It's been a long time.

May and June

So I guess it wasn't tomorrow that I posted this next posting, but at least I am getting it done. So we were really missing going to the mountains in the summer in Utah so we decided to go and check out the Wichita Mountains. Wow!!! That's all I need to say


In May, we went a couple a times, once with just us and then at the end of May, we took the elder's for their P-day. We were able to hike to the top of the mountain in 45 min. It was a lot of fun. We made tin-foil dinner's for dinner. They tasted really good. They have a pageant in April that is the streets of Jerusalem that will be fun to go to.


The Wichita Mountains is a refuge for Bison and Long horned cattle. They also have prairie dogs, deer, turkey's, and elk, along with all the other wild animal's that you would find in mountain's except bear's. The first time that we went, the buffalo were so close to the car, AJ could have braided the mane of the buffalo. It was a mini Yellowstone. We had a lot of fun and this will definitely be a return event that we will continue to visit. It is the closest thing we have to mountains.

SEA WORLD!!!!
For AJ's birthday, we decided to go down to San Antonio and go to Sea World and see the Alamo. It was so much fun. We met the Briggs down there for dinner Thurs night and then spent the day on Friday at Sea World.

These pictures are of the river walk which is well know. We had a lot of fun on the river walk. We also took a tour of the river on a little boat and the girls loved it. We definitely want to go again.



Friday we were able to go to Sea World for free!!! Once a year they let you go for free if you are active duty in the military. We loved it. Emma loved Shamu and is still talking about Shamu today. Aj was in heaven and loved feeding the Dolphin's and seeing all the sea life.


On Sat. we went back to the river walk and toured the Alamo. It was very interesting and I thought a lot about dad and how his love of this time period. We also went to the church were Davy Crocket's remains actully are. I wish we could have gone into the church, but there was a wedding going on. Maybe next time.



So on the way down we saw a sign for a snake farm/alligator farm. WE thought that this would be kind of fun to stop at on the way back. IT was an adventure. I don't want to say anything bad about this place as someone in our ward in Texas, I won't mention any names, Bro Warnock, loves this places. I don't like snake's in the first place so this wasn't my cup of tea. They also had a mini zoo that I thought needed so work on. They had a petting zoo with goats, lama, goats, roosters, goats, and pigs. Did I mention gaots? They riped the bag of food out of your hands if you didn't hold on tight and then butted you if you didn't feed them. The rooster's liked to fight and you thought you might come into the fight yourself if you didn't watch were you were going.

AJ's BIRTHDAY!!!!
The disater of the cake.

SO all grwoing up, my wonderful mother made a cake of our choice. We were able to choose how the cake was decorated and it always looked great. Well, I thought that I would also try to do this and maybe save a little money. The cake was a disater!!! I was bawling to my mom on the phone and it was not at all like I envisioned. I don't know what I was thinking. Oh well, at least it tasted good.


We had a birthday party for AJ and had the Briggs, Hart's and Chavez's over for cake and ice cream. It was a lot of fun and thanks to the great friends that came over to help us celabrate her birthday.


These are picture's of what AJ got for her birthday. I can't believe that she turned 6. Austyn I am so proud of you. Your dad and I love you so much and are so greatful that you are our daughter. You have a special love for learning and exploring. Please, don't ever lose that. Emma is always looking up to you and wanting to do what you are doing. Please remember that and be the person that you want her to be. We love you so much!!! Happy Birthday!!!



In Texas, Kindergarten graduation is a big deal. AJ looked so beautiful in her white dress and her cap. This is her teacher Mrs. Wooton. I am glad that she is done with Kindergarten and now on to the first grade.

EMMA's BIRTHDAY 2 Years old!!!

So My Emma is now 2. I can't believe how fast it has gone.

I was brave again or stupid and tried the cake thing again. At least this time, I had learned a few tricks. It turned out much better this time. We had the Briggs and Hart's, and Jessie and Ramelover for cake and ice cream.
Emma, you have been such a joy in our lives. You have a cute personality that is strong and very opionated. Even though you are a big daddy's girl I love you so much, you are the sparkle of your daddy's eye. Happy birthday my little Emmer's.

Random picture's.

