GO RANGERS!!!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Ranger game and had a great time. We always buy the nosebleed seats for super cheap and take snacks and drinks- so for about $30 total we can have an awesome family night. This night there was a free Jack Ingram concert after the game- the weather was perfect, the game was fun and we actually (When I say "we" I really mean Kaston & Ireland, because they are the ones who like to argue with each other until you feel like taking a pan and hitting yourself over the head just so you don't have to hear it anymore) got along without any major issues =o)
Going to a Ranger game has become one of our favorite things to do here in Texas- Last weekend Rich and I had our first double date since moving to Texas. Our friends, the Amaya's, had Ranger tickets that they weren't going to use so they gave them to the Fortenberry's who then invited us to go- So, Kristi and Neil picked us up-- and we went to the game- With the exception of scrambling last minute for a babysitter and Neil losing his wallet (it was at home right where he always puts it- good one Neil ;o) it was fantastic to get to hang out with other adults and have no children to worry about, we just might have to do it again someday- and this time we won't wait 3 years.

HaPpY mOtHeRs DaY 2009!!!

Happy Mothers Day to all of the wonderful women in my life- My mama Lori, My grams, Mom-in-law Linda, Aunts, sister-in-laws, cousins, friends and all of the other amazing mothers that are not only surviving but making the best of living in the hood........the motherhood that is.
It is truly the toughest ,yet most rewarding job ever- I love all of you and I hope y'all had a fantastic day!

My day started out with Rich making pancakes and bacon- he of course made mine special by spelling out MOM with the pancakes.....very cute!! We then went to see "Monsters vs. Aliens" (super cute show) and then we ate @ Dickeys BBQ.
This was a fun day with the family- and even though there are days that I want to pull my hair out or hide in my closet in the fetal position repeating "take me to my happy place" over and over--I still feel that no matter how hard or stressful it gets, I am so blessed to have been chosen to be the mother of the three most amazing people on earth. My kids are the best- they have allowed me to experience a love that before kids I never thought possible. I love my babies and I thank God every day for allowing Rich and myself to be their parents.

Where did my little girl go???

Does this child look only 10 years old....I don't think so!
Ireland went to Sydney's (her friend & soccer team mate) Birthday party last weekend and she was told to dress up how Hannah Montana would. Now, she is not one for dressing up- she is a self professed tom-boy, so her getting all dolled up doesn't happen all that often. But on this day they were taking a limo to see the Hannah Montana movie and to get ice cream- she said that she felt like someone famous for a day, and that it was "kind of" fun to dress a little different than how she normally would.
So back to the picture- on the way to the party, I snapped this real quick- when I looked at it later that day, I couldn't believe how grown up she looked in it. Time is going by so quickly and it seems like she gets more and more mature every day. This year Rich and I will celebrate our 12th anniversary and those 12 years have flown by and it scares me to think that in another 12 years Ireland will be in her twenties....holy cow!! I guess I just have to do my best and try to cherish everyday and treasure the moments when she acts like my sweet, little girl. I try my best to not treat her like she is older than she is, but with her being the oldest and the fact that she is wise beyond her years, sometimes it is easy to forget that she is only 10- my sweet, little Peanut, I wish she would stop growing up so fast =o)

** Easter Fun 2009 **

Easter this year was a little bit different from how it usually is for us. All day Saturday we did some major spring cleaning around the house. When we were finished, I was going to go get eggs and set up everything so the kids could decorate them, but.....our wonderful neighbors, the Fansler's invited us over for dinner so we decided to postpone eggs for a little bit. Francesca cooked an awesome southern meal- Ham, greens, beans and cornbread with a super yummy homemade banana pudding dessert. We ended up staying longer than we intended too- by the time I got back from the store, it was late and we still had to boil the eggs, which would make it so coloring eggs would be way too late and the kids were afraid the Easter bunny might not stop at our house if they weren't in bed....
So we talked them into decorating the eggs on Easter day- they were not very thrilled with this idea but in the end it worked out really well. Most egg hunts involve some bickering because one of the kids would find another one's egg and that apparently is not okay- but this year they were all white- a free for all. No fighting is a great thing. After the kids found all of the eggs, they then found their baskets hidden in the dryer...silly bunny =o)
I fixed a nice breakfast while Rich set up the table for egg decorating, the 5 of us had a good time creating some beautiful and interesting eggs. We then got ready to go my Aunt Toni and Uncle Craig's house for dinner. My cousin Braydee, Nate and sweet baby Kenyan were there (cuz they live there) so it was a nice family get together. All in all, it was a very nice Easter- not quite as much fun as it was last year in Utah- no eggs hunts with the extended family or the Evans- but we made the best of it.
Spencer and Kaston with their baskets

Ireland with her "tween" inspired basket-
(she is growing up soooo much!!)
Kenyan with his Easter stuff- in his mouth of course
Kenyan with his Gramma Toni on Easter day-
don't ya just want to squeeze him??

