Back to Texas

Monday morning was spent packing up and cleaning up to get ready to head out.  On our way back to Dave and Stephanie's house, we stopped at a nickel arcade.  It was much fancier than the one by our house in Colorado - but also more expensive.  We had a good time though and it was a fun little bit of family time.  

Tuesday, we got up and packed up one last time before heading home.  We got a good start and made good time to Portland, so we had time to stop at the Temple and show the kids where we were married, we walked around the grounds and the Visitor's Center before heading to the airport.  The trip back went well - David slept for a good amount and though he got a bit fussy at the end, it wasn't too bad - there were enough empty seats that we were able to take his car seat on with us so he could sit there for the flight.  He loved looking out the window and was very sweet!  

Wednesday Anna got up early to go to her sports camp - but the rest of the kids (except David) slept in and we mostly took it easy, recovering from the trip.  Dan picked up Koopa from my parents and picked up his car from the repair shop.  I mostly did laundry and got stuff put away. Thursday was once again a nice slow day.

Friday, I took the kids down to the zoo.  It was hot, but otherwise a nice day for the zoo.  The kids had fun checking out the animals and riding the monorail and the carousel.  We let them play in the water for a little bit to cool off - but then we needed to get going home.  We headed home and had an adventure of a trip - not only did we get to enjoy traffic, but then James got sick and threw up all over the back seat.  twice.  Evie (who was sitting next to him) was REALLY not happy.  But we made it home and had a nice evening together.

Saturday was mostly spent cleaning up.  Dan took the kids to the library to check out new books and turn in reading logs, then we cleaned up the kids bedrooms a bit and had a fun sushi dinner.

Church today was wonderful.  The messages and lessons were just amazing as was the musical number.  We had the sister missionaries over for dinner and had a great lesson from them and a great bit of cheesecake that Eileen made last night!

Oregon Here We Come!

This week was crazy busy - we spent most of the early part of the week getting ready for our trip.  We did lots of laundry, as little cooking as possible and some shopping to get some needful things and some not quite as needful but still fun things.  We took the kids to the dollar store and got them some things that they could do on the plane and in the airport waiting.  

My dad was in town for the week, so Dan and Sandi and Taz and Kai met up with the Kids and I and Grandpa Cox to go out on the boat.  Evie had a fun time learning how to waterski.  And everyone had a fun time in the tube and playing in the water - it was a fun day to be out on the water and be with each other.  After, we had dinner with Mom and Dad before heading home to get tired kids to bed!

Wednesday was the 4th of July and while we mostly just took it easy and got packed and did laundry, we did have a great time at the ward 4th of July breakfast.  The food was great and the company was even better!  

Here's David all ready to go!  He loved trying to roll the suitcases around and trying to climb into them and take out all the clothes... 

Thursday morning, we headed down to the airport bright and early to catch our flight to Oregon for our family reunion.  We got the family matching shirts so that we could have an easier time keeping track of the kids - thankfully it went well and no one got lost and everyone got on the airplane with no drama.  David slept for most of the flight and did great for the rest of it.  We got into Portland and headed towards Dave's house.  We stopped for some food and got to Dave's just in time for dinner and then getting the kids to bed.

The next day, we headed down to the beach, stopping at John and Melissa's on the way for lunch.  We got there a bit early and helped Gene and Ann decide which families would go where, then went down to the beach for a bit.  The kids loved it!  The rest of the family got in that evening and we had a great time together.  The kids quickly found cousins to hang out with, and basically ignored us for the rest of the week.  It's so fun having so many cousins to hang out with and play with - even solitary Eileen found a kindred spirit in Mason and they had fun watching tides and talking about her stories and his ideas.  

Saturday was spent mostly at the beach.  Eileen was determined to get all the way in the ocean water - and she did and loved it.  David loved the sand - so much so that he started just picking up fist fulls to shove in his mouth....

In the evening, we did a fire down at the beach and had a fireside with Grandma and Grandpa then roasted marshmallows.  The Evie and Anna slept with their friends.  The boys slept on the bunk and Eileen managed to claim the other bedroom at our cabin.  We had a great time playing games after most of the kids were (kinda) down for the night.  