Aj and Emma love to sit in the bean bag and play together. it is so cute to watch them play. Emma likes to go swimming and even though we are not supposed to have a little swimming pool in our back yard, we set one up so that the girls could play and have a break from the hot texas heat. The last picture is one of my favorties, Emma and Dave snuggling. Emma is definately a daddy's girl!!

SO this is May and a little of June in a nut shell. It will be a couple of weeks before I post again of our fun up here in Utah!!!

April

So, Here is looking at a little bit of what happened in April with our family. When the girls and I got back from Arizona, the next night we went to the monster truck's with our friends.


In this picture are (starting with the adults) Zac Hart, his sister-in-law, Ashley, Dave and Emma, Lyndi and Byron. The kids in the front are, Mitchell Hart, Sam (blond), Seth (redhead(, Aj and Sydney, her best friend here, and then Sadie and Sophie. These quad's are in my primary class and I love them to death.




Aj loved the trucks but only with her ear plugs in and Emma wouldn't keep her's in and didn't really like the noise.



Flying Kites.

Grandma Jessie sent some kite's in the Easter package and so for FHE, we decided to go behind our house and fly them. It was touch and go. The girls loved it.


Daddy and his girl Emma.

This is a common theme in our house. Miss Emma is one of the biggest Daddy's girl that I have ever seen. This happens a lot and yes Mommy does get very jealous, but I love to see Emma snuggle with her Daddy.


My cute girl Austyn.

This is a picture of AJ at her school program. They say that there is no one in the nation that have more state pride then here in Texas, how true that is. They say a pledge to the Texas flag after they say the pledge of allegiance. In her prgram they siad nursery rhyme's and sang songs that had been changes to Texas words, for example, BINGO was now TEXAS. I wish I knew how to download our video camera, because the songs were really cute and of course AJ was the star!!



Easter

Here the girls are coloring their easter eggs. We had a friend come over Andena, she is an officer in the AF that Dave met at COT when he went to Alabama. WE had a lot of fun that night coloring eggs and of course Emma's hands were colored as well. AJ did a beutiful job on her eggs.


At the base here, they had and easter egg hunt for the kids. This brought back a lot of memories of going with dad up to the base and doing this as a kid. There were thousands of eggs and they divided up the kids according to age. AJ was done first and came running to help her sister. Emma finally got it and wouldn't let go of her little basket. AJ loved the Easter Bunny, but Emma wouldn't get near it. They had crafts for the kids to do as well. It was a fun day.


These dresses are from Grandma Jessie. Don't they look beautiful? This is Easter morning and they loved getting all dressed up in their Blue Cinderella dresses. Thanks grandma for the beautiful dresses, we love them!!!


Aunt Stacy's visit.

My sister Stacy came to visit us for a week. Man did we have a great time just having her here. The girls loved it and I think that Stacy had a great time as well. IT was really hard to have her go. Thanks for coming and visiting us Stacy, we love you!!!!

Quad's birthday party.

Lyndi through a very large birthday party for the quad's 5th Birthday. She had it at this gynastic center here in Wichita Falls. Sometime's you couldn't tell who was having more fun, the kids or the parent's. Again I wish that my video's downloaded so that you could see AJ at the ceiling coming down doing back flips. Very Fun, thanks Lyndi for inviting us.

Emma and Jasmine in our backyard.

I just loved this picture of Emma and Jasmine. Emma loves pulling Jasmine around anywhere that she can and Jasmine just follow's her. She is one of the most mellow dog's that I have ever met.


Emma in the cupboard.

So on the last Sunday, Emma decided that while we were doing the dishes that she wanted to play hide-n-seek but only her hiding. Again here is where I wish that another video could be downloaded for it was really funny and cute how she would close the door and knock then open it and say Boo. This went on for at least a half an hour.


So here is what our April was like. I will be posting May and June hopefully tomorrow.

