The Pumpkin Patch- Corpus Christi Style!

Tonight for family night, I took the kids over to our local "Pumpkin Patch". Since it does not get cold enough to grow pumpkins here, there is a local church that has pumpkins shipped in every year. They set up a pumpkin patch, bring in bales of hay, set up areas to take pictures, and sell a variety of small goards. The pumpkins range between 4-12 dollars each, depending on the size... oh, to live in cooler weather again where you can actually go out and pick your pumpkin off the vine, and pay next to nothing to get it... There's always next year.






We went straight from Brayden's Tae Kwon Do practice, thus the studly white suit!

On another note, tonight we had our first VIDEO CALL with Adam. His plane got in to Philadelphia around midnight (EST) last night, so the kids didn't get to talk to him. We called him right before bed and it worked out great! It's amazing how just being able to see him, and him see us, makes the communication 100% better! 1 day down, 89 to go....

Palin Rap

Saturday Night Live has been having a hayday with Gov. Sarah Palin and I love that she went on the show Saturday night. Here is my favorite skit from the show- Palin Rap

It's a Crazy Life!

Again, I have been slacking on my blogging. We have had an incredibly busy week. Here's what's happening in my world-
Three weeks ago, while Adam was still gone on his interviews, the kids and I drove up to Austin for my nieces missionary farewell. She enters the MTC this Wednesday to serve in the Chicago South Mission. You can view all the pictures from our trip by clicking here.

Last weekend, our niece took out her temple endowment in the Dallas Texas temple. We left here as soon as our kids got out of school and started off on the drive. It was probably one of our longest trips ever, with multiple stops for the potty and dinner on the way. We got there at about one in the morning. Saturday, while Adam watched the UT vs OU football game, my sister and law and I took the kids to see IGOR. I am telling you, DO NOT GO SEE THAT MOVIE! It was possibly the worst childrens movie of all time! Did anyone else see it? Would love to hear some feedback! The temple session was at 7pm and was very nice! It is always wonderful to attend the temple with family. We stayed there for church, 1-4pm, which was actually quite nice now that my kids are not dying for a nap at that time! When we got home, Adam received an email that a member of our ward had passed away and that the memorial service was scheduled for the next morning at 10am. We decided to hop in the car so we could make it back. Can you say "Road Warriors"? We left Dallas around 6:45pm and arrive home about 2am. Adam drove the whole way!
The kids were out of school on Monday, so after the memorial service and a large nap, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese-



Aaah, pictures with Chuck E in his little car! Classics to keep for posterity for sure!
Since this was Adam's final week home before heading out to Philadelphia, I drove him like a slave all week! We painted our bedroom, a bathroom, the kitchen and the front hallway all into satin paint finally! Adam got the lawn mowed and edged very nicely. We completed our garage cleanout! It was amazing to send our high chair, the stroller, the double stroller, the bike trailer, the baby clothes..... all to Goodwill! Our garage looks so nice now! On a side note, will someone please buy my house??????? Check out the MLS listing here. We are probably going to end up renting it out, but until we know where and when we are going, we are going to wait!
Ok, one more fact from my life- I got released as Young Women's President last Sunday. When the Bishop called me in to extend the release, I cried. I have been serving in Young Women's the entire time I have lived in this ward- first as the personal progress advisor, and then as the president for over a year and a half. The timing of the whole release was right and it was a testimony to me that the Lord loves and cares for each one of us individually. He knows and cares about what is going on in our lives! I will miss the girls, I will miss the leaders, but I know that the new presidency will be awesome! To Taryn, Ericka, Stephanie, Anissa, June, Jennifer, Jennah, Shawna, and Julieta, I love you and thank you for all of your help and support. I could not have done it without you! You have blessed and touched my life and the lives of the Young Women here in the Corpus Christi Third Ward! Here's a few pictures from my last activity with them. I made them carve Pumpkin Helmets (thanks Brock) and run relay races with them on! It was a fun night-

Keeping Busy at a PTA meeting

Last Thursday, (I know, I'm over a week behind) we had our monthly PTA meeting and the third graders were performing two songs. I got to the meeting with all four kids (Adam had a church meeting) on time and got Bekah into her classroom to wait for the performance. Once I got seated in the cafeteria, waiting for the meeting to start, Emma decided she was very bored. A nice man from the Corpus Christi Independant School District came to talk to us about the Bond Proposal that will be on our ballots next month. It was a great presentation, but this is what I was secretly doing the whole time to keep a bored child entertained... I really think she came to earth with the personalities of 3-4 children wrapped up in one! Here's a little video of Bekah's performance. She is very hard to see in it- second row, hair in a ponytail, glasses...

A New Job!

Adam has been searching for a new job, a job to answer the age old question, "What do I want to be when I grow up?" After searching for several months and his week and a half adventure on the East Coast, he has accepted a job! We felt very blessed as he was offered two different jobs from two very impressive companies! Both jobs were awesome and we would have been well taken care of with either company. In the end the decision came down to what will be best for us as a FAMILY!
So here's the deal- The company is called AGI. They are headquartered in Exton, PA and Adam will be living there for the next three months while he is in training. The company will fly him home every other weekend. Once his training is over, they will assign him a sales territory. Then we will move as a family to that area, which will most likely be there in Pennsylvania, in Washington DC, or in Boston. We would be very happy with any of those areas! We know the Lord is watching over us and leading us in this new adventure!
But seriously, what company would not be thrilled with a job candidate that looked like this....


or this....


or who had mad soccer skills like this...


and when he shows up on the first day dressed like this....

They'll know he's a keeper!

I love you babe!! You know I couldn't resist!

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

This is what
five faces in the car
look like when they
are driving to pick up
Daddy after a week and a half.
And this is what it looks like when he finally arrives!

Perils of Puberty

Since so many of my friends were revealing their innermost puberty secrets, I didn't want to leave them out there all alone.
On this fated night, my journey into womanhood began. It was the Christmas party my eighth grade year. My friend and I were both joking that we should sit on Santa's lap- I'm not exactly sure why we thought it would be funny- but I did.
When I got home that night, much to my dismay, I found out that I was the cause for Santa's RED pants!!! Note the classy sweatshirt tied around my waist, which was actually a little blessing from heaven that no one saw the evidence of my first 'visitor'!

The beauty continues on into my ninth grade year. Note the cowboy style button up, collar turned up, permed hair, ultra oily face, and large white scrunchie! I am pretty sure I made that scrunchie myself- just one of the many I had made.

When I was a 10th grader, we did a ballet dance to "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid. Notice my dance partner, Jared Clontz, and his hunky mullet. I'm not sure if it was the mullet or the shadow mustache that made me like him more. My Dad used to make fun of the way that the beautiful scallop design on the top of my unitard framed my mosquito bites. Thanks Dad!

When I was a 11th grader, I had moved from the bangs and scrunchie stage to what my Mom called my lions mane! Such an awkward time of life- you couldn't pay me to do it again.
Stay tuned.... I don't want Adam to feel left out of the Ode to Puberty!