Year End Wrap Up

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us!  We had a great year!  In the spring, we made it down to San Antonio to hit Sea World for the first time, and had a blast.  I am thrilled that Olivia loves big rides as much as I do.

The biggest event, of course, was Helaman's graduation from his oral surgery program.  He is legit now, and happy to have his first "real" job, though it was sad to say goodbye to our little house that treated us so well and provided so many nice memories. 

We couldn't bear to sell it so we are renting it.  We also made it down to Houston for a beach trip with the cousins.

The kids have never been to a beach before, so there is nowhere to go but up from Surfside.  We then moved to Odessa, Texas, to stay in a apartment for 6 weeks until our home was finished being built.  We enjoyed the pool there but didn't care for the highway noise, mouse houseguest and tight quarters.  We are spoiled!  We moved into our Midland house and have loved it, improving it only by adding a swingset and trampoline to take advantage of the larger backyard.

We drove to Houston for Thanksgiving to enjoy some cousin mayhem, then stopped in Austin on the way back to catch some much-missed Torchy's and a visit to the state capitol. 

Our Christmas road trip was to Phoenix!  Shortly after setting out, a semi in front of us lost its wheel which barreled into the side of my brand new van, taking off a panel and severely denting the door.  However, no one was hurt and the van was drivable.  We made it to Phoenix without further mishap - this is the new temple there.

Personal updates:

Charlotte is 7 and loves school.  She loves it so much that she comes home each day and teaches Olivia, Elliott and her doll collection what she learned, and converted the upstairs to a classroom.  She makes all 100 percents on her report cards which makes me a little nervous about the quality of the curriculum, but I think it has done good things for her confidence.  She is a great big sister, always helping with Elliott and around the house.  She also enjoys practicing the piano and performing duets with her dad, as well as scooter and bike riding around our neighborhood.

Olivia is still her spunky self.  She goes to Pre-K but is less enthused about it some days ("it's all babies there!") not realizing that the kids are her age - she is just used to hanging with her older sister.  She loves reading books with mom, playing with Barbies and antagonizing Elliott.

Elliott is still our little prince!  He is at the age where he gets into everything when you turn your back, but has such a sweet disposition and smile that you can't be mad at him for long. He loves looking at pictures of animals, but if he sees any in real life he gets very scared. He is curious about everything and gives great hugs and kisses.
 

Helaman and I celebrated 11 years together this year, and look forward to many more! He has been busy at work, mainly with wisdom teeth and implant cases, and looks forward to using his NetBricks membership to join the girls in big time Lego construction.  He also bought me a bike for Christmas so we can go riding together.

I am busy putting the house together (some days more than others) and this year I am determined to learn how to use Helaman's camera to document our adventures with a little more quality.  Looking forward to the year ahead!

Early Christmas!

The kids got an early Christmas gift this year when our new playset for the backyard arrived!  We're so happy to actually have the space for one now, and they have been making good use of it and really enjoying the beautiful weather we've had.

We also enjoy taking walks down to the ponds in the neighborhood where hundreds of new ducks have taken up residence lately.  They love old corn tortillas.

Other news is that this big boy is now enrolled in preschool with Olivia, allowing me a few hours a week to get things done solo.  I don't know how you parents of boys do it - lately he has just been terrorizing our home, systematically going from room to room getting everything out.

New house

This post is largely unnecessary because I know most of you are going to come visit us poste haste in this Texas hotspot and see our new house for yourselves!;) Here are some of my favorite areas taken before boxes engulfed everything.

Front view

Kitchen

Great room

Kitchen and dining area

Entry hall

Guest bathroom

Patio/yard. Same trees as we had in Frisco... just a little smaller!

Master bedroom

Master bath/hers side

My closet/built-ins

Tub. I never use bathtubs, but at least it is pretty:)

 

Master shower

Another kitchen shot. I love love love the kitchen. I picked out the granite, backsplash, paints, stains and cabinet types from Dallas (via pinterest and houzz mainly!) and was very worried about how it would turn out, and so happy that I love it.

View from upstairs window "edge of the world" shot before grass was put in. Since our apt was on a highway, the peace and quiet is heavenly.

  I forgot to get pics upstairs before the movers got here. Just empty rooms though. The bad news is that our refrigerator has not arrived, and I can't actually use the kitchen because of that and my new sink has not been installed yet.  So I just stare at it... and go out to eat.

Chelsea Harrison's shower at Bread Winners Cafe.  Love these girls!!

Ft. Worth Grad Dinner

For several months of residency, Helaman has had to travel to JPS Hospital in Fort Worth to work with the OMS people there.  That is a long drive from our house.  It was bad.  This year's graduation dinner from this hospital was held at the Stockyards in Fort Worth.  I couldn't believe I'd never been there, and glad we got the chance before we left.  This place is the wild west, and a cowboy's paradise.  I regretted not wearing boots. 

We had a good time eating BBQ, watching karaoke and line dancing, and listening to the residents' and attending doctors' joke gifts to eachother. 

 

Last week of school

We went to Benihana to celebrate the end of school, like we did last year.  Elliott loved the fried rice, mushrooms and edamame.  This may be our last visit while we live here and I was so happy that everyone was looking at the camera and no one was crying.  I thought we would enter their passport contest for most visits during the year, since we have been 3 times.  I saw that it probably won't stack up against one person who has 160 visits logged.  Wow!