Visiting Jess and Coming Home to My Boys

Two weekends ago (wow, has it already been that long??) I went to visit my best friend from college, Jess. She is getting married next year and asked me to be her Maid of Honor! Of course I said YES! and offered to help with any planning I could. Let's be honest, the offer to help with planning was really just an excuse to go out and buy bridal magazines, which I may or may not think about buying every time I go to the store. In order to best help Jess though (and have some high-quality bestie time), I had to go see her in Indianapolis!

The weekend did not start off very well. First of all, Texas was having some horrible weather. The night before I was supposed to go to Indiana, we went out to dinner with Jackson's midwife, LCDR Shaughnessy. While we were eating, a tornado turned up in the area and we had to go hideout in the kitchen. It was really crazy! Driving home that night (after waiting out the worst of it in the restaurant), we joked about Texas and the crazy weather. Unfortunately, Texas was not done with us, and on our way out to the airport the next (gorgeous and sunny) morning, the weather took a bizarre turn again and I received a call on my phone saying that my flight was canceled. Luckily, they booked me on another flight, but that flight wasn't leaving until the next day! I briefly considered going to the airport and trying to get on a flight that day, and quickly decided against it. I really didn't want to have to deal with all the lines, cranky passengers, stressed out airline staff, it just didn't seem worth it and I doubt I would have made it on to any other flight anyway. So my weekend started off with a delayed start.

The next day our flight was delayed about 30 minutes, but I somehow managed to finally make it to Indianapolis to see Jess!! We went from the airport to the cake tasting (yum!! one of the more fun parts of planning a wedding!), burned some time at a strange bar, and then over to try on bridal gowns. Jess found her dress!! The first 6 hours of my trip we found the cake, dress, veil, and additional bling. So productive! We also figured out the bridesmaid dress and on the last day, we rested!

Sometimes it's nice to take a break and share a pitcher of beer and a rainy afternoon with good friends, so that's what we did. Jess's fiance, Chris, came as well. I know it's kind of my job like the groom, but it's so great that I ACTUALLY like him. Jess's Mom and I had several conversations about how much we like him. He's just really fun, down-to-earth, and not trying to be anyone he's not... but still has a little tiny bit of poeple-pleaser in him, especially when it comes to Jess. They compliment each other really well and I'm so thrilled that she has found such an awesome guy... and wedding dress... and CAKE!!

That evening we went to service in the church where they'll marry each other. It's gorgeous! and the people are so nice and friendly. Afterwards, they tried to make me feel "at home" and took me to a hibachi grill!!

I love that we're all wearing flip flops... out of college and we're still too lazy to put on real shoes.

The trip was AWESOME and I love seeing Jess and continuing to get to know Chris. While I was away though, my two boys were getting plenty of quality time together. SO much quality time, that I came home to find these on our dining room table:


Now, Steven loves Jackson, but the idea of being the only parent for 4 days was a little daunting. He did a great job and got through it though, and welcomed me home with these gorgeous flowers! He picked out the flowers he thought I'd like and had the florist arrange them for me. I think he really has an eye for flowers... certainly my taste! These flowers mean a lot to me because they show me that Steven really appreciates all that I do as a full-time mom. It was so nice to have my two favorite boys meet me at the airport after a fun weekend with one of my best friends ever.

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all those wonderful Daddies out there!! We had a great Father's Day. First, we let Daddy sleep in while Jackson and I organized and cleaned out the closet in his bedroom. Since we didn't have a lot of closet space in Yokosuka, we bought Jackson a wardrobe to house most of his things. Since closet space is not an issue in our new apartment (yay!), we decided to turn Jackson's closet into Daddy's Music space. There's enough room for his guitars, songbooks, and his new keyboard that he got for Father's Day a couple weeks early. There's even enough room for Steven to be able to play his instruments in there! Jackson and I moved everything out except for a tiny corner that Steven wouldn't be able to use anyway. Then, we woke him up with little boy kisses and gave him his Father's Day cards. Since we got his Father's Day present a few weeks ago, he didn't have any gifts to open, but we showed him the clean closet that will become his music closet and a special Father's Day picture that Jackson did for him. The proofs from that picture session are here:

http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=c59458b6-9b86-43e6-85f8-31804cf8b38f&CMPN=EmailAlbum

I have to say, they turned out perfectly! We took some time to lament the fact that we never had the chance to get Jackson into modeling in Japan. We would have made a ton of money!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out as a family until Steven's Father's Day dinner. He got to choose whereever he wanted to go. Unfortunately for me, he chose Chili's. I have a rule: I don't go to restaurants that we had in Yokosuka because I am SO SICK of them. Steven loves Chili's though, so when he requested we go there, I gave in. It ended up being a great day! Here's a picture of Jackson and his Daddy at Chili's:

Mooooooo

Last weekend we spent Sunday with my Mom at her house. She was going through baby withdrawal and called us to worm her way into some grandson time. Both she and Terri start to get a little nutty if they haven't seen him in 5-6 days. They start calling with offers of free lunch/dinner, babysitting, etc. It usually hits around the weekend, which works out well for us. We usually get at least one night to ourselves a week. Anyways, this weekend my Mom called and offered to take Jackson so we could have a nap. NAP - I love that word these days more than ever before. Since Jackson's sleep schedule was much more on target than it had been recently, and Steven had some studying to do, we decided to come over and hang out instead. While we were at her house, we decided to go over to Market Street to pick up some baby food for Jackson. Imagine our surprise when we drove up and saw a COW!!

...and not just ANY cow, Elsie, the Borden cow! We got there at the same time she did, so we got in to get a picture with her. Jackson had just woken up from a car nap, so he wasn't too interested, but he gave her a pat on the nose and we got to hear her give a good, loud MOOOOO! It was so cool. We already love Market Street, but the new one in Plano has been doing a lot of promotions like this one, so it's fun to be surprised sometimes!