Texas Fall and Pumpkin patch

Just wanted to share some fun fall pictures. We are loving celebrating this year and can't wait to do more!

My Cute Kids!

Just wanted to capture my kids and how adorable they are right now. I couldn't feel more blessed to have these sweet blessings in my life!

Texas State Fair

We had such a great time at the Texas Fair this year. It was our first time and it was definitely worth it! It was the biggest fair I have ever been to, and I have been to plenty in my day. I almost want to go back and see more of it. Its like it's own city! My favorite part was the fire/lights/ and fireworks show. It was amazing. Here are a few shots. They coordinated it with music and a huge screen playing pictures and videos.

I also loved how they had photo places all throughout the fair.

They had a huge mammoth that the kids couldn't resist playing on...

Even Matt had to make a joke out of it.... ;)

They had a "BIG TEX SANDPIT" that the kids loved playing in. It was HUGE!

They had a parade before the show and it was cute. Katelynn wanted a picture with the horses in the parade. Her favorite part, of course!

They had the best free petting zoo. It had tons of animals and lots of newborn babies. Even the Kangaroo had a new baby in her pouch. You can see it peeking out. So Cute!

Feeding the animals was of course a hit!

They had a car show and the kids had to get a picture with the "transformers" car.

New pics to Share

It has bee way too long since i have posted pictures. I just wanted to share some of my favorites from the last month.

I have loved having Brennon at home. We are loving the Mommy/son bonding time. Here are some pics from going to the park with friends...

Katelynn being the great big sister she is and reading Brennon a story.

Brennon's first Chop Stix experience at Pei Wei....

Family fun with a fort, movie, and popcorn....

Days playing at the lake....

My little girl goes to Kindergarten

I can't believe I have a kid in school now. Time has truly flown by. I am so excited for Katelynn to start school, but as most of you know, it is bittersweet. I will miss her fun personality and all the great times we have had side by side as we have experienced aventure after adventure since the day she was born. Now she will be off in someone else's care most every day. Good luck, big girl, I miss you already!!

Standing in her new classroom. Her teacher is Ms. Scott and seems to be sweet. Hopefully she will love it and meet lots of new friends. Matt had to pull me away yesterday and tell me "Let's go, she's fine, she doesn't even care we're leaving". That's my independent girl!

I'm alive again! (kind of)

Our trip to VA to escape and let the kids have fun while I rested...

I bet you can't guess what Katelynn did every day for about 4 hours??? Yep, you guessed it! Ride Grandpa's horses. She got really good at riding by herself and getting it to go and even back up. She was in heaven! A few times Grandpa even took her off on a long ride in the fields.


Another favorite part of the trip was going to a wildlife park and feeding the animals. Brennon had no fear!

The kids also got to help feed the animals and even take a ride on a cow.

More horse riding with her cousin Hailey...

Brennon loved it too and by the end wanted to ride and lead the horse around by himself. Too bad he has to wait until he gets a little older
Their cousins came to play for the week and they had so much fun. I wish we lived closer, they got along so well.

This is one of my favorite places in my hometown, the duck pond. We fed the ducks and took fun pictures...

More cousin pics...

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great trip! It was so needed and well worth the drive.

Why no posting!

OK, so some of you may have wondered why I have been such a slacker lately. Well, it is totally because baby #3 has come to take over my body and make sure I am sick and have no energy whatsoever. Yes, we are excited, but I will be more excited when I am done with the first trimester. I will be up and alive again in about a month, in case anyone is wondering. Until then, don't expect much. Oh, and the baby is due around mid February.

Utah trip

I posted all our pics on facebook, but I know there are some, including my parents that don't go on Facebook, so here is a recap of our trip....
On our way to Utah we stopped in Moab for a picnic. It was so pretty, I wanted to stay longer and explore with the kids.



We were able to go to the temple to see his friend's dad go through for him to receive his endowments. It was so special. After we had a BBQ with everyone. So fun to catch up!

We had a dinner with Matt's family and the kids loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa again...

I was excited to see my Chicago friends again. Thanks girls for a fun day!
We also saw my RFL's, Marlana and McCall. I still miss our roommie days. So fun to see how well you are all doing. And great to see Paul and Bryce of course.
The cousins were unseperable while we were camping with my family. It makes me wish we lived closer




I learned that my kids have no fear when it comes to dirt bikes.
All the kids had so much fun, especially with aunt Jamie.
We got to go boating in the freezing cold lake. Matt made it look good, so that is why there is apicture of him, not me..

