February

I'm over a month late, again. But look at it this way: to keep up with our lives, you only have to read 12 blog posts a year! What a deal.

Alright, alright, enough with the silliness. (Once more, I promise that I really will keep trying to update the blog frequently.) Here's our February:

On February 5th, we ended a one-month-long weight competition with Tanner's family. On the day we ended the competition, I was the skinniest I have been in years! Tanner hit a long-time low as well. We couldn't have been more proud of ourselves! I think the competition really motivated us to push ourselves as hard as we could. We learned a lot, the number one thing being that we can do it--it just takes work--but that weight loss is possible.

Then this last week, we celebrated Valentine's Day and our anniversary, and my mom came to visit. It was busy! On Valentine's Day, we went to a stake dinner and dance (we always go for the free stuff). It was such an experience! We got there when it started at 7:30, and wondered if we were in the right place, because there was only one other car in the parking lot. Tanner went inside to check, and it turns out we were the first to arrive in an extreme case of Mormon standard time. The other car there was the couple in the stake presidency who had set up the event. We chatted with them and one other couple that arrived at the same time as us, who actually served as mission presidents in my first mission, Belo Horizonte, so that was really neat.

Eventually people started coming, and two couples we knew sat with us--we were one of two English speaking tables in the whole cultural hall, and even then, half of our table didn't speak English. The man who had served as a mission president shared a message in Portu-spanish, and I translated for Tanner and our friends. Then the counselor in the stake presidency (who is Cuban) sang us Spanish songs while we ate our meal, and finally, we salsa danced. I had not expected everything to be so Latino, but maybe I should have! It makes sense when eight of the ten wards in our branch are Spanish speaking. It was fun.

My mom came that Monday. She watched Ezra while Tanner and I had a candlelit anniversary dinner on the beach (on a bench about 20 feet from the water), and we had a wonderful couple of days together. We went to the Deering Estate, went on a airboat tour to see the alligators, and ate at an authentic Caribbean restaurant. Ezra and my mom loved spending time together.

Here are the pictures:

These are from the Deering Estate, the place Tanner and I went to in January. It was so beautiful and peaceful that I had to take my mom!

And these are from our crocodile tour in the Everglades:

We had frog legs for lunch! In my opinion, they were pretty gross, but Tanner and my mom liked them.

We stopped at the new Fort Lauderdale Temple on the way home. It was beautiful! We can't wait until we can volunteer for the open house in April.

And lastly:

One picture from Greynolds park, another raccoon. They are everywhere around here!

A picture of our fried crab at the Caribbean restaurant. Weird! 

 And, of course, Ezra being cute, as always!

Ezra Update: Part 4

Alrighty, here is the fourth and final Ezra update for this week. Hooray! It also covers some of the things we've done as a family these last couple weeks. This post is very picture and video heavy so I'm just going to jump into it.

January 16

I'm starting this post off with this video solely for chronology's sake. Don't let it depress you. :)

Here Ezra is complaining about naptime. He has been trying so hard lately to stay awake when he is tired. He has also been developing his little sad emotions, which run their course when I take something away that he wants to play with, my phone for instance, or when I put him down for a nap. If he's on his tummy, he'll put his arms, legs, and little head down on the floor and just cry. If he's on his back, he'll do this.

Of course he was much happier when Daddy came home.

January 17

He thinks he's in training for a mariachi band. He is hoping to specialize in the tambourine.

This one's cute. If you're only going to watch a couple, watch this one. We got him some teething toys from the dollar store that he loves (for the last two months he has been showing all signs of teething but no signs of teeth!). We throw them in the fridge, and he loves to suck on them.

His absolute favorite new activity (Daddy's idea) is playing in all of the toys of his tipped-over toybox. He likes playing with one toy, then moving on. He is always busy.

His favorite toys, believe it or not, are his books. He loves flipping the pages.

He also loves our cameras. He is always interested when they are out.

So Tanner and I are in a month-long weight-loss competition with several members of his extended family. (We have been doing AWESOME--have you noticed how skinny we are getting?) :) Anyways, it has motivated us to take some walks we might not otherwise have taken. Last week, we walked over to a state park about a half mile from our house. We got to walk across the draw-bridge when it was up. (It was cool and we kissed on the bridge.) And the park was beautiful. 

What are those ancient sea-creature fossil things? We played on the rocks by the ocean and found some! For some reason, I like looking at these even more than the dinosaur bones in fossil exhibits. I had no idea they were still around.

Ezra had a great time at the seashore.

And Tanner actually got a couple pictures of me with my baby!

Ezra is my best little cuddle-buddy.

One cool thing about this bay is that Tanner and I were able to come kayaking here a year ago on our anniversary when he came to interview for Barry. It was fun to be here together again from a different perspective.

Just another pretty view

We saw a raccoon on our way out! I was pretty scared it would attack us but Tanner told me we'd be fine. At least long enough to get a couple pictures.

January 18

I love this video. It's short but sweet. Ezra always calms way down when it is time to eat, but here he is super chill.

