Goodbye Houston!

It seems it wasn't long ago we were leaving Tucson but after a fun filled 2 1/2 years here in Houston, we are about to leave it all behind! I am writing this post sitting on the couch of our box filled apartment with my kids sleeping next to me on the floor. Yesterday, as I watched things get taken off the walls and put into boxes, I started to get sentimental. We moved here with a baby girl and a tiny baby boy and I can't believe how big they've grown! We've learned so much from reading to potty training in this house!

Here are some of the things we are going to miss about Houston:

- Our friends, both big and small.
- Our church ward
- Our beloved YMCA. That includes the greeter Marvin and his stickers he gives the kids, all the wonderful ladies in the kids zone and all my workout friends! We have seen these people 4-6 days a week...they have become like our family!
- Chick fil a. (I know this isn't a Houston only thing, but they don't have them in Lebanon and it became my favorite thing to make for dinner on THOSE nights.)
- Costco, Target, Sonic diet cokes...
- Summer days spent at the YMCA pool
- Walkng barefoot outside in December
- Trips to IKEA just for fun
- The zoo and Children's Museum
- Swimming laps outside (in a heated pool) in December. And with Kim. Thanks Kim!
- I also wonder if my kids are going to miss the constant sound of 610 freeway outside our windows and the big freeway lights coming in our windows all night long.

I know I wasn't too excited about coming to Houston in the first place, but it has been better than I could have ever expected. We will miss you Houston!

2 egg hunts, a wedding and an alligator

My little camera spends most of the time floating around inside my purse, but when I do eventually plug it into the computer it is interesting to see what is on it. Here are some of my recent little camera adventures.
I purposely got to Tucson a few days before my sister's got there so I could party with some of my Tucson friends. One day I hung out with my blogging buddy Rachelle and her kids. Kate fell in love with her similarly aged little girl. She was having a little playgroup Easter egg hunt and we tagged along.
After the hunt, Sawyer tried his first peep and this was his reaction

He loves marshmallows, I don't know what the deal is. Then he decided he had to have the camera and take some pictures
And here is one of his masterpieces...complete with finger smudges and all
The day my sister's flew in we went to a birthday party for my cousin's son. We did another Easter egg hunt with all the kids. (ooops, still smudged)
Eventually I figured it out and wiped it off. The kids were pleased with yet another big candy haul (with no peeps). Here is Kate showing off her rainbow painted hand. She loved it and was so proud of it. Funny thing was, like 3 days later she looked at her hand and gasped, "mom! my rainbow is gone!" I guess I actually did take some pictures on the Sabino Canyon tram, just not with my big camera. Here is Kate and Papa looking cool.
And the only picture that I know of that we took during this trip of all 3 of us sisters

I flew home from Tucson a day earlier than my sisters so I could attend my favorite freshman college buddy's wedding. It was seriously beautiful and I couldn't be happier for her! My kids loved it too...yummy food and grass to run around in. What could be better than that?
Kate was pretending to marry Sawyer the whole time and here she is collecting her flowers to hold

Then on Sunday, after Daddy finally turned in his project and was able to welcome us home, we decided to take our dinner down to Brazos Bend for a picnic. We ate and then started our alligator hunt. After a little bit we were sure it was going to be an unsuccessful night but Ryan found one peeking out of the water. Then, shortly down the trail we kept hearing from people coming the other direction: "There are 2 big alligators down there." "There are a male and a female sunning themselves just a little ways down there." So we pressed on and sure enough, this guy was close enough we could touch him. If we had wanted to. (but we didn't) And I kept looking around saying to myself the perfect last words in an alligator horror film, "didn't they say there were two of them?"

We did make it out alive, though.

Kate's camera

Kate was our official grammie and papa's visit photographer after she got her new camera for Christmas. Here are some of the things I just took off of her camera:

Kate and Papa after seeing the Princess and the Frog



painting faces at the Children's Museum

the secret fort Papa and Kate made

kate's finger

the camera case I made her

football

ready for dancing school - she was excited to take Grammie and Papa!

more football

building the largest tower of legos ever

too cold outside...so we went to Chuck E Cheese
enjoying their prize: cotton candy
at Chick-fil-a

Kate always dresses herself in the morning and usually I don't have to fight with her about the clothes she picks out...she usually does a pretty good job and if not then I can make suggestions. She would not let anything change her mind this day

we helped her with some of the pictures, but I love to see the random ones she takes when she's alone. She is a great photographer!

We are f....f....f...freezing!

It has been seriously cold in Houston. Abnormally cold. And apparently, not all Houstonians know about running fountains and freezing weather.
Kate and Sawyer do not have any idea what is going on. Kate has seen cold weather like this before, but she was really little. Sawyer never has. We were outside cleaning out the car and I let them ride their bikes (their favorite thing to do while outside.) Kate rode her bike for a minute and then looked down and said, "My...hand....hurts!" It would probably help if we owned gloves, but we don't!
I, on the other hand, know just what to do! I have been savoring marshmallow filled hot chocolate every night...snuggled in a blanket on the couch....with slippers on! It has been a lot of fun, but I'm glad its not going to last until March!

