We are leaving the Lone Star State

It is hard to believe that our time here in Texas has come to an end.  We moved here five years ago, newly married and anxious to start our lives together.  At times I thought that we would never finish up school but before I knew it the time was here.  I have had a wonderful, crazy, fantastic, and bittersweet time here.  I have made friendships that have brought so much joy and growth to my life.  I have had jobs and callings that have stretched me and made me cry and laugh and give thanks.  It was here that we were able to welcome our sweet Madison into this world.  I will cherish my memories of the place where our little family started its life together. 

After dotting all those I's and crossing all those T's we are officially moving to the beautiful city of Atlanta.  We are heading that way in a little less than three weeks.  The pictures above are of our new place.  We are renting this house for the next year and than the company will be letting us relocate to the Salt Lake area.  We are really excited for this new phase of our life.  Dan's new company is fantastic.  He was really impressed with all the people he will be working with.  The company has been unbelievably generous and welcoming to our little family.  We are so very blessed.  So- Georgia here we come!

Bed Party

Madison is a great cleaner.  She loves to vacuum with me, dust, clean toilets, and be my helper.  I went in to her room today and was thrilled to see that she had cleaned up without being asked until I looked at this...... 

When I asked Maddie what was going on she said that there was a party in her bed.  Looks like a party to me!

Loving the Green

We took these pictures at a friends swim party.  Madison and Rebekah truly love each other but I think that these hugs were more the result of being really cold and excited that their moms have such good taste in clothes.  

 With or without talking to each other Susannah and I end up buying a lot of the same clothes for our kids.  Great minds shop alike-right?
Classic picture of Madison awed by the fact that her hair can look somewhat straight when it is wet.  

Anniversary Roses

Dan brought these home today.  He is so thoughtful and kind.  It is our five year anniversary tomorrow.  I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by.  He is without a doubt the most wonderful man in the world.  He is always willing to listen to me (even if he has already heard it a thousand times).  He is such a good Daddy- Maddie adores him and can't wait for her special time with him each night.  He is is so smart and patient and funny.  Dan helps me to have a deeper knowledge of the Saviour and has helped my testimony to grow.  We get to go to the temple together on Saturday, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate our life together.  I love you babe!

Discovery Green Park

Playgroup today was at the Discovery Green Park.  They have an area where the kids can run around through splashing jets of water.  Isaac was kind enough to share his lap for the stroll over to the park.

Can you sense the anticipation?  The water periodically turns off and the kids would sit at the edge of the splash pad and wait for it to come back on.

Madsion got to pick out her bathing suit this year.  "I will have the alligator please Mama."  What can I say -I think she has pretty good taste.

I think that they ran around for at least 30 minutes non-stop!  I am glad we finally got to check the park out but it makes me a little sad that it will be the first and last time we will get to enjoy Discovery Green.

Keeping Cool

I know to a lot of you out there  the title to this post may seem a little silly.  However, it is already warming up here in the Lone-star state.  There is a wonderful garden right next to our local library that has beautiful fountains, rivers, and flowers everywhere.  We stopped by after a sweaty bike ride to dip our toes in the water and cool off

The splashing got pretty intense.  Maddie was having the time of her life.

Biker Babe

The weather this week is in the low 8O's so we decided to work on our bike riding skills.  Madison is getting a lot better at being able to make full rotations with the pedals on the "big girl bike".  She gets so excited when she can pedal all on her own for long periods of time (like 3 minutes).  After which she looks at me and asks for a little push and the removal of the itchy offensive knee pads (don't worry Mom I am not actually removing them while she is on the bike).

What Could Make Easter Eggs More Fun?

Why princesses of course.  Didn't you know that princesses make any event ten times more exciting.  Check out the look of utter happiness on Maddie's face.  This is the look that makes the utter domination of princess stuff in our place totally worth it.

She could hardly stand to wait the three minutes for the eggs to get some color.  

The finished product.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had our annual Easter Egg Hunt in the grassy lawn area of our condo.  Madison was really into it this year.  Unlike past years she was totally prepared for the hunting and knew exactly what was inside the eggs.  She just kept saying, "Mom, I am ready to find my eggs now please."

Let's Go Fly a Kite

In Between sessions of General Conference on Saturday we decided to dig out the kite that has been sitting in our garage for almost five years.  Maddie was super excited until she realized that it was going to take awhile to get the thing up in the air.

My favorite moment of the whole kite flying experience was when Dan was trying so hard to get the kite up in the air that he ended up on his backside.  Seriously, it was funny!

After a number of tries Dan and Ade got the kite up to what they considered to be a respectable height.