sedona

The kids have been doing pretty well on our long drive, thanks to lots of books and a portable DVD player.

Lonnie's parents had unused time-share week so we decided to find a place along the way to Utah to stop and take a break from our drive. We are staying at a nice condo in Sedona and enjoying a nice couple of days relaxing.

San Antonio

After leaving the Houston snow storm we traveled to San Antonio. On Saturday morning Lonnie stayed at the hotel with the kids so I could go to the temple with our friends Hannah and Jill. The temple was beautiful and we had a wonderful time. I was so glad to be in a sacred place with wonderful friends.

After we meet up with Lonnie and the kids and went out for some Texas BBQ at Rudy's. The food was great and the company even better.

When Maya was given a taste test of the smoked turkey she kept saying "yumm, yumm, yumm". She didn't want to leave.


Thanks Hannah for letting us share your special day and for letting us steal your photos too. :)

snow

The day of our move Houston had a record snow storm. We had heard warnings about the storm but didn't think any of the snow would really stick. The snow started in the morning and by noon started sticking to the grass and trees. All over the neighborhood kids were building snowmen and throwing snowballs.

Our good friends Sam, Heather and Anna came over to help us finish off the last details of the move and bid us farewell. We were grateful for the help and the empanadas. Heather and I became first time mothers within two weeks of each other. We have enjoyed watching our babies turn into toddlers.

moving

In the last few weeks our house has gone from this to almost empty. We've sold most of our furniture, gotten rid of a lot of "stuff" and packed up the things we have decided we want to keep in storage.

The babies weren't too sure about having to eat breakfast on the floor.


All of our worldly possessions now fit into our truck and a U-haul trailer. We are off on our next adventures.

presidente

The kids, Lonnie and I were lucky enough to have dinner with my mission president and his wife last week. It was great to be able to catch up and reminisce about our time in the Dominican Republic. I am so grateful for their influence in my life. I loved being a missionary.

mi tocalla

I have a really cool friend named Alisa.

Not only do we share the same name but we both served missions in the Dominican Republic (I was even lucky enough to be her teacher in the MTC Welfare program). Both of our parents moved to Danville, CA while we were in our college years. We also both have two children, a boy and a girl. Oddly enough we are both Democrats who support Obama, while our religious culture is primarily Republican.

While we were together this past weekend we also realized that for similar reasons we both refused to have diamond wedding or engagmement rings. Somehow we also ended up both living in Texas for a few overlapping months.

Having so many things in common with someone like her makes me feel validated.

Thanks for being my friend Alisa.


Max and Maya loved the attention they got from David and Mary. The also loved their dog and cat. Every time Maya would see the dog she would start barking like she was trying to carry on a conversation with him.

top ten reasons you should visit new zealand

And in case you needed another reason....



or another.....

things I will miss about texas

1. Our wonderful friends
2. Having a house big enough for lots of house guests
3. Bluebell Ice cream
4. Availability and quality of tortillas.
5. Having everyone at the grocery store recognize the babies
6. Alligators at Brazos Bend
7. Warm weather (but not the excessive heat and humidity)
8. Awesome thunder storms
9. Crape Myrtle flowers
10. Magnolia trees

Halloween

The babies have been sick this week. We missed the library party but decided that they babies were well enough to stop by the ward trunk-or-treat and then a couple of neighbor's houses. They looked so cute in their costumes that I had to show them off.
The kids were pretty overwhelmed at the ward party. They just kept staring at everyone. Max wanted to be held the whole time and Maya just kept staring at people.
We went trick-or-treating to a couple neighbor's houses. The kids got the hang of it pretty quickly, although they didn't want to stop at the door, the made it all the way into 3 of the 4 houses that we went to visit.

you got caught

I left the room for just a few mins and came back to this mess. They just too cute for me to get mad at, so I just took photos instead. Thankfully it all came up from the carpet. The funniest part is that the kids have been sick this week and haven't really wanted to eat much, I guess I just wasn't offering them the right thing.