santa fe

we spent the last week in santa fe, new mexico with some of our favorite people.  we joined our church just at the time a new sunday school class was forming last summer.  over the past year we have become the directors of the class and have watched it grow from it's infancy to a large class of wonderful people who have quickly become some of our very best friends.  we are so happy to have such a special group to share our lives with, and this week, we got to spend time with a group of friends (and their kids) from our class.  it was so fun.

santa fe is a place jay and i both grew up going.  we have also been many times together, but this was our first time in a few years.  the weather is SO MUCH COOLER there!  we did things like wear long sleeves, jeans, even FLEECES, people, haha!  we saw rain, too, something we haven't seen in so long.  but my favorite part of going to santa fe (or any mountain town, for that matter) is the hikes.  every morning i got up, took a jog through town in the crisp, cool weather, came back, joined the rest of the crew, and we loaded up the kids and headed for the hills!  it was so much fun.

the second favorite item on the list in santa fe is the food!  holy geez, it's amazing. you can get green chilies on everything and i can assure you, i did.  give me that food, a nice prickly pear margarita and a porch, and i am in heaven.

and last, the shopping in this place is unreal.  indian market was going on while we were there, so we got to spend a lot of time perusing the galleries and enjoying art, plus beautiful handmade jewelry and lots of great clothes.  link made out like a bandit, of course.  and i came home with nada.  seems to be the case often, these days!

lunch at the shed - best enchiladas EVER.

cutest pic.  ever.

wait, maybe this is.  link and little finley shared a lot of kisses this trip!

the lean in

he is looking so grown up to me these days.  :(

all smiles.  he LOVED hiking.  

la bamba at rancho de chimayo.

ellie, link, and finley. best buds.

no more photos, mom!  for real!

prickly pear margies and capri suns all around, please.

so thanks to camille, scott (aka ezra), cameron, garrett, scott d, audrey, and of course to little finley and sweet ellie, for such a fantastic trip!  we loved every minute of it, especially the beautiful time at the house in the evenings.  can't wait to play "celebrity" again soon.  hopefully the cops won't show up this time (true story, we were being so loud playing a game that the neighbors called the cops on us! and at like 11pm on a saturday night! whoops, but i think the cops were more embarrassed than we were when they saw the "wrecking crew" they were coming to bust - pretty lame for them, i'm sure.  we mentioned to them that there were three babies asleep in the house and they just mumbled something about seeing toys and strollers and walked off.  :)).  haha.  anyway, love you guys!  thanks for sharing in a great week.

it's getting hot in here

i am normally a defender of summer, but HOLY GEEZ!  this is frickin' ridiculous!  we are about to set a record for the longest heat wave (temps over 100) ever, and man does it feel like it.  however, i will still take this over living somewhere that it's cold a lot of the year.  at least we have plenty of sunshine and can still (somewhat) enjoy the mornings.  after all, when i finished my morning run at 8am it was only 85 degrees!  haha.

we have been spending a lot of time outside before lunch.  all of our time, in fact, to attempt to keep link and me from going crazy being stuck inside all day long.  because post-nap time is ROUGH coming up with things to do with a boy and mom who would much, MUCH rather be outside playing.  luckily we like to read and do puzzles for short periods of time and again lucky that link takes a long nap (1-4pm most days) so there is typically only about an hour until dinner when he wakes up!!

yay for rhodes and drew and their kaycee pool!  we love it there!

on our way to the circus on saturday - notice the sign, shout out to our champs, the mavs!

link touching every over-priced junky toy there.  oh joy!

clapping for the motorcycles (which were AMAZING)

link playing with one of the over-priced toys mentioned above :)

walking in from the circus.  wiped out!

mid morning trip to the park

tree hugger

water!  what is this stuff?!

we heart one arts plaza

so there's some of our beat-the-heat-cheap strategies.  we also do the spray park, play in the water hose while we water the trees, go to the gym, and visit hunny and papa.  what are some of yours?!  looks like this will be going on for a while.  we are really, REALLY looking forward to our vacation next week...off to cool temps and beautiful scenery!  until then we will be in the a/c or in the water!  :)

seaside 2011

we got back yesterday from a week long vacation to seaside, florida.  this has quickly become a family tradition in our house that we hope to make as many years as possible.  this year, we were able to go with my brother, jarrod's family and my parents as well.  it was so much fun having so many of us together under one roof for a full week (although of course, we missed josh's family oh-so-much!).

we played in the sun, enjoyed the cooler (yes, it was much cooler!) temps, and just enjoyed our time away from it all.  and by all, i mean ALL!  we didn't even get in a car after being dropped off by the car service from the airport until we left for the airport seven days later.  golf carts, bikes, and our own feet were our transport and i LOVE that.  i love not having my phone on me, a watch, worrying about schedules, oh-so-lovely!

we are so thankful for DFW play areas!

evening chat on the porch with the fam

link cooling off  :)

fried pickles + ranch dressing = genius.

i think jay is going to sell his car and get one of these big golf carts.  seriously.  so fun.

the boys playing games after dinner

at bud and alley's for our anniversary dinner - 4 years!

celebrating my sweet dad's 29th - err, 69th, birthday!

papa, or "boppa" if you are link :)

divine.

our little life guard

link's little beach house

blowing off steam during the professional photog shoot

link ADORED our photographer.  she could just smile at him and he would giggle.  (none of those pictures are here - these are iphone pics!)

link was full of kisses for the camera.  my adorable little show off.  :)

last day on the beach

jay and i hung out at the adult pool during link's naps while my mom babysat.  glorious.

link and his big cousin, kyle, who he calls "tra-tra" :)

fake smile?  this is so cheesy, we were cracking up.

movie night

concert night on the lawn

it was such a fun, fun trip!  i always say an actual goodbye to that beautiful stretch of beach when i leave with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat.  seaside, we will see you next year!!!  LOVE THAT PLACE!!!!

time flies

he was what, maybe 22, 23 inches long in that first pic?  now he is 37 inches tall, wearing a size 9 shoe, a 4T top, and is stronger than anyone i know.   oh, and nearing two...ever heard that term, "terrible two's?"  i always thought that was a joke.  uh-uh, nope, no, sure isn't.  the tantrums are here and my goodness, can he throw them.  jay and i can't seem to figure out why, i mean neither of us are opinionated or outspoken or anything (if you can't see the sarcasm, you don't know us too well), haha!  alas, have been refining our disciplinary tactics and trying to laugh instead of cry.  because some days, i don't know which one is more appropriate.  :)

we are still having a blast and with all the craziness, realizing that at some point we will miss all this, or at least laugh at it.  the weak knees and refusal to walk while throwing a tantrum in a public place, wanting me to hold him or hold his hand as he takes me to every individual water spout at the spray park, and even the crawling atop every piece of furniture in our house and attempting to dance (hoping this isn't a fast forward 18 years to college frat parties?!)...yes, we will miss all of it.  and sometimes i need to write it down, just to remember it.  :)

oh, did i mention he has been falling asleep again fairly often in the morning, like for two naps?  the above pic was taken after my morning jog, at like 9am!!!  maybe if he slept past 6am he wouldn't be sleepy at 9??  :)

the new water table, link's personal hot tub

dancing on the dining room table, then counting to three and jumping.  yes, this is one of the disciplinary things we have "reviewed" (ie put a stop to!)

  "talking" with his bear friend at lakeside park tonight.  a very sweet moment.  :)