Easter 2010

The weekend before Easter we went to my city’s Eggstravaganza- I had run the event for two years and helped plan a lot of this one, before they found a replacement for my old position. Riley and Caleb came by and it so much nicer carrying Riley on my hip than in my belly! Unfortunately, our camera ran out of space and when I switched out the memory cards, the one with our photos is coming up blank. So, although Riley loved the Easter Bunny (and even cried when he had to get off his lap) we don’t have any documentation of it!

Eggstravaganza 2009- geez!

We went down to Groves for Easter Sunday and had a great one. Riley was able to dye his first Easter Egg, and had a blast showing off his new walking skills for all the family. I made our family’s Bunny Cake that my Mom’s Dad made for the first time the Easter before he died. Our family has been making it every year since, so 42 years now! My bunnies are brown, since I prefer toasted coconut, but the shape and jellybeans are still the same.

Bunny Cake!



Riley Dying His First Easter Egg




Riley Showing Off His Walking Skills

One of the things I was most excited about was getting some fabulous (if I do say so, myself!) bluebonnet photos on the way home. It’s always funny trying to find the perfect spot because you are going down the highway at close to 70mph, and trying to spot really full batches of flowers with enough time to actually pull over. We were racing the sun, as it was getting close to sunset, but we found a great spot with some Indian Paintbrushes as well as Bluebonnets. It made me nervous to be on the side of the road, so Caleb found an off ramp so we could be pulled off on the access road instead of the actual highway. Way to go, husband!

The photos went well, except for when I realized I was sitting on an ant bed. Caleb was giving me a hard time about flattening the Bluebonnets so I looked for a little empty spot. Well, apparently the only reason for empty spot in a field of wildflowers is for an ant bed. I soon realized this when I got bites on my thigh and midsection. Luckily no ants got Riley. Lesson learned.

Caleb's Birthday

For Caleb’s birthday we went out to Flemings for a steak and lobster special we had seen online. It was the best deal! I had never had lobster before, so I think I was even more jazzed about it than he was. Our good friends, Kimberlye and Victor were nice enough to watch the baby for us, and I tried really hard to talk about other things besides our little RileyRoo at dinner. It was fun to go out just the two of us, talk about what the future holds, and dress up for something other than church!

Mom's Baptism

On March 13th Riley and I were able to come back to California to support Mom in becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have been a member for 12 years now, so it was especially sentimental for me to see my mom come into the fold. Dad baptized her (we believe in baptism by submersion, the way Christ was baptized) and DeDe (who became a member just 2 years ago!) and I were able to give talks on the Holy Ghost. Our wonderful family friend and Seminary/Institute Teacher Extraordinaire, Linda, did all the organizing and gave a fabulous talk on baptism.

It was amazing to see the outpouring of support from all of Mom’s friends and family. I haven’t really blogged about Mom having Stage 4 Lung Cancer, and I don’t know if I will, but I can say for sure, that I have been blown away by how thoughtful everyone has been. It is truly a testament of how many people have been uplifted by Mom’s character and kindness throughout the years.

I can’t wait for the day when we are all sealed for time and all eternity (you too, Tyler!). If that statement is Greek to you, please ask me about it- I’d love to share!

Mom and Dad holding the Baptism Program

Valentine's Day 2010

I was just catching up on other people's blogs and was inspired to fill in some of the gaps on my own. Riley is asleep and has been for a while now, so I’m sure he will wake up as soon as I get the ball rolling!

I wanted to write about Valentine’s Day- no, nothing romantic about what Caleb and I did. We didn’t do anything for each other- NOTHING! We’re so lame- no cards, no candy, no flowers--nothing! A lady in church mentioned how she and her husband swap love letters on Valentine’s Day. They talk about their past year and express their love and appreciation for one another. I’d like to do that- it was a little too late for this year, but perhaps next. Caleb, are you reading this???

Before you think that we had a bad Valentine’s Day, let me set the record straight- we had the best day! We were able to fly home to Manhattan Beach, and it just worked out to have the baby blessed the same weekend. Valentine’s was on a Sunday this year, so what better way to celebrate love than to have our sweet little angel given a blessing? Dad gave Riley the best blessing, blessing him with strength, intelligence, and above all else, goodness. It was perfect.






