Visiting Texas

We left Utah on May 12th to head for Texas.  We stopped a couple times along the way since we were both driving different cars.  The kids did pretty well, but it was definitely a long drive! 

The boys were sure we needed to find a hotel with a pool.  This one is in Childress, TX

We did a lot of fun things at Grandma's house.  Eliza met her Shirley side of the family for the first time.  She loves them all!  However, I think her cousin Holden is her favorite.

Eliza and Holden relaxing with Aunt Lily.

RODEO

We went to a rodeo while we were there.  It was a lot of fun.  WE love our Grandpa!

Bradley, Daniel & Dad as things are getting started.

These are the Cowboy Chicks, or something like that.  They did some stunt riding and some horse "dancing" things.  They were pretty good.

This saddle bronc didn't want to be ridden.  He tried to jump out.  He was BIG too!!

The cowboy finally did get to ride him and he got a good score.

Bradley participated in the money run.  They lined all the kids up and through money out on the other side of the arena.  Bradley didn't really understand what was going on, but there were guys walking around giving money to the little ones who didn't get any.  Bradley sweet talked the guy into giving him one.  He was so proud!!

Eliza enjoyed her first rodeo!

WORKING AND VISITING

Mowing the lawn was one of our favorite jobs!

Daniel and Bradley were Dad's best helpers.

We got to visit with Heleman and Zandra while we were there.  Heleman went to school with Andy.  These are their cute kids.

Bradley, Eliza, Zion, Zoe & Daniel

Andy helped Grandpa run some wire to the barn for electricity.

WE went to Tyler, TX to visit Melissa and Daniel and help work on their upstairs.

Guard showed Bradley how to catch a chicken.  Bradley had never touch a chicken before, but he is an expert chicken catcher now!

This is a picnic roast, or something, it was AWESOME! Thanks Daniel!

Holden

Daniel and Andy hanging some sheet rock.  They were standing on boards suspended from the stairs to the ladder.  Andy fell off once and got a pretty good bruise.  IT scared all of us to here the thud!  Nothing was broken so we were all good.

Bradley swimming in Grandma's pool

Daniel playing with Grandma

Relaxing in the pool was one of our favorite things to do!

Bruise from falling off the ladder.  (It is all gone now!)

Cute, but silly boys!

SMITHS VISIT

Janna and her kids were able to come visit with us while we were there.  Thanks Grandma for hosting!

The boys got pretty wild in the pool, but it was fun.

Eliza got her first hair cut.  She had a couple spots that were longer than everything else, so Aunt Janna just evened things out.

There were kittens living in the over hang at the house.  When the mama finally brought them down one got stuck up there.  It was up there for a couple of days with out her and it was very hot!  Andy finally caught it and we gave it some milk and kept it in the shade until the mama came up to the house again to get it.

Abby

I love how much she enjoys her spaghetti!

Abby, Eliza, Andrew and Taylor

Abby and Eliza

Our Smith cousins left memorial weekend just before the Shirley cousins came in.  It was a great weekend except for when everyone took turns being sick! 

Bradley and Grandma were sick first.  They were both pretty bad.  Bradley just hung out in Grandma's room with her and slept off and on.

Levi, Grandpa, Andy and Quincy playing with the new press.  They had to change out the ball barrings on  Andy and Grandpa's cars.

The girls made bracelets and necklaces.  It was also Macy's birthday.

Verin showing off her new accessories!

The boys had fun playing computer games until the mom's would kick them outside.

Happy Birthday Macy!

Quincy helping Macy string a bracelet.  What a great Dad!!

MILKING THE COW

Grandpa has a cow he milks every night.  They get about 3 gallons a day from her. 

The grand kids loved to help with the milking.

The cow milking gang is getting ready to ride back to the house.

MEMORIAL DAY

On  Memorial Day we walked to the Kelsey, TX cemetery to put flowers on Granny's grave.  There are quite a few Shirleys down there.  Grandpa told us more stories about each person.  I really should write them down some time.

Atlas, Cannon, Kael, Macy, Brylee, Guard, Bradley, Xane, Locke, Calais, Verin, Daniel & Eliza

                      Quincy bathing Bender before they headed back to San Antonio, TX

This is the milk spinner. (I don't think that is the actual name, but that is what is does.)  They can adjust it to spin out as much cream as the want.  They use the cream to make butter. 

We had so much fun visiting everyone in Texas.  There are way too many pictures from our time there to share them all.  (Come visit me and I will show the ALL to you!) 

May 14-31, 2010

Playing the Wii

This is the first of many catch up posts!

Bradley having a snowball fight

We had to get Grandma's Wii set up for her and try it out. I know you are all amazed that I have lived this long and this was the first time I played the Wii. We did some giant slalom skiing, played birds eye view and had snow ball fights. I learned that it is harder than it looks, I am very unbalanced and that Bradley is really pretty good at everything!!

