wedding weekend

last weekend, i had the honor of watching one of my oldest and dearest friends marry a wonderful guy, and i got to serve as a bridesmaid alongside other girls who have had the privilege of knowing kimberly as a friend.  kimberly and i have been friends since 7th grade, and we have kept in touch since graduating high school almost ten years ago.  although we went to different schools, now live in different states, and have very different jobs, we have remained friends and supported each other through all of life's events.  i am so thankful to have been able to share in this special day with her.  sidenote:  our other oldest friend's daughter was the flower girl and so sweet at it!  another plus to the wedding weekend was introducing brendan to many people i have known for much of my life.  he was a trooper being passed from person to person.

while i was busy with wedding festivities, grandma and papa got their hands at lots of brendan time.  aunt rachel and uncle tyler (as well as maw, uncle john, aunt beth, wesley, and hannah) joined in on the fun and got to spend lots of well-overdue time with our little man.  i think everyone on both sides had some withdrawals after the weekend was over and we all had to part ways :).

 did i mention that the airline changed our gate three times, delayed our flight by 2.5 hours, did not have our checked bag on our plane, and then delivered it two days late?  no?  that is because after such a fun-filled weekend and some rest, details like that are really pretty small in the long run :)


...and thus concludes our month of four weekends in four different states.  whew!

a day at the park

warm, springtime weather is in full swing here in houston.  the days of freezing temps and heavy coats did not really exist during our mild winter this year, making way for a pretty easy transition to spring.

two weekends ago, the weather was just too perfect to not enjoy outside.  lee set out for the driving range and brendan and i headed to the neighborhood park where brendan discovered the joy of swinging.  he was all smiles in the swing like a big boy and discovered the fun of the playground, as well.  his excitement must have been contagious because it brought lee back from golf and got our friend, emily, to join us as well.

i see many more park days in our future...that is, until the weather inevitably becomes miserably hot again...

 the following are two new faces he makes quite often...

i have deemed this one "mouse face"

the little booty is about an inch off the ground as he tried to pull himself up with the music bars

chatting it up with that baby in the mirror

watching the cars go by

spring break: sf style

brendan is becoming quite the experienced flyer in his few months of life thus far.  for spring break, we lucked up on some amazing flights out of dallas and headed to san francisco.  anytime we get to spend with the pilgreens out west is always special, and this trip was filled with new, special memories (although those memories were only documented on our phones since i forgot my camera!)

i was able to experience several firsts on this trip: epic church in their new facility for the first time, the crowd-favorite, town hall for dinner one night with the lees, and actually driving down lombard street! 

brendan enjoyed every moment he was able to spend with his cousins.  all four boys had a blast making each other laugh, and brendan even learned a few things about star wars, baseball, and video games along the way.

we visited some local shops and favorite eateries.  we made it just in time for opening baseball weekend...sam and elijah had games at the same time so we split up to take in both.  we tried not to let the rain slow us down too much.  brendan even rode public transit for the first time!

we truly do cherish our time out there and leave feeling refreshed after each visit.  here's looking forward to the next visit!

congrats, zach

earlier this month, many of us came together to celebrate zach's graduation from nursing school and what a huge moment that was for him, erin, and their boys.  through a few bumps along the way, zach managed to finish strong...and even land a job before graduation!


we could not be prouder of zach and were so honored to celebrate this HUGE accomplishment in person with the family :)

 as proud as brendan was of his uncle zach, he was just as excited to catch up on time with GJ and his cousins.

no worries, brendan was just getting in his payback from a few months ago :)

it's here...

baseball, that is.  the most glorious time of the year, according to lee :).

the aggies kicked off their season with a home series against university of illinois chicago a couple of weeks ago.  apparently, the weather did not get the memo that baseball was starting because it turned oddly cold for our mild winter and rained enough to (almost) make up for our drought last summer.  thus, we decided to skip the first game to avoid slick and dark roads on the way to college station.  we were all packed up before we made that decision so it was pretty easy to load up the car and head that way the next day.  the clouds were still looming but we had hopes of getting in at least some of the game.

after meeting katy and the garrett kiddos for lunch at mcalister's and doing a little shopping, we all bundled up and headed to the new and improved, beautiful olsen field at blue bell park.  unfortunately, the rain also decided to come back about that time in the form of a disgusting mist.  to avoid being terrible parents and exposing our child to weather that we would have sit through in years past, we waited underneath until the mist passed. 

with the weather somewhat cooperative, brendan and i made it through about 2.5 or 3 innings before we finally decided the wind might be a little too much for him.  although, in 3 layers, fleece pants, socks, 2 hats, a blanket, and lee's jacket blocking the wind, he probably would have been fine.  but we really did not feel right risking it much longer than that.

hopefully, the next time we make it over to college station we will have a sunny weekend to enjoy all the new improvements to olsen field and maybe even an entire game!