Easter

The Easter Bunny cake Barbara and I worked hard on. It was yummy!

Hunting Easter eggs on the court house lawn in Sonora. Jack loved filling his basket with eggs and climbing one of the live oaks. It was cute! He also enjoyed hunting Easter eggs at the ranch on Easter morning. By the way, Jack loves that orange hat! He wore it the entire weekend!

Jack with the Easter Bunny.

Jack's first horse ride! Ever since he saw the trail riders in February, Jack has mentioned more than once that he wants to ride a horse the next time he goes to the ranch. In fact, he even specified a white horse (fortunately, the Malone's had a white horse!) and he also insisted that the name of the white horse was "Bob." So, even though his name is Cisco, we happily obliged Jack and called the horse "Bob." He had such a great time and loved it! He rode first with Sterling (pic below) and then with Daddy (pic above).

Jack also got to help work some of the baby goats and lambs. He had fun opening gates and shuffling them from place to place.

We spent Easter weekend at the ranch with the Malone's this year. We had such a nice time, and it was so good to spend a long weekend there; especially since we had not been to the ranch since Christmas. It was so good to see Grandma & Grandpa Texas and Uncle Michael and Barbara. Above are some pictures of our time there.

I did not get any pictures of this activity, but one of the things Jack and I did leading up to Easter was Resurrection Eggs. We opened them the 12 days prior to Easter and each one contained an object pertaining to the Easter story. We would read the scripture based on that object and talk about it. Some things were a little over his head, but he really enjoyed it! Every morning (and still on most mornings) he would request to open the Resurrection Egg. I hope to make this a tradition year after year and as he grows, it is my prayer and hope that he one day understands the true meaning of Easter: Christ dying on the cross for our sins, conquering death so that we might have eternal life with Him.

The Cabin

Ryan was away traveling during Jack's spring break, so Jack and I met the Malone's at their cabin in Cloudcroft, NM. We had a wonderful time! Jack enjoyed playing in the snow and spending time with Grandma & Grandpa Texas. He called it, "playing in winter." =) He threw snowballs, built a snowman and even rode on a sled! He took a tumble on the sled, but the next day he was right back on it. He was fascinated with the "Christmas Trees" and wanted Grandpa Malone to put Christmas lights on them. The Malone's outfitted him in snow gear, and it was so cute to see him walking around in snow pants and snow boots. Below are some pictures of our time there!


Jack with Grandma & Grandpa Texas


Walking in the snow with his grandparents.

Jack was fascinated with the shed in the background. He called it "Jack's cabin," and he really wanted a key to it.

Jack on his sled.

Eating dinner at the Lodge in Cloudcroft. It was St. Patrick's Day, so we enjoyed green punch! Jack especially loved the ice cream for dessert! We had such a great time! Thank you Grandma & Grandpa Malone!

Florida/Disney

We had such a nice visit to Florida! Jack and I headed there early to spend some time at my parent's condo on the beach. We overlapped with my sister Juliann and her kids. It was so good to see them! Jack had so much fun playing with his cousins! We also had a good visit with my grandfather. My mom, dad, Jack and I then headed to the Magic Kingdom at Disney and Ryan met us there. It was a blast! Jack loved it so much, and it was so precious to see him meet the characters. He thought they were all real....it was a perfect age to take him! He was very impressed with the castle and loved riding the rides. We also spent a day at Animal Kingdom, which was fun, but my favorite was the Magic Kingdom! It was so good to spend that time with my parents. What a great vacation! Below are some pictures of the fun:


Jack fell asleep in his stroller both days we were at the Magic Kingdom. He was exhausted from all of the fun!

We went to a dinner show called the Hoopdedoo Review. It was awesome! Jack loved playing the washboard and was so baffled at the beginning when he was happily eating his dinner and people started singing and dancing. The look on his face was priceless! At the end they pulled people from the audience to participate, and they picked me to be the can-can dancer. Below are some pictures of my silly costume!

Jack loved meeting Donald Duck, Micky and Minnie as well as Pluto and Goofy!

Jack at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom with Grandma & Grandpa Indiana on his first day!

Jack and I with my Grandpa

Jack with his cousins, Luke, David and Olivia.

Fun at the beach!

David and Jack having fun together!

Trail riders

We had so much fun today watching the trail riders make there way into town for the Houston Livestock show and rodeo! We went with our friends, Erin, Blakely and Ainsley. We were going to watch them as they went by Jack's school, but we missed them! Erin and I manovered our way around town to try and get in front of them, getting lost a few times but having fun in the process! We found a police officer who helped lead us in the right direction, and we had a perfect view of them riding by. Jack and Blakely loved waving at them and were fascinated! Jack told me in the car that he wanted to ride on a white horse. We may have to do that next time we head to the ranch to see Grandma & Grandpa Texas!

Jan/Feb!

Here is a catch up of the last 2 months! Sorry I have been a terrible blogger!




This morning Jack helped me take out the trash in his PJs. I just had to capture this photo of him in his PJs, cowboy boots and carhart. I thought it was too precious!

Here is my little cowboy! This past week at school was rodeo week! They talked all about the rodeo and sang songs and read books about the rodeo in preparation for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo kicking off this weekend. Jack loved singing the "Texas Star" song...it was too cute to hear him sing, "I'm a Texas star. I eat my beans from an old tin jar."

Fun playing outside in February.

Being silly and playing with stickers!

Jack and Daddy

Jack and mommy

In January, Jack had Pancakes and Pajama day at school. He loved dressing in his PJs!

Grandma and Aunt Debbie came to visit in January. We had lots of fun shopping, especially in an area of Houston called Harwin. We found all sorts of great deals there!

Jack enjoyed all of the Valentine's day treats, especially the lollipops!

Christmas Fun!

We had a wonderful Christmas and had a busy few weeks traveling around. We spent the week prior to Christmas in Indiana; celebrating with the Kenley's. We then traveled home on the 26th; spent a few days in Houston and celebrated our family Christmas. On the 29th we left for the Ranch and celebrated Christmas/New Years with the Malone's. It was so good to see everyone, so fun to share the Christmas joy with Jack now that he is at an age that he understands, and it was especially amazing celebrating our Savior's birth and sharing that special gift with Jack! Any time we would talk about baby Jesus he would say, "there was no room in the inn" and refer to the "inn keeper" as the "zoo keeper." =) It was so precious!

Here are some pictures of the Christmas fun:


Celebrating at the Malone Ranch.....

Jack loved his presents from Uncle Michael!

Barbara (who is now Michael's fiance!) made this portrait of Jack using one of his 2 year photos. She did such an amazing job! She is very talented!

Jack loves his train table!



Christmas at our house......

Ryan and I found this windmill and just had to get it for Jack. He loves windmills!

Jack loves his gearations!



Christmas in Indiana with the Kenley's.....

Fun at the Children's Museum!

Jack loved the snow!

He LOVED sitting on Santa's lap! We thought he would be too scared but he insisted on it when he saw Santa at the zoo.

Christmas at the zoo watching the dolphin show on Grandpa's lap.

Ryan and I in early December getting ready to attend some Christmas parties for the evening!

Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year!