Andy is pretty good at the snow ball fights too.

Grandma trying to ski. It was really hard because the pad is so sensitive. She did better than I did on my first trip down the mountain!

I guess I am going to have to really work on my balance and exercise some more since the Wii thinks I am a little over weight and that my age is 37!! It thought Bradley was 13, so I am trying not to be too offended since he is in really good shape.

May 11, 2010

Life in the Cul-De-Sac

We have really enjoyed living in a cul-de-sac.  The kids have alot of room to run and play and I don't have to worry about traffic.  One of the best features of our new house is definitely the neighbor kids James and Niamh.  They are such cute well behaved kids!!  Bradley and Daniel watch for them and can't wait to do anything, but play with them.  (Niamh is pronounced Nee-iv.  It is a Gaelic name, fitting since they are Irish.)

James, 6 yr. neighbor, had quickly become the resident idol.  Daniel told us the other day that he wants to grow up to play soccer like James!

 Bradley spends as much time as possible taking advantage of having some one big enough to play ball, ride bikes, jump on trampoline, etc..

Daniel doing his best to "play baseball" like the big boys.  I was surprised at how long he stuck at it without getting upset over the number of misses.

Niamh, 4 yr. neighbor, is a little doll!  She is so sweet and polite.  She loves to help watch Eliza.  If only Eliza was bigger they could play dress up instead of ball.

The kids playing in the pool in our drive way.  I love their muscle pose!

Eliza gets quite a kick out of watching the kids play.

James, Bradley, Niamh, and Daniel getting ready to do sparklers.

We had a party on the 3rd and invited everyone in the cul-de-sac to come over for a BBQ and some fire works.  It was fun to visit with everyone.  We have a Polish couple, an Irish family, a couple from China, and the other two are from the USA.  The kids had fun doing the fire works.  I think the adults had more fun watching the kids than actually doing the fire works.  It turned out great and we will have to do it again.

Margret, Karen, Eliza and Niamh

Most of the fire work gang.

Jumping tracks a little: These are the first year residents at UNC.

Andy, Carrie, Eric and Eric.

Eliza was so happy to snuggle with her dad.  I am not sure who was the most tired.

Here we are getting ready for war.  We had cowboys, Indians, army men, knights, tanks, and several different fighter jets.  I think they have more fun setting up for the battle, than actually having the battle.

Side note: Every time Eliza started to whine, James would leave the battle preparations to make sure she had her Binky.  He is such a sweet kid!!

Bradley has recently discovered how fun it is to feed Eliza.  It was so cute I got a video to show our Dad.

 This is when we first got my recliner.  Eliza and Dad had to try it out for me.  One of Eliza's favorite games is to play peek-a-boo with a blanket.  She gets so excited to pull it off her face.

She is getting so big and we can't express how much everyone loves her!

 

The boys helping me get the tomatoes in.  Bradley and Daniel are such good and willing helpers.  I wouldn't know what to do with myself with out them.  :)

Our New House

I am finally getting around to the pictures of our new house.  Andy was really good to help me get things organized before he had to start his residency.  The downstairs is finished and there are only a few boxes left upstairs since we spend most of our time downstairs.  :)   Anyway, here are some pictures of the outside and downstairs. 

This is looking from the sitting room towards the kitchen.

This is by the front door showing the formal sitting/dinning room and the door way to the kitchen.

This is the kitchen from the family room.  The door to the dinning room is on the other side of the fridge.

This is the formal sitting area next to the front door.

A little closer look at the kitchen.  I have to do all the dishes every night so that the ants don't invade!!

               This is looking from the kitchen to the family room with the sliding door out to the deck on the left.

Bradley ran around saying "Cheese!"  every time I went to take a picture.

This is standing in front of the sliding door looking at the front door.

These are stairs, obviously, to the bedrooms

 This is looking at the house from the southeast corner.  I should have done a before and after picture of this.  The flower bed was very over grown.  It was evident that someone put a lot of time and effort into it, but it hadn't been maintained.  It doesn't look too bad at all now.

This is still the south side of the house.  WE planted tomatoes after ripping out some kind of plant.  This is basically the back yard.

The owners left us the patio furniture and the grill.  We have enjoyed both!

This is looking at the side yard.  The kids play here, at the neighbors house or in the cul-de-sac.  They have loads of fun!!

This is a picture of our "Harry Potter" closet under the stairs.  It is inside of the coat closet.  The boys think it is pretty cool!!  (So do I.)

Another picture of the outside from the north east.

                  This is our entry way.  We have has a lot of fun in this house already.  There will be more                     pictures from our May and June adventures coming soon!