A June Full of Memories

Our first month here in Dallas proved to be a fun-filled one, especially on the weekends. Danny has every other Friday off and we took advantage of those days by visiting places we thought would be interesting or fun.



The first place we went to was the Ft. Worth Zoo, which in one of Danny's co-worker's opinion, is one of the best in the entire country. We found the zoo to be everything he claimed it to be. Considering the fact that the Phoenix Zoo is the one we're used to, this zoo was absolutely amazing and beautiful. It was like walking through a tropical rain forest and we couldn't get over how lush and green the foliage was. Even better was the fact that the animals were visible in almost every exhibit, which is also unlike the Phoenix Zoo. We ended up staying for almost six hours and the kids did wonderfully. Dallin slept on and off in his stroller and Emily enjoyed seeing the animals. Her favorite part of the zoo was riding on the train they had that went all over the grounds. Much to our frustration, however, our camera battery was dead and we didn't get a single shot of our excursion.



The following evening was our next exciting outing. We went to our very first rodeo! We went with the Hansen Family, who we've met since arriving. We took our kids and they took their three kids to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo at the Resistol Arena in Mesquite, TX, a town located about 15 miles east of Dallas. They had several activities to participate in before the rodeo started, and Emily chose to ride a pony, which she named "Holly" from a "Spot" book she loves to read. During the actual rodeo, though, she didn't pay much attention to the events as she was busy playing with the other kids and gorging herself on a big bucket of popcorn. The adults liked seeing all the action, though. The events included bull riding, barrel racing, mutton bustin', bronco riding, calf roping, bare back riding, rodeo poker, and wagon racing. Our favorite was the mutton bustin', which consists of little kids hanging on for dear life to a sheep while it's running all over the place. Sometimes it was hard to watch the cowboys ride because their bodies really take a beating. Somehow, they get right up and walk away after being bucked off a huge bull. Seeing a rodeo is definitely something we won't forget!

Father's Day came all too soon this year for us. We almost missed it since we thought it was going to be on the 24th, as opposed to the real date, the 17th. Amy did some last minute shopping to try to make it a special day, but made sure to tell Danny he'd get some good stuff at the outlets when we went. His request for dinner was Brazilian black beans and rice, a delicious recipe from Amy's Aunt Liz. It turned out very well, in spite of the fact that we didn't have a blender! Emily helped wrap gifts and colored on Danny's Father's Day card. All in all it was a good Father's Day.

The next weekend we headed north to a town called Allen to do some shopping at the outlets. Again, the kids did really well in the stroller and we got a good couple of hours of shopping in. There were so many great stores we didn't get to that we think we'll head up there again to finish them off.

On the 26th we celebrated Emily's second birthday. We had been talking about it with her for a couple of weeks in advance and she'd look in the cupboard every day to see the box of cake mix that would eventually turn into her birthday cake. She looked forward to eating that the most, along with her #2 candle she'd get to blow out (she was especially mindful of the applause that would follow), opening presents, and balloons. Since we knew it would be a small gathering with us being away from family this summer, we tried to make it a big deal by decorating the house with lots of balloons, signs, and streamers. She loved every bit of it and she had a great birthday.

Just yesterday we returned from taking an over-nighter to Austin to visit Matt and Megan Mullins. Megan is Amy's former roommate from her BYU days. It had been at least three years since they'd seen each other and it was great to see each other again, especially at this fun phase of our lives. The three hour drive turned out to be four hours on the way down there; traffic, a feeding, and a huge diaper blow-out were some of the factors that slowed it down. We finally got to Megan and Matt's house in time for dinner and we ate take-out from Rudy's, a BBQ place that they said is the best in Texas. It was just that and we really loved it. Emily liked their little baby, Blake, and said several times as she cupped her little hands together that she wanted to hold him. For some reason she kept saying that she wanted to hold Matt too. Go figure! Thanks to the graciousness and hopsitality of the Mullinses, we got to stay the night at their place. In the morning we went out for a late breakfast at Magnolia Cafe, a quaint local place that is very Austin. Again, the food was delicious and very filling. The pancakes were bigger than the plates themselves and, uncharacteristically, Danny couldn't finish the two he ordered. After that, we went to Megan's parents beautiful home for visiting, swimming, and lunch. Paul and Jan McKinnon were very accomodating in letting us crash their place with ourselves and our two kids. While Dallin slept and Emily hung out in a floater, we played a mean game of water volleyball. It was really fun to be in the pool, to get some sun, and to be in such good company. We had a very enjoyable time in Austin and give a big thanks to Matt, Megan, Paul, and Jan for making it so fun!!

A quick blurb about Dallin is in order. He had his two month check-up on the 14th and the doc said he's a healthy little guy. He weighed in at a whopping 14 lbs., 11 0z. and measured 24 inches long. He falls into the 95th percentile for weight, and in the 85th for height. What a big boy we have! He had to get FIVE shots, but was a trooper and didn't cry for long.