Leaving Texas

I have not been very good about keeping up on my blog lately.  The last couple of months have been very busy preparing for the major life changes that are coming our way.  I wanted to take a moment tonight and record how I am feeling.  Colby is away applying for hospital privleges and insurance provider numbers, the kids are in bed and the house is quiet.  Our computer is on a card table because we recently sold our desk in preparation for the move.  I am surrounded by boxes, and piles of odds and ends that have yet to make it into boxes. Today in church I was released from my calling in Relief Society that I have served in for over two years,  a calling that I absolutely loved.  All visible signs point to us being ready to move. But I'm not quite ready.  The past three years I have grown to love Texas.  I love the culture, the people, our ward, our house, our neighbors, the kid's school and the friends that we have made here. I get emotional just thinking about leaving this place. As much as my mind doesn't think I'm ready to leave,  I know in my heart that it's time.  We feel very good about the changes that are coming for our family.  We have been so blessed over the past three years,  I know that our Heavenly Father has been mindful of us. I am so grateful to Colby for his hard work and dedication to his education.  He is one of the hardest workers I know.  I'm pretty sure when we moved to Iowa seven years ago,  he had no idea what he was getting himself into!  I will always look back on the time we spent here in Texas with fond memories.

Colby and Ammon with our moving truck before leaving Iowa.

Our Texas house.

Date night out with friends.

Our kids have such great friends here.  What a good group of kids.

Fondue night with friends.

Abbi with her good friend Brynlee.

We spent so many hot Summer days at the pool with friends.

March in Texas

We had an eventful spring, filled with fun milestones.  

Owen

First, our baby turned 8 months old.  He is still as pleasant as can be,  with a lot of chubby rolls and 6 little teeth. He is content to just sit and play with toys, and is not real interested in moving much. 

Owen also wants to eat/chew on everything in sight.  His favorite things to chew on are his books.

Ammon

We now have a TEN year old in the family.  We celebrated Ammon entering "double digits" in style. Ammon wanted to have a smaller birthday party with a few close friends.   He picked out these monster cupcakes (that looked way better in my cookbook!), wanted pizza for dinner, and a trip to Zoomerang with his friends (a bounce house). It was possible the easiest birthday party I have ever thrown.

This is the best group of kids!  Ammon and his friends are always very willing to include Carter and Abbi in what they are doing.

The party guests.  We are really going to miss these guys when we move.  It has been so fun to watch them grow and change over the last couple of years.... I get teared up even thinking about it.

Carter

Carter also celebrated a major birthday, turning 8 years old!  We had a Harry Potter party, complete with Harry Potter food, potion making, movie watching and a sampling of Bertie Botts every flavor beans (I ate a rotten egg flavor one that made me want to puke). 

Carter also has some great friends here in Texas, and it was fun to have them over for the evening.

Our "potion" ingredients.

Bottoms up!

The most dangerous jelly beans on the planet... some of them are delicious and some of them are nasty, you never know what you're going to get.  Some of the flavors we tried were;  baby wipes, canned dog food, pencil shavings, rotten egg, vomit, and toothpaste. It was a dangerous game :)

Butter Beer in Coca-Cola cups. (Now this stuff was delicious)

We also had to have chocolate cupcakes.  Carter LOVES chocolate!

March also included Carter's baptism and Easter,  which each deserve their own post.

Christmas Catch up

So, it's the middle of February and I haven't posted anything about Christmas yet.  Let's just say we've had a busy couple of months.  The problem with waiting six weeks to post is now I don't remember a lot of the fun details about the holidays. But we did have fun and I do want to document it.  Here is a bare bones summary of our Christmas 2012,  don't expect any clever captions or literary genius.

This year (or I guess technically last year) we celebrated Christmas at home in Texas.  It was our first Christmas as a family of six, and although we missed our families, we had plenty of our own little people around to keep us entertained. 

Waiting to open our traditional Christmas Eve gifts...

New PJ's!!  

Our Christmas tree and presents waiting to be opened on Christmas morning.

