We love when Aunt Teri visits!

My sister, affectionately known as Aunt Teri to my boys, came for a visit a few weekends ago. We loved spending time with her! Isn't she annoyingly beautiful?-

 I actually took a lot more pictures, except they're all on her phone, oops. Well, to sum up in words, we went downtown to eat at Reata's, a scrumptious southwestern cuisine place with a rooftop view, browsed thru an art gallery, visited our Mammaw in East Texas, and survived the summer heat by splashing around in the backyard.

Wondering why the picture is so hazy? Just ask the photographer- 4 year old Jack. He stole my phone and I later deleted about 35 pictures he took of the floor, hallways, and blurry people.

On Sunday, I took Jack with me, and we drove with my parents and Teri to visit Mammaw (my Dad's mom). She's closing in on 100 years old now! She has 4 children, 13 grandchildren, a ton of great-grandchildren (somewhere around 23), and 2 or 3 great-great-grandchildren. It's amazing to witness the birth of so many new generations in one's lifetime, don't you think?

When we went into her room to visit her, Jack kept saying how he was going to see "grandma." He sat next to her on the bed and held her hand for a few minutes, no hesitation. He was so sweet and told her "Hi grandma, I love you." She was thrilled he was there and kept asking him to say "mammaw" for her. He truly made her day.

We had a fun weekend with family and can't wait for Aunt T to visit again. It'll be close to Thanksgiving before we see her again, let the countdown begin!

Refreshingly Cool Colorado

We visited Durango, Colorado for a refreshingly cool vacation this year. We met up with Jon's family- his parents, siblings and nieces/nephews for a fabulous week. Catch a sneak peak below-

Unfortunately, Jason was too little to make it up the chair lift for this shot

Our resort

Here's a Jason shot-

I will definitely be posting more pictures and stories later, and hopefully I can be savvy enough to do a slide show. We truly had a fantastic time with the cooler weather, mountain backdrop, endless activities, and time with family.

The Amazing Jason

Our little baby is now 14 months old and leaving the world of babydom behind him, entering the land of exciting toddlerdom. I've got to jot down some of his language growth here, before I forget what cute stuff he's doing:

-I discovered the other day that when I ask Jason for "kisses," he interprets that to mean, bumping your forehead onto the other person's head. So that when I say, "give me kisses," he drops his head onto mine for a few seconds. A-dor-able, sigh.

-He's discovered that shoes=going outside and having fun. So he brings me his and mine shoes, so as to persuade me to take him out. He carried his shoes thru the house the other day and left them behind in big brother's room. I said, "go get your shoes" (totally not expecting any kind of response), and he looked at me, cocked his head, and then turned around and went back into brother's room and picked up his shoes! So smart.

-I have to be careful saying the word "milk" out loud, for it leads to Jason walking to the fridge, banging on the door and crying for his milk.

-Yesterday, Jason had picked up a napkin that fell off the table onto the floor. He brought it to me, and I said "go put it in the trash." He gave me a look of comprehension and consideration, and then turned around and walked into the kitchen and threw it in the trash.

-On several occasions, admist a room full of toys, when asked to get his "truck," "bear," and "blanket," he deliberately picked up each object when asked. He loves his stuffed animals and blankets, and always smiles when picking them up, even sprawling out across his blanket and pulling it up over his face.

-He loves the Downy fabric softener commercials, featuring the big teddy bear. He always smiles and coos when it comes on, and even tries to hold the bear by touching the tv screen. One time, when the commercial ended he started whining for the bear to come back.

And, our newfound toddler is also embracing the physical side of toddlerhood. He totally impressed me yesterday while at the park. He walked up the stairs and slid down the slide all by himself. And he repeated this loop over and over again, until time to go.