We miss Sea World

There are a lot of things we miss about San Antonio and one of Isabelle's top places is Sea World. Ben and I have great memories about Christmas time at the park so we planned a little impromptu trip just days before Thanksgiving when the park would open its Holiday Party and drove over to San Antonio for some festive fun. Our good family friends, the Chamberlains, were already planning to spend their Thanksgiving week in San Antonio visiting family so they met us at Sea World for the day and Isabelle and Olivia were in fun heaven.

There is just something special about this time of year and all of the lights, decorations, shows and food were exceptionally good. We spent the whole day riding rides, watching Shamu and dolphin shows, playing in the man-made SNOW and eating treats. It was a perfect kick-off to the Christmas Season and a nice quick trip back to the place we used to call home.

**On the way back to Houston we stopped at two of our favorite dining spots in town and ate and ate the whole drive back. Yum.

Fall means soccer season for Isabelle

Isabelle played another great season of soccer under Coach Paugh this fall. She continues to learn and grow in her knowledge of the game and she has NEVER complained about going to practice once. Soccer practice has become a daddy-daughter date most weeks and I know both Ben and Isabelle look forward to the time together. If you would have told us several years ago that Isabelle would be keeping up with and occasionally leading the U9 Rush Soccer Club we would have had a hard time believing it. Soccer has taught Belle about teamwork, patience, endurance and most importantly AGGRESSIVENESS. Great job skinny #4!

Here comes October

I feel like time starts to move at lightening speed when October rolls around. Holidays begin to start trickling in and soon our calendar is filled with all sorts of events. It isn't until January that we often get to breath out, and this October was no different.

The girls enjoyed the Pumpkin Fraps from Starbucks all month and Isabelle had a week at school where she had to wear something silly every day. We played lots of legos inside and lots of soccer outside. Leo met Belle for school lunch and we picnic'd outside as well. Is it too soon to say It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Halloween 2014

We have a love-hate relationship with Halloween. Fall is such an exciting time of year with pumpkin flavors and parties and dressing up, but my girls are also wimps and by the end of the month of October they don't want to sleep in their own beds anymore because of all of the ghosts and goblins and zombies. And to make the holiday even a little bit worse, it is usually hot in Texas still and it's hard to feel festive when you are sweating rather than putting on a sweater.

Either way, we partied the month of October up jumping from one event to the next.  We started the month off at the Ward Carnival and Trunk or Treat and then kept rolling at school parties, friend parties, neighborhood parties, etc.  We gathered more candy than my girls would eat in a year and passed out buckets and buckets ourselves as well.  A highlight of the month was our traditional family Halloween Dinner in a Pumpkin and this year Grandma and Grandpa even came dressed up.

Olivia decided to dress as Mulan this year for her costume and Isabelle was the Native American, Kaya. In a sea of Elsa and Anna's our two stood out. Happy Halloween and now let's move on to cutesy snowmen and happy reindeer please.

September September

The weather stayed warm in September like expected but instead of going to the pool everyday, we filled our days with school and sports and fun. Soccer started back up again as well as ballet for both girls. We snuck in time to see tiny baby June grow and loved seeing her in her blessing dress that we ALL wore as well. We danced in our only rain storm and honored the police/fire on Patriot Day. We cheered on our favorite football teams and both TAMU and BYU started out strong before falling apart by the end of the month. "Fall" is always sort of a myth in Texas but we did our best to ring in the changing season. Happy September Y'all.

A funeral in the fall

I have entered into a sad phase of life I am afraid. The seniors in my life are getting old and seem to be passing on quicker than anyone would like. Although Aunt Janice had been ill for sometime, it is always shocking and emotional when you learn that someone has died.

Janice died at the beginning of September and Ben and I both knew as soon as we heard that we both wanted to attend the funeral. We quickly booked flights and pulled the girls out of school and flew to Salt Lake City on a late weeknight flight. Janice was my dad's last living immediate family member, so her death seemed even sadder than normal. It is hard to be the last one living of a generation and my heart is heavy for my dad. Janice and Hal had flown to Texas and celebrated Isabelle's first birthday with us in San Antonio and had played a big role in our college years at BYU. Janice was always happy to see or talk to us and we always felt loved in her presence.


The funeral was nice and simple and we were glad to be there with my parents and Tara. The girls had fun seeing some of their 2nd cousins and we all enjoyed being back in the beautiful Wasatch Front. We knew that Janice would have wanted us to go, so after the emotionally draining funeral we put on our jeans and cheered for BYU at LaVelle Edwards Stadium. The cougars lost and we were cold, but it was fun to rise and shout and show the girls where we once had fun. Fortunately, we found a few more moments while in Utah to have a little joy, visiting with Grandpa Neal, visiting Temple Square and visiting Grandma Joan at the cemetery. And of course, we snuck in a trip for treats at Fast Gas.


It was a quick trip filled with lots of sadness and emotions but we returned with stronger family ties and a deeper testimony of forever families. Someday we will see our loved ones again and it is that knowledge that makes moments like these bearable.

Families can be together forever, through Heavenly Father's plan. I always want to be with my own family and the Lord has shown me how I can. The Lord has shown me how I can.