One of the big draws to San Antonio as we were deciding where to settle down was the fact that there's a temple within 30 minutes of our house (i.e. no more driving five hours from Blacksburg to DC to get to the closest one)!

Tonight we decided to take advantage of that by cruising on over after Tim got home from work. We're taking turns watching the kids and doing a little work inside, and Joseph is thrilled to be able to explore for a while! Seeing him run all over the place like this reminds me of the stories my dad tells about the games he and his friends used to play as a boy around the Cardston temple. The workers used to have to come out and shoo them off!

Although this is the first time San Antonio has been my official residence, the San Antonio temple has always been very special to me. The summer Tim and I met, I was fortunate enough to attend the fireside during which President Hinckley announced a temple would be built here. During the time we lived in Austin, we anticipated its opening, were able to assist with the open house before its dedication, and did work here just once before Joseph was born and we moved away to Blacksburg. I still remember standing in the dressing room trying desperately to get my white dress zipped up over my big, pregnant belly! It is my favorite temple, too, with more stained glass than any other...

a stunning view of all San Antonio...

and this gorgeous, huge fountain! I'm so glad to be back here again!

Tim took these great shots of Rosalie and Joseph playing around before dinner tonight. They sure are having fun together!

Tonight's the night of our little Breaking Dawn party, and here we are in our Alice and Jasper costumes! They aren't entirely accurate, of course, since Alice has spiky hair and vampires certainly don't need glasses, but at least we've got the exceedingly beautiful part down!

I told Joseph yesterday that we would be having a party today and the first thing he said is "I want some cake!" I'm not entirely sure where he got the idea that all parties have cake, but he lucked out this time because Tim just finished these fun werewolf cupcakes! In any case, it's finally time for the party to start!

As it turns out, we don't have a huge crowd here tonight, but we're not terribly surprised. We're still in the process of getting to know people here, and, after all, it is a party about a book not everybody around here has read! Everyone seems to be having a good time, though, eating, talking, and playing racing video games!



Since vampires are so strong, we decided to have a little arm-wrestling contest. As the dust settles, Todd is our clear winner. I couldn't even beat him using both hands and hanging on with my full body weight!



Next, we had a race to see who could "bandage" (i.e. wrap with TP) an imaginary Bella's arm or leg the fastest...

and we finished up the activities with a werewolf photo op! Tim may look pretty scary, but that's nothing compared to...

this scary gal! After the food and games, we had fun talking about all the books we've read and loved recently. I'm so glad we had the party! What a great chance to get to know some people around here a little better!

My brother, Jared, and Tim's sister, Jen, always talk about the joy it brings to their hearts seeing their children love each other. As I watch Joseph and Rosalie interact each day, I think I'm starting to get a glimpse at what they mean! Joseph will do things for Rosalie that he won't do for me or Tim, and Rosalie loves to watch every little thing Joseph does! I'm sure they'll have their share of squabbles as they grow, but I hope they'll always be friends, too.

Why are babies so stinkin' cute when they're in the tub?

Rosalie got her brace off today! I took her to the pediatric orthopedist this morning and the x-rays showed her hips are now up to snuff! The doctor thought it wouldn't hurt for her to continue wearing the brace for a few more weeks while she's sleeping, but she's set now to start doing things like rolling over and using this little Bumbo seat! Despite all my initial apprehensions, I'm amazed at how quickly and smoothly the treatment period went. Modern medicine truly is a miracle!

Tonight, Tim and I did a little getting ready for our upcoming Breaking Dawn party, and here are the results. No, there isn't a baby in that crib, too! Rosalie still sleeps quite happily in her swing, Joseph is in his bed, and this just happens to be the biggest container we could come up with to store all these balloons until the weekend!

I suppose I always knew that Joseph's ignorance of his ability to get out of bed anytime he wanted just couldn't last forever! Alas, during the last few weeks we've tried everything we can think of to keep him in bed during nap time, all to no avail. Bedtime at night isn't so bad, because it gets pretty dark, and since he apparently doesn't like running into things, he stays put. So, we've decided that since caging him is obviously out of the question, we have no choice but to change nap time into quiet time (i.e. time to read books and be relatively sedentary). He has skipped quite a few naps these last several days, and done pretty well, but today, he totally crashed! I hadn't heard anything from his room for a while, and recalling that silence and mischievousness go hand in hand, I burst into his room, and this is what I found! He normally wakes immediately when someone opens his door, so he must have been really tuckered out. What a poor, tired, little guy!

Joseph loved this little red bug when he was first starting to play with toys, so I thought I'd see what Rosalie thought of it. I'm not sure if it's the red, black, and white colors, or the fact that it's soft and pretty easy to grab on to, but she seems to like it quite a bit, too! That little red bug was just one of many helpful gifts and tips we've received over the years from Tim's sister, Jen. We sure are grateful for all her help and support—she's one of the best moms I know!

