Memorial Day Weekend

We had a very relaxing, very productive holiday weekend! We (Luke) got tons of yardwork done! We're totally redoing our front flower beds so Luke spent all weekend ripping out grass and vines, rewiring sprinklers and leveling dirt! We got new patio furniture for the backyard so we also spent some time putting that together. The best part of the weekend.....grilling! We grilled out each and every night! Friday night's menu consisted of chili dogs and brats, Saturday was ribs, cheesy hashbrowns and salad, Sunday was Luke's award winning tri-tip with potato casserole and salad and tonight was teriyaki chicken with mashed sweet potatoes and key lime pie for dessert! This was key lime pie take II.....I made one on Monday but as I was moving it to the wire rack to cool after taking it out of the oven it caved in and fell to the ground! I was sooooo sad but I think my hands were more sad after squeezing all of those limes! Leah was so funny when this happened. She was off playing, minding her own business but when the pie fell she came running over as fast as she could to see what had happened and her mouth dropped to the floor and she let out a very exagerated "Whooooaaaaaaa!". If you ask her what happened to Mommy's pie she says "fall down"! Tonight's pie, though, was a yummy success!

Daddy and Leah taking a break.....

from this (little tree on the left still needs to come out).....

and this.....

Snack time with Barney and Elmo!

It was HOT so she took a nap in her diaper!

This picture cracks me up because this is so unlike her to lay down and snuggle on the couch! She was just relaxing after her nap watching "Barney".

Iowa Road Trip

We (I) decided to drive rather than fly to Iowa this year! Yes, you read that right! We drove 1,750 miles (28 hours) from our front door to Dubuque, Iowa to visit Luke's family and go to Chris and Kristi's wedding! We then repeated this for our journey home! Why drive you ask? I HATE to fly.....hate it, hate it, hate it! Don't know why really, I just do and it is something that has gotten worse since I've had Leah and seems to be getting worse and not better! The weather was bad the day we were supposed to leave and all I could picture was a bumpy flight and I just could not make myself get on that airplane. Two hours before our flight, Luke called Southwest to cancel. He wasn't thrilled about the idea but haggled brand new, custom fitted golf clubs out of me for the price that we saved on the airline tickets. Father's day gift, check!

We left our house on Monday afternoon around 3:00 pm and arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Wednesday around 2:00 pm. We spent the first night somewhere in Wyoming just outside of Utah (Evanston, I think) and the second in Lincoln, Nebraska. It rained, snowed and/or sleeted on us the ENTIRE WAY THERE! I kept googling the weather for our uproaching city on my phone and Luke swore that there was a tracking device on my phone letting weather.com know where to strike next! About an hour into our trip, just outside of Reno, traffic came to a complete stand still for an HOUR-AND-A-HALF.....complete stand still as in turn your car off, get out and walk around although it was SNOWING in the MIDDLE OF MAY stand still! We never did figure out what had traffic stopped but it had to have been a weather related accident because the weather was so bad that chains were required through the Sierras. We were lucky and didn't have to have chains because the Acura has All Wheel Drive, whatever that means, I just know it meant we didn't have to get out and put chains on the tires in the blizzard in the MIDDLE OF MAY! Talk about craziness!

The big question was how did Leah do! P-E-R-F-E-C-T! We could not believe how wonderful she did! She was just as content as she could be watching her movies for hours on end! Thank goodness for the car's DVD player! We couldn't have made it without it! She has never been a car sleeper so she would take an hour or so nap each day and that was about it! If we were still driving at 2 am, she was wide awake watching "Thomas"! This is the girl who was wide awake looking around for the entire duration of her 45-minute car ride home from the hospital so I wouldn't have expected anything less on a twenty-eight hour road trip across the country during a snow storm in the MIDDLE OF MAY! She did get sick (as in threw up) just before we decided to stop the first night but never acted as if she didn't feel good. I don't know if she got car sick or her tummy just couldn't handle all of the junk she had been eating all day! A tummy can only handle so many marshmallows! I also had lots of "suprises" that I would whip out when she started to get fidgety.

The drive home was much more scenic with beautiful weather! We left at a much more decent hour in the morning and with the two-hour time gain heading this direction, we were able to make it home in two days with just one overnight stay in the middle-of-nowhere Wyoming. We had a fun picnic at a neighborhood park somewhere in Nebraska one day and then stopped for lunch at Moochies in Salt Lake City the next. We were driving through Salt Lake City around lunch time and I just knew that "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" had to have visited here so I jumped on Google once again and found Moochies! We had these awesome Philly Cheesesteaks and then had the best Cokes from Sonic! We don't have a Sonic anywhere near us so this was a HUGE treat! Salt Lake City was so beautiful that we decided we want to go back sometime.....maybe to go skiing this winter! Ten hours will seem like nothing now that we've conquered 28!

Measuring Up with Mom & Dad

Leah has an adorable growth chart hanging in her closet that we have her stand against and then pencil in a little mark noting her height along with the date on the wall. We hadn't measured her since August (where has the time gone) so I thought today was the perfect day to see how much she has grown! I keep a little pencil in her armoire so that it's handy for this exact moment! She willingly cooperated and stood against the chart and then watched me pencil in the date on the wall but then INSISTED on having the pencil and making her own markings on the wall. I, of course, did NOT give her the pencil and just let her throw her quick little fit until she moved on to something else. The morning continued on and I thought absolutely nothing else of the morning measurement until I walked in her room and noticed her closet door open and these on the floor of her closet:

You can only imagine what she had done with these crayons!

