Summer!

We've been enjoying the weather the past few weeks with visits to fun parks (Plano has some great parks!) and going to the pool. There's a pool and a kiddie pool about a building away from us in our apartment complex, and yesterday afternoon we finally went swimming.Evelyn was SOOOO excited and had a blast playing in the kiddie pool. We had it to ourselves most of the time, so both Evelyn and Edison got to splash around a lot and have fun. Evelyn liked watching the kids play in the bigger pool and kept yelling "Look what they're doing!!" while pointing at them. We didn't take our camera to the pool (maybe next time), but here's a pre-swimming shot:

For whatever reason, Evelyn was set on taking this duck bath toy to the pool, and she carried it like this the whole way there.

And after the pool David gave the kids a bath in their swimsuits. Evelyn thought it was pretty cool that they were all in the bath, but she refused to smile for the camera. :P

Kid pics

I've had comments from various family members that they want to see more pictures of Edison and Evelyn, so be forewarned that these are just a few random pictures of the kids. Enjoy!

Evelyn trying to fit in her toy wagon, along with some "guys"

Edison shortly after Evelyn stuffed his mouth full of
crackers (I didn't have the camera in time for the
"my mouth is so full" look)

family home evening with some of the "guys"

the joys of the bathroom mirror

looking quite handsome in his Sunday clothes

It's all about perspective

I don't love doing laundry, and I probably never will. It is a neverending cycle of washing, drying, folding, putting away, getting clothes dirty and starting all over again. But after a month or so of not having a working washing machine, I was actually excited to do a couple of loads of laundry today. David was able to pick up a washing machine that I found on craigslist yesterday, thanks to his mom driving him in their truck and his dad helping to unload it.
Now, things really weren't as bad as I sometimes felt they were, since we have a laundromat here in the apartment complex and David did a lot of our laundry over at his parents' house as he worked there. But getting a washing machine after being without one for a little while makes me appreciate it all over again. It may not take long before I look at laundry as just another chore again, but right now I'm simply grateful. It's one of those things that's all about the way you look at it.

On the web

While David explains all of this much better than I do, I wanted to write a little about what he's doing these days. During the day, he spends most of his time working on his business, which is a series of websites that currently focus on local policy and news. He started http://www.planopolicy.com/ about a month and a half ago, although his time lately has been more or less all spent on http://www.planopronto.com/. Plano Pronto is a site that puts links out to all of the important and interesting news stories about Plano. Since there isn't one primary news source for Plano, David's site collects news stories from places like the Dallas Morning News, the Plano Star-Courier, and other websites that run stories about Plano. They're both still works in progress, but check 'em out. David's pretty excited about these websites and other ideas he plans to implement in the coming months. And I enjoy seeing him love the work he is doing so much.

Temple Trip

A week or so ago we took a family outing--something I often want to do but rarely follow through on. We drove to the Dallas Temple and walked around the grounds with the kids. Evelyn was excited to point out the angel Moroni, look at the flowers, see the water (of a fountain that wasn't turned on) and watch a few wedding parties taking pictures. I enjoyed just getting out together as a family, which we don't do too much these days. It was also great to talk a little about the purpose of temples and how our family is eternal because David and I were married in the temple. Evelyn's favorite part, though, was discovering the white rocks next to the temple, which she promptly collected and carried around for a bit before I had her put them back. Then we went to Moon's LDS Bookstore nearby and let Evelyn pick something out; she chose a CTR ring.All in all it was a fun little outing, and I'm hoping to plan and carry out some sort of family outing each month.

As a side note, Edison likes scrunching up his nose like this, along with little snorts, especially if I do it to him so he can mimick it back. :P

Our Budding Starlet

We went to a ward activity on Saturday with the theme "Dancing with the Stars" of Plano 1st Ward. Several different dance numbers were performed, like "synchronized swimming" by members of the Elder's Quorum and a spoof on the California Raisins by the Scout leaders. The girls from Primary got to do a number, which Evelyn enjoyed. They did a dance routine to "Broadway Baby" and got to dress in whatever pretty clothes they wanted to. And that night they gave the girls dress-up gloves and tiaras, which Evelyn liked, but she didn't know quite what to do with the gloves, since they were big and likely to fall off. [As a disclaimer for the video, I was standing at the back of the Cultural Hall holding Edison in one arm and the camera in the other hand, so it isn't the highest quality.] Anyway, I hope you enjoy watching our "Broadway Baby"! [front row in the white dress and bright pink pants] :)

Someone commented to me afterward that Evelyn and Calli (the girl on her right) are little Shirley Temples, and we'd better watch out when they're old enough to go to stake dances. Oh, and we're thinking about signing Evelyn up for a little dance class through the city this summer--something we think she would really enjoy.

Strong legs

It seems like Edison has always had strong legs; he started wanting to put weight on his legs when he was only a few weeks old. (Maybe most boys are like that, but it's certainly new for me.) Now he's discovered that he can hold himself up when leaning against furniture. And he loves it! At first he could do it for about 10-15 seconds at a time, but today he did it several different times for at least 5 minutes. So I won't be surprised if he's an early walker....