Texas Blue Bonnets

Texas Blue Bonnets are a tourist attraction to people visiting Texas (and people who live here too) We had told the kids we'd go take a hike on a Saturday, but the place we planned on going ended up not working out, so we went to Zion Cemetery, a local (OLD) cemtery whose hills were covered in blue bonnets. We snapped a couple of pictures of the kids and then explored the cemetery. It's earliest burials were in the 1850's and it was founded by the two families who settled this area of Texas. It was pretty neat.

Cousin Time in Texas

I'm back-tracking a bit, but bear with me...

When everyone was in town for my parents temple sealing we were thrilled to get to spend some time with our cousins. Brody and Avery are just 7 days apart and spent the first 2 years doing things together. After we moved we haven't had a whole lot of time to spend with Avery and her family, so it was super fun to have some of them here with us.

Brody and Avery sleeping...notice they both had to have the same stuffed giraffe to sleep with??

To celebrate Michaels 12th birthday the big kids did Laser Tag and we went bowling with the little ones. The kids were champs!

Avery, Aiden and Ella waiting for their turn

Brody after he got a strike!

Our attempt at a group picture...Aiden, Brody Avery, Ella

On their last day with us we took the kids to Green Valley Ranch to see the baby horses and to ride Miss Kelse's horse Jackie.

They all thought it was pretty neat to see the new baby horses

Do you think Aiden might have allergies?? Haha...the poor kid's face was swelling so bad! We drugged him with benadryl and soon the swelling went down and he had a pretty good nap that afternoon!

We stopped for lunch at Sonic and had to say our goodbyes. Brody was pretty sad to see Avery go, but we knew we'd get to play again when we went to California for David's wedding.

The fun didn't stop then though, we still got to have Aunt Amy, Aiden and Liam here for a couple more days, including St. Patricks Day.

We decorated some St. Patricks Day cookies

And on St. Patricks Day we went to the movies and saw "The Little Engine that Could" it is a new re-make of the story and I have to say it was GOOD! Probably up there as one of my favorite kid movies of all time. Brody left the theatre saying he was going to ask for it from Santa for Christmas!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Mullin's house for the traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner, with green jello and green juice. Aunt Amy got the kids St. Patty's day hats/crowns to sport for the occassion too.

The kids really liked the green dinner (its one of my favorites too!)

We had a really fun time being together with all our family! I think we slept all weekend because we were so tired too...that is the sign of a great time, right?

Spring has Sprung

Spring is definitely in the air! We've planted the garden, fired up the lawn mower and laid out the weed killer. The kids are spending a good chunk of each day outside - which means the smell of sunscreen and more frequent baths and showers. We've had many windy days and have enjoyed flying kites in the back yard. We can be found eating lunch at the park frequently (which means a cleaner kitchen for me) and we are looking forward to a trip to California at the end of the month to see lots and lots of family and friends.

Spring means thunderstorms and tornado warnings too! We've had one storm so far, and its been the worst we've ever had. We collected marble sized hail and we were SO GRATEFUL that our roof, windows and fence survived in tact. Many of our neighbors were not as fortunate and roofers can be seen everywhere (lets hope they are all honest! :) Brandon's parents live about 10 miles east of us and the storm got worse the further east it went. Their hail was close to being the size of golf balls and they had 4 windows break on the front side of their house, and they'll need an entirely new roof and fence repairs. Big time bummer! My parents live about 12 miles south of us and they just got thunder, lightening and rain. Gotta love Texas weather!

We're Sealed!

Saturday March 12th was the big day! My parents and sister Amy went to the temple for the first time and our family was sealed for time and all eternity. It is a very special occasion for members of our faith to go to the temple, and it felt even more so for our family who has waited so long.

It was a warm windy day. It was a long day for those who were watching all the kidos, but we sure appreciate it! My parents have like 5 (literally) wedding snapshots, so this go-round a friend who is a photographer gave them her services for free. Hopefully the photographer that was there got some good shots, but here are a few previews...

