Playing "catch up" (June-July)

Wow! I can't believe it has been a month since I blogged. I feel so disconnected.

Okay everyone you will have to bare with me. This may take a while to recount all that we have done in the last month.

On June 5th we made our first offer on a house. It took about 2 days before we heard back from the seller. She counter offered and so did we. She said she was firm with her counter offer and we decided it was still a great deal on the house so we accepted.

During this negotiation of price we were in RR so Ryan could work and I could pack. Madalyn and Ethan stayed with my parents. Due to some unexpected events this also ended up being Ryan's last week at Firehouse. Which turned out to be really nice. We had Ryan all to our selves for about 3 weeks. Now that he has started his new job the kids are a little confused. They want to know where Daddy is and don't understand why they cannot talk to him whenever they want.

So, Ryan's last day was Sat. June 7th. Sunday went to church to teach our class and make sure we would have help the following Sat. when we were loading up the Uhaul. After Church we drove back to Waco.

We spent this week enjoying time with the kids. We went to the Zoo one day and played outside on the water slide at my parents. We also went swimming at the Baldwins a couple of times.

(Madalyn & Ethan watching the rhinos)

(Madalyn the Butterfly)

(Ethan the Butterfly)

(Madalyn having fun in the pool)

(Ethan discovered that he loves goggles)

(Ethan learned how to hold his breath under water)

(Madalyn & Ethan swimming around)

We were also in our "option period" on our house during this week. So we had the inspection to be at. The good news from the inspector was that this was a structurally sound house. The bad news was that the AC did not work and the tub in the master bathroom needed to be replaced. The seller had the AC in the house replaced now it works great. She is also paying for the tub to be replaced.

On Friday June 13th Ryan and I went back to RR so we could pick up the Uhaul. We got the Uhaul around 9am and went to our storage unit to start loading up. It took us 2 hours to empty out the storage unit. It was really easy b/c we had flat carts to use at the storage place. Our unit was on the second floor of a climate control storage facility. The Uhaul was backed right up to the loading dock for easy loading. Once we were done at the storage unit we went to our apartment and got the truck backed in and ready for loading. It was lunch by this time so we went and grabbed a bite to eat. When we returned we started loading the truck again. We got everything out of the bedroom, closet and kitchen that evening. I was also able to clean the empty rooms.

Saturday morning our help from church was not coming until 10am. Ryan woke up early and we took everything down stairs and put it on a tarp(except for 5 pieces of furniture that I could not help Ryan with). I finished cleaning and we waited for our help to arrive. It took 20 min. to finish with 2 extra people. I vacuumed on last time and then went to the office to turn in our keys. We were on the road to Waco by 10:50am. Ryan & I got cleaned up so we could meet with our realtor to sign some papers after lunch. That evening we unloaded the Uhaul at another storage unit. We only had one person show up from my parents ward. Luckily it only took us about an hour to unload.

While we were unloading the truck Mindi & her family, Marion & Seiko, and Adrienne & her family were at my parents playing on the water slide with my kids. I wish I could have visited more with my good friends that I rarely see. Sorry, Adrienne it was good to see you and your adorable family for the short time that we had.

I helped my mom and a few other people make a memory scrapbook for a Becky Gropp. My mom and Sis. Webb asked everyone to write letters telling Becky how much she means to them. We then put the letters together in a scrapbook.

(Amy, Leigh, Mom, Sally & Myself)

Well I still have more to write about but I think I will stop for now.

Packing is draining

(Boxes in the dinning room)

(Wrapping with the green stuff)

On Monday Ethan was helping us pack. He really liked using the green wrap stuff. He was ready to wrap everything with it. After Ryan went to work Ethan was really quite. When I found him he was asleep on the step stool. Of coarse I ran to get the camera. I took the picture and as soon as I did he woke up enough to move to the couch. Isn't he the cuttest?

(Ethan asleep on the step stool)

(Ethan asleep on the couch)

The BUICK of a Dishwasher...

