End of Summer 2014

It's still 95 degrees out, but the word is that it's actually fall. Here's what the end of our summer looked like!

We hit up the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday over in the Woodlands.

I branched out and tried a new one, Chris's Outrageous Cheesecake. Yummy!

Best part of my birthday!

 We also went over to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. It was Ryan's first time and we all had a good day!

The Houston Temple is closed for the month of September, so we went the last day it was open and took turns with Rylee outside.

My brother Travis came for Labor Day and we spent a fun day in the sand at the beach in Galveston.

She sat and played just like this for most of the day.

I thought both their faces were way too funny!

We had one exhausted baby!

Alas, now it's mid-September. How did that happen? Maybe soon we'll get some cooler weather and it will dip below 80! We had a great summer!

Sixth Wedding Anniversary

Ryan and I celebrated our sixth anniversary on Saturday! We had an amazing day. My in-laws came up to watch Rylee for the day, bringing me a key lime pie(my favorite) and homemade spaghetti sauce for my freezer for quick meals since I'm going back to work. Rylee adores her grandparents!

Ryan and I kicked off our festivities by seeing Guardians of the Galaxy, because nothing says romance like Marvel Comic Book movies! Then we went back to the Museum of Fine Arts and had a much more enjoyable time without a screaming toddler in tow(who wanted to destroy everything last time). They had this exhibit called "Soto The Houston: Penetrable" which consists of 7.5 tons of plastic tubing suspended from the ceiling. Pretty neat! 

We had dinner at a place called Hugo's and ate on their patio where it was quieter. The neighborhood we parked in was so cute and nice! I really want to live there. It's nice to dream. 

Dinner was delicious(interior Mexican cuisine) and it was really nice to enjoy my dinner without having to have octopus arms and juggle Rylee in a highchair!

We had second dessert(I got a special three course meal, so we shared chocolate crepes at Hugo's) at the Chocolate bar, a fun little chocolatier/bakery/ice cream shop.

We debated going to see a second movie or going to a jazz festival, but it was getting late, Rylee hadn't fallen asleep without me, and we were both pretty tired, so we decided to call it a night.

A perfect day to celebrate our anniversary! Can't believe I've been married to this guy for six whole years! Love him with all my heart, mind, soul, and being!

Family Camping Trip

Ryan's firm is closed the entire week of Fourth of July, so we decided to plan a big camping trip! We wanted to go up to the Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft, NM where we could camp at a cool 9,000 feet. However, so extenuating circumstances arose, and instead, we camped at Enchanted Rock and Colorado Bend State Park. There is a reason why I don't go camping between May-September in Texas. IT IS HOT!!! So our week long camping trip turned into, "let's be back for the fourth" and that turned into "it's hot, lets go home" after three days! Seriously though. Our tent was stifling, as it didn't cool off till after midnight. Cassie and my dad had the right idea in their hammocks, but we had Rylee, and I was terrified she would run off in the middle of the night if we slept out on the ground, or have some *insert nocturnal creature* slithering/crawling over her, so we stayed in the tent.

Dead to the world after a restless hot night!

Running around camp eating pebbles.

Camped at the foot of the smaller dome.

View of Enchanted Rock from Moss Lake

Rylee's first time up at the top of Enchanted Rock! Unless you
count the time I hiked up there at 27 weeks pregnant.

Gorman falls at Colorado Bend.

She kept tossing her hat off, so I tied my bandanna on her

Eating dinner in her new chair from Grammy.

Shortly after this picture, she tried to shove mac n cheese into her belly button.

It was a fun trip. Exhausting from the heat and chasing after our cute little explorer all day every day, but fun.  We came back Wednesday evening after a day of hiking and swimming. Thursday we checked out the new playground at San Gabriel Park and took Rylee to the Brushy Creek Splash Pad.

 Rylee loved fireworks again this year, and wasn't at all bothered by the loud noise.

Hope everyone had a fun Independence Day and took some time to think about the sacrifices that have been made to protect and defend this country.

