A few things about Texas...

We have officially been here four months. It's definitely different, and seems somewhat temporary right now, but that could just be because, we're renting, we're still new here, or because it's just not what we "know" as home. And while I do miss "home" I've found that it isn't really Georgia that I'm missing. So I've been thinking the last few months about things that I miss, and things that I like about here, and I'm surprised to say I don't mind it so much here in Texas!

Georgia:

1. PUBLIX ( first and foremost- sorry friends and family) I DO love that store! The Kroger here is "really nice" Adam keeps telling me. And I will agree that it is; the health food section is pretty swank, there's a huge variety of everything, you can even grind your own fresh peanut butter. But it's just not Publix.

2. My house. Probably mostly because its ours, everything in it we picked out, and we had put so much into it. Plus the yard was so private and huge compared to yards here. Had we bought a house here first instead of renting I think it would have made it easier... but the we wouldn't have been sure on schools and areas. Oh well.

3. Our friends and family of course! I told Adam just the other day, "Ya know, I think if we had brought our friends and family with us I could get used to this place!"

Now Texas:

1. The sunsets! That's actually what prompted me to write this post. I was on my way home tonight and it was another beautiful sunset. It always is. The sky just seems so much bigger here and its gorgeous! Jackson's soccer park is on the lake so a few nights a week we get to watch it set over the water.

2. The weather. It's always a beautiful day. We don't get much rain (and if you know me, you know I loathe the rain). There always seems to be a breeze. It's like the "second windy city" I love it; I have a ton of wind chimes and they're always ringing.

3. The area/shopping. The area we're in is nice. Really all of the suburban area around Dallas is, I haven't seen an area that I wouldn't live in. Everything is so close, we're only 5 miles to the lake, there are parks everywhere and they are all such nice parks! The shopping is fantastic. Everything is new and nice, and clean. The malls are awesome and the variety of stores is so nice!


Well, that's all I've got for now. Adam is at Cub Scouts with Maddox tonight and I had a few free seconds and those things were on my mind, just thought I'd share! See you next time :)

Better Late Than Never

 September flew by! Adam was out of town to Atlanta mid month and then Houston the last week.We kept busy for sure. Our friend Heather (Mark Futral's wife) came to visit us the middle of the month and her and I had fun while the boys were at school having "girl days" and then over the weekend we went to the balloon festival. It was so neat. They had skydivers, food trucks, bounce houses, launched a handful of balloons, and then once it got dark did a balloon glow and fireworks show.

 Maddox was the first BAM (Brent's Amazing Minds) student of the month. He's the fourth one on stage, with his teacher- she's so sweet and just adores him!

 This guy had a birthday, NINE! I can't even believe it. Below he had just opened a birthday package that came for him in the mail.

 The boys did a fundraiser for school and these goofy glasses were one of the prizes, here we were on our way to the dentist. I looked back and they were both watching the movie like this. They're so funny sometimes.

 Our city had an open house at the fire station the other day. Apparently the Ninja Turtles hang out there. The Cub Scouts attended together to earn a patch and it was fun to see and play on the trucks and what not.

 Our little soccer star picked number 5 this year, here he is warming up.

 Maddox and Adam got in the massage chairs at the mall last weekend. Adam liked it, but Maddox was too short so when it "massaged" his shoulders it shook his whole head, I think his eyeballs were vibrating. It was so funny to watch. After Jackson watched Maddox go he was skeptical...

 And Maddox opted not to play soccer this season, he never really was a fan. But when the Cub Scout flyer came home he was so excited. Meet the newest Tiger Cub!

See you next month!!!

End of Summer

(Adam sitting on a Texas Longhorn- the Stockyards do a live cattle drive everyday) 

 As the end of summer approaches, I must say I'm ready for fall. I miss my boots and scarves! That being said, this summer was definitely one we'll remember. Moving to a new state, new house, new school, new office.... new memories. The month of August flew by. We went to Sea World and the Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. The caverns were very cool, I've never been to any before, I think they creeped Maddox out a little though. Then my mom, Eric, and grandma came over the Labor Day holiday to visit. My mom flew in on Wednesday morning and surprised both boys when they got home from school, they didn't know she was coming. Then my grandma and Eric flew in Thursday and the boys got another surprise when they saw Eric walk in, they didn't know he was coming either. They just thought it was my grandma that was coming to visit. We went to some different restaurants, did a little shopping, hung at the pool a couple days, and then went to the Stockyards and then American Airlines museum on Saturday. There are some random pictures labeled below :)

                                        (the boys enjoying the Lego exhibit at the museum)

 Natural bridge caverns- 220ft below ground...

 The boys started school Aug. 25th- both their teachers seem great!

