Family Pictures-Take 1

So this year for an anniversary present, I wanted to take some nice family pictures. Jeff isn't a big fan of getting dressed up smiling for the camera. Fake and cheesy according to him, so this was a wonderful present to me. Well, I wanted to do them outside...mistake #1. Houston in August does not equal good outside pictures. To try and make up for that, I thought we would do them early in the morning (the lighting is better anyway)...mistake #2. Jeff was a great sport, but Harrison did not want to smile. It was early and we pretty much woke him up, threw some clothes on him and put him in the carseat where he kind of ate breakfast and then I wanted him to smile-what was I thinking! Then I straightened my hair for the pictures and we made it through about 2 poses before my hair soaked up the humidity and I didn't like any more pictures anyway. So we are going to try again soon.

Here are some shots from the day. I was going to photoshop them, but I want to wait until I do the second round of pictures, maybe in the evening with a well fed boy and in less humidity for my hair! I thought the lighting was great and I like our outfits with the coloring of the background. I think I am going to have someone there to make Harrison smile this time too.The best pictures of the day were the ones we did of just the 2 of us, but again my crazy, frizzy hair!!!

This is the best of the day and probably the only one I would think to frame. That is the closest to a smile we got from Harrison the whole time.





There is always next time...I just hope it doesn't take too long. I am planning on next week so look for more (and hopefully better) pictures to be coming soon.

Anniversary, Friends and Swimming

Blogging has taken a back burner lately but I am going to catch up...so we had our anniversary, 5 years! Where does the time go? We went to DC back in April as an "anniversary trip" and then the weekend before our anniversary, we got a babysitter for Harrison and went to the movies. We saw Inception. Good movie. So with our anniversary on a Thursday, we stayed home and made a really great dinner. We had steak, steamed veges and homemade onion rings. It was great!
I tried taking some pictures to remember the day, but I looked so tired and awful so this is the only one I even thought looked OK.
For dessert (that was what I was in charge of!) we had Chocolate Lava cakes! So great!
Then a little over a week ago I watched a friend's twins. They are older then Harrison by about 6 months, but they play really well together. I gave them each a drink and a bowl of Goldfish and they lined up like this...
I couldn't resist taking some pictures. They were so funny and really I don't understand why they sat in a row but I thought it was cute. And, I could not get all 3 of them to look at the camera at the same time. Guess I need an assistant when taking pictures of 2 or more children.
And we spent 5 days a week at the pool, almost without fail (weather permitting). We had our own neighborhood pool as well as a neighborhood across the street that we would visit as well.
Harrison is a regular water bug. By the end of summer (as least when they closed the pools for back to school) Harrison has mastered jumping into the pool, pool slides, kicking to swim, blowing bubbles, treading water and dunking his head under. He loves the water wings and I wish we got them sooner. I thought he would be to young but he loves it. And it makes the deep ends of the pool easier because I don't have to hold him the whole time. And when he jumps in, I don't have to catch him right away. He pretty much jumps in, comes up, swims back to the stairs and then repeats again and again. We get a big kick out of it.






He has no fear of the water and next year my plan is swimming lessons. Then he will know what he is doing and ease my mind a little when he jumps into the water and runs away from me to the slides and deep ends of the pool.
I hope everyone else enjoyed their summer as well!

Five Years Ago Today...

Five years ago today...I walked out of the Chicago, IL LDS Temple holding the hand of the love of my life. We were married for time and all eternity and I thought life couldn't get any better!



We were surrounded by friends and family. We had the love and support of our parents and couldn't be more grateful for everyone who was (and is) there for us.

We danced the night away and we were both so happy!
The only mistake I made that day was thinking that life couldn't get any better! It has only gotten better. We have grown so much these last five years. I have watched Jeff go from a wonderful person to the best husband to me and father to our little boy. Every day truly does get better.
I am so grateful for the eternity that we have together!

Library fun

With all the heat this summer we have tried to find fun, free things that involve AC. There is a lot to do here in Houston so we found our local library and attend their toddler singing/story time once a week. Harrison really enjoys this time and I even got him in the summer reading club. For the first 10 books we read (almost in 1 day), he got a certificate and a free board book. Then for each additional 10 he got a train to put up at the library. Once he reached 50 books, he got a medal. He always loves playing with my necklaces and Jeff's Marathon medals so now he has one all his own!

This is the face he makes when you ask him to smile.
Very proud of his medal.

Like I said, we go to a toddler singing time each week. Last summer it was pretty fun, but this summer he really interacts and remembers the things we do. We sing things like "5 Monkeys Jumping on the bed" and the "Wheels on the bus" and he gets to do the hand motions. His favorite BY FAR is the "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Pardon my not so well trained voice, but he is so cute I think it makes up for it. He was distracted by the camera but usually does the spider at the beginning as well as the end. But I think it is still pretty good (and funny!)

To the Park and Funny Hats

After such a fun trip to this great indoor park, we decided to head back later that week. I kept telling Jeff how great it was and how much fun Harrison had, so he came along too. That helped me be able to take more pictures then I normally am able to.

Harrison getting ready to go down the slide that is so big when compared to him, but he isn't scared at all!
Stopping on the hump and needing a little push...
Made it to the bottom. He went down this slide several times and every time he would get to the bottom, stand up and then jump off. I think he liked that almost more then the slide.
The way up into the maze of the playground.
There was an even bigger slide that involved climbing through all the tunnels to the top. In order for Harrison to make it, I went with him on his trial run. We are almost to the top!
Of course he loved it. I thought it was too fast for him by himself so Jeff got to go with him the next time. This place is huge. Jeff is in the orange shirt and Harrison is right in front of him.
Almost there...
and distracted. Just before the slide is a little ball. The thing wabbles all over and is just suspended there. I think it is pretty terrifying but Harrison loved it.
Finally they made it to the bottom.
When he wanted to go again and neither Jeff nor I wanted to climb through that maze again, I decided I would go down these slides with him instead. It was so much fun and I'm sure we will be back many more times.
Just a little fun side...every time Harrison eats a fruit cup, he lets me know he is done by making the empty cup into a hat. He thinks he is so funny.

And I'm sure my laughing at him every time just adds to that, but how could you not laugh. This little boy is cute and funny!