Birthday, Books & Thanksgiving

We joyously celebrated Matt's 30th birthday this month! Michael and I suprised him by decorating his cubicle at school. He came home early and we enjoyed a lovely walk in Memorial Park and had an early yummy dinner at a Thai food resteraunt. And before he got his last present that night, he had to find 30 hidden kisses, each with an attached reason why I love him. (Thank you Megan for the great idea!)

Thirty Things I Love About Matt

1. I love your sense of humor.
2. I love you because you bring me flowers “just because”.
3. I love hearing you make Michael laugh.
4. I love to sing with you.
5. You’re the world’s best fajita maker.
6. I love you because you don’t mind leftovers.
7. I love you because you do your home teaching faithfully.
8. I love that you take out the trash without being asked.
9. I love that you make the bed every morning.
10. I love you because you keep up with my car maintenance.
11. I love your gift for poetry.
12. I love learning new things with you.
13. I love you because you help with the dishes.
14. I love your dedication to providing for our family.
15. I love your puns!
16. I love your buns!
17. I love your manly physique!
18. I love your beautiful brown eyes.
19. I love you for serving others.
20. I love that you never criticize me.
21. Your mathematical mind amazes me.
22. You’re a handy-dandy handy man.
23. I love going on "adventures" with you.
24. I love our long walks in parks together.
25. You’re a totally suave dresser.
26. I love your musical taste.
27. You’re my personal computer genius.
28. I love it that you don’t mind giving me pedicures.
29. I love your back massages.
30. I love you for being you!

We spent Thanksgiving this year with my family. As always, my mom out-did herself with tons of delectible dishes, but the best part, of course, was being with each other. With all of the extended family driving and flying in, we had over 40 people there for dinner! We were especially excited that Matt's family drove up for the occasion. (I meant to get pictures of all of the food. --All of the kitchen counters were packed, not to mention the dessert tables (yes, that's plural!)

One exciting event: Michael had his first "major" accident at Nana's Thanksgiving night. I had laid him on the bed to change his diaper and turned for a quarter of a second to get the diaper. Before I could grab him, he was off the other side. He hit his head pretty hard on the bedside table and it swelled into this ugly purple bump. But by the next day, it had gone down considerably (as the picture attests) and now it's almost completely healed. (Thank you to all the other mothers present who reminded me that 1) falling off the bed is a right of passage for all young children and 2) I am not a bad mother for letting it happen.)

Friday morning, we headed down to San Antonio to spend a day with Matt's family, and Matt & I were able to slip away to attend the temple there. Michael had a blast playing with Grandma and Aunt Sarah and chasing around Aunt Rachel's two cats.





We came back to Houston Saturday and life is pretty much back to normal. Matt is bearing down even harder as finals begin next week. I know he'll do great, but he's understandably stressed.


I put up our Christmas decorations on Monday and Michael is fascinated with the Christmas tree. We walled it off in a corner with furniture and boxes, but he can just reach a few of the branches. It's enough to keep him satisfied, for now.


Within the past few weeks, Michael has started "cruising" along furniture and today he even held his balance standing up for 5 seconds! I'm assuming he's going to be walking by Christmas, so Nana and Rachel: consider this your warning for the beloved pets in your lives! We also discovered upon our return that Michael's top teeth are coming in. One has poked through completely, and the other isn't far behind. He is turning into a pro-eater and, while he doesn't always enjoy eating new foods, he certainly loves playing with them!


Michael has also developed a passion for reading! Several weeks ago, he started turning the pages to books as I read to him. And when we get to the end, he immediately flips it back to the beginning and we have to start all over. Now, he's even bringing books to me. If I don't notice right away, he gives a little whimper until I pick him up and start reading to him. As you can see from the picture, this past week, he's also discovered the fun of pulling all of the books off the book shelf in his room.

Last thing: Stacie and Tina, as promised, here is the recipe for Vern's Sugar and Spice cookies. Enjoy!

Sugar & Spice Cookies

3/4 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. sorghum or molasses
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
3/4 tsp. ginger.

Cream together the sugar and shortening. Add the egg and molasses. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Roll into small balls and dip in Turbinado sugar. Bake for 10 mins. at 350 degrees.

Major League Minor

We took Michael around to a few houses to trick-or-treat and it didn't take him long to figure out what he was supposed to do --go for the candy!!!



We had a blast at my cousin Tina's Halloween party. Michael got to play with his twin cousins Caulder (the skeleton) and Amelia (the flower).

Daddy's Little Monster --One of Michael's favorite tricks now is to show off those two front teeth. His top two teeth are about to come in any day now.

Caught in the act!



Look what we found down by the crick!



Michael went to his very first football game November 1st and got to see his cousin Christina play in the marching band. Go Stratford Spartans! I'm not sure if they actually won (we left after half-time) but it was fun. Understandably, he was a lot more interested in the band and the flag girls' sparkley pom-poms than the football game.

We survived Ike!

