greg and Sandra. Every now and then he would point down on his shirt and say "fish!" It was cute!Isn't he getting big?Tyson had a good time playing with the chain/rope as usual! One thing I love about my mother-in-law is she is always willing to take the time to let a kid just enjoy themself. She is absolutely wonderful!Aren't these frogs cool? They are real and very poisonous! I think they're cute!

All in all it was a great week and even after trying to work off the extra weight gained from Greg's fabulous nightly desserts and going out to eat, I would still love to have them anytime they'd come! Thank you so much for a wonderful week! We felt absolutely spoiled!

Washington DC

So over Spring Break, Christian was able to go and present his summer research at a conference in Washington DC. Somehow I convinced him to take me and then we convinced the Riggs to come, too! It was so much fun! Be prepared for a ton of pictures to follow! The best part was being able to spend so much time with friends and family! I'm convinced the Riggs would make the best of roommates! Thanks guys for such a great time and for taking all of our pictures!Here we are in the airport ready for take off! Tyson slept the entire way there and half the way back! The last flight we got quite a few contemptuous looks and quite a bit of advice as we left the plane. Overall, I felt like it was a success!
They had the most beautiful gardens by the capitol building. Here is Tyson by one of my mother-in-law's favorite flowers! They made me think of you!
The National Museum of Art housed the only Da Vinci painting in the North American Continent. The lady had to tell us to "back away from the painting!" I was more impressed with the other artwork anyway!
One of the best parts about Washington DC is everything is free! Here we are checking our reflexes at the Air and Space museum...Lyndsay was by far the best!
There was so much to see and learn! Here I learned we were spying on the Russians from outer space which actually led to the end of the cold war as we could see they weren't hiding nuclear weapons from us! Science wins again!
Most of the museums had kids on field trips walking through and they all thought our babies were adorable! I don't think they have as many babies around there as other places! They all seemed surprised to see them!
Like father...
...like son!

When we toured the capitol building in Austin, we learned that Texas had sent two statues to DC. I thought that was really strange until we went to DC and realized that EVERY State had sent two statues to DC! That made me feel a lot better about Texas! Here we are by all of the States we can claim. Montana, the last best place!!
Utah...where I was born and where we fell in love :)
Texas--the place we have grown to love!Here we are in the Library of Congress taking a pit-stop for Tyson!!Here we are in front of the White House. Christian's old mission companion, Blaine, took this picture with his phone since you aren't allowed to bring ANYthing inside!This is the guy who set us up on the amazing tours we got to see! Thank you so much Blaine! We really had a wonderful time and owe you guys big time!
We got to tour the capitol building, the white house, see the original constitution, the Declaration of Independence (which was rolled up in the President's drawer for years!) tour the Library of Congress (one of the most architecturally beautiful buildings I have ever seen), all of the monuments (but our camera was out of batteries...too bad!), most of the museums, and even got our naps in most days! Thank you Blaine for setting us up with all of the tours! It was amazing to see the House and Senate at work and fall in love with America again. My favorite part was seeing the actual flag which inspired Francis Scott Key's "Star Spangled Banner" which was pieced together and preserved in the dark. Best of all was seeing Tyson and Christian together so much. Tyson would wake up the following week in the middle of the night crying, "Daddy! Where'd he go?" We both had to go through withdrawals with school starting up again!

Perspective

The other day I had the door open so Tyson could play outside and I could start cooking dinner. I glanced back at him and saw him pointing up at the sky and saying emphatically, "WOW!" Curious, I stepped outside to check it out. Usually there are birds or massive airplanes flying overhead, but I could see nothing! Finally, I put my arm around Tyson, crouched down at his level, and low and behold there was a huge swarm of mosquitoes just above his head. It was just another lesson to me on perspective! Look out for those bugs!!

On a side note, Tyson learned how to climb out of his crib last week! I put him down for a nap and twice I heard a thump followed by happy sounds of opening and closing his dresser drawers. This could mean trouble!!

Dollar Days!

