The home stretch (May 2018)

Backing WAY up to May:

Hyrum had been gone for about 3 months, and we were starting to get anxious for his return.  We spent the month of may trying to keep ourselves busy, and enjoy the last full month in Colorado.  (It was also the last month of school for the kids.)  I was initially just going to omit all these pictures from my blog, but when I went back to look at them, the kids look SO SMALL.  Too cute to leave out. 

I bought a new phone in May (Pixel 2, I love it) as a late birthday present, and it has these Star Wars 'stickers' you an put in photos.  They move around, and the kids had a blast taking pictures 'with' them.  (So did my Primary class of 7-yr-old boys).

May may have been our Month of Adventures.  We heard of a new diner/soda shop in town, so I took the kids to try it.  We sat up at the counter and ordered a house-made flavored soda.  The lady kept re-filling their little cups with different flavors so they could try several.  These soda-lovers had a blast.  I surprisingly ended up drinking most of the milk shake by myself. 

Afterwards, we headed down the road to Garden of the Gods.  It was probably our last visit there.  It's just so beautiful!  Especially on warm, sunny days.  It's a strange feeling to be out adventuring, with absolutely no where else to be.  No dinner to make, no one waiting for you at home, no other plans or to-do's for the day.  Just wandering.  Everyone took turns in the stroller, and Mila insisted on 'pushing' for a while.  They I caught the two girls spontaneously holding each others hand. 

It was great fun, but if I remember correctly, it ended in tears with me hauling the stroller in one hand (folded up) and dragging one or two children with the other hand, all the way back to the car.  Such is life.

A different day, Chik-fil-et held an event for kids.  (We had the best Chik-fil-et!)  There were bounce houses and cookie decorating.  All free. 

Tiago's school did their end-of-year field day, and invited parents to come.  It was fun to give him all the attention, and see him in this environment he'd grown so comfortable in.  

On the girls' last day of pre-school (they went T/Th for 3 hours) they had a water party outside, and parents were also invited.  They mostly played by themselves, which is a perk of having a built in best-friend. Their teacher was always telling me how they defended each other (especially Siena) when other kids were trying to mess with them.

Tiago's class did a final evening event when the kids sang songs they'd been working on.  Contrary to Tiago's shy nature, he was quite excited to perform.  He'd been singing the songs around the house for weeks so we were all familiar with them.  He wasn't super enthusiastic, but he sang in front of everyone.  Here, his hand is on his head like a great white shark. 

This is a super random picture, but one day Siena looked in her closet and saw white dresses in the very back.  I told her those weren't dresses to wear, they were their baby blessing dresses.  But she insisted on seeing it, and it looked huge, so I let her try it on.  And it kind of fit!  She truly thought she was an angel.  

So that got me thinking... this wasn't the dress she wore when she was blessed!  I realized it was a third dress my mom made after-the-fact out of my wedding veil.  And in the meantime, I'd given back Siena's real blessing dress thinking it was an 'extra'.  Yikes.  We sorted it all out: Siena's real (smaller) dress now hangs in the back of her closet, and some future giant baby is all set with a 2T dress.  

I took the kids out one afternoon for frozen yogurt.  It's always hit or miss with what treats (food in general) my kids will actually eat, but I didn't mind eating any leftovers.  This is such a Siena face!

The whole time I lived in Colorado, I had been meaning to go visit Emily, one of my college roommates, who lived an hour north of me.  I hadn't seen her since moving away from Provo.  We finally made it happen!  And my friend (and same-time roommate) Jennifer was able to make it, too.  She lives just a little farther north.  I've seen Jennifer multiple times, but it was SO FUN to all be together for a few hours, as if no time had passed.  (It's been about 10 years since we were all together!)  I drove home feeling so filled, and happy to have good people in my life even if I don't se them often.  Good thing I was in such a good mood, because a rock hit my windshield and left me with a huge crack that was a bit of a headache to get replaced.

So that was May 2018!  Hyrum came home just after mid-night on the 26th, and it was all hands on deck getting ready to move in June.  

Texas visitors

We have had a lot of fun visits here in Dallas-- although most were much too short!

Just as we were finishing unpacking boxes, my mom flew in to help us put our house together.  Hyrum had already started work, so we hauled the kids to dozens of stores looking for rugs, lightbulbs, frames, cords, etc.  

Over the weekend we went to a splash pad/playground 25 minutes north of us.  It's huge.  It would have been more fun if it weren't so hot, but that's Texas in the summer. We left once we ran out of water.  