Spring Break and St. Patrick's Day

So AJ had a week off in March for Spring break and it happened to be at the same time as Madison's in AZ. Chris and Treasure had just moved into their new house about the same time as we did so I wanted to go and see it. I had been talking to Treasure trying to get them to come visit us but talked to Dave and Chris and decided that I would go out to AZ, without Treasure knowing. I love to surprise her. So after 16 hours of driving in the car with my two girls we made it to AZ about 8:30 at night. It was a long drive but my girls were great!!! Treasure could not believe her eyes when she opened the door and AJ was standing there. The kids played until very late. In the morning, it continued. Jackson watches cartoon's in the morning and so Emma wanted to lay down with him. These two get so excited when they see each other. Jackson with his sippy cup and Emma with her binky. These two were inseparable. Then came St. Patrick's day. The first thing that they did was, Madie and AJ read Green Eggs and Ham to Emma and Jackson. It was very cute. AJ was Sam and Madie was the other voice, they read very well together. Then came breakfast, St. Patrick's style.

 

The girls weren't to sure about the green food, but the babies didn't have a problem with it. They ate it right up. The leprechaun left them a little note that would lead them on a hunt for his gold. I think they had fun with it. First they had to paint a picture of the Leprechaun with finger paints. Emma doesn't really like to get her hands dirty, but Jackson is all boy and loved it. Then they had to dig through a bowel of spaghetti to find some magical ring pop's that of course were green.

 

They also had to do a spell with their rings to make all the green go away. I don't think it worked though. They then had to make cookies for the Leprachaun. They were yummy!! The Leprachaun let us have some, of course. In order to get the last clue to the pot of gold, they had to pop some balloon's to get the clues. They loved this. And then the pot of gold. This was the best St. Patrick's day ever. This little Leprachaun was a tricky little guy, but AJ still tells people about it. The next day AJ really wanted to go to Amazing Jake's. This is kinda of like Chucky Cheese's but a lot better. The kids had a lot of fun. Emma would walk with me holding her hand and Jackson just ran so I had to carry him.
This is just a min of what they sis for about a half an hour. SO this is just a little look of how much fun we had in Arizona. Thank-you Chris, Treasure, Madie and Jackson for letting us come and visit. We love you and love being in your cute home. Can't wait until Aug!

Road trip to Texas, our house and friends

Aunt Becky brought the girls to meet us at the airport and surprise Daddy. Emma, who is a daddy's girl wasn't to sure what to think about it. AJ couldn't stop hugging him.




Grandma Jessie came with us to Texas, we loved having her with us. I know that it was hard for her more so when she found out that her dear friend Gladis had passed away. Emma wasn't to sure about the long days. Austyn loving the adventure for now. Mom we sure appreciate everything that you have done for us. Thanks for coming with us.



Somewhere in New Mexico, we got a flat tire. I think this was a very humbling experience. The cirle on the tire is where the hole was. We were blessed that it wasn't worse and that a trucker pulled up next to us and let us know that we had a flat tire.




So mom came with us to help me unpack. Our stuff didn't show up until after mom came. This gave us time just to spend together. We found the bowling lanes on base and now every Wed. we go bowling for only $1 for AJ to bowl and $1.50 for each pair of shoes. WE love it.



This is a picture of AJ outside the Dallas Temple. We found the temple after we dropped mom off at the airport. That was a hard day. The only comfort was going to the temple, Costco and IKEA.


This is our stuff that the mover's brought right into our garage. I love having a garage. That is Sydney Briggs, AJ's best friend here in Texas.



This is Emma's room.



This is AJ's room. Yes her closet is huge!!!




This is the bathroom upstairs in the hall. AJ was our decorator with help from Grandma Jessie. I love it. It is also our Laundry room with my beautiful washer and dyer.


The master bedroom, bathroom and closet. I do enjoy the large closet that we have.



This is our downstairs, kitchen, garage, and our tornado room. Can't wait for the shelving to come. Time to save.



SO We went ot Dallas to go back to Costco and Ikea and bought a little larger dresser the what we had before and I slammed the door shut at Costco shattering our back window. Dave just stood there and laughed while I bawled like a baby. It was Sat night at 5pm and everything was closed. Not fun, but I did feel like I fit in the small redneck town's of Texas and the trailer homes.



These are our wonderful friends here in Texas. Lyndi and Byron Briggs with their 5 kids; Sydney (6), Sam (5) Emma's boyfriend, Seth (5), Sadie (5), and Sophie (5). Yes they are quads. There is also Amy and Zac with their 2 boys, Mitchell (4), and Jackson (3), another one of Emma's boyfriend. I don't know what I would do without Lyndi and Amy. I am so greatful for good friends. Love you guys.