Pictures from Vacation

These are some pictures from our trip. Just click on the image if you'd like to see a larger view.

There's one of Dallin and Jett in their jeep( or is it a "seep"), Grandma helping Wes blow bubbles, Krista with Tymber (who could not be seen without her necklaces, so much so that she had a fit when they had to be removed for her bath, but setteled right back down as soon as they were back in their rightful place), a beautiful shot of Emma's pouting face, Aaron and Zak serenading Jimmy with "Happy Birthday", Beach shots (me and the kids, wes w/ his hands full of sand, Emma and her dainty-splash, Jared and Meghan living out their surfer fantasies) and then pics from the zoo and Herman park.

A Mini-Vacation

How long has it been? I haven't blogged in nearly 2 months and I am ashamed. This is very much like journals of my youth; paragraphs of quick notes that try to list all the events that had happened over the previous months with little details and no hope of evoking true memories. Does my life follow a pattern? Well at least I can attest to the fact that some patterns can be broken, IE: my husband is a much better man than any other guy I ever dated. So, there is hope! We just got back from a mini-vacation to Houston. The kids and I went to Pearland (south side of Houston) on the 12Th to stay almost a week with my brother, Jimmy and his family. Afton, his wife, planned a great surprise birthday party for him. He will be turning 30 in December, but because Afton's 30Th birthday is in August she wanted to be sure he would get the "honor" of turning 30 first and had his party on July 13Th. My little brother Jared and his wife Meghan flew in from Utah and got to stay for a few days and it was great spending time with them. Mom and Dad were there, Aaron and Zak, Krista & Tymber, we had a blast. We went to the beach, ate at a great Indian restaurant, went to the Japanese flower gardens (but they were closed), played at Herman park downtown, went swimming, got a tour of the law-firm Jim works for downtown in a huge beautiful building, I did a spin-class with Afton (and my bum still hurts), went to the Houston Zoo and got rained on a lot. It was so much fun. We stayed up late after the kids were in bed and got to play games, reminisce, look at old football cards, watch movies and laugh!! It was great getting to watch Pride & Prejudice with Afton, and Jimmy burned a great CD for me. I had a blast taking Dallin and Jett shopping for their birthday presents. I loved getting to play the part of "Aunt". Emma and Wes are still talking about all the fun they had.

We then drove to Katy on the west side of Houston to visit with Mark's brother and his family. We got to Stu and Rinda's house last Thursday and then Mark drove down with his parents to meet up with us on Friday. His whole family, including Aunt Martie from Tucson, came to celebrate his nephews' birthdays. Austin turned 12 on the 17Th and Parker 16 on the 22ND! Loraine shares her birthday with Parker and we got to celebrate a little bit with her. As much as she would allow anyway :)! Stu rented a ginormous inflatable water slide for the occasion. And on Saturday, after a morning of family pictures (which I will post when available), we spent the day climbing up an 18 foot high slide and bouncing, flipping, jumping, rolling, and sliding our way down into the splash pool! It was so cool! We had a blast. The thing was so huge that it wouldn't fit into the backyard, so we had it on the side of the house with all of the jealous neighborhood looking on. Good Times!!

So, now we're back. And I have phone-calls to return, a checkbook to balance, laundry out the wa-zoo, and real life to return to. So, thank you Family for the wonderful vacation! We had a blast, and I think I had forgotten just how much fun family can be. I do have to say though......It is good to be home! and I love having a house to come home to.