She's getting better and better this last week at crawling. She can move her hands forward, and mostly just one leg. The other one is temperamental at following. It's amazing to watch her; I can't believe how quickly time flies. Sometimes I'm holding her in one arm and I feel like she's a kid, not a baby anymore. Life is good and keeps getting better.
The time has finally come to lower the crib. I walked in to get Makenna after her nap this morning and this is what I found. As soon as she saw me she got a huge smile on her face as if she was saying, "Look what I can do now, Mom." I guess this comes with the territory of learning to crawl. Needless to say, it makes me nervous. I guess we waited long enough; we got to 9 1/2 months. So, when Drew gets home from work tonight, "The Lowering of the Crib" ceremony will commence.
This past weekend we went down to Duck, NC in the Outer Banks. Drew and I have been wanting to take a little vacation down there since we moved here and there were some friends from our ward going that we went with. We stayed in a fabulously big house so close to the beach that it took only a few minutes to walk there. This was the first time Makenna had been to the beach or in a pool. She didn't quite know what to make of the sand (she did a face plant and ended up eating it) or the pool (it was supposedly supposed to be heated, but felt arctic to us). We had fun cooking for everyone and getting to know some new people. We had an awesome time down there and can't wait to get back! Below is our first day at the beach. We were a little unprepared having a baby there. I forgot to bring some toys for her and didn't have anything to give us some shade. We learned our lesson and bought an umbrella to bring down there as well as her toys.
This is Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in the U.S. We took a gorgeous Sunday drive down the Outer Banks and ended up at the eastern-most point, Hatteras. We wanted to climb the lighthouse, but weren't allowed to carrying a baby up the stairs. Maybe next time.
Drew put Makenna's legs in the ocean. In short, she hated it. It was seriously freezing, however, my polar bear husband dove in and body surfed before hypothermia set in.
This is at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk. It was very cool to see where their plane took off for the first time and where they camped out. It was super windy up there, but our baby was a good sport!
Down by the pool-
Stacie Nelson and me with Makenna and Lindy. They're 3 weeks apart and played together while we were there. It was cute watching them just check eachother out. On a side note, Makenna started to crawl this week! Augh! She's been so close for about a week now, but finally learned to put one hand forward and pull her leg forward to follow. She finally had a huge living room to move around in, compared to our tiny apartment.
Yesterday we went to Maymont Park in Richmond. I had been to the Nature Center and Children's Farm with my class a couple of years ago, but neither Drew nor I had been to the Italian or Japanese Gardens. They were absolutely beautiful and we had a fabulous day walking around. I'm not sure Makenna really knew what she was looking at with the animals, but she was amused, nevertheless. 
This is at the Italian Gardens. There were a ton of different photographers taking pictures of this shot, so I took one too, just to fit in.
The famous Mann self-portrait.
The Japanese Gardens were amazing. Everything was so serene; we even saw a relaxed lizard on a stone. These circles made me a little uneasy, though. Survivor came to mind with people balancing their weight while running across them. Lucky for me, they don't move.
Such a fun day. Too bad it took us three years to finally come and see this. Ah well. Better late than never.
My husband is a lawyer. Law school is over. Graduation has come and gone. Sentences I hardly dared to think. On the other hand, it's hard to believe that this chapter in our life is coming to a close.
We had a fabulous weekend with family and friends. Drew's mom, dad, dad's wife Jessica, my parents and brother all flew in to witness the blessed event. From bowling, to dinner out, to bruncheons and luncheons, to talking with Eric in Romania, to a killer storm sending everyone home, to Makenna cutting her first tooth last night, we had a memorable graduation weekend. Drew was recognized for receiving both his Juris Doctorate and Masters in Business Administration when his name was called. They "hooded him" with a purple (J.D.), red and blue (U of R) hood before he walked up the stairs to the stage. And after three years of grueling workloads in his classes, Dean Douglass handed him a scroll of blank paper with a ribbon around it (his actual diploma will come this summer after grades are in).
After all is said and done, I am so extremely proud of Drew and all he's accomplished in his academic career. Just to graduate law school is a huge feat in and of itself. But a duel degree, his membership in Law Review, various competitions he's taken part in, and most importantly, his devotion to the church and his family all add to the amazing man he is.
Now we have two glorious weeks of NOTHING before his Bar Review class begins, which goes right up until he takes the Bar at the end of July.
