Since we've been home..(part 2)

I am just doing a bunch of posts together to try to get caught up.  Things have been a little crazy around here since we have been back in Utah.

Savannah has officially started preschool.  I have been nervous about how well she would do.  She doesn't adjust to new things really well.  I am happy to report though, that there were no tears from Savannah or her mother on the first day of school.

I wish I could say it has stayed that way, but she does have a hard time going on some days.  I am hoping once she realizes that she is going to school no matter what, and that Maxwell and I do not party the whole time she is gone, she will do better.

Our ward had a daddy-daughter camp out, and Savannah was so excited about it!

Uncle Joe and Jersie went along too.  I am so proud of Matt for actually taking some pictures of them.

Her dad taught her all about roasting starbursts instead of marshmallows.  She loved it since she isn't a big fan of roasted marshmallows.  Words can not express how much I love this picture!  I can't look at it without laughing.

The next week, we decided to head up hobble creek canyon to take the kids on a little hike.  It sure is fun with them all, because every little thing is so exciting to them.  We inspected all sorts of rocks, sticks, caterpillars, horse poop, suspicious looking leaves, etc.

I can't believe all of them are actually looking at the camera...well except Ashley, but babies don't count.

These two crack me up.  They are always together!  I have never seen two year olds play so well together.  Our kids are so spoiled to have so many little friends to play with all of the time.

Jaxon was so cute in his little hiking pack. 

Since we've been home....

We have been able to spend a lot of time with family, since we have been back.

All of the cousins came over one night for some dutch oven dinner, and playing in the hot tub. 

It is always a little bit of chaos, when we are all together, but we love it, and the kids love being together.

Over Labor Day, we headed to my hometown for Leamorado Days...of course.  My mom is the mayor now (I know...isn't that cool?), so we had a lot to do, to put things together.  It was a fun day.

I'm pretty sure I have this same picture from last year.  Maxwell is just a little smaller.

This sweet tractor was one of the raffle prizes.  We actually won it this year.  I was so excited!  I have probably only missed a couple of Leamorado Days since I was 4, and this is my first prize to win!

New to the festivities this year, was a little train for the kids to ride.  It was a huge hit.  My kids would have ridden in it all day long!

Maxwell took a little snooze on dad's lap, while he drove the train around.

Our little cowgirl

Matt had convinced Savannah that she wanted to ride the sheep.  He did a good job of it, because when she thought she wasn't going to be able to, she was sobbing.  Low and behold, they decided to let some more kids try, so they ran out there.  Immediately after taking this picture, and right before they let the sheep go, she changed her mind.  I think she had in mind riding a sheep like a horse where you go for a little ride, until you are ready to get off, and the sheep stops to let you off.  It probably didn't help for her to see every other kid that had tried it come walking our of the arena in tears.  (I secretly am glad she didn't ride it, but don't tell my hubby.)

Savannah and Connor, checking out the cows.

Savannah wanted me to take a picture of her snazzy new boots.  She is pretty proud of them.

Last week in Texas

Our last week in Texas, we had a big potluck dinner.  Matt and Darrick decided they needed to have a bunch of craw fish before we left the south.

The boys ate a lot, but there were way too many of them.  Unfortunately, a lot of them had to go to waste.

We also took the kids back to Brazos bend to try to see some alligators one more time.  No luck on this trip.  Just lots of bugs, and some hot, sweaty kids.

Cute Porter is the lucky one.  It is more socially acceptable for him to be naked in public.  Savannah and Max miss their cousins, and will be excited for them to come to Utah soon.

We packed up all of our stuff and started our trip home.  We made pretty good time, but did have a little accident on the way.  Someone cut us off, and we lost control of our car.  We swerved around quite a bit before finally spinning all the way around and stopping in the median facing the wrong way.  It was so scary, and I still don't know how we didn't roll.  We were pulling our car behind us on a dolly.  It swung around and banged up our other car pretty bad, but luckily we were able to keep driving and made it home.

On the way home, we stopped in New Mexico to visit with Britney (Matt's sister) and Jeff.  We couldn't believe how good the weather felt.  Our kids spent a lot of time outside, and loved playing with their cousins.

