Grandma Coon Visits

Michael's mom was in New Mexico for a work training (way back in March) and on her way home took a detour to visit us for a week. We are glad she was able to come- she hadn't seen Collin since he was 2 months old! Unfortunately Michael couldn't take off any work, but thankfully we had the evenings and weekend to do some fine things and she and Collin and I were able to do some fun things during the day.

We explored nearby Brazos Bend State Park. Enjoyed a nice walk around a pond (maybe they called it a lake?) Either way we saw a real alligator and some other fun birds and critters. We also checked out the ranger station where they lots of interactive things to touch and look at. We finished off our excursion with a picnic lunch and a little play on the playground and another short walk where we saw another, even closer, alligator just sunning itself a few feet from  us. 

 

Grandma treated us to a day at the zoo.  Collin loved all the animals! And that was his new favorite word after that. Highlight for him though was probably the carousel ride Grandma took him on. I was a little nervous to how he would react- he had only been on the little carousel at Bass Pro Shop when we saw Santa and he was a little hesitant about it- but he had the biggest smile the whole ride! 

 

One evening we took a trip to the beach. There were so many seashells that night. It was fun to collect some. Collin was still in his anti-sand phase so he was content to stay on the blanket or safe in Daddy's arms. 

Had some yummy meals at home. One night we treated Grandma Coon to some homemade sushi. This is always a fun  and unique meal to have with company. 

 

The rest of our time together was filled with evenings talking, sharing stories from Michael's childhood (seems like we now know the source of Collins energy), some movie nights, church, and some of our regular outings like story time at the library. We are so glad that Grandma Coon took the time to come visit. The hardest part of living in Texas is being so far away from family. I am especially grateful for the time Collin got to bond with his Grandma and the memories they made together. Also I know Michael enjoyed seeing some of his family. I've had the chance to see my family quite a bit but it's been harder for him to see his since we moved from Utah. 

Truly

My parent's had to make the hard decision to put our family dog down on February 4, 2015 (or maybe it was the 5th??). She would have been 16 years old in June and had been a part of our family since I was about 8 or 9 years old. I still have yet to go home and not have her there to greet me. She will be missed dearly!

A few of my favorite memories of her. I really could share so many more but I'll keep it at this. And just share some pictures I have of her from over the years.

I loved having Truly sleep in my room with me. Much to my dad's dismay she would often end up sleeping on my bed with me.

One year for Christmas Corinne gave me a "PMS kit"- it included comfy pj's, a rice bag, and a cute tote bag full of chocolate. Well one night shortly after Christmas Truly was sleeping in my room with me and that bag was sitting on my floor. I woke up the next morning to her having chewed through the tote and most of the chocolate gone. Little stinker! Good thing she was cute ;)

She sure did have a sweet tooth- one time Corinne had made a pumpkin roll. We had it cooling on the dining room table, a few minutes later we noticed Truly was missing. She had licked off all the cream cheese filling! Also one time she was staying at Lindsay and Shaun's house. It was Lindsay's birthday so they had strawberry shortcake sitting on their kitchen island for dessert. Lindsay and Shaun went out for a date and when they got home the babysitter said it was all gone after she came downstairs from putting the kids to bed.

She had the softest ears.

If you were laying on the floor she loved to come curl up right next to you...or sometimes right on top of you.

She was great with all the grand kids and didn't mind being climbed on or her ears and tail being pulled.  I am so glad that Collin got to meet her. We have a little stuffed yellow lab from Ikea that we have named Truly. Love to hear him ask to sleep with Truly every night and carry her around the house.

 

 

 

She had the sweetest temperament. Her favorite way to greet you was with a big wet kiss. She especially loved licking your toes.  

