Sweet Peace

Bedtime is so peaceful for me. Well, I should say after they are all asleep. Every night we have a routine where Cali cries forever about being scared and then finally she will go to sleep. Usually Brae and Ken talk or want to get up and ask me many questions, none that are relevant at bedtime. Bella has been crashing pretty quick recently so that is nice. Overall, it's all good!

Heartbreak

So, I have been thinking a lot lately about heartbreaks. Here's a hypothetical question: why do we suffer heartache? I guess there are many answers to this. My niece just suffered what may be her first heartbreak today and it's hard to watch those you love hurt so much. I know one reason for the adversity is so that we can truly feel joy because we know sorrow. It will make the good times to come feel that much more sweet. I marvel at how the heart is a vital muscle that sustains our physical life but it also feels deep emotion that touches our spirit and our soul. I know it's true that the physical and spiritual are intertwined. We spent the night with our family and had dinner and a movie and we tried to make sure my niece was happy even though she felt sad. Here are a couple pics of her and also one of my favorite one year old, "Chocolate Cakes".

Sunday Afternoon

After church we came home and took some silly pictures of us in the backyard. I have been here cracking myself up over half of them, some of which are making it into this blog and some which are not. At least I can get a laugh out of them, that counts for everything.

Just so everyone knows I do not have a life yet seeing how we just moved to Houston a week ago and I do not have a calling yet and the girls have not started school. That is why I can sit here and input many, many pictures onto our blog. :) You probably are thinking that by now I am crazy. Oh, I did want to write about how we watched Enchanted today for the first time and it was so dreamy! I loved it. So, now it has me thinking about 'true love's kiss'. Well, I have heard that we have to be careful about emotions we receive when watching movies, is it something that is really there or is it just for fairytales??? What do you think?

Easter Time

Saturday the girls dyed their Easter eggs. They had a lot of fun but I think the fingers get colored just as much as the eggs do. The Easter Bunny hid the eggs outside which I am sure our new neighbors appreciated at 7:30 this morning when the girls were out there looking and no matter how many times you tell a 4 year old to whisper it seems she does not comprehend English.

Houston Temple

We went to the Houston Temple today and walked the grounds. It was so beautiful and here are some of the shots we got. It was very bright so it was hard to tell what was on the screen in the moment. :) The landscaping is outrageous and we had a good time together.

Easter Egg Hunt at Playgroup

The girls and I went to playgroup for an Easter Egg Hunt. Brae and Ken were a little sad they were the only big kids there. They were also a little upset that I told them to only pick up 5 eggs so the little kids could get the rest. Overall, I think they all had a good time.

New Home for Holbrook girls

Our new home. We love this house so much. We moved here with only seeing it online so it was a real surprise to turn the corner and see it for the first time. When we arrived the truck was already in the drive with many people from church ready to help. It was really special to walk in the house for the first time to see it. It used to be the mo del for Ryland Homes and many things are still up from that time. It is decorated a lot already. One decoration that has to come down is the spare room which is red and yellow with a Ryland race car! Yikes. I need to get on top of that right away. It is 'driving' me crazy. :) It did help however during the unloading process to be able to tell people to put things in the 'Red & Yellow' room. They couldn't miss it.

Sweet Sweet Trampoline in Houston

I was so happy to be bringing the trampoline. I think mostly because it was a small victory over leaving anything else behind in Little Elm. I wish I could have packed all those who I have left behind into the truck instead. :) When I was contemplating how the move would go when we arrived in Spring I never imagined in a million years that our trampoline would get assembled anytime soon. I actually imagined that it would lay in a bunch of pieces all over the back yard for weeks until I could get poor Jared to help me put it together again. To my amazement we had two men from church, Jared and BRAELYN go to work immediately putting our tramp. back together again. It took them several hours out in the Houston heat but they had it up that same afternoon that we moved in. I was and am so thankful for that one thing above all else because it was definitely something I could not do on my own! It also showed me how amazing people in the church are who are willing to go above and beyond to serve others. :)

The trampoline in Little Elm

The night we were loading the moving truck got a little stressful because it was filling up so fast and half our big things weren't loaded yet. After quite some time of biting our nails we had come to the conclusion that we would have to leave our trampoline in Dallas as well as some of our furniture. I was so sad and was kind of worn down by the time this decision was made. My spirit fell a little bit. A few minutes later Wade Sticht told me that he would stay and take the trampoline apart even more than it already was and make sure it would fit in so we could take it. It made me feel so much better and so happy. I wish I would have taken a picture of what it looked like in the truck. He stacked the pieces in pretty piles and he got it in. I was so thankful for all the men who stayed to help us pack up and was especially thankful our trampoline could come with us.

Friends are Friends Forever