Random stuff

 4th of July

The Girls waiting for the fireworks to start.

 Still waiting for the fireworks to start. We missed being in Idaho Falls for the 4th. Although this was fun, it wasn't the greenbelt and it certainly wasn't the Melaluca Freedom Celebration.

 Watching the fireworks. Notice above the girls heads there are some fireworks in the distance. Here in this part of Texas, every community has their own show, so there were firework displays going off all around us. We were watching the Katy show at the Katy Mills Mall.

 Spent the day at the beach then drove the length of Galveston Island. I think the houses up on stilts are cool to look at. Someday I hope to rent one and spend a day or two on the beach.

Enjoying some pool time.

 

 

July 17, 2013 One last family photo before sending Miranda off  to the MTC. Of course we miss Paige's family, Bailey's family and Isaac. Miranda is ready to get to work!

 

We are getting adjusted to our new lives here in Fulshear, TX.  The house is nearly all put together. The dinning room table and chairs arrived on Saturday. Eric and I have been putting them together. I finally got it all set up this morning. Now we just need some visitors to come and visit us so we can have a dinner at the big table and play some games.

 

 

Our church ward is huge! The primary presidency was just reorganized and they have so many kids that they call a president and 3 counselors and a secretary. There are at least two classes of every age group. 30 kids in the nursery!! No family is ever the "new" family for very long. We've been in the ward for a little over a month and every Sunday a new family has spoken in Sacrament meeting. We have met people from Rock Springs, Green River, and Kemmerer. Our Relief Society President has family in Boise and come to find out one of Isaac's new roommates is her youngest brother. (She is a Davidson by marriage).  The ward is full of people in the petroleum business. Eric is in 7th heaven being able to talk to people about his work and they understand what he does. That never happened in Idaho!

 

We are looking forward to going into Houston this Friday to watch "Wicked." It is the first time any of us have experienced a Broadway play. Abby bought herself a plane ticket to Idaho so she will leave on Saturday to go spend some time with friends. Paige and Brent will pick her up on their way to the Ralph and Mary Robertson Family reunion. Eric and I will drive there starting next Tuesday. We are so excited to see everyone. After we return from the reunion our kids will all be coming to Texas to visit us. I can't wait!! Then Abby and I will travel to Laramie to get her settled in the dorms to begin her Freshman year at the University of Wyoming. (Go Pokes!) I plan to spend some time in Evanston with my parents.

 

When I get back from Laramie/Evanston Eric and I will officially be empty nesters. Hmm....

New Beginnings..Welcome to Texas!



We have had a busy month of June. Here are the highlights.

Seminary Graduation
June 2, 2013

Almost everyone...Missing Bailey, Chad, Miles, and Brent.

High School Graduation -June 5, 2013

Abby with Jesse Grandpa and Kay Grandma

Best Friends (this makes me happy)

Proud parents with the awesome graduate
You did it Abby! Watch out University of Wyoming- Here she comes!

Last time Paige, Brooke, Leslie and Isaac would ever be at our Idaho Falls house.
 

June 9, 2013 Last picture of Abby and Miranda at our Idaho Falls house.
They were off on their first big road trip to Laramie, WY.

Sad day...house empty of all of our furniture, but the memories will never go away!

Eric and Marie...our last picture in the house. We staged it in front of the fireplace where all the important shots were taken. I look like I had been crying...that is because I was! As I walked through the empty house and took pictures of each room I sobbed like a baby. I was also dirty and tired from packing and cleaning. And I was sick...

One last look at the house that we built. We spent 14 wonderful years raising a family here. I love how green everything is.

One last Idaho sunset!

Welcome to Texas! We arrived on June 13, 2013. Our furniture arrived on June 15th. We slept on blow-up mattresses. We had no refrigerator so we had (got) to eat out for every meal. We spent the time playing card games...hard wood floors are not very comfortable.

We spent the week unpacking and decided to spend the weekend doing something fun. We headed to downtown Houston the museum district. We went to the Holocaust museum. It was very interesting, but I left feeling rather blue. We then headed over to the arboretum.  

Here we are walking/playing on one of the trails. It was cool to see the natural plants of Texas.

It was hot (duh..this is Texas) and sunny. I found a great straw hat in the gift shop.

We came across this bird on our walk. She must have been protecting her nest. She was all curled up, but when a squirrel came close she rose up spread her wings. She stayed perfectly still except for her throat twitching.

 

Now it is July and we are pretty much all moved in. All of the boxes are unpacked and even hauled away. We are experiencing things here in Fulshear (40 miles west of downtown Houston) that we have never had to worry about when we were in Idaho. We are now signed up with a bug company that comes to our house every three months and injects chemicals into the walls of our house to keep termites and other bugs from getting in. We had to install a water softener (oh how we miss our Idaho well water). We keep getting notes from the yard Natzi about weeds in our front yard.

We have very nice neighbors. Very different from Idaho where members of the church live in every other house. I don't know where the closest member even lives. We have to drive 25 minutes to get to church. Our ward is large. I don't know how many members, but I was told that there are 174 kids in the primary. Miranda and Abby have been attending our ward with us, but they go to young single adult activities and institute with other YSA from our ward/stake. They went to an Astros game on Saturday.

Miranda is preparing to leave for the MTC in a couple of weeks. She is a bit nervous, but I think mostly just ready to get going on this mission.

Here's to new adventures and beginnings!!
 



BAD - GOOD

I realized today that a lot of things bug me. So to just get it off my chest I decided to write them down and then think of the good side of things.

