I need to write about this evening before I forget. It's not a night I ever want to forget. A couple days before we left Houston, we went to the pool for an evening swim. We had already been earlier that day and tried to get Tyler to swim without his floaties again to practice, but he wouldn't. He was very resistent to the idea and so I let it go. Later that night we went back with Kenny and my parents. Kenny got Brynlee to take her floaties off and practice swimming without them. That's not even a big deal for Bryn in the fear department; I don't think she even understands what she should be afraid of, if that makes sense. She looked so cute! She stays just barely under water the whole time, and keeps her little eyes open under water (without goggles unfortunately), and just kicks her feet as fast as she can. That girl is fearless, and so adorable.
Tyler watches her swim back and forth from Kenny to the wall, and can't take it anymore. He made up his mind that he was going to swim, and Bryn--his younger sister--wasn't going to out perform him. So off came the floaties and he just went at it. HE WAS AMAZING! He was swimming, like full on swimming! He had a good stroke, and was kicking hard and could move pretty fast! I was just so so proud of him! I was like bursting at the seams, and it just kept getting better. His confidence grew as he realized what he could do. He kept swimming farther and farther. Then he decided he could go off the diving board. So my dad got in the water with him and he would jump off and swim right to my dad. Eventually my dad got out and he would swim all the way to the wall to get out. Then he did tricks off the diving board. Then he learned how to come up for breaths, and keep swimming again.
It was such an incredible feeling watching him get so much confidence and joy as he just quickly progressed from one thing to the next. Tyler is a very cautious boy, by nature, and has always been scared of lots of different things. So for him to go and do those things, to really conquer those fears was just so fun to watch. I love being a parent. Being a mom is the best job in the world.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Cleveland thus far
Well we gone and done it. We moved to Cleveland, Ohio. We left my parents' house on Thursday, June 30th in the morning. We were glad that we were in no rush, and took our time getting there. We stopped in Jennings, LA and got to hold and pet some baby alligators (or were they crocodiles?) and that was pretty exciting for the kids, especially Ty.
Saturday, we made it to our hotel here in North Olmsted, Ohio. We dropped our stuff off, grabbed our swim suits and went over to the Buckovich's house. Our good friends from Illinois, the Reeds, were here visiting her parents for the weekend and it was so fun to see them again. We met another family there, and we'll actually be in there ward now, so I think it was such a blessing we were able to go that day. We had a great time eating, swimming, and visiting. It's so nice to come here and not be totally lonely. We went with the Reeds to church on Sunday and ran into our old friends from our 3 month stint in Richmond, TX, the Thompsons. Debbie was my visiting teacher and I had Brynlee during that time so she was so sweet and brought meals, etc. They are in the same ward and it was fun to see them after over 2 years.
Monday, July 4th: Went to the Thompson's home for a big breakfast. On our way back home we caught the end of the little parade (mostly made up of local kids riding their decorated bicycles...I loved doing that when I was little). Then we saw there was a big to-do going on at the park, so we went and had a wonderful time eating free food and playing on all the free stuff. Really missing our families this day. Wishing so bad I was in Provo for both of my family reunions going on, but maybe next year. Kenny replaced the brakes on our poor van while the kids napped. We had a fun pizza picnic outside the hotel on a little patch of grass. Tyler and I went on a little mommy-son date to watch the fireworks in Strongsville that night while Kenny put the tired girls to bed. By the way we all wore matching shirts and I loved it :).
We've just been doing A LOT of house hunting while we've been here, and even before we came too. We put a deposit down on a house that I think we will love, even though we will probably still be kind of cramped. It's in a great family neighborhood in North Ridgeville. We'll go back on Monday after it's been cleaned and look at it again before we sign the contract for a year lease. We've been to the beach (Lake Erie) twice and had so much fun both times. Wonderful playground, beautiful area.
Speaking of our kids though, I have to say that they are being such troopers. I feel so bad that they've just been yanked from one house/hotel to another, dragged across the country several times and lived out of suitcases for the past 3 months. They are the best. We're trying to make everything a very positive experience, but I am dying to give them some consistency and stability. We can't get into the house until the 15th, but who knows how long it will be till they get all our stuff up here. I am praying it will be very soon.