We also had an event with our van and had a flat tire and ended up getting stuck in the mountains in the mud and having to sleep in our van! Thank goodness we made it home safely!

THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

OK, so it really wasn't THAT bad, but it wasn't THAT good either. I had to have a day to recuperate before I wrote about it, so this all happened Wednesday. Wednesday morning I woke up and felt like I had never even went to bed. Have any of you woke up that way? Its not so fun. Then I rushed around to get ready for a hair apptment. About 15 minutes before my appt was to show up, I remembered I left a bag of a bunch of new hair color out in my car. I went to get it and realized somehow it had been stolen. So, I had to explain this to my first appt and change her color around and cancel my 2nd appt. After this, I sat down to play on Facebook and hit the wrong button and half of my page disappeared. All the pictures and buttons were no where to be found. Just my luck, I thought. Well, then I found out I messed up all of Matt's family plans when we will be out in Utah and had everyone confused and probably upset with me. A little later, I was preparing for another hair appt and someone was knocking at my door. He was dressed in a big yellow suit with a hat that had a glass front(kind of like a fireman outfit). Now what! He said the electric box in front of my house was leaking oil and we would have to leave and would not have power for at least 3 hours. Great! I had to cancel my last appt and take off with the kids. This was just as I was starting dinner as well, hamburger on the stove and all. So, I put it all away and we headed out to eat. After dinner, I was trying to figure out what to do and I began getting a migraine (can't imagine why at this point). My migraines are really bad and I get complete blurred vision and have to take major drugs. So, I am praying I will make it home OK. As I turn around to head home, the radio does the "beep, this is a weather alert and there is a Tornado warning for your county". As soon as I hear this, the wind picks up to like 70-80mph and signs are blowing down and the light is swinging like crazy above us. Then it starts pouring sheets of rain. The tornado sirens are blarring, and the kids are freaking out! I was too. Anyway, I prayed and drove. Someone in front of me actually had something large fly into his car. By gods grace I made it home. Matt was about to leave and I said no way! I needed a break and I finally got it after some fabulous drugs! Now I know how to end a bad day.... Anyway, the week has gotten better, but I am definitely ready for it to be over! Just had to write it all down and still realize that I am blessed to think this is a really bad day when I have a fabulous family, job, friends, and home. Thanks for listening to me rant!

Beginning summer

This last Saturday we went to the lake with friends. The kids loved it and the water wasn't too cold. At first Brennon wanted nothing to do with it and the yucky seaweed, but he warmed up....
Katelynn thought of it as a pool and didn't mind going under and playing in it all afternoon.
The sand was a hit, although not quite as good as the real beach.
Brennon is finally into a toddler bed. I was so worried it would be a difficult transition, but a week later, he has been great and not come out of his room yet. Boys are definitely easier in some ways!
A few great summer shots of the kids at Katelynn's preschool swim party....


Katelynn is now a preschool graduate. Thank you to her teacher for keeping her busy and entertained for 2 years (trust me that is a lot to ask, I know!). She will always remember how much fun it was and how much she learned. She is definitely ready for Kindergarten!

The last few weeks

Time has flown by and life has been busy. I have tried to fit in work and play. Yesterday I enjoyed a lunch with my old friends from cosmo school. They are so fun, I miss seeing them every day.
I have also been doing a lot of hair and I love it! Last weekend I did the bride and her bridesmaids for a wedding. It was so fun to be a part of her big day!

We have also been hanging out at the pool with friends. We are so lucky to have so many great pools here in Lantana. This was taken Memorial day with several other families from our ward.
I have also been baking, as always. I've decided I love to bake. However, I am not the best at it, so I feel like each time I do I work on perfecting the recipe. Katelynn asked to make a pie with me and I decided to do a Martha Stewart apple pie and took the time to learn about making the perfect crust and actually took the extra time to do it right (love the internet). It made a huge difference. This was definitely the best pie I've ever made. It was soft and a little chewy, not too flaky, and a crust you actually want to eat. Now I only wish I was this excited about cooking. I think I need to take a class or something to learn more about cooking too.

