half time in austin

Crazy! This is the best feeling ever: guiltless blogging.  It's been well over a month since I posted anything despite the fact that we've had some major changes going on in our lives, and yet I have no regrets.  Why?  We have been loving every moment here in Austin!!  How absolutely thrilled and grateful we are that Will got his internship for this summer in the Finance department at Dell. 

And  since our future permanence here is questionable we have to squeeze in every drop of fun into our schedules.  In reality that's impossible.There is so much to do as a family, as a couple and lots of it is for free.  In other words, yes, I totally can see myself here.  Aside from the fact that the city has TONS of just about everything I'm interested in and love (live and amazing music, cycling, running, horseback riding, year round outdoor tennis, etc.) it's a wonderful place for families.  I could go on and on about it.  But instead, here's the little and big events of our day to day lives along with what we've been able to squeeze into our first half of our stay out here with Dell.

Grandpa Richards was brave to venture out with Will and the kids on the drive out here while Peter and I flew.  They stopped at a couple places on the way but for the most part breezed through the mid-east on a long hour two day trip until finally they arrived here in Round Rock. A great three bedroom apartment awaited them along with a wonderful pool! You can imagine how thrilled the kids were to finally get in the pool!  You can also imagine how sad they were to swap Grandpa for mommy at the airport. Sorry kids,thanks Grandpa!

Cal has a twin bed here and fell out of it each night for about the first two weeks.  Somewhere between 3 and 6 am he would always come into our room and curl up on our chair.  Sweet thing.

About a week into our stay we had our first visitor, one of our dearest friends Alden. He and Will could let such a great visit pass without watching some good soccer. Soooo wish we had more time with him.  But how thrilled we are to see him again in just a couple of weeks when he and his Emily and Camille move out here!  YES!  How we hope to join them next year!

It only took two weeks of sweaty napping before I'd had it with Cal's hair.  Will is now the proud father of his buzzed son.  How relieved I was for Cal!  Well done Will.

We made sure to think of Grandma Wilson on memorial day only wishing we could've seen her beautiful new headstone in person.  She's an angel in our day to day lives though. It's amazing how close she feels at times.

We've loved trying out the good eats and live music.  You walk downtown and music is bursting at the seams!  I love it!  Why all cities don't do this, I know not, but in the meantime I'm eating it up!

Peter turned THREE MONTHS!  Our baby boy still has occasional tummy troubles but again, his Probiotic has been an amazing answer to prayer.  It's wonderful to see him smile and play as he does.  He loves his siblings and they love him.  His favorite activity at this age? Swimming in the tub.

Aunt Natty arrived!  It was only two weeks after being here when my dear sister came to join us for a week.  We had such a great time discovering the territory together....along with a lot of other events, but we won't get into that :).  Where to start?

There were the daily visits to the pool which never grew old.  Especially with Calvin's ambition.  He and Annie are always a riot to watch.

Can't get enough of a happy Peter. That smile makes my day and melts my heart!

Naturally we made a point to visit the Premier Outlets, not once but twice.  Who wouldn't with them being a mere seven minutes away!  And of course the first visit with the kids didn't do the opportunity justice.  I've got to admit, having the Outlets accessible has been a treat!

What a blast these two had camping out on the blowup mattress for the week so Aunt Natty could have a room.  I'm pretty sure that whole week passed without them going to sleep anywhere near bedtime. 

The Science and Nature Center visit was amusing to say the least, but a good time for the kids.  They couldn't get over the stuffed bear out front and loved looking at everything brought inside from nature through a magnifying glass. Gotta get me one of those!

Natalie treated Will and I to a night out, our first one since our arrival to the area.  How did we spend it?  Going into Austin to see Earth Wind and Fire at Austin City Limits.  Seriously, that was a sight to see. I've gotta give it to them, as old as they are they still have got their groove on.  I think I laughed more than anything!