The best part about the San Antonio Rodeo is that three or four days out of the month they have Dollar Days where hot dogs, drinks, cotton candy, carnival rides, and grounds admission all cost just a dollar each! (Parking, however, is a different story!)This year we got to go with the Riggs again and we had a blast!!Last year we brought "Flat Miley" with us everywhere as a favor to Lyndsay's niece. This year (in Lyndsay's own words) we brought "Puffy Kate!" She was adorable!!Tyson loved to see the animals in real life which he had only previously seen in books. Here he is checking out the pigs!The pig races were by far the most entertaining race I've ever seen! They were tiny and so much fun to watch race around the track!Here we are with the biggest cows the Riggs had ever seen! Mooo!The petting zoo was the best! There were pigs, chickens, lamas, donkeys, goats (of many different kinds), sheep, wallabies (thinking of you, Alisha!), ducks, and even deer. I was impressed that none of them showed any natural instinct at all besides hoping to be fed! It was amazing and Tyson loved it! The funniest part, though, was there was a gate behind which there were some ducks and Tyson kept climbing up the gate in hopes of reaching them! It was so funny!We had to take advantage of the giant boot at the entrance to the grounds! It was so fun for Christian to have a day off and for him to spend it with us at the rodeo! Thanks Babe! I love you!!

18 Months...Almost!

Happy half birthday to Tyson! He will be 18 months on the 13th and it really amazes me how much he has changed in so little time!
Here is a synopsis on Tyson. First, he is amazing! He learns so quickly and loves other kids. He is always trying to share his toys and snacks with his friends when they come over.

Example: A few weeks ago, my old roommate, Julie, came over and brought her little girl who is Tyson's age. As soon as she came in the door, Tyson ran to the piano and kept looking over his shoulder at her. Then, he ran over (well...walked as unsteadily as he could) to get his airplane toy, drove it up 6 inches from Alessa's face and pressed the button to turn it on. Then he just stared at her to see if there was any way she could even imagine a cooler toy! Alessa was groggy from her nap and was not impressed, so Tyson proceeded to get his shopping cart, truck, and another toy to show her. Later, he even tried to feed her his snacks (by hand). He just wanted to impress this little girl so much! It was so cute to watch but heart-wrenching at the same time to realize that for the first time in his life, what he wanted, I could not give him. I imagine I'll feel the same way when he turns 15 and wants to start impressing the ladies again! Here he is with another cute girl from our church! We have a friend, whose daughter by this age knew all of the States and capitals and where they fit on a map of the United States! While Tyson isn't as interested in his geography yet, he is picking up a few terms!

So far he can say fish, duck, milk, book, ball, sock, shoe, jacket, rock, tree, truck, car, bath, blanket, cheese, juice, cracker, cookie, pretzel (that one's new!), eye, no (he uses that one a ton!), mama (finally), daddy, green, purple, yellow, knock-knock, hello, bye-bye, please (prease), Jesus, bubble, hanger (strangely enough), whoa, uh-oh, bug, clap, lap, circle (although he doesn't know what it is) and snack.

He can also make the noises of a train (choo choo) car (beep beep), elephant, squirrel, owl, cow, sheep, pig, bird, dog, cat, horse, duck, snake, lion, bear, gorilla (more of an action), monkey, frog, and sometimes mouse.

He doesn't eat well (at all) but he has the sweetest temperament and is so patient with me. He has learned to leave his blanket in his crib (that one took a few tantrums) and loves to do things by himself. He also loves his shoes! Yesterday, in our rush to get to church on time, we forgot Tyson's shoes. When we were getting him ready for bed later that night, he saw them and wanted to wear them to sleep! We let him wear them for a little while but took them off before putting him in his crib. He wouldn't stop crying, so after a while I picked him back up and asked him what was wrong...apparently he was missing his shoes! At any rate, I'm glad I'm a mom! I love this little guy so much and feel lucky to be with him every single day!

Here is a video of him just the other day. I may be biased, but I think he's the cutest kid in the world!