Sunday morning, we got ready to head to church and managed to get a family picture before we left with everyone at the reunion in the picture.  We headed to the branch for church - we doubled the size of the congregation and had a great time - some wonderful talks and lessons were given and the people were very sweet and friendly! 

Even David had a friend to play with in addition to all the teenage (and pre-teen) cousins who loved to help hold babies.  He has a cousin who is just a couple months older than he is and it was cute to watch them play together - not just parallel play, but actually hand each other things and try to give hugs.  

In the evening, we all got together for one final program and then geared up for one more fun night together! 

Two Birthdays and No More Cast!!!

We've had an eventful week!  Monday was the usual - Anna had her sports camp in the morning.  Then after, we headed down to meet grandpa at his church building so she could practice volleyball with him.  Other than that, Monday was a day for laundry, and grocery shopping and Family Home Evening.  We had a simple activity that involved eating pie... :) 

On Tuesday, David turned 1 year old.  I can't believe it's been a year already - he's so big and so funny and so full of personality!  He loves his older siblings, he loves to play and explore and eat (as long as it's what he wants) and he hates to sleep....  Anna had her sport camp in the morning again, and she rode her bike home from it so that I could go get my hair cut.  I headed down with David and met my mom who watched David while I got my hair cut, then I headed home.  In the evening, we had my mom over for a little birthday dinner and party for David and Anna.  Anna chose spaghetti for her dinner and Angel Food Cake for her cake.  David loved his first taste of cake and we had a fun evening together.  After scriptures and prayers, I headed over to the church for Institute. 

Wednesday was Anna's birthday.  She had her sports camp in the morning and rode her bike home again so that I could take Eileen to her appointment.  She went in to the Orthopedist to have her cast removed!!!  She has been so excited about it ever since.  Every day is some new moment where she is glad to have the cast off.  Everything from "Mom!  I can open doors again by myself!"  to "I get to swim again!!!"   In the evening, Anna got to go to her first Young Women's activity - and she and Eileen were equally excited because they were going swimming and Eileen could swim again.  

Thursday morning Anna had to miss her sport camp to go to her yearly check up.  We had her and David scheduled at the same time.  I really hate paperwork....  I hope we don't move again just so I don't have to do all the paperwork for new schools and new doctors and such again....  After, I took the younger kids down to Grandma's house and Dan, Eileen, Anna and I went to the temple.  We went and did baptisms and confirmations.  It was so wonderful to be there with my two amazing and beautiful daughters!!

Friday morning we took it a bit easy,  I wasn't feeling well, so I went in to the doctor (ugh...more paperwork) but they weren't very helpful - they said come back on Monday if you still feel bad and we will do blood work...  after the appointment, we met some friends from our ward at their pool for fun with friends and swimming. 

Saturday, Anna had a couple friends over for a little birthday party - we had hamburgers for lunch and then went swimming.  We all had a fun time.  I was a bit dumb and got distracted during putting on sunscreen and never got Dan to put any on my back, so now my back is red... but at least the rest of me is fine.  :) 

Church today was wonderful.  We had a wonderful fast Sunday.  Evie was so sweet - she fasted the whole two meals and told me when I asked her what she was fasting for that she was fasting that I would feel better.  She's such a sweet, fun and spunky little girl! 

Aaron's Back!!

Anna has been keeping busy with her sports camp which is Monday-Thursday mornings.  She really enjoys it - but always comes home tired and wanting a nap.  David goes down for a nap then too, so it works fine.  This picture was how David fell asleep on me one day for nap time and I found it hilarious (though not very comfortable.)

Tuesday was a good and normal day.  I went to institute in the evening and had a wonderful time!  

Wednesday was the big day!  The morning was the usual, then in the evening, I went to pick up my Dad and Aaron from the airport.  They both had a great trip and came home tired, but happy.  Eileen had a presidency meeting in the evening, and we all managed to get home in time for scriptures and prayers together with our whole family for the first time in a couple weeks! 

Thursday evening was our ward Relief Society activity.  It was a service auction - they asked me to be the auctioneer - I didn't really know what I was doing, but I had fun doing it! 

