A Weekend with Kris and Ashley

Teik and his new favorite person, Ashley. I've been demoted.
The boys and the kiddos at Gringos! A must-go here in Houston!
Seriously, how happy is this boy with his new girlfriend!
We tried out Jon's new toys at the beach. Um, we all are terrible, but it's Teik's perfect size! We are expecting sponsorship any day now!
Sevy and her body board. She's our little beach bum! Super fun weekend with the Funcle and his future wife!

Jon Jon turns 28!

Yesterday was Jon's big birthday! He had to go to school all day (real downer for a birthday) but for dinner we actually got to go out by ourselves! I was so excited! We had a fantastic meal at Saltgrass Steakhouse, and then went and bought a Wii! Yeah, our purchases never make any real sense! Jon also got a skim board and body board for the beach and a Star's gym bag (or overnight bag--since he never comes to the gym with me!) Sevy helped me make and decorate a cake for him (blue frosting, lots of sprinkles) and all and all it was a good day! Jon is my best friend in the whole world and I'm so stinking lucky to have him! Love you honey!

Vacation!

This past weekend we took a family vacation to SeaWorld! (actually, it was a trip to San Antonio, but we always spend most of our time at SeaWorld!)
The kids have a love/hate relationship with swimming. They love splashparks, just not deep water. This was one of the better moments!
Jon took Sevy on the Atlantis ride! I was so excited she was big enough to go. It's pretty intense (big drop off and giant splash) and I'm so proud of her for going!
Randomly we were there for Christian weekend, so we watched the Veggie Tale movie "Pistachio" and saw Larry and Bob in person!
Our hotel had a rockin' pool area, which we hung out at a lot!
Teik really loved the little waterfall at the outdoor pool. They even had a bunch of kid-friendly pool area!
On our way to see "Believe" which is the Shamu show. Kind of lame now that the trainers aren't getting in the water. There was a baby killer whale that was too cute. That made up for the disappointment in the show. (I really have no problems with them not getting in, but they could have done the show better.)
Jon and the kiddos at the waterpark.
Teik getting up-close and personal with the camera.
Sevy and I in line for the Shamu ride.
Teikers at the Alamo. It was closed, but they light it up awesomely at night!
Sevy at the zoo in front of the kimodo(?) dragon habitat.
Kris and a bird getting a little intimate!
The Kristian's.
Sevy and the bugs!
My little munchkin's!

Yeah, the pictures are in reverse, but it really was a fantastic weekend to get away! The kids had a blast and it was fun to see Kris briefly (he was in Austin for a test and met up with us!), and it was REALLY nice to have Jon to ourselves for a weekend! He's back to the books at school already.

Semi-Famous

I love throwing myself out there in hopes of becoming semi-famous (in my own world!). I did it a couple of years ago with my weightloss story that was put in Self Magazine, and then more recently shared my MS 150 story with this cute "women rock" blog called Bella Rosa. Check it out!

Before and After

BeforeStage II: Sanding

After

Yesterday I finished my first major project! I found a great bedside table at Goodwill for $10! After some sanding and a new coat of paint, it's our new side table for the new (craigslist) couch Jon bought for our new media room (we also inherited a projector this week!) Not bad for a week's work! (I also did a cute pot redo this week, but I'll post those pictures later when I get the plants in!)

Friends

We have been really blessed with the people we have met since moving here. These past couple weeks have been so nice weather wise, that it's been fun taking advantage of hanging out with good friends and good weather! Sevy has definitely been enjoying playing with her friends. We went to her little friend Jackson's house to swim and she was LOVING it! I need to get her into swimming lessons this summer because she just loves the water! We also celebrated our friend Marnie's birthday with a bbq at the Opdahl's home, and really, you couldn't have picked better weather! It's a shame it's gonna get really hot really quick because I could actually handle living in Houston for good if it stuck like this! (Minus hurricane season. Okay, I retract that last statement!)

The weather is warming . . .

The weather has definitely been warming up, so we've been trying to enjoy it! We started by visiting one of our favorite splash parks!
We were invited to a party at a lake house this weekend. The area around Lake Houston is amazing! Nicely out of town, but still close. It was there that we went swimming and just hung out!
My garden has been growing too! I've already eaten my radishes, but look at my peas grow! I love garden fresh peas! My tomatoes are flowering and we recently planted some beans that have sprouted!
Saturday night we went to our friends the Talbot's house. They just built a firepit, so we roasted smores and played croquet! So fun! It's a shame the weather is really going to heat up soon, because this week has been perfect!
And finally, here is my latest sewing adventure. I've started attempting my size clothes and I've learned that they make kid sizes run big, and adult sizes run slightly small. Oh well! I did the sleeveless option because I didn't have enough material, but I like it with a cardigan. It's really boat-necked and my material choice is kind of heavy, but I love how it turned out!

