Cowgirl in the City.

My very favorite friend, Timber, came to visit me last week. I don't know how I lucked out to have such a great friend like her. I'm so grateful. She is a wonderful mother, wife, friend and is full of talents. She always seems to uplift me. I often wonder, how two people from such different backgrounds can be such good friends. It goes to show, that the connections we make among human beings is much more complex than just similar backgrounds...

I love Timber's friendship and I treasure it.

I'm so grateful she came to visit me. I have been to visit her in her element. You can see my travels to the boonies :) (i.e. Pie Town, New Mexico) HERE and HERE! Always such a blast to spend time experiencing parts of her life and her lifestyle. Now it was her turn to come see me and my life right now.

We spent some fun times, visiting D.C.

We did a tour of the Capitol. I had gone a few weeks earlier with Betsy...but this time we got to go into the Senate Chamber!!!! I was beyond excited!!!!!!!! We took turns sitting there and watching the Senate in action! It was such a highlight for me. I love the American Government and how it works...I guess that is why I chose to minor in it.

It was a treat...too bad we couldn't take any pictures.

As always, the architecture in the Capitol's Rotunda is amazing. I can't get enough of it!

One day, Timber got up early and headed to the Holocaust Museum. My kids are too young for that museum so I later met up with her and walked around the monuments. Scottie was nice enough to his wife, and stayed home with the kiddos.

We walked and walked and talked and talked. I always have such interesting discussions with Timber. I learn from her and her perspective on things.

I have to admit that walking that much with 'the belly' was a bit challenging! Man! Am I just getting old? I was dragging my feet! We got caught in a storm and we had to run to our car and oh man! It was hilarious! I wish I could have seen myself. I'm sure it was quite the show for everyone!

Timber was so sweet to my kiddos the whole time she was here. They loved her. The only thing Brielle wished is that she had brought Denim!

One night, after dinner, Timber made a bubble bath for them, she sat there stirring the water to make all those big bubbles for a while! My kids LOVED it!

Her last day in D.C. came all too quickly and we headed to New York City for the weekend.

Scottie was so good to me, to let me go on Memorial Day Weekend. The pool opened that weekend though, so he and the kiddos spent Saturday and Monday at the pool. Thanks Scottie for watching the kiddos so I can go have a girls' weekend.

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On Saturday, before heading to NYC, we headed to our last stop in D.C., the Arlington Cemetery. I'm glad Timber got to see it. It is such a beautiful place.

After, the Arlington Cemetery, we took the Chinatown bus and headed to New York City to see our good friend Brenda. The Chinatown bus is always an adventure!:)

We got there late Saturday night...Brenda had a feast prepared for us! We had such a fun time talking and talking...my pregnant body is just not used to staying up until 2 in the morning!!!

We eventually went to bed. Thank goodness Church was not until 11:30am!

After Church, we had another feast! We took a nap and then headed to the city. Brenda lives in a building right across from the Trump Building...and right around the corner is the Stock Exchange Building. That is her neighborhood!

They were both so patient with me and my 7-month old pregnant belly!!!

Thank you girls!

So many taxis...every where!

It amazes me that in such a big huge city with SO many people, they still try really hard to have little parks in the city and pretty areas for people to gather.

Last time, Scott and I didn't make it to the Brooklyn Bridge. So, that was our first stop.

This is so NYC.

The Brooklyn Bridge is so majestic and beautiful.

It really is amazing.

Brenda is such a wonderful, talented girl! I loved being able to spend time with her again. There is such a depth about her and who she is. I love talking to her and I definitely LOVE eating her food!:) She is such a good cook!

I LOVED the Brooklyn Bridge...I wish Scott could have been there to see it too...he would have appreciated how amazing it is.

View of the city from the Brooklyn Bridge.

After the bridge, we got on the subway and headed to Times Square.

It was a busy night! Sooooooooo many people.

On Monday, we headed to Clinton Street Baking Company...it's this super charming restaurant, famous for serving amazing breakfast/brunch food. The wait, however, was 2 hours!!! Disappointingly, we opted not to wait but we did get some pastries.

The blueberry muffin I got, was out of this world!

We walked a few blocks to the subway. I admired the character of the streets of NYC.

So much character every where you turn.

Our next stop was, the Grand Central Terminal. Another place, Scott and I didn't have time to see when we were there last fall.

It's a beautiful place and it is huge.

Brenda showed us this area of the terminal where the acoustics are so amazing, if you stand on opposite sides of the walls and you whisper into the wall the person on the other side can hear you.

It was pretty amazing!

Then, Brenda treated us to Magnolia Bakery's famous Banana Pudding. I have to say that I was not that hungry after my blueberry muffin but MAN!!! That banana pudding was HEAVENLY!!!! Honestly! WOW!

Here I am with my then 28-week pregnant belly! Man! I'm HUGE!

I'll be 30 weeks on the 13th.

We admired Saks Fifth Avenue window displays. Some of it, you wonder who would EVER in their right mind wear something like that, but some of it, is pretty.

Brenda was such a great hostess. She's turned into a New Yorker! It was so easy being there, because she knew exactly where to go, where the subway was, all the good places to eat, etc. Thanks Brenda!

One of our last stops before I headed back to D.C. was Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Strawberry Fields is a memorial for John Lennon from the Beatles. It was nice, but there were so many people there!

We got some delicious deli sandwiches and took them to Central Park and had a little picnic. It was a hot day, but nonetheless, I enjoyed being with such great company and eating yummy food!