Friday, I told the kids that we could go to the splash park near our house if they cleaned up the play room.  They managed to get it done, and we headed over in the afternoon.  It was nice and hot - a good day for getting wet.  The kids had fun - Eileen even came though she couldn't get her cast wet.  David just LOVES the water.  He had a ton of fun just walking around and getting wet - and his siblings loved to dump water on him. 

There was also a playground near by, and I took David on the swing - it was his first time on a swing and he really liked it!  Anna wasn't there because she had headed up to Beehive camp early that morning.  Eileen was worried about dirt in her cast and bugs in her cast and rain and such, but when she heard about archery she wanted to go up on Saturday. 

Anna had a really great time at Beehive Camp and was full of energy when I got there with Eileen - but by the end of a really hot afternoon, she was tired and ready to go home.  Eileen LOVED getting to shoot a bow and arrow and wants to do LOTS more of it.  But by the end of the day, she was not feeling great and was ready to go home too - she hadn't been drinking enough water - but Dan was finally able to convince her that she would feel better if she drank more water.  After the younger kids went to bed, we played some Dominion, ate some cherry pie and watched Justice League which Dan had borrowed when he went to the library with the kids while I was gone with Eileen and Anna. 

Today was wonderful - the morning was relaxed and nice.  Dan made some banana bread muffins.  Eileen and I worked on some crochet stuff.  Anna got her temple recommend after church so that we can go to the temple with her next week!!  I got to help in primary by playing piano - it was lots of fun!  David loved trying to help too.  :)  This evening, David wasn't feeling to good.  He didn't want to eat and didn't want to sleep.  We figured out why when he puked all over me - but after he seems to be feeling better and went to sleep easily. 

Long Quiet Week

This week has been fairly slow - Evie and James spent so much time fighting on Tuesday that I told them that they couldn't go to the pool all week.  In addition to all the fighting with each other, they wrote all over the walls while on time out and made lots of bad choices....  Monday was a normal day of laundry and grocery shopping and such.  Tuesday night I got to go to institute and had a great time.  Wednesday was abnormally quiet since we didn't have cub scouts, activity days or young women's.  So we had a nice fun evening at home together.  Thursday, Eileen and Anna went down to Dan's office to help stuff envelopes - they did a great job and earned some money doing it.  Anna was very excited about having earned money and she knew what she wanted to get, so after dinner on Friday, she and i took David and had a nice walk down to Walmart so she could get a new coloring book and coloring pencils.  It was a bit hot though, so we stopped and got a bit of ice cream on our way back :)  

Aaron and grandpa seem to be having a great time - we get picture updates, but not much else.

Saturday was busy.  Cub scouts had their day camp and I felt as cub master that I should be there helping out, even though Aaron wasn't there.  The boys all seemed to have a great time.  I got to shoot a bb gun and paddle a canoe and though it was hot - it was fun.  I came home rather exhausted though!  I took a bath that night before heading to bed earlier than usual so I could get up in the morning to make Dan a father's day breakfast. 

Father's day was nice - I made biscuit breakfast for Dan and gave him his gifts (another Dominion Expansion Pack)  The primary sang for the fathers - but they hadn't had much time to learn the song, so most of the kids didn't really know the words - Evie wrote them in her notebook and took them up with her and looked at them the whole time.  It was really cute though.  There was also a beautiful musical number after - plus David fell asleep during third hour, so I actually got to listen to the whole wonderful lesson!  So all in all church was wonderful.  After, we had a family from the ward over for dinner and games - they made crepes for us and we played Dominion while the kids played "We didn't playtest this at all"  which is a fun and silly game that the West's sent us! 

I got my official letter from DMCO and I've been accepted to sing with them for the upcoming season!  I'm so excited! 

Hot Summer Fun

Monday was busy.  First we had to get Aaron packed up for his trip with Grandpa.  David helped...sorta.  :)  Then we drove down to pick up grandpa and head to the airport.  They got headed off and have been having a great time so far!  

David is so funny - James is so sweet and wants to play with his baby brother and he shares his toys.  He shared his cute little toy with him and David loves it!