I have also taken advantage of the cold weather by trying out some new soup recipes that have all been really yummy. Here are the recipes in case you want a dinner that warms you up on the inside!

Tomato Basil Soup

3 tablespoons olive oil (or butter)
1/4 cup grated onion
2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes ( or 3 pounds fresh)*
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup fresh basil-remove stems
saltfreshly ground pepper.

In a 2 quart saucepan heat olive oil and saute onion until soft. Add tomatoes, thyme,basil and chicken broth. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Using an immerson blender blend soup until smooth. Add baking soda, sugar and cream. Simmer slowly at very low heat without letting soup boil for 30-40 minutes to allow basil flavor to mellow. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

*If using fresh tomatoes peel, seed and chop, reserving any juice.

I made it with grilled cheese sandwiches on the rosemary potato bread from costco. I also topped it with a yummy grated parmesean.

Baked Potato soup
from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3 bacon strips, diced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Minced fresh parsley

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Set bacon aside. Saute onion and garlic in the drippings until tender. Stir in flour, salt, basil and pepper; mix well. Gradually add broth. Bring to boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add the potatoes, cream and hot pepper sauce; heat through but do not boil. Garnish with bacon, cheese and parsley.

I used sour cream instead of heavy cream because it was what I had on hand and it still turned out great. I also didn't use the hot pepper sauce.

If you have any other yummy soup recipes, send them to me asap! I want to try them out, but I have a feeling summer is going to come faster than I would like!

Grammie and Papa came to town

Grammie and Papa just left our house after a fun, fun visit and to keep myself from feeling too sad, I decided to blog about our fun adventures.

They got here on New Year's Eve just in time to celebrate Christmas with us. The first thing Kate asked them when she saw them was where her present was. Actually, that might not be true...but she was really excited and she couldn't wait for them to open her presents she was giving to them. My parents got her a camera and she is in heaven! She has used my phone to take pictures for a while and just recently I let her use my little camera when Sawyer is snoozing and she promises to be really careful. So I knew she was going to LOVE it and she does. I will post some of her awesome pictures later. Sawyer got a dump truck that both him and Kate have enjoyed since.

That was just the beginning of their awesome visit. It was especially fun because when we go visit Tucson, Papa is usually working so we don't see him very often. But this week he was off of work and playing with us all day long! It was kind of a bummer because it was unusually freezing outside but we found some things to do. This week we:

- rang in the New Year with hats made by Kate, crackers that you pull apart and get a prize, and poppers. The kids counted down around 9 and we made it to 11. But we got to watch the ball drop live in Times Square so we considered it good!

- ate Sauerkraut for good luck in the New Year on New Year's Day
- watched a lot of football including Ohio State winning the Rose Bowl and OU finally winning their bowl game
- ate yummy breakfasts made by Papa...biscuits and gravy, blueberry pancakes, waffles...yum!

- walked around Hermann Park and tried to feed the overfed ducks

- Papa taught Kate to swing down the slide to get more momentum

(Doesn't Ryan make you laugh in the back of this picture?)

- ate at our McDonald's with the tall play place and Kate showed them how she climbs to the tippy top
- watched Kate become a Sunbeam a church
- everyone helped take down all the Christmas decorations. Kate followed Papa around, helped him bring up the boxes and helped him take off the Christmas lights.
- Kate and Papa cooked in her pretend kitchen. A lot.
- Kate and Papa went on a walk around the apartments and built a secret fort out of sticks and leaves. The rest of us had to go on an adventure to find it when they were done
- wrote letters to Devin for FHE
- celebrated Grammie and Papa's 28the wedding anniversary at Outback
- went to the Children's Museum
- watched Up and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs snuggled up on the couch
- watched The Princess and the Frog at the theater
- Kate took Grammie and Papa to her dancing school and showed them some of her dance moves. But only some of them.
- We got a babysitter for kids and Ryan and I took Mom and Dad to see the Houston temple. There was a gasoline spill on I-45 and our 45 minute drive took almost 2 hours. We missed all the possible sessions but it was still a great trip. We got to show them the temple, we did a little temple work and then to Gringos for dinner. yum!
- It was too cold to do anything outside towards the end of the week so we went to Chuck E Cheese and basically had the whole place to ourselves and then we headed to Chick fil a and Kate and Sawyer had the play place to themselves. It was our lucky day!

We spent the last morning cleaning up and playing a little bit and then we said goodbye and watched them drive away in the van. We were pretty sad and we had to come upstairs and watch Charlie and Lola to make ourselves feel better. Kate was so sweet, she could see I was sad and she kept kissing my cheeks and snuggling up to me.

Grammie and Papa, we LOVE you! We are so happy that you drove and drove and drove and came to visit us here in Houston! This week has been amazingly fun and we can't wait to see you again!