Michael says I was too attached to Truly, but she was a like a member of our family, and for that reason he says we will never have a dog. I think someday, when the kids are older and we are more settled, we will be able to convince him to get one ;)

Valentine's Day 2015

Wow Valentine's Day seems forever ago! I don't remember doing much or anything extravagant. We hadn't been in our place for very long- just a couple weeks- so I do know that we were still living among some boxes. I remember I did tell Michael that I wanted to hang a few things on the walls as our Valentine's date. Real romantic ;) We got around to it late that night and after we got a few things up I thought yay now I have a place to put some Valentine's decorations. And then it hit me that today was Valentine's. Needless to say, Valentine's decorations never got hung this year.

But we did wear red and took a little family outing to the beach. At this point Collin was still really uneasy about walking on the sand, so he stuck to the safety of the blanket. Thankfully he is pretty much over that now.

And Michael and I made our traditional Asian food for our Valentine's dinner. This year I really wanted to perfect a lo mein- I am still working on it (I will take any and all recipe recommendations and tips!) And Michael wanted to try a Mongolian Beef- it was a Pinterest recipe flop. I think we made a beef and broccoli too- that's a favorite of ours and super easy so at least we had one successful dish. Despite our failure in cooking this year, I will say that it is one of my favorite traditions that we have started. Beats trying to find a babysitter and dealing with crowds. Plus I love cooking with my hubby!

Sure do love my two, handsome Valentines!!

Auntie Chlo Comes to visit!!

This post was written several months ago. I guess I just never got around to adding pictures and posting it, which is silly since I didn't take many pictures. Better late then never, right? ;)
 
First let me just preface that a great motivation to get things unpacked quick and things hung on the wall is to invite someone to come visit  3 weeks after moving! ;)

Auntie Chlo is my best friend Chloe. We met one of our first few days of 6th grade and have been great friends ever since! We were both so terribly awkward (me more then her) but thankfully we have both left those awkward middle school years behind us.  She is one of my few friends from high school that I can see again after several months/year and we can pick up right where we left off! I was so excited when she called and said she had some time off from work and wanted to come visit us! Its always such a wonderful feeling when people want to come visit you- especially when you live in way south Texas :)

She decided to come February 21st-24th. So it was just a quick trip, but I think we managed to squeeze some fun things in, although I wish the weather had been a little warmer and Collin a little healthier.

She flew into Houston on that Saturday. So Michael and I decided we would spend the afternoon in Houston and do a little shopping at Ikea. The main purpose was to get a bookshelf for Collin's room. And of course you can't leave Ikea with just one thing and without getting some Swedish meatballs. Then we picked up Chloe. We had planned on picking up some dinner after getting her, but with being new to the area, not knowing what was around the airport and our phones being less then helpful we eventually ended up stopping at a McDonalds drive thru as we neared the edge of the city before hitting the empty stretch on our way to Lake Jackson. Food was food at that point :)

Side story: Collin hadn't had a very healthy winter season thus far. Nothing serious, just a bunch of colds that had left him with a thick, lingering, cough. It all kind of climaxed that Saturday night. Collin woke up crying and coughing in the middle of the night, thankfully he was sleeping in our room. Anyway he ended up coughing up/throwing up a bunch of mucus and other lovely stuff a couple times that night. None of us really slept well that night and we decided that Chloe and I would go to church (I had to my first day of teaching my primary class) and Michael and Collin would stay home.

We had a nice time a church. Chloe got a kick out of my energetic and sassy group of primary girls I will be teaching. And when we got home we all ate lunch, and then took nice long naps. After naps we decided to show Chloe our Texas beaches just 15 minutes from our house (The only part of Texas that is slightly similar to living in CA) The weather wasn't super warm, but it wasn't bad for sitting on a blanket and walking along the beach.

And to top off our Sunday we came home and made homemade CA sushi rolls. A little reminiscent of my 16th birthday party :) We all got to make a roll and had such a fun time eating sushi, miso soup, and edamame. So yummy. And of course I couldn't pass up the Poky for dessert when I saw it in the store.

 

Monday was a pretty gloomy day but we headed up to Pearland (about 45 minutes north of us) to check out some shopping I had heard about. We found a fun unique to Texas used book store, and then some other favorite stores. Then we had a yummy lunch at Panera. There was one point while we were eating that it felt like we were back home in CA getting together on one of my trips home. Panera is a favorite of ours :)

Tuesday was the day we had to say goodbye. We headed up to the airport shortly after taking Michael to work. Its always hard to say goodbye to visitors. Chloe is such a great friend and a wonderful Auntie to Collin. Come back and visit us again soon!!