Road trip!  The next day we headed down south to San Antonio for the kids first trip to Sea World. Austin heat is bearable....S.A. heat...not so much.  But despite the killer weather we crammed all that we could into our day and had a great time.  Okay, so Annie didn't appreciate Shamu splashing her, but that aside, it was a success.  

Even Elmo and his pals showed up at Sea World.  Calvin was ecstatic and I was certain Annie was going to wet her pants when she got a picture with Zoe.  She came back dry from that moment, but boy did it make her grin from ear to ear.

Nuts! Goodbye?We hate goodbyes!  Especially when it's Aunt Natty.  We were so sad to see you go Nat, but we were so grateful you'd dare stay with us in a new home in a new city.  I bet you're glad to have some peace and quite again.  

We'll interupt it from time to time with a phone call!

Trying to deal with Aunt Natty withdrawals we headed to the Austin Children's Museum with some friends.  (How great it was to get out of the heat!)  This is by far the best Children's Museum I've been to.  It's so big with such a great variety of things for the kids to do.  Two hours passed and it felt like a half hour.  Calvin could not stop watching the train that went around and around on the track overhead.

And Annie had a blast with the dress ups.

Thanks Arren and Mia for joining us.  Wasn't it awsome?!

That weekend we met up with some friends from Salt Lake who are now converted "Austinites" as they call it.  Madelynn and Cody Roberts took us on a private tour of the city and it's hot spots.  They even swung us past Dennis Quaids home!  We ended up swimming at Barton Springs Pool, a 3 acre pool from, you guessed it natural springs.  It's about 65 degrees which sounds cold, but is so refreshing in the Texas heat.  Such a great  Saturday activity!

Then we went and grabbed some trailer food, one of Austin's hallmarks, and loved every bite of it.  Honestly those were some amazing crepes.  And from a trailer nonetheless, who would've thought?  Cody and Madeline, thanks for showing us the back roads and giving us the inside scoop.  Since then it's been hard to fall out of love with Austin.

The next day was Father's Day.  Lucky me got to speak in church about how blessed I am to be married to the greatest man on earth.  Will, thank you for honoring the Priesthood as you do and for being an exceptional father to our three little darlings!  They each adore you.  You are so good to comfort Annie when she's afraid, wrestle Calvin when he needs to get all his energy out (okay, that's a constant), and you know all the little secrets to putting our baby Peter's heart at ease.  Above all you love the Lord in action and word and bless our home so much because of it.  

Annie and Call were excited to help with finger painting projects for daddy along with wrapping a few presents.  (Again, the outlets came in handy :))

Not only have the outlets been conveniently and insanely close, but and IKEA ("the big yellow and blue store") as well.  This I have no problems with. Will might. But it was so great to drive down the street and FINALLY get to participate in my first Midsommer celebration since my return from Sweden, even if it was at IKEA.  The smorgasbord was awesome, especially the desserts.  And what's Midsommers without strawberries and cream?

Take a look at Cal in his yellow and blue! Patriotic, you might say!  And of course he devoured his knackebrod with butter.  Who wouldn't?

Ahhhh marzipan, how I love thee...let me count the ways. 

Sweden, I miss you terribly.  In the meantime I'll take what I can get...with some ABBA music in the background....naturally.

Shortly thereafter Dell treated us to a baseball game at none other than the Dell Diamond.  It was great getting to know Will's co-workers, enjoy a night out with the fam, and watch the kids run up and down the grassy hill. How sad they were that the mascots couldn't be on the field all the time.  But the big rocking chairs made up for it!

And so it went, another month.  The first weekend of July was a weekend of fours.  Peter turned four months on the 1st, Annie turned four on the 2nd and two days later we celebrated the Fourth of July.

