A few coming home emotions

A few of things I felt when I got home on Sunday -

- Sadness about not being closer to my sisters.

- Relief that I got to sleep in my own bed, cook in my own kitchen and enjoy my little apartment.

- Major love for my hubby who I ended up missing more than I thought I would.

- A little smugness/warmth that Chris missed me as much as he did and that he decided that bachelor life wasn't all that it is cut out to be.

- Happiness for Anders who really missed his toys, his bed and his daddy (they wrestled for an hour the first night we were home!)

Time with Erin

Here are a few pictures from my stay with Erin and Garrett. As you can see Garrett is ADORABLE! One of the funny things he did while we were there was close his eyes in a coy way whenever we would get in the car. I did catch him with his eyes open for the second picture though. We thought maybe he was overwhelmed or feeling shy or something. Whatever it was it was cute. =0)

Erin and Jim are in the middle of a big move from Texas to Colorado for Jim's work and she has to stay in Texas until the house sells while Jim has had to start his new job and hold down the new rental in Colorado. The week we were there she had a lot of things to get done before taking a trip out to see the house they are going to be living in and visiting with my parents who came out to Colorado to vacation. I loved getting a picture of Erin and her to do list!

One of the last nights we spent with E and G we went to their favorite hamburger place called Kincaid's. The meat is super fresh and it's the closest thing to In-N-Out I've had. It's a fun family place with lots to look at and a nice noise level (which helps with toddlers!).


Anders had fun pretending to be a train and "coupling" up with Garrett's high chair.

It was such a joy to be able to spend such quality time with Erin and to get to know Garrett better. I can't wait to see their #2 boy when he is born in October!

A few more random photos

Here are a few more photos that I couldn't leave out.

On Saturday we got to attend Abby's last soccer game of the season. It was so much fun to see her in action. Anders liked it until the parents starting screaming and yelling and the noise level got really bad. So he chose to stand outside most of the game. I had to watch through a little window in the door. It was a bummer!

Heidi and Williams friends the Petersen's hung out with us a few times and their twin daughters Emily and Becca thought that Anders was great. They followed him around, played with him and mothered him. It was so fun to see him being so loved on!


When we came out of the house on Friday to go to the Stockyards, we realized that William had the car-seat in his car! There was no way to get it so we just strapped Anders into the back seat next to Madeline. It was fun to see him looking so grown up reading his book with everyone else.

Lastly, I had to put in one picture of Anders enjoying the great city run water park. That place was amazing! I wish we had something like that close to our house!

I've kind of gone backwards in chronicling my trip. I started with my stay at Heidi and Williams and my next post will go back to my first week staying with Erin and Garrett.

More Stockyard Pictures

One of the major highlights was watching the big vintage train pull into the stockyard area. It is extremely loud and overwhelming especially for those who love trains and think about them, read about them, watch them on t.v. but have little experience seeing them in person..... (poor Anders). I'm surprised that I even took a picture of my petrified son when I should have had him wrapped up in my arms! But I did so now the full experience is recorded.







We also visited a fabulous candy store with every kind of candy you could want. Anders chose a huge orange lolly pop and then changed his mind and went for a smaller one. I didn't stop him!

I love the statue of the man taking down the steer. I've admired it both times I have come to the stockyards. It's so dramatic!

Fun in the Garage

At Heidi's house we had fun hanging out in the garage. The boys loved climbing on Will's motorcycle. And as you can see Abby had fun bouncing on a big red ball when she wasn't immersed in Harry Potter.

I also had to include another picture of the cutest Basset Hounds in North Texas! Dolce and Roosevelt Graymander. Such noble beasts!

Cabela's Aquarium

Way too much fun!

I can't even begin to recount all of the fun experiences Anders and I had while in Texas. I'll try to with pictures!

Visiting with the sisters was the best thing I've done in a long time. I spent the first week with Erin and baby Garrett. We enjoyed relaxing, swimming and watching the boys play cars. One of the nights we all got together and had a summer dinner together which was wonderful! Garrett is getting so big and it was fun to spend such quality time with them.

Then I spent the longer part of the next week with Heidi, William and the kids. The quality time I spent with them can't be measured. The only glitch was that both my hubby and Erin's hubby were absent because of work. They were both so missed!

Among the many fun events we celebrated Abigail's 11th birthday at the local water park.

We got to know the Heidi's family dog Dolce. She was a real love! Another fun thing was getting to meet their new dog Roosevelt who they brought home today. He's a little more wild then Dolce but still so gentle and loving.

Visiting the stockyards in Fort worth was so much fun even though I've been there once before. It's the typical tourist thing to do while in Dallas and it is quite entertaining.

It was fun to weather a few summer storms as well. Last night Anders and Sam ran around in the rain until they were drenched. It was a great way to get their wiggles out and stay cool in the humid Texas heat.

There are a lot more pictures and a couple of fun videos to come.