Our First Week Here

Life in Texas has been really good to us. We are all adjusting well to this place we now call home. Our ward has been super friendly and wonderful. The first Sunday we were there, the Elder's Quorum president invited our family over for a Super Bowl Party. We went and had a great time and met some great people. The second week, some really nice people invited us and another couple over for dinner. I was so shocked, and so happy to have such friendly, nice people.

Our ward is a great mix of everything: we have many converts, many transplants from Utah, many older people and many younger people. There are lots of military people and lots of medical-military people. The thing that surprised me is that all the military people are just like me. I guess I need to start classifying us as a military family-- we just don't seem to fit the stereotype I had in my mind. And neither to they. They are all just normal people and families like us. I am pretty humbled by all these wonderful people and their families who serve medically in the military. This is our first super humid day. Come to find out, most days are "super" humid. It's just the norm, here. This is what humidity does to Makenna's already curly hair. I just gets cuter.

Look at those ringlets!

Here we are at Chuy's-- a yummy mexican place here in San Antonio. (Shar, please don't mind the horrible photo skills here. I didn't notice the big, red, shiny cup was right in the front of that picture! Hideous!)

Don't ask me what McKay is doing here......Not sure.

This is a picture of our church. It is the Stake Center.

Here we are at the River Walk. No, that is not bird poop in my hair, I am wearing a headband!

This is the Spanish Governor's Palace, built in the 1700's. We went inside and were sung to by these guys:

A Mariachi church choir! It was awesome!

This little guys was hanging out in our attic!

He wanted to show us that he was a friend, not a foe.

The kids loved playing with him before we set him free.

Things have been wonderful here. We sure do miss Saratoga Springs, our family and our friends, but we know this is where we are supposed to be and are having experiences that are making us better.

Getting There and Our New Home

Hi!!!

We finally made it.

We now live in Texas.

We are residents of the great state of Texas.

It wasn't easy getting here. Especially with a cat.

Ever try traveling with a cat?

I do not recommend it.

Joel, who is Brett's dad and we call him "Frampas", and Brett's brothers Greg and Jeff made the 24 hour drive from Saratoga Springs to San Antonio, TX. I think they have earned their way into heaven by this single act. Bless their souls!

This is Tiggs the day before we left. She knew something was up. She was very skittish and hiding everywhere. My mom was helping me pack and walked by the bookshelves with a face staring at her from behind the books. It freaked her out.

The morning we left Tiggs was going crazy and trying to get out. We had a departure time of 6am sharp. As we were getting ready that morning, we knew if we let her out she would bolt and be gone for a while just to "get away from it all." So, we kept her inside. She was going nuts as we tried to pack the van up with the driving stuff we needed for the long trip. Brett decided to let her out on her "leash" that we would hook around a tree trunk. You can guess what happened: we came out to get her and she was gone. Her collar was still attached to the leash, there was just no cat.

The kids and I were devastated. Brett had to leave to go get our moving truck weighed at the dump. When you opt to move yourself, the military allows up to a certain weight and then they reimburse you dependent on you meeting the requirements on that certain weight. It was a horrible time for him to leave. I was supposed to leave right after him and go pick up his brother Greg and meet them at the gas station by the dump.

Tiggs was no where in sight.

All we could do was pray. Cats don't come when you call them.

We prayed and we prayed. I had the feeling to go drive around the neighborhood and look for her. At 6  am in the morning.....in the dark......We pulled out of the driveway and I had the impression to shine my lights in an empty lot across from my parents house.

There she was. Tiggs was crouching down in the dirt right there. I got out and went and got her. We were so happy to have her with us!

The next miracle was that she walked right into her kennel. No fuss at all. We felt the tender mercies of the Lord over us through out the whole trip.

Here we are, well on our way, with Tiggs in tow.

I had to take a picture of Brett's dad's feet. He hardly ever wears shoes anywhere. He only wears shoes if he absolutely has to. This is how he looked most of the trip....even when we went to eat at restaurants or stopped at gas stations.

After driving for 15+ hours, we stopped that night in Roswell, NM. Connor was bound and determined to find a UFO, but no such sightings.

McKay got to sleep in his very own bed in the hotel room. The only stipulation was that he had to sleep in the same room as Frampas-- who snores super loud! 

Kenna also got her own bed!

There are alien and UFO things all over the place in Roswell. This was right outside our hotel entrance.

This is what most of TX looks like as you enter in from the north west side.

We drove for about 11 more hours the next day. We entered Texas and everyone got excited. But, we drove and we drove and we drove FOREVER!!

Finally, we pulled up to this:

Our new home

The boys built these garage shelves the day after we got here. I LOVE them!

This is our kitchen. I love all the counter and cabinet space. I'm trying to organize and decorate. It's fun to have lots of space to fill up!

Eating area and a new painting we got for the wall. I love it. It reminds Brett and I of the Tree of Life

Living area-- new couch pillows that I love. Also, this area is so huge! Any suggestions on what to do here? We are like 10 feet away from each other and company as we sit on the couches and visit.  The void seems very wide.

New painting I picked up for a splash of color

Connor/guest room. Connor is more than THRILLED to have his own room. But he knows when guests come to visit, he is kicked out! 

McKay's room. The bunk beds are for when cousins come to visit!

Kenna's room

Entry way

Right off the entry way-- our office area

Piano room

Another view of the office

"Catch-all" room for now

Master closet! LOVE IT! Any of you who know how big the master closet was in the Saratoga house will know how happy I am to have this much space!

Another view of the closet

Master bedroom

Colors I'm working with for our bedroom-- my good friend from Saratoga, Shellee, inspired me with her color choice.

View of dining area from living area

Kids out for a ride in shorts the 2nd day we were here

Jeff, Brett and Greg after a few LONG days!

Texas life is wonderful. These last 2 weeks have treated us very well! We have a wonderful ward and we love our home. The kids are adjusting well to their new schools and are being treated like celebrities and already have many friends! We are grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord that always about in our lives. We are grateful for this new opportunity.