Merry Merry Merry Christmas!

May 2014

More April....

 

Family Photo at the Kansas City Temple

 Susie, the dog, at Gerry and Nancy's house in Manhattan.

Jax could have played and chased her all day long!

 The boys at the luncheon after the funeral.  Caught ya, Lawson!  ;) 

We were able to make a couple visits to Grandpa Grant since we were "stuck" for a few days.  It was a great place to be stuck.  He was really hanging in there without sweet Grandma sitting by his side which was both strange and sad to see. 

 A quick stop to Nana and Papa's complete with a little time to play with the chickens. 

 Cute Cousins in Midland

 

Road Trip Fun.....

What???? Snow???? In Arizona!!!???

Tire Problems.  Let us not forget. 

April

 
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Over 3700 Miles!!! WHEW!!!  So worth it!

March

Fathers and Sons

 

Mark and Jax did their FIRST over-night Father and Sons camp out this year!!!  I didn't get too many details but Mark took several great pictures.  Jax loved the swings and the sandpit.  He also got to stay up really late!  Mark told me at one point he found Jax on top of a picnic table eating Chili straight out of a can.  Nice!  It's a good thing women don't go on these things, we'd ruin all of the fun for sure.   I sure love my boys and I'm thrilled they had a great time together!

 

Late night sandbox play.....

 and

Early morning sandbox play!

(I went to the movie theater while they were gone.  Divergent.  Not quite as good as the book but what movie is, right?  I still really enjoyed it!)

February

More Peeeeez!

 

I had to do an add-on post to last month's adventures.  This was the night we tried out Chris's favorite Sushi place in SLC.  He kept giving Jax some sips of water in this fun way......

   

Jax loved it!!  The straw seemed to get higher and higher as the night went on.  Jax completely trusted him.  Even when he had the surprise of mini-bath on his face, he just laughed and begged for "more peeeez"  louder and louder until he got what he wanted. :) 

Never a dull moment with Uncle Chris around!

January

J is for Jax

Nachos and Boots

 

Nothin' Better! 

Fall Y'all

 

Daddy had a work training out of town the week of Halloween so the Sheriff and I went trick-or-treating on our own this year.  I must say that I love Texas-style trick-or-treating!  It's beautiful weather and everyone sits in their camp chairs in their driveway to hand out candy.  It's like a big ol' block party, which is lots of fun!  Some people had music playing but most were just out there hanging out. Jax kind of caught on to the trick-or-treat idea this year which made it great!  He said "tweeet peese"  for "treat please" and was in HEAVEN at all of the "chocate" and "canny" he received.  We still have loads of candy because we did the double-whammy by hitting the ward trunk-or-treat a few days before Halloween as well as real trick-or-treating on Halloween. 

 

Other Fun-Filled-Fall Activities:

-We went to a "Pumpkin Farm" at a local church nearby with the MOMS Club.  Yes, The Mom's Club is a real thing and I didn't make it up.  I thought it was pretty funny at first but it's a national organization and everything...Legit, but it ain't got NOTHIN' on Relief Society. ;)  Anyway, Jax's favorite part was the "hay ride" on the "tractor"  (I'm putting all of this in quotations because it wasn't a real pumpkin farm, or a real tractor, or a real hay ride, or a real anything, but Jax liked it and was happy.  That's what matters.  It's just my way of being just a bit sarcastic about the whole enchilada).  They had some fun learning stations set up where the kiddies could weigh different fall items on a balance, see which fall items would float or sink, plant a pumpkin seed, make a jack-o-lantern with stickers, and paint a pumpkin with glitter and glue.  It was a great fall-time activity!  Jax seemed to love exploring so I'll most likely go again next year.  

-We hollowed out our pumpkin the night before Halloween.  I decided to go with the power-drill approach to carving since Mark wasn't home and I'm not necessarily the safest with a knife plus Jax at the same time.  It turned out hideous.  I saw some cute design ideas on pinterest but ours just wasn't it.  Yet again, Jax liked it.  That's what matters. :)  I was hoping he'd really dig in to the pumpkin-guts and have a cool first time texture experience but he wasn't really that into the pumpkin goo.  He did like holding the spoon and trying to scoop it out with that.  I think he loved the moment when we went outside, lit the candle, and put it in the pumpkin for the big reveal.  He kept saying "woooah!" 

    

 

-I went shopping at the outlets after Halloween while Mark was still gone.  We found some good deals on costumes for next year as well as a couple of other items for the house. This is our mommy-son date picture at the hamburger joint.  

 

-We've hit two high-school football games this season.  I have four young women who are involved in the band, the colorguard, and one is a PT trainer who helps out the football players mainly with their hydration needs ;)  High School football is a whole different story in Texas.  The band and colorguard half-time shows are a new experience here.  Everything REALLY IS bigger in Texas, y'all.  I had a great time watching the young women (and football players) do their thang.  High School football is fun.  There's just an excitement in the air at the games.  I think we'll make it a yearly tradition to go to at least one football game to support our local Buffaloes.  Yikes!  Never thought I'd say it...GO BUFFS.

