Fun Visit

So our good friends Bobby and David came to visit us last Thursday. Bobby's son Derek is Marks oldest friend. We love their entire family, so when we heard they were going to be in Texas we couldn't wait to see them. They came to the house and hung out with Brody for a few hours and then we dropped Brody off at Tim and Shara's and went downtown for dinner and drinks. We went to an amazing restaurant called Jeffery's. It's supposed to be one of the oldest restaurants in Austin. It was FABULOUS. I highly recommend it. The food was delicious, the wine was great and the atmosphere was warm. Then we headed to 6th street. They have never been to Austin so we walked around quite a bit and tried to show them as much as we could. We found a bar on 6th street that had a great blues band playing. Then just kind of walked up and down 6th street. There was a random parade and lots of fun people out. Overall it was a really good time. It was so generous of them to treat us to dinner. We had such a great evening. Some how we didn't get any pictures together but Bobby did take this cute picture of the three of us.

Cake # 2

So we had a pretty mellow weekend. Saturday we made our regular trips to Costco and Target. Then we came home and I went to work on my second cake. Mark had a going away picnic for some people he works with and asked me if I wanted to make a cake. So of course I picked the hardest cake I could attempt. I was able to make all of the decorations ahead of time and they only took me a couple of hours. Then I went to work on the actual cake on Saturday and it took me about 4-5 hours. I was exhausted. All in all I think it came out pretty good. It was hard when I was up close doing all the detail work, all I could see were the mistakes I made. But when I finally finished and stood back to look at it, I thought it came out pretty good. My next cake is for our friend Shara's sisters birthday. I'm going to try a zebra print. Wish me luck.

Brody 9 Months

Brody is 9 months old today. I can't believe how much he has changed. He can almost stand all by himself and walks if he is holding on to something or someone. He know how to give kisses and loves to smile and flirt. He isn't quite talking yet but he definitely babbles to himself all the time. We think we have figured out when he is trying to say mommy or daddy and sometimes even kitty. He has been doing really well with teething, he got a runny nose a couple of times and the occasional fever but that was about it. I love watching him change and grow, it is just the best thing. Here are some recent pics.

I gave him a baby cookie thing and he made a huge mess.

Mmmm good!

God I love that face.

Big smile for the camera, he is such a ham!

Oh and we went to the doctor today and here are his stats. He was 28" long, 18.6 pounds and his head was 47 cm. Overall the doctor said he looked great. His weight is only in the 25th percentile which I wasn't crazy about. I've decided I need to feed him more. Mark said I was worrying for nothing and that he would rather him be on the light side then the heavy side. I guess that's true. And again the doctor said he looked great so I'm probably worrying for nothing. He seems happy and healthy so I guess he is fine.

New Passion

So I have recently stumbled upon a new passion. I have always enjoyed cooking and baking and have decided to try and make cakes. I had my first attempt yesterday. We were going to dinner at our friend Tim and Shara's and I decided to try a small cake. It was a lot of fun and I think it actually came out better then I thought it would. I have a long way to go and a lot to learn but it's fun and I'm really enjoying it. So wish me luck! Let me know if anyone needs a cake for something, I need all the practice I can get. Here is a picture of my first cake.

Here are some pictures of Brody I have been meaning to post. I really need to try and get another picture of his teeth. He now has four and two more are about to come in. It's crazy how fast they came.

This is kind of a new thing too, he loves his football and rarely puts it down.

We knew we wanted him to like wine but I think he may be a little young.

Rockin the new shoes.

Came in for a close up.

Making a mess

Brody's new favorite thing to do is make a mess. He is like a little hurricane. If I pick up all of his toys and put them in his basket he rushes over and pulls them all out one by one. Or if I have a drawer open he will crawl over and pull things out throwing everything over his shoulder. And his favorite is to go into the office and pull the DVDs off the shelf. Thank goodness he can only reach two shelves. Oh and in other new news he now has three teeth and the fourth is peeking threw.

