Dream Vacation and Home!

Before we came home from Texas, we took advantage of a really great airline deal and some Christmas and birthday money and went on our dream vacation. {Correction: Jen's dream vacation.} I am the very blessed wife of a loving husband who was willing to use our vacation allotment for the next few years to go to all my favorite places. Next time we can afford a big vacation it's all his :) {Mexico, anyone?}

Our vacation included the following:

Disney World

Universal Studios [Harry Potter world]

Kennedy Space Center

the BEACH (Tarpon Springs and Clearwater, to be specific)

Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks [read: beachside shopping - just what we both love]

So here is a giant bunch of photos to document said vacation:

Jack playing in the dinosaur uncovery pit at Downtown Disney

Riding the boats around Downtown Disney

Our trooper starting the day off right at Disney World - despite having been up all night with a molar coming in...

First ride of the day: Dumbo! (Just like Mommy's first trip to Disney World)

Family selfie on the carousel

Outside Cinderella's castle

Jack and random photobomber outside the castle

Universal Studios: riding the Hogwarts Express!!!

Jack and Daddy (and Doggie) at the Hogwarts Express

In Hogsmeade village 

Outside Hogwarts castle

Riding One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish (the only ride Jack went on all day... he was a bit short for the Universal rides, but enjoyed himself nonetheless)

Basically the coolest picture we've ever had taken. I was busy riding the Spiderman ride twice in a row on the single rider line and missed the epic meet-and-greet. 

Family picture outside Kennedy Space Center

Jack and Daddy with a very, very large rocket.

Seeing a real, live space shuttle (Jack was obviously enthralled)

Playing at Tarpon Springs beach - it was windy!

Swimming at Clearwater Beach - definitely in my top three beaches. I would go here again, no question.

It was hardly even cold - and for me, that's saying something (especially because it was March!)

Jack LOVED the sand. He also loved eating the sand. We did not love changing the resulting diapers for the next few days...

Very washed out sunset picture, Jack is obsessed with his straw from lunch.

We watched this boat sail right into the sun. It was beautiful.

And then we came home and started real life all over again!

Best friends Jack and Emma :) 

Jack's excitement when we told him he's getting a BROTHER in September!

Wearing Daddy's hat 

Playing on the swings while waiting for Emma's new brother to be born!

Texas Part 2

The second half of our Texas adventure was pretty similar to the first :) Ryan ended up only working on two clients for the duration of the internship - the second group loved him and requested for him to stay on the team. He had a great schedule and only had to work late for the last three weeks of the internship. 

Jack and I kept busy playing with cousins, trying to help out and be good houseguests, and working on a few projects I had brought down with me. 

Visiting the butterfly center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science

Attempting to eat with a spoon

Getting our first look at Little Sommerfeldt #2, or "Baby Brother" as we inevitably call him - we're pretty sure that he's a boy :)

Family toothbrushing time

Valentine's Day

Valentine's dinner at Kevin & Laurel's house

Camping at Stephen F Austin state park near Katy

Eating chocolate pudding after FHE

Attending a session at the Houston LDS temple

Playing in puddles

Texas Adventures

A week after Christmas, we took off to Texas for Ryan's accounting internship at Grant Thornton, Houston. We took three days to drive down and loved the extra time to not stress (and swim in hotel pools!) We're spending time with each of Ryan's siblings while we're down here.

Ryan is mostly enjoying his internship - though it's solidifying his plan to get a PhD and become a professor rather than working in public accounting. The hours haven't been bad so far, so that's been nice.

Jack is loving all the cousins (friends! attention!) He's walking behind his walking toys and has learned to navigate the stairs (not without mishap, though, sadly). He is busy eating everyone out of house and home and is pretty much the new favorite person of all the cousins.

I am enjoying the great weather (60s and 70s, people!) and the time to spend with family. I made my second ever IKEA trip the other day and have had fun painting and projecting and hanging out with the sisters in law. We just started a little clogging class with all the nieces - which is pretty much the highlight of my week now :)

Jack's first birthday cupcake

Canoeing on Michelle and Ben's lake

Walking around the lake at the park

Watching the rain

At the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center

Swimming at the hotel pool

One year old!

First Christmas

We had a great Christmas season with Jack this year. We lucked out that he was born shortly after Christmas last year - which means he was old enough to enjoy his first Christmas! He was the only grandchild in the area - for all his grandparents - so of course he was spoiled rotten. Oh, and yes, Ryan and I had a great Christmas too :)

  

11 months old!

Happy New Year from the Sommerfeldts!

Summer...plus fall... plus winter... :)

Apologies to all my blog readers for not posting anything in six months :) I decided a long time ago I wanted to be the kind of mom who plays with her kids extra rather than blogging about playing with her kids. I don't know if I've played with Jack extra but I've clearly been doing something other than blogging lately!

So here's Jack - who is now 10 months old, pulling onto his feet to stand, getting into everything, feeding himself things like bananas and cereal and paper, and still army crawling and taking 3 naps a day. (Keep doing that, little buddy!)

And Ryan, who is loving being a dad to Jack, trying hard to balance work and school and family, almost finished with the first semester of the MAcc/PhD accounting prep track, and getting so excited for finals (not).

And me, who changed jobs (again) but is still working from home, doing crafty stuff, trying to clean and declutter our apartment, getting into couponing to try and save money, and other stay at home mom type stuff to try and benefit our family.

We're all looking forward to the Christmas break and heading down to Houston for Ryan's accounting internship January - March. Ryan's siblings are being so nice to let us stay with all of them while we're there so we don't have to pay rent on a place there and our place here. We're prepping for the trip with a mix of excitement, anticipation, and nervousness. It'll be a new experience for all of us. 

For Halloween we dressed up as our favorite holiday - Christmas. Jack was the cutest Rudolph I've ever seen. I made his and my costumes and was really proud of how they turned out. 

Merry Christmas!

We are a happy family

We had a couple in our ward over for dinner last night. They are expecting their second child any day (moment!) now, and we spent most of dinner talking about babies and newborns and having children and how much we all love it. Part of the conversation that really stood out to me was how each of us had our own fears and insecurities about having children beforehand, but once the child arrived in our family they've brought nothing but joy and fulfillment. I wish I could share that feeling with every couple that worries about and fears having children, or who postpones starting their family because they don't think they have enough money, time, space, or enthusiasm to raise a child. We adore our little boy and wouldn't have waited one more minute to let him come be part of our family, even though Ryan still has 6-7 years of school left and we live in a little apartment on a student budget. Yes, it's work sometimes, yes, you lose sleep sometimes, yes, diapers and spit-up are no fun and sometimes children can push your buttons like nobody else. But it's things like this that really make you grow, and in turn bring so much happiness.

I like to sing Jack a song before naps (more for me to cuddle with him a minute than because he actually needs it.) My favorite is a song that used to be one of my favorites that my mom used to sing to me:

I love you, and you love me,
We reach together for the best we can be.
I love you, and you love me,
And that's the way that it's supposed to be. 

I love Jack and Ryan and we all love each other - and that's the way that it's supposed to be!