Another birthday?

My First mother's day was like having another birthday. I was especially excited for my first one, because I didn't know what to expect. And it ended up being so fun, and full of great surprises. 

Happy Mother's day to all!!

We went to the park and she did lots of new things, like this spinning carousel, and riding a horse. It was pretty hot, so she was over the whole park thing rather quickly.

 For those of you that know your love language, mine is QUALITY TIME! So I was in heaven all weekend getting to spend time with my 2 favorite people in the world. And I cried when I got a book that Adam made for me. It was similar to one of Solana's favorite books, and he wrote it from her perspective. She loves to have it read to her before bed. 

One of Adam's excellent food creations. Five cheese pizza with caramelized onions and balsamic vinaigrette.

I'm getting hungry just looking at these. Mmmm......

The Solana tote. Aunt Sarah sure knows to have fun. We have LOVED having her back for the summer.

Our fabulous weekend came to a sweet end with these treaties. Raspberry frappes!! 

Easter loveliness

Easter is pretty much the ideal holiday for a little baby girl.  (11 months old, she’s still a little baby girl, right?)  Think about it: The mascot (for lack of a better term) of Easter, is a giant fluffy bunny – basically a pink stuffed animal.  The official colors of Easter are light, girly pastels – perfect.  The weather is great for playing outside. You hide bright colorful yummy things around randomly, then go chase them down with great excitement for finding each one.  

Also, Easter is like the perfect “size” holiday for little ones.  It’s not epic, like Christmas, where numerous events and travel are planned for a full day, and after 14 hours packed with family action time your baby looks, and acts, like she just rolled down the stairs.   No, Easter is like the perfect balance of big enough to make it special, but not too big to disrupt the nap schedule.  It’s the perfect size holiday.

Bunnies, pretty colors, Easter-egg hunting – Solana’s first east was perfect.

"Surprise, I got a bunny jack-in-the-box! I love this whole Easter Bunny thing!"

"I was watching daddy hide my eggs, and then my Sammy dog joined me for the hunting party."

"Mama had to hold me back from finding my eggs early."

"Let's go find those eggs!"

"Mmmm.....this dye is so tasty!"

"Daddy helped me find all my eggs. He is so smart cause he knew where they all were!"

"My spoon is ready for some food on it"

"Best Easter ever.....well it's only my first."

The East Side

We just returned from a fantastic trip to the East Coast, where we did some major scouting and touring at Williamsburg, Virginia, William and Mary Law School, and Washington, DC. We loved Virginia, and instantly fell in love with Williamsburg. The colonial area is a lot of fun and entirely different from anything either of us have experienced before. I can definitely see us living there and having a great time. We spent a lot of time house hunting and scoping out the different areas. Fortunately, the entire area is beautiful.

I thought William and Mary Law was a great fit for me. I really liked all of the people I met there, and the school just had a really good vibe. All of the students I talked to really like it, and all of them seemed pretty comfortable with their job prospects, so I feel very reassured. It makes me really excited to move one with our lives and move into the law school phase I've been looking forward to for so long.

After traveling to Williamsburg, we made a trip up to DC, visiting CheyAnn's mission companion, Aimee, and childhood friend Katie along the way. It was a fun day of travel throughout Virginia and Maryland and visiting old friends.

We spent our last day in Washington DC, and absolutely loved it. Washington is the primary job market for William and Mary Law grads, so I was excited to love the city where my best prospects may be.

We spent a ton of time walking throughout the National Mall, from 10am to 4:30pm, which is significant because it meant that Solana skipped her usual nap time, instead miraculously taking a long nap in the stroller while we walked.

But perhaps my favorite thing from the entire awesome trip was Solana's first carousel ride. It was perfect—out on the National Mall outside of the Smithsonian Castle on an old vintage carousel. At first, she seemed pretty perplexed by the whole thing ("Guys, why are you sticking me on this weird stationary plastic thing?") Then, once the music and the movement started, she had this very tentative look on her face. But after a few spins, she figured out that it actually was really fun, and she was all smiles and giggles for the last few minutes of the ride, and wasn't ready to get off at the end.

That little girl is growing up...

(Pictures and comments by CheyAnn)

Her "look" after a long day of traveling, the blueberry face and crazy hair just makes for a great photo.

Hanging out in old town Williamsburg.

Getting the tour of the oldest law school in the country, we loved it!

We loved downtown Williamsburg, we were constantly blown away with how beautiful it was.

My Mission companion Aimee.....I LOVE HER!! She is from VA, so we met up on our way to DC. She is one of those great friends, that no matter how much time has passed, it's feels like no time has passed. I love that feeling.

I also got to see to Katie, (I totally spaced on taking photo's) an old friend of mine from SJC. She lives in the DC area, and we stopped by on our way into the city. We had so much fun visiting, and our little girls were sooooo cute together. I can't wait for them to play more often. I loved catching up with old friends, it was the highlight of my trip.

Spending the day in DC!!!

Outside the hotel.

Good ol' Abe.

"This big city sure takes it out of me"

The only way she would let me carry her, she would rub her belly and suck her thumb at the same time. She is such a silly girl.

Obama wasn't home, bummer :)

Her first carousel ride, she was a little unsure at first, then she was really excited about the whole concept of a ride. When is slowed down, she started bouncing up and down like she wanted it to go faster, it was the highlight of our day.

How great is DC?! I hope we will be back a lot.