Yesterday, in another stroke of parenting genius, Tim threw this blanket over Joseph's play table, and showed him how to crawl under it. Here he is having fun playing with his little CD player under there this morning!

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Apparently, two lizards somehow got into one of our ceiling fan lights. It's a bit baffling, because there's no easy route into the light (or so my non-lizard brain tells me), and the heat from the light being on doesn't seem to bother them (we forgot they were up there and had it on for a while)! The fan is so high, it's no simple task to get them down, so here's hoping they're catching plenty of bugs up there!

Here's Joseph practicing drawing some numbers (what else?) this afternoon, including triple digits! He's just such a smart little cookie!

Here are just a couple videos of Rosalie doing crunches and trying to roll over this afternoon!

We rigged up Rosalie's bouncy seat this afternoon to facilitate her budding hand-to-mouth skills. This way, she can drop the purple ring as many times as she wants to, and it won't get away from her! She sure is excited about grabbing things lately!

After getting home from the pool, here's Rosalie, queen of crunches! She seriously has the strongest abs for a four-month-old...

not to mention an extremely cute overabundance of baby fat. I just want to eat her up!

We've been down to our neighborhood pool a couple times for a swim since it opened back in May, but we've always forgotten to bring the camera. So, here we are today on our way! It takes around five minutes or so to get there on foot. It's a hot day, so it sure will feel good to get in the water!

I think Joseph is starting to feel a little more comfortable around all this water. He doesn't even like a lot of water in his bath at night, and the other times we've been here he's been hanging on to me or Tim with all his might! Today he's having fun climbing up and down these steps with only minimal assistance, which is a pretty big accomplishment for our little landlubber!

Today is also Rosalie's very first day ever in a pool! She's always been snoozing by the time we got here before, and it just seems heartless to dunk a sleeping baby in a chilly pool without any warning. Granted, only her legs and bottom are actually in the water today, and she's not too sure what she thinks about that, but we're making progress!





Rosalie didn't last too long in the pool before she decided she'd rather be sleeping. So, she's settling herself down with me now while Tim takes a turn playing in the water with Joseph. He's doing the same kinds of things with him that I remember my dad doing with me, and it's obvious they are both loving it. What a great way to cool off on a hot TX day!

Speaking of the four-month-old, here she is in action! She starting to grab like crazy, and she's really strong when she gets a hold of your fingers, arm, or face. It won't be long until she's playing with toys all by herself, I suppose!



One of her favorite things to do lately is flirt with her daddy. She likes me, too, of course, but whenever Tim comes around she really lights up! Just listen to her chattin' it up with him!

When Tim offered to make the plans for this Fourth of July, I jumped at the chance to sit back, relax, and see what he would come up with. We started out the morning with another short trip to the zoo. We told Joseph he could decide where we went and what we saw, so we ended up visiting the elephant, giraffe, and climbing up and down lots of stairs! Joseph was really proud of himself for conquering this set, even though the steps were pretty big and the handrail pretty high. I guess stairs are interesting again now that we don't have them in our house anymore!

After dinner tonight, we celebrated with some ice cream and blueberries...

opened Grandma and Grandpa Allison's fun Fourth of July package...

made some finger paint (we were out of red food coloring, so Tim and I both concocted our own versions of red: mine with red sprinkles, and his with chili powder and paprika)...



used the finger paint to decorate some flags...

cracked open the light sticks Grandma and Grandpa sent in our bedroom closet (the sun was still very much up outside)...



and sang some American songs from this nifty book (also from the package)! After the kiddos were asleep Tim and I watched part of Independence Day (we almost never have time to watch a whole movie before we want to hit the sack). It's definitely showing it's age, but was fun to watch nonetheless! I realized after the fact that we didn't catch any shots of little Rosalie while she was awake, but I didn't forget that she turned four months old today. She is the sweetest little baby, always full of smiles, and all three of us fall more in love with her every day!

Joseph continues to be fascinated with vehicles, and especially with the van! He talks to himself about it before going to sleep, says thanks for it when he prays, and is always excited to go for a ride. Although our garage isn't necessarily the safest place to play, Tim recently had the idea of putting the baby monitor out there, turning the volume on the receiver up really loud, and letting Joseph play inside the van. It's easy to tell what he's up to, and he'll often play out there happily all morning! Here he is looking through books out there this morning.

Meanwhile, Rosalie has a bit of a diaper rash, so we're giving her some diaper-free time here on the floor. I mean, who can resist those cute baby buns? She's allowed to have her brace off for up to two hours every day, so we try to take advantage of that time to let her stretch and exercise a bit. She seems to enjoy being on her tummy more than Joseph did, and is even starting to lift those arms off the ground a bit, like she's doing here. When she gets tired, though, she won't just put her head down and rest. She wants to be picked up right away!

Joseph is just starting to learn how to jump! I never really thought about how much coordination it takes to get both feet off the ground at the same time, but Joseph will affirm it's no easy task! Here he is dancing and trying to jump along with this fun numbers video his Aunt Jen sent him!