As usual,  we had a hard time getting the kids to smile or pose for any pictures.

 See What I mean??

 Exhibit B.

 Colby and I wearing the scarves my mom brought us home from Peru.

(I have to add,  don't I have a good looking husband?  I mean seriously, look at this guy!)

It's no wonder we have such cute kids... handsome just like his daddy.

 Baby O slept right through Christmas morning, probably because the big kids tried to start it at 3:30 am. (We immediately sent them back to bed and postponed it until 6).  When he woke up he got lots of attention and lots of help opening his first ever Christmas presents.

 Although he didn't fully understand what was going on,  he loved the sound of the wrapping paper ripping and the lights on his new toy.

 The traditional picture on the stairs.  I feel so blessed to have these four in my life.

I hope y'all had a great Christmas too... and I hope you can remember it better than I remember ours!

San Antonio Girl's Trip

I have been blessed throughout my life to have good friends.  I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity live in many different places and meet wonderful people everywhere I've gone. In November, I was able to go on a girl's trip with a group of friends who hold a special place in my heart.    We have been friends longer than we haven't and no matter how long it has been since we've seen each other, we can pick up right where we left off.   These sweet girls flew to San Antonio and I drove down and met them there.  We spent four fabulous days talking, laughing, eating, shopping and talking some more. My little Owen got to join us on the trip and he was an absolute angel. Colby stayed here with the big kids and he did such a great job playing Mister Mom,  I think I should take a girl's trip every year!  Here are the trip highlights and cute pictures,  in no particular order. 

1. The Alamo.  How can you take a trip to San Antonio and not remember to visit the Alamo??

2. Baby O in the cutest little cowboy boots on the planet.  

(they were way over priced so we didn't actually buy them!)

3. Shopping and Dining at Market Square.

4. The night life on the Riverwalk. (don't we look like we're ready to Par-Tay?)

5. Matching lipstick.

6. Shopping!

7. The World's Largest cowboy boot. (Can I get a Yee-haw?)

8. Matching outfits. 

9. Gelato on the riverwalk.

10. Shopping at the San Marcos outlets.

11. Ferry ride on the riverwalk.

12. Almost matching outfits.

Thanks for the fun trip, girls!  I can't wait until next year. :)

Four!

Way back in November,  our sweet little Abbi turned FOUR years old.  It is hard to believe that it's been four years since she joined our family.  We love having Abbi's sweet spirit and sassy little attitude in our home.  On the top of Abbi's birthday wish list was a "Barbie bling it bike."  I told Abbi that she wasn't going to get a Barbie bike unless she learned how to pedal her (hand me down boy) shark bike.  Every day for about a month Abbi reminded me that we needed to go out and practice riding her bike.  She mastered pedaling and got her wish- a pink, girly, Barbie bling it bike for her birthday!

Abbi loved the Squinkies Grandma gave her.

She also loved the Cinderella movie from Mom and Dad.

The highlight was her Barbie bike, with a little bike on the handlebars for her Barbie.

 After we gave Abbi her Barbie bike,  Colby said, "Ab, run and get a Barbie so we can see how the little bike works."  and Abbi replied, "I actually don't have any Barbies that have legs."  (her only Barbie was a Little Mermaid Barbie with a fin!) We all got a good laugh out of that.  Since then, Grandma Stewart has gotten Abbi a Barbie with legs and Abbi happily takes her on bike rides with us.

Birthday cupcake.

 Abbi really wanted a soccer birthday party with her friends. (most likely because she had just finished playing her first soccer season). It was a big change from the girly, pink, princess birthday party she had when she turned three.  It is so fun to watch her grow and and develop different likes and interests.

Birthday balloons and party guests.

Abbi's soccer ball cake. (don't look too closely, I'm not a cake expert.  at all.)

Waiting to open presents.

It was so fun to have so many little friends join us.

Abbi loves being four and has decided that turning four,  and becoming a big sister, has made her a "big girl."  Many of our conversations start with Abbi saying, "Mom, when I was a little girl...."We love this spunky BIG girl and can't imagine our family without her.