Photo Dump - Yay!

These pictures are random and don't have a lot to do with each other. But I'm going to share them for fun. Enjoy!

One of Eli's favorite things to do is line all his cars on top of this firetruck. 

Also, they are getting along in this picture!

Eli loooves the park! Sam studies where he can.

Sam took the boys to a father's/son's campout. 

They lucked out and had fancy tents and cots already set up.

The tents from the outside.

It was storming hard not too long before they went. 

I'm glad the weather cooperated when they arrived!

Dinner was provided by the Stake.

Our ward showed up! Theywere half of all that showed up for the Stake campout.

Joey made sure we went to the "S'more store" beforehand. 

What's a campout without roasting marshmallows?

Joey's Preschool graduation! 

His friends weren't there but he didn't seem to mind.

He received the citizenship award. I have no idea what he did to get it but why not!

Joey's fabulous teacher! She was an answer to our prayers.

NOW FOR A BUNCH OF SLEEPING PICS! (cue the aww's).

Eli doesn't nap often, but when he does, I try to document it.

With his puppy on our comfy couches.

After church is prime time for naps.

Not really sleeping but super cute!

A rare occurrence when BOTH are taking a nap. This was after putting a documentary on. 

Now I have a secret weapon when I know they are both tired.

Told you those couches are comfy!

NOW A SEQUENCE OF ELI'S FASHION SENSE.

Eli loves his brother's helmet.

Eli stole his friend's hat and goggles at the pool and looked too cool in his gear.

The Triple Binky look. He put those in himself.

There was a freak ten minute storm that knocked down a tree in our front yard and fell on our neighbor's house! You can see how alive it looked so it was a shocker for sure. It cost 2k to remove it and insurance decided it was a cosmetic thing to have it removed (even though it was on top of our neighbor's house!). So that was a bummer. Nothing to welcome us into home ownership like that.

I know I should have been watching them while Sam worked out but it was just too cute and hilarious to see these boys join in. 

For Independence Day we went to a breakfast hosted by our ward. After enjoying pancakes the boys participated in a "vehicle parade". We borrowed someone's scooter and they rode around the parking lot. 

That day also consisted of going to one of Sam's chief's house for a BBQ and we got to meet a lot of people in Sam's ophthalmology program. It was nice in that there were so many people with kiddos and we felt at home. We missed out on fireworks because of ANOTHER freak storm. Oh well.

And that is all folks! Sorry this post is so random!

Visit from Jeep Grandma and the Dunlaps

Our vacation this summer was a staycation, complete with a week long visit from Jess and her kids and Sam's mom, affectionately called "Jeep Grandma". It was soo fun to see everyone and to meet baby Sofie (I realize I don't know how to spell her name but am too lazy to ask before posting this, ha!) I'll give a day by day play with pictures.

Monday: Jess and Seb drove in the evening and Sam got off in time for all of us to meet downtown at the Riverwalk. The weather wasn't too bad (comparatively) with only a little drizzling. We decided to take a ride on a tour boat. Our former bishop is a tour guide and we learned you are supposed to tip the drivers. However, the tour guide was particularly rude to our family (calling us out in front of everyone for taking pictures, Hudson crunching a water bottle, and our kids' behavior in general- they were actually pretty well behaved in our books!) He surely didn't get a tip, and Sam went to talk to the higher ups about it. Sam wasn't able to get us a refund, but we can ride for free again. Sorry Jess and Seb for the trouble!

Then we decided to indulge ourselves with Dairy Queen ice cream and chat up while the cousins played. We should have listened to Seb on getting back up to our cars, since we ended up taking a good detour. We learned our lesson there! Then we ordered pizza delivery and enjoyed the rest of the evening until Sam's mom flight came in. Seb had to leave early in the morning, so a lot of the guests were pretty dead tired in the morning.

Riding the boat!

Baby Sofie is so cute!

Ice cream!

After picking a flower: "This is my favorite flower in the whole world!"

Tuesday: We got a decent deal on tickets to SeaWorld on base for our guests so we took advantage of our living so close to go three separate times! On Tuesday we went to see the Dolphins first at Discovery Point. After the dolphins we went to ride some kiddie rides before heading to the Ocean Discovery show complete with Belugas, dolphins, and...macaws! We meant to make it a show only day, but we spoiled that by letting the older boys ride the Atlantis ride. After that rides was all Hudson wanted to do! The little kids were so patient as we waited for all the rides. We ended up missing the orca show. Now hot and tired, everyone but Sam and Hudson left while they went on the big roller coasters that no one else could ride. That was fine though, because we ended the day with dinner at Chuy's and all I can say is...WHY have we not eaten there before? It was sooo yummy!

Beau and a dolphin.

It was fun to see them play.

One of the Macaws was right in front of us during the show.

Look how good these kids did while waiting for everyone!

The Rio Loco! (I got kicked off for being too pregnant. Too bad...)

Uncle/Nephew bonding time by getting soaking wet!

I've heard good things about Chuy's but, um, yum!

Nothing like a picture where there is food in everyone's mouths!

I told Sam it would be a legit restaurant if it had Hatch green chile and sopaipillas. 

It is a legit restaurant.

