Rain

It has been raining for four days. We definitely need the rain here in Texas, and hopefully the grass soaks up all it can and stays green for a little while before it turns back to the yellow-brown we are used to here in the summer. It will be back to 100 degrees before we know it, but we are enjoying this little summer storm while we have it.

Maybe the rain is just getting us ready for England. We fly to London one month from today! We have so much to do in the next few weeks (birthdays, graduation, anniversary, packing, driving, visiting family) and my list of things to do, people to call, and things to figure out is not short. But we are ready and excited and looking forward to all the changes in the next few months!

Haircut

Anna got a little adventurous with the scissors this weekend, and chopped the top of her hair off, down to about an inch in some places. After laughing for a long time because it was just soooo bad, I took her to a salon to try and fix it up. She came home with this little pixie cut, and although she looks so different to us now (and a lot more like Matthew), I think she pulls it off quite well. :)

Home Again, Home Again

The kids and I got to spend a couple of weeks in Utah at the end of June. We had a fabulous time with our friends and families! Matthew and Anna got to play with so many cousins, and I got to hold as many cute babies as I could get my hands on. We celebrated a few birthdays (I'm 29 now!!!!), ran a race, sewed some dresses, went swimming, and just about wore everyone out.




Megan, Kyle & Grey came up from Mesa, too. I'm sad we'll be in England before their baby girl arrives, but I'm so excited for them! Grey was a little wary of me in the beginning, but was holding my hand by the end of the trip. :)



We always wish Joseph could come with us, and we missed him a whole lot. His residency ends on August 1st, and then he'll finally get to take a few days of vacation! :)



It was great to be able to spend part of our summer with family. We love them so much!! The 18 hour drive both ways was long, but definitely worth it! We'll get to see most of them again in August before we move, so we are looking forward to that!

Summer

This is the first year we have looked forward to a summer break from school for Matthew instead of for Joseph! I can't believe Matthew is already done with Kindergarten! I remember his first day like it was yesterday. I'm so proud of how well he did in school and how much he learned. We are definitely looking forward to a fun summer of sleeping in and swimming and reading lots of books!
We can't wait to go to Utah in just a couple of weeks to spend time with our families! And in about two months we will be packing up and heading to England, where summer rainstorms are probably a little more common, but hopefully just as much fun!

Austin & San Antonio

We drove down to Austin for the long Memorial Day weekend. It was so fun to see a new part of Texas (it is green there! and there are hills!) and we did a lot of fun things. On our way down we stopped in a small town called Hico to try the supposed "best pie in Texas". It did not disappoint! We've been excited to see the bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge ever since Matthew started loving bats more than two years ago. We had fun taking in the downtown Austin views while waiting for the sun to set. It got pretty dark before the bats finally emerged so it was hard to see, but there were definitely A LOT of them flying around!

On Saturday we drove down to San Antonio (in the horrible rain that caused flash flooding. So scary!) to go to Sea World! It stopped raining right as we pulled up, and we had a perfect day! We loved all the shows and rides.


On Sunday we walked around the capitol building and the botanic gardens. We really loved being surrounded by all the green again (although it was very humid from all the rain all weekend!).




Austin was a lovely place and we are so glad we got to visit before our time in Texas is up.

My Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, Matthew gave me a cute picture and questionnaire that he filled out at school. It says I am 10 feet tall, my favorite food is salad, and one thing he thinks I should do more often is cook. He is correct about two of those things. :) After church, we went on a walk around Lake Wichita, which is extremely low because of the drought. We hiked up a little hill and could see for miles and miles. One thing I really love about Texas is that it feels like the sky goes on forever.

I loved spending Mother's Day with my little family. My kids bring me such joy and I wouldn't wish to be doing anything else with my life right now.