People I Love: My Mom

My mom's birthday was June 30, so she's due for a belated post!  I have the hardest time trying to list what I love about her, because I could go on forever and her sacrifices for me have been endless.  I'll attempt a list, but there's no way I can possibly cover everything.

• As I've become a mother myself, I have a newfound appreciation for what she did for me as a baby.  I was not an easy child.  I didn't sleep through the night til I was two, got into everything, etc. Now that I've had to do it myself, I'm in awe of all she sacrificed when I was a baby--getting up with me all night, nursing me, cleaning my clothes, playing with me, teaching me how to do everything.  It takes so much work to have a baby, and I'm so grateful she did all that for me.
• She's always put her children first.  Any accomplishment any of us has had is in large part because of her support, encouragement, and work.  She taught us that only our best was acceptable.  Whether it was an A or a C--if it was our best, it was good enough.  If we put anything other than our best into something, she helped us realize we could do better.  What her children need has always been on the forefront of her mind--help with friends, cultivating a new talent, help with a class, help spiritually, etc.  
• She gave me (and my sisters) the gift of music, something I will be eternally grateful for.  I can't imagine how taxing it must have been to practice piano with me for so many years (2 hours a day with a 4-year-old?!), drive me to piano lessons in Provo, pay for expensive lessons when money was tight, deal with the world of competitive piano...all of it.  She's given me something that will be such a joy eternally, and I'm so grateful for her selfless service and sacrifices.  
• My mom has become one of my closest friends.  Whenever something happens, she's the first one I call.  She is the best listener in the world.  Seriously.  (Talk to her--you'll see what I mean.) She is so interested in others' lives and makes everyone feel so important and special.  
• This seems sort of trivial after the other things I listed, but she is a fantastic cook.  I call her all the time with cooking questions.  Everything she makes tastes amazing.  She always made us dinner.  (Something that I realize now is no small feat.)  She knows so much about nutrition.  She taught us how to eat healthy and how to take care of ourselves.
• She is an amazing athlete.  She takes such good care of herself.  I can't believe how much she plays tennis and bikes.  I still can't believe she did an Ironman!  She's taught me so much about health. And she's probably going to be around for forever, which I obviously am thrilled about!  

Christine's Visit

My sweet sister Christine came to visit a few weeks ago.  It was sooooo fun.  It was so great to spend time with her! I'd felt like we hadn't had quality time together for so long.  She was here for a whole week, so we had plenty of time to catch up.  She's the perfect guest, so helpful and so low maintenance.  We mostly did normal things (grocery shopping, laundry, etc.), but we got in a few outings, too.  We went shopping at the Domain and at the outlets, took a trip to the dollar movies, went swimming, and went to Guero's Taco Bar downtown.  We had so much fun and are so grateful she came to visit!

On our way to church!  She definitely doesn't look 20 weeks pregnant. 

Andy LOVED Christine.  She's gonna be the best mom.  

Andy's favorite thing! 

Dinner at Rudy's, where Christine became a true Texan and fell in love with brisket.  

Downtown Austin, South Congress

Pretty Christine at Guero's

Saying goodbye.  I don't know the next time we'll see each other.  :(  Crazy to think she'll be a mom by then!

Our Cruise!

Cam and I went on a 5 day cruise the first week of July.  It was amazing.  It was exactly what we needed: a break from parenting, lots of sleeping, no cooking or cleaning, lots of food, and a break from phones and computers.  We went on the Carnival Triumph out of Galveston, which is about a four hour drive from us.  We went on a cruise for our honeymoon, so it was fun to kind of "re-live" that.  It was a very similar cruise though--for our honeymoon we stopped in Key West and Cozumel.  This cruise, we stopped in Progresso and Cozumel.  (Actually, Cameron went on this exact same cruise with his family about ten years ago!  He says he's ready to try some new ports.)  

Entering the ship!

First night at dinner

I love soaking in the sun; Cam does not. 