Tuesday was a fun easy day - Evie had her science camp in the afternoon and loved it.  Anna went to babysit Taz and Kai while Sandi worked at home - she had a great time and did a great job.  It was really strange only having 3 kids at home...   I went to institute in the evening again - the class was wonderful, getting rear-ended on the way home was not so wonderful.

Wednesday was mutual for Eileen, but cub scouts is done for the summer.  Anna babysat again and got to go to the pool with them.  Evie had her science camp again and loved it.

On Thursday, Evie had her afternoon camp again, so I took Anna and James and David to the pool for the afternoon.  They had fun.  Then in the evening, we had some friends over for dinner.  We had dinner together and played games.  We had a fun time playing San Marco.  Dan made some yummy lemon bars for dessert - he's such a wonderful hubby!

Friday night was the Daddy Daughter Dance.  Dan took Anna and Evie (Eileen wasn't interested in going...) and they went out for dinner and a fun night at the dance and then a little treat after.  They all had a great time together. 

Saturday we kept busy.  Dan and I took the kids to the pool again - it's been really nice having the neighborhood pool open.  David popped another tooth through.  He now has 7 teeth.  4 on top and 3 on bottom.   In the evening, we did a pizza party - we ate pizza and watched a movie together - it was a Balto movie - but not the original one.  But it was fun and we had a good time together! 

Sunday was great - the talks and lessons were wonderful.  David has gotten to the point where he doesn't ever want to sit still in church, so church has become a bit of a wrestling match.  During Relief Society, he was overly chatty, so we went and paced the hallways - it tired him out good though, so he went to bed well tonight. :)

Summer Starts!

Monday was Labor day, so we all headed down to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have fun grilling burgers and hot dogs and swimming in the pool.  Dan got Eileen a brace so she enjoyed one last day of swimming.  Tuesday morning, Eileen had an appointment with an orthopedist down in Dallas.  We headed down early and she was told that she needed a cast, she was really bummed since it would mean not getting to do a lot of the fun summer stuff for a month.  After, we met up with Dan for lunch and hit up hobby lobby to give her something to do while she couldn't go swimming.  Then we headed home and dropped Eileen off before picking up the rest of the kids.   In the evening, I went to Institute and really enjoyed it - it's nice being able to go to institute again now that they have one near by!  

Wednesday was the last full day of school and the kids had a fun time since almost all they have done for the last few weeks is watch movies at school.  Thursday was a half day and then we all headed home for the afternoon.  I took most of the kids to the pool.  David loves the pool - he loves hanging out in the water and splashing and chewing on pool toys.  In the evening, we had cub scouts, but Eileen wasn't feeling up to going to mutual. 

Friday was a quiet day mostly, but on Saturday, Dan was going to be at work all day for a big work change over - so I took the kids and went to my parents house for the day since she was going to be watching Taz and Kai so Sandi and Jon could be at work too.  The kids had a long, fun busy day of swimming and eating junk food and playing with cousins.  Taz was so cute with David - he would play peek-a-boo with him by going under water and then popping up!

Sunday was wonderful, and we had a yummy dinner together and headed to bed!

Graduations....

It's been a busy week.  After Eileen's adventures of last week, she had an appointment at the doctors office on Monday - they didn't have anything after school, so I had to pull her out a bit early.  We needed to see her regular doctor before we could get her in to an orthopedist.  But then it took the whole week for the references to get sent over, so now we still have to wait until next week to see them.  

Tuesday was trying to get David back on a schedule (and failing) he hasn't been sleeping well at night (we figured out why - he's broken through 2 teeth this week - he now has 6 teeth total, but is rather lopsided - he has the four center ones, then the two that came through this week were the next one to the left on the top and bottom.  Dan was going to be working a bit late, but everything ended up going well and he was able to come home for dinner, which was nice we had the sister missionaries over for dinner!  

Wednesday was a usual day with Cub Scouts and Activity Days.  Eileen didn't go to mutual - she had a field trip that day at school and it left her exhausted, so she stayed home and rested.  The crutches and hobbling around have been rough on her body and not being able to do all the things she wants to do has been rough on her mind.  She's sick of having a fractured ankle.  