That night we stayed in Jackson, MS. We ate at Cracker Barrell that night and because we were feeling so southernly-influenced I ordered chicken and dumplins with cornbread, and Kenny got some beef brisket and fried okra. :) I really love the South. Everybody drinks iced tea and eats fried chicken, and everybody has deep southern accents.
Day 2 of our trip we stopped at some Dinosaur World place in Kentucky. It cost too much money and would have taken way too much time, so we just let the kids explore the gift shop and pick out a small toy. They were happy with that becuase they didn't know what they were missing out on. We stayed that night in La Grange, KY, just past Louisville.
Day 2 of our trip we stopped at some Dinosaur World place in Kentucky. It cost too much money and would have taken way too much time, so we just let the kids explore the gift shop and pick out a small toy. They were happy with that becuase they didn't know what they were missing out on. We stayed that night in La Grange, KY, just past Louisville.
Saturday, we made it to our hotel here in North Olmsted, Ohio. We dropped our stuff off, grabbed our swim suits and went over to the Buckovich's house. Our good friends from Illinois, the Reeds, were here visiting her parents for the weekend and it was so fun to see them again. We met another family there, and we'll actually be in there ward now, so I think it was such a blessing we were able to go that day. We had a great time eating, swimming, and visiting. It's so nice to come here and not be totally lonely. We went with the Reeds to church on Sunday and ran into our old friends from our 3 month stint in Richmond, TX, the Thompsons. Debbie was my visiting teacher and I had Brynlee during that time so she was so sweet and brought meals, etc. They are in the same ward and it was fun to see them after over 2 years.
Monday, July 4th: Went to the Thompson's home for a big breakfast. On our way back home we caught the end of the little parade (mostly made up of local kids riding their decorated bicycles...I loved doing that when I was little). Then we saw there was a big to-do going on at the park, so we went and had a wonderful time eating free food and playing on all the free stuff. Really missing our families this day. Wishing so bad I was in Provo for both of my family reunions going on, but maybe next year. Kenny replaced the brakes on our poor van while the kids napped. We had a fun pizza picnic outside the hotel on a little patch of grass. Tyler and I went on a little mommy-son date to watch the fireworks in Strongsville that night while Kenny put the tired girls to bed. By the way we all wore matching shirts and I loved it :).
We've just been doing A LOT of house hunting while we've been here, and even before we came too. We put a deposit down on a house that I think we will love, even though we will probably still be kind of cramped. It's in a great family neighborhood in North Ridgeville. We'll go back on Monday after it's been cleaned and look at it again before we sign the contract for a year lease. We've been to the beach (Lake Erie) twice and had so much fun both times. Wonderful playground, beautiful area.I seriously underestimated Ohio. We love it here so far, even if we are staying in a nasty 2 room hotel. We spent the day yesterday in Kirtland, Ohio and that was neat too. I'm pretty sure we ruined the entire tours for everyone else with our tired/noisy kids. Hopefully they were still able to feel the spirit, because I sure wasn't able to concentrate.
Speaking of our kids though, I have to say that they are being such troopers. I feel so bad that they've just been yanked from one house/hotel to another, dragged across the country several times and lived out of suitcases for the past 3 months. They are the best. We're trying to make everything a very positive experience, but I am dying to give them some consistency and stability. We can't get into the house until the 15th, but who knows how long it will be till they get all our stuff up here. I am praying it will be very soon.
Monday, June 27, 2011
The Week
So at the beginning of the week I got to spend a lot of time with Cami. She and Tyler came and stayed over night on Sun. and Mon. It's always so much fun to have her around. We even went and played tennis Monday night and that was the first time in probably 2 1/ years I've been able to play. I wish it could happen more often, but maybe someday.
We went swimming every day of course, because it's obviously far too hot to do anything else here. On Saturday Kenny came swimming with us for a bit and helped the kids practice swimming without floaties. We keep saying that Bryn will learn before Ty because she's fearless. They both swim very well and will do pretty much anything with floaties on. Ty's just scared to death to take them off. He keeps saying he needs to wait until he's 5 years old haha. Oh and it even rained a few times this week! Houston's in a major drought this year, so any rain is much appreciated.
