Just a fun picture

I saw this tonight while I was sitting here and decided to post this fun picture. This is Hannah to a tee.

I love this girl.

Nothing new

A friend of mine asked what we've been up to and honestly not a whole lot. There have been trips to the dentist and doctor, story time, playtime, school time, and down time. I have several a sewing project I'm working on and several on hold for now. We are having a Relief Society Meeting this week which always means a little more stress, but all in all we are doing well and nothing too exciting going on.

The best new is that the weather has been pretty nice for the past couple of weeks. Last Friday we hosted a "Perfectly Pleasing Pie Party." (I love a little aliteration.) We had close to 50 people just outside our apartment. It was alright because the neighbors were there too. We asked everyone to bring pie, ice cream or whipping cream. We had several different kind of pie, cookies, cream puffs and even popcorn. It was great fun. The evening got really cool once the sun went down but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I spent most of it inside helping my children but it was great. The best part was that it was outside do there was very little clean up and hardly any mess inside; most of the inside mess was from Jonathan.

With the good weather continuing. Hyrum's brother and his family joined us for a little while this weekend. They came to the Ward Kite Flying activity. The kids had a blast and were so happy with their kites. Hyrum made a goods showing with Elmo as well.


So we are on to another week filled with spilled water at dinner-time, smiles from Charlotte, scream of pain and delight from Hannah and Jonathan and hopefully some more good weather to enjoy being outside.

Knee Surgery

January 10, Hyrum has arthroscopic knee surgery. It went well and he is up walking around. The swelling has gone down quite a bit and he starts PT next week to get the rest of it down, improve range of motion and strengthen it.

He thinks that the surgery has helped with the pain he had been feeling, for which we are grateful. Hopefully it will continue to improve and soon he'll be running and jumping like a little kid again or at least with the little kids again : )

Happy Birthday, Hyrum

We celebrated Hyrum's 30th birthday while we were in NY.


He was happy to finally be able to open his present. I had sealed it in a #10 canned. We enjoyed the day together and had our favorite chocolate cake for dessert.

Where have we been?

So I think its been over a month now since I've written anything up here. It's also not a very good indication of what our life has been like over the past month.

The middle of December we hopped in our car and headed north. I know there is a lot north of Austin so I'll tell just how far we headed. We drove to New York to visit my parents for Christmas. Our kids are really good road trippers. We start them young so they did great. I bought a car adapter for my pump so Charlotte was able to take a bottle while we were on the road drastically minimizing our stops. We didn't run into any snow except what had been on the ground for a couple days.


On the way up we stopped at Vicksburg and Chickamauga Civil War battlefields. Hyrum loved it. We spent about two and a half days on the road without any excitement though we were certainly prepared for the worse.


We arrived in New York the Saturday before Christmas and that Monday three of my other siblings flew in. It was so great to see Kallie, Andrew and Adam. It had been a while since they were all else where this last summer when we made our usual trip to Utah. We hadn't seen Adam in two and a half years since he was on his mission in Colorado. While my brothers taught my kids bad habits, I miss them. I had a great time just enjoying my time with my family. It was my first time home for Christmas in 6 years.


We went shopping, got ready for Christmas and of course, we cooked and since we cooked, we ate. My mom had a ton of cookies in her freezer when we got there and by the time we left there were nearly gone. When I say a ton, I mean tens of dozens. It was so bad but so tasty : ) We had so much fun. The kids enjoyed a few play days in the snow. I learned how to make tamales. Yes, I live in Texas but I had to go to NY to learn how to make tamales. We also blessed Charlotte , which means she was presented before the congregation and given a special blessing. It was nice to have my dad and brothers participate in that.


It was hard for me to leave but home was calling. We left for home the Wednesday after the New Year. We left during a snow storm. It was a little worse than we would have liked to have left in but no bad enough to keep us there. We drove a few hours to Kirtland, Ohio and visit the Church sites there. By the time we got to Cleveland and turned south the snow was no problem.


It was another good drive home. We stopped the second day at Mammoth Caves National Park. We went to one cave and that was enough for this trip. We will go back when the kids are older. I have always wanted to go there so it was nice to make on this trip. The last days we stopped in at Hyrum's parent's for a few hours. It was nice to stretch our legs in known territory before finishing our drive home.


It was a great vacation and so nice to see my family. We missed Nathan and his family but maybe another time. How grateful I am for a wonderful family. We can support and help one another. I love my brothers and sister so much. I miss them and I am grateful for any chance we get to see them. We hope you all had a great Christmas too.