Galveston Beach

We took our new car on its first adventure! Stuart beach at Galveston Island.  Even though we were all suffering from head colds, we decided to go be miserable at the beach instead of being miserable at home all day.

Checking out the sand.

The sea gull was not really about to eat Rylee, even though it looks like it.

 Rylee "helped" Ryan build a sand face.

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Rylee absolutely loved the ocean! She ran gleefully into the waves with no fear. It was a little windy and cool outside, so she got cold fast and her teeth started chattering. We forced her to stay out of the water for awhile to warm up. Needless to say, she threw a big fit!

Mother's Day Weekend 2014

We had one incredible weekend! Should I start off with our favorite part? Meet the newest member of the Campbell family!

Our brand new, 2015 Kia Sorento!

We are so in love with our car!

Friday Rylee and I picked Ryan up from work and headed to Austin in our very old Honda Civic. To quote Ryan, it was the "worst drive ever." No cruise control, radio broke a long time ago, and the baby was screaming for a good chunk of the time. We had stopped THREE times within fifty miles of Houston! We eventually got to Austin with the car all in one piece and with a sleeping baby.

Saturday, we took that little Civic to trade in and spent ALL day car shopping. It came down between the Kia and a 2014 Dodge Journey. Finally, after a gizzlion hours of deliberation (for the record I had come to a decision, but Ryan was still deciding), we ditched the dodge dealership and got the Kia. We got a great price for it and have loved every second driving it!

We left Rylee-roo with her Campbell grandparents and headed out to Lago Vista(in the new ride) to see my sister play Queen Susan in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." It was really cute and she did great!

Cassie is the taller girl. How is she old enough to play Susan over Lucy?!

My brother and I caught in the act of taking selfies on his phone.

I love this girl! That's Dad in the background with the white beard
playing Father Christmas.

"What does the fox say?"

On our way home we stopped and got Torchy's. My favorites are the fried avocado and the Crossover(brisket taco).

Sunday saw us at my family's ward. Rylee was pretty tired, but we had to take a last minute Mother's Day picture!

My brother is the King of photobombs.

So we took another. I was trying to distract her with a cupcake and at least get her to smile.

She's looking at the camera at least.

We had a yummy dinner that Dad made. Salmon with parley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. He called it his "Salmon and Garfunkel." Ha...ha...ha. Rylee and I took some better Mommy/daughter pictures.

She loved eating cheerios with Abuelita. Best seat in the house apparently.

Cassie came and spent the night with us in Georgetown. We watched some Captain America in 3D.

Monday came too quickly and we had to head back to Houston. But it was exciting to pack up our new car(which has so much storage space) and drive it home!

Happy Mother's Day!

Cloth Diapers...Then and Now...Mysteries Revealed

*Update June 20, 2014- IKEA no longer sells their burp cloths! So sad! I got some flour sack towels at Target instead.

I have just about every style of cloth diaper. We started with Cloth-Ez prefolds and covers. I tried two pocket diapers(Fuzzibunz and BumGenuis 4.0), and I couldn't resist two cute work-at-home-moms fitted diapers. I tried and returned an all-in-one BumGenius freetime. I have some Flip stay dry inserts that I'm planning on selling. I have bummis, flip, thirsties, and wool diaper covers that I made from upcycled sweaters.

Does it sound like I'm speaking another language? Why do we as moms have to make things so complicated when they could be so easy? Diapers do one thing...catch pee and poop until your child is potty trained.

Do you want to know what I've learned? Buy flats! They're $1.50 each at IKEA or $1 at Target(flour sack towels), or free if you use that ratty old T-shirt of your husband's that you really hate.

Although I love my fitted diapers, I find that no matter what I try, they get detergent buildup and baby girl gets a rash if she sits in them for too long. My two pocket diapers I hardly ever use because they seem to get buildup and repel and leak if I use them too much. 

My prefolds are great ($3 each for medium wide baby size) but take forever to dry.