On Thursday we took the kids bowling and that was lots of fun for them. Tyler is getting so big. He wanted to do it all by himself and he did. He'd walk up and grab the ramp, push it over to the lane where he wanted it, come back and heft a huge bowling ball using his whole body to carry it over to the ramp, then push it down with pride. He liked to help Bryn on her turn too.
Friday night my parents and siblings all went on a youth temple trip. Kenny and I drove down to the temple with our kids and met up with them there after they finished. We switched cars, they took our kids home, and we got to stay and do a session. We called on the way home, thinking they'd be putting them all to bed or have them in bed since it was 9:00 and they were all out swimming!! hahaha. Ty and Bryn loved jumping over grandma's head, and into the pool! :) I'm glad they were making fun memories with their grandparents since we'll be leaving this week, I say just soak up all the family and fun you want. But Kenny and I decided since we never get to go out anymore that we'd go catch a movie since we were already out. We saw Super 8 and it was a good show, considering I had no idea what to expect going into it. Mostly it was just fun to get out together for a night.
Saturday we took a family trip to Ikea again, but this time walked away with two new beds for Tyler and Brynlee. I'm so excited to get into our own house so they can use them. That night we went and watched my sister Sarah sing in a stake Show Choir. They put on quite the performance and it's always fun to watch her perform. Sarah rocks the house, she seriously is an amazing singer.
Sunday we got to substitute teach a primary class and it was so nice to actually do something again. We've both noticed how uncomfortable it is to not have a ward right now. We haven't been able to have a calling or pay tithing or anything since we left and it's very unsettling. Hopefully we'll find something very quickly once we get up to Cleveland.
We went swimming every day of course, because it's obviously far too hot to do anything else here. On Saturday Kenny came swimming with us for a bit and helped the kids practice swimming without floaties. We keep saying that Bryn will learn before Ty because she's fearless. They both swim very well and will do pretty much anything with floaties on. Ty's just scared to death to take them off. He keeps saying he needs to wait until he's 5 years old haha. Oh and it even rained a few times this week! Houston's in a major drought this year, so any rain is much appreciated.
On Thursday we took the kids bowling and that was lots of fun for them. Tyler is getting so big. He wanted to do it all by himself and he did. He'd walk up and grab the ramp, push it over to the lane where he wanted it, come back and heft a huge bowling ball using his whole body to carry it over to the ramp, then push it down with pride. He liked to help Bryn on her turn too.
Friday night my parents and siblings all went on a youth temple trip. Kenny and I drove down to the temple with our kids and met up with them there after they finished. We switched cars, they took our kids home, and we got to stay and do a session. We called on the way home, thinking they'd be putting them all to bed or have them in bed since it was 9:00 and they were all out swimming!! hahaha. Ty and Bryn loved jumping over grandma's head, and into the pool! :) I'm glad they were making fun memories with their grandparents since we'll be leaving this week, I say just soak up all the family and fun you want. But Kenny and I decided since we never get to go out anymore that we'd go catch a movie since we were already out. We saw Super 8 and it was a good show, considering I had no idea what to expect going into it. Mostly it was just fun to get out together for a night.
Saturday we took a family trip to Ikea again, but this time walked away with two new beds for Tyler and Brynlee. I'm so excited to get into our own house so they can use them. That night we went and watched my sister Sarah sing in a stake Show Choir. They put on quite the performance and it's always fun to watch her perform. Sarah rocks the house, she seriously is an amazing singer.
Sunday we got to substitute teach a primary class and it was so nice to actually do something again. We've both noticed how uncomfortable it is to not have a ward right now. We haven't been able to have a calling or pay tithing or anything since we left and it's very unsettling. Hopefully we'll find something very quickly once we get up to Cleveland.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Father's Day--June 19th
This is a little taste of how our family pictures go:
Notice: Bryn's had enough and decides to walk away
Notice: Ty's face, Bryn's hands, Madi with my necklace again
Notice: Ty's face, and it is finally brought to my attention that she keeps grabbing my necklace.