We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and let them ride their first roller coaster. As you can see, they loved it!
Our ward had a pancake breakfast. They did such a great job honoring the veterens and then cooking up some great cakes! They even sported chef hats!

Brennon was so hungry, he went after the butter! Love 2 year olds!
And I always have to throw in my favorite picture of the kids this month...

Yes, I'm the new singing sensation!

OK, so if any of you watched Oprah today you would have seen me! Can you believe it, I made it to the Oprah show!! Yes, I put in extensions and became about 10 years younger and got darker skin, but this is all to fool you as to who I really am..... J/K But there is a new singing sensation named after me!!! (Too bad she spells it Charice, but still a cool name) Anyway, if you haven't heard her, check her out, she is amazing!!
http://www.oprah.com/media/20090429-tows-charice (the end is the best part)

She has already sang with Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion. Anyway. I thought it was cool. I have only met one or two in my life. Go girl!

Our life lately

We have been very busy the last month. Even though Matt has been working a lot, we have fit in plenty of fun (you know us!). We just wanted to update everyone on what our family has been up to.

We had another murder mystery dinner and did a Texas western theme. We love how all our friends are always willing to play along and make it a blast!
We have had a lot of rain in Texas this month. So much one day that it created huge puddles on the golf course by our house. I was headed to the store and saw the puddles and ran home to grab the family to go run in them. There were some twice as deep, but our camera died.

The kids are so cute together lately. Katelynn lured Brennon into taking a "rest" with her on the couch.
Katelynn talked me into building a stable for her horses with her. Brennon thought it was a great fort for himself!
We also went to a drive in movie and let the kids overdose on sugar and stay up way too late, but it was worth it!

They also had a fun mini golf place at the drive in...


I redid the play room/waiting room area upstairs and had to show off my great finds. Most of this was from yard sales, including the shandelier($10).

This week's star of "Dirty Jobs"

OK, so I think in all my career of being a mom, I have just today done the dirtiest thing I have ever done (and I've done dirty, trust me; including throw up, spit up, diarrhea). I even hate to admit it, but I know I will someday laugh at it, so here it goes.

First of all, I am trying to potty train Brennon this week. I believe I wrote a long time ago that this is the worst job ever (with Katelynn) and I am reminded all over again. So after 3 LONG days and doing nothing but potty training, I am trying to decide whether to push forward or give up. Anyway, on to today. After dinner Brennon was standing on the chair with nothing on (after many loads of underware laundry we have resorted to this) and I came over to take him down. The chair was all wet along with the floor. It was a big puddle. I, thinking I was being logical thought it was too much to be pee and his cup was right by him with pink lemonade. I assumed he had poured his cup out. So, my tired, not thinking self, smelled it and went on to put my finger in it and taste it. OK, you are all already laughing and know what's coming, so I don't have to spell it out to you. Anyway, I am now mortified and will never be that naive again!

So I am now desperate and about to ask Matt to quit his job and train him for me! He will probably never really appreciate what we women go through to get our kids trained.....

Easter in Texas

Farewell to freedom

We decided to enjoy our last few days together as a family before Matt headed off to his new job. Camping a few weeks ago got us excited to go again, but we wanted to find somewhere a little more remote with some scenery. We found the perfect place in OK called Turner Falls park. Here is the view from our campsite:

The kids had so much fun and it was nice to just let them roam and be kids without being bored all day at home. They were so excited!
Katelynn met a girl there and they were so cute. The girl yelled to her mom and I "Come take a picture of me and my best friend!" (after knowing Katelynn for 2 hours) Katelynn will always be so easy to be friends with and I love this about her
Even Sierra had a blast. She got to go for a swim and took full advantage of it.
This was the falls there. Not quite the cascades(you Virginians know what I mean), but it was really beautiful.
Katelynn and I played in the water and I felt like a kid again. It was so fun running around in the stream.



When we got back we headed to the Lantana spring festival. Of course we had to wait in line to get a horse painted on her face. I was impressed and wished we had asked for it on a canvas. ;)
Then they got to go on pony rides, the petting zoo and bounce houses. So much fun!


It was such a great weekend, I was sad to see it end. Now we are I guess back to being a normal family. I do feel so blessed that life worked out the way it did and I had time to focus on my dreams and then get so much family time after. What a great year it has been! Thanks to Matt for all he has put up with and for being the best father and husband in the world!