We were able to be there for baby Sam's blessing.  He is an awfully sweet baby!  Good thing we are having our own soon, because he made us kind of baby hungry.

Savannah loved being able to hold him.  She keeps talking about what a good sister she is going to be.

We are so happy to be home!  We had a lot of fun in Houston, but there is no place like home!

Brazos Bend

 

We have been trying to do some last minute things for our last week in Texas. One thing we have been wanting to do is visit a state park close by, Brazos Bend.

Of course, I have to mention it was very HOT!  But it was really pretty.  We walked along a trail that circled around the lake hoping to see some wildlife.

Maxwell's favorite part was throwing rocks into the water of course.  What little boy doesn't love that?

Matt, trying to point out a frog to the kids. 

We were expecting to see a lot of alligators, since the lake that is covered with them is close by.  We walked most of the trail and only spotted one little one out in the water, but right toward the end, we were looking all over and suddenly saw this guy:

It was kind of creepy.  He was just a couple feet away from the trail we were on.  Matt was pretty excited.  Then, on the other side of the trail we noticed this guy:

It is hard to tell, but he was really big.  I was not a fan of being that close to them, especially since we didn't even notice they were right by us.

We left the big guy alone, but the smaller one was somehow provoked to get up and walk around.  It may have had something to do with Matt trying to grab his tail.

While I am impressed with my hubby's manly animal catching skills, I was not very happy about him trying to catch this alligator. Sorry mom, I tried to stop him. The alligator was hissing like crazy, and I was still worried big guy was going to decide to come help him out.  Luckily Matt did not bring this one home.  I think the alligators is what he is going to miss the most about Texas.

Artist

I was looking through pictures on Matt's phone and found this picture that Savannah drew.  She has never really been into coloring, but recently has started doing it a little more.  I think I took this picture at the beginning of the summer, because it was her first time actually drawing a picture.  She would always just scribble, and I never thought to ask her to draw something.  When I told her to draw a picture of mommy, this is what she came up with: 

I think it is pretty flattering...she even put a bow in my hair!

Scaredy Cat!

The Houston Zoo has a new Dinosaur exhibit.  Of course, Savannah loves it!  It is basically just a trail you walk through with 10 or so life-size dinosaurs.  They move their heads, blink their eyes, and growl.  The first time we went through, Savannah was scared to death!  I just couldn't seem to convince her that they were pretend.  I'm sure it was pretty scary considering there is only a small rope between the kids and the dinosaurs.  Anyway, she eventually got over it, and now wants to go through it all of the time.  I didn't really pay that close attention to what Max was doing when we walked through.  He was just so quiet, and Savannah is such a drama queen, I didn't notice him.

Then...
We finally got to take a trip to the zoo when daddy could be there.  Savannah thought she was an expert by now and was excited to show her cousins, but Max looked like this the whole time:

Poor kid kept his eyes covered the entire time!  I imagine he has done it every time, and I just didn't really notice. 

We are kind of mean, and kept teasing him.  He never cried or anything, he just refused to look!  It was hilarious!  I was not surprised about it though.  He really is a big scaredy-cat!  He always comes running out of his room, thinking there is a bear or something! If we are ever outside, and it is dark he whispers "bear" over and over.  Poor kid!

The other day, we built a fort in the living room to sit in and eat cookies.  Savannah is really into flashlights lately, so she wanted all of the lights off in order to play shadow puppets.  She told some pretty scary stories to us!  (She is quite the story teller)

Anyway, the fun had to be cut short, because poor Max was scared to death.  Mean ol' daddy kept teasing him and making scary noises...and we wonder why the kid wakes up at night wanting to be snuggled!

Daddy and the kiddos in the fort (before the scary stories started)

Playing horsey!

Like I have mentioned several times, my kids love to play horsey--meaning one is the horse and one leads the horse around.  Usually they just grab the others' shirt to lead, but if they can find some sort of leash, that is extra fun!  Sunday morning, I was getting ready in my room.  The kids kept running in and out of my closet, but I didn't pay much attention.  Soon, Matt comes in to show me this picture he had just taken on his phone:

Sorry if you think it is inappropriate to post this picture.  We thought it was pretty funny.  Shortly after the picture and a quick lecture on not putting things around our necks, the "leash" has been returned.