MS 150

I did it! I rode over 150 miles in two days in the fight for the cure for MS. Definitely an AWESOME experience. I'll be updated my 1 to 150 blog so check it out here!

Catch Up

Thanks to computer issues and other things, it's been awhile since I've posted, so here is a catch up in--of course--no particular order!
Easter morning: the kids got bath stuff and pj's in there baskets. They LOVED their new pjs!Easter egg hunt #2--vastly different from the snow and mountains of hunt #1 a day before in Utah!

Easter egg hunt #1 in Utah with BFF Kenzi! Sevy was so excited to spend a day with her favorite person in the world!
Hanging out at Kenzi's. We decorated eggs and played played played!
We got a lot of snow (especially for April!) while we were in Idaho! Sevy loved playing in the snow!
Random home shot. Teik loves to play outside and drive his car!
So handsome! We were in Idaho for Brandi's baby blessing.
Temple trip with the family and Aunt Betty and Uncle Terry! We missed Jon and Steve, but it was cool going there with all my siblings and the Rexburg temple is sincerely gorgeous!
Baby Ava! It was her blessing day! She is Brandi's 6th baby and so stinking cute!
Sevy and I freezing at the Rexburg airport watching Pappa land Ole Yeller.
Sevy's birthday! What can beat a party with the cousins?
Okay, not the best picture. This is from Sevy's SUPER birthday party the week before her actual birthday. Mimi and Uncle Kris were there as well as friends from school, church, and the gym!
Super Sevy!

Okay, that was the quickie version. We've had a great few weeks with a trip to Idaho and Utah, birthday parties, and me still training for the MS 150. It's been a lot of fun and Sevy and Teik loved the trip home!

I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weiner . . .

I love running into random things. So when we went grocery shopping at HEB and happened upon the Oscar Meyer weinermobile, it was like hitting a goldmine! The kids were super excited and we got to go inside (very pimped out), and they got little whistles and Sevy got a little backpack. Sevy naturally announced that she wanted to ride in it, which we sadly didn't get to do, but it made for a fun shopping trip!

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

We've been very crafty Mormony-Mormons this week! This is just a recap: Saturday, I decided it was time to finish a big project I started Monday, and Jon decided it was time to fix our slightly crooked fence.
Yes, the project I started Monday was a garden! Here are my little tomato plants I had started indoors a couple of weeks ago and put in the ground Saturday.
Here is our little garden. See that pile of sod? That's one of two. My family is skilled in a few random things--sodding is one of them. Tearing up sod, on the other hand, was probably the worse experience of my life! It took me 3 hours to do and 2 days to get over my aching muscles! Then, because the ground is so awesomely claylike, I (with the help of Jon this time) made a little wall to do it slightly above ground. Then we filled it up with soil and voila! We planted corn, onions, red potatoes, carrots, peas, artichokes, radishes, grape tomatoes, and strawberries! The galvenized tubs on the side were my previous garden. They did a good job with tomatoes and peas, but we wanted to go bigger. I planted awesome flowers in them, so I hope they turn out!
I also made a quilt this week for my Mom's birthday! (It's on Wednesday!) This is my favorite part of the quilt. I know, a little bit kiddish, but I loved the colors and the fabrics!

Here is a picture of basically the whole thing. My mom gave me an awesome sewing machine for my birthday and it comes with a quilting foot that I've been aching to try out. Very fun, but I may be sticking to baby quilts after this one! (This one was just a little bit smaller than a twin size.)

And that's our crafty crafty week! I'm excited to see if our garden turns out! I planted some peas in December that I get to snack on now, so I'm hoping we hit it early enough before the heat comes!

2010: Why do you hate us?

Needless to say, this year has been pretty crappy. Well, maybe just January, and we are still getting the reprocussions from it. So, we just ordered Vonage. For the first time in our married lives, we are going to have a home phone. Why? you ask. Well, because our last cell phone bill was $250. What the?!? Why so high? you ask. Funnily enough, it was because we were constantly on the phone dealing with the rest of the crap happening to us (doctors, insurance, afaa, kmart--don't even get me started). We'll let ya'll know when we get our Vonage stuff and set it up. It should be interesting, but it's so we can use our home phone instead of our cell phones for all the church stuff, and random 1800 numbers we have to call to get our life back in working order.

My First Real Ride!

I finished my first real bikeride today! I went 48 miles!!! Read about it HERE! (It's my bike riding blog). And remember, if you want to help me raise money to find the cure for MS, go HERE! (It's my website for the MS 150)!