March Birthdays

March 20th is my 2nd favorite day of the year. After Christmas of course, I love it because I get to celebrate mine and Katelynn's Birthday and it is the first day of Spring. This year we celebrated by having fun all weekend. I wanted to go camping for my birthday, so we went to a Lake right by our house and had so much fun.

The kids just enjoyed throwing rocks in the lake. They couldn't get enough of it.
Matt cooked for us dutch oven style and it was soooo good! Then we had a camp fire and roasted marshmellows.

We took a walk down by the lake at dusk and had fun just burning their energy.

For her birthday Katelynn got lots of horse stuff of course and a remote control jeep. She loved it and is already a pro at driving it.

We had a girls lunch at the Purple cow with Katelynn's friends. It was a cute diner and they put up with all the kids!
Katelynn had to try their specialty purple milkshake. They were sooo good. I had the orange dreamsicle.

Katelynn had to have a pink horse cake, so I did the best I could. Anything horse and she is happy. I can't believe my baby girl is 5!

Pictures from the first year together....

Dallas Zoo with Friends

Spring break braught beautiful weather to Texas so we headed to the Dallas Zoo. The kids always enoy the zoo and we managed to survive through all the crowds.

The kids play so great together and Katelynn is always making sure Brennon is having a great time. She showed him all the perfect play spots at the Childrens play area.


Here were all Katelynn's little friends. It is so fun to have a bunch of little girls around.
All the kids we took. I think the Mom's were more worn out by the end of the day. We were definately outnumbered.

More cruise pics

Our Cruise vacation

We just got back from a fabulous vacation. We sent the kids off to Grandma's and headed to Florida to set sail on a cruise with Royal Caribbean. Our boat was Navigator of the Seas and was amazing. We ended up missing a port due to the weather, but it didn't slow us down a bit since there was so much to do on the ship. Thanks honey for a wonderful anniversary!

We love to go up to the dining room and eat overlooking the harbor before it sets sail. Only the beginning of many fabulous meals!
They have a wedding chapel on the ship, so we had to go check it out and make fun of it.
Dinner was always amazing. Prime rib, lamb shank, roasted duck.... to name a few. I now get to look down at what I like to call my "cruise pooch". Oh well, it was worth it!

One of our favorite things to do was their rock climbing wall. We did it several times and I even won a medal for the speed climbing competition (don't get too impressed, there were only 2 girls, but it was fun anyway!)

I have to brag that I beat Matt both times playing miniature golf. He usually kills me. Ha!
We fell in love with Jamaica and did the greatest excursion there. We went zip lining and ATVing. It was a blast! Here is me enjoying the ride.
After the zip line they had what the call "The Screamer". It was a free fall swing that pulls you up 100 ft in the air and drops you. It definately lived up to its name and my stomach is just now going back down my throat.
The ATVing was the best because it was raining right before we went. The guides took us on a major mountain trail that had pot holes and mud everywhere. However, I learned a great lesson. Never go four wheeling with your husband in front! I still have paybacks coming....

Jamaica, wandering through the jungle.
They had Johnny Rockets on the ship with great burgers and sundaes. We went there twice we enjoyed it so much and Matt's favorite part was to watch all the non American's try to disco dance. I had to join in!

After the cruise we decided to drive down the Florida Keys. It was amazing! A must do if you ever get the chance! The water was crystal clear and you get to drive from Island to Island and see beautiful beaches and bridges the whole way. There is a 7 mile bridge for part of the way where you feel like you are driving through the ocean. So beautiful!


We made it all the way to Key west and finally found a beautiful beach on a sunny day, so we had to enjoyit.
There was a man there doing art with a magnifying glass. It was so amazing to watch. Who knew!
At the end of Key west was the southernmost point of the US. We had to get a kodak moment!
Key west also has a beautiful harbor. We walked down the harbor and checked out all the ships and then enjoyed dinner overlooking the harbor.


This cool artwork was made of coral. It was a giant coral monster.
We also had fun making crazy pictures on the beach
When we picked the kids up, we really wanted them to have a chance to go to the beach, so we took them for the day. It is so fun to see it through their eyes. They loved it!



We also fed the seagulls and it was their favorite part. They were even throwing it up in the air for the birds to catch it.