Kadi's 24th Birthday

The day of the 14th dawned bright and early. It was going to be a GREAT day. My friend, Sheila, had called earlier in the week to invite Derek and I to go the a local museum for a morning of exploration. The Heard Museum of Natural Science had just opened a new exhibit of animatronic, life-size dinosaurs!! We'd only been to The Heard once before, but Derek liked walking around and chasing after Sheila's two boys, Everett and Merritt. Those two boys have just as much personality as Derek, so you can imagine all the fun we have when we're together. :) Here are pictures from that trip.

My lovely friend, Sheila, with Everett and Merritt. We love hanging out with them!

Everett and Derek riding the long-necked little dinosaur

Everett was a little more adventurous, Derek was happier being further back

Riding the other dinosaur

Can you spot the dinosaur?

There it is!! Kind of scrawny looking...

This one was fun. Everett kept trying to feed the Massospondilus a stick. Derek was fascinated

The "Elvisaurus." Not kidding.

Sing it with me! You ain't nuthin but a FO-SSIL!! Crumblin' after time!

The brachiosaurus aka the burping dinosaur (see video)



Sorry about the sideways view, but it's pretty entertaining

Parasaurolophus - gold star if you can pronounce that

This was my favorite dinosaur growing up

Inspecting the tongue of the cool climb-on-me statue. Derek tried to lick it. YUCK!

Hey, I think you have something in your teeth!

Man, this is a cool picture. It looks like the raptor just appeared out of the woods while we were strolling along.

It spat water at unsuspecting passers-by. We have proof! (see video)



Derek was blissfully unaware

Suchomimus

Is it just me, or is that T-Rex kinda chubby?

Still a cool dinosaur!



Roaring at the T-Rex

We caught grasshoppers that were strangely patient with little fingers poking



Everett and Merritt Discuss the Grasshopper (And Derek Can't Quite Reach)

White faced Coatimundi

Ring-tailed Lemur

Big ol' Capybara!

After leaving The Heard, Derek and I went home and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in a rather passive way: Derek had naptime and I had free-time. :) Then we dressed Derek up and went swimming in the backyard. Brrrrrr! Little chilly, but maybe I should have put the pool in the sunshine rather than in the shadows. Note to self for next time. I had tons a friends wish me facebook happy birthdays and a bunch of calls from family members. It was a GREAT day! Thanks to everyone!!

The Day Before My Birthday

The day before my birthday started off with an unexpected revelation and a chuckle: Derek got hold of my phone and somehow dialed Nana - all by himself. Mom told me later she could hear Mitch and I talking in the background and heavy breathing in the foreground. She realized it was Derek and it cracked her up. Mitch realized Derek had made a call and hurriedly hung up. When he realized it was my mom, he called back and they had a good laugh about it. I locked the phone and gave it back, and this is what Derek did...

The next E-Trade Baby

Surprising text? Or maybe he's surprised it isn't responding...

I love how happy he is!

My mom, Rick and Val came up to Mckinney to take me out to dinner. SURPRISE! We were going to Gamm's! That was an awesome surprise. We had a blast eating pizza and went for DQ's pumpkin blizzard to round out the evening. Derek was super cute the whole evening - just chock full of personality. Gamm had a train set she wanted us to pull out for Derek. He LOVED it! Aunt Valerie helped him figure out how to push the button to make it go forward and push the only other button to make it go backward.

Content to sit in the lap of luxury and watching the wheels go round

He tried to kick it off the track - Val didn't encourage it

Sweet bonding time between Auntie and nephew

The poor train engineer got stuck. Not sure if he just lost a dare or lost his mind.

When the engineer finally fell off, Val had an idea...

Derek was more than happy to run him over. See his little blue feet? Ding dong, the witch is dead!

Reading one of his favorite books: A Scooby-Doo, count the treats book. The ten bones glow in the dark.

Ok, so the story behind this one. All of us were eating our blizzards and Derek wanted some. Unfortunately, the kid is lactose intolerant, so ice cream was out of the question. Nana gave him applesauce though and he started playing with the empty container. When he held it up to his face, it covered his nose and mouth and looked for all the world like the emergency oxygen masks that fall from the overhead panels in the plane - sans oxygen bag, mask strap and tube though. Still, really funny observation that had us cracking up.

Amy's Volleyball Game and "Celebrate Roanoke"

Amy had a volleyball game in Denton (first weekend in October), so Derek and I went to go watch her last round of games on Saturday afternoon. It turned into a slumber party weekend - AWESOME!! Kelly drove up to see Amy play, too, and we got to spend Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday with her.

My pretty sister, the boll-weevil!

Doin' the Robot?

Go #4!!

Amy's team didn't win, but I think she did a GREAT job! After that, she had to go straight back to the University of Arkansas - Monticello, but she drove out the next weekend.

We went to check out my mom's new house. It's a work in progress, but really cool to see it be built from the ground up.

And not a bad view, either!

Next Tiger Woods!



Hitting the golf ball

All these next pictures are from the second weekend in October when Amy drove back for the weekend. She always has us laughing; it was good to see her again!

Lazy Morning

Nopey-Nope!

Making cookies with Aunt Val

We happened to be in town the same weekend that Roanoke (the city my mom lives in) was holding a city celebration in the town square - which happens to be in walking distance from my mom's apartment. We headed down to go to a thrift store that had 75% off everything in the store and ended up lingering a little longer looking at all the booths and people. Eventually, the Legends of Texas club put on a skit (see videos). It was really fun, not packed with people but not abandoned either. Pleasantly populated, I'd say. And mom purchased roughly a dozen books for Derek for only $1.80!! WOW!! Great steal, great weekend.

Meeting some period actors with Aunt Amy - Derek was very polite to shake hands.

He wasn't sure what to think of the guy in the black hat. I think I can read his thoughts though... "Huh... long hair? On a boy? Think Mom would let me get away with that?"

He was really nice though

The Sheriff and his deputy, Barnaby

One part of the Western Skit

End Part of the Western Skit. Derek made me turn it off before the shooting starts. Good guys kill the bad guys, don't worry.

Warning: This Post Contains a Rant

the first time I saw this commercial, I almost fell out of my chair. I couldn't believe my eyes. I know that this kind of mindset is out there, but this was the first time I'd seen it actively, well, sold.

I've had people ask me if I ever think about what life would be like without Derek... heck, some people ask about life without Mitch. I don't even want to imagine it. My heart aches for those who aren't married or who don't have kids. We've been so incredibly blessed to have Derek. I can absolutely say that I would be in a different place today if I didn't have Derek; but, even if I had the choice, there is no way I would choose to be there. If I had known ahead of time what life would be like, how it would be different and how it would be harder, I would've still chosen Derek. Nothing, and no one, will make me regret having children - even if I'm not living up to their expectations. I know without a doubt that I'm living up to God's expectations for me and I know that this is my calling in life - to be a mom, the best mom I can be, to as many (or as few) kids as the Lord sees fit to grant me.

Elder Neil A. Anderson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, mentioned this quote in his talk during General Conference this past weekend:

"The truth is that years ago, before this generation of mothers was even born, our society decided where children rank in the list of important things. When abortion was legalized, we wrote it into law.

"Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out at night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get. In fact, children rate below your desire to sit around and pick your toes, if that is what you want to do. Below everything. Children are the last thing you should ever spend your time doing. (I can't believe how well the commercial illustrates this mentality!)

"Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for."

My life may not be perfect, but we have everything we need. The nice thing about being at the bottom of the ladder is that there is nowhere to go but up. ;) And "up" has so many nice things in store for us.

I wouldn't trade him for anything