Valentine's 2007

Snow Day

What? It snows in Austin?!?!

Looking out from our front porch

 
 
OK people did warn us that every few years it actually does snow here and they did warn us that when it does the city closes down. They were not kidding. School was canceled, work was called off and it was a bit like a ghost town. We found out because I thought I still had to go to work so Mike drove me down to the duplex to shower (day 3 of no water) and it was a bit like ice skating in a car. To the defense of these Austinites it is a little crazy because below that snow is a thick sheet of ice. There are no snow plows and no salt trucks so really you just have to wait until it melts.  And I am beginning to think that people actually pray for the snow because everything gets canceled but within a few hours the snow is gone and then you all got the day off. Target was busier then I have ever seen it today. ;)

Looking out my front door

Out the backdoor

Laurie

I am a little behind with everything that is going on but HAPPY  BIRTHDAY  GRANDPA    LAURIE!

The freeze

Last Sunday and Monday we were almost to 80 degrees here is Austin. It was great. The smell of BBQ was in the air, kids were running around barefoot, I was in heaven. Then the storm hit. Tuesday we dropped down to 17. That is very cold for Austin. People don't even own coats. After being in our house 3 days we woke up this morning to no water. After double checking that we had actually remembered to call and hook up the water we realized our pipes were frozen. They don't build houses for that kind of cold here. The only thing to do is wait until it warms up. They say it should get warmer in a few days. Lets hope it doesn't take that long. The good thing is we still have the duplex, just wrote the check for the vacant place this morning. So we are back to showering and getting ready over there.

Change of address

We have officially changed residences. Last Saturday some members of the ward came and helped us move all the big things over to the house. We still had a lot of stuff over at the duplex but we decided to sleep at the house since that is where our beds were. We gathered all the things we would need to get ready and go to church the next day and soon realized we had to gather everything from soap to shoes. Needless to say we forgot toilet paper so the one roll that was already left at the house just got passed around a bit. 
Over the last few days we have finished moving everything over and got the duplex all cleaned for the next renters (we just haven't found them yet).
The house is a huge mess with boxes and bags waiting to be unpacked. But, the missionaries came to dinner last night and we are having relief society presidency meeting there tomorrow, life goes on.  Oh and no I have not finished painting so we still are walking around ladders and paint brushes.

A few weeks ago I came across a quote that said  "the bank will give you a loan once you prove to them that you don't really need it" -Bob Hope. Between that and buying a house from Fannie Mae this has been a real experience. But I am happy to say we finally closed on the house last Wednesday and it is officially ours.
So what did we do? What any other family would do, we started painting.

I have to be honest I climbed up the ladder to the top and kind of freaked out. Which is so crazy because I painted our last house in the entry way with those tall ceilings and didn't even mind. So Mike took one for the team and went up the 20 foot ladder and got it all taped.  Just FYI he hates heights. So I spent the next few days getting so mad at myself until I just got up there and worked it out and am back to doing the painting.

 That must be a very nice mom that lets her kids graffiti the walls.

We have been working on it for almost a week and we are half done, half moved in and half crazy!

 We have had a few days of rain which is not fun for playing soccer. Unless you are Whitney and a few of her friends who thought it was a blast. So fun in fact at the end of their game they decided to slide in the mud puddle. Anyone know how to get mud out of a white uniform?

Basketball

Landon and Teegan are playing basketball this season

Looking Back 
     2010
~Trip to Hawaii
~Mike turned 40
~Teegan got baptised
~Big move to Texas

Looking Forward
       2011
~Move into a new house
~Landon turns 12 and gets the priesthood
~Whitney gets her learners driving permit
~???

If you would have told me in January of 2010 that I would be living in Texas by January of 2011, I would have not believed you. It just goes to show you you never know where life is going to take you.
Each year I try to come up with some sort of saying or quote for our family theme. Although we usually forget it by February, it is fun to come up with. Last year Mike and I thought and thought about it. It was while sitting in a youth trek fireside when a quote was said that Mike and I both turned to each other and said "that's it".          Keep moving forward 
                     and enjoy the journey was soon adopted as our 2010 family theme.  The saying was adopted from stories of great pioneers who although faced many trials, they keep moving forward.
The saying came to us so inspirationaly that I thought a lot about it. I distinctly remember thinking "I am not sure how this applies to our lives" and I even thought "I hope this doesn't mean something bad is around the corner". :0) Looking back now I see just how fitting our theme was for 2010. And while we are still adjusting to life out here we should probably keep that saying close for 2011. 
But a new moto has come to me that I think is perfect for 2011
"we become so caught up in the busy-ness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we're doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the 'thick of thin things.' In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting these more important causes." -President Thomas S Monson

 

As we get pulled and pushed so many different directions I want to make sure we aren't getting stuck in the think of thin things and we remember what is really important. 

Memories

One year ago today we were sitting in sunny Hawaii. It is crazy to think a year has gone by. We had such a great time and made some great memories.
Here are a few pictures I never posted.