Happy, Happy!

10 years ago today Greg asked me to marry him. Ten years! Ten GREAT years, I should say. He took me to dinner on the Riverwalk and then we took a casual stroll along the river. (Casual, HAH!) When we came to the Arneson River Theater we discovered that there was a show about to begin and we couldn't pass through. We had to walk up the stairs into La Villita, which was good, too. I mean, we were just casually strolling, right? We came to the plaza and sat on the edge of the fountain... and sat... and sat. Greg was acting a bit odd, and I soon found out why when he kneeled down and asked me to marry him. I was sitting up on the fountain and he was somewhere down way below. I bent down and gave him a kiss, and said yes. It was really a beautiful night for a stroll.

Here we are on the Riverwalk before dinner.

We went to Rudy's for lunch a few days later--can you tell I'm showing off the ring for the camera?

This is the famous La Villita fountain. If you come visit us we'll show it to you--and then we'll take you to Schilo's for homemade root beer... mmmmm... It's fun to be able to show our kids where Dad asked Mom to marry him.

Google Voice

If you take a look at the right side of the blog you will see the following button:

We are trying out Google Voice and it has this cool feature where all long-distance calls in the continental US are free. So click the button, type in your name and phone number and Google will call your number and call our number and connect us for free. Go ahead. Give us a call.

By the way, this button will call our home number, but it could be configured to dial any number we want, or even dial multiple phones at the same time.

Natalie's Birthday:Take 2

We also celebrated Natalie's big day with her birth mother, Shelby, who we love so much. Nat really hammed it up with the cake the second time around--she was a sticky mess by the time she was done, but oh, the good times!

Natalie's 1st Birthday: Take 1

Natalie is one year old! It's hard to believe she has been ours for a whole year now. How can I express our gratitude for her in our lives and in our family? We simply adore her, and we think she likes us, too.

We have a traditional birthday hat in our family. Nat wasn't real thrilled about the idea--this is the best picture we got.

"Here, Dad! Here's a Little People!"

We gave her a few licks of her cupcake, but mostly she wanted to remove the whipped cream from the top and put it on the table. Notice the nudity for quick and easy clean-up!

La Companera and Company

My mission companion, Audrey, and her family came to visit over 4th of July weekend and we had so much fun! It was fun to catch up after so many years and to get to know each other's kids. We went to San Marcos one morning and rode a glass-bottomed boat at Aquarena Springs, then went and swam in the river. The river was full of people and "phytonutients" (aka "big chunks of plant matter"), but the cool water felt wonderful on such a hot day. We even braved "the waterfall", as we called it, a water slide that has been created in the river. If you ever find yourself in San Marcos, TX, I highly recommend you check it out!

The boat ride was fun--we saw lots of turtles.

Ella and Natalie LOVED the river.

Here's Audrey mid-slide and me about to slide down. You can't really see it, but I have a "What have I gotten myself into?" look on my face.

Audrey made it through the wall of water, and I was about to go through it. And why, exactly, did I bother blow-drying my hair that day?

Curly Top Mop

That's one of my nicknames for Natalie. It's what I do--I nickname people. She is also (currently) Zoom-Boom (if you've ever seen her scootch across the floor on her bum, you'll understand that one), Beezoo, Chubbie (which she isn't), and Pretty Face.

Hors d'Oeuvres, Anyone?

Occasionally, while surfing the under-edited and woefully un-spell-checked Web, I find a gem that makes me stop and go, "Huh?" Here's one I found on Tripadvisor last night while researching an upcoming (like, next summer) trip to Florida:

"We just returned from a trip from Cayo Costa State Park and it exceeded our expectations. The 2 of us went tent camping. Please be advised there is not much shade since a lot of the shade trees were destroyed in Hurricane Charlie. I would suggest bringing a dining canapé."

I'm picturing these people huddled under a little toast triangle with a bit of cheese on top.