Birthday Parties!!!

I flew home to beautiful Utah and left my husband all alone for two weeks to finish his last tests of his first year of medical school. He's almost done and I seriously can't wait for him to get here and have as much fun as I'm having. (cause honestly I feel a little guilty leaving him all alone.) He was so nice to let me come.

My little niece, Eve, turned one last week and her party was so cute! It was a berry theme...



Eve's cute little berry dress was the inspiration for the party.

I'm always amazed at what Addie can accomplish with three kids! They have such a fun family!



Eve didn't eat too much of her cute cupcake. I don't think she like having an audience...


Cute friends...



Richard is probably the hardest child to photograph. He is always on the move. He is so much fun though!
Rex is the best biggest brother!


It's been so fun to spend time with my cutest sis Natalie. She's going to be a sophomore in high school next year! ahhh!



Rex's 5th birthday was a couple of days after Eve's. Birthday Marathon! Rex is getting so big. He is so sweet to his little sister and not so sweet to his little brother Richard. He likes to tackle and tease Richard, but that's what big brothers are for. Whenever he faces a problem, he wants to pray about it and ask Heavenly Father about it. He is such a smart, sweet, and fun boy! We are so lucky to have him in our family.


He was pretty excited about the cupcakes.

The boys had bouncy races down the hill...

Played the ring toss...


Threw water balloons at each other and the fence. (The favorite activity of the party. Of course...they're little boys!) We couldn't fill up enough for them!


Hit the pinata......
And filled their little bags with lots of candy... (another one of their favorite parts)

Ate cute shark cupcakes with their little party hats on...

Opened presents...

and even posed for a few pictures!


Happy Birthday to my Eve and Rex! I love you guys!

Memorable Memorial Day

I love the holidays where you get a Monday off. It always makes the weekend feel so much longer (on Saturday you're only half way done) and the following week so much shorter. It's like 2 for 1!

We went to Austin for our long weekend to check out the city we had heard so much about. Everyone says it's the place to be in Texas. It was a really pretty city with lots to do. If it wouldn't have been 99 degrees outside, it would have been much more pleasant to walk around and see the sights. Mitch has extreme heat sensors so he started sweating at about 7:30 am during our run and didn't stop sweating until about 7:30 at night.

We ate at the Shady Grove which was a very cute restaurant with some true Austin folk. We noticed that facial hair is really in there and a lot of people were wearing shirts that said "Keep Austin Weird" on the back. Very nice and helpful people all around.



The next morning, we went running around Lady Bird Lake downtown, along with every other runner/walker/biker/dog around town. It was packed!! But still beautiful.

Lady Bird Lake

It's amazing to me how many "Lone Star" symbols are all over Texas. From huge Texas flags flying solo, to the small almost unnoticeable details. Texas pride is alive and well!

We took a walk around historic 6th Street in the blazing heat. Mitch had to go in every few stores, not to shop, just to cool off.

Here's what we found in one of the very classy shops...

We were tempted to buy it but it was a little out of our price range.

We walked up and went through the State Capital. I read in a visitor's brochure that it is "rumored" to be taller than the Nation's capital. How can it be rumored? Just measure it already?!


Notice once again the Lone Star up at the top...

Good old Davy Crockatt

We saw some pretty houses built in the 1800's...

We drove up to Lake Travis and finally cooled off in the swimming cove. So fun! We were pretty jealous of all the boaters and were thinking about hitchhiking our way onto one of the boats. Mitch swears he almost got attacked by an alligator/fish that nibbled his stomach. I think it was just my swim skirt.


On the drive back to Houston, we stopped to take some pictures of the beautiful drive. It reminded me of my ranch in Wyoming with the cattle, horses, barns, hay bales, and beautiful sunset. I have spent most Memorial Days up at my ranch with my family, so it was a nice reminder of that.

On Monday Mitch had school off of course, and I'm already out for the summer, so we headed down south to Surfside Beach! It was a perfect day at the beach with big waves and lots of sun.

Mariah and Brad had us over for a Memorial Day BBQ with a new couple that moved in the ward from Provo. When we were helping move them in, Daniel asked Mitch if he had family living in Provo and Mitch said yes. Daniel asked him is your brother BJ? He could tell they were brothers just by looking at him. They had just moved from BJ and Amanda's ward into our's in Houston. What a small world! They are a great family.



While we're in Medical school, we take advantage of even the smallest breaks! Gotta love Memorial Day.