Astros Game!

Kade and I got invited by the Simmons to go see the Astros game with them! William's parents have season tickets with fabulous seats. We were pretty excited since we had never been before. The stadium was huge, and the ceiling opened at the end for a firework show.  It was pretty amazing because of how huge it is.

Being at the game felt like being at the Jazz game with a Jazz 100 club ticket.  People brought us drinks all night, we sat on leather seats, and could go back and get food whenever we wanted. We felt very spoiled, and lucky to be there!

It was really fun getting to know William and Paige better.  We have a lot in common with them and enjoy being around them.  They are only here for a couple more weeks before they head back to school but hopefully we will be seeing a lot more of them next summer when they move back. 

Beach time

A couple of months ago, a cute girl named Cassidy and I were randomly connected through a mutual friend on facebook.  Her little family just moved down to Houston for her husband's job, and we are so excited to get to know them better.  They have a little boy named Calvin that I am already in love with.

The other day they invited us to come to the beach with them.  It was definitely not the type of beach we expected to see, but we had a good time.  We each brought a cooler packed with lunch and snacks, and we enjoyed the ride down there to get to know each other better.

The beach was really dirty and the water was brown, but it was fun to be there and hear the waves crashing.  Nice little get-a-way from the daily grind.  The boys plated some football, while us girls chatted away.

We are excited for more memories with this cute family.

Life as of lately.

Houston has been an exciting change.  We are not thrilled with the quality of the roads, but now realize with all of the rain why they are so horrible! There are pot holes, and ditches everywhere. The weather is extremely hot and humid, but everyone keeps saying that this summer has been nothing like last year.  We will consider ourselves lucky!

Kade had his first day of work, and has been really excited to go back everyday since.  Hopefully he continues to enjoy it this much all the time! 

Every time he comes home, the apartment changes a little bit, and evolves more into our home. It has been fun to use the time before I start a job to organize and shop for kitchen supplies since we sold everything in Philly.

We have been enjoying the pool on Kade's days off, and we also hung all of our pictures on the walls. 

We received some new pictures of our Elder the other day.  Crazy to think that he will be coming home in a few short months!!! Oregon has been lucky to have him.

Memories:

Shaking the homemade ranch bottle too hard at dinner when Kade warned me about making sure the lid was on tight. He always knows best!

Helping out a woman in our ward with her eight kids, and seeing this quote on her wall.  I would love to have boys one day, and thought this was so clever.

We have been watching A LOT of the summer olympics on TV this year. We thought this article was funny.

I had some girls over to our apartment for a craft night while our hubbies went and played basketball.  We made moss letters and they turned out so cute! I didn't end up making one for me because I didn't buy enough moss for everyone, but I am excited to finish mine later. 

Here are pics of our first little apartment here in Houston:

We were blessed with a lot of furniture that was handed down to us from family.  The only piece we have had to buy so far is our entertainment center, and we got that extremely cheap at Ikea!

Let the memories begin!

We made it, y'all!!

Our time in Utah went by way too quickly before we started to pack up for Houston.  We tried to fit in as much time seeing people before we left as we could. 

We had a going away party downtown at the V factory and invited all of our close family and friends. We had a lot of people show up, and it was good to be able to say bye to everyone at once. We unfortunately didn't get any pics, but of course my girl friends did! Love them! 

The day before we headed out, I had to get a root canal! I was a little loopy, but at least I did not have to go the whole drive in pain. 

We rented a large Penske truck and loaded up with hand-me-downs from family. We got a lot of furniture and kitchen items. We didn't have much to begin with, but were able to load a whole truck full of stuff. We even bought a couch on sale to top it off the day before we pulled out.

It was bitter sweet to say goodbye to family, but we were excited to get started on our adventure.

When we got going on the road, we noticed a big blue cooler in between our seats. Rhet and Ann had filled up the whole thing full of food and drinks for us to enjoy along the way.  They also gave us a bag full of chips and nuts, etc. Ann had made our sandwiches for us, and labeled them with our names depending on what she had put inside. Mustard for me, mayo for Kade. It was really humbling to realize how thoughtful they were, and thankful we were! 

The trip took us three days, and a total of about 24 hours of driving time. We listened to music, and had a lot of good conversations. It was a fun experience that we won't forget...especially when Kade hit the side mirror on the toll pole ;) 

We pulled into Fort Worth on the night of the 4th of July, which was fun to watch fireworks shooting off from all directions on the freeway.

When we arrived in Houston, the first thing we did was drove our truck straight to a car dealership and test drove some cars. We ended up getting a great deal on a 2011 Nissan Altima, our first car as a married couple! It is a special edition, and had low mileage for a good price. We were super excited. 

Next, we headed to our new apartment complex.  We had a few people come over to help us move all of our stuff in, which made it go by really fast.  I felt bad for the guys that helped us...it was extremely humid and we were all sweating pretty bad.  Welcome to Houston!

The place looked like a mess for a few days, but we managed to find a good spot for everything.

The following week that we arrived, it rained every single day.  We quickly realized how big the rain storms were here, and how frequent the flooding is.  People were backing their cars up to the door at Costco because they didn't want to go out in the rain! 

We can't wait to get out new life started here in Houston!

Little people over the summer.

Had to document these cute faces. Kade and I spent a lot of our summer with them before leaving to Houston.  I nannied them all at different times, and will miss them like crazy.

At one point we had all 4 Relyea girls for two weeks while Michelle and Ryan went to Europe.  We had so much fun. Thank goodness to Michelle who was extremely organized, I had a schedule typed out for my duties everyday to get them all where they needed to be. It ran very smoothly and probably made it easier for her to leave!   

I also watched their baby cousin Holland twice a week while her Momma worked.  She was a good little baby that loved to be held!

Raging waters, V Chocolate tour, diaper blowouts, and hiking to Donut Falls.  We managed to fit a lot of fun in.

Paytie was a huge help on the days that I would bring Holland over to the Wadsworth's.  I am excited to see her as an aunt!

I think it was a 'little girl' overload for Kade, but luckily he was busy working during the days!

Gone with the Wads

This summer we got to spend time at the cabin, and in Lake Powell with the Wads Squad. 

We went on a hike to the meadow and built a fire for lunch.  Kip whipped out the guns and we set up some plastic cups to shoot at. Ann smoked us all, of course. 

We rode the Razors around the trails, and spent time watching a movie together.

Ralph used a hand grinder to make his own wheat, and then we used an old washer lid to cook the pancakes on.  Yummy!

It was a little chilly outside, but we had a good time. It is always nice to get away and be up there in the wilderness.

We then went to Lake Powell and stayed on a houseboat with the Relyea and Scharman family.  They have a very nice houseboat, and all the adults got to stay in their own rooms. There were 8 little girls on that boat, plus another family that we didn't know with 3 little boys. The girls loved to make up dances to blaring music up on the second floor. We were definitely sick of a few songs that had been overplayed by the time we left! Haha.

Every family took turns making meals, and it was fun to sit around and talk with everyone.  There is a lot to learn from all of those couples, including Kade's parents. 

I love watching Kade wakeboard, and we got to do a lot of that.  The guys loved watching him throw his backflips. At one point one of the jet skis got stolen, but it returned on our last morning across from the bay that our house boat was docked in.  Half of the gas tank was gone--hope someone enjoyed the adventure! 

We took the little plane there, and on the way back I was able to sit up front with the pilot.  The view from above Lake Powell was pretty amazing! 

We can't wait to go again next year!