Stephens Family Fun

This past week we got to hang out a couple of times with Ragnar's cousins family, the Stephens. Laurie and I met downtown and went to the children's museum with her kids on Thursday and then on Saturday their whole family came to see our new house and hangout and have dinner. We were so glad they wanted to hang out and the kids have fun because each of their children are about a month younger than each of ours! I was sad that we didn't get too many pictures of the kids, but here is some of the fun times at the Children's museum.

Our future scientist...she said this was her favorite place

Here is Matthew and Channing. They were loving the water outside and were pretty wet by the end.

Of course Ella had to stop for a little dance session!

We had a fun time and I swear we have to get together more often!

A Mini Vacation

This past weekend Ragnar and I had the opportunity to travel back to Utah. We have only been back to go to funerals, not really to enjoy and visit friends and we have never gone back to Logan, Utah where we last lived since we moved four years ago. Needless to say we were excited when his sister Daphne decided to buy a house there and we had an opportunity to go and help and take a trip back. We were so grateful to my parents who offered to watch our kids for a few days as we made a really quick, crazy trip.

We first went  three hours straight from the airport to Vernal, Utah where two of my Aunts live and both my grandmas and my grandpa. I was so glad to be able to see them, even if it was just overnight, but Grandma Wall still looks amazing at 87...even with her worried about not having makeup on for the picture. She is someone who I look up to. She still cooked us an amazing...almost Thanksgiving feast and we love being in her home. 

We sure missed seeing these mountains and having some drier air and we sure do miss the Utah summers and having it cool down at night and in the morning. I went running and was actually cold in August...who would have imagined!

We got to see my Grandma Haws, Aunt Laurie and Aunt Charm and if you are looking hard... you can see my mom all the way from Texas:) Charm was kind enough to make us lunch and go running with me, and I was thankful for both of them and my grandma and grandpa Haws who took the time to see us. We also got to see three of our cute cousins!

A mountain sunrise

Friday night we spent at the MacNairs. We love their new home and were grateful for their hospitality. Some friends you feel like you never left! We miss them!

We also got to stop by and see the Ferrins in Ogden and we miss them too....Most of all I miss my running buddy...those are hard to come by!

Finally Saturday morning we made it to Logan and these two girls (Sandra and Daphne) had already done most of the moving work!

Here is a glimpse of her cute little place. I am so happy for her and that she has something new to look forward to. I hope it serves her well as she finishes her PHD in Logan....she is amazing!

We got to play games which I love to do with Daphne and on Saturday night when Ragnar was with his old co-workers and friends, Ragnar's sisters Daphne and Sandra went to the movies with me and we got icecream. It was nice to catch up!

We sure wish we lived closer! Thanks for letting us come help and visit!

We stopped in to see my old roommate Lindsay and her cute family! And then we went by our old townhomes and visited our old neighbors and friends. We had very little time, but it was nice to walk through and we were so grateful to be reminded of that wonderful period of our life.

Before we left Logan, we took a walk through campus...sometimes I miss those carefree college days.

Afterward we saw my cousin Stephanie and Aunt Becky who I didn't get a picture of! It was fun to see her new home and visit with them and meet her cute little girl..who is not so little anymore. Also, this is my very first and as she would say, best roommate Angeline. She is one I will never forget ;)

Ragnar and I got to stop in and also say hi to my awesome friend Kristen. I am grateful my friends were patient with our little time and our crazy schedule to say hello!

We ended the trip seeing Ragnars Uncle Werner and Sandras family. We had a nice visit and although we logged over 700 miles trying to see everyone in just a few days, we had a great time and were so glad we got a chance to visit. We have great family and friends and the last day we even got to go to dinner and get cheesecake, and stay in a hotel to celebrate our 8th anniversary! I am grateful everyday for the chance I have to be with my best friend and someone who I love. Happy 8th Anniversary Ragnar! Thanks for the great trip!

Olympic and Summer Fun!

Ok so we might be a tad bit obsessed with the Olympics!! We just love them! We all were so excited for them to begin and so far it has not disappointed. On Friday night for the Opening Ceremony, we invited a couple families over to eat and watch it together. It was great and the kids were excited each time one of the countries they had colored a flag of came on the screen. We have been learning about a lot different countries and we love it!