Thursday was the kids last day of school this week.  James had a kindergarten graduation celebration in the morning.  He was so cute!  Plus he was VERY excited that he got to go home with me after.  Especially since it meant meeting up with Aunt Sandi and Grandma at Chick-fil-a for lunch and then getting to go to Kai's preschool graduation in the afternoon and getting to play with Kai.  He had a blast.  

In the evening, after a quick dinner, I headed down to Plano for DMCO auditions.  I believe it went pretty well - now just waiting for official results! 

Friday, the kids were off school, they got some clean up done in the morning, they got to play some games in the afternoon.  After, my mom came up to help out babysitting so Dan and I could go to the temple.  We had a nice afternoon of doing sealings before grabbing a quick dinner on our way home. 

Saturday was rather crazy busy.  Dan took most of the kids to the library in the morning, then after, while David was napping he took some of the kids to the pool in our neighborhood - they had a blast!  Then Dan went to help a new family move into the ward and we got some help moving the couch from Grandma Penny upstairs.  Then in the evening, we went back to the pool for a bit and David got to get in the pool for the first time - he seemed to love it! 

David loves to climb the stool and loves to explore and get into things - especially the pantry! 

Today was wonderful!  The talks and lessons were wonderful.  After church, we had dinner then invited the Gustaveson's over for games and some dessert.  We had a fun time playing Dominion and finally managed a Jones family win against them! 

Broken Bones and Birthdays

This has been a fun and busy week.  The kids had STARR testing at school most of the week and watched movies when they weren't testing.  So school was a pretty slow week.  Monday at the house included laundry and grocery shopping and such.  

Tuesday was a nice easy day for David and I during the morning and was the usual craziness after school.  David and I took a little drive down to the grocery store for a couple things Walmart hadn't had.  We would have walked but it was a drizzly kind of morning.  Dan had to work late - they've got a bit change going on at work coming soon and Dan needs to get all the back end stuff done.  

Wednesday was a normal Wednesday - I went to help out with Cub Scouts, but Aaron didn't have to go since the Webelo's leaders had to cancel.  In the morning, I went to visit Sister Young, we had a fun time chatting together - She's such a fun and sweet lady!  

Thursday started out pretty slow and easy for David and I, then in the evening, I had a Relief Society activity - it was really neat - a lady came to talk to us and teach us about a bunch of ancient Jewish cultural things that help us understand the scriptures better.  It was a wonderful lesson.  I also got to spend some time chatting on the phone with Kay!  I miss her!!!!  

Friday was insane....  After getting the kids off to school, and getting David fed and changed and myself fed and changed, we went to go visit with and hang out with Sister Carpenter.  It was a lot of fun chatting with her and getting to know her a bit better!  As I was leaving and preparing to go meet Sandi for a lunch date, I got a call from the school nurse saying that my daughter had hurt her ankle and she thought I should take her to get it x-rayed.  I drove to the wrong school at first and they were confused - then I realized that I needed to go to the middle school.  The kids schools had all had a field day type thing going on that day and Eileen had been having fun and landed wrong on her ankle and hurt herself pretty bad.  So i picked her up and took her to an urgent care.  They took an x-ray and determined that she had a fracture, so we got her splinted up, and now we need to get her to her doctor, then to an orthopedist.  After we got that all done, we had to go get her crutches because the clinic was out of crutches in her size, then we finally got a late lunch, then it was time to start getting kids from school.  Dan came home to help out.  After, I took Evie to the art show at the high school because she had an art piece that she had done being displayed there.  She got a kick out of it.  Then we headed home for dinner before I went to pick up the baby sitter.  Dan and Eileen and I went to see Avengers: Infinity War.  We had a great time - but Eileen cried for the last 15 minutes of the movie.  

Saturday was Dan's birthday - I had lots of help from David and James to make Daddy's cake - David will climb up the stool whenever it is left out for him.  We mostly had a quiet day though - Dan did some running and helped Aaron mow the lawn.  In the evening, we had cake and ice cream and daddy got his presents.  

Church was wonderful as always

Happy Mother's Day

It's been a fun and busy week!  The pinewood derby was on Tuesday - so I spent most of Monday and Tuesday getting ready for that.  Everyone seemed to have a fun time and I was amazed at how fast it all went.  As usual though - I was exhausted by the time it was all over and just wanted to sit down!  