Last night I decided we needed to run our dishwasher. It had some old detergrnt stuck in it when we moved in and we have never used it. I was a little afraid to use it because it looked so old I was worried something bad would happen. Ryan refers to the old dishwasher as a Buick (It looks really old but he says it will probably never die). Since we are moving in 2 weeks I thought I would try to run the dishwasher to make sure it was clean for the walk thru. So we ran it late last night. Around 10pm we had a knock on the door but we were already in bed. So we ignored the knock and went to sleep. Today when we looked in the dishwasher the detergent was still caked to the door. Ryan scraped it off and ran it again. Once again we had a knock at the door. Ryan opened the door and the lady that lives under us said something was leaking from our apartment into hers. Ryan told her we would turn off the dishwasher and told her she needed to call maintenance. A few minutes later the maintenance man came over to inspect our dishwasher. Apparently the bottom is all rusted out and was leaking lots of water into the apartment under us. He came back later with the head guy and they decided it needs to be replaced. It probably will not happen until next week. They also said that Manager told them that they had this problem about a year ago. Nice! Both of the maintenance men were confused why it was not replaced when it happened the first time. I wish I had not been so worried about using it back in Jan. when we moved in. I could have had a new dishwasher for the last 41/2 months. That stinks!! Oh Well! You LIVE and you LEARN. Right?

Busy Little Bees or Bennetts!

Wow! We have been very busy since last Wed. The kids and I went to Waco last Wed. (May 14th) night. On Thursday I watched my best friends sweet little girls so she could take her mom to get an MRI. Our kids played really well together which made it extremely easy to keep her kids. Well the MRI didn't go so well and Becky ended up in the ER. It was a very emotionally long day. We had Mindi's girls most of the day until she got back from the hospital. I felt so bad for my dear friend being the only one with her mother when they were told the tumor had grown rather large. My heart was breaking, I wanted to do what ever I could to be available for the family. I wish I could have stayed longer to watch kids or whatever else they might have needed me for.

However, Friday we had to come back to RR so we could pack and be ready for Ryan to get home. As soon as he got home we started loading the car and hit the road to Bryan. His little sister, Kelli was getting married on Saturday at the Houston Temple. So Friday we made it to Bryan and visited with all the Bennett Family.

Saturday was a very long day. We got up early so we could drive to Houston for the Sealing. We took lots of wonderful pictures. Then we all rushed back to Bryan so we could get our kids to the babysitters. We were supposed to be at Johnny Carino's by 1:30 for a lunch but we were all late. Pictures took longer than planned and our side of the family had to drop off all the kids. We finally made it to JC and had a nice lunch. We had a couple of hours between that and the reception. Ryan kept our kids and I went with his mom to help with the finishing touches at the Bishops house. They had an outdoor reception at the Student ward Bishops house in Castle Gate. It all turned out very nice but it was a very long day.

Sunday we went to Sacrament then we drove to Waco for my family Reunion out at my grandparents ranch. We had lunch, saw lots of family and the kids played on the water slide. We all got lots of sun. Once we arrived at my parents house we got cleaned up and the kids ready for bed. Then my mom, Travis, Ryan and I went to the Gropps so we could visit with Becky now that she was home. My dad stayed at home with the kids.

I decided to stay at my parents until Wed. which would be Ryan's day off. So Monday Ryan went home so he could work. That afternoon Mindi and Julie brought over the kids to do the water slide in my parents backyard. They all had lots of fun and got a little sun too.

Ethan on the water slide

Madalyn on the water slide

Ethan, Madalyn & Cole in the little pool

Cailyn playing with Durango

Tuesday I started reading "Twilight". I am almost finished with it and am excited to go get the next book in the series. Ryan came back to Waco after work late that night.

Wednesday the kids had more fun on the water slide. While the kids were playing on the slide I sat in a lawn chair reading "Twilight". I did lots of laundry and that evening we loaded up and came home.

