On Tuesday we went to the Exploratorium. I remember going there as a kid, but now that it is in its new permanent home on Pier 15, it ALOT bigger, while still being alot of fun. We all enjoyed being able to play with the exhibits and enjoy each others company. My parents have a season pass, and since the facility is just too big to do all in one day we will be going back for sure. This, coupled with Hillary's birthday celebration, walks to the cliffs and beaches, lots of Just Dance, Wii and pictionary games have led to a fun last couple of days.

All these are just a few of the millions of little perks we get to enjoy now that we are home!

This is much later then I wanted to post, but I still want to get it down while I can! On July 22nd, Addy turned 9 months which is INSANE. As always, I feel like she has made leaps and bounds and she is a different girl then she was a month ago. Still, the essentials remain-her beautiful, constant and contagious smiles that seem so big they go beyond her face, her curiosity and fairly even tempered nature, and her love and often met need to cuddle. I still can't believe she is ours, and I would never want to go back to the days before her.

New developments since then are mainly mobility related. She is the fastest little crawler, furniture cruiser and jumper you ever did see, and I am fairly sure by the end of next month or so she will be walking and running all over the place. She stood without holding onto anything for the first time yesterday, next to her Auntie Hillary. She walks around in her walker toy at my in laws. She walks while pushing her Uncle Luke's old wagon toy all around the house. It is the best thing ever to watch her test her boundaries and learn such essential things. I love everything about it.

She is loving being around all these family and friends, and is not shy at all-but she still looks for me and Lester when she needs some TLC and it melts my heart every time. Her schedule is a bit jumbled what with all the moving, so right now we're trying to get her back to a normal routine with sleeping and eating. She is in the 50th percentile for weight [mainly eating milk, baby food, cereal snacks and little bread, fresh fruit and teeny tiny pieces of meat or rice], 95th for head circumference [all cheeks baby] and the 5th percentile for height [she's a shorty, but the doctor says she will be fine-and lets be honest, with us for parents, we were never hoping for her to be tall haha..].

Words truly fail when it comes to trying to describe our love for our daughter. She makes every single thing in our lives better, and we are happier with her then we ever could have thoughts possible, as is the rest of our family. Life is good with Adelaide in it.

Most mornings since we've been here, Lester and Andrew have been waking up early to go running. So today, a few of us joined them. The morning mist and fog was still pretty thick, so I wanted to make sure Addy was warm and cozy as she rode in her stroller. Enter cute flower outfit from Auntie Maya and family-

I've spent more then enough time on this blog gushing about my husband, so I won't spend a whole lot of time right now doing more of that right now. But I do want to make sure I log this day into my memory because even in all its simplicity, it is a big deal for us!

Today is Lester's last day of work here in Oklahoma. He has worked for EMSA for almost a year, and it has been quite the roller coaster as any one who knows us or follows this blog knows. In talking about it a few nights ago, we decided that the company itself has been a fairly good experience. Like any company, there are few things we weren't fans of, but over all we feel like they tried to look out for their employees interests as well as their own. We appreciate that. When Lester put in his notice and headed out for his shift those 2 weeks ago, he was surprised to find one of his supervisors waiting to talk to him an hour after he submitted it. He asked Lester if there was any way they could convince him to stay, but when he answered no they said they were definitely going to miss him here. They then said that if he was interested, they would be willing to see if they could transfer him to their office in Oakland because they were so impressed with him. We are still waiting to hear if that will work out, but  we know that they may be on a hiring freeze-but still its something.

The reason I say all these is because I feel like its a testament to Lester's work ethic and character. I am lucky enough to get to see how wonderful he is, but its so good to see other people recognizing it to. He has put up with a lot of difficult people, hard shift hours, and put in a lot of overtime without complaining. He is so wonderful, and I am so proud of him. Making the decision to go home has been based on many things, but one of them is definitely faith. The future is a little scary and uncertain, but I know that as long as I am with Lester, we will be just fine, no question. He will do everything he can to keep us safe and loved and THAT is certain, no matter what.

This 4th of July weekend, we were able to take one last trip to see our family in Texas. I have heard a lot of extreme things about that place over the years, and I think after having spent a while there, it is on my list of 'I wouldn't mind living there' places. Granted, it wouldn't be my first choice, but there are a lot of things I do really enjoy about it.

One of the best things about this trip is that my brother Luke was in town. This is our first time seeing him in several months, so we were all very excited about this. I love my brother because he loves his family, and has no shame in it like a lot of teenage boys do. He will cuddle with us, tell us he loves and misses us and spend as much time as he can loving our litte girl. He is still definitely all obnoxious boy, but I like that in this aspect at least, he is genuine and guileless. Addy particularly loved every second she got to spend with her Uncle, and I can honestly say that I have never seen a more dedicated or excited Uncle. It was fun to see her absolutely light up and crack the biggest smile ever every time he would even walk in the room. It also gave us some time to enjoy my cousin and her family, and my aunt and uncles company more since he wanted to take care of her so often. We even got to go out on a double date at one point knowing she was in very capable hands. Of course we also enjoyed lots of good food, good conversation, swimming, girls shopping trips, fireworks and all around fun. Their family is always fun, but I particularly enjoyed all the good talks my Aunt and I were able to have-she always impresses me and makes me think about things I haven't in a different light.  I also loved being with Rocio, as she is one of my best friends and examples.

Lester, Addy and I had a blast. We will sincerely miss these trips when we are back home, and are glad we got this chance to continue to enjoy our relationship with this side of my family. What a blessing!

When I was pregnant and the cravings hit, they were all red-sauce related. You know, things like spaghetti w meatballs, baked ziti, pizza, lasagna-you name it, if it had red sauce, I had to have it. There was a point one when I sincerely thought that if I never saw marinara sauce ever again, it would still be to soon.