                      Here's the penguin exhibit @ Seaworld, it's crazy how fast they can swim!

 Jackson at the American Museum trying on pilot hats.

 Some of the sea lions at Seaworld, they were so cute! We stayed late our last night for the Celebration Nights Shamu show, we've seen the regular daytime Shamu show in Orlando a couple times, and it doesn't compare. I loved this show, my favorite part of the trip hands down! It was amazing :)

                   One last picture from Stockyards in Fort Worth while my family was here.

 Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday! See you next month!!!

July!

 Hey hey! Three months in a row! Not too bad, hopefully I can keep it up. July has absolutely flown by! We've kept busy with doing some things around the house to get settled. We went to the FC Dallas MLS soccer game last weekend, it was fun and we'll definitely go back. They have some serious hard core fans! People wearing wigs, painted faces, streamers flying through the stands, and a group at the top of our section brought their band instruments and played songs and chanted and sang most of the game, it was fun!

 We've been to the pool several times, the boys always enjoy swimming. July 2nd was Maddox's 7th birthday! I can't believe he's 7. We celebrated by going out to  lunch, going to the movies to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 ( great movie, definitely recommend it) and then having cupcakes, and opening presents.

 Walker is a professional sleeper, he's gotten lazier in Texas... here he was just waking from another nap.

Adam and the boys caught some toads the other night. I ran out to Home Depot and returned to these guys in a bucket. It was gross. 

Lastly, Adam built us a coffee table last weekend and then I oxidized and painted it. We think it turned out pretty good. Maddox always loves a project and likes to help as much as we'll allow. Jackson usually "supervises" while eating a popsicle.

Well, that's all for now! My mom, Eric, and Grandma are coming out at the end of August and I booked our family a long weekend trip to the Hill Country and SeaWorld in 2 weeks so we should keep busy until next time..... see you soon!

we made it!

We headed out last Sunday mid-morning, and our drive went surprisingly well :) The boys were great and the dog slept the whole time with the exception of getting out for water and potty breaks. He even got his picture taken at a gas station by some strangers! We only had to stop twice and made it in 12 hours. Not too terrible considering we stopped and hit traffic with road construction. Not all of our stuff fit on the truck when the driver showed up at the warehouse so we're still waiting on several things, but most is here. With all these boxes, the boys have made several box forts: 

 One day last week we went over to Adam's office and had lunch on the green:

 Today I got my registration changed and am officially a Texas driver:

 This was day one when the movers unloaded my kitchen......proud to report there are no longer any boxes in the kitchen :)

 And I'm pretty sure the moving company killed a small forest with the amount of packing paper they used... this was all in ONE box by the way. ( I hope it was recycled)

Well, that's all for now! As we continue to unpack and settle, I'll try to keep updating once a month.

Does anyone even read blogs anymore???

It's been almost TWO years since I've blogged.... but I figured if anyone is still out there I'd give it a try for those of you that aren't on Facebook (not that I really post anything there either). If you haven't already heard the news.... Adam took a promotion at work, and it's taking us to Dallas, TX! That being said, I'm going to make a better attempt to blog the end of every month to try to keep all of our family up to date and hopefully if you're on Facebook, you'll start to see more postings there as well. We found a house last week outside of Dallas, near the lake and are scheduled to move the middle of June! We're exited about our new little adventure in life and to see where it takes us! Once we get in and settled I'll post some pictures...... til next time!



Lauren

Where the heck have we been?!?!!?

Well let's see.... I believe I left off in April. In May, we finished up the school year with classroom pizza parties, field day, and farewells to Pre-K for Maddox and K for Jackson. They are growing up SO fast! I really enjoy being their room mom though and have already agreed to do it again in Jackson's class next year. (His teacher is moving to 1st grade and is taking her class with her!! Yay!) We went up to Sarah and Lee's Memorial Day weekend right after school let out, I'm sure Sarah posted pictures on that. Then June was here and gone before we knew it! The boys did two weeks of swim lessons again and we played at the pool most days during the week for a few hours. 

 Now that July is here (and almost gone) we've had Maddox's birthday party, pool style ofcourse! We've gone to the movies and taken the boys bowling a few times (this month has been a rainy one)

 Jackson loves bowling! Here he's aiming for a strike!!

 We've gone to a few Braves games, I love going to ball games. We went on the Fourth of July and the stadium set off the most AMAZING firework show!!

 Then a couple weeks ago Amy came down to stay with us for a few days and we hit the lake! We've been busy bees and the summer has flown by too fast.

This is just a picture of the boys playing the other morning, they love to get up and watch cartoons for about a half hour and then they play cars together for a bit before we start our day. Well that's all for now... we leave for the beach Wednesday morning!!! More pictures to come! (I promise this time!! )