We made our own medals to wear, thanks to our creative friend Mitzi.....

And we had to have "Olympic Torch" cupcakes for the ceremony!

Here is an updated photo of the kids for their wonderful Grandparents

There have been a few times that we have stepped away from the Olympics and played.... yesterday we went with our friends the Waters to the zoo....I know CRAZY to go to the zoo in the middle of the summer in Texas....but we went early and we survived....and we managed to even have FUN!

Here are all the kids, minus cute little Emma

They were excited because they got ONE ride on the carousel.

Gotta Play on those drums at the African Safari!

           We had a nice day and we are enjoying the summer, even though it's super hot!

Rainy Days!

This past week and a half it has rained a ton! We are so grateful for the rain, but it sure has kept us inside a lot. We have had my sister Natalie staying with us for a few days and then we went over to her house and hung out with her there a few days while my parents were on a little trip. Natalie got to enjoy our dress-up parties, movies, games, and endless hugs from Channing who adores her. By the end Channing was even calling her "mama" because Natalie would pay more attention to her. We are so glad that Natalie could come and hang out with us for a little while. (I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her with the kids, but I guess she lives close...we will have to do it again!) I only hope it doesn't rain for the next week and a half straight!

Yes this is my son wearing a super woman costume....as you can see we need some "boy" dress-up attire. I justify it and say he at least chose something that resembled a male action figure! He loves whatever his sister loves!

The Butterfly Museum

This past week I went with my sister Natalie and my friend Mitzi and her son Marshall to the Butterfly museum. Ella loves butterflies and always tells me which kind she sees, so I wanted to check it out.

 Ella's dream was to have a butterfly land on her finger, we tried for a little while and then I told her we had five more minutes before we needed to leave, so that she could try one more time. I really felt bad because I thought there was a next to none chance that it would actually land on her finger....well....

 

 

Here she is with a butterfly on her finger and I think I have never seen her happier. She was so excited.

As you can see in this picture she used a little coercion from the butterfly who was on the ground to get it on her finger, but it crawled up and stayed there long enough for a picture then flew away. It was great and she talked about it the rest of the day!

Channing was ready to eat lunch ;)

I love Marshalls face in this...haha! There were butterflies flying everywhere which was neat but there were way too many disgusting insects to look at inside! We finished it off with a nice little picnic. It was a fun little outing.

Kids Bowl Free

This summer Ella and Cavin were able to participate in bible school. There is a Methodist church in our area that offered bible school to children for free for 5 days from 9-12 and they loved every minute of it. It was a good experience for them to learn with other kids about the bible and they had fun making crafts and playing. One of the perks was that they got a coupon to bowl for free through September. So....on Tuesday we checked it out. They had a fun time and Tyler and Tyson came along!

Ella used the ramp and also bowled on her own...she couldn't decide what she liked more. She only worried about one thing....can you guess.....winning!

Hoping for a strike.... although she did get a spare!

Cavin loves numbers as you know, so you can imagine how excited he got looking at the scoreboard after each time and seeing that his score would get higher and higher :)

Here is Cavin and his buddy Tyler

Channing is now our little walking buddy, so she was having a hard time staying still. She does however love to sit in big kid chairs!

Here are the kids, Cavin, Ella, Tyson, and Tyler....not pictured were the two cute girls, Channing and Emma. We sure enjoy their company!

Blueberry Picking

 This year some friends of ours were going blueberry picking so we decided to join along. We all like blueberries and in our family you can never have enough. There is a place called Moorheads  Farm about 40 minutes away so we waited til evening when it "cooled" down (if there is such a thing in Houston) and enjoyed picking away!

Ragnar is going to town picking here in the back of this picture. He was on a mission to find some!

Ella was so worried about making sure she had the most!  She was working hard to make sure she would ...she is our competitive child!

Cavin is obsessed with numbers so he pretty much counted every single blueberry that landed in this bucket. I think we hear numbers more than words come out of his mouth!

Here are a couple of my friends who we joined...Brittany and Emily

This was mostly a mixture of Channings two faces. She would smile so big because she would be eating all the blueberries from the bucket.....or.........

She would give you a grumpy face because she was eating them all and I would tell her she had enough. Oh we love this little girl! We picked about 7 and 1/2 pounds in about an hour, so we had plenty to take home!