Notice: more funny faces and necklace issues
What is going on anyway?
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE WORLD'S BEST DAD!
Notice: Bryn squeezing her cheek and Madi grabbing my necklace
Notice: Bryn's had enough and decides to walk away
Notice: Ty's face, Bryn's hands, Madi with my necklace again
Notice: Ty's face, and it is finally brought to my attention that she keeps grabbing my necklace.
Notice: more funny faces and necklace issues
What is going on anyway?BUT, we finally got one
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE WORLD'S BEST DAD!
I'm so glad you're the father of my children
P.S. We sure make cute kids ;)
P.S. We sure make cute kids ;)
Monday, June 20, 2011
Westons and Webbs--Vegas Pics
The order of children's ages: Tyler 4, Eva 4 (they're like 6 weeks apart), Leighton 2 (will be 3 next month), Brynlee 2, Dean 9 months, Madison 6 months. What a party!!
Here's a few pictures from our 2 weeks there...
Having a water gun fight
Finger painting, and possibly ruining the porch cement
Eating at the buffet
Other fun non-photographed memories:
Steph and I working out every morning together at 6 a.m. GO GYMBOX!
Here's a few pictures from our 2 weeks there...
Having a water gun fight
Finger painting, and possibly ruining the porch cement
Eating at the buffetOther fun non-photographed memories:
Steph and I working out every morning together at 6 a.m. GO GYMBOX!
Watching the kids get to know their cousins better and having so much fun
Playing at the park
Swimming
U Swirl frozen yogurt and yummy food places
Costco trip--all the shopping trips actually
Loading 6 kids into 6 carseats to go anywhere
Being so worn out at the end of every day and winding down with a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich and watching a documentary (America: The Story of Us) or So You Think You Can Dance
California--what were we thinking??
Having at least one child crying what seemed like all the time!
One meltdown after another tantrum after another fight...it never ends!
Doing preschool together since Ty and Eva use the same curriculum
I loved having someone to talk to all throughout the day. Steph is amazing and I'm so glad I got to spend that time with her and her beautiful kids. We dream of the day when we can all live closer and visit each other more regularly. As for now it's either we live together in the same house during the visit, or we don't see each other for like a year at a time. Feast or famine--it's annoying, but it is what it is.
Our California trip will have to wait (again) for yet another post because I'm having some computer issues.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Back from the dead
I absolutely hate not blogging for a long time because I have so much to catch up on and then I leave out all the details, which is usually the funnest part to remember. But here I am with several weeks behind me, and the catch up game begins...
Saturday, June 21
My parents' stake held their annual 5K and 1 mile family walk/run. My mom was so nice to take my kids on the family 1 mile walk so that Kenny and I could run the 5K. When Tyler woke up that morning, he was so excited and all geared up for his "race". He put on his lightning mcqueen underwear and shoes, certain that they would help him run extra fast. So instead of a nice 1 mile walk, my mom ended up chasing Tyler, while pushing the double stroller with Bryn and Madi in it haha. He was determined to win, it was so cute. The 5K went well also. I really didn't know how I'd do, I haven't raced that since like highschool, so I just said my goal was to get under 26 minutes. I finished at 25:26, and ended up getting 1st place for women 20-29 (which there were obviously not very many of if I won 1st place with that time). Kenny finished a little bit behind me, but had a sore ankle from rolling it the other nigh at basketball. But anyway we all had a great time. Certainly not like the times I used to get in highschool, but I was happy, and it felt good to be in a race again.
During the weeks we didn't do much. Just a lot of playing, really. Continued preschool with Tyler, he has mastered the Wii, esepcially sword fighting and wants to ask Santa for one for Christmas :). There's a little boy next door named Walker, and he and Tyler are really cute friends. We also jumped into doing playgroups with the young moms in this ward, and of course loved going to the park and swimming often.
