Fun with friends

We live 10 minutes from the Medieval Times in Maryland. We have a few friends who we knew in California living here, too. When my mom came into town we asked her to watch Mina and our friend's baby, Regi, so we could all go to Medieval times! It was a blast! Our knight didn't win (typical). But, we were able to get free royalty upgrades so we sat right in the front and had a couple of other added bonuses. It was fun and Mom I promise I'll take you one day!!!

We decided to go bowling one day and when I went to get Mina to go, I noticed she had a pen and was drawing all over her foot, shoe and leg. What a nerd. Told you she loves to draw. We had a lot of fun bowling. Mina had a blast. They had little slides for kids to set there balls on to push so that the ball goes straight. Mina would push the ball then quickly run to the side so she could see. It seemed as if she would lean to the side that she wanted the ball to go and then she'd say "ooooooooh." It was so fun to watch her bowl!






When she wasn't bowling she was either "helping out" with Regi or trying to steal stuff out of his diaper bag. Never leave a bag unattended when Mina is around. She loves Relief Society meetings because there are so many purses to go through. Oh Mina.

We decided to test out Mina's ability to sit through a movie in the theater. We took her to see Toy Story 3. She did well for the most part. Aside from getting red slushy all over my mom and dropping her sippie cup to have it roll down under three rows of seats, we only had to take her out twice. As long as there was action taking place on screen, she was good. But, we probably won't be taking her back any time soon.

We spent the 4th of July with my mom, the Roberson's and the White's. We had a barbecue and then walked to a field near our house to watch the fireworks show. Mina had been asleep so we woke her up to walk over there, but she was not disappointed. She watched the whole show and was so good.

We've gone to Annopolis a few times to walk around and eat. Mina loved the balloon we got from a restaurant. Unfortunately on our way into our house after returning, it got caught in our rose bush and popped. Oops. That darn rose bush. Mina fell into it once and got pretty scratched up. Poor girl.

Mina loves to play on the piano. She moved her little seat over to it to stand on and play with a spatula.

Our short time with Brian

My parent's dog Larsey had puppies shortly before we left Texas. I wanted so badly to bring one with us. Dru said no. But, he said if he passed a couple of tests he would be taking then we could figure out a way to bring Brian, the male puppy, up. Well he passed his tests so we talked some about ways we could get him up here. I really didn't think we ever would. One night Dru left to go help someone from church out, but was really picking Brian up from the airport. My uncle Rick had traveled to Texas and Dru had arranged to have him bring the dog back with him. Dru walked in the door and then in walks this adorable little puppy! I was so excited. I couldn't believe Dru had arranged all of this for me when I knew how much he did NOT want the puppy or any dog. It meant so much to me that he had done this. It still does. We woke Mina up to see Brian and she was even more excited than me.

After a week or so I realized again how much Dru didn't want him. I realized that a dog has to be loved by everyone in a family or it just can't work. It's not that Dru hated him or anything, but he didn't love him. It brought a lot of tears to my eyes and it was so hard to do, but I called my mom to tell her my decision and arranged to have her fly out here to visit and also to bring Brian back home.

It was so hard to send him away, but I know things are better this way and I enjoyed every minute we had with Brian. He was so sweet and such a good dog. He loved playing with Mina, too. And Mina loved playing with him. We miss him and I love Dru for letting us have the opportunity to have him in our home even for such a short time.

Visiting Uncle Rick and the Johnson's

I was very excited to move to Maryland because I know several people who live here. My uncle Rick is here and so are the Johnson's! We've been friends with the Johnson's for over 17 years. They live a couple hours south of us so one day when Dru was off we ventured on down there. They took us to show us some of the beauty down there. We went to this lighthouse and even got to climb up to the top of it. We also visited the little museum and gift shop. Mina loves mannequins for some reason. There was a little mannequin boy in the museum and Mina would just not leave him alone. She always runs to the mannequins in Old Navy when we go, too. They kind of freak me out so I have no idea what her fascination is with them.

It was SOOO HOT! I ended up wiping all of my makeup off with a baby wipe. Despite the heat we had a good time. Candice later on took us to a little beach where Mina had a blast playing in the sand, flirting with some guys and wading in the water with Dru. It was so good to see Uncle Rick and the Johnson's and it's comforting to know we have some family and great friends not too far away!

Of course this was the first thing Dru did.

Keith and Wanda and their daughter, Candice.

The water felt nice on such a hot day.

Mina's new friend.

Dru's new friend.

Mina being Mina.

The tour guide, Mina, Wanda, Uncle Rick and Dru.

She loves playing in the sand.

She was talking to Candice about something. Who knows what.

Having fun at home

Mina's favorite thing to do when we got here was to play on the stairs. She's gotten very good at going up and down so I don't really worry about her much. She hasn't fallen yet, but has had a couple of close calls. One time she was standing on the very last step at the bottom and I'm pretty sure she thought she was on the ground all ready so she took a step forward and fell flat on the ground. It just made me laugh.

Mina also LOVES to color. She is finally out of the habit of trying to eat crayons thank goodness. It was all my fault she kept doing it because I laughed one time at her. She thought I thought it was funny so she kept doing it. What a goober. Good things she's cute! She loves to play with our ipods and our phones, too. She'll practically use anything as a phone and talk. It's funny to listen to her language. She'll have a good long conversation with you if you sit and talk to her. She loves to talk.

We still love going outside to swing, though it's gotten so hot that we don't go out too often anymore. Mina loves any chance to go outside. She loves to explore. She used to walk to our front door and as soon as we would open it for her she would start waving and say, "hi!" Even if there was nobody outside!

She climbed up on our coffee table all by herself. She likes to get what she wants so she figured out how to get up there to get my phone and some colored pencils.