Slacker

I have been a total slacker in the blogging department for the past few months. Well actually in a lot of areas of my life. But I promise I have a good reason! Things are finally getting back to normal around here so its time to get things back on track and start recording all the things we have been up to. We just got back from a wonderful family vacation to the East Coast that I have lots of pictures to share from. Plus I've got a long list of posts I need to do sitting next to the computer to remind me of others ones I need to do. So brace yourselves for a lot of updates!

Moving and My 24th Birthday

Moving day happened to fall on my birthday. Wouldn't have been my first choice of days but it ended up being a pretty good day and very memorable!

 

Overall the move went over pretty smoothly. There was a bit of a mix up with the truck in the morning, but thankfully we were able to get it straightened out. We had movers to do all the packing. And they did an okay job. The men were respectful, but not the best packers. In the end we had several dings and marks on our furniture. And the majority of our boxes were not labeled and poorly packed. Thankfully nothing was seriously damaged. And we were able to find everything in the end. But it was funny to find the printer in with kitchen stuff. And the pots and pans box ended up in Collin's room. And it took days to find a missing piece to one of the baby gates, but we did eventually find it :)

 

Since we had movers to do the hard work, Collin and I got to spend the majority of the day hanging out with our dear friends the Bird's, while Michael supervised the work at our place. Which really made by birthday so much better then it would have been if we were doing it all ourselves. In the morning I did leave Collin with Becca to run some errands, help Michael with taking apart the crib, and to pick up lunch for everyone. So nice to run errands baby free- that was a birthday treat on its own! Then the rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at the Bird's. I had one of our good friends stop by with a birthday treat and it was so fun to have her stay and visit for the rest of the afternoon. And after some crying and breaking the Bird's blinds-we did get replacements for them :)- Collin did take a good nap for me in the afternoon.

 

But perhaps the 3 top highlights from the day were:

1. My birthday present from Michael and Collin- a Silhouette! I have had so much fun with it already. It was a little intimidating at first, I didn't even take it out of the box for the first couple of weeks. Granted all my nap times and evenings were being spent unpacking. But I have gotten a little braver and already learned some fun things to do with it. It is a machine with endless possibilities! And I am so glad there is a Hobby Lobby in town to satisfy my crafting whims.

The day it arrived! Michael ordered it online so it was delivered a few days after we moved to LJ.



1. All the birthday texts, Facebook comments and calls throughout the day. (And the many well wishes for a smooth move.) They always made me smile whenever I checked my phone. And at the end of a very long day I was overwhelmed with gratitude for all the people who cared about me and my family. I am sure there were some moving emotions in there that made me a little extra sentimental about my birthday ;)
2. The day ended with such a wonderful birthday surprise! When Becca learned that we were going to be moving on my birthday she insisted on having cake and ice cream at their house that evening. We decided on a time and I thought it was just going to be our families. Michael ended up calling me back over to the house a little before it was time for cake (and I should add that this was not planned, just ended up working perfectly). There was a bit of a scramble with the movers- they hadn't managed their time very well and had left things in each room and the cleaners were showing up and the packing wasn't finished and the truck (remember our mix up in the morning- we had to get a smaller truck) was getting really full. I will add that this was the most stressful time of the entire day! Anyway, little did I know that while we were dealing with this, some surprise guests were arriving at the Bird's. When I walked back over the kids were all playing outside, and as soon as they saw me they all ran inside and were yelling she's here! I walked in laughing and found some of our closest friends waiting in the living room. And hilariously Becca and Collin were missing- somehow we had missed each other walking between our apartments. Collin and Becca came back, Michael was able to escape a little later and we had such a fun time! There was Costco chocolate cake- complete with 24 candles and singing- ice cream and lots of fun visiting one last time with our friends.