Still loving the tipped-over toybox.

I found an online printable coupon to get dipped pineapples at Edible Arrangements. We went, and were both able to get one. They were huge! And delicious. They were one of our few deviations from our diet this month.

January 19

Another army-crawl video for those who think it's as cute as I do.

January 20

So, not sure if you knew this, but Tanner and I are nerds. One nerdy thing we like to do is play games. Our friends, Trent and Star, introduced us to this wonderfully intricate and nerdy game called Kingsburg. Once we figured it out (it took a while), we were hooked.

January 22
Ezra was very, very busy this day. Here are some of the things he did:

1. Watched Baby Einstein, sitting up and using his arms to balance himself

2. Tried tipping over the toy box all by himself

3. Pulled off several leaves from our plant and sucked on the branches

4. Watched cars out the window

5. Ate applesauce for the very first time.

Gosh, I love this baby!

January 25

The next weekend, we went on another adventure, this time to the Deering Estate.

Ezra loves being in his baby carrier. He didn't get bored or need to play with toys all day because he just likes being in it so much. He loves when we walk around and he gets to see so many new things as well.

This was the original front yard of the Deering Estate, meant to be reached by boat, as roads weren't fully developed at the time of construction. It was perhaps the most peaceful front yard ever. If I had lived here, I just might have spent all of my time on the dock.

Leaning forward from where I was sitting in the last picture, this is what I saw. 

As always in every Floridian park, there was a Mangrove walk, an elevated wooden path through the mangrove swamps. I almost jumped over the railing when I just about walked into this snake. I was ready to bolt but Tanner just wanted to take pictures. After he took a couple, I got braver, and these are what I took.

We went on a tour of some of the natural areas that was really cool. Here is Tanner next to a strangler fig, a fig that birds eat and spread its seeds by pooping on the branches of other trees. It then starts to grow in the branches, dropping its roots to the ground, and eventually killing the tree. Also, here are some berries I found. The guide didn't know what they were, but I thought they were pretty.

Cocoon made from wild coffee leaves

Gumbo limbo tree, or the tourist tree for the way its skin peels, and more raccoons! They are apparently everywhere in Florida. Here is a momma and two babies. There was another Momma and two more babies in the woods a few feet away.

A nice German man took our picture. 

Here is a small portion of one of the ceilings of the outside walk of the house, called the seashell mosaic. I wish I could've gotten a shot of the whole thing. It was really beautiful.

The ballroom

Cool 16th-century Spanish chandelier

My cute, skinny husband in front of the estate

I love this picture.

And here's our rickety attempt at a selfie in front of the ocean. 

January 26

Okay, back to Ezra! He has learned to get up on his hands and knees and rock. This is one of the cutest things so far that he does. I am in love with him.

January 28

More cute rocking

And some cute laughing

And some more cute army crawling

January 30

Last but not least, Ezra is incredibly strong. Here he is doing pull-ups on his toy box. (I think he loves the box itself more than any of his toys. He is always playing with/in it.)

Ezra Update: Part 3

January 1 to January 15

We noticed right away when we got back from the trip that Ezra had entered a dangerous stage. The fact that he could get around on his own definitely had me on my feet all through December, but in January, he took up an interest in electric cords and sockets, shoes and the broom, and bits of paper and plastic, or, in other words, anything that could electrocute, infect, or choke him. We've had fun baby-proofing. We want to get those little plastic things for electrical sockets, but since he goes for the cords too, we have tried to block all outlets from him with pieces of furniture. We can't leave anything he can't have on the floor, or he will get it. It makes it difficult with things like shoes, which we usually leave by the front door, or the broom, which is tucked between the fridge and the wall.

His favorite new place is the kitchen. He is always trying to get into it. He first started going in there when Tanner and I were making dinner. He wanted to know where all the fun was happening, so he scooted over, popped his little head around the wall, and smiled really big at us. But now he tries to go whether we're in there or not. I am constantly chasing him and moving him back to the rug. If he makes it to the kitchen door though, he always goes for the broom. He puts his little head up against the space between the fridge and the wall and tries to reach his little arm in. Silly baby. We love him.

January 2

Enjoying his last nap in Houston.

January 3

As good as Ezra usually is, we had to work HARD on the way home to keep him happy. He was wiggly and needed lots of love and attention.

January 7

Who doesn't love sweet potatoes?

January 8

January 11

We tried to get some selfie family pictures. They turned out really, really good.

January 13

Here's the little man crawling in action. Normally he's much faster. I think he was distracted by his screams.

Here he is after all that crawling. Sooo tired....

He had just enough strength though to find and explore more things. 

This movie is definitely a "grandparents movie." It is his first time eating applesauce. If you're just casually reading this, skip ahead. 

January 15

I love how much he loves his daddy. Ezra is always happy when Daddy is home. Also, isn't his little sailor outfit adorable? Another of my favorite hand-me-downs.

As always, I just had to leave you with a just plain cute pic. And he really is this adorable.