Popcorn

Last Wednesday we were at our storage unit getting a few things we needed. We saw a box with the popcorn popper in it and couldn't resist. We brought it home and that night Ryan and Ethan made some popcorn. I love air popped so much more then the microwave stuff. Maybe it just brings back good memories. I remember popping a big paper bag full and then watching the Sunday night "Wonderful World of Disney Movies" with my family. Not only do I remember having air popped popcorn with my family but I also recall having it quite often with my second family the Gropps. I'm sure Mindi will have her own memories of this.

SWIMMING... Here we come

Yesterday Daddy & the kids went swimming for the first time this year. Of course Mommy forgot the camera. I did take a few pics on my camera phone. Although, I don't know how to get them on the computer. That's okay because they went swimming again today. Yes, this time Mommy remembered the camera. It has been nice going to the pool at our apartment. So far we have not had any other people in the pool with us. Well there was a lady sun tanning the first day. Ethan said "Mommy that lady's not swimming because she's dead". I had to laugh, but I did tell him she was not dead just getting some sun. The kids & Daddy are so excited that it is warm enough to start swimming.

Discovering...

I was getting all the pics off my camera and discovered a few I had forgotten about. These are at a park we went to for the first time.

I remember this being a very windy day but, it was also a nice spring day!!

Ryan, Madalyn & Ethan each took turns sliding. The kids thought it was great that Daddy got on the slide too.

Then, Ryan showed the kids these horn looking things. We soon discovered you could talk to each other from opposite ends of the playground. It was pretty cool.

I think this was the highlight of this playground.

We will have to visit this one again.

Valentines Day Fun!!

We started off our Valentines Day fun with a trip to the famous "Round Rock Donuts" for breakfast. We had heard this was the best place in town to get donuts. So we gave it a try and were disappointed. I guess I'm a little partial to "Shipley's Donuts" or "Shippy's" as my nephew use to call it. After we had our donuts we drove to Cedar Park to have some fun at Lakeline Mall.

We were a little disappointed that they didn't have a play area inside for the kids. We did however, find the Disney store and they were having a great sale. I bought a few things and the kids got to pick out a couple of things for themselves. Madalyn picked gold princess gloves and a little box in the shape of a crown with 7 rings inside. Ethan picked out a couple of toys from "Meet the Robinsons" and a little stuffed Bear from "The Jungle Book". We then made a lap around the mall and decided to go find a park. We ended up going back to Round Rock to Old Settlers Park. The kids had lots of fun with Mommy & Daddy.

It was soon time to leave and go find a late lunch. I had already planned on going to Red Robin and new how to get to it. We had to go to Pfluegerville just a few miles away. Ryan had the "Guacamole Bacon Burger" with bottomless fries and a "Very Berry Raspberry Limeade". I had the "Burger Parmigiana"with bottomless fries and a "Freckled Lemonade". The kids split a cheese pizza. They also ate nearly all of the strawberries out of my drink. We really like eating here when we get the chance. Although after we left Ryan and I wished we had split a burger instead of each getting one. We were STUFFED!!

The rest of the evening we enjoyed at home watching movies and eating popcorn.

Playground Fun

We stayed in Round Rock with Ryan for a few days. Ryan & I took the kids to the park next door everyday. The kids were so excited to have a playground next door to our apartment. This was Jan 1, 2008

MOVING: What a JOY!!!