1. BAD -It bugs me when people rinse their plates in the sink and then don't rinse the food down the disposal. GOOD -At least they carried their plate over from the table and 95% of the time they load it in the dishwasher.
 
2.BAD - Open cupboard doors. Just shut them! GOOD -There is no good side to this one.

3. BAD -Silverware in the wrong slots in the drawer. GOOD - Someone other then me attempted to unload the dishwasher.

4. BAD People popping gum. I can do it, but for some reason it bugs me when others do it. GOOD - I am trying to stop popping my gum.

5. BAD - Just when I get on a good schedule for exercising something sidelines me. (thanks diverticulitis this week) GOOD - modern medicine (antibiotics) will have me all fixed up in a day or two.

6. BAD Internet problems...and then waiting on the phone to talk to the technical support people. GOOD - I have talked to some very nice, friendly, helpful people.

March On....

I was downloading pictures from my camera and realized that a lot has happened since the end of March. So brace yourself this could turn into a long blog.

All of our kids came home in March. We had a good time together. I tried really hard not to be too stressed out about the mess that the house always becomes when we are all together. I made a rule that no one could make any messes  that couldn't be cleaned up in 10 minutes. This was just in case someone called to see our house. No one called and we were not forced to see if we could actually put things back together in 10 minutes. (Although I think we could have. We are good "Voomers")


While together Brooke had a birthday! She turned 1. It was so fun that she could be at grandma's house for her birthday.

A friendly game of Nertz. Not easy to do with a baby in the middle. The extra girl by Isaac is Isaac's girlfriend, Kandace.

Leslie made sure everyone got a party hat. Miles is making sure Uncle Isaac wears his properly.

Best present...a box of  kleenex that she didn't get in trouble for pulling all of them out. 1 year olds are so easy to amuse!

 

Spring Break happened next...I think I already posted pictures of that fun event. After Spring break the house selling kicked into full gear. We ended up getting two offers which made it nice but crazy. In the end we got almost everything we asked for. The most important part was we negotiated a closing date that was after Abby's graduation. Whew!! House sold, house bought. Marching on.......

 

Miranda had a birthday on April 11. She left her teen years behind her..the big 2-0!!Unfortunately, she at college so I didn't get any pictures of her blowing out her candles. Now I only have 1 teenager. Then on April 21 Abby celebrated her 18th birthday. We had a very fun weekend as everyone was able to come home again.  Everyone arrived Friday evening. On Saturday we were all able to go the the Idaho Falls Temple to be with Miranda as she made covenants with Heavely Father in preparation for her mission to Japan. What a lovely day despite the rain! That evening we went to Johnny Carinos for a big family dinner. I love being with my kids!!

The next important event in our lives was Abby had to orally present her senior project to a panel. She aced it! I knew she would. Now she can graduate. That will happen on June 5.

On Saturday Abby and I decided to go to Buhl for a picnic and some fishing. Isaac and Kandace met us there too. Micon stayed in Idaho Falls for an EF activity. We went to a park that was next to a fish hatchery. Lots of people were there but we found a spot under a tree and cooked some hot dogs. Fun, Fun!! Here are some pictures from the day.


Our spot under the tree. Let's get that grill going!

 



Isaac and Kandace...photo taken by Miles. Maybe he will be a future photographer.

Brooke! What a cute face. This girl takes after her grandma...she loves food!



Look at all that food...but most importantly the fantastic cheesecake Bailey made.

Grandma and Brooke..she really was happy to be on my lap. 

Clark Family 

 

 

Naked, naughty Miles. I snapped this photo when he was not minding his parents (and it serves Bailey right). They thought he was naughty. I thought he was perfect...



Meet Leslie Pinecone Cummings. If you don't believe me that that is her name, just ask her.

 

 

After our fun day at the park we went back to Paige's. They have neighbors that have pigglets. We went over there to see the babies. Pigs in the barn stink. But the babies were cute in a strange way. The family was raising a few piglets in the house and we got to hold them.

 

This little piggie went to market...

 Abby said a piglet is almost as good as a puppy..she is not getthing either one!

 Leslie liked the piglets as long as her mom held it.

 Miles didn't really care about the piglets.

 This little piggy snuggled right up to Bailey. They were surprisingly soft.

After the pig viewing we drove to the edge of the canyon. It was a great view.





 Looking into the Snake River Canyon

 

Well that is our life up to today. I was thinking when I titled this blog that these were events from the month of March onward, but perhaps it would be better to think of it as life keeps handing us adventures so we must "March On!" 



Spring Break 2013 - We found a house in Texas!

When I finally move to Texas I will have a house to move into! During Spring break we made it our goal to find a house. We looked at a lot of resale houses, but in the end we ended up choosing a new construction. We found that you get more bang for your buck with new construction, you know what you're getting and they are very energy efficient. I forgot to take the camera so I had to take pictures with my iPad.


.
I will have to post more house pictures when I can figure out how to get them from the iPad camera roll.
 In the mean time here are some photos of some of the fun we had. These were taken on Eric's phone...I have no idea how they got to my iPad but I am glad they are there.

Abby and Eric swimming in the Apartment pool

White tiger at the Downtown aquarium...shouldn't we be looking at fish at an aquarium?

Eric and Marie at the Cubs vs. Astros last exhibiton game

Museum of Natural Science...Look it's long lost Uncle Neanderthal.

Isaac, Abby, Marie, Miranda wading in the Gulf of Mexico

Wave jumping! The Gulf of Mexico at Galveston

Houston Temple