Strawberry Picking!!!

We had SO much fun on Tuesday! We had been invited to go Strawberry picking with Aspen's "McDonald" cousins, and looked forward to it with great anticipation. :) Aspen has had strawberries before, but didn't recognize them right away once we were out in the field. One of the rules of strawberry picking was *not* eating the fruit... I really did try hard to not let Aspen eat them, but she was so fast...and, what are you supposed to do when her cute little finger goes through & smushes the ripe berry when she pulls it off the plant?!

Aspen did great the first several she picked. She learned fast to only pick the red ones. She'd spot one, squat down and pull as hard as she could...when it finally "let loose", Aspen would often either have to take a couple steps back, or end up landing on her tush. So fun to watch... When she discovered what she was picking, it was even more exciting. It was hard to "hide" the fact she had eaten a few strawberries due to the juice stain that had run ALL the way down her arm, and the finger marks on her hat. The lady was sweet, and very forgiving though. :)

After we finished picking the berries, we purchased fresh produce and some yummy honey! Next, the girls wanted to swing on the swings, and we enjoyed some strawberry sugar cookies Rebekah had made. It was such a fun outing!!! Thank you for inviting us!!!

Strawberry Picking (cont'd)

Spring Day

Spring Day

After the rain "blew" through this week, our weather has been beautiful!!!! Absolutely gorgeous. A bit warm at the peak of the day, but the pretty sunshine, and currently green grass makes up for it. Most afternoons, after naptime I've tried getting Aspen outside for a little bit. Some sweet band parents gave us a little playplace/slide last year for Aspen, and she's finally old enough to enjoy it. She loves climbing up and sliding down all by herself! In the second picture she was clapping "yay" for getting up there like such a big girl. Then, it was "yay" again once she landed on the grass. I'm so thankful for our sweet, little girl! She's continually a blessing & joy!

I had to giggle a bit this week. A sweet friend emailed me a picture of her front yard, and included a sarcastic comment about it technically being Spring. I so badly wanted to post her picture along side these; they're such opposites! Her yard & neighborhood was covered in a pretty, WHITE blanket...it had snowed the morning she took the picture! The Lord's creativity in various climates amazes me!!! No snow here! And nothing close to it. We're going to pick strawberries on Tuesday! Crazy thought for you sweet northerners! :) I'll share my spring weather though - just come visit!!!! :D

Wrapping it up...

On Friday our friend Ruben came over. We tried planning a game night, but everyone, but Ruben, couldn't come. So, we just hung out and enjoyed visiting.

Saturday....I was sick (food poisoning)....but, Brian was super sweet and helped me tremendously. That evening was Jerea's 15th birthday celebration, so we did end up going to that. We're so proud of you Jerea! Happy Birthday!

Afterwards, we picked Mom & Dad McDonald up from the airport, and headed home. Talk about a crazy week!

Aspen's Tree

This is what we did on Thursday! Mom Moreno was so sweet (!!!) and came over early so we could get started on planting Aspen's tree. We had planned to do this last year, and were informed it was the wrong season. Then, in the fall, when we were going to it rained, and we were told to wait til Spring again...I was so confused, and we just decided we'd do it on Spring Break, period. :) It was fun working together, and the tree actually went much faster than we anticipated. We lost time when we decided to go get mulch and do the whole yard. Lol.... Our nephew Jerea was super sweet and helped us shovel up the clay/dirt from the tree hole, and "get rid of it." Mom Moreno kept Aspen all day...Roni & the kids came over too, then they took Aspen & invited us for dinner. They finished about dinner about the same time we did the yard... It was ALOT of work, but SO worth it. :) Mom took lots of pictures on my camera of us as we worked, but I only got a few on my phone...so, that's all you'll get to see. I'm sorry!

Thank you Mom, Roni & everyone who helped with Aspen! And Jason for letting us borrow the truck! Brian & I joked "the smallest people, drove the biggest truck" to Lowes last Thursday.

Spring Break

Brian left the Thursday before Spring Break, and came home the following Tuesday. Here are some fun, random shots I took during that time.

The Moreno's

Okay...I have some major catch up to do!!! First off, Brian went out of town for several days, then it was Spring Break, plus I got sick.....so, that's my excuse. :)

While Brian was gone.....Aspen and I stayed pretty busy, but I didn't always take pictures. We went to see Mom & Dad Moreno twice, on Thursday & Monday. Both times they spoiled both Aspen & I. The pictures in this post are of those fun visits. Hopefully, all of the pictures will come through...I'm kinda afraid the last, and cutest one, won't.

Last Weekend

(I need to preface this and say that I mean NO racist slamming or anything of the such in this post. :) I'm very proud to be married into a precious family who is originally (couple generations ago) from "south of the border." Because I've done so, my sweet husband & I laugh often about the variety of our personal races. )

Last weekend was pleasantly busy for us. Aspen enjoyed reading, and rocking her baby with Daddy. On Saturday, we were able to rest, but that evening Brian had a trumpet gig, so we all loaded up around 2:15 to make it to his location early. We got there SUPER early...thus, we did alot of driving up & down little streets in the surrounding area. We had two goals while driving A) find a gas station, and B) let Aspen nap. Brian wanted to find a Walmart to fill up fast at...so we were looking. He spotted a Walmart/Murphy station a decent distance away...when we got closer, I made the comment, "Oh! It's a Mexican Walmart!" lol Brian thought I was crazy or something, but then he looked up at the actual Walmart building and saw what I was referring too. The building itself was crazy bold colors, and all the writing was in Spanish. We got a good laugh and thought it was "cute". Had no idea "they" actually made "Mexican" Walmarts. Lol! :) After filling up the car, I asked Brian if he felt as if he'd been to Mexico...he laughed. We headed back to the church where he played his trumpet beautifully for a wedding. Then he surprised us, and took us to Pei Wei for dinner. It was a fun family day.

Sunday was extra Special!! We were able to go to First Baptist Houston to see our friend, more like brother, Ruben Escobar be baptized. It was SO neat. The picture didn't turn out great, but you can kinda see him on the big screen. :) Praise the Lord! After that, we celebrated with Ruben, his mom and another sweet couple.

Marble Slab

Friday night Brian surprised us, and decided to take us to get ice cream! He chose Marble Slab, and I was excited. We haven't gotten ice cream in a very long while....probably since last summer. This was the first time we've gone since Aspen has been old enough for ice cream too...I hadn't planned on letting her have some, but those taste testing spoons were just too cute to not give her a little bit...then, she realized you could "bite" it; her version of lick. So, we treated her too, and shared a little bit of ours with her. I don't think she cared whose ice cream she liked best, but, I think she favored Brian's since it was Banana flavored. :) Mine was Cookie Dough flavored...I loved that it was all flavored that, and didn't just have chunks of cookie dough!

Hope you enjoy the pictures. The third one is my favorite!