missing this

Despite the fact that I think Orem "City" is so ugly, I could never live away from the mountains. My dad took this last week right after that crazy snowstorm. I've been checking out the Alta photo of the day pretty regularly since.

warm summer night

me like-y summer

Our apartment pool is awesome! Until 10 p.m. that is, then the parties start and well, um, let's just say the cops have been called a few times. Kind of annoying. But during the day, before the Holy Ghost goes to sleep, it's a riot. Cody finally re-figured out the floaties and next month the kids start swim lessons. Inside, our walls are fast becoming covered with all the drawings. I decided to save all the kids work and tape it to the wall, at the end of the summer I'll take a big picture of it. Oh and those sparkly shoes are the object of Cody's desire. He begs for his own and wears them whenever he can sneak them away from Ellie's closet.

forth worth zoo

Last week we ventured to the very nice Fort Worth Zoo with Rachel and her kids Emily and Sydney and Whitney and her little Payton. Our favorite thing was feeding the little yellow and blue birds - the babies were so excited they were shaking!

i had no idea

These are from my bike ride last week around the lake. Very pretty - I wasn't expecting Texas to be so green and colorful!

mother's day

My goal for Mother's Day was to get somewhere where Justin wouldn't have cell service. His phone rings and gets texts continuously usually until midnight and starts again around 8 am. Makes for great dinnertime conversation. The thing I miss the most about our summers is not being able to have a fire and go camping. We just don't have room in our car for all the equipment. There there is a neat state park just a few miles away so I decided we would "pretend camp". We found an awesome site and made tin foil dinners, hiked and explored, picked wildflowers and took naps (or tried to) on our bed. The campgrounds here are missing one thing that Utah campgrounds have, dirt. Makes for very clean camping.

our first week!

Cucumbers at the Dallas Farmers Market in downtown.

So far so good! I think there will be a lot to keep us entertained here in good ol' Texas. Now if the wind would just take a chill pill I could go one of my many road bike rides I have planned. The kid count is small this year, only 6 kids and Ellie is the oldest, then Cody and another 3-year old Emily (her family lives in our basement in Orem so they are already great friends), and three 10 month olds, 2 of which are twins. I also just figured out that I can get fast internet at the pool! It's so nice this year to have kids that don't have to be held and followed all the time at the pool. We already found Cody a bike at a garage sale and two huge dump trucks and an F-150 - Cody is in heavy equipment heaven.

At Joe Pool lake. The water is warm and shallow.

spring!

Before leaving Utah, the blossoms were in full bloom, Timp had a ton of snow, and the days were sunny and beautiful. I had an extra roll of film from my photo class so I took the kids to the orchard by our home and of course, the ones of Ellie turned out extra cute. I promise I think Cody is cute too! It's just that a boy surrounded by white blossoms isn't quite the same.

...and in color

a few more from the orchard with my digital.

road trip

Driving to Texas with my dad was a great chance to spend some time together. We took the scenic route through Taos, and who knows where else. Up and over mountain passes covered in feet of snow, small towns tucked in green valleys - it really was worth the extra few hours. I'm sure my dad's head was ringing my the end of the first night - you have to build up a tolerance to the sounds of kids, the never ending sounds of kids. It was such a help to have him there and who wouldn't have fun sleeping next to Cody and his squishy legs?

Above: Stop at the sand dune in Moab, pretty scenery, Taos, Joe Pool Lake near our apartment. Ellie is showing me "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

priceless!

Below is one of the best Christmas presents I've ever received. The stage my kids have been at the last year or so has been priceless - I've really been able to enjoy them. So to have a painting done by my uncle Karl Thomas of my children at this sweet age is priceless. It took me a few months to get it framed and figure out where I wanted it.