So our plan for moving was that Ryan would have off Dec 28th - Dec. 30th (Fri-Sun). I left Thursday from Waco (leaving the kids with my mom) to Round Rock to pick up Ryan by 5pm when he got off work and off to Bryan we drove. We arrived in Bryan and got to bed early so we could get up refreshed and ready for the fun to begin. Friday Ryan and I finished packing in the morning and then waited for my Dad to arrive (He couldn't leave until Mom got off work to watch the kids)with truck and cattle trailer that we borrowed from Pepa. Ryan was unable to round up much help aside from family. We had Ryan, my Dad, my Father in law, Chris (brother-in-law) and two young men from church. We had decided to load everything that was going to our apartment first and everything that was going to storage last. As we filled about 2/3 of the trailer the men decided we would never make it in one trip. It was suggested we try to take what we had to Round Rock unload and come back to Bryan and finish loading the next day. So that is what we did. We got to Round Rock around 8:30 pm and the only person we could find in Round Rock to help us with such short notice was my cousin Brian. It took us about 1 hour to unload what had taken us 3 hours to load. Oh yeah those that went with us from Bryan where Ryan, myself, my Dad, Chris, & Ryan's parents. On our way back to Bryan we stopped at Whataburger to have some dinner. We arrived back in Bryan after 1am sometime and went to bed. Saturday Ryan and I got up and went back over to our townhome and finished bringing everything downstairs to make it easier to load the last of our stuff. by 9am my Dad was not at our place so I called my sister to check on him. My Dad and Chris arrived about an hour later with trailer. Ryan's Dad came back over too. I think it took about an hour to get it all loaded and then we went to my sisters house for lunch. We headed back to Round Rock and got to just past a tiny town called Thrawl when we had a tire on the trailer blow out. Ryan called our tow service plan provider and waited for about 15 min. with NO return call. So he got into our car and drove back a couple of miles to Thrawl to find some help. No Luck. So Ryan came back and He and my Dad changed the tire. Luckily the small jack was able to lift the trailer just enough to get the bad tire off and put the spare tire on. Now we were back on the road and headed to the storage building. We (Ryan , myself, Dad and a couple in our new ward in Round Rock) unloaded at the storage unit. We took a few things back to the apartment and then headed back to Waco to see the kids and get another much needed good nights sleep. Sunday we spent sometime at my parents house with the kids before we hit the road once again. We headed back to Bryan to clean the townhome and turn in the keys and stuff. I took us about 2 hours to get it all done and then we went back to my sisters and ate some dinner. Then once again we were back on the road this time to Round Rock. We got to our new apartment and got our bedroom situated just enough to go to sleep, after all Ryan had to work the next day. Monday I got up and tried to get some stuff put away so that when Ryan's parents came with the kids they would have room to play and a place to sleep. Ryan's parents had been in Denison for the weekend and went through Waco to pick up the kids. They wanted to go to Ryan's new job b/c they had never eaten at a Firehouse Sub shop. So when they arrived that afternoon we all went to see Ryan and eat lunch. Then Ryan's parents headed back to Bryan and the kids and I went home. Now you have heard all about our adventures with moving to Round Rock. Hopefully I will catch up my blog so that you will be reading about current activities.

A NEW ADVENTURE!!

So here is the latest news from our family. Ryan has taken a new job with a new company. Yes, I know no more Chick-fil-A (which we all thought was going to be the only company Ryan would ever work for). Fortunatley Ryan was given a new oppertunity from my cousin and his wife. They recently opened their first store in a fairly new franchise called "Firehouse Subs" in Round Rock. So, Ryan's last day at Chick-fil-A is Saturday and he will start his new job Monday. Unfortunatley this leaves the kids and myself in Bryan until the managment company finds a new renter for our townhome. Hopefully with the Spring semester right around the corner we will be able to join him sooner rather than later (since this is a college town). As soon as our current home is rented out to a new tenant we will load up the moving truck and head for the hills (Round Rock). We are all very excited for our next adventure and can't wait to be back together in the same town.

Round Rock

We took a weekend trip to visit family in Round Rock The first weekend in November. We left friday after Ryan got off work. Friday night we went to the elementary school my Aunt works at to have some fun at the fall carnival. The kids ate pizza and then they were ready for some fun. They waited in a really long line and then they finally got to go in the moon bounce. Unfortunatly I forgot my camera in the car. After the moon bounce we decided the kids were to tired and the school was to crowded, so we went to my cousins house to spend the night.

On Saturday the kids got to play with my cousins boys and then we decided to go for a trian ride in the park. The kids loved the train ride.

Thanks Brian & Jenn for a wonderful weekend, we enjoyed spending time with your family. We look forword to doing it again sometime.