I could not believe it! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! She just wanted to draw on the wall like Mommy did so I couldn't be angry. All I can say is thank goodness for washable crayons! I scrubbed the wall, returned the crayons back to the easel in the kitchen and went on about my day. About an hour later I returned to her room putting things away and again found the closet door open, crayons on the floor and this on the walls:



Man on man! That girl was bound and determined to leave her mark on the closet walls! I scrubbed the walls again, returned the crayons to the easel and had a nice long heart-to-heart with Leah about only coloring on paper! I told her that only Mommy and Daddy can color on the walls!


And, as if this wasn't exciting enough.....later on in the day Luke was hanging our diaper bag/purse/coat rack back on the wall (my purse must have been just a little too heavy) and Leah wanted to help. She was playing with the stud finder. She thought it was a phone and was calling Nana on it. I can't even remember what triggered what but she got upset about something (probably because she couldn't have something that she wanted) and threw the stud finder at her daddy. We asked her to hand it to Daddy and she again picked it up and threw it at him. We gave her one more chance to hand it to Daddy nicely but again it was thrown. Guess what this meant.....her very first trip to time out. She actually sat down (with monster tears of course) and sat nicely and then I figured out it was because Sesame Street was on the tv and she had a front row seat from her time out spot. I quickly turned off the tv which meant more monster tears and a girl jumping out of time out. I wanted her to sit there for one minute so I got her and sat with her and had a little discussion about why she was there. She then had to give Daddy a hug and tell him that she was sorry for throwing the stud finder. I know we have many more trips to time out ahead of us for little Miss Strong Will!

And, to top off our day, tonight while we were sitting eating dinner, Leah pointed at me and said "Mom" and then pointed at Luke and said "Dad". We have never ever ever referred to ourselves as simply Mom and Dad. This kind of made us a little sad because we want her to call us Mommy and Daddy. We kept telling her we were Mommy and Daddy but she would say "Mom" or "Dad" when we would ask her our names. Who knows where she learned this! I hope to be called Mommy tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Papaw!

Leah singing "Happy Birthday" to Papaw on the phone!

Mr. & Mrs. Chris Hendricks

Last Friday night we had the time of our lives at Uncle Chris (Luke's brother) and Aunt Kristi's wedding in Iowa! Luke was his brother's best man (and a very good looking one, if I might say so myself)! The ceremony was beautiful, the food was delicious (I don't know what was in the cheesy broccoli but it was out of this world delicious) and the dancing was tons of fun! Chris has three boys and Kristi has three boys so they were all in the wedding party looking sharp in their tuxes with different colored vests. Each boy got to choose their own color of vest and tie to wear which was such a neat idea! Kristi's boys walked her down the aisle which was very sweet. In her toast, the matron-of-honor reminded Kristi that she would one day have six daughter-in-laws! Wow! We all know how fun the M. I. L. relationship can be! This had us all laughing!

Leah had lots of fun dancing up a storm. She made it until about 10:00 or so and then went home with Aunt Rachael's in-laws who were kind enough to keep her for the evening. She fell asleep for them right away and then we were there to pick her up first thing the next morning! This made if fun for Luke and I so that we were able to enjoy some Mommy and Daddy free time! We are so happy for Chris and Kristi and all of the boys!

The only bummer of the evening.....Leah's shoes! I had cute little ballet-like slippers for her to wear and as we were getting ready to head out the door we discovered that THEY DIDN'T FIT! I couldn't believe it! They fit her just a couple of weeks ago! Instead, she had to wear her white sandals that she wears to the park! How embarrassing! I hope she forgives me someday!

The newly expanded Hendricks bunch!

Brotherly love!

All the Hendricks gang!

Our sweet family of 3!

Loving ALL the attention from the boys!

Taking in the view of the Mighty Mississippi!

Enjoying cocktail hour with Grandpa!

Leah's reserved seat!

Somebody snuck up to the head table!

Two pieces of cake? Why not!

Leah and Grandma tearing up the dance floor!

I think every Daddy dreams of this moment.....

Pretty Hair

I was having a really good hair day today but didn't think anyone noticed until tonight! We were sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner and Skyping with Nana and Papaw. Out of nowhere, Leah looked across the table at me and said "pretty hair Mommy" and then looks at her daddy and said "pretty hair Daddy". She knows how to make her Mama's day!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Cinco de Mayo from our little Senorita!

Just one year ago today (wearing the same dress).....

And, in honor of this special holiday, our little Senorita counting in Spanish.....

And one more of our little MONKEY counting in Spanish!

YES, she is this active ALL THE TIME!

Yee Haw!

We had so much fun this morning at the 53rd Annual Elk Grove Western Festival! We got to the park at 9:30 just in time to see our little neighbor, Nora, play her flute with the elementary school band.

We then went and let Leah feed the ducks what was left of her blueberry bagel and then walked down from the park a few blocks to catch the tail end of the Western Festival parade. There were lots of horses, but I think Leah's favorite part of the parade was a wooden cut-out of Mickey Mouse on the back of an old classic car! We didn't watch the parade for very long. It was a looooooong parade and Leah was in her stroller. If the stroller isn't moving, she doesn't want to be in it! We didn't think it was a good idea to just let her loose that close to the street so we watched the parade just long enough to see one band, lots of horsies and lots of old cars and then walked back to the park to beat the crowds!

This is when the fun really started! Leah got to go on her very first pony ride! She did so good and rode Cinnamon like a big girl! It was so cute! Towards the end of the ride she started saying "out, out" but she did fantastic and didn't cry for Mommy or Daddy once!

We then went to feed the goats and donkey at the petting zoo! It was the sweetest little thing. They gave you food in an ice cream cone and the goats would come and eat out of the cone and then would finish that off too! She LOVED all of the animals!

We had so much fun this morning that we're already looking forward to next year!