24

 After 16+ months, Michael and I were able to get away Just The Two of Us - for 24 hours! No mothers, grandmothers, dishes, or cleaning to tend to. And no, not even our sweet baby girl, Lyla. A couple of hours leading up to our Stay-cation in downtown Austin I started feeling a little sadness and guilt creep in. But after a happy drop off, we piled in the car and headed down the road to 24 hours of bliss. Already in my swimsuit, we headed straight for the pool upon check in to our hotel. We spent the next bit laying by the pool listening to tunes and sipping on a mango margarita. Ahhh - so sweet! After grabbing a quick bite for dinner we got ready for the main attraction of the night - seeing Roger Waters perform The Wall! (You know - from Pink Floyd) We took a pedi-cab through downtown Austin and arrived at the performance hall within 15 mins. We were so thankful to not have to deal with parking!  

  

The concert was incredible! Roger Waters was a brilliant performer and the quality and sound of his voice was soooo good! It was the best production I've seen - the graphics and visuals, set designs, lights, music - Everything! We had such a great time. After the concert we had the pedi-cab drop us off in the bar district so we could take advantage of a little night life. We decided to check out the famous Stubbs and stumbled onto another great show! 'He's my Brother, She's my Sister' was the name of the band - and they were so fun to watch. We talked with a few of the band members after the show, who were so gracious, and then headed on down the road to have a drink at a rooftop bar. For one night we were total rock stars :) We even stayed up till 2am - well past our bedtime these days. The vacation continued well into the late morning allowing us to slowly rise out of bed around 10:30am. We grabbed some Starbucks and then wrapped up our Get-Away with a tasty lunch outside at Hula Hut. We arrived home to learn that Lyla had been a perfect angel the whole time we were gone - she had had such a fun time playing with the neighbors kiddos and with her babysitters. What a relief to know that we are able to get away from time to time and she won't just fall apart!

The last three to four weeks have been especially wonderful! We've had a lot of good news and alot of things go our way. We sold my Passat last month and were able to use that money to pay off a bunch of debt and fund our trip to Colorado this summer. Lyla will finally get to meet her other Grandpa(my dad) and I just can't wait! I also can't wait to get to the mountains and experience some of the nature out there and spend time with my sister and nephews.  Michael and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary traveling around Texas and we had a fun and busy Easter weekend.  To see some pictures of the last several weeks, just click on this link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ykistner/2012AprMay?authkey=Gv1sRgCP712Pqx8_fJlQE#

Lyla will be 17 months in just a few weeks. Since she turned a year old time just seems to be flying past me. She's running all over the place and already has lots of words. She loves to be outside and often points out the flowers, birds, airplanes and doggies of course. Lyla also loves her jewelry - and is so careful to keep up with each piece. One of her new favorite "games" is to get in Gigi's wheelchair and crash into Ditty. She thinks it's hilarious!

Michael is doing really well. He's been taking Brazilian Jijitsu for the past 3 months and loving it! An attacker doesn't stand a chance against him :) After class he trys to show off his moves by having me stand in as his competitor - but I can't get past the smelly sweat factor. Too sticky for me! He's also been enjoying working out in the yard. He's worked so hard the past few months transplanting boxwoods, jackhammering through limestone rock, taking out sod, and planting plants. The yard has gone through a total transformation and looks fantastic!

I've been serving at our church's nursery for the past several months just helping to check in the little ones. It's been a great way for me to meet new people, give back, and do something for myself outside of the house. I've also been getting a little crafty this year. I knitted my first scarf, planted an herb garden, and now I'm working on making a Growth Chart for Lyla.

Ginger and Ditty are doing better than ever. They've had fun helping us with the landscape planning and buying flowers. Ditty was even out in her wheelchair today pruning the boxwoods! But their greatest joy is just watching Lyla learn new things every day.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful moms out there! I hope you feel loved, appreciated, and honored for all you give of yourselves each and every day! Above all, I hope you get to spend time doing at least one thing you really enjoy today.

Love you all and God Bless!