My trip to Texas...

My trip to Austin in March was fueled by the arrival of our nephew, Rylan Grant.  Man, he's cute!

And how cute is my brother with his son?!  I love Zach's smile in this picture.  The "Ry Guy" is a precious piece of work, and it seems to me (mostly via pictures, of course) like he's looking more and more like my bro every day.

Oh, there is NOTHING in the world like a newborn baby!!!!!  Especially when you're related to him!!  He just melted on my shoulder (or was that melded for 30, Lee?). 

A bonus gift while in Austin is seeing my dear friend, Lora Beth, who I went to grad school with.  I got to meet her precious little man this visit, Sol, and I love this picture of him hanging out in the diaper after our messy meal at our favorite Italian joint, Mandola's.

Te quiero mucho, Amiga.  Y felicidades con LA SEGUNDA (?!) tambien.  Que Dios te cuide. 

Uncle Mike's birthday...

After the CU football game, we headed over to Red Robin to celebrate Uncle Mike's birthday.  We had all the cousins together, Uncle Karl and Aunt Jackie, grandma and grandpa Mike, and Uncle Mike himself.  The kids did fairly well, but even at Red Robin it is sometimes difficult to keep it all together.  I think Uncle Mike didn't decide he wanted to be blessed by some birthday pomp and circumstance courtesy of the wait staff, so we retired back to Grandpa and Grandma Mike's house for some cake.

There sure are a lot of candles on that cake!  Happy Birthday Uncle Mike!

CU football spring game...

While Tara was still out of town, I figured what could be more fun than going to the CU Buffs spring football game.  It was a chance for the little men to have a relaxed time in the stands and see some football and experience something that I love quite a bit.  They both were excited to be decked out in their new jerseys, though I think the walk to the stadium was a bit farther than anticipated.

One of the best parts for them was seeing Ralphie run and lead out the teams.  Once the spring game started they did their best to watch while randomly letting out yells of "Go Buffs!" at arbitrary times.  I think we left during about the third quarter of the game, but they had fun and that was what was ultimately important.  Hopefully, I will get to take Gavin and Gage to a game again this coming year.

Chef Gavin and Chef Gage...

Both boys really love to cook and help out in the kitchen.  Tara happened to be gone visiting her brother in Texas and left the boys to take care of the house for the weekend.  I (Brent) figured the best way to keep them in line was to make them responsible for cooking their entire dinner.  I had learned to cook quite young and it has always been fun to help teach them the same things that I learned.  They were obviously psyched by the opportunity.  

Gage is on the left and is on Mexican rice duty.  He was stirring the rice and making sure it wouldn't burn before we let it simmer.  Gavin was on hamburger duty for making tacos and then later on to taco assembly.  They did a great job and we had a fantastic meal together.