We had such fun taking Matthew to his first pumpkin patch this year, and Matthew had such a blast! We even carved it the next day! Too bad it didn’t last, I had to throw it away this past Monday. Guess we got a little excited. 
At the patch
Such the big helper
“Mine too Daddy?”
Matthew trying his best to scrape out the guts
Pickin’ out the seeds to toast up later
Putting the seeds back in the pumpkin
“Are you doing it right Dad?”
The finished product!
When you live in So Cal, sometimes you gotta do all you can to stay cool when it’s hot outside. I got Matthew a little pool for our front porch. (and I mean little! It’s for one very small person only!) He loves it! And we go and play in the pop jets at The District or The Spectrum. We really are fortunate to live near so many of these great places to play and meet new friends.
He put his sunglasses on all by himself!
This is the not so little pool I got for Matthew to keep at my mom’s house. I think it’s bigger than our front porch!!
Playing with Ezekiel and Bekah Jane in the pop jets
Waiting for his first ice cream cone ever
MMMMMMMMM! Thanks Dad!
We finally had some photos done up for Matthew’s 18 month milestone. Thank you Selah for doing such a great job, they all turned out fantastic!
What fun! On July 25th, we officially welcomed Melody to the family. It was cute to see the happy couple so in love! Sent me reminiscing to a special day almost 6 years ago, but enough about me! So, welcome Melody, and thank you for loving my brother unconditionally, tenderly, and completely. And Peter, it’s so fun to see you being tender to a wonderful, Godly woman. (I didn’t think I’d ever see it!!) ;P Love you guys lots and I can’t wait to see all that God has in store for you!
Kiss! It’s official!!
The happy couple
Just couldn’t help but put this in. hehe!
goofball!
The Family
Ok, so I realized that I left off in May with half a thought. So here goes the rest of our trip to Texas, and all the fun stuff our little family has been up to until now.
Texas: After we hit up the aquarium, we headed a few blocks north to the JFK memorial and the 6th floor museum. Honestly, the memorial was a little on the boring side, but the museum was quite interesting. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside of the museum, but we got plenty of the outside, including the grassy knoll.
Paul and I also decided it was time for Matthew to take his first trip to the beach. He had a blast! I love seeing and experiencing new things through Matthew’s eyes. Matthew loved the waves and would run toward them any chance he got.
My Auntie Jeanne also was able to come down for a special occasion. (I’ll make a special post about that soon!) I was so much fun to see her again, wished it could have been the whole family, but sometimes you gotta take what the Lord gives with a smile. My parents and I stole her for a day and we went to the Santa Ana Zoo. That place is super exciting, and would totally recommend it. ( not to pricey with helped too!)
Well, I think that’s all the major events, but we still have lots of fun in the day to day activities. So I’ll leave you with a few pictures.
JFK Memorial
Inside the memorial
This is the Dallas school book depository, shots came from the sixth floor, the window all the way on the right. (and a fun side note, that Hummer in the picture is a group of actual storm chasers!)
This is the street where Kennedy was shot. The infamous grassy knoll is off on the right.
My goofball enjoying some milk and Amish bread
Catchin’ some waves
Way to excited about the waves to even take a picture
Yummy ice cream! Thanks for having a birthday Dad!
Matthew at the zoo
Anuggling with Gramps on the train
Hi Mama!
While in Dallas, we took a little trip to the Dallas Aquarium and
Zoological Gardens. We had such a blast, and it was fun to see Matthew
enjoy it too! This place was amazing. Once you get in, you take an
elevator up to the 3rd floor, and you’re in the tops of trees! (well,
not really, but it felt like it!) We followed a path that took us
through all kinds of birds and animals, and ended up at the bottom of
the ocean! (still not really, but it was still fun!) They even had a
shark tunnel to walk thru! Matthew loved watching the fishies, even
laughing and clapping at a few!
What a complete culture shock for us. We met up with a realtor, with the
expectations that the housing market would be a little similar to what
it is on the OC, as far as supply and demand goes, but boy were we
wrong!! I felt like we were rich looking at these houses! With the
budget we set for ourselves to buy a house out here, we could purchase a
brand new, 4 bedroom house with about 2700 sq ft. (for way under our
budget!!) WOW! Paul and I both fell in love with the architecture of the
houses as well as the general feel of the area. We looked in McKinney
and Frisco. They are both newer cities, nothing really older then 10
years. We still have a hard time wrapping our minds around the fact that
we could purchase something so nice for our family. I only wish we could
find something like that here. Then we wouldn’t be faced with moving
away from all our family and friends. But don’t worry, no decision has
been made about a move. We were mostly doing research for the what
ifs… Here is a little sampling of the houses we loved…
Ok…so Paul and I came to the realization that we both are completely
insane!! We decided to go to Texas, to do some research on housing for a
possible relocation. So we thought a road trip would be fun. We mapped
it all out, thinking it would take about 20 hours. (after all, that’s
what google said, and google would never lie, right??) HA! We thought we
would be able to drive straight through, so the plan was to leave in the
evening, so Matthew would sleep most of the way there. Well, that worked
out well until we hit the outskirts of San Bernardino County, when the
road became so bumpy it woke Matthew up and he didn’t want to go back to
sleep. Well, he eventually did, whew! We thought we were doing good,
switching back and forth, sharing the drive, catching a few zzzz’s.
Worked well for me, but not Paul. I think he said he only got 30 min of
sleep the whole way there. We made it to El Paso by 7 am, 12 hours since
we left the OC. Not bad I’m thinking, so we stop for a bite and to
stretch our legs and get Matthew dressed and changed. 13, yes 13 hours
later we pull into our hotel. Matthew decided around the last our of
driving that he was completely done with the hole car/driving thing, and
just cried. I was so tired, all I did was cry with him, thinking ‘why
aren’t we there yet? why did google lie??) In case you hadn’t added it
up, it took us 25 hours to get to Dallas Texas! No wonder Matthew wanted
to be done! We all did! All 3 of us slept so well that night! We even
were able to sleep in! So much so, we missed free breakfast!! After
we all recovered from our drive, we really enjoyed the rest of our time
there, and even enjoyed having our own car to drive around. Here area
few pics from the road…
Ahhhh….cruise control!
Hi camera!
Momma, I’m all done!!