The next weekend, Saturday June 28th, we made a last minute decision to go visit my sister, Steph in Las Vegas. Her husband, Andrew, just deployed to Iraq and we figured since I didn't have anything here that I needed to stay for, why not go out and visit her. We made the decision, packed up the car, and were on the road within a few hours. Sometimes we are just a little bit nuts, and this was one of those times. Kenny quickly got on the computer and bought a ticket to fly back, after driving us out there. But once we got on the road, a couple hours into our trip, he realized that he bought the ticket from houston to vegas, isntead of from vegas to houston!! So Steph helped us fix it since we were computer-less and he got the last seat on the only flight left the next day. But it was going to be short on time. We didn't have a choice though, so we were bookin it! Thank goodness LV has a 2 hour time change btwn. here and there. We had some close calls and miracles on the way down. Like when we ran out of gas on the exit ramp and literally coasted up to the gas station pump. And when a bird hit the windshield in the middle of the night while going about 85+ mph and cracked it really bad, but it was on the side by the bar. Had it been a foot over towards the middle, it would have totally gone through the window and hit me. But after that 22 hour road trip straight through the night we only had one speeding ticket, and zero accidents. We went straight to the airport and without even seeing Steph or her kids, Kenny had 55 minutes to catch his plane back home. Phew!!
I stayed there for 2 weeks and it was, in a word, INSANE. Seriously, 6 kids ages 4 and under is a lot of work for two single moms haha. I will do a separate post about those two weeks later. But we did a whole lot, including going to California for 2 days to play on the beach. We were very brave (and probably stupid) but we made some great memories and isn't that what it's all about.
Oh and I forgot to mention how a couple days after I had posted on here that we were moving to Cleveland, Kenny's company told us to hold off again, because it was no longer certain. We had been getting yanked around so so much before, and I waited several days after hearing the news to post it on here because things change all the time with this company. But I thought it was for sure, and then it wasn't again and we continued to wait. We got our hopes up again for going to Idaho Falls and were so looking forward to that. But after a couple more weeks we were finally told that Cleveland was for sure again, and now we're starting once more to look for somewhere to live. So that all happened while I was away, which was a nice distraction to be at Steph's while we waited to hear the news. But anyway, we're getting very excited to start our lives there, and we'll be going up there July 1st (at least that's the plan for now).
On Thursday, June 9th, Kenny flew back to vegas and got in around midnight. He stayed the next day and we had a good time. Friday night we all took the kids to a buffet at one of the big hotel casinos and it was yummy. We were joking about how we looked like polygamists with Kenny, me and steph, and our 6 kids hahaha. Then we went home, put the kids to bed, a babysitter came over and we went to a Cirque de Soleil show!!! It was absolutely amazing!!! I have never been to a show like that and I totally loved every second of it. The next morning we packed up the car and headed home. We stopped at Hoover Dam on the way out and that was neat to see.
The ironic thing was the day after we left for Vegas, my sister Camille and her husband Tyler arrived here in Houston! I missed them by one day. And I missed my sister Kim, by one day the other way, since she had just barely left Steph's house. Pretty poor planning on our part in both directions, but oh well. I have loved being near Cami since we've been back. It's so much fun to hang out with her again. So basically we just sleep in every morning, go swimming every day at least once, and do lots of shopping as well :). We're still getting things sorted out with moving, and it's coming up all too quickly and yet not soon enough at the same time.
Well I realize this post desperately needs photos but I will have to do that later. I promise it will be soon!
Saturday, June 21
My parents' stake held their annual 5K and 1 mile family walk/run. My mom was so nice to take my kids on the family 1 mile walk so that Kenny and I could run the 5K. When Tyler woke up that morning, he was so excited and all geared up for his "race". He put on his lightning mcqueen underwear and shoes, certain that they would help him run extra fast. So instead of a nice 1 mile walk, my mom ended up chasing Tyler, while pushing the double stroller with Bryn and Madi in it haha. He was determined to win, it was so cute. The 5K went well also. I really didn't know how I'd do, I haven't raced that since like highschool, so I just said my goal was to get under 26 minutes. I finished at 25:26, and ended up getting 1st place for women 20-29 (which there were obviously not very many of if I won 1st place with that time). Kenny finished a little bit behind me, but had a sore ankle from rolling it the other nigh at basketball. But anyway we all had a great time. Certainly not like the times I used to get in highschool, but I was happy, and it felt good to be in a race again.
