Alamo, Riverwalk, and Tower of Americas~Oh MY!

Well, we ventured downtown for some much needed family time away from boxes and unpacking! We decided to visit the Alamo, walk the Riverwalk and tour the Tower of Americas. We had such a great time. For starters we parked right by an old time Firestation with the doors open. Michael of course was in heaven.

The kids really enjoyed the Alamo. I think they thought it was neat to see a little bit of history. I wanted a family picture in front of the Alamo, but it was so busy it was hard to get a real good one. This is it!

The Tower of America's is like the Seattle space needle, but even taller. It was very fun. Before we rode the elevator up, we experienced the 4-D show. It was really cool "mock" helicopter ride over Texas. Very interesting and fun with the 4-D effects. For those that have experienced a 4-D ride, they know what it is. For those who have never heard of it. It has 3-D images, and added feel...example when someone spit water out of their mouth on the show, water was splashed on our faces. Pretty fun. Once up on the Top of the Tower, it was super windy! Here are a few pictures of the top, and the wind!

It was a very fun day. There is definatly a lot to do here in San Antonio.

Happy Birthday Princess!

Elisa turned 14 today. Wow! It makes me a little sad to think of her growing up so fast. I am not ready for her to be this old. But, ready or not, here she is!

She is turning out to be quite a beautiful lady. She has always been beautiful, but she is turning into a lady. For her birthday she got her very first eyeliner. She was so excited. She has been begging me to wear it for months and I kept saying no, not yet. Well, today she got her way. I told Robert that I have to face the fact, she is growing up, whether I like it or not. So, she told me that she needed help, but I told her I am not putting it on her, she had to do it her self. I helped her anyway, and she looked way too grown up. It is amazing how fast they grow up.

We took her to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. She loves her Buffalo wings! It was a good night. I hope she had a great day!

(unfortunatly I didn't get any pics from the night! )

Robby and his 3 S's (singing, scouts, spelling)

Robby @ UTSA

Well, since we have been here, Robby has been pretty busy. He has decided that he is going to sing with the choir at school. He loves music and I am so proud of him. The school choir had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at a UTSA basketball game. It was such an exciting night for Robby. First off, he loves basketball more than just about anything. And second he got to sing the National Anthem. I recorded it and thought I would share. At first the music drowns out the singing, but it was still so wonderful to watch. He also was part of the halftime show. Backup singing R*E*S*P*E*C*T !

* the video is not uploading...so check back, hopefully I will have it up soon! :(

I think it was such a wonderful experience. He actually missed the pinewood derby race to go, but he still entered his car. Robert and him had fun doing the car. He chose bumblebee as the name, after transformers, for those of you like me who thought at first he wanted to to be like the actual bumblebee. I know, what was I thinking!

The Pinewood Derby!

Robert was so fun. This was his first chance to help Robby with a Pinewood Derby car, so he spared no expense to make sure that it was done right. He bought a drummel and all the stuff to make the perfect car. They had a lot of fun. I was a little worried that he would "take over" and not let Robby do too much, but he was great about showing Robby how to use the drummel and they did such an awesome job. It was so neat to see them bond that way. I know that Robby was very excited. Michael was a little bummed, but we got a car kit for him as well. Robert and him still haven't found time to put it together, but I know when they do it will be great as well.

Robby's finished car was awesome!

Spelling Bee!

Robby was chosen to participate in the schools annual spelling bee. He is such a bright young man. I was very proud of him and he was very excited. He was nervous but he did well. He made it to the second round and missed a word that I am sure he knows how to spell, he just got too excited. That happened to a lot of kids. He was so cute, he said... "Mom, I was so close!" I told him, "I know buddy!" (really there was a ways to go, but I am glad that he was so positive)

Well, that wraps up Robby's 3 S's... Robert and I are very proud of his hard work. He is a bright boy and very fun to be around. Watching him grow is so wonderful. It is so hard to believe that he will be 10 in just a few weeks! We love you Robby!

Under Construction

Ok...I am doing some construction on my blog. I am trying to figure out how I can place a picture in my header...some of you have cute little "scrapbook" type headers...HOW DID YOU DO THAT? Until I can figure it all out, my blog will just be plane Jane for now. Any advice, let me know...thanks.

Sit down, buckle up...its gonna be a long ride!

Well, after starting this post at least three times, this time it will actually get posted. I have put it off way too long. So, it will be long, and may be boring so feel free to just skim over it and enjoy the pictures..

