Hooray for HOUSTON!!!

Chevron offered Ben the job in Houston!!! YEAA!!! We are all so happy, and feel so blessed that Heavenly Father answered our prayers. I am somewhat in shock right now, so I will report more later.

We get to buy a home, have a backyard, have a master bedroom that is hopefully four times the size of ours now, I can yell at the kids without worrying the neighbors think I am killing them!!! JOYOUS!!!

Santa Monica...I'm in love with you!!

Oh beautiful beach, awesome pier.. with everything a child desires, wonderful weather, and crazy people to look at... thank you for being so fun for us.
Gabe (Ben's brother) lives minutes away from the Santa Monica beach. It's something out of a movie. The pier is unbelievable, complete with roller coaster, and every other possible cool thing imaginable.

Abby loved the beach and it was fun to put Mac's little toes in the sand for the very first time. He really didn't know what to think... but it was fun for me. Ben would run in and out of the water, while dragging Abby behind him. Thank goodness for that Mega Death Grip hold he had on her... or else would have been one child short!!!
We dined on the finest corndogs, french fries and real Lemonade!! Nothing beats this place.......Hotdog on a stick. You definitely can't beat those outfits they wear. I think that might be my next Halloween costume.

I could have sat and watched people all day. Women would run by in bathing suits.... they must be really secure with their bodies!!! Men would be wearing sweet spandex, it was awesome.
It was just a perfect day. Nothing wears out a two year old like a beach, so we all slept good that night : )
Thank You, Thank You Uncle Gabe for showing us such a fun time in California! You're Fabulous!

Disneyland Vacation..

This was quite the trip. We really wanted to go down to LA and visit Ben's brother Gabe, so we thought that while we were down there that we should go to the happiest place on earth... that's right DISNEYLAND! We knew that Abby would love it, so we did it. The only problem with Disneyland was:

*Abby only got 8 hours of sleep the night before... making her a tired, ornery two year old.

* It was a beautiful day, and apparently California hadn't been so nice for the last weeks... and it was PACKED!

* Mac was so sick... yes we still decided to take him on an airplane, even though he had a double ear infection. He was miserable the whole time, and if you stopped walking, while he was in the snuggly he would wake immediately and start bawling!

* Abby only ended up going on 4 rides in 9 hours!! We didn't wait in line all 9 hours... but each line took about 45 mins!! That's torture to a 2 year old!

* Abby only wanted to be held by Ben... poor Ben's back.

All in all it was a fun experience, but I think we learned our lesson. Next time we all need more sleep, our good health, and a horrible awful wet and windy day!! See ya next time Disneyland.

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Perfect Form

This is me in all of my glory. It's a scanned picture from a newspaper, but I thought that I should blog it. That way one day my children really will believe me when I tell them that I used to be an athlete!!

Oh to have my high school body back......

Toddler Reassurance

While having a tough time trying to be a good mom, and feeling like I am a particularly bad mother. (Mac is sick, and Abby's two years old and likes to wear on my patience) It has been a long day, Mac has been crying almost the whole day, and I have been getting more and more upset. Why do I let his cry bother me so much?? I just wish that I could be a better mom... better yet the best Mom!! I feel awful, I feel like I am not meant to do this (meaning parenting). But thank goodness for my Abby girl. She made me feel much better. Here is our conversation.

Abby: "Mom, we need to talk about it." (She says this after noticing that I am sad and upset)

Mom: Yeah.

Abby: So Jesus, He just wants you to sings songs and be happy.

Mom: So Jesus just wants us to sing songs??

Abby: Yeah, cause Jesus wants.......(Abby currently deep in thought... she pauses)...... Jesus wants ME for a sunbeam.

Abby: And Heavenly Father and God are the... same! And Jesus is the same.

Mom: That's right Abby.... should we sing a song?

Abby: YEAH!! Let's sing that song.. Jesus wants me for a jingle bell.

So this conversation quickly turned from very spiritual to a Christmas jingle bells song. None the less she made me feel so much better. With her I am always reminded that I have second chances to be a better Mom everyday. That is as long as I give her fruit snacks.
I am not going to lie.... parenting is hard for me. But I am so very grateful that I have my wonderful husband to be here for me, and that I have my absolutely crazy daughter to make me laugh and realize that everything is going to be alright.