The Last Few Weeks

The last few weeks have been full of sunshine and swimming and visits from Ben's parents! Cynthia came to visit us on Memorial Day weekend and we had an awesome time going to the Austin Zoo. Here are some of the pictures from our visit:

The peacocks are allowed to roam free throughout the zoo, and they are extremely LOUD. Haha. But we had a great time looking at all the animals. It was the perfect day to go because most of the animals were out and about and super active.

This last weekend Ben's dad came to visit us and we went swimming and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Jamie and April absolutely love the pool. We have already spent so much time swimming this summer.

Granty Grant is home!!

My brother Grant recently returned home from a two year church mission in Madagascar. We went to the airport to greet him. The girls were pretty wiggly and anxious, but they toughed it out. We are so excited that he is back home in Texas with us for the next month before he goes to BYU for school.

Jamie wanted to match me at the airport in case anyone's wondering why our outfits are so similar. April can say, "Gant" pretty well, along with "Gami", "Gampi", and "Lala" for Alli. Every time I say that we are going to go to Grami's house, she asks me if everyone is going to be there. "Lalala?" always comes first. Haha. We are all so happy to have Grant home safe and sound!

What We've Been Doing with All Our Free Time

We got to attend the annual Buda Wiener Dog Festival this year. The girls had a great time, and Jamie still talks about her first pony ride. She was so brave! We did the petting zoo too, and of course we watched a lot of the races. Those wiener dogs are so hilarious when they run.

April got to ride "Big Blackie" at Grami's house. She was a little jealous that Jamie got to ride a pony and she didn't. April totally would have done it, too! She has such an adventurous spirit.

We've been playing at our neighborhood splash pad and pool as often as possible. The water is still super cold, but when the sun's out it's just barely hot enough to get wet.

I took the girls to sign Jamie up for swimming lessons this summer. She is super excited about it. We walked behind the Parks and Recreation building to "Lake Kyle" to share some fruit snacks. You can't swim in the lake, but it's nice and breezy and the girls enjoyed watching for ducks.

Jamie is getting to be such a great swimmer. She swims all over our pool with her puddle jumper on.

Ben and I went to Johnny Carino's to celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary. Afterwards we went to a live theater production of "Hamlet". Food and theater are two of our favorite things.

Finally, I did my sister Alli's makeup for Mormon Prom! She looked beautiful in her gorgeous dress.

I've Forgotten How to Do This . . .

My brother Grant is nearing the end of his church mission to Madagascar! He will be home in just a few weeks. For the past two years I have had an excuse not to have a blog/keep a journal. I write letters to my brother and save them on my computer and call it good. That's journal writing! That's record keeping! My plan is to take all of the letters I wrote to my sister while on her church mission from 2012-2013 and all the letters I wrote to my brother while on his church mission from 2014-2016 and compile them all into a journal/hardback book. That way when my kids ask me years later what was going on in our lives during that time, I can pull out that book and show them! And now that Grant is coming home, I am trying to make more of an effort to blog so that I don't lose that habit. You have to start somewhere, right? The most recent pictures I have are from Easter. So here's a few:  

 

Meeting the Easter bunny. Jamie and April were half terrified/half fascinated by him.

 After our wonderful Easter Sunday at church. I loved all the bright colors of our dresses.

 Decorating bunny cookies at Grami's house!

 Hunting for eggs in Grami and Grampi Garcia's backyard.

 April was really getting into it with Auntie Alli's help.

 Found one!

 Trying to get a group shot.

 We love spending time over at my Mom and Dad's house and the girls love it too. We had a wonderful Easter!

Summertime is Here!

It's officially summer here in Austin. It has been for the past few weeks, I guess, but it's finally hot enough to swim! I wasn't sure how Jamie was going to like the water, but we've had a few successful swims already so I think she likes it! It usually takes her about 5 minutes to get used to it and then after that she seems to enjoy herself. We got to go swimming with my mom, sister, and brother and I got some great photos. The water was so clear and beautiful and the perfect temperature. Ben hasn't been able to go swimming with us yet because he's been studying for the BAR, but I'm hoping this weekend we can go as a family! And just in case you were wondering, Jamie has 4 different swimsuits. She is so stylish. All of them were given to her, though. My mom gave her two, the Lira family gave her the cute pink and blue one, and then she also has a super cute ruffly one that the Thorley family gave her. Check out how much fun we had:

This little inflatable swim tire thingie was a garage sale find for 50 cents. She loved it!

Jamie and her Aunt Allison.

On a different day we went to Roy G. Guerrero park and swam in this amazing beach area that I wish Ben and I had known about years ago! The water is nice and shallow and so clear. There were actually kids building sandcastles, too!

Here's a shot of us after swimming. Jamie always smiles at the camera if you go, "One, two, three!" I have trained her well, I think. We're excited for more opportunities to swim this summer!

Bows and Frills

So Ben has this thing against hair bows. He doesn't think that Jamie should ever wear them under any circumstances. I, however, feel that bows only add to her beauty and they complete her outfit. So, whenever Ben is away on campus, and I feel so inclined, Jamie and I do a photoshoot and she gets to wear bows. Tell me, do they compliment her outfits? Are they outrageous? Is Ben right?

New "Bee"ginnings

I made these centerpieces for our Young Women. Their New Beginnings program is this upcoming Tuesday for mutual. Angela Araya said I needed to post them because she liked them so much. Oh, all right! I'm not a very crafty person, but I came up with this idea on my own, and I was pretty pleased with how they turned out. In case you can't tell from the pic, the vases are filled with Honeycomb cereal. Super easy to make and fun, too! I hope the girls like them. :)