The Manning's attended the first "family friendly" St. Pat's party at Jason, Kelly, Jack and Sean's house last weekend. In the past, when we cousin's had no children, this Irish holiday was splattered with Guinness, Jamison's, Irish Whiskey, Irish Car Bombs, another Guinness, back for another Car Bomb and yet another Guinness.... or two. Maddenningly fun and crazy times. They've taken on a new tone - maybe not as crazy - but equally fun. We're now watching our little Irish babies grow up.
Jackie felt very cool using the baby swing for the first time ever!!
Here is her big cousin Jack - looking cute and friendly, like always. He played so well with Jackie, offering her lots of boy toy cars to play with. She loved them, and loved watching her cousin Jack run all over the place. And yes - they will most likely get confused later when we yell their names in the same place...
My cousin Jason, the master of the crazy Irish parties, now dutifully tying his son's shoe - let's not forget the Harp to help this task along. :-) These are a couple of cute Irish lad's, don't you think?
Colin, Jackie and I took a trip last week to visit Gramma and Pop Morgan in Arizona. Here are some great shots of our trip to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens. We were lucky enough to go during a Chihuly glass exhibit. His work is really amazing. The pictures don't do it justice, but check his stuff out.
We thought the exhibit was nicely incorporated among the plant life. It didn't overpower too much.
I grew a new appreciation for cactus and desert plants on this trip. They aren't the friendliest looking plants, the spikes can be very intimidating and uninviting - but I'm amazed by their will to survive and protect themselves. 
I loved this cactus - I thought it looked like feet cris-crossed. 
Here is Jackie awake. Amazingly, she slept most of the time. This was the most sun exposure she's ever had. She looked so cute in her sun hat and I was obsessively applying sunscreen. 
I like how the sun came through this hanging piece. 
Aren't these plants so weird and cool?
This was my favorite piece, inspired by agave plants. 
