More travels

Yes, seriously we have been gone again! If you think your sick of reading about us being gone just know we are sick or all the laundry that needs to get done when we come home!

We traveled "home" for a friends wedding that hubby was blessed to be a part of on Thursday. Then we spent the next 48 hours doing wedding events but it was fantastic! The rehearsal dinner was a hoot as it had a Texas theme centered around it (I will try to post pictures later today) with bbq, potato salad, beans, and peach cobbler of course! My husband is the shy, quiet and reserved groomsmen but he was put in charge of the evenings "festivities" that went off without a hitch. The wedding was beautiful and I adored the brides wedding gown. They had done something I have never seen before at a wedding...after they lit the unity candle the wedding party as well as the family gathered around them and prayed for them before they were introduced as a couple. I was moved, though something/anything about weddings moves me! On a side note I would just like to add how great my hubby looked in a tux!

Though our weekend was PACKED full of wedding events we were blessed with a few moments to catch up with our friends who moved back home. In addition to seeing them we were triple blessed by being able to see them, siblings, parents and grandparents for a great BBQ cookout. That was so great for us and hubs and I both agreed that it was a HUGE blessing to us to be able to truly reconnect with them. We are trying to convince them to come visit us here. :)

Another fantastic event was being able to stay with hubbies parents. They too recently moved back "home" and they ironically moved back into the same house that my husband lived in during high school! He loved being back in their house and he said he really felt "at home" which was great to see. And on top of all of this, we were able to attend church where we got married. Being the big cheese that I am, I asked my sister in law to take our picture so I can have a "then" and "now" she was a good sport but hubs thought I was a dork.

It was nice, yet crazy being able to drive around the city seeing how everything has changed yet hasn't changed. We really want to go back again soon and hopefully now with hubbies new job we will be able to visit much more frequently.

The Final Leg of Our Vacation

I will spare you the mundane details, but I will tell you that the rest of our trip was spent doing this


Even baby got a turn sledding.

This child LOVED eating the snow. At first I wouldn't let her because I thought it was nasty, and then I decided to give in, she was thrilled.



They all looked like this immediately after we got in the car.


We had a great time, and we thought being gone well over a week would be too long but it flew by. We also had the joy/privilege to go with her to her first ob appointment where we found out she wasn't 8 weeks pregnant but rather 12 weeks!! Even though baby isn't that old I had forgotten how great it is to see your babies picture on the sonogram. We are looking forward to their visit this summer and we may return again when she has the baby, we will see only the Lord knows what is going to happen so why stress about it?!


The girls had fun flying like this, it didn't last too to long but it did last a little while!

Vacation

My dear friend that used to be my neighbor and I are going on vacation together with our girls, so I have been busy staking out hot spots and touristy things to do. Hubby is extremely jealous that we are going to meet up, hang out, and have a blast while he and her hubby work hard. I can understand that, so I told him next time we would all go, which we plan to make a group trip to NY together.

I have had several people ask me how I plan to do this by myself. My answer, very easily, I typically pack as though I am never going to return home, EVER and that wont fly obviously when there are three of us and only one parent. Everyone is going to get the bare minimum period. The planner that I am has ensured that laundry facilities will be included in the cost of our stay. I will buy baby food there, I don't care if it costs lots more, I am not packing unnecessary things. I am still considering purchasing my diapers there as well since we will be gone for an extensive period of time. I am not taking my gigantic travel system, I think I will go with this. Hubs doesn't see why I can't just buy this one and call it a day. My theory on getting a nicer lightweight stroller is that now that baby is older we will be using it in leiu of the travel system which will be stored away for the next baby. He doesn't like my theory and is convinced all are made the same (which they probably are). If I use a small stroller nothing will get in the way and I wont look like one of those nincomputs at the gate trying to unload all of my junk belongings, instead I will be able to hop right onto the plane.

Everyone is getting their own seat, as I figure that will be entertainment of it's own. I am hoping and praying that the airline will let me on the plane with food for at least baby. My friend that we are meeting up with flew recently with her girls by herself and she said that they gave her the green light on Gerber....hopefully this will be the case for me as well.

The dvd player will go and so will her Leapster....I figure those two things should keep her plenty busy on the plane and in the airport.

Do any of you have tips on traveling with little ones?

Home Sweet Home!

Almost 3000 miles,
374 Pictures of our mileage,
69 Named Streets,
10 Highways,
6 Interstates,
6 Farm Roads,
2 Ranch Roads,
3 Loops,
3 sets of grandparents,
2 Freeways,
2 Flat Tires,
1 Toll Road,
1 something or another that will need to be repaired this week,
1 Ranch for sale that we looked at,
we are home sweet home

We have been gone, yes the WHOLE FAMILY!!! This is the longest that even hubby and I have been away together....8 days! It was a much needed break for all of us especially hubby, working 78+ hours a week can wear you out, but he is refreshed and ready to go again! It was great, we did a Tour of Texas and we loved EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!! The girls were great travelers and we even got snow (YES IN TEXAS!!!) I really do plan to post pictures this weekend of the wedding, and next week of our vacation, and I promise not to bore you!