In case you were all wondering, we got through Hurricane Ike just fine. We actually evacuated Houston at 6 a.m. Friday morning (before the terrible traffic jams started) and weathered the storm at my parent's house near Austin. Thursday afternoon, lines at gas stations stretched into the streets, and there were peole waiting hours for only to find that the gas tanks had run dry. Luckily, Matt went out late that night to withdraw some emergency cash from the ATM and right as he was about to leave, an oil truck drove up to make a delivery at the gas station across the street. He was the first in line to fill up his car, then he came home and drove back to fill up my car. We count it as a great blessing to have been in the right place at the right time. So many other people could leave the city just because there was no gas to be had. Our trip to Austin was pretty uneventful. It was a nice break from school for Matt, and we enjoyed spending time with family despite wondering what we were going to come back to. We were glued to the news reports all day Saturday as they showed pictures of what was going on back in Houston and Galveston. Actually, the Austin area didn't even get a drop of rain --just a couple of strong wind gusts. Matt's parents and brother Ben came to visity Sunday, so it was nice that we got to visit a little with everyone. Matt's classes started up again the following Tuesday, so we drove back Monday afternoon to find that our electricity had come back on just a few hours earlier. Again, we were among the lucky ones. There were people in our ward who just got their power back on last week.--They went 18 days without electricity!!! Besides having to boil our water for the next few days, we really didn't have any problems. Our apartment complex had several trees uprooted, minor roof damage, and water damage from water being blown under window sills. Thankfully, our area was spared major damage, but I did take a few pictures of things within 1/2 mile of us. There were branches and limbs down all over every yard. All in all we were very blessed through the whole ordeal. Our prayers continue to go out to those who suffered greatly!

In happier news . . . Michael has finally mastered the art of crawling after spending the past month or so scooting around on his belly. He loves being able to follow me around the house and is becoming an expert at picking things up from the kitchen floor. (I suppose I ought to start sweeping on a regular basis now . . .)

He has also started pulling himself up on furniture, the sides of his crib, and on our knees. The picture is his first success. Matt had put him in the bathtub while he was doing some things in the bathroom and Michael just pulled himself right up. He was very proud!

First Day at the Beach

Hey everyone! We had an exordinarily exciting past week. First, Michael got his first tooth in. It finally poked through the gum last Thursday. (Sorry no pictures yet. If you try to open up his mouth, he sticks his tongue out so you can't see anything.) I don't think it means much to him yet, but his parents are pretty proud. --And, it's funny with all the extra saliva in his mouth he's been making lots of raspy-gurgling sounds which are soooo cute!



For the last few weeks, he's been struggling to get up on all fours and is now doing really well getting up and down and wobbling back and forth, but he hasn't tried to move his hands while he's up yet. Instead, he's finally learned to use his feet to scoot on his belly. He hasn't gone very far yet, but I think within the next few weeks, he'll be able to get from one end of the living room to the other.



We have a keyboard we keep down on the floor for him to play with and he loves it!!! He uses his hands, his feet, his nose, and will even use a random plastic toy to bang out the most unique melodies. We're absolutely certain he is a child prodigy and are planning on signing him up for piano lessons as soon as he learns to use his fingers independantly. :)


Also last week, we had to deal with the most horrendous smell coming from our refridgerator. After several calls and visits from the apt. maintenence folks, we finally got a brand new refridgerator put in a few days ago. Our best guess is that a huge rodent of some sort (it was way too stinky to be a little mouse) got caught underneath and died. Anyway, our whole apartment became unbearable to live in so we spent as much time as we could out of it.



Friday night, Michael and I met Matt down at the U of H and he showed us around campus. Michael loved watching the fountains!



Last Saturday, Matt took the day off and we headed down to Galveston where Michael got his first taste of the sea --literally! He loved the sand (playing in it and eating it), but the waves kind of freaked him out. But it was a fun adventure for Mom and Dad too. We stayed on the beach to watch the moon and stars appear and enjoyed watching the crabs come out and dance across the sand.




Matt and I would love to back, but I think we'll have to wait until after Michael is past the crawling and "let's stick everything in my mouth as fast as possible" stage.





Sunday after church, we headed straight over to my uncle Eddie's house and spent the day with his family. It is sooo nice to have family close by! Unbeknownst to us, we moved into some apartments right next to the neighborhood where my cousin Tina lives. We're within walking distance so we've been enjoying going on morning walks together.



Just a cute picture --Michael helps out with the laundry.

What a month!!!

What an incredibly busy month we've had! So much has happened, I don't know if I'll be able to fit everything in, but here it goes ...




With Matt quitting his job at the end of July, we had a little extra time to spend as a family, so did some fun things around Austin, including going to beautiful Zilker Botanical Gardens. This was where Matt and I took our engagement photos in the middle of winter 2007. As pretty as it was then, it is glorious now at the height of summer! Matt and I loved it, and I'm sure Michael would have too if he hadn't slept through the entire thing.









We were also able to go down to San Antonio to celebrate Matt Sr. completing the bar exam. After three years of dedicated study, it was a joyous occasion for the whole family! I also think it helped me put Matt going to law school into better perspective. --Yes, it will be three hard years, but there will be an end!






