Zoo!

This week some friends in our ward and Belton and I went to the Dallas Zoo!! We had a great time! The weather was beautiful, we brought a picnic lunch and saw lots of great animals! 

Our first stop was the elephants!

Then we were off to the giraffes, my favorites!

Some of our friends fed the giraffes so we got to see them WAY up close! So cool!

I love how they have the giraffes below you at this zoo, so they end up at your level.

You can't really tell, but Belton is wearing his giraffe outfit that says "So Big" on it!

Seriously, they are my favorite animals!

Here are some more "Giants of the Savanna". Yay zebras!

We ended up with a group of people who hadn't been to see the giraffes yet, so we went back (oh, darn!). 

 

 Belton wasn't exactly thrilled about them the second time around though!

Lions!

I put Belton on this elephant. He wanted to look off into the distance...

Then we ate our picnic lunch and headed to the reptile house. We saw a couple of alligators, even an albino one!

Our last stop was the koalas! Our friend who was with us said that they come to the zoo all the time (they have a family pass) and that they had never seen the koalas awake before! Then the zookeeper walked by and told us that koalas are only awake for 4 hours out of the day. I'm so glad we caught them while they were eating!

Laughing

When I posted the video of Belton rolling over last night, I remembered that I meant to post this video of him laughing, too! It was a few weeks ago. 

 

Those little giggles are the absolute BEST sound in the world!!

Rolling Over!

Belton rolled over tonight!! A few times! 

Matt took a video of him the second time. 

Yay! Our little guy was a little surprised every time when he ended up on his back, but overall he seems happy about his new discovery. 

Also, Matt started putting his hands at Belton's feet during tummy time today. Belton was trying to crawl, and sort of army crawled, with help from Matt! 

He is growing so fast!!

Sweet Cuddles

 I've been trying to soak up all the cuddle time I can get with this little guy!

 I have a feeling that these sweet moments are numbered.

Wreck Em!

 Our sweet little Red Raider!

He's such a happy baby. <3

Intently

 While we were at Grandma Nini's for dinner the other night, Uncle JP was telling a story and Belton listened SO intently. It was as if he knew what JP was saying and he was saying, "no way, that didn't happen!" We all got a good laugh out of it!

Grandma Nini and Belton

Fun at the Mall

Last week, Belton and I met Lydia, cute Otto, and sweet Meredith at the mall. We went walking, let the kids play on the indoor playground and ate lunch and cookies! :) I thoroughly enjoyed myself! 

And Belton just conked out after lunch!

Otto had a blast riding on the duck!

And Meredith got sleepy after our playground time!

Belton also showed off his new trick! (playing with his feet) 

(And yes, that is a different outfit than he was wearing in the first picture...this trip also included a wardrobe change for our little man!)

Thanks for hanging out with us, we are looking forward to the next play date! :-)

Valley Ranch

Belton and I discovered some great walking paths in Valley Ranch the other day! I am so excited to return to these!

This is a view of MacArthur that I'd never seen before!

We saw some turtles and some ducks.

I just loved the views of the water!

Sleepy

 Another Sunday afternoon nap!

It must be exhausting to be so chunky!

More Baseball

I can only imagine how many "baseball game" posts I'll write for this blog! We went to another one of RHS's games the other day.

 Belton got to snuggle up in the cold with lots of people!

 Aunt Abbi

G-Dad

And of course, Papaw! (Somehow we didn't get a picture with Grandma...next time!)

Thumb

Belton found his thumb in the last week, too! Now he LOVES sticking his thumb, or just one or two fingers in his mouth.

 The other day, he started to wake up from a nap, stuck his thumb in his mouth and went back to sleep.

Details

 I try to take some time regularly to stop and notice and appreciate the little details.

Like Belton's long eyelashes...

 ...and his precious little hands with dimples!

Feet!

 Our little man found his feet while he was taking a bath last week! 

Now, they are his favorite toy!

 It's so fun to watch as Belton learns and discovers so many new things!

Our Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day this year, I woke up to some chocolates from Matt!

 And I got some beautiful flowers from my sweet little valentine, Belton!

 Matt and I went to see Lincoln and to The Cheesecake Factory on Saturday night while Mom and Dad watched Belton. Thanks guys!

So, for actual Valentine's Day, we went to Chili's as a family! :-)

 Belton was a little bummed that he couldn't eat anything! 

 

 Earlier in the day, my friend Shara came over and we decorated sugar cookies! We had a great day!