Picking Up Food

We hit another mile stone. When Ang was here Brody learned to pick up food and put it in his mouth. I'm not sure why I thought this would be so difficult considering everything he picks up goes in his mouth. But it is definitely harder with smaller things. Mark was giving him bread on Saturday afternoon when the girls were having lunch at the Oasis and I guess he just started to pick up little pieces and putting them in his mouth. We have since moved on to Cheerios's which is his new favorite thing. It's all he wants to eat. Here is the video Mark got of him eating bread.

Ok so I typed this blog several days ago and then ran into some trouble adding the video. Blogger only allows you to up load videos 100 mg or smaller and this one was something like 109. We have several video editing programs so I thought it would be easy to just cut some of the video out, WRONG. Well I was able to edit the video pretty easily with a couple different programs but then it saves the video as a different type of file. One that blogger will not upload. So after several days of trying I finally gave up. And then today I was shopping at Target and I was on the phone with Kelley and the cashier overheard me telling her that I couldn't get the video to my blog and he suggested using youtube to do it, so I came home and tried it and it actually worked! Now I can post longer videos. Thank you youtube!

And the crazyness continued...

So after our fast and furious trip to California we arrived back in Texas on Wednesday. We headed straight from the airport to the grocery store and then home to clean the house and get ready for Ang to visit. Ang is my best friend from college she lives in California and came out to visit for the first time since we have been in Texas. She got here on Thursday. Matt and Abbey changed Wonderful Wednesday to Thrilling Thursday so we were able to go. It was at the Salt Lick which is the BBQ place out in the boonies that we took Kelley to when she was here. It was so much fun. Brody got to play in the dirt for the first time and Ang's best friend from high school lives in Austin and her and her boyfriend Nathan were able to join us. Then on Friday we had a pretty lazy day but then had a girls night out. We went to a sushi place called Uchi's and then down town for drinks. We found a great place that had an awesome cover band and ended up dancing until 2 am. I can't even remember the last time I did that, it was so much fun. On Saturday we slept in and then got up and had lunch at the Oasis, which is a great place out on the lake. The food is just ok but the view and ambiance is amazing. On Saturday night we invited Melissa and Nathan to come over and Mark and I cooked dinner for everyone. We had some really nice wine and made filets with wasabi mashed potatoes (which are my new favorite thing). By Sunday I was completely wiped out. Ang headed into Austin with Melissa and Nathan and Mark and I spent the day on the couch. I'm just starting to feel rested. It was a crazy couple of weeks. Here are some pics from Ang's visit.

Me and Ang

Mark and Brody

Melissa, Ang and Me

Mark, Brody and Nathan

Girls night out!

Brody playing with rocks.

We're Back

Sorry it has been awhile. We have been crazy busy. I will start with our trip to California. We had a really good time but it seemed to go by way too fast. We flew in on Saturday and met up with Mark's family to go have Sushi at our favorite spot. On Sunday the girls got up and went to have manicures and pedicures at Pinkies. Then we had some people over for lunch. They boys had tickets to the Warriors game so they left around 4:30. The girls stayed home with the kids. The boys got home and we played Catch Phrase and Left Right Center. We had too much wine and stayed up too late but it was so much fun. On Monday Ryan, Kenda and Bina had to leave. I had a hair appointment that I was extremely excited about considering I have not had a haircut since September. On Monday night we went to dinner with our good friends Bernd and Thea. They are getting married at Mark's parents house in October and Bernd asked Mark to be his best man. Mark is very honored and we both can't wait for the wedding. On Tuesday I was able to stop by the LPH to see some of my old friends and then we headed to the A's opening night. It is kind of a tradition for us, Mark was so excited to be able to fly back and go to the game. It was a good time even though the A's lost. Brody did really well and made it all the way through the 8th inning. Then we flew home on Wednesday. Like I said it was fast and furious but we had a really great time. Here are some pictures from our visit.

Brody having his first frozen bagel.

Mark and Brody

The boys leaving for the Warriors game.

Brody and Grandpa chillen on the couch.

Loves bath time with Grandma!

Never too early to learn how to play the piano.

Brody in Grandma's slippers.

He didn't really like his hat unless it was sideways, I guess he is taking after his uncle Alan.

Go A's.