Houston Ship Channel

Evan and I were invited to go on a yacht down the Houston ship channel.

So cool! About 30 of us from my neighborhood met downtown and climbed aboard the vessell. We had dinner on the boat, took an hour and a half drive. It was so fun and relaxing. I'm afraid I am getting used to this little independance I am having from my children. It is nice to get out and not have to have my eyes constantly watching my children and helping them. I don't feel selfish, but when I write down how I feel, it kind of appears that way. I sure like my kids a lot better after having a break.

Here is a guy from church that wanted to make it onto my blog. Of course Troy (my brother-in-law) was taking the picture and made sure he cropped Jason out as much as he could! 

The boat ride was a lot of fun. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. I was up in the top floor of the boat and a couple was on the bow of the boat beginning to make out (and they weren't a young couple and I know them well and didn't exactly want to watch them smootching!) so I sounded the horn and boy did they jump. A few seconds later and they snuggled again closer, I sounded the horn again. We all got a good laugh. 

Oil Ranch

It has been a few years, but I decided to venture out and take my kids back to Oil Ranch. Every time we have gone we have had a great time and I come back exhausted. All the work of taking 6 children is well worth it. They love the experience and leave asking when we can come back.

The above picture was taken at the end of the day.

We rode ponies, went through hay bale mazes, petted chickens, goats, sheep, etc; 

Gavin was too cute riding the pony. All the kids loved riding these ponies, even Taneal. The baby of the family always is the cutest, no exception here. Nathan kept getting back in line, at the front, cutting in front of everyone. He hasn't been to school yet and has no idea about lines. And it served him well, because he got several extra turns riding the ponies.

Spencer in the hay bale maze. So much fun. And even more fun because Katie her kids (my kids cousins) were there along with several friends from the neighborhood and church.

Gavin refused to pet the sheep. Nathan and Danielle thought it was great. Taneal was such a good cheerleader for Gavin. Gavin refused regardless of the encouragement both Taneal and I gave.

Watching the children milk a cow was hilarious. Taneal gave the best response. She said that was the most disgusting thing she had ever done. She furthered the explanation by comparing what she thought the cow's udder's felt like. I won't share what she compared it to, not really appropriate for a blog. But it made me laugh so hard. And the only reason she would even be able to even have that comparison is because she has 3 little brothers and she is the oldest.

This is a picture of the group, at least my kids and Katie's.

 Taneal encouraging GAvin to pet the donkey. Taneal is so good with kids.

Gavin was being so silly. He wouldn't keep his outfit snapped and managed to get his clothes caught on the shoe horse pole. He got frustrated at first until I took a picture and then he had all the attention and then it turned into a show.

This is some of us on the hayride where we were able to feed the cows.

 Aren't those two adorable?

Camie and Chloe.

This story may show my immaturity, but it made me laugh so hard. The guy was handing out these pellets to everyone so we could feed the cows on the hayride. Nathan asked me what they were and I told him they were poop. He mater-of-fact said, oh, okay. I wanted to see if he would still take the pellets from the guy. He did have his nose turned up as the others around him took the pellets. Then I took the pellets from the guy and next was NAthan's turn. He went right ahead and took his pellets without a problem. The person sitting next to me heard the whole conversation and as soon as Nathan had his pellets, asked him what they were. As it were no big deal, Nathan answered that they were poop. See the mischievous grin in this picture?

Here are the cute little boys getting ready for the train ride.

Taneal with Gavin. Seriously, what would I do without Taneal? She is such a big helper.

This is Gavin on the indian swimg. It is a horse walker, but labeled an Indian swing and the kids LOVE it! Let me tell you, that sucker is hard to push and gives an amazing workout. It got my heart rate up super fast and wore me out almost immediately. I thought I was in decent shape until I tried to push this thing. 

At the end of the day, we each got to bring home a pumpkin. The kids spent so much time finding the perfect pumpkin. They were so excited. 

Welcome Sage

Not sure why I am so excited, but I am. You would think having another niece would be old news because I have only about 40 neices. 

BONNIE HAD HER BABY!

My little sister, Bonnie, lives fairly close to me. She moved here about 2 years ago and it has been so much fun to have her live close. I remember when she called me to tell me she was pregnant. She was sure she was not. Then a few days later she took a test and it came back positive.

Bonnie wan't as sick as I get during pregnancy, and I was glad that she could still work the whole time. The great part about Bonnie is that she realized she had an easier pregnancy than I and didn't down play how sick I got. She was grateful she hadn't got that sick. Didn't I say Bonnie is awesome?

Well, Bonnie decided to take her maternity leave from work 2 weeks early. So, Wednesday we were going to hang out. Saturday we were going to make caramel apples. 

Tuesday night I got this text from Bonnie: "I don't think we are going to be able to hang out tomorrow".

What? So I texted back, "Why."

And for her response, she sent me this picture:

 (So sorry to post this picture! But you sent it. Wait, maybe it wasn't you. It was probably Jarom. Man, I am sorry Jarom. Bonnie is going to want to ring your neck for this!)

I think I literally started jumping up and down. No way! Bonnie was having her baby almost two weeks early. Of course I was up most of the night waiting for updates. Sage was born around 3am. Bonnie did great, handled the labor and delivery better then she figured she would, and brought a beautiful little girl into her family.

Congratulations Bonnie and Jarom. I am so excited for you!

