What we've been up to lately

We've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. After our visit to San Angelo with Dru, we were home just a little over a week when we went back to San Angelo to attend Dru's graduation. Yes, Dru is finally finished with training. Now, he is taking some leave until we move to Maryland in the middle of May.

Dru's graduation was actually a lot of fun. Meagan and William came with us. I had to learn how to drive a stick, because Meagan had her wisdom teeth pulled the day before we left and I didn't want her to have to drive. I only stalled once on the way there. Haha. On the freeway, too. I was a little scared. But, I did it. At the actual graduation, Mina and I were able to go on the stage to pin Dru's occupational badge on him. That was pretty neat. Mina has recently started to sing and dance, so when they sang the National Anthem, Mina immediately started swaying and about half way through began to sing. It was very cute. Both William and Mina loved it when the audience applauded and Mina would proceed to applaud herself as soon as everyone else was finished. All in all, the babies were good and it was a nice ceremony.

All of us right after the graduation ceremony.

Meagan and I were very excited to take the babies to the park that Mina got to play at a lot when we were there a couple of weeks ago. This was Williams first time in a swing and he really like it a lot, too. He wouldn't let go with one of his hands and if we tried to take it off, he would put it right back. The babies had a lot of fun swinging together. At one point, Mina was sitting on Dru's lap while on a swing and Dru started to drag his feet to stop the swinging and Mina started cracking up laughing. He kept doing it and every single time, she would crack up. It was the cutest thing ever. The video below is of her doing just that.

Mina and William swinging together.

Another highlight of our trip was being able to see the Yoder's. They had just arrived the previous week from Monterey. Their baby Griffith has grown so much and has gotten all the more cute. We had dinner and played games with them both nights we were there and it was a blast. It made me really miss our days in California.

The adorable baby Griffith.

Upon returning to Fort Worth, we headed to the Jorgensen's house to spend the Easter weekend with them. I was so excited get Mina a basket and an Easter dress. The basket ended up being for all three of us as it contained a lot of candy that Mina can't have. But, she really enjoyed taking everything out of it and was such a good sport to wear the bunny ears I got for her. It was a wonderful weekend full of family, fun and spiritual words of the prophet.

Mina, her basket (which was actually a hat) and her bunny ears.

Then, the next week was Mina's cousin, Elexus's, birthday. Her party was held at Chuck E. Cheese! Dru and I were excited to go and thankfully Mina really enjoyed it there. She loved looking at everything. She rode a couple of the little rides and Grandma Jorgensen actually let her climb to the top of the Skee Ball game. Haha. It was pretty funny.

Mina's first encounter with Chuck E. Cheese!

This last week or so, we have really enjoyed playing outside in the nice weather and taking trips to the parks. Mina and William love to swing, and well, Mina likes to try anything and everything. She tried to get William to play in the rocks like she does, but William was not impressed. He did not want to play in the rocks. He sat there for a few minutes and then started crying. We tried several times to set him down, but eventually all you had to do was hold him over the rocks and he would start to cry. Haha. He is so funny.

William did not even want to touch those rocks.

Mina crawled all the way through this tube to Dad!

She really liked it and the static in her hair was so funny.

She made it!

We let her climb wherever she wanted and she eventually got to this slide. Not even hesitating, she went head first down. She is not afraid of anything.

We have also spent several days at the Jorgensen's home playing in their backyard. They have a trampoline, a hammock and dandelions. It's taken Mina a little time to actually enjoy the trampoline, but now if you stand on it with her, she will try to bounce all by herself. She loves it. Probably more than Mina do Dru and I love laying on the hammock. However, if we give Mina something to occupy her, she will lay on it with us. One afternoon we were all laying on it when one by one, our neices, Angel and Elexus, and our nephew, Mason, came to join us. It was fun.

Aunt Sam bouncing with Mina. (Yes, it's blurry, but they were bouncing.)

She loves being outside having fun.

She wouldn't actually blow on it, although she does know how to blow. She just tried to eat it. But, it looks like she's about to blow on it, right?

Cousins piled on to the hammock.

My parents' dog, Larsey, had puppies a few weeks ago. Mina absolutely loves them. Any time they come out to play she races over to them to pet them and kiss them. She laughs so much at the dogs and it is so wonderful to see how excited she gets when they're around.

Mina kissing a puppy.

So, that's what we've been up to. One other piece of exciting news is that Mina has been walking more and more each day. It is strange to see this little "baby" up on her feet and walking. It's kind of sad, too, that she is not our little baby anymore. She's growing up. We love her and she brings an incredible amount of joy to our lives and we are truly grateful she is ours.