A Week in Houston

We got there late Saturday night, August 1st. It was so good to know we were going to be (mostly) out of the car for a whole week. This was the first time I'd seen my parents home/apartment that they're in. And actually they've recently moved again, so we'll have to go back next year :). It was great to be there though and listen to my dad conduct family scripture study and prayers like he did every single day that I can remember. He is a great man. My mom always makes her home so lovely and welcoming and is always so happy to see us all. I love my parents so much and I love that my kids can get to know their grandparents. Kenny only got to stay that one night. We went to church the next morning and then I took him to the airport. I was so sad to see him go. 

Honestly I can't even tell you how many hours the kids spent catching lizards. At one point I think they had 10 in a big bug-catching jar. Eva, Tyler, Leighton, and Brynlee were the main lizard catchers. They were outside all the time. They tried to catch the squirrels too, but it never worked ;). Glad they found something to keep them busy AND outside. On Monday we went to La Porte, TX to play at the beach! We had such a fun time but holy cow it was hot! The sand literally burned your feet if you walked on it without shoes. It was crazy. My kids and I all got sunburned even though i put sunscreen on us. My cousin Charlotte came with her kids too which was SO fun to see them. I just love her.

 Funnest grandma in the world. Seriously.

 L to R: Cami, Steph, Charlotte, me, Sarah. 

 Our whole group! Minus Cami (who took the picture) and Max, whom she was holding.

 One night my mom pulled out some glow sticks and they had fun waving them around like crazy.

The rest of the week we did a whole lot of swimming and a few different pools! My kids are not very good swimmers, as we haven't had a lot of opportunities to swim. Even when we go "swimming" it's mostly just playing around at the lake, and they can always touch the ground. So it was an adjustment for them, mostly just for the girls. Tyler felt pretty comfortable. But the others all wanted to wear floaties. After many days Brynlee finally took them off. With her I think it was more of a confidence thing. But anyway, it was fun to watch them experience that and slowly get more comfortable in the water.

One night we went to Ben and Charlotte Allosp's for dinner. It was a blast. Her mom, my aunt Jana, was also in town. Oh I love spending time with them. Such a great family and our kids got along really well, especially Brynlee and Troy (below). Charlotte is a great example to me.

 Above: crafting with Grandma. Below: watching a movie all together.

 Unfortunately for us, and the rest of Houston, we had to go shopping a few times to get stuff for the wedding. It was quite an ordeal! So many children. The picture above was actually when we were shoe shopping and Steph got a call that some stranger had Dean, her youngest. Thank goodness he had memorized her cell phone number! It was a great reminder to me to teach that to all of my kids, area code included! I made up a little jingle with my phone number, but not the area code. So we'll have to work on that. This picture below was really funny. Poor Tyler, (Cami's husband) he was the only man there with what looked like sister-wives, no doubt! 1 man, 3 women and 10 kids out to eat at a restaurant. Now that's one big, happy family! :)

I was so glad we got to spend some time down there in Houston! I only wish I had Kenny with me the whole trip because I was exhausted and we were only halfway down with our trip at this point! But quality time with my sisters, and for my kids to have that with their cousins--that's just so important to me, so it was definitely worth all the work, money, and sacrifice.

White Sands

 Friday, July 31st. We let the kids watch some cartoons in bed, as that was Tyler's ideal hotel "thing to do". A funny incident I want to remember: Kelsey kept climbing up on the desk to play with the phone. She was very interested in it, and I just kept telling her to stop messing around with it and put it down. But Kenny is a much better parent and instead decided to call her on it and surprise her. We had got a good deal on these rooms and so we had 2. (Briggs, Kelsey and I in one room, Kenny had the older 3 in the other room. So Kenny goes into the next room and calls the room where Kelsey's right by the phone. It sort of scared her and she jumped back when it rang. But I realized what was going on and told her to pick up the phone and answer it. Little did I know, Madison who was in the bathroom, also happened to have a phone right by her, and she answered too! hahaha! It made me laugh so hard.

We drove ALL day to get to Alamogordo, New Mexico! That's where my sister Steph and her family live. We showed up around 6 and she had a delicious pot of hot soup and delicious rolls waiting for us. It was the best meal I'd had in a loooong time! I was so grateful. We didn't stick around long though because we wanted to make good use of the little sunlight we had left. So we hopped in their bus (yes, literally. They own a bus and it's the coolest dang thing in the world!) and we all rode together to White Sands. It was the most perfect evening. It had been raining that day which cooled it off perfectly, but the sand wasn't wet. It was the most gorgeous sunset and we all had fun just sitting in the soft sand and talking while the kids sled down over and over and uncle Andrew built jumps for them to go off. We couldn't figure out why it was SOO packed. Steph said she had never seen it so busy in her life. But the full moon came up and it was supposed to be a "blue moon" or something like that. Anyway we got to see it and didn't even know what we were getting! It was such a fun and memorable night. We love hanging out with the Webbs!

 That's their bus in the background! It's got nice long benches, bunk beds, and a queen size bed in the very back. It's just amazing.

Glen Canyon Dam, Horseshoe Bend, and Grand Canyon!

All these pictures are still from Thursday, July 30th. After Willis Creek and Grosvenor Arch, we kept driving south (a very scenic drive!) and got into Arizona. We drove for a while before getting to the Dam at Lake Powell. We didn't stay too long, but it was a fun stop.

We had gotten a pamphlet of different things to stop and see from a Visitor's Center. It mentioned this place called Horseshoe Bend, and had quite incredible pictures. Since it wasn't any extra out of the way, we pulled off to see it. Only we didn't realize how far of a walk it was until we got up to beginning part and read the sign. We very stupidly decided to not go back to our car for water. It was so stinkin hot. We are not used to this desert heat and looking back it really is a miracle we didn't all end up in the hospital with heat exhaustion. We decided to press forward to go see it. Kenny and I were both carrying one (or two) children the whole time. It was 3/4 mile each way, which doesn't sound like a lot. But we had already hiked a couple miles that morning, and they were all so hot and thirsty and tired. It was a pretty incredible spot to see the Colorado River in quite a spectacular horseshoe shape. These pictures don't do it justice at all. Look up pictures of it online, you'l be amazed. It was really neat in person, but we were both scared to death our kids were going to fall off the ledge and die! So we didn't stay very long. Just long enough to take a few pictures and admire it for a minute or two. Then we trekked back up to our car for some hot water bottles (from sitting in the car) before we all passed out. It was quite a place, I just wish we had 1) not done it at the hottest time of day and 2) brought WATER with us. And maybe a pack mule next time for all of our children. ;)

We kept driving and a while later arrived at the Grand Canyon! In case you've never been there before, it's not just one spot you stop and look at. You can drive along the road and there's like a dozen (I have no idea how many) different look-out points where you park and get out and walk over to it, take some more pictures and "ooh and aah" over it. Then walk back to your car, drive to the next stop, get out and do it all over again. After the first several stops I think it started to get pretty old to the kids. It was really cool though, and I'm always so amazed at that place. You feel so small and weak looking down into this massive canyon for miles and miles as far as you can see. Such a spectacular corner of the earth.

We went and got a very late dinner and drove to our hotel in Flagstaff, AZ. We got there quite late and we all crashed.