Gracie's Baptism

My oldest brother Stormy's family.

While we were down in Texas, we got to attend my oldest niece's baptism. Gracie is such a special girl and I think a lot like myself. She is a great sister and a great big cousin to Ally. She takes care of everyone, loves everyone, is friends with everybody and just a joy to have around. See.... JUST like me. :)

I was so glad that I got to be at the baptism. All I could think about was that I remember the day I held her in the hospital the day she was born and the day I brought Jonathan to meet the family and she promptly told me he was HER boyfriend. She grew up so fast! **Sigh**

You did good big brother! So proud of both of you!

And because there aren't a lot of pictures of me out there. Here we are.

Spring Break-out

She had a lot of fun Me-maw time. She loves to swing. This is out at Stormy and Kim's house in Texas.

She thought she was as big as everyone else-even on the trampoline. Love the mid air shot.

We also got to visit with my aunt Carol and her kids. We went to a park near my mom's house. Ally really liked my cousins Ashley and Anna. She insisted that they play with her- and they were so fabulous to let me rest while they did! Love them!

Ally and Audrina reading with my mom, their Me-Maw. They are just over a year apart.

Ally and her cousins. We were only missing Sienna, too bad we weren't able to fly her in too!

The Story....

The plan was for Ally and I do road trip to Texas and spend spring break with my family. It sounded good at the time, but really- one of the dumbest ideas ever.... the driving alone part. I'm not proud of this- but I totally panicked and ended up all sick and had to beg Jonathan to fly in and drive us back. I know! I don't know what happened but evidently I need the boy for things like driving on long road trips. The ride back I was only a little sick and totally worth it even if it meant Jonathan practically traveled the equivalent of cross country to do it. He's a good guy. He got a steak out of it though- so I'm sure it was worth it to him too. :)

Anyway, we lucked out and Audrina, my brother's Sheldon's daughter, was in town as well so we got to see all but one of her cousins on my side. She had a blast and we loved seeing everyone.

Fairy Tales and Renaissance Road Trips

We went to the Annual Renaissance Festival just outside of Phoenix this weekend. We drove for 3 hours or so to the Festival. Ally did really well with the drive and I only got a little sick- (seems to be a new thing I've developed out here- car sickness) The picture above is the Renaissance Fairy- if you find her you're supposed to take a picture of her for good luck.

We walked around and looked at all the shops and crafts. I think that Ally got nervous with all the costumed people, she hung out on her dad's shoulders the whole time and didn't want to be in pictures. Not like her at all!

We saw lots of street performers.

We hung out at the Royal Pavilion...

and met the King and Queen....

and caught a few shows.

Ally didn't want to sit still for most of the shows, so we didn't get to see one all the way through. We ate tasty food and after about two hours Jonathan was ready to leave as the people were getting a little too weird looking for his taste. However, we had a good time with our family road trip and festival goings.

This weekend Ally and I get to embark on our first solo road trip, as we are heading back to Texas for a visit. Hopefully all goes well and my new found talent for getting car sick will prove to be a passing phase.