ISN'T FALL SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME OF YEAR!!!???

Peek-A-Boo and Rainy Day Play

 

This kid loves to play hide-and-seek!  He gets so excited when he's about to be found that he just can't help himself to peek out of his spot giggling.  He's pretty good about taking turns counting and searching for mommy.  It's hilarious to me that I will be in such an obvious spot but it takes him a while to find me.  Sometimes I give little hints by doing bird noises "coo coo, coo coo" so that he can find me a little quicker.  Now, when he's looking for me or hiding from me he does the coo coo (exactly how I do!) and waits for me to do it back.  Also, he randomly counts by two's better than ones all of a sudden.   What a fun kid!

  

I found this picture on my phone and had to post it on the blog!  What a fun day!  We get some intense rain here occasionally and I'm not a big "rainy day" fan myself because we love to spend time outside going to the park and such.  Plus, the dreary cloud coverage just isn't that cool after a day or two!  Where are you sun?  After a few dreary days, I got up the guts to just embrace the rain.  We both had a great time running and playing in the summer rain!  

The 8 Greats of our Family Visit

 

THANK YOU CHRIS, GRAMMY, and GRANDPA for coming to visit!  We had the best time with you!

The 8 Greats (Not in any particular order):

1.  Visiting Natural Bridge Caverns (see cute pic of uncle Chris and Jax above).  So, I thought this could be a tourist-trap (overpriced and under-awesomeness) but it definitely exceeded my expectations!  It was really cool to see Texas' largest underground cave chain.  

2.  Wildlife Animal Park.  This really was wild! Jax loved throwing the food out the window for the animals.  You drive through the park and the animals are all roaming free without any fences or anything separating them from you.  At first we were kind of all thinking that it was just okay but after seeing the zebras and ostriches (AND feeding the goats--thanks to Gpa Ed, the Goat Man Himself), we were satisfied with the place!  (note to self: add video of ostrich)

 

 

3.  The Lesser-Known Missions of San Antonio.  A sort-of replica of Kimi gave us the tour.  Tiny. Red-headed.  Always wears a Park Ranger hat. (jk Gibbs.  Love ya! But I think you should be her for Halloween!)  Anyway, this lady LOVED her job and was very animated throughout the tour. ;)  We learned some interesting little facts about San Antonio's history and I stepped in to the church for a minute while the Mariachi Mass was going on!  Don't worry about me....Just one step closer to being even more hard-core of a Texan than I already was.  sniff.  ;)

 

 

4.  Eating at some fantastic restaurants.  My personal favorites-- The Gristmill in Gruene, La Hacienda (dad's Chile Rellenos were the bomb-diggity), and Papolis Greek food place at the Forum. 

 

5.  Nature walk at Salado Creek Trails and roaming around the little shops at Las Patios.  We enjoyed the natural beauties on a nice paved sidewalk, great for the stroller.  I think mom could have stayed on the trail for a few more hours but we had to get going.  Next time, mom!

6.  Supporting our retired neighbor, Tom, in his antique car show before playing some Volleyball at the stake center.  Even though we see his car every day right next door, it was kind of fun to see Tom in his element with all of this car buddies.  We have to laugh that both of our neighbors are really into their cars, cleaning, "fixing" aka adding more fancy things to their cars daily.  I'm sure they laugh at us when I put on the wipers and push the water button yet again so that I can see to drive instead of washing the car since it hasn't been done in weeks.  To each his own. 

Stake volleyball has been a fun Friday night activity for the past few weeks.  It's something both Mark and I enjoy and it makes for an easy date night.  Since Mark was working crazy hours, Chris joined me on this particular week.  Good addition to the team! :) The grandparents switched off running crazy with Jax so that we could play.  Gracias mama y papa.

Here's one of Chris...nice save, man!  

 Here's one of me. Not my highest jump of the night, but you get the picture.

ha ha! This is how we feel like we look when we're playing.  It may be exaggerated just a bit.  I should have gotten some real pics of us playing, though. 

7.  USU party.  Complete with Rootbeer and a 7-layer bean tray.  Go Aggies.  There is a back-story to this one.  Mom had a missionary-moment at Wally World when we were shopping for ingredients.  Way to go, mom!  The lady was planning to go to Utah and Mom invited her to see all of the cool church sites downtown and told her a little bit about the church doctrine.  
Every. member. a missionary!  We are proud of mom for being such a friendly, approachable gal.
 

8. TIME.  I always love the little things like when we're just hanging out chatting, when Jax sees them and says "gapa!  gammy! and ckiss!"  I also like going to church with my family.  I don't know exactly why but I just like it.    

Thanks again, fam!!!  Come back soon, there's much more to do, eat, and see!