The "Newly-sealed" couple
Stephanie giving hugs when they came out of the temple

Great Grandpa Mann came from Utah to be with our family and these are 9 of his great-grandchildren that were there

The Mullin side

Our Family

Our WHOLE family...the kids had been outside for almost 2 hours waiting by the time we got done (the temple was running behind...so they were DONE and weren't happy about taking pictures)

Later that night there was an open house for my parents and a lady from their ward made a wedding cake for them...they didn't have one of those the first time either...so they got to officially cut the cake

It was a great day and we are all so grateful to be a part of it. Its made for a busy week, and we are still enjoying some family in town with us. I'll have to post more pictures later, but we have LOVED all of it! We had a house full...18 to be exact, with 11 kids under 9. We are tired, but the kids have had such an awesome time getting time to be with their cousins.

Lessons learned in January and February...

I've tried to think of some clever or witty way to relay to everyone what the last several weeks have been like in our house, but as it has been a month since my last post I've obviously failed to come up with something creative. Bullet points and a few photos will just have to give a recap....

* Lesson #1 - never pay for an activity during cold/flu season. Brody threw up at class #1, and Ella threw up on the way to class #2, the ice and snow cancelled class #3, we DID make it to class #4 (the last one)...class #3 was made up and Ella threw up in the car on the way to that one too. So she got 50% of the classes. For what it is worth, she LOVED it and still practices her ballet.

The three girlies...Taelee, Isabella and Ella

* Lesson #2 - some crayons and paper and a sucker make Valentines Day the best for little kids. Ella was invited to a Valentines party for her little friends and the highlight was of course the exchanging of Valentines. During the process I discovered Ella figured out how to write her name (one less thing I have to teach her, right?) * Lesson #3 - Enjoy the sun, you never know how long it will last. After a full week inside, followed by two mild days only to be hit with more snow, we were ready to be outside! On the first sunny day we went over to the lake to have a picnic and play on our bikes. Aside from the terrible allergies - I am so looking forward to SPRING weather. I just hope it stays "springy" for a long time - I am not ready for the heat yet.
* Lesson #4 - Our dad is the greatest. Brandon spoiled the kids with Valentines Day treats and surprised me with some tulips. We all loved our surprise.

* Lesson #5 - Birthdays can be celebrated year round. Sort of....with my Dad's unexpected surgery in January we hadn't had a chance to get together to celebrate the kids' birthdays with them until February 19th. We got frozen yogurt and opened presents...

Ella loves her new princess blanket! It gets dragged around the whole house!

And, Brody has slept in his new sleeping bag every night since he opened it.

* Lesson #6 - (Perhaps the most importatnt)...always keep a bag in the car, because after almost every one of these fun activities mentioned above, Ella threw up in the car. 4 Saturdays in a row, without fail. We started to think she was allergic to church because she wasn't able to go for so long. We also learned that one tums is equal to two children's pepto bismo tablets. Now we keep some in the car, just in case. And, just for good measure, we've decided to stop going out on Saturdays.

8 Years

Eight years ago today on a beautifully warm Southern California day Brandon and I were married in the San Diego Temple (thus the cheesy wedding photo as our header). It was a gorgeous day, and aside from the Colombia Space Shuttle exploding it was a perfect day.

Fast forward to today...it is a freezing, windy and icy day. The wind chills are -4 right now and we aren't expected to get above freezing until Friday afternoon {maybe}. Brandon was supposed to come home tonight, but ended up coming home late last night because the weather is so bad. Schools are closed and the roads are iced over. Hopefully things improve so the Super Bowl activities can continue, and school and work too (we do have priorities though).

But for us, we will celebrate at home with a warm dinner from the crockpot and homemade red velvet cake balls. The last eight years have been great and I am so grateful to be married to my best friend.

I'm Going There Someday...

MARCH 12TH to be exact... ...to watch these two be sealed, and then to be sealed to this bunch...(I had to go back to 2009 to find a family photo with ALL of us (minus the newest little Liam)...lets put a family photo on the list of things to do that day too...
Invitations are going out, plane tickets are being bought and people are getting ready - so there is no backing out now!