The past week

I love having family here in Houston and they're pretty fun ones!

My cousin Camille lives about 20 minutes directly north of us. Her and Tyler, daughter Millie and son Max invited us to the cutest train rides last Saturday. The boys loved it and it was free!

Troy fell off at the end. They don't go very fast, but it was still a little scary. Liam was more traumatized than Troy. I was holding onto him till the very end because it was a straight stretch. Well, I failed. Poor guy. He was okay though, luckily. 

We also went to an Astros game on Wednesday with them and my Uncle Dean and Aunt Colleen and cousin Sarah. I wish I could copy the group picture of everyone from Instagram! 

We had a blast. Ben and I loved talking to everyone and Troy was really into the game. He would pretend to pitch and swing the bat. He announced to everyone that he's been playing baseball on the Wii. 

Liam and Katelyn mostly loved eating the popcorn from my Aunt and Uncle. Endless refills means they ate as much popcorn as they physically could. Haha. I'm so proud. 

Other random pictures from the week that I want to include:

The end of our family night. Seriously, attention spans get shorter the second we say, family night. We even include a fun activity and video clip! Maybe we should have family morning instead...

We made boxcars for our "movie theater drive in of frozen" at a neighbors house in the ward. 

They had bags of money to trade in for popcorn and candy. Amy was adorable. Such a cute idea. 

I'm SO grateful for our ward!

Who looks like who?

I loved the idea of putting these together after Ben asked me to get a baby photo of him this morning. I have had the most HORRIBLE time trying to get all of the formatting right in MyScrapNook. Half the time it won't save. I give up. But I love these pictures!

Our Dad

This is Ben, my dad. He is a target, a jungle gym, a shoulder to cry on, a smiling face when I'm sad. Dad is my best friend, my storyteller, my workhorse, my teacher, and energizer bunny. He is my pitcher, catcher, goalie, and coach. He is my rock, my example, my provider, and my patriarch. Most of all, he is mine. He gives his all to me. I love my dad!

Our first yard

Well, we have successfully mowed our lawn twice now. I asked Ben if I could do it this time, because I want to fully appreciate this yard :) He still trimmed. 

A few seconds after starting to mow, I felt stinging on my ankle. I thought it was the grass flicking up some how. After a second sting, I looked down and saw a handful of fire ants on my ankle. I brushed them off and kept going, not thinking much of it. Well, I obviously should have treated it right away. My ankle is twice the size now. 

Learned my lesson. Don't itch and treat right away. You think I would have listened to my mom who warned me several times about these little devils. Meat tenderizer will forever be a staple in our house in Houston. 

On a positive note. I also remember all of the swimming we did in Houston. Love it. We went to our community pool for the first time on Friday. I'm hoping to teach Troy how to swim this summer. He did great his first time. We focused on teaching him to get his whole head wet and blowing out while under water. He was such a champ. He watched the "how to" video with us and that made him much more willing. 

Katelyn's first swimming suit. She loved the water SO much. She did not want to get out and didn't care if her face got wet. Liam is slowly getting better. So far, he will sit on the first step. Progress. 

On Sunday, we hooked up everything we owned in wires and watched a lot of our home videos. 

My kids have a love of popcorn. Wonder where it came from.. 

Liam loved watching himself laugh. 

This girl loves shoes

She loves pretty shoes. 

Or boy shoes. 

She is in a different pair every time I see her. 

Usually not her own, because she can't put those on by herself. If she wants her shoes, she will come to me with them and say, "mama, mama." Love this girl!!!!

Our House

I've been hesitant to post pictures of our house. I guess it's a pretty big jump from where we have been living. But I am a hypocrit because I want to see everyone else's pictures and I want to get excited with them. I love this house. I'm excited to make many memories here. 

Our family room. Sorry for the crazy light. I need photography lessons (hint hint Brayden.)

Troy and Liam have been running nonstop in this hallway. It goes to the front door. 

Our kitchen table area. (Ironically, I said this same thing when we bought our townhome.) We will buy one eventually..

The kitchen that I still need to finish.

Oh to have counterspace again. I think I baked from scratch twice in our apartment over 8 months. 

The front area that everyone deems useless in the realtor world. No one is on the other side of that wall!!! I'm jamming out! Till Liam tells me it's too loud. Haha. 

Yay for the "Texas Basement" or bonus/game room. Notice our flag is up again! 

The kid's bedrooms look bare. I'm excited to decorate over the next long while. 

Liam's is the same without a dresser. Haha. 

Katelyn's room. Her bed is already set up on the left for when she transfers. That probably won't be for awhile. 

We have a guest bedroom as well! But there is nothing in it yet, except bright red walls and cute baby wallpaper. Painting will be a project in the near future. 

Our room. 

This is our home! We love visitors!! ;)

Enjoying our new house

We are starting to get settled. There are boxes still packed and not everything is hung. But I feel more and more like this is really ours. 

Troy and Liam still love to play with the empty boxes. Timber...

I love our family room. It's connected to the kitchen in an open concept. I've enjoyed cooking in our kitchen! The biggest change we've done so far is the kitchen cabinets. A huge project, to say the least. I'm not completely done, but we love them already. They were a light oak and we stained them a dark espresso. 

Before

After

They look darker in pictures, in my opinion. I still have to finish touch ups and then put on the "clear coat" and put the silver nobs back on. They look so good to me! 

My first real dinner was chicken pot pie. Troy got really into it.

We had a huge rain storm on Saturday. We all looked out the window to find a river on the side of our house. No, not a stream. A river. We loved watching. 

At work, Ben is full management now. It's stressful, but he enjoys it. It is definitely stretching him, but in a good way. I could not say enough good things about his company and the people. He has been working more recently, but I can honestly say that I love his company. 

I met our ward for the first time on Sunday. Ben already knew practically everyone. What a wonderful ward. We also have very friendly neighbors. I went on a walk and three different neighbors stopped to talk with me. Each one had already met Ben. I'm excited to get to know them all and feel at home. 

I will say, I HATE bugs. I am such a wimp. We thought it would be a good idea to cut Ben's hair outside, but it was after dark. Immediately, bugs flawked to the light and scared me to death in the process. Ben killed a spider and a cockroach on our way back inside. NOT a fan. But I'm sure I'll get less crazy about it. And smarter. No going outside at night for me!