Annapolis

Today after church got out at 11:00 (yes, our church starts at 8:00 a.m.) we wanted to go for a family drive and test out our new car! After almost six years of marriage we finally decided to get a second car, so we got a Toyota Highlander and figured we'll grow into it (it supposedly seats seven, but it's more like four adults and three kids). I don't have a picture of ours, so here is a random one from the web. It's doesn't feel that big to drive and I actually am quite comfortable driving it around.
So we decided to drive out to Annapolis for the afternoon. Robert wanted to go to the US Naval Academy, but I forgot to bring my ID with me and everyone over 16 is required to have ID to enter the grounds. So this is pretty much what we saw:

We saw the Maryland State House, the oldest State House in continuous legislative use in the nation and where the Continental Congress met from 1783 to 1784.


Handsome tourist.
Proof that Julia really was under that sunhat, since it's a little hard to see her in the other pictures.

Mostly we decided it would be worth it to come back some Saturday and spend the day touring the US Naval Academy, getting the world's largest shake at Chick and Ruth's Delly, and going on a water tour in the Chesapeake Bay, but only on a cooler day. It was so HOT that I couldn't take it walking around anymore so we ate the picnic lunch we brought in our air conditioned car before heading back home.

Rolo Cookies

Robert found this recipe on Cougarboard (of course, where else would you find the best recipes, right?) and said we had to try it because it sounded so good. So Saturday night Julia and I whipped some up. I got this nifty stool so I could reach all the top shelves and utilize all the space in my teeny tiny kitchen, but Julia now loves to climb up it and stand next to me and "help" me cook. She's really sweet about trying to help and to share things, but it usually just means it takes me twice as long to get things done. The juicer and tupperware are there to give her something to cook with.

The cookies turned out really good, so I thought I'd share the recipe. I like that the caramel of the rolos is kind of unexpected since you usually don't get caramel in a cookie, and also like that it's hard to under cook them since the center is just a piece of candy anyways. Enjoy!

Rolo Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine (I use butter)
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 t baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
13 oz. bag of Rolos

sugar (for rolling the pre-baked cookies in)

Directions: Blend sugar, brown sugar and butter together in a bowl. Add eggs and vanilla to sugar mixture and blend well. Sift together in a small bowl, flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and blend well. Take a spoonful of cookie dough and wrap around rolo. Roll into ball so that the rolo is completely covered with dough and roll in sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes.

You decide

Ummm, Julia, I don't think that's how you wear that.

Or

Girrl, you are way to young to need one of those.

Or

No, Julia, mommie's bra is not a necklace.


Kind of embarrassing picture, but when I turned around and saw her like this I cracked up. Maybe you will too.

She just looked so proud of herself.

A little bit of home

I finally got some pictures uploaded! So I should have some more posts in the next few days.

These were from before we left Claremont. I got these Easter Lilies from my mom when I got home from the hospital when Julia was born. I just left the pot outside all winter and decided to plant them in the spring and see what happened, and they bloomed! So these are now the Julia Lilies. We'll see if they survive two hot Claremont summers to be there when we move back.

Goose egg

Julia and I have been in Virginia since Tuesday. We've been really busy and its now past midnight here, so I'm not going to say much. I just wanted to post this picture that we snapped with Robert's phone last week. We spent all day Wednesday and Thursday inside unpacking, so Thursday afternoon I took Julia out to stretch her legs and get some fresh air. She was super excited, a little too excited. She was running down the sidewalk, fell and hit her head. The next day it didn't look as bad, but I kept getting funny looks from everyone the rest of that day as we went for a walk around the complex.

Sunday Walk

My mom's family came over on Sunday for dinner. Afterward Julia took some of us for a walk.
She didn't want to stop for a picture, she was trying to push her stroller.

Zoo

We took Julia to the zoo for the first time today. She loved seeing all the animals, when she realized they were alive. She kept screaming and pointing at them. This giraffe came right up to her which I think was the highlight of her trip. It was a beautiful day and we got to spend time with my brother Richard and his wife Ashley.Every time I let her out of her stroller she wanted to push it around. So I was sneaky and stood behind Julia and pushed the stroller in the direction we wanted to go while she thought she was pushing it.
I brought her jungle animals book to point out the animals that were in the book. I think she got the connection with the giraffes and crocodiles at least.
Here she is as a ground hog. When she saw me on the outside she kept squealing and waving at me.
Here she is trying to join the ducks in the water.Heading back to the car.

And lets not forget about Robert. He has been in Washington D.C. since Monday starting he new job (with the same company). Last night Robert's brother Kevin and his wife Ellen came up from Philly and spent the night with him and then went to the temple this morning. Robert e-mailed me this picture and said to quote Kevin as "I am never going to eat another donut in my life." I guess it's to hold him to his word in the future.

Toys?

Who needs toys...

when you have boxes?!


Moving day has come and gone. Julia had a blast trying to get into everyone's way, but I'm hoping she charmed the movers more than she annoyed them. Actually, we spent the majority of our two days with the movers outside so we would stay out the way, which Julia loved as well.

At the end of moving day #1 Robert's dad arrived to help us out, so day #2 I was able to take Julia on some errands with me and get her away from the house. Today we spent all day with Daddy #2 (Julia has been calling her Grandpa Wheat"dada") cleaning up the house. It has never looked so good! I never really had time to get the deep cleaning done that I would have liked when we moved in because the house was so dirty to begin with when we bought it from the bank.

Now we're off to Utah!