I just started using my own diy t-shirt flats and wish I would have just done it from the start! They wash up so easily because they're thin and you don't have to have a crazy complicated wash routine. I'm thinking I'll get a couple from IKEA(burping cloths) and use them when we travel because I won't have to worry about detergent buildup, etc, and can even handwash them if I needed to.

So for a dozen flats at $1 each and three covers($14 each), you could have enough diapers from birth-potty training for under $60! That is incredible! Ask around for family members 100% XXL t-shirts and you have free spares. Although I have to admit, I felt a little trashy using cut up t-shirts to diaper my child, but I wanted to see how I liked the whole flats thing. Yes you have to do some folding, but it's nothing complicated. Can you watch a YouTube video? I bet you can!

What if you have a squirmy baby? Rylee is the squirmiest, and always has been. Whether it's a disposable, prefold, flat, or fitted diaper, we have just as hard of a time. You learn to get really fast at pinning that diaper!

We use disposables for night time because I could not figure out a system that kept our sheets dry and her bum rash free in the morning, so I gave up around 6 months and am not ashamed at all. I do die a little inside every time I shell over the cash for a box of Huggies, but it was better than troubleshooting diapers every single night and changing sheets and worrying about rashes.

If you're interested in cloth diapering, don't get caught up in the very complicated world of modern cloth diapering. Keep it simple. Go to IKEA, eat some Swedish meatballs and a slice of chocolate cake, get some cute printed "burp cloths" for $1.50 each, and then order a couple diaper covers(I love Thirsties and they come in two sizes) off Amazon, and don't go crazy with laundry detergent. Then treat yourself to something special because you just saved yourself hundreds of dollars on disposable diapers and lots on complicated pocket diapers.

And don't forget to get a swim diaper for your little waterbaby! I have a couple Bummis swim diapers that we've liked, but again, don't get caught up in the dozens of brands and kinds.

MIller Outdoor Theater Weekend Adventure

 Friday afternoon, Rylee and I headed downtown to meet Ryan at work when he got off. We warmed up dinner in his break room and then headed over to Herman Miller Park to see the Pearl of the Orient featuring Leyte Dance Theater at the Miller Outdoor Theater. We let Rylee wander around the park and play for about an hour and half before the show started at 8. Then we took some family selfies.

She loves seeing herself on the phone screen!

She danced to the music, wandered up to strangers on their blankets, ran up and down the hill, and ate her weight in cheerios. After the show we changed her into PJs and headed home.

Saturday, we attempted to go to the Fine Arts Museum for the first free weekend of the month for Bank of America card holders, but it didn't work out very well. Something about the fragile,expensive objects within a baby's reach and big echoey exhibit halls that magnified Rylee's screaming tantrums when we didn't allow her to touch, said priceless artifact. So we went to the Children's Museum and let her burn some energy. We thought about going to the zoo but decided it was way too hot. The ¡Ritmo Latino! featuring Pedrito Martinez Group was performing at the Miller Outdoor Theater, so we decided we wanted to see that. We grabbed some sliders from Little Big's off Montrose and headed back to Herman Miller Park(my favorite place in Houston). The band had an Afro-Cuban inspired sound and was really awesome! Rylee wandered around the hillside, trying to steal people's keys and knock over wine glasses. She got really good at walking up and down the inclined hill. This is what the theater looks like.

All performances are free and you bring blankets or chairs to sit on the lawn on the big hill.
Or if you're 16 years or older and stand in line for tickets the day of the show, they
have covered seating under the roof.

She had developed a really bad diaper rash earlier that afternoon, and halfway through the show, she started screaming inconsolably. She had pooped and it had really irritated her rash, poor baby! It was already 9pm at that point(normal bedtime), so in the middle of an awesome drum solo, we packed up all our stuff and took our screaming baby home. She clung to Ryan the entire walk back to the car and finally started to calm down. She was asleep as soon as we started driving.

We had a big weekend, but it was fun as always with my two Ry's!

Random family selfie from General Conference weekend(aka stay-in-pjs-all-day)