The week before we moved, my brother Jeremy came down from Ann Arbor with his family for a visit. We hadn't seen them in over a year so it was a lot of fun being together. It was especially fun to have Michael meet his cousin Hunter who is just 6 weeks older than he is.

Michael caught his first cold from his cousins, a time I had been dreading. But thankfully, it was a pretty minor case of crusty nose and, with all of them sick, I could just let him interact with his cousins and not worry about it.



One of the days they were there, we all went to Inter Space Caverns in Georgetown. Matt and I had fun toting Michael around in a carrier. We were pretty amazed that he didn't fuss at all. I think he's so interested in seeing new things that it never occurs to him to be scared.




Over the weekend, we had a family reunion of sorts. My brother Joel came down from Ft. Worth with his family, Alison had gotten home from Provo the week before, and Stephen came up from San Marcos. So, everyone in the family was there.




All five cousins! This was a fun shot to take. Try getting five active little kids to all look relatively happy and in the same direction all at the same time. If it weren't for digital cameras, we would have gone through a least two rolls of film.

After our week of fun, Monday the 11th, we got down to the work of moving. With lots of help from our family (including Jeremy and Megan on vacation) and members of our (church) ward, we loaded up a huge 24" moving van. Looking at the inside of the empty truck, I didn't think we would even come close to filling it up. But, we ended up using every bit of space. Who knew we had so much stuff?!



Tuesday morning we headed for Houston in a caravan. Matt drove his car (noone else could drive a manual), Jeremy drove my car, Alison drove her car (so Jeremy would be able to get back), and I got to drive the truck (I felt like quite the trucker mama). Matt's dad and brother, Ben, met us at our new apt. to help unload, along with my uncle Eddie who lives in Houston and some missionaries from our new ward. This is what we had to face after they unloaded. Two weeks later, we've gotten settled in fairly well and it's starting to feel like home.



Michael has been amazingly cooperative with all the changes and Mom and Dad being stressed out. He really is an amazing boy. We just celebrated his 6 month birthday with lemon cupcakes, of which he got to enjoy a few crumbs. Also on his half-birthday, he had his 6 month check-up with a new pediatrician here in Houston. Always the ladies' man, he made quite the first impression by peeing in her face as she was examining him!



During the past month, Michael has become quite adept at sitting up on his own and is enjoying playing by himself more. (This makes life much easier for me.) He loves bathtime and trying new foods. (He's liked pretty much everything he's tried except strawberries.)



I believe his most favorite passtime of all, however is still sucking on things. He's moved beyond his binkey now to sucking on his feet, his shirt, and anything else within reach.

Smoked Texas Barbecue!

AND... I've also been expanding my companies. Here's my latest Texas Barbecue variant. They sent us some ribs, sausage, and brisket which was absolutely delicious. We fed some to Jennie's dad, the LDS Missionaries, and a few others. It was too much barbecue for us to eat all at once. The brisket was really the most amazing thing, you could cut it with a fork it was sooo soft.

Off to Law School

Well, I've done it. I'm going to law school. I got my acceptance letter in June and I've been working hard to get ready for it ever since. My Austin Search Engine Marketing Company, Apogee-Search is obviously sad to see me go, but that's life. I really hate to leave the SEM world, this has been my best job ever! It's been an interesting decision to make - leave the best job you've ever had for something that might not be as exciting... but could be even more so!

At any rate, we're moving to Houston, the Galleria area. If you want our address just call/email us. School starts August 25th. It's been interesting getting our loan situation all squared away in this rough economy. I told Apogee I was leaving before they were secured, and we're still waiting on the last 1/3rd to come in, but at last we've at least gotten the bank to accept our faxes.

4th!

Michael celebrates the 4th! He has loved playing with the balloon Nana got him for Independence Day. It seems to get more fun for him as the helium has escaped and he can actually grab hold of it. We spent the 4th of July weekend with Matt's family in San Antonio. They were kind enough to watch Michael for us while Matt & I went out to dinner Friday night, and we loved spending all day Saturday with them.






My nephew and niece, Cole and Kylie, came to visit Nana for a week. Michael and I had lots of fun with them at the Georgetown library one day. The children's room there is a magical place for kids --even without the magic show that was going on.





This past weekend we got to spend the whole day with Dad! Due to a martial arts injury, Matt made an appointment for acupuncture and Michael and I accompanied him. It was really cool to see them stick the needles in. (No, there was no blood involved!) The needles they use are hair-width, and Matt didn't even feel a lot of them go in.




Next, we had a picnic lunch under a gazeboo overlooking a beautiful goldfish pond. (Sorry, I didn't think to take a picture.) Then we headed down to UT campus and toured the Natural History museum. Michael thought the dinosaurs were okay, but most enjoyed the beautifully colored rock specimens they had. Next, we walked over to the LBJ library to see several exhibits there, including a space rock (pictured) and some amazing presidential gifts from around the world.




It's been a while since we've made a picture of all of all three of us together, so here we are in my parent's front garden.