Yes-- this is TWO boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts.  I think it was buy a dozen, get the second for $1.  That's hard to say no to. 

We documented the kids after church, because my mom just made them these cute dresses. 

We rode the train downtown one day.  We tried to visit Hyrum's office, but he wasn't able to step away for a minute.  We took a bus to a huge playground where the kids could play for hours.  It's always full of kids, and has a lot of water elements.  Hyrum ended up meeting us there for lunch, courtesy of some really expensive food trucks. 

A few weeks later, my dad happened to be in Texas for work.  He was nice enough to drive from the airport to our house late one night, just to spend a few hours with the kids the next morning before his meetings.  We played at the park,read a few books and there wasn't time for much more.  My kids get so excited for visitors that they're always a little devastated to see them pull away.  

At the end of August my sisters came to visit.  (Courtney had to cancel last minute, unfortunately, so we had plenty of sister pictures without her.  Luckily, we had all seen each other in Utah the weekend before.)

We spent Saturday exploring Waco, which is just under 2 hours away.  Most people visiting Waco probably skip the massacre site, but my sisters are odd balls and we spent about an hour looking at where the compound used to be.  There's a guy that lives there and does tours, explaining the Branch Davidian group and details of what happened during the massacre.  He's not part of the group, but has a lot of opinions about it and the government. There are only a couple of people left in the group, but one of the survivors currently lives at the site with her family.  Strange place!

Then we explored the Magnolia Silos, while waiting for our lunch reservation.  We spent a small fortune on cupcakes at the bakery.  Money well spent!  Then lunch was delicious.  Some of the recipes at the Magnolia Table are from their cook book, so I have a few things I want to try making at home. 

Amie had to leave the next morning but Jenna stuck around for another day.  We went out for ice cream. And since it was raining we were limited in our activities.  We ended up putting on everyone's rain boots and going to play down the street, getting soaked.  The kids loved it, and it was one of the few times the heat came in handy.  

Then a few days after Thanksgiving, my parents came to visit for a day on their way home from Australia.  I told Tiago I was going to get them from the airport while he was at school.  He started to cry, and said he wanted to come too.  So we picked him up early, and he talked Siena into letting him sit in the back of the van, because he knew that's where Grandma would sit.  They were in heaven!

Our first order of business was decorating a gingerbread house.  I love delegating that kind of mom-work to my own mother!  The house turned out really cute!  We decided it wasn't about having a lot of quantity with the candy, but rather having a few really cute things, like these lights and the penguin.

Tiago showed off his reading skills.  He's really good at reading in Spanish, and would translate some of the words for my mom when she asked what it meant.  And then as Hyrum was putting Tiago in bed that night he came out and said he'd rather have Grandma come do it. 

The next morning the girls had preschool, then we picked them up and brought Tiago to preschool.  We went to a park with them that afternoon, after stopping at Sonic for drinks. 

Right before dinner we were talking about how Grandma and Grandpa would be leaving soon.  Tiago asked if we (Hyrum and I) were leaving.  [A few months ago, I told the kids that we wanted to take a trip and have Grandma come watch them while we were gone.]  I asked Tiago if he was trying to get rid of me, and he said yes.  Then when he realized their visit was almost over, the tears he'd been holding back exploded out and he was SO SAD for about 30 minutes.  I think he went through the stages of grief--  he was in denial, then sad, then angry, etc.  He screamed that he never wanted to visit Utah and wouldn't even call my mom on the phone.  The things kids say!  We just made them agree to come back and visit soon, and to stay at least two days. 

Texas State Fair

The State Fair came to Dallas in September, and we went on opening night.  I took the kids on the train, and we met up with Hyrum on the way, since he works downtown.  They were excited just to be riding the train, but the fair was great for a few hours until bedtime meltdowns began.  Every adventure with little kids has an expiration, and we partied until we reached it.  

Tiago got to test out some fun cars. 

And the most iconic part of the Texas State Fair is this giant "Big Tex."  The kids thought it was great at a distance, but Tiago was terrified being up close. 

We saw a fun area with animals-- kangaroos, zebras, and this huge horned animal checking out Siena.  In the same building was a farm-to-table experience for kids.  They got baskets and planted seeds, harvested corn and apples, rode tractors, and then sold everything to the store and earned money.  The best part was that fake money got them each a free kiddie ice cream cone.  That was a nice complement to the giant corndog we bought.  (I was in the middle of eating Keto, so I didn't actually get to eat ANY fried fair food.  What a missed opportunity!)