Where to begin....Well, lets start with our last days in lovely Washington. The snow really put a damper in our plans. But, we overcame. The kids were not able to go to school and say goodbye to all of their wonderful friends and teachers there because it was a snow day! Robby's teacher was so kind to meet us there on Friday though so the boys could get their belongings out of their desks. It was a hard goodbye. Millpond was a wonderful school. We will miss all of the great staff and students there.

Saturday, we met Michael's teacher for lunch. I was able to say goodbye to Kylie and to Ms. Bacon. She has been a part of our life since we moved to Yelm. She was Robby's teacher for two years, then I worked for her in the classroom last year and this year I watched her little girl and she was Michael's teacher. It is so hard to say goodbye!

The next few days were a blur really. Robert was supposed to come home on Sunday, but due to weather he was stuck in California. Luckily, he was able to rent a car and drive down to visit his dad for two days. He flew in on Tuesday, the 23rd. We then had to get the trailer and load it up. We got the biggest, and still managed to fill that baby to max capacity. Oh this picture doesn't even show the basketball frame pole strapped to the outside...oh yes! we know how to move!

We went out to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with Aunt Patti and Uncle Kim. It was pretty late when we got there, but we had a nice dinner and then we were able enjoy the Christmas Eve stories with Uncle Kim, and then it was off to bed...some of us decided to sleep through the story. After all it was a long day of packing and cleaning!

Santa managed to find us in the midst of the move and the kids woke up to presents under the tree. It was a wonderful Christmas celebrated by all. The kids enjoyed a nice day playing with all of their new toys, and in the afternoon Robert and I went back out to the house to do some more cleaning and packing of the house.

Well, the day after Christmas was the most wonderful day! My beautiful mom took out her endowments and was sealed to My Dady. I was also sealed to them. It was so amazing! No words could ever describe the joy I had to see her take her endowments, to be her escort was so wonderful. And then to be sealed to her and my Dady. Also, my Grandma and Grandpa were sealed and then my Aunt and Mom were able to be sealed to them. What an amazing blessing that was. The spirit was so strong in that room. It was as if they were standing with us. Sister and Brother Nagel were there with us and they are such wonderful people. Helping my mom every step of the way. I will never forget that day and the great joy it brings to me to know that my mom is now enjoying the gospel in it's fullest. She is such an inspiration to me. I love her so much and am so very proud of her!

After the Temple, we enjoyed a super dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Wow. That place is so good. It was a long day, but so very worth it!

We finally hit the road to Texas on the 28th. We spent all of the 27th cleaning. My dear friends came over to help. The Roche family and Jennis helped so much those last couple days.

Thank You! I had to stop and take a picture of Taylor! I somehow did not get any pictures of Jaycee and Lucas helping clean...but they did!

Brother Benton was a great help as well. Saying goodbye to all of our friends was not fun.

I am not going to post any pics of the goodbye to my mom...it was just too hard. We actually had to say goodbye to her on the night of the 27th because we left from Aunt Patti's and Uncle Kim's on the 28th.

We drove and stopped in a Hotel along the way. The next day we got to Robert's sister Michele's house and she was so wonderful to allow us to use her trailer to sleep in. She made us a great taco dinner and we just had fun talking and letting the kids play. Aunt Michele even was brave enough to straighten Elisa's hair. We left from there and went and had breakfast with Ken and Margaret and then we were on the road again.

Our next stop was my cousin Tami's. We got there later than we had planned, but it was still a nice visit. Tami introduced me to Texas Roadhouse, which is now one of my favorite restaurants. It was so fun and good food. The kids sat at their own table, I am sure they thought that was way cool. The boys had a good time playing and the girls sat up until 3:30 talking. I could not believe it. It made me laugh, cause I remember Tami and I doing the same thing. I kept my dear cousin up until after midnight and she had to work the next day. But she played along. I really enjoyed our visit, I just wish it could have been longer. I plan on making the drive to visit real soon. For longer this time.

We left the next morning and decided that we would spend New Year's Eve in a hotel in El Paso Texas. It wasn't the most exciting, but we were together and safe so it was a good time. We ordered Pizza Hut and got drinks and goodies at the local H.E.B and rang in the New Year...at 1000. Yep, we celebrated the New Year with New York and went to sleep.

We finally arrived at our new house about 4 or 5 in the evening. We were all very happy to be out of the van...Especially the animals. That's right. Did I forget to mention that we made this trip with two cats and our dog...Lots of fun!

All in all it was a great trip. We had no issues and had some fun on the way. We got to see our lovely family and even got to see the THING!! Can't beat that can you?

Well, we are all getting settled in now. So, hopefully I will be better at posting! Love to all!

And to those that stuck it out and read the whole thing...kudos to you. I love ya!