2009 Kindergarten Zoo Field Trip!!

2 weeks ago we went to the Dallas Zoo for the Kindergarten field trip. Spencer and Kaston rode the bus and I drove down along with 3 other moms (Teraya, Francesca, and Kim) and Hazel and Easton rode with me too. I was assigned a little boy named Shelvy and the twins- we were free to explore the zoo however we wanted. We hung with the Fanslers all day- which was a great idea because Francesca and I helped each other keep track of all the kids- We ate lunch when we first got there and then met up with the kids teacher, Mrs. Paine, to ride the zoo monorail-
we would occasionally run into other groups and hang with them for a bit so the kids could be with their friends. By the end of the day there was a lot of sore feet and some very tired kiddos, Spencer told me that she slept the whole way home on the bus. It was a lot of fun and the twins were very excited to go on their first real field trip.


Mrs. Paine, Kaston & Spencer waiting to get on
the bus at the end of the day

The kids thought that this Giraffe looked so funny trying to
eat the grass off of the ground......I have to agree
Spencer, Keely & Kyra lookin' all cute

Kaston with the Giraffes standing the normal way =o)

Kaysee(me), Francesca and my little man, Easton

THE ZOO CREW!!!

A day at the Forth Worth Stockyards

There was so much for us to do and see when we moved here from Utah, but one our favorites is the Fort Worth Stockyards. In January we took my uncle Randy and my Grandma Audrey there. We had a fun time walking through all of the neat little western shops, the kids had fun at the candy store and then we watched the "huge" cattle drive. Longhorns are really cool looking animals and I had always wondered what they were good for, but as the picture below shows, I guess you ride them.....who needs a horse??

This is what we do to pass the time in Texas, we ride cows. =o)
Ireland, Spencer and Kaston thought that getting to sit
on Big Jake was really awesome.

3 for the price of 1- silly kids

myself, Randy and my Grams

Rich took the pic and I have to say he did a

great job of fitting us and the sign in ever so nicely.

LOOK OUT....IT'S A STAMPEDE!! hehe

Where is the Snow???

So last year we had an awesome snow storm that was a small taste of what we used to get in Utah. We had so much fun- the snow started to come down real strong at 9 pm, so I bundled my kids up and we went out and played in it for almost 2 hours. Ireland was excited to play in snow that felt soft and fluffy like we used to get, instead of the snow cone snow that fell the first winter we were in Texas. During winter 2006-2007 I would laugh as I drove by houses where kids were out front building snowmen (or dirtmen is more of what they looked like) in a half inch of snow, Ireland said "why are they out there, it is such a waste of time?" I guess we were spoiled and we took for granted the beautiful winter wonderland that we lived in- the saying "you don't miss it til it's gone" is so true. Rich could care less about the snow, he is delighted that we moved away from it, but if you can't tell, I miss it terribly.

It was very nice to see that Texas does get a good old fashioned snow storm every now and then.
(and then be 75 degrees the very next day, I guess I'll take what I can get) I am just waiting very patiently for one this winter, although seeing that right now I have on shorts and flip flops, I don't see it happening any time soon.

The pics below are from last years good times in the "real" snow.

**First blog of 2009**

This is a random picture of my Great Grandpa O in the military during World War I -- it has nothing to do with this post I just think it's a cool picture and I hate doing a post without at least one picture.

First of all, I hope that everyone had a super holiday break. I had all of my family in town for Christmas and New Years and let me just say that there were no dull moments. I can't believe how fast 2 weeks went by and I feel like I didn't do even half of what I planned to do before the new year.

Speaking of New Years, I really don't like resolutions because they are just something that I will have really good intentions of doing but, like always, I won't do- and yet some how I still make them every year- I came across a typed list of my resolutions for 1999- and the funny thing is that they are something that I would still write down today. Sad.....ten years later and I'm still trying to get the same things accomplished that I was when I was 22, that's kind of scary =o)

But, there are a few things that I would really like to do this year- I want to keep in better touch with all of my friends and family and I really want to be better at keeping my blog up to date- so this is my attempt to do at least one of those things. Even if it means posting something extremely random like a picture of my Great Gramps. hehe

Dale River Ranch Trip

Okay- So I am very bitter right now- I just spent an hour creating a slide show of pictures from our family trip to Richs' company ranch/lodge. I took the time to design it, write comments about each picture and just as I was about to post it, slide.com decided to freak out on me, it froze up and went blank- which resulted in losing all of the work that I had just done. So here is a couple pics from that trip, when I have more time I will create a new slide. Now, just to let you know, this trip was in September- that is how far behind I am at blogging. I am hoping to catch up over the Christmas break....we'll see.