uh-oh

I have had the best summer I can remember in a long time. As I've pondered that and wondered why, I've come up with one main reason it was so great: Our family spent a lot of time together!! :-)

Not only did we have the entire family together for a two week vacation, but Jamie is living in Raleigh instead of DC so I got to see her, Jenna didn't have school during summer session so I got to see her, Darin worked at the pool just down the street so I got to see him, Devin and Sarah and Delainey were around most of the summer, and Sarah had lots of pictures to take so I got to spend extra time with Delainey.

Today I got to spend the morning with Delainey while Sarah was on a shoot. (In case you didn't know Sarah has a thriving photography business--check out elainebellaphotography.com and see how talented she is!) As Delainey was eating breakfast, I was talking to her and decided it would be fun to run her through all her "tricks".

(Delainey's "ohh-noo" face)

She "meowed", "barked", and "mooed"; she clapped and stuck out her tongue; she made faces and showed me where her belly button was; then I remembered that she has learned how to say "uh-oh". So I said "uh-oh" to her so she would copy me. She looked at me with a quizzical look on her face and then looked at the floor around her high chair. She looked back at me, picked up a piece of watermelon, dropped it on the floor, grinned at me and said "uh-oh!". So cute!!

As I return to teaching seminary, preschool and piano, I will cherish the memories that I have from this summer and hope that they will hold me through the dark, cold months of winter....

Delainey fun....

While we were California visiting the Rose family, Jenna and Erik slept on an airbed--a really nice airbed! :-)

One morning Jenna, Erik and Darin thought it would be fun to put Delainey on it and bounce her around. Here's the resulting video--thanks for taping, Erik, and thanks for sharing...

hair today...gone tomorrow

When Jenna got married last year, she wanted her hair long enough to do an up do. Since then she's gotten her hair trimmed once or twice, but not big changes. I couldn't find a great picture of her with her long(ish) hair--she had in a ponytail most of the time we were traveling because of the wind and humidity but here's picture of her hair recently...

Today Jenna got her hair cut and it looks fabulous!!

Here's the back...

What a great new cut to start the school year!!

Darin at NCSU

The boy that leaves his shoes and books on the floor wherever he happens to be...

And fills my bookshelves with his "stuff"...

Now lives here:

I miss him...

Tu Cute!!

I stole this picture from Sarah's blog because it was just so cute!! Little Delainey is getting so big and we are enjoying every minute of it. I'm so blessed that they live so close and we are able to see them so often.

Sarah's Wedding

As mentioned in the previous post, Jenna's best friend, Sarah, got married in Texas over the weekend. Jenna was a bridesmaid so Jenna, Erik and I flew out to Texas. We love Sarah's family and they have been some of our best friends over the years. (They used to live in Raleigh.)

Sarah got married in the San Antonio LDS temple. It is a beautiful temple and it was so much fun to be there. There were lots of stained glass windows. Here's some that I got pictures of:


I only have a few pictures that were taken right after the wedding. It was about 12:30 and close to 100 degrees. I got to hold Sarah's cute little nephew, Deacon, and he was so hot so we tried to stay in the shade.

The entire wedding party
(and the "obligatory" kiss)
The Speirs family
Lauren and Josh Speirs, Bitsy and Jim Speirs
Sarah and Russ Brown, Shannon and Jake Speirs

That evening the reception was held at the Salt Lick Pavilion--a reception area of the Salt Lick Restaurant. The Salt Lick is a Texas barbeque restaurant outside of Austin, Texas. It is DELICIOUS!! We all really enjoyed their food. It was a beautiful reception!

Jenna and Erik at the reception

Jenna and Sarah

Erik and Jenna, Sarah and Russ
(Jenna and Erik got married last year on August 8
so Jenna and Sarah will share anniversary dates. )

Happy One Year Anniversary, Jenna and Erik!!

Lone Star State

On Thursday Jenna, Erik and I flew to Texas. Jenna's best friend, Sarah, was getting married and Jenna was a bridesmaid. The next post will have the wedding pictures--this one will be about Texas.

We started our sightseeing in San Antonio. First stop the Alamo... I knew the story of the Alamo, but it was much more powerful to stand inside the walls and hear it again. It reminded me that we all need to be willing to take a stand for the things that are right.

Next stop: The Riverwalk


The riverwalk in San Antonio is so much fun. There's a river that runs through a section of downtown San Antonio and along the river are tons of shops and restaurants. The river even goes into the Rivercenter Mall.

There are cool little fountains along the way:

To cross to the other side you have to go up the stairs and over a bridge and back down...We even took a boat tour of the area. So much fun! So hot!! :-)

(the boat in the background is what the tour boats were like...)

Final stop in San Antonio: Chris Madrid's


When Devin served his mission in Texas, he enjoyed going to Chris Madrid's. The walls are hung with signed t-shirts and near the cashier was a signed white shirt and tie from many of the missionaries that have visited. We didn't see Devin's name on the shirt--they must have added it after he was there...


Erik was able to handle a macho Jalapeno burger all by himself . (Yes, it's really called a macho--that's when there's a half pound of meat!) Jenna and I split a Tostada burger--delicious!!

We didn't do any sightseeing in Austin, but we were able to see my Aunt and Uncle and three of my cousins and three of their kids (sorry, Chris, to put you with the kids....). I'm so bad at remembering to take pictures though. I only have two pictures. The first one is of the four cousins together:

Susan, me, Cheryl, Dennis

This picture is of Susan (the youngest of the cousins and expecting her 4th boy in October) with her husband and two of her sons. Susan and her brother Steven grew up in Austin, Texas, while the rest of the cousins grew up in Oregon. It was always such a treat to see them when they would come visit.

Carter, Susan, her husband, Bill, and Max

Texas had more "green" that I thought it would--at least in San Antonio and Austin. We so enjoyed our trip and would love to head back there some day...

Another graduation for Darin

In June, just before high school graduation, Darin had seminary graduation. Seminary is a program for high school students in our church. They meet every school day morning to study scriptures. In Raleigh, they meet from 6:00 to 6:45 am so it's quite an accomplishment to do this for four years. Darin not only attended for four years, but he never missed a day!! Here's some pictures of him with some of his friends during the reception which followed the graduation:


Darin with his friends, George and Dean--both seniors as well


Darin and his "twin" Megan
(they were born on the same day and have been friends since they were babies)


Here's Devin having some fun with Daniel--Megan's brother
We've been friends with this family for years and they are
some of our most favorite people!!! :-)