The Wischmeier Words: 2015

Sweet and cuddly Finnegan, I'm sorry that we drove in the car all day on your actual birthday. You were a real champ about it all and I'm thankful you're an easy keeper. When I asked what kind of cake you'd like you asked for a cake that you could decorate yourself. We thankfully found the perfect one and you enjoyed adding the frosting dots around the outside of the cake. You also got to go to Menchies and get anything and everything you wanted. Look at the size of that ice cream!!!You only ate about an 1/8 of it! We also played at chuckecheese for a good hour until they closed. Overall..that's not too bad of a birthday! I love you Finn. Thank you for still giving your Mama lots and lots of kisses, and for being such a good helper around the house.

Whoa! That was a long blogging break!

I am happy to report that all is well with us Texas Wischmeier's. We are busy playing, going to school, swimming, serving within our church, and just plain ol' living life. Finn just had his 6th birthday, we just arrived home after a two week long vacation, (the longest vacation we've ever had)

and Ben is working on an oil rig that is a two hour helicopter ride off the coast of New Orleans. He works two weeks straight on the oil rig, then he comes home for two weeks straight..no work!

We decided to meet Ben in SLC Utah to start our vacation. I had the task of being the sole driver for three days. Thankfully the kids are wonderful little travelers, so it was mostly smooth sailing. While passing through South Utah, I saw a sign for Arches National Park, and the park looked like it was just right there off the freeway! I quick and flipped a U and bam! We we're in the park. I've always wanted to explore Arches National Park and we had time, so YOLO!!

I can't forget our quick stop to see the cutest most tiny temple ever...Monticello Utah.

Jack dubbed himself "a mountain climber man"

Check that off my bucket list.

Seriously, so beautiful up here. Such a peaceful moment for us all.

Now it was off to Orem to see Uncle Spud, Aunt Kendra, Tucker and the newest addition to the Wischmeier Family baby Annie. It was perfect weather in Utah, hot, but not nearly as hot at Houston. We ate Cafe Rio, tried Sodalicious (it was delicious), and played in Great Grandpas backyard and basement. Ben flew in late that night and it was so good to see him after two weeks. I am pretty proud of myself for being a pretty decent single parent those first two weeks! The next morning we took a family hike up to Donut Falls, which is up Big Cottonwood canyon. The drive up big cottonwood is pretty much what I imagine Heaven to look like. Lush, green upon green, perfect temperature...just dreamy! We found the trail leading to donut falls and off we went. Our kiddos have really never "hiked" so they were pretty excited!

The hike up, was so much more treacherous than we expected! We had to crawl down a big ol' hunk of rock, and cross over the stream. The stream water was ice cold and felt so good after 30 minutes of hiking. The kids were up for the challenge of crossing the stream, and we all successful made it over. I'm so glad we had this experience together as a family. Next stop was Temple Square.

Next day we were off to Montana, but first we had to make a must stop in Rexburg. Rexburg, has really grown in the last ten years! A new temple, the campus is much bigger and the town is just bigger in general! We made a quick stop to the temple and to our first ever home.

Now, we were off to Montana. Ben's lifelong friend Tony and his family meet us at the Lewis and Clark Caverns. We hiked up yet another mountain to get to the cavern, at this point we are basically a family of professional hikers :) The cave was so awesome!

Next stop...Virginia City Montana to see Jessicca Wischmeier and her family. Creed our nephew got baptized while we were here (the main reason for our whole trip)Virginia City is the most cute and quaint town! We panned for gold, rode the train through the town, and took an adventurous ride in an Army truck. We got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Wischmeier, Great Grandpa Jim and Grand Grandmother Kathleen, and Uncle Gabe surprised us when he showed up too!! So fun! We were just missing the Boston Wischmeiers and Aunt Kendra and Baby Annie..we missed them! Abby was in heaven spending time with Madison, and the same for my boys with Creed and Savannah..they all played and played for hours and had such fun getting to know their cousins better.