Pumpkins

It's that time of year again ... FALL!! I just love fall. Unfortunately, Texas doesn't really get how to do fall. It feels like fall for very limited hours of the day here - like until 10 a.m. and after 9 p.m. Accordingly, I've been trying to get outside as much during those times as possible.

Kristi and I took Audrey and Morgan for their Second Annual Pumpkin Patch trip this year. It was a lot of fun! It's hard to believe last year when we did this our "pumpkins" were both under four months old (what were we thinking?!?). I couldn't decide which pictures of M with the pumpkins I liked best so I included probably more than you want to see. Hope you find one that makes you smile! To make the pictures bigger, you can double-click on them.

Look at how gorgeous the weather was!

For comparison's sake, here are some "Then & Now" photos depicting last year's trip and this year's:

2008

2007

2008 - Audrey giving Morgan a kiss.
(The frame right before this she was whacking Morgan on the head :)

2007 - When they'd stay put wherever you left them!
This time we had to constantly keep tabs on who was running where.

Walk This Way

The day has come ... Morgan is a member of the walking world! Now it's time for this mommy to put on her running shoes. Thankfully, for now, she has started off slowly. However, I don't think it's going to take too long. We're so proud of our baby and feel incredibly blessed to be part of her growth process.

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Smile pretty

Recently, we had our incredibly talented photographer friend Bre take some pictures of Morgan and our family. The shoot only lasted about an hour - only as long as Morgan would tolerate (which wasn't that long considering she was tired and we had her dressed in a sweater dress and cotton tights while it was nearly 90 degrees outside!). Nonetheless, Bre worked effortlessly and efficiently and got several fantastic shots. Now comes the miserable task of narrowing down which ones we want!

Check out several of the other great pictures Bre captured of us on her blog, and check out some of her other work at her studio's website. We can't recommend her highly enough!

My Kind of Town

JD had a legal education conference in Chicago last Thursday and Friday which Morgan and I accompanied him on. We stayed at the Fairmont where the conference was held. When we arrived, we received an upgrade to a suite with great views of Millennium Park, the Museum Campus, Soldier Field, and the Yacht Club.

We woke up Thursday morning to beautiful Midwestern fall weather - cool and crisp. While Jonathan attended his meetings, Morgan and I went out to explore Millennium Park which I had never seen before (it opened in 2004). The Park was so cool. Below are some of the pictures:

Cloud Gate (or known to resident Chicagoans as "The Bean") -
It's a three story steel sculpture meant to resemble
a drop of mercury hovering at the point of landing.

The butt crack of the Bean replete with reflections of the city's skyline.

One of two 50 foot LED towers-turned-fountains.
Faces of resident Chicagoans are projected on them and change every five minutes.

The faces play on the gargoyle theme and spout water from their mouths
right before the towers change to the next face.

Thursday JD joined us for lunch in Millennium Park and then ducked out of his conference early that afternoon to stroll Michigan Avenue with us. That night we enjoyed Chicago-style pizza at Pizzeria Due (the kid-sister to Pizzeria Uno).


Friday my sister Kel and her boyfriend Jess came up to the city to hang out with us. This was the first time we met Jess, and he received our stamp of approval :) He and Kel even watched Morgan for two hours while JD and I went on an architectural tour of the notable buildings along the river. Unfortunately, it was drizzly so the tour wasn't as wonderful as it could've been. That night the four of us enjoyed even more Chicago-style pizza - this time at Pizzeria Uno. And no, I don't ever get tired of it!

Friday night SIX inches of rain from Hurricane Ike drenched Chicago. So after all that hype in San Antonio about Ike, they saw not a drop of rain and we, in Chicago, got six inches. Go figure. Saturday morning we drove into Dwight (my hometown) and celebrated Morgan's first birthday (which was that day!) with my parents, Kel & Jess, my grandparents, and several of my aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a super way to celebrate Morgan's big day! I was so glad we were able to share that with them. Morgan loved eating her own personal birthday cake made by my Grandma. However, she decided to "blow" out her lone candle by snuffing out the flame with her palm.

Grandpa and the Birthday Girl

The rain poured all day Saturday and more Saturday night. Sunday we made a quick visit to my Grandma Walsh (where we also visited with my Aunt Jill) before braving the wet roadways back up to the airport. What a whirlwind!

All in all, it was a great trip. I love Chicago and I love my family. Maybe that's why Daniel asked me upon returning home, "So are you guys moving to Chicago?" Some days, I wish...

Being family

I love my parents ... and I especially love when I get to see them since it doesn't happen as often as I'd like. It's particularly hard for me now that we have Morgan. I want them to know her and her to know them. Each time they see her she has changed so much. So we have to treasure each of these opportunities we are together.

Can't you just tell she adores her grandparents?

ONE

Yep, that's right - my sweet baby girl is about to turn ONE. I can hardly believe a whole year has passed already; I've never had a year go by so fast in my life. And what amazing transformations and growth a baby goes through in a year. Morgan is no longer a baby but a little girl! My little girl :)

While there are still have a few more days until Morgan's actual birthday, we threw her birthday party this past weekend while my parents were in San Antonio visiting us. Jonathan's parents were SO gracious to host it at their ranch (and even more gracious when over 40 people showed up when we promised them it would be more like 25-30). Thanks Dad and Mom!

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and the temperature was not too hot such that we could enjoy the beautiful Hill Country scenery. Dad even had a tractor pull going transporting people around the property - most wanted rides to the fish pond where some were fishing.

After a tasty fajita dinner, the real fun began - cake time! Of course, it wouldn't be a party without one of Kara's stunning cakes. The impressive part about this was I told Kara to decorate Morgan's cake however she wanted - and, no joke, she came up with exactly what I would have requested! It was SO beautiful and totally yummy. As you can see, Morgan's first experience with refined sugar was a very positive one. And she only got a little messy.

Here are a few party pics for you to enjoy -


Special thanks to everyone who helped make Morgan's party turn out so great and to all who helped her celebrate, including:

• Dad and Mom Schlueter for opening up the ranch and hosting us all.
• Both Moms for their great work in the kitchen.
• Jonathan and both Dads for their work at the grill and running food in and out of the house.
• Jen for watching Morgan while we all ran around like chickens with our heads cut off.
• Dad and Mom Walsh for traveling down from Missouri for the party.
• Kara for making a beautiful cake and taking all the pictures so I didn't have to.
  

Dusting off the old blog

Sorry folks, I know many of you probably wondered if I survived my 30th birthday since I haven't posted since before then. I did indeed survive. In fact, courtesy of my wonderful husband, not only did I survive, but I did it with style. He (with some help from his family) threw me an awesome surprise party at Carino's. I was completely surprised, and it was a lot of fun. In addition, Jonathan gave me a beautiful necklace to commemorate my milestone birthday.

Since then, life has just been busy - a good busy mostly. Thanks to you faithful blog-checkers who have continued to stop by looking to see what I was up to. I hope to be better about posting updates in the coming weeks. I already have requests for more Morgan video so I'd better get busy. So don't give up on me ... and never fear, I haven't had the 30 mental breakdown some experience :)

I'll "talk" with you soon. -B