"Formal" night 

Progresso

We did a fun excursion in Progresso. We went to see some Mayan ruins, which was super cool.  Then we went to lunch in Merida, which was not-so-cool.  Well, the city itself was cool, but it wasn't fun following our tour guide around while he tried to give his friends some business.  (ie-we ate lunch at an overpriced, mediocre place and then he took us to a "museum"...which is a store with overpriced tourist items.)  Still, it was a fun day! One cool part of the day was when one of the tour guides identified us as Mormons; he was a returned missionary and everything.  It was fun to talk to him.

Progresso...a pretty run down city

Our obnoxious guide

Before the climb...

...At the top! 

Merida 

Cozumel

We went snorkeling.  It was a blast!  (Except poor Cam's mask didn't fit right.)  We saw lots of cool things--eels, baracudas, angel fish, grouper, snake, sting ray, etc.  We also stopped at Paradise Beach for some margaritas and nachos.

The Carnival Triumph, in all of her triumph.

A few more random pictures: 

Our waiters danced to the "Applebottom Jeans" song.  It was pretty hilarious. 

I had one every single night.  I love Chocolate Melting Cakes!  Best part of Carnival.   

Lindsey and Jeremy, our dinner friends.  They were great!

Our waiters with some random girls. 

Because we've essentially done this cruise before, there were lots of times we'd take a picture and then say, "I think we have one like this from our last cruise?" Some comparisons: 

Snorkeling 2009

Snorkeling 2012

Death eater towel animal: 2009

Death eater towel animal : 2012

Strange pose: 2009 

Strange pose: 2012 (even in the same coverup!)

Fancy drink: 2009

Fancy drink: 2012

Strangely enough, there were also duplicate pictures of iguanas, but I was too lazy to load those.  :)  Anyway, overall it was such a fun trip!  We missed Andy a lot, and frequently looked through our pictures of him, but it was great for us to spend so much one-on-one time together.

Family Visit!

About a month ago, my family (my mom, dad, Sara, and Abby) came to visit!  We were SO excited to have them.  It's the first time my dad and Sara have been here, so it was really fun to show them around.  Mom and Abby were excited to come back--I think Abby was mostly excited for Rudy's.  She told me she wanted to eat there every night. :)  It was kind of a last minute visit, and we were thrilled it coincided with Andy's already scheduled birthday party.  What did we do?

• First, we went to the outlets.  I think we spent an hour in J. Crew alone. My dad is always such a good sport about the endless shopping trips.

• Cam got off early from work on Friday, so we picked him up and headed downtown for some canoeing on Ladybird Lake.  It was so hot--but so fun.  We feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful city. 

Walking to the lake.  Andy's favorite spot these days.

• We went to Pappasito's, probably my favorite Tex Mex around here.  Best fajitas ever.  
• We spent all of Saturday at Schlitterbahn, a giant waterpark about an hour away.  We had such a good time!  It was fun being with everyone, but it was so crowded.  The lines were so long.  And I expected a lot of extreme, creative rides.  Instead, it was just HUGE with a lot of normal-ish water rides.  Andy came along and was a trooper.  Still, if I had to do it over again, I'd get a sitter for him.  But...we really did have such a good time!  My parents were so nice and both took turns watching Andy so Cam and I could go on some rides together.

I can't believe I'm posting this.  It's the worst picture ever of all of us, especially me.   But I guess that's what makes it funny. 

On the drive home.  Guess the day made us tired!

• We had dinner at Rudy's, where Abby (and everyone else) was in heaven.  Nothing like that moist brisket! 

• We had Andy's birthday party.  My family was so great and helped with everything!

• We went swimming, always a family favorite.  Except for the crickets that were floating all over the pool.  Disgusting.  (We've had a horrible cricket season here this year.) 

• We went downtown, ate at Hopdoddy, went to the food trucks (cupcakes!), and went to Unusual Objects (our favorite antique store).  We love downtown Austin! 

Abby & Cam are best buds.

• We finished the trip with a frozen yogurt outing, a family favorite. 

I'm so grateful they could come visit!  We had a blast!