Wednesday: Back at SeaWorld! Beforehand we ate at McDonald's then headed straight for the Shamu show we missed yesterday. Managed to get fairly close without getting wet (although it might have been nice with how hot it was!) We also saw penguins, Pets Ahoy show, part of the Sesame Street show, and rode more kid friendly rides. The only ride that didn't mention pregnant women was the merry-go-round so that's what I did! I convinced Sam to take Hudson on more roller coasters since he was less than excited about our plans. What a trooper!

To end a fun but tiring day we grilled some steaks and veggies for dinner and rewound in our home. Can I just say how nice it is to have a house big enough that it doesn't feel that stressful when more than double the amount of people stay there?

Waiting for the show to start.

The biggest orca at SeaWorld: almost ten thousand pounds!

SeaWorld's newest roller coaster: the Wave Breaker.

Joey's first ride he was willing to go on.

You can see the regret on his face. 

You can also see how opposite Eli is.

Thursday: Sam had to go back to work so this day was just filled with shopping at the Dollar Tree, Walmart, and Costco. I honestly don't remember much of this day...but it was a nice change of pace from SeaWorld. For dinner I made pulled pork sandwiches!

Friday: We spent the day at Aquatica, SeaWorld's waterpark. It was a little harder to keep track of everybody here but we managed! Sam, Hudson, and Jessica only hit one water slide because of the long lines. The rest of the time there consisted of three kiddy pools, the lazy river, and touching sting rays. 

Jessica and Sam's mom were so kind to watch the boys while Sam and I celebrated our anniversary. We had a Cheesecake Factory gift card burning a hole in Sam's wallet, so that's what we did! The food was yum. We ended up with a Chocolate Tuxedo cheesecake to share. That was about all we did (we've been spending like crazy the past few months, so a nearly free date was all we were willing to to!)

Sam getting ready to have a little girl!

Eli's personality shining through (and notice that bump in the background!)

Petting some stingrays.

Our cheesecake!

Saturday: Sam's mom and sister threw me a baby shower! Since I am fairly new to the west side of San Antonio, I asked one of my friends from our old ward if we could hold it at her house so all the people I knew didn't have to go across town. So we trekked to the east side and I had fun being part of the planning. We had ham and cheese sliders, watermelon, salad, chips, and Italian sodas. It was fun to see some of my San Antonian friends I left behind! Thank you so much for the beautiful shower!

Meanwhile Sam had the task to watch all four boys. Sam took them to our neighborhood's pool to swim, then persuaded them to get out by promising donuts. What a great hubby! The rest of the day was making sure our guests were ready for their trip back to Albuquerque. 

A picture of the floral letter I made for baby girl's room.

Italian soda bar. The instructions turned out sooo cute, Jessica!

Cute girls enjoying the food.

Sam's family were the best guests! They washed all the dishes, folded laundry I never got to, watched our boys, and I noticed how much more organized the nursery was when they left. Not to mention how generous they are! And my boys loved all the cousin time. They left early on Sunday while Sam was asleep. Joey came in and when Sam asked if they left yet, he had the saddest face and said they did. Thank you for visiting us, especially in the hot, humid weather. Can't wait to see you guys again!

Eli is 2 1/2

Here's an update on our favorite 2 year old. 

I hope I don't forget any of the cute things this boy does, but here we go!

• Joey just about left the Paw Patrol train for sea creatures, but Eli is still going strong. As much as I don't like Paw Patrol, it's probably a good thing with how much Paw Patrol things we accrued in such a short amount of time. He loves dogs!
• He isn't the clearest talker, but he has a decent vocabulary. He seems to understand us pretty well and I get most of what he tries to tell me (I think). He has started repeating after us during family prayers and it is just soo cute!
• Eli is still attached to his binky, but I decided to wait to tackle that until after the baby is born. I have a feeling he will have a hard time since he is such a mama's boy and still loves cuddling with me (and only me). He will need familiar comfort!
• We thought about potty training and think he could be ready, but like the reason above, we'll wait until after the baby is born to not make too many changes for him.
• He is a major dare devil and always has bumps, scrapes and bruises. We learned to always have his floaties on him as soon as we are in the pool vicinity. We had a near drowning when I was distracted with the floaties in my hand!
• His favorite things to do includes reading books, playing with all his toys, watching Super Wings and Paw Patrol, and wrestling with his brother. Sometimes the last one is more fighting when they are both annoyed with each other. He tends to be the rough kid wherever we go and it's hard to teach him to be gentle (pray for our baby!)
• Eli is a big helper. He might not be obedient all the time, but when it comes to picking up or completing a task, he is my more motivated child. He doesn't need a lot of incentive to help out. Joey is a different story, but this post is about Eli, haha.
• He is a lot pickier than Joey was at this age. He is picky about clothes, what dishes we use, and food. Luckily the tantrums are dying down a little bit, but maybe it's because I've given up and pick and choose my battles. Paw Patrol slippers at church doesn't hurt anyone. Cereal for dinner? Whatever. 
• Eli recognizes a lot of letters, even some sounds, and can sometimes count to ten. He probably is interested in those things because Joey is learning them.
• Sometimes he naps, but I don't expect him to take one anymore. When he does it's because we were in the car and he slept through our taking him out and putting him on his bed. That's the only time he naps!
• He can be really sweet. He calls things cute, comes up to me and tells me "I love you, mommy", says thanks when we do something for him a lot of the time, is the best little cuddler, and is so forgiving of his parents and brother.

That's all I can think of now, but we love Eli! We'll see what he's up to by his third birthday.