Adieu to Summer!

Summer brought a new hobby for Brett!

ROAD BIKING!!!! Something I've been trying to get him to do for about 6 years, now!!!

He is a natural. This was after our first ride.

Our friends invited us out to Canyon Lake on their boat. We had a great time. I tried to pull a "Dan" (my dad) and hold on to the tube as long as I could no matter what. I did it for a good, long while. Mostly because the guy who was pulling me was being nice to begin with. But once he figured out what I was doing, he kicked it into high-gear and was trying to flip me. I held on, but got flipped pretty quick and landed on my back with my head first-- going with the momentum of the pull. I hurt my neck pretty good, but it was tons of fun. My neck still doesn't feel the same. Now I know why my dad gave up that practice a few years ago....

Even though my teeth look yellow and I have black, mascara eyes, this picture still makes my heart happy

Brett learning to drive the boat!

At the end of the summer, we decided it was time for another trip to the beach. We went with our good friends the Stephens and the Millers.

Look at the beautiful day we had!!!!

Something I learned about my friend, Cindi. She goes all out when she does something-- especially food! I could not believe the spread she brought to the beach! We were eating gourmet food at the beach! It was awesome. We had our measly snacks and foods we travel with, but Cindi insisted, and fed us all. We were very well taken care of!

Another thing I learned about Cindi and Chris is that they are very giving....with no thought of anything in return. Reminds me of one of my best friends, Maryam.

Makenna loved this sweet apple dip that Cindi made! She was eating it by the spoonful!! It was delicious!

Makenna and sweet Riley.

Enjoying the awesome water

It was so much fun, except for a horrible thing that happened involving this little boy.....(this was him sleeping on the way to the beach.) The thought of reliving this story has made me cringe, but I realize that someday I will be glad that I wrote it down.

Me and my wonderful, sweet friend, Cindi, were out in the water, enjoying the rolling waves and warm temperature. The kids (Makenna, McKay, and Riley) were all boogie boarding right near us, and would ride the waves in and them come back out to us. We were in water about up to our thighs, so about the kids tummies-- not too deep.  There was a strong wind that day that would blow the boogie boarders east, so we set up parameters: we told the kids they needed to stay between the big, blue umbrella and the big rainbow umbrella. If they got past that, they needed to walk back to where we were.

We were having a blast. The water was just wonderful. After about a half hour of catching waves, McKay said, "I'm getting a rash on my tummy. I'm going to go in and get my rash guard out of the car." I said, "OK." And watched him start to walk to shore.

Cindi and I and the two girls stayed out for around another hour, but during that time, McKay never came back. I just figured he got too tired or distracted by all the yummy food we had at the tent. Brett was up there with the other dads and kids. It was fine. The water was just so pleasant. After that hour, we decided to call it a day-- Cindi had a little baby up with her husband that was getting a little cranky, so we decided it was time.

As we approached our tent, I didn't see McKay. I asked Brett, "Where's McKay?" Brett said, "What do you mean? I thought he was with you?"

At this point my heart absolutely sank.

The worst feeling in the world.

I started to panic a little, but told myself to calm down. Maybe he was in the car??? He went to get his rash guard and fell asleep for a nap inside the car???? It was a long shot, but I ran up there.

No McKay.

Then I ran back and asked Brett, "When did you last see him?" Brett replied that  he hadn't seen him since we had gone out to boogie board.

Then I panicked.

In a matter of seconds, all sorts of scenarios ran through my mind: What had happened to him (either he was kidnapped or had drowned); where he was (being held hostage, washed away at sea; washed up on the beach); what he was feeling (sheer terror, panic, sadness, helplessness); how our lives would be without him (absolutely, utterly, bitterly empty).



I started to cry. I ran down the beach. I ran up the beach. I pleaded with God not to let him be dead or kidnapped. I begged him to let McKay be safe. Connor was trying to console me. Brett sprinted in every direction, trying to see if anyone had seen McKay. My friend, Cindi, waved down a guy in a golf cart. She asked him if he wouldn't mind driving us around to see if we could see or find him. Brett and Cindi's husband, Chris, took off with him. Before hopping on the golf cart, Brett sank to his knees and pleaded with God to help us find our sweet boy and to bless him with comfort. He said he felt a wave of peace wash over him and then he jumped into the golf cart.