By the end of the night, everything got done. The cleaners did a fabulous job- so nice to not have to worry about that. Our truck was packed to the max. Michael had to go pick up an extra little trailer in the morning for a few things that didn't fit. We made it to our hotel (thankfully just down the street) sometime close to 10 pm. Collin was exhausted but thankfully went right to sleep. Michael and I relaxed for a little bit and downed some McDonald's (dinner was kind of forgotten in the rush of everything) before bed.

My one picture from moving day.

 

In the morning it was gloomy and raining- fitting for our sad mood. We stopped by the apartment for the last bit of food in our fridge and to load the trailer. Then we headed over to the Bird's for our hardest goodbye. Tear were involved and we ended up hitting the road to Lake Jackson later then planned. Oh well. And before we left I insisted we get a few last pictures by our front door.

 

 



 

Michael drove the truck and Collin and I were in the car. I had been nervous about making the trip with just me and Collin. But Collin ended up being a fabulous traveler. He slept part of the time and was pretty content the rest of the drive. Our one bathroom break I think helped too. We made it to LJ with just enough time to pick up some lunch and head to our new home to meet Michael. We ate lunch and right as we were finishing the movers showed up to unload.

Exploring our new patio area. We are lucky and got an "oversized" one.
Although it is mostly rocks and weeds so not very kid friendly.

 

 

Collin and I escaped the chaos and walked around our new complex. Much prettier then SA!

 

When we got back Collin was so exhausted and less then thrilled that the movers were still here!

 

And before we knew it we were left with a maze of boxes everywhere! We returned the truck that evening, grabbed some essentials at the grocery store. After a long couple of days of moving I am pretty sure that we all crashed that night!

Helping Daddy set up his crib for bed. This move brought out Collin's love for helping daddy with his tools.

 

Where's Collin??

 

Where's Michael??

 

Our mess for the first couple of weeks.





We were able to have everything unpacked within a couple of weeks and even got some things hung on the walls. And have been settling into our new life in Lake Jackson very nicely. Now hopefully next time we move it will be into our very own house!! Cross your fingers for us!

 

 

Collin loved that there was so much stuff for him to get into while I was unpacking.

 

His personal favorite was the Tupperware cupboard- that is until we put baby locks on them :)

 

 



Last few weeks in San Antonio

Shortly after getting back to Texas after Christmas Michael got a job offer to be the new Assistant to the City Manager for the city of Lake Jackson, Texas. We were thrilled! We had such a great feeling of peace when we visited LJ in November and the more we learned about the city and it's employees the more we felt it would be a good fit for our family and Michael's career. However, despite being 99.9% sure we would accept, I still needed a night to let it all sink in and pray a little more about it. We had built so many wonderful friendships in San Antonio and it would be really hard to leave, but we knew this was the right path for our family. The only downfall was that Michael was to start the first Monday in February, giving us just barely 3 weeks to move!!

 

Thankfully the city was providing us with a generous moving allowance. We barely even used half of it! This allowed us to hire people to pack, load/unload the truck, and clean our apartment for us! This was great for reliving a lot of stress in those last couple weeks and on moving day (which also happened to be my birthday). The most stressful part of wrapping things up in SA was getting out of our apartment lease. Needless to say after a lot of negotiating (by Michael- I tried to stay out of it because the manager made me really angry) we were able to break our contract without having to pay any huge fees. I am very happy to be done with that apartment! :)

 

In between all the moving prep and dealing with our apartment we were able to fit in some fun final outings in San Antonio.

• Before we were sure if we would hire people to pack we started packing some boxes ourselves. We took down the queen bed in Collin's room, leaned it against the wall and started stacking boxes. Collin LOVED climbing up and down and all over them. He especially loved to sit on one and fold his arms for prayer each night. It was like his own little throne.

•  Baby time at the Library. This was a regular outing every Monday. One of our last weeks we decided to stay with some friends for the toddler time right after. I was amazed that Collin bravely went and stood right up front with all the big kids! Can you spot him?? He is in red.

