Family Time

This weekend we really needed to have some family time. Life gets so busy that C and I often find ourselves living in a parallel universe. We took a spontaneous trip Friday after work and headed to Portland Maine. We stayed at a nice hotel with a pool, so Berke could have his first experience in a pool. He really liked it, but wanted to be free and swim on his own.

The next day we walked around the city, window shopped and had some yummy lunch.

We headed back and stopped in Kittery to do a little shopping at the outlets and gets some candy at Yummies. We then decided Berke needed some freedom, so we stopped at York Beach for an hour to let him play in the sand.

Berke loved playing in the sand; he was in heaven. He was throwing the sand in the air, rolling around in it, and digging holes. I guess we'll be making a few trips to the beach this summer.

We had a wonderful time. It was nice to not have anything planned and just go have a good time. I love being able to spend time with my wonderful family.

Poor Baby

Berke has had his first big sickness. Our little guy had a high fever all day Monday, when I got home he spent 4 hours in my lap sleeping. Tuesday, his 103 temperature was not going anywhere. After a visit to the doctors, she informed us our little guy had a double ear infection. That night his fever spiked to 104.4 and finally broke an hour later. He spent Tuesday evening in my arms like this for 5 hours straight. He finally seems to be coming out of it, and is at least walking around again and playing with toys. It is no fun to see your little ones like this.

SUGARLAND

I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC!
That's right, I am not ashamed to admit it! I love everything about it, the messages of the songs, the boots, hats, tight jeans, southern accents, the energy and the music. I have noticed that country music is "WHITE" culture, you just don't see a lot of other colors among the crowd. So I am happy to bond with my fellow white peeps for a good time.
One of my very favorite groups in country music is SUGARLAND; I have been waiting to see them FOREVER and FINALLY got tickets to see them on Friday.

I went with my pal, Julie, we had a rockin' good time. Sugarland did not disappoint one bit. They were amazing in concert. They are such nice, sweet, fun people; at one point in the concert they both signed a guitar and walked it out into the audience and handed it to a girl. Who does that? I love going to concerts where you know all the songs. I sang my little heart out! They also sang some songs from their new album coming out in October which I sounded great and I cannot wait to get it.

What a memorable night. I always love a good concert with good music. I did not however love the guy sitting next to me that did not quite understand what personal space is, but that can happen. Other than that, and the fact that it took us exactly 1 hour to get out of the parking lot, it was a fabulous time!

Julia's Wedding

This past weekend I flew to Seattle to be in my BFF's wedding. Julia and Jed FINALLY tied the knot!!! It was so much fun to be with Julia and help her get ready for the big day. The entire trip was jam packed of errands, parties, dinners and fun. There was very little sleep that was had, but what else would you expect. I did my best to keep Julia organized and on task.

Julia had a fabulous bachelorette party; most of the pictures are not blog friendly, but rest assured that we had a wonderfully good time.

The day before the wedding all 4 of Julia's sister, her mom, a cousin and I all headed to the nail spa for manicures and pedicures. Nothing like a bunch of girls getting pampered. I love Julia's family! Her sisters are all so funny and nice, they made me feel right at home!

We were up, getting ready at 6:15 a.m. on the big day. Doesn't this bride just look AMAZING? She was such a beautiful bride. I didn't get many pictures of the big day because they had a photographer and I was in charge of other things.

Other things....like the sewing kit. I went with Jed and Julia on their wedding day around Seattle to take pictures; Julia's mom was adamant that I have the sewing kit just in case anything happened with her dress. Julia's mom obviously doesn't know me that well or she would not have had the faith she did in me, that if her dress actually did fall apart, that I could put it back together. Luckily the dress was fine, Phew! However, Jed lost a button on his tux and I spent a good chunk of thread putting that puppy back in place. It didn't look pretty on the inside, but it worked for picture purposes!

It was a great weekend. I could not be happier for Jed and Julia!!! Congrats you two!
Thanks for letting me spend this special weekend with you.

Out and About

Christian has been out and about quite a bit lately. He has had several opportunities to have pieces played at various cities recently. His first trip was to Fargo, North Dakota. Haven't you always wanted to go there? C honestly fell in love with the cute town and sense of community that sometimes lacks in the big city.

He also got to visit with his cousins Matt in Minneapolis (not pictured) and Ryan in Fargo (pictured below).

Christian was very pleased the premiere of his piece, Flux Flummoxed, which he was commissioned to write by the Barlow Endowment at BYU. Ben and Jihye were wonderful hosts and performers; Christian had such a wonderful time on his trip.

Christian's next stop, his home town of Show Low Arizona. This was a fun trip for him to get to be a guest lecturer at the local community college and high school. He also got one of his pieces played by the local White Mountain Symphony Orchestra; unfortunately they were not able to pull it off as well as C would have hoped. At least they gave it a shot.

Christian loved getting a little one on one time with his mom and dad. It was weird for him to be in his parents house as the only child. Luckily Bethany's shrine was still there so he didn't feel too lonely.

He even got to spend Mother's Day with his brother's David and Jeremy.

Which meant he got to see his adorable niece Oliva and cousin's son, Dylan.

As well as our newest niece, Emery.

Christian has had a blast traveling around and being able to visit with friends and family. We are always glad to have him home, it makes life so much easier and enjoyable.

Boston Children's Museum

I took the day off Friday so Berke and I headed to the Boston Children's Museum with our friends Tom and Ian.

If Berkeley could vocalize what heaven would be like, I am pretty sure he would describe this place. I have NEVER seen this kid SO happy. He was breathing so heavy trying to decide what to play with and where to go next. It was pretty freakin' adorable.
He enjoyed his first experience with bubbles.

They have a great Curious George exhibit right now that I thought was wonderfully done and adorable. Berke is just checkin' the mail.

We had fun with this wall length mirror. At one point Berke just kept crawling right into the mirror; he has a little bruise on the forehead to prove it.

Not sure why this kid is so obsessed with over sized stuffed animals, but he is. This is the first thing he went for when we got into this room. He just jumped on it and then grabbed a car and played with it as the panda as his pillow.

We had a great time. If you live in Boston and haven't been I highly recommend it. Friday nights they have a deal where it is $1 from 5-9 p.m. It is great for kids of ALL ages.

Guess Who Loves the Park?

Not that Berke is walking as his main mode of moving (although the knee walk is still pretty popular as well), that is all he wants to do. The park allows him lots of places to explore and much more freedom than the house. I think we'll be taking a lot of trips to the park this summer.

Berke's Tricks