All the while, I was not feeling peace. I was freaking out. I was paralyzed by my fear. I didn't know what to do. I had ran every direction within about a mile and no McKay anywhere. I felt helpless. I didn't know how to find my boy.

Cindi called 911. She gave the police his description. Soon, she was yelling at me, "IT'S OK!!!! THEY HAVE MCKAY! HE IS SAFE."

I ran over to her and grabbed the phone. They did have McKay. He had gotten lost walking back to our tent. They had had him in custody for about 1 hour. I was so relieved, but felt like the worst mom in the whole, wide world.

In about 10 minutes, the police brought my sweet, smiling, blonde boy back to me. I cried tears of joy and relief as I silently thanked Heavenly Father for keeping him safe. I smothered him with hugs and kisses and couldn't let go of him. I was so thankful he was there. With me. Alive. Happy.

Brett came shortly after and we all rejoiced. I was so grateful to have good friends there to help me through it and that McKay was safe. I cant imagine having to go through losing a child. It would be the absolute worst thing to have to endure. I don't know why my McKay was spared, and some are not, but it made me have more empathy for those who suffer from any loss.

It also made me want to cherish each day and moment I have with my sweet children and husband.

Celebrating Texas......I mean AMERICA!!!

If you are living in Texas for the first time, there might be several things that may surprise you. Let me give you some insight on a few of these things:

Road construction is worse than in Utah
Drivers are nicer than in Utah (that might not surprise you)
Kids say the Texas State Pledge every day in school (along with the United States Pledge)
Most things are bigger in Texas
Everyone has Texas pride!
The most common bumper-sticker: "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could." Or, "You can all go to hell, and I will go to Texas."
The 4th of July is a holiday for celebrating the United States' independence. But also, a holiday to celebrate Texas!

For example:

These are the "4th of July" plates they were selling at Costco. Notice no start and stripes, but the state of Texas! I love it!

Our friends, the Kramer's, were nice enough to invite us over for a little Independence Day celebration. We had a wonderful, yummy BBQ, a great time with friends, and enjoyed some fireworks!

Connor really bonded with this sweet little boy, Nathan. He is so much fun!

We had fun with Addy

Sparklers!

The twins dressed upu for the occasion! Red, white and blue!

Bad quality, but love the picture.

 

Safari Land in Texas?

Our good friend Jo came into town.

It's always a party when she comes to town! She is always full of fun ideas for us to try together!

This time she came to visit, we decided to go to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. This is a really cool place!

The Wildlife Ranch is over 400 acres big and has rolling hills, creeks and thousands of live oak trees-- a tree that is ALL OVER San Antonio. There are also more than 500 animals throughout this ranch. Some even exotic!

The cool thing about this place is that they let you drive your car through it, with your windows open! They even give you food to feed them with to attract them to your car. At first, it's a little disconcerting, but when you see how tame and sweet the animals are, its really, really fun and actually pretty cool!

 

Here are the kids piled into the back of Jo's car. We took her car because the back windows in the van don't roll down. It worked out great.

Here is our first guest: a BUFFALO! This was a little scary!

This guy was very sweet. He was some type of large, tall deer. This is right outside the window.

 

This guy running at us was also a bit scary.....we rolled up the windows. And can I just say that ostriches are WEIRD? Their bodies and feathers are totally weird.

Isn't he cool looking?

Check out that beard!

We all called this one "Tina". And of course, Connor had to yell, "Tena!!! Come eat your food!"

Later that night we had burgers.

It was great to have Jo come. She always makes each one of the kids feel special. We are so glad that we are close enough for these little visits every few months!

Love you, Jo!

Summer Heat = A lot of time in the Water

We have found that the Texas summer heat is relentless. When that sun is out, you feel the heat beating down on you.

And it is HOT!!! 

The best thing to do to beat the heat is to find some water! There are some pretty neat places to go in Texas.

Canyon Lake is a pretty awesome lake about 30 minutes from our house. You cant tell here, but the water is pretty clear. Once we brought our fishing poles to give fishing a try, and the park ranger laughed at us and said, "The fish don't bite out here; the water is too clear and they can see you." We didn't believe him at first, but after a few hours on the lake without a bite, but a lot of "fish spotting", now we believe him!