•  With our moving allowance we were also able to take a weekend trip to Lake Jackson to apartment hunt. We left Friday late afternoon and came back Sunday. After a long day in and out of apartments and lots of prayers we were able to put a deposit down on one. We were also able to meet a young family from the ward here and go out to eat with them. Its always nice to meet such friendly and welcoming people in a new area! We also were able to attend church in Lake Jackson Sunday morning before heading back to SA. It was a great first impression and we knew it was going to be a great ward!

We stopped for dinner Friday night. Collin loved getting chocolate milk and drinking from a big boy cup. He also loved getting to sit right next to his daddy!

•  For FHE one night we went to check out the Japanese Tea Gardens by the San Antonio Zoo. We had always heard that they were so pretty and I really wanted to check them out before we moved. Unfortunately, they were a little disappointing. Half the ponds were dry, no fish and not really the right season for pretty flowers. Oh well we enjoyed a nice walk through them, learned a little history about them and ended the evening with a picnic at a nearby park. We planted our blanket near a baseball field to watch a game that was going on and near the train tracks so we could see the Zoo train when it passed by. We had some really great weather in those last couple weeks, it was beautiful!

 

 

 

 

•  Since moving to San Antonio nearly every week I got together with my good friends Marissa and Becca to cook. It was such a fun tradition that I am really missing! Some weeks we just made lunch, or we would make freezer meals, bread, something sweet, dinner for that night, and all sorts of other delicious things! We usually met at Marissa's house (she had a nice big kitchen) and the kids played while the ladies cooked. I felt like I was a pretty decent cook before we started. But since then I have tried lots of new and unique recipes and learned many techniques from Marissa. Some highlights that I remember: The bread recipe that I now make regularly was one of Marissa's recipes, gingerbread houses complete with stained glass (jolly rancher) windows, homemade ricotta cheese, eclairs, pan glazed plums with ice cream, oven roasted tomatoes. It's making my mouth water just thinking of all these! Many of early recipes Marissa documented on her cooking blog http://anotherstickofbutter.blogspot.com/

The Cooking Group. Photo cred Becca

This was one of our first times getting together. We met downtown for lunch and some exploring. Its amazing how much can change in such a relatively short time! Photo cred Becca...I borrowed it from her blog :)

This was the last lunch we made together. This delicious sandwich had a yummy cream sauce, melted cheese, toasted bread, ham, broccoli, and topped with a delicious runny egg. I was in heaven!

•  One last picnic on our front lawn. This was one of our favorite things to do when the weather was nice. I have so many memories of doing this last spring with friends. Especially the day we set up tents in preparation for our camping trip. Fun times! This day Becca, Bronson and Evie joined us. Those kids have so much fun playing together. Despite the age difference, they both are so nice to Collin. Especially Bronson, he is always looking out for and protecting Collin. I love it, and am so sad they won't get to grow up together more!

 

Had to snap a few last pictures by the front door. This was my favorite spot for "baby bump" and "Sunday best" pictures.

•  Michael and I got to go out for one last downtown date night. I dropped Collin of with a friend and met Michael after work for a Riverwalk boat tour. We always said that we would go when we had visitors but that just never happened. So we had to go before we lost our Bexar county resident discount. It was a beautiful evening, and a fun and relaxing ride. So glad we didn't have to wrangle Collin. It was fun to learn some interesting SA history. Would have been fun to do this when we first moved here so we could share interesting tidbits with visitors when we took them to the Riverwalk. Oh well. This was a tree we saw. There was something significant about it, but I can't seem to remember what. But its the only picture I took that night, so I had include it. ;) We finished the night with our favorite fajitas from Mama Margie's. I am going to miss that place!

•  Play group with our church friends. We met so many great people in San Antonio. I know I keep say that, but really if it wasn't for the people I probably would have hated living in San Antonio. We loved going to playgroup when we could. Here is Collin with two of his little friends- Ada and Chloe. And he had the biggest melt down when it was time to leave. I think he sensed something was different. Broke my heart to see him so sad and nearly made me cry too!