On Wednesday, The Activity Day girls were putting on a spa day for their moms.  So I got to go hang out with Anna and Evelyn and get my nails and toes done and have fun goofing off with them and having some yummy treats.  It was cute and fun!  Evie did my right hand and right foot, while Anna did the left hand and left foot.  

Evie needed to finish up her GT project and since it involved making cookies, we didn't want to start them too early and have them be old for the parent night display time.  So Wednesday before and after the Church activities, Evie had fun making cookies and picking pictures to use and putting her display together.  It came out pretty cute and the cookies came out yummy!   She did a great job making the cookies all by herself - I only supervised (and put trays in the oven)  

Thursday night, Aaron and Evelyn got to display their projects - Aaron's was a cool project about eggs in space - how they behave and talking about different experiments that have been done.  Evie's was a big hit since it included free cookie samples :)  

As you can see here - her 3 bags of cookies got eaten up pretty fast!  And she was quite proud of herself! 

David is getting into everything and trying everything out.  He loves to open the gate and climb up the stairs, and he recently discovered the stool that we keep in the kitchen and looked like he was trying to cook up some dinner...or maybe breakfast since he's still in pj's. 

Friday after school, Eileen went with her friend to a company party for her friend's dad's company.  She had a great time with her friend!  The rest of us went out to the ward camp out - We just went for the evening to socialize and enjoy the short program - then headed home for bed.  The idea of camping out with a 10 month old who hardly likes to sleep in his own bed wasn't appealing. 

Saturday was a fun day - we walked down to the grocery store to grab a couple things before Sunday and we had some fun playing games and getting some clean up done around the house. 

Sunday was Mother's Day.  Anna and Evelyn helped Dan make biscuits for my Mother's Day breakfast - it's was so yummy!!  I got a beautiful pictures from Anna and an expansion to Dominion from Dan!  Church was wonderful - the talks were wonderful and the primary singing was adorable!  Kinda crazy to think that it was Anna's last primary performance.  After church, we headed home to have dinner.  We had the Walkers over for dinner and games and had a great time with them.  Melissa chatted with Eileen most of the night about horses and we all had fun! 

Fun with Friends

David and I mostly took it pretty easy this week - he is a much happier baby when he can get a good morning nap in.  So except for a couple errands that I needed to run on Friday, we took it pretty easy in the mornings.  The kids had a good week at school mostly - Evie made honor roll with all A's on her report card!!  Monday was the usual laundry and grocery shopping day.  Tuesday we didn't have anything going on in the evening (thank goodness since dinner ended up being late when I ended up having to shop for something that we usually have lots of but had run out of it with out realizing.)  

Wednesday evening was cub scouts and Eileen had a school event for her State Project.  So after cub scouts, We went to check out Eileen's project and then Dan took her to Young Women's and I put the rest of the kids to bed.  

Thursday was a nice and normal day - Dan had a priesthood meeting in the evening, but otherwise, we had a nice fun day together!  

Friday we went over to play games with some friends.  We taught them how to play Dominion - and we got beat again....  But we had a great time and the kids had fun playing together too!  

On Saturday, Dan and Anna got up early to go running with some friends from the ward.  Dan made a Lemon Meringue pie - even though he doesn't really like Lemon Meringue pie, but he made it because I've been wanting one for awhile now.  I have the best husband in the whole world!!!  We had some friends over for dinner and after the adults had a fun time playing Scattergories.  It's funny, we both have dogs named after video games - ours is Koopa from Mario and theirs is Ganon from Zelda!  

Sunday was great - Fast and Testimony meeting was great - David refused to nap so he was a bit tired and cranky by the end of the day - but hopefully now he will sleep well.....  We had a nice time chatting with Dan's parents before scriptures and prayers and heading to bed.  

A couple cute pictures from the week - my two boys cuddling up - it's so cute watching James play with David - also kinda nerve wracking since he isn't always good at remembering to be careful, but still sweet.  

And Evie showing off her painted nails - she spent all weekend painting and re-painting her nails....