Bluebonnets

Israel has been off of work the last two weeks. He took the rest of his paternity leave, and we scheduled my gall bladder surgery at the beginning of the two weeks. I've been recovering, and he's been playing Super Dad and Husband. He's amazing, but I could write a whole post about that.



Today we decided to go check out the bluebonnets in the Hill Country of Texas. After a few wrong turns we ended up in Independence, Texas. We had a picnic lunch in the car while I fed Katelyn. There's a great park with historic buildings, old wooden fences, rolling hills, a tire swing, the coolest oak trees, and of course your Texas wildflowers. A photographer couldn't ask for more. We took a ton of pictures and really did try to narrow it down for our blog. It may not appear that way though! :)

Letting Katelyn feel the flowers.

She had real dirt on her feet after this.

My mom came along to see the beautiful flowers and to help take pictures. It was great having her with us.

The Kiss Attack!

I love the sky in this picture.

Katelyn is still loving her fingers and has recently found just her thumb. When she finds her thumb she makes quite the racket.

One of my favorite!

These are remains of the original Baylor College for Women.

Easter Basket Regrets

So it's a week after Easter and I'm still wondering if I'm going to always regret not getting Katelyn an Easter basket on her first Easter. Truthfully, I have moments of regret and then moments where I think it's okay, life will go on. Here's the battle in my head.

Israel and I decided it was silly to do a basket that she wasn't going to remember. She can't eat candy. She has a lot of toys and if I ever think she doesn't, I just make a run to Wal-mart. Plus, she's not that interested in stuffed animals right now. Discovering a basket of fake grass, plastic eggs, and small trinkets wouldn't create that much excitement presently.

I think the regret mostly comes from not having a cute picture of her with it. There might be a small amount of "bad mom" syndrome too. I feel like the slacker--like we let Katelyn down.

The next thought in my head is to what really matters. The Easter basket is not the center of Easter. The celebration of Christ's resurrection is. Katelyn did get to experience us reflecting on that. We listened to prophets and apostles testify of Christ and the power of his atonement in our lives. Even though she's just an infant, I like to think that the same spirit I feel as I listen to those words affects her. She might not understand the words, but the spirit is familiar. Easter is also a time for family. There again we surrounded ourselves with lots of family members. Here are some pictures from the family festivities.

My cousin, Brianne hosted a delicious Easter dinner at her house. It was followed by an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

Katelyn loves to pick up her dresses and pull on them.


While the older kids were out doing the egg hunt, I played with babies and talked with my mom, aunt, uncle, and cousin. We were also able to watch the hunt through the windows. Jacob and Katleyn played on the floor. It cracks me up even at this age, there's some toy jealousy. Jacob is trying to take the keys away from Katelyn.

Matt and Cade

Carmen with her goodies

Matt's Family

A typical shot of Mike--why are you taking this picture?