I can't believe how much my baby is growing!  We've decided he's a hybrid:  Calvin's face with Annie's body.  Crazy combo, but so it is and still he melts my heart.  I don't think he'll walk as early as Annie did (definitely praying for that), but is certainly more agile than Calvin was at this age.  He loves social interaction. Don't ever think about leaving him out of a party! This kid likes to be at the table for all meals and hates to go to a different room for naps. And more specifically he loves touch.  No boy has ever smiled so big as he does when you simply hold his hands.  Love it!  So here are some pics of my four month old dream boat. And yes, I have a crush on all the boys in our little Richards family.

 

Our darling little Annie turned FOUR!  What a sweet little miss she is.  It's bizarre to think she'll be starting at a formal preschool in September, two short months away, but I'm certain she will love all aspects of it.  Even crazier is seeing how much she reminds me of, well....me, at this age.  She pulls the exact same faces in the mirror, chews on her blanket (still), loves balls, loves to run, sings to fill in silent moments, makes up her own songs, laughs at just about everything, and even sleeps upside down on her bed when she can't go to sleep.  Me to a tee.  Scary! 

Annie Beth here's why we love, and simply could not do without, YOU:

• You are a peacemaker. You always want to help us all be happy and get along.  If Peter's crying you comfort him.  If Calvin's grumpy you try to cheer him up.   If  mom or dad are upset you try to calm us down.  Thanks for putting big smiles on all our faces.
• You sing...always!  In the car, at the table, in your bed, while your doing puzzles, looking at books, in the bike trailer, on walks....your sweet little voice fills the air and is so delightful to hear.  
• You are very aware of people's relationships to others.  Husband and wife, kids to parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents.  You're always trying to pinpoint others relationship to you and those around you.  I can't wait for you to find your "Prince" and love that relationship as you admire it between others now. 

We had a celebration in Winston before we left, but we did manage to do some extra birthday shopping.  Annie finally got Zingo (a cousin favorite) and best of all a new scooter.  Pink even.  I think there was some divine intervention on that one :). Happy Birthday Annie!  We love you dearly.

Technically, our anniversary was in mid June, but due to a heavy work week for Will, we postponed the celebration.  Quite frankly, I'm so pleased we did.  Will surprised me with a great Saturday morning kayaking on Lake Austin.  The first time we'd left Peter with a babysitter and I have to admit, it was liberating.  Happy SIX YEARS Will.  I love you to pieces!

And if that wasn't enough to fall in love with Will all over again, the Fourth of July gave me good reason too.  Nothing flamboyant really, I just loved being with him and watching him interact with the kids. He loved being with them and they were eating up his attention.  He stole my heart all over again.  Seriously, money cannot buy those moments.  

We started with a morning at the Round Rock Fourth of July parade with our fellow intern family the Christensens.  

How we love them!  Braden and McKenna adore Annie and Cal and vice versa and Jared and Kari Ann have become the greatest of friends.  We practically are eachother's shaddows.  It's nice to relate the intern experience with someone else.

Later that day we went to enjoy the festivities at Old Settler's Park five minutes from our complex.  No fireworks for Austin, we're in a drought here, but we did enjoy the horseback riding.

Why would I not be in love with this man?!

Before I move on I have to say something about these pics of Peter.  Same shirt, same place, same angle as Fourth of July pics I have of Cal when he was two months old in '09.  Other than the Annie shaped head...they look identical!!! Sorry, I know that's a total mommy moment, but really it's almost creepy to me.

Last but certainly not least was our most recent weekender, a visit from our friends from Dallas, the Webbers.  Annie and Raegan are practically two peas in a pod and we couldn't let them visit without a good date in the city and some fun in the sun.  We went to an awesome restaurant with live music (Chris Hawkes, really liked his stuff) and got some great custard. Yum.  The next day we went to a nearby waterpark (again five minutes away) and soaked in the sun for some last moments with our dear friends.

Curt and Carla, we love and miss you already.  We can hardly wait to see your neck of the woods.  Thanks for making the journey down to Austin to see us!

On to more fun and more sun while we can in BELOVED AUSTIN!