Texas for Thanksgiving

It was my parents turn this year to have us for Thanksgiving and we were SO excited to visit my home again. It had been about a year since we'd been back and it was a year too long. 

After making the grueling 20 hour drive across the plains of TX with a grumpy 18 month old, we were extremely happy when we pulled up into my parents drive way.

We started out the holiday celebration right with attending and being a part of my mom's baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was a beautiful and special night. Justin baptized her that night and then gave her the Gift of the Holy Ghost the next day at church. I spoke about the Holy Ghost and Ethan sang "When I am Baptized." I'm pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house when sweet Ethan sang this beautiful song. 

Meet Miles Myers. Or as we know him, Elder Myers. He served his mission in Vidor and taught me and my mom the discussions when I was investigating the church. It was so neat to have him, his sweet wife, and their three little kiddos  come all the way from Canada for this special moment.  It meant a lot to have all of them there!

There were so many people there to support my mom. In fact, there were so many people that they had to move the service into the chapel to accommodate everyone. 

I love the good people of Vidor, TX. They are absolutely amazing at supporting one another and making others feel welcomed and comfortable. I owe a lot to many of the people there and I will forever be indebted to them for helping me find (and stay with!) the path to happiness.

I was so mad at myself for only having my phone camera to take such important pictures!

Mom, we are SO excited and happy for you!

After church on Sunday, my parents had family and friends over for a catfish fry. We ate yummy catfish and hush puppies cooked to fried perfection by my papasito. 

Our good friends and neighbors here in AZ, The Ryans, flew all the way to Vidor, TX just for this special occasion. These are some of the sweetest and most kind hearted people you'll ever meet. We feel so blessed to call them our friends. 

We took the Ryans over to my grandparents to meet them and we had to get a picture with the two Evelyn's together!

Later that evening we had fun chatting around the campfire and Ethan thoroughly enjoyed learning all the ways of how to be a pyro. I think he'll love scout camp-outs.

Justin's amazing parents left their 10 day Europe trip early to fly in for mom's baptism. They said that they wouldn't miss it for the world. 

The next day, most of the company took off back to their homes and we said good bye to the Myers family. It was so great for Miles to meet my hubby, for me to get to know his wife, Shani, and to catch up on each others lives. What a great family. 

Did I mention they came with 2 year old twins and a 2 month old?! Amazing, right?!

The rest of our time was spent relaxing with family and friends. 

Payton is Chad (my brohter) and Jessica's little boy. He just turned 2 and is the cutest little thing! I think he enjoyed having our crazy kids around to play with. 

It rained constantly for the first 3 or 4 days that we were there but once it cleared up, our kids spent a lot of time outside. 

Ethan spent most of one afternoon chopping wood for a campfire that night. No worries, it was a very blunt ax. I think he was in boy heaven. 

Since Ethan is in school all day long, I feel like I don't get very many pictures of him or with him. I sure love this sweet boy of mine. 

My parents property is so beautiful. You don't appreciate all the green until you have to live without it. 

We needed more wood for the campfire so my dad just busted out the chainsaw and went cutting down dead trees at the back of their property. What? Don't you do that too?

Late nights and  lots of food makes for some tired kiddos!

Or sometimes just one tired daddy...

This is my sweet momma kitty. She is 20 years old. Yes, you read that right.. 20 years old!! I think that's 240 in cat years! She can't hear at all and she has pretty bad arthritis but she is still kickin'. My brother and I basically grew up with momma kitty and we are sure glad that she is still around. 

Mason was set for the week once he saw grandma's flag hanging in front of their house. 

Isn't that so funny/ a little strange that he loves flags?!

Ellie enjoyed getting the chicken eggs and only accidentally broke one or two :)

My dad can fix pretty much anything. He got 2 or 3 motorized kid vehicles in his hands and fixed them up for our kiddos to have something to cruise around with while we were there. 

I think they enjoyed themselves....

They even found some mud and water to go mudding in! I remember doing that back in high school and having so. much. fun. 

Mason loved just roaming around and exploring his new surroundings. 

Mom bought us supplies to make ourselves some Christmas wreaths. It was a fun morning of girl chat and crafting. This is my sweet sister in law, Jessica. She's pretty amazing. :)

When I got back to AZ, I decided that i wasn't a huge fan of my bright green ribbon and opted for one that blended better. What do ya think? I think I like it better. 

Thank you mom for wanting to make these and getting us the supplies! It was sure fun!

Thanksgiving day rolled around and we had a yummy meal that mom and dad prepared. 

Mason and Payton were so funny talking and laughing to each other in their own high chairs. They sure acted like they could understand each other!

Since we were in TX for about 10 days, we had time to be able to hang out with some old friends. I got to play some volleyball with some members of my high school volleyball team (SO fun!), have a girls night out with some of my most favorite people, and have some friends over to chat and let the kids play together. 

I absolutely love these girls. 

From left to right:

Christina- played volleyball together, she helped and was part of my conversion process, a year older in school than me, so fun, has always been so kind to me and is always brings laughter.

Alicia- Christina's sister, played vball together,  my age in school- in fact we were in the same classes pretty much all growing up, best friend in high school, roommate and bff in college, went to prom together our senior year because we didn't have a date, part of my conversion, the list could go on. I love this girl.

Kayla- she's a gem. Cousins to Christina and Alicia but she always felt like a fun younger sis to me- in a really good way that is, played vball together, basically her family accepted me as one of their own and even took me to DisneyWorld with them- I know!, brother baptized me, she always brings so much fun and happiness everywhere she goes. 

I'm not sure why I went into detail about each of these girls but seeing them and getting to laugh and talk with them like we were in high school again, made me so darn happy. We need to do that more girls! :) I guess each one of them had so much of an impact into who I am today that I just needed to write down just a little bit about them to remember when I am 80. 

Anyway before we left to come back home, Alicia and Christina came over with their husbands and kids for one last hoorah.

I think my dad saw how many kids were there and immediately got to work hooking up the trailer to the lawn mower. He went country on us. I love it! 

They all loved it!

This is Alicia and her family. Jeff, Brooklyn and Avery. 

Christina and her fam. Rui, little Rui and Kenya.

Ethan was thrilled to have a boy his age to play with. Rui and him palled around together for most of the afternoon. 

The whole gang! 10 years and 8 kids later! Good work ladies!

On black Friday (my 28th birthday!), we got together with my dads side of the family for a post Thanksgiving party. I think just about everyone was there!

Grandma and Payton,

My cousin Cortney and her little girl, Presley.

And my Aunt Kathy just to name a few.

My dad and his siblings:

Eldon, Kathy, Donna, Greg

We had to sneak in a picture with Grandma and Grandpa too. These two sweethearts mean so much to me. I was lucky enough to be raised around them and they were the best grandparents I could have ever asked for. They would do anything for anyone. 

Oh look! There's my brother! I can't believe this is the only photo I have of him. Sorry Chad! We still love you promise :)

We could all tell that Grandpa wasn't feeling very well and he got worse and worse by the nights end. My dad convinced him to go to the ER and it's a good thing he went because he ended up being diagnosed with pneumonia. One lung completely filled and the other 3/4 full. For a few days there it was pretty scary but he pulled through like a champ and is now home. It was so hard to leave TX the next day knowing his condition was not great but we feel so blessed that he has recovered so well. 

Until next year Texas! Thanks for always being so good to us!

And thanks mom and dad for everything. Mom, we are SO excited for you!!