 I was able to go up to the hospital and take this picture myself. Thanks to great friends on my end who watched my kids at a minutes notice so I could drive across town to the hospital and greet this new baby.

While I was Away

My mom came and watched my children while Evan and I went to San Antonio for a convention. While I was gone, she sent me a few pictures:

Now that is some serious tv watching.

What the heck? Why is Taneal in the bathtub doing homework?

This is a picture that Gavin took with my phone. Looks like they just played the whole time!

 I say that joking because I'm sure that is how I look most of the time.

After I got home my mom decided to treat me to Salt Grass Steak House for some yummy food and some amazing chocolate cake. No, I didn't finish that piece of cake there. It made the best breakfast the next morning. Right before I went running. I don't think I will ever be able to burn all those calories!

The Alamo

A few weeks ago Evan and I had the opportunity to go to San Antonio for a conference. Of course it was out of the question for both of us to go. We hadn't ever done anything like this before hadn't left our children before, at least not all of them. And then the question of what would we do with our children? I dismissed going as even being a possibility, but thought I would go ahead and call my mom and see if she was willing to come play mom for 3 days. And you know what? She said yes!

So off to San Antonio we went. Just Evan and I.

The night we got there we went out to dinner on the riverwalk. After dinner, we went on a boat on the river. The guide was so entertaining and it was so relaxing. We had no where to go, nobody to tend to, and basically no worries or responsibilities. I don't think I have felt like that since the day Taneal was born 12 years ago.

The feeling was so relaxing and exciting. I always thought my life was about my children. Anything but myself. And here I was relaxed. It was nice.

My sister lives close to San Antonio, so she met me the next morning. We saw the Alamo and walked part of the riverwalk. And no children. I had never seen the Alamo before, even though I grew up studying Texas history. Camie asked me to get some pictures, especially one of the blood spatter. I couldn't find any blood, but I did get a picture of the Alamo for you , Camie.

I met Evan for lunch and after that day's convention, we went over to the Alamo.

This tree was HUGE!

It was so nice that my mom came and watched my children. They were happy and fed when I returned. She even got them to school early! I'll have to show some pictures she took. Pretty funny.

Guard

Sunday we were sitting in church while the Sacrament was being passed around. Nathan leans over to me and whispers, "Mom, when do I get to be a guard?" 

Puzzled, I looked around and asked him what he was talking about. He pointed at his cousin Tyler, who was ushering, and repeated, "When do I get to be a guard like Tyler?"

It's Fat

I have learned to love Pilates. I will never forget the first time I took a Pilates class here at the YMCA. I couldn't do hardly anything in that class. I looked around and there were all kinds of people in the class. Younger and lots older than me, taller and shorter. Bigger and smaller. So why, if I looked like I belonged, could I not do anything in that class. I was sure I was in the advanced class, but the class description did not say advanced.

I walked up to the instructor after the class and told her my dilemma  Was there a beginning class that I should be in because I couldn't do anything? I think my weight can be deceitful. Just because I don't carry around a lot of extra weight doesn't mean much. I still am in bad shape, or at least I was at that point. The instructor was kind and well-trained because she explained that if that class was too hard for me, I really needed to be coming to it.

 Plus, my swim instructor said to be a better swimmer we should be taking a Pilates class at least once a week. I was kind of stuck. I needed to take Pilates.

Pilates has gotten so much better over the last 10 months. I can do so much in the class. I still have a whole lot more to go, but hopefully that will always be the case so I can continually challenge myself.

After one of my Pilates class, after everyone but the instructor had left the room, I asked her a honest question. I pinched the roll around my middle and asked her what I needed to do to get rid of that. I explained that I had had 6 children in 10 years and that my baby had just turned 2 and I got huge with my pregnancies and maybe that roll was just extra skin and yada yada yada.

This Pilates instructor is in her 50's. She is cute and in amazing shape. I want to look like her.

She said she could tell me if it was extra skin or if it was just fat if she could touch it. Then she asked if she could touch it. Yep, go right ahead.

She poked my roll,  looked up at me and said, "Yes honey, it's fat".

My face must have fell because she immediately said, "But that's good news. We can do something about fat. If it was extra skin, there would be nothing we could do about it."

So I commented that I guess I just needed to loose weight.

She was so kind and told me I must not cut my calories. Whew!

She told me I needed to build muscle and the fat would redistribute. So I must begin coming to her RIPPED class and also both her Mat Science classes each week and we were going to take care of that nice hunk of fat that I have going around my middle.

So yah, I am almost 40 and I have a little fat.

I actually thought the conversation I had with her was funny. Even while it was going on, I was chuckling on the inside. I still love that instructor and will continue to come to all her classes because she is so good. And hopefully redistribute.

I

Elk Ranch for Conference

Troy and Becky invited us out to spend the weekend at their ranch for confernce weekend. The kids had a blast! Check out the fish Camie caught! I think they said it was 21 inches long!

Spencer and Skyler helping their Uncle mow in the tractor

Gavin crashed at the grocery store. He was so worn out that he fell asleep sitting up and I had to lay him down.

While I was at the store, Troy took Nathan for a ride in the tractor down the highway to get gas. Nathan thought that was so cool. I think that would have been fun going down the highway in a tractor, especially when you are 4.

Here is Spencer and Skyler in the tractor. Those two are best friends and love to be around each other. It is a constant giggle with Skyler around. Tons of fun.

We made sugar cookies and decorated them on Sunday while we listened to conference.