Rachel has been able to start sitting up with help. She can even do it for a little while in couches before she falls over, but for some reason the couches that I have at work are the best. I put her in the couch as I was packing so that we could go home and I had to get the camera out. I hope that you enjoy this as much as we did.
One of the best things about living in Houston is that Amber has family here. Her granny (great grandma) lives her with her son Ronnie and his family. I am sure we have posted pictures here before of them, but here are some more. Also, Ronnie went to Europe to visit his wives family, so her nana (am's grandma) came to town to be with granny. We have been able to go visit them a couple of times since they have been here.
Every day Amber comes to the rink to eat her lunch and to feed Rachel. It is great that we work so close to each other and that she is able to do this. I sometimes think that it is the highlight of the day when she gets to see mommy since she is usually asleep when she wakes up in the morning.
Amber handed Rachel her diaper to hold onto while she was changing her. It is almost, but not quite as good as my brother-in-law Joey who gets Clayton to basically do everything except for wipe. 
Rachel has been able to put her head up for quite some time now. She has been doing it longer and longer each time. I am new at this so, I don't know how to edit out the part where she spits up (or down). I hope you all enjoy her as much as we do. She is trying to crawl, and before we know it we will be chasing her down.
I thought you all might like to see how Rachel and I have been spending our time. Rachel is starting to understand how to use her hands. Usually she just hits the toy around and tries to grab it. She has grabbed it before, but never like she did today.
I must admit I always thought it would be easy to stay at home with kids, clean the house, make food, and take naps. It might be easier as they get older, it might not be. I am finding out just how hard it is as Amber had to go back to work this past week. Since my job is a little more relaxed and I really don't start up till September, I have been taking care of Rachel. Yes, that's giving her baths, feeding her bottles, playing with her, and lots lots more. At the end of the month Amber will be staying home with Rachel. I figured that while she is napping I would be able to get my things accomplished. That is what I thought. The first day she did not want to take naps and when she did it was only for 20 - 30 min a time. Not much time to do things. Right now she is entertained in her bouncer, hence the reason I am able to type. Sometimes she just wants me to hold her. I am sure every kid is different, some are better and some are worse. I think Rachel is getting used to seeing her dad every day and that is making things easier. Yesterday she took close to a 3 hr nap which allowed me to get lots done. So if there are any guys reading this, let it be known that it is not as easy as you think. If you are a mom, keep it up. You are doing a great job. Am I love you so much. Thanks for all you do. Also, I must add that there is nothing better than when she looks at me and smiles. It lets me know that I am doing something right.
For April's Birthday this year we got together and went to good ol' Pizza Man, that's what April wanted. It was fun! We all just hung out and laughed, needless to say we miss being with our friends in Alaska! Happy Birthday April!
I think Mason just might be a pirate! He always closes the same eye, when he's being cheezy but, it may be Auntie Moose's fault (as seen here). Mason wanted to sit with Uncle Mark, but he didn't want to look at the camera to take a picture with him, or he'd smile after the fact! Yeah, obviously I didn't get any pictures with Mason, but he still loves me and we all know that I am his FAVORITE Aunt!
Mason insisted on taking pictures with my camera. Here are a few of the shots he took. He may have been zoomed in a little close when he took Rachel's picture but, he did pretty good of Mark and of Rachel with her Auntie Moose!
It was so good to see Becks and Mason, as well as Hae, Chris and Haimoni while we were up in Alaska (of course). Mason was so cute with Rachel. Everytime Auntie Moose tried to hold her he'd freak out and either want Becks to hold him too or he wanted to hold Rachel. He was so happy to hold her and kiss her and play with her, it was adorable! Sometimes he wouldn't want to let her go! She seemed to have no problem with the cute boy she stares at in pictures back home hold her!
Our last day of camping, the day I caught my first fish in Alaska, we took the ferry across the river to fish the Russian. Mark let me fish while he took these pictures of Josh, Brad, me and Shellie fishing (in that order on the river). Josh (Brad's cousin) loves kissing his fish! (He just kept trying to make Wyatt kiss his fish, it wasn't really working though)! Wyatt did reel in that fish that Brad caught, almost all by himself! Aiden was in the backpack on the way back, what you can't tell is that he is soaking wet from playing in the freezing cold Russian River! He thought it was so much fun, he never complained about being wet or cold. Luckly, Brad filleted all the fish for us. We had a great time! Thanks Hickoks!
This is what all the signs read where we camped, in and around the campground, especially by the Russian River. Brad, Josh and Mark were able to go fishing every morning before the rest of us got up, well at least before the kids got up! So, Shellie and I were going to finally go one night. Shellie wasn't up to it, so Brad, Josh, Wyatt and I went down to the river, I think we fished for maybe 15 minutes total. (Yes, somehow Brad managed to catch a fish in that time)! We saw 8 bears in maybe 35 minutes! There were both Black Bear and Grizzly Bear, both with cubs! It was great to see them and the little Black Bear climbing the trees, but it was scary too. Unfortunately to scary to keep fishing that night. I did bring my camera just for that reason, so here are some of the bear I did got pictures of! You can't see the cubs that great in either picture, so I tried to point them out a little more with red arrows. The 2 black bears and climbing the trees to the right of the mama bear and the 2 grizzlies are somewhat hidden on top of the hill in the brush, but that picture is pretty dark. I wish I could have taken them when they were both (but at different times) down stream catching fish. I was just a little too scared to get out in waist high water to take pictures of bears that could easily kill me!! Like I said I may not have got to fish for long, but it was great to see all the bear!!
While we were in Alaska, not only were we able to stay with our friends, the Hickoks, but we were able to go camping with them too! It was Rachel's first camping trip and she loved it! She loves being outside. Shellie and Aiden were so cute with her, in this picture Aiden is holding Rachel, Shellie is just helping. He wanted to hold her all the time! Daddy and Rachel hung out a lot, and she loved being with Mommy and Wyatt by the fire!
Last year we went fishing on the Kenai River with Dad and Brad and became pretty good friends with our guide Orlando. So we figured this year when we were in Alaska we'd meet up with him again and go out on the Kenai with Becks and Chris (her brother). Which was the first time we'd left Rachel for almost a whole day (4am-8pm, thanks Shellie)! We had a great time on the river and saw TONS of Salmon, we just didn't catch ANYTHING!! Not one Salmon! (Given, Chris caught a nice trout, but you can't keep those)! We only took a few pictures out there, Becks throwing up signs, and all of us on the way back to shore. It was a lot of fun I'm glad Becks and Chris were able to get off work to come with us!
After many times of fishing, Amber caught her first salmon with my flyrod. I said it was because I was not standing next to her. Her fish was close to the same size as Rachel. Hopefully we will be able to make it back up to Alaska next year so that she can catch more. I was way proud of her.
Before flying to Alaska we had to drive to Dallas. Fortunatally, Ryan, Brooke and Savannah live there, so we were able to stay the night with them before heading out. I wish we would have taken pictures with them or at least of the girls together, Savannah will be one in Sept, to see how much they've grown the next time we get together! Then, luckly for us, unluckily for him, Dad was in Dallas for work the same time that we were there, just before flying to Alaska! We were able to go to lunch with him, which is ALWAYS great! And of course, Rachel missed her Pappy! She just wasn't as excited to take a group picture as she was to just take one with Pappy!