On the way to the subway, Brenda took us again to Magnolia Bakery, but this time the actual place. Magnolia Bakery is known to have started the 'cupcake craze'. They were the first ones....and as full as I was from our sandwiches, I had a little bite of a chocolate cupcake and it was just HEAVENLY! I am NOT exaggerating!

...and last but not least, we walked by the NYC Temple. It was pretty among all the other buildings around it.

I had a week full of fun with Timber here and visiting Brenda in NYC!

Thanks for the memories and for priceless friendships!

Now, I just plan on relaxing at the pool until this baby comes!:)

Sandy Point.

It's that time of the year again, flip flops and t-shirts...and most importantly, time spent outside and not in our cave hibernating!

Thank goodness for seasons!

Before the pool opened, we joined some of the neighbor kids and Brielle and Braden played in their sprinkler. I wish I would have taken pictures of them, they were having so much fun.

Braden, found a rolliepollie and couldn't get enough of it. I love the joys they find in the simple things...Poor rolliepollie, though, it was dropped so many times!

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One Saturday morning in May, I woke up with a craving for ocean. Ocean smell, sand, ocean breeze. I told Scott about it and as if our brains had been communicating, he said he had been thinking the same thing! I seriously think that sometimes telepathy is real! It happens to Scott and I often...He was more along the lines of boogie boarding in the ocean, though...:)

But I figured if we both were thinking about the ocean, we had better do something about it!

So, I started looking online for the closest beach to us. I packed our lunches, changed everyone into their bathing suits and headed out the door.

And hour and a half later, this is where we ended up. Sandy Point State Park, along the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Not quite the ocean with white sand I had envisioned, but it was good enough.

It was such a beautiful day, not too hot.

The kids had a blast.

and I couldn't get enough of watching my family have fun.

They played and played...

...and played...they could spend hours and hours gathering shells and rocks and playing in the water.

We are so happy to have my brother back for a month and a half! It's always so fun to spend time with him and have him here. He is heading to China next and then Ethiopia! He is taking full advantage of being able to study abroad while doing his Master's in Global Public Health. It's fun to talk to him about his travels and the things he is learning and I love the perspective he brings. We miss him when he's gone, but he's doing what he loves.

We spent some relaxing times at the Chesapeake Bay.

A lot of these photos were taken by Kem. He's so good at seeing things I don't see through the viewfinder. Kem challenged me to use the manual focus on my 50mm. lens.

It was fun playing around with that lens.

I love how focused Mr. Braden gets when he's in the middle of a task. He reminds me of his father!:)

Have I mentioned how much I love these children? How can one love someone this much?

I love their innocence and how much they love to play!

ha ha! and I LOVE their facial expressions!!!!:)

Camping with Daddy.

Scott had his share of camping in the month of May. The weekend after our family camping adventure to Sky Meadows, Scott and Brielle had a Daddy-Daughter camp-out with our Church's ward. Brielle had been looking forward to it for weeks and was counting down the days until the big day, when she and her daddy would go camping together, just the two of them.

Scott recounted a few episodes of drama during their outing but overall they spent some special moments together.

They took our little Canon powershot and these are some of the shots they came back with.

They had a great turn out and Brielle got to play with some of her little friends from Church. They ate hot dogs, had smores and enjoyed having fun outside.

The following weekend, our ward had a Father-son camp-out. Braden was ecstatic!!!!! He LOVES camping! Scott says that they had SO MUCH FUN! He is such a good little helper and helped Scott put up their tent.

They came back smelling like camp fire! I guess Braden LOVED hanging around the fire and throwing sticks in it.

Scott is such a good daddy to these two kiddos and loves spending quality time with them. I hope there are many more camp-outs like these with them. I love the excitement they feel at the thought of spending some one-on-one time with Scott. They both felt so special.

Scott came home saying that he couldn't have another hot dog in a long, long time!

3 weeks in a row of camping!

I am a Mother.

At age 25, I became a mother of a beautiful little girl. My life hasn't been the same since. Shortly, after I became a mother for the second time...to a loving little boy...and my life changed even more. Brielle and Braden made my dream of becoming a mother come true.

They both love me unconditionally, even when I make mistakes and I'm clueless about raising children. They have taught me how deeply I am capable of loving another human being. I wake up every morning with the sole purpose of serving them, loving them, rearing them and teaching them the good things of this life.

Sometimes, I fail...but sometimes I succeed...and those are the days that I hold on to.

It is the little special moments that I share with them, that make motherhood such a wonderful experience.

Like the other day, when Braden told me out of the blue,

"I am thankful for you, mommy."

Those moments fill my heart with joy.

This year, my sweet kiddos and husband made Mother's Day so special for me. Each of the kids class had a Mother's Day Tea and they sang the cutest songs and we had yummy treats.

They also gave me the cutest little presents and drawings.

There's something so special about a handmade present, especially when it's from your kids.

On Sunday, we had a little family photo session, before Church.

Thanks Bets for taking these!

Once upon a time, it was just me and this man!

My two precious kiddos. I know every mother is biased when it comes to her children...

but seriously, aren't these two so cute?!!!

My boys.

My first-born, who will be going to kindergarden in the fall. We went to orientation the other day! She's going to the 'big' school!!!

I love this picture, even Braden, he seems like he's picking his nose but I LOVE it!

I love these people. They are my life.

I'm so grateful to them for loving me the way I am.

I had a wonderful Mother's Day!