Afterwards we enjoyed a lasagna dinner with the family and celebrated DeDe and Khoa becoming engaged- it really was a wonderful day.

Delicious Berries and Cream cake from Lido Bakery. Great job on the text, Dad!

Grandie Cole found a boy's first Valentine's Outfit- amazing!

Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas this year at my Gramme’s house in Cheyenne, OK. The fact that we got there safely was a miracle in itself! On the 23rd we left Austin and stopped in OKC to see a friend of ours from college. We had debated staying the night as his house and driving the extra 3 or so hours the next day (since we had been on the road for over 5) but there had been some reports of a storm coming in, and we were feeling OK, so we hit the road instead. Good thing we did! Come Christmas Eve, tons of snow had fallen and all the highways in OKC were completely shut down.

That evening, Riley put on a show. He had been thinking about crawling for a couple weeks, rocking back and forth, but never got quite enough momentum to propel himself forward. Apparently, all he was lacking was an audience! That night, in front of all my family, Riley crawled for the first time! We had a great time in Oklahoma, receiving many thoughtful gifts, and enjoying seeing Gramme cherish her great grandson.

For New Year’s Eve we went to an Indian buffet and Riley ate his first table food at a restaurant- carrots out of jasmine rice.

Caleb had to work on New Year’s Day, but once he was off, we headed to Groves to do Christmas with the Coles. Riley got a ton of fabulous new toys, including an awesome Radio Flyer Wagon and a swing on Grandie and Papaw’s back porch! One of my favorite gifts was a deep freezer (yes, buying in bulk has hit a new level) and a bunch of homemade frozen dinners for us to assemble/ cook on busy nights- yay!

Riley at the City of Lakeway's Breakfast With Santa- he loved Mrs. Claus' shawl.

I think we put too much pressure on Riley for a good photo with Santa because it was only moments after we put him on Santa's lap that the waterworks began.

Riley with Grandpa and Gramme.

Cutest P.J.'s ever! The flap on his rear end has a Santa and his name. Thanks Grandie!

Here is a video of some of Riley's first crawling:

Thanksgiving 2009

Worst blogger ever! Ok, now that that is out of the way, I thought I would do a holiday wrap-up edition. I was originally planning on doing this in January and covering Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, but now that it’s been so long, I’ve got a whole list of holidays that have passed! Apparently covering them all at once is too daunting, so I’ll try to break them up, starting with Thanksgiving.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we were lucky enough to go to Caleb’s hometown and attend the weddings of our friends Justin and Sommer and Caleb’s cousin Brandon. On Sunday, we had a Thanksgiving dinner at his Granny and PawPaw Cole’s house. So, on actual Thanksgiving we decided to give the odometer a rest and stay home.

Starting about Tuesday, Caleb was grilling me about how many dishes I planned on preparing. I have a nasty habit of completely overdoing it when it comes to big dinners and totally stressing myself out along the way. Caleb was trying to persuade me to only do a few dishes in order to avoid “Angry Kitchen Kristen.” But, what’s Thanksgiving without all the fixin’s? So, I did the best I could to prepare things ahead of time.

On Wednesday I peeled, cut, and put the potatoes in water, roasted the squash, made the stuffing (and had sausage and biscuits for breakfast, of course!) and the cranberry salad. Impressed yet? You ought to be. On Thursday all I had to do was assemble my squash/sweet potato dish and put it in the oven along with the stuffing, boil and make the mash potatoes, and make some green beans.

What about the turkey, you ask? Our friends Victor and Kimberlye took care of that portion of the meal- whew! The bird took longer to cook than they expected, so with the extra time I made a cheesy cream sauce for the green beans and some sour cream biscuits. We carved the turkey, whipped up some gravy and it was time to eat! For dessert, we had a cheesecake pumpkin pie thing I made previously (I brought one into work) and a fabulous flan that Kimberlye cooked ¡Qué delicioso!

We had a great holiday and so much to be thankful for!

Riley at his fourth wedding in 7 months!

Our little turkey!

The spread.

Foodie

Uncle Tyler should be proud. Riley is showing the first signs of becoming a confit craving, foie gras feasting FOODIE. Since I’m preparing all his food, he’s already eaten fresh sugar snap peas, fugi apples, butternut squash, roasted red peppers, bosc pears and…he alreadys loves escargot!