This is one of two "beach-y" areas in the lake. All of the other areas are super rocky. (Photos of that later). Anyway, we had a great time playing in this water, and Connor also earned his swimming merit badge here, along with his Lifesaving merit badge. WAY TO GO, CON!

The water is perfectly temperaturized, as well.

If temperaturized is even a word.

Not teasing each other!

Our great friends, Lezlie Terry and Aiden 

Aiden, Lezlie, Addie and Lezlie's sister, Christina. Lezlie's husband is deployed and her sister came out to help her. We had a fun time meeting her.

The kids love Addie!

On the other side of Canyon Lake is a GREAT spot to go rock jumping. This is nothing like the cliff jumping at Lake Powell, but it's great for family fun. We had a blast doing this.

Here are our good friends, the Leatham's cute girls: Jane (9) and Brynn (11)

Getting ready to jump about 3 feet

Kenna on the tallest rock there is to jump. It's about 17 feet. She did it, too!!!

Brett jumping off that same rock!

The moms. This is Wendy. I think she is fantastic, and so are her kids.

Jane getting ready to JUMP!!!

We discovered a really cool park called Landa Park. This is a HUGE park with tons of walking and exploring trails and some really fun playgrounds. In the summer heat, you can only take so much time out in the sun, and then you need water!

They have a huge spring-fed pool here! It is really awesome! It's 1.5 million gallon pool with rocks on the bottom and everything! They've got a rope swing, a huge tarp slide and the kids just had a blast!

Here we are melting while playing with the Leatham's and the Stevenson's.

Connor and McKay being dopey. Notice the huge tarp slide in the background?

Riley, Makenna and Jane. These are all great girls and Makenna has some great friends! See the tarp slide in the back?

Connor is my buddy. He is such a good boy.

McKay and Bronson

Fun friends-- Connor, Brynn, Abby, McKay and Bronson

We are having so much fun exploring Texas and making new friends! We are so grateful for swimming pools, lakes, and rivers to keep us cool! 

Visitors, as of late

All of these pictures are absolutely horrible, but they are worth posting because we had such a great time with these people who came to see us!

First we were visited by Brett's cousin, Debbie and her husband Mike and their 3 adorable children!

They had kids just like we had them-- a single birth, and then twins. Except her oldest one was not even 2 when they were born!!

Mercy!

Debbie's husband is starting his residency in Houston, and they stopped at our house on the way down. We hadn't seen them in almost 10 years and it was so good to reconnect. We can't wait to go down to see them in their new digs down in Houston! Thanks for coming to visit!

Here is one of the cute twins with Brett

This picture made me laugh. It's always a little extra hectic with baby twins. We were trying to pose here for a picture, and as you can see, all the "littles" were doing just fine-- Debbie was holding her toddler. I was yapping at Connor to get into the picture, and McKay wasn't even looking. My "big" kids were the problem  here!

Mike joins us andConnor decided to take the picture for us. (Sorry for the alien eyes!)

We love these missionaries!!!!

We only knew Elder Kelepi for about 1 month, but he had a soft spot in his heart for our family, and we had a soft spot for him in ours! Elder best is a pretty great guy, too! Both excellent missionaries! Elder Kelepi went home last week and we sure miss him!

Notice Brett photo bombing???

The kids playing "Ninja Destruction" with the missionaries. The kids learned this from Aunt Alyssa

The first time we met Elder Kelepi he came to dinner with a cut on his hand. Of course Brett had to check it out, and what do you know, he needed stitches! It was a pretty bad cut! Not to mention, Elder K was on a blood thinning medication because he has an artificial heart valve. It needed to be closed up. So, Brett went and got his family practice kit and gave the Elder stitches! Elder K taped the whole thing so he could show his family when he got  home. He was pretty excited to get stitches. He thought it was so cool!

Notice Elder K and his wrapped up hand 

Kids having a blast with the Elders

We are so grateful to be living in the mission field and to have these wonderful experiences with the Elders. We love to meet the investigators and see the progress they make. It is a great place to be.