During the weeks we didn't do much. Just a lot of playing, really. Continued preschool with Tyler, he has mastered the Wii, esepcially sword fighting and wants to ask Santa for one for Christmas :). There's a little boy next door named Walker, and he and Tyler are really cute friends. We also jumped into doing playgroups with the young moms in this ward, and of course loved going to the park and swimming often.
The next weekend, Saturday June 28th, we made a last minute decision to go visit my sister, Steph in Las Vegas. Her husband, Andrew, just deployed to Iraq and we figured since I didn't have anything here that I needed to stay for, why not go out and visit her. We made the decision, packed up the car, and were on the road within a few hours. Sometimes we are just a little bit nuts, and this was one of those times. Kenny quickly got on the computer and bought a ticket to fly back, after driving us out there. But once we got on the road, a couple hours into our trip, he realized that he bought the ticket from houston to vegas, isntead of from vegas to houston!! So Steph helped us fix it since we were computer-less and he got the last seat on the only flight left the next day. But it was going to be short on time. We didn't have a choice though, so we were bookin it! Thank goodness LV has a 2 hour time change btwn. here and there. We had some close calls and miracles on the way down. Like when we ran out of gas on the exit ramp and literally coasted up to the gas station pump. And when a bird hit the windshield in the middle of the night while going about 85+ mph and cracked it really bad, but it was on the side by the bar. Had it been a foot over towards the middle, it would have totally gone through the window and hit me. But after that 22 hour road trip straight through the night we only had one speeding ticket, and zero accidents. We went straight to the airport and without even seeing Steph or her kids, Kenny had 55 minutes to catch his plane back home. Phew!!
I stayed there for 2 weeks and it was, in a word, INSANE. Seriously, 6 kids ages 4 and under is a lot of work for two single moms haha. I will do a separate post about those two weeks later. But we did a whole lot, including going to California for 2 days to play on the beach. We were very brave (and probably stupid) but we made some great memories and isn't that what it's all about.
Oh and I forgot to mention how a couple days after I had posted on here that we were moving to Cleveland, Kenny's company told us to hold off again, because it was no longer certain. We had been getting yanked around so so much before, and I waited several days after hearing the news to post it on here because things change all the time with this company. But I thought it was for sure, and then it wasn't again and we continued to wait. We got our hopes up again for going to Idaho Falls and were so looking forward to that. But after a couple more weeks we were finally told that Cleveland was for sure again, and now we're starting once more to look for somewhere to live. So that all happened while I was away, which was a nice distraction to be at Steph's while we waited to hear the news. But anyway, we're getting very excited to start our lives there, and we'll be going up there July 1st (at least that's the plan for now).
On Thursday, June 9th, Kenny flew back to vegas and got in around midnight. He stayed the next day and we had a good time. Friday night we all took the kids to a buffet at one of the big hotel casinos and it was yummy. We were joking about how we looked like polygamists with Kenny, me and steph, and our 6 kids hahaha. Then we went home, put the kids to bed, a babysitter came over and we went to a Cirque de Soleil show!!! It was absolutely amazing!!! I have never been to a show like that and I totally loved every second of it. The next morning we packed up the car and headed home. We stopped at Hoover Dam on the way out and that was neat to see.
The ironic thing was the day after we left for Vegas, my sister Camille and her husband Tyler arrived here in Houston! I missed them by one day. And I missed my sister Kim, by one day the other way, since she had just barely left Steph's house. Pretty poor planning on our part in both directions, but oh well. I have loved being near Cami since we've been back. It's so much fun to hang out with her again. So basically we just sleep in every morning, go swimming every day at least once, and do lots of shopping as well :). We're still getting things sorted out with moving, and it's coming up all too quickly and yet not soon enough at the same time.
Well I realize this post desperately needs photos but I will have to do that later. I promise it will be soon!
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