A Homecoming and a Farewell

My kid brother got home from a two year mission to the Netherlands and I was so happy to see him.

My mom's excitement could not be surpassed though. She was ecstatic.

All the girls got to go out to dinner one night and hang out together through the weekend. One of my favorite moments was going to the Richfield fitness facility and doing a step aerobics workout together and filming it. So when are we going to start selling it girls . . . ?!

We said goodbye to my Grandpa Henry. It was a wonderful service where we celebrated a life that was lived and completed without regrets. I felt very blessed that he lived an honorable, honest life and worked hard to the end. His bishop told us that we could point our boys to the life Grandpa lived and if they followed his example they would be all right.

This may have been the best moment of my entire trip to Utah. All eleven of my living siblings together in the same place! It's hard to believe we are all "grown up." I love my family!

Daniel's Visit to the Alamo City

In early January I received a phone call from my brother Daniel saying that he was in Texas on a run, he drives for England Trucking. His trainer gave him permission to stop in San Antonio while they were waiting for another load. I grabbed all of my kids and Chris and we went down to the truck stop to eat dinner with him. This was my first visit from Daniel since I moved to Texas twelve years ago so we were all very happy to have him here. The kids were impressed with the trucks and got to look around the cab a bit.

Here we are all in front of the truck. Daniel, make sure you tell your trainer thanks again for this great visit!

Anna fell asleep and got to snuggle her Uncle Daniel a little while.

Daniel, our mighty driver!

Nicole's Room "Re-made"

Okay, this remodel project was completed a year ago . . . Naomi wanted to see it and talked me through finding the pictures to post. I'm glad she did. I am actually in the process of deciding what to do with my two girls. I am going to try putting them together in my guest bedroom so I have the painter coming to give me a quote on fixing the wall paper (original to the house which is 20+ years old) in the bathroom off of the room. I am really excited to see what we can do. I am looking for inspiration from anyone who knows anything about decorating with a budget!
The pictures below show what my good friend Shelley talked me into trying. She found some amazing furniture at a garage sale and then helped me with every drop of paint and direction needed to transform it into the lovely dresser, mirror and headboard you see. Thank you Shelley!

I found the great bedding at my favorite store--Target! I bought the queen size the minute it went on clearance so that I could use it for the bigger bed when the girls share a room.

Refinishing furniture has always been completely overwhelming. It wasn't as bad as I thought and has given me confidence to try again . . . maybe. I definitely don't underestimate how much help I got for this project.

If you look closely you can see David in the mirror watching the whole photo shoot.

It rained like HAIL here!

David lost his first tooth. Then a couple of days later we were hanging out getting ready for bed and heard what sounded like rocks hitting the roof. When we went to investigate we found "Bakugan" size hail in the backyard. I only let the kids collect the ones that bounced onto the porch afraid that they would be bruised and broken if they went out in it. Like they say, everything is bigger in Texas.

Tyler's Trip to Washington D.C.

On Feb. 20 Tyler had dinner with Bruce Bowen, of the San Antonio Spurs, in Washington D.C. The next day he went to a Spurs game and flew home with the team in their chartered jet. Tyler wrote an essay that was selected by Bruce Bowen as part of a "healthy kids" competition. The school district posted the essay and some additional pictures that you can see at this website. http://www.neisd.net/pr/news/Harmony_Hills_Get_Fi.html

Halloween Fun

The kids had a great time trick or treating this year. Anna was happy to walk along getting candy. After getting about four treats she looked in her bucket and it finally dawned on her that she was collecting candy. She was thrilled! I had to hide the buckets so she wouldn't eat too many "lollipops."

Chris and I try to have regular date nights. This picture was just before we went out to see "Tuna Does Vegas" at the Majestic Theater downtown.

Anna learned the word "gecko." She saw one on her window one night and now she'll point to her window and say "gecko." This video is her following one down the hall one day.

Having fun with my Blog

There are a couple of things I added to our blog today that I wanted to share.

1. Amber's Photography link. I am still having trouble finding the right way to add pictures, but if you go to Amber's Photography you can see some of the pictures she took of our family a few weeks ago when they were here.
2. A link to my friend Trish's Recipe blog. She is a great cook so I had to put her link on my blog list to have access to her yummy recipes. She made the macaroni and cheese for my family a couple of nights ago and it was delicious.
3. We have music! The kids helped me pick out some of the ones on our list. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we did. We have spent most of the night dancing to them.

Rooting for McCain/Palin

Friday I took Nicole and Tyler downtown to hold signs and cheer for Governor Palin. She had come to San Antonio for a fundraising dinner. We met my friend Amber Bright and her kids who had come up from Corpus Christie. There was a group of supporters standing on the corner of a street. We held signs, cheered at the passing cars and patiently waited for the Governor to arrive at the hotel.

There were news crews with their cameras interviewing people and Amber even got to be interviewed by the reporter from AM 550 Radio News. She was the closest to seeing "Sara" and got a picture with the alleged lady. After two hours of waiting, much to our disappointment, we were informed that she had arrived at the hotel "the back way" so we weren't able to see her. It was still fun to be part of the action anyway!

I've got a blogspot!

My incredible friend Amber finally escorted me into the blog world. She is on an "evacuation vacation" in the words of her daughter Cami. They came to our home yesterday to wait out Ike and we are having a blast. So far the skys are clear and bright and we are now starting to worry that we won't even get any rain, but we are happy to know we are safe.

Amber took the great picture of me with Anna Grace. I can't wait to add more.