Where has the time gone? Part 3

Five days after Eden and I got back from Utah we were packed again and loading up the car with Andy to drive to Houston to visit Matt, Karla, Alex and Noah. The drive is about 14 hours so we stopped in Oklahoma City overnight. I was anticipating a really boring drive (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas don't sound like the most exciting part of the country) but I was surprised how interesting most of it was. There was a part of Kansas that was so bleak it made Wyoming seem interesting (I know!) but other than that, it was pretty fun. Houston was really nice and we were more than happy to leave the Omaha autumn weather to go to 70 degrees.

Eden and Alex picked things up like they had seen each other the day before and for the most part, they played really well together. Andy and Matt spent a lot of time playing Rock Band together (sorry again, Karla). I had a lot of fun talking with Karla and holding little Noah. We played some fun games and stayed up way too late every night eating junk food and laughing. We got to visit the zoo and the children's museum.





We also went to NASA and saw the Saturn V rocket (these pictures don't do it justice- it's absolutely huge) and see the Gulf of Mexico as well.

As we were leaving Houston we stopped briefly to see the Houston temple. It was really pretty.

On our way home we stopped for the night in Oklahoma City again and before we left in the morning we stopped at the Federal Building memorial. That was really interesting and touching. I'm glad we were able to see it.

Reflecting pool where the street in front of the Federal Building was.

You can see in the background a bunch of chairs. They are set up where the Federal building was and there is a chair representing each of the people who was killed in the bombing (some of the chairs were smaller than others, representing the children).

We got home about 5:30 on Halloween night. Eden had just enough time to get her costume on and Andy took her trick-or-treating. She had a blast and raked in the candy.

Where has the time gone? Part 2

After pumpkin patching, Eden and I took a quick trip to Utah for my friends wedding. We were there for just over a week and it was a lot of fun. The day we left Omaha, it was snowing and we had been told Utah was quite cold. When we got there, it was really nice and we had great weather the whole time we were there.

Eden had a lot of fun playing tea party with Grammy (and I didn't get a single picture of it!) and I had a lot of fun shopping with my mom and sister. I love seeing my family and I miss them when we leave.

Visiting with Andy's family is always an adventure. The kids love playing together and they are so fun to watch. Eden always loves jumping on Sha-sha's couch (something she doesn't get to do at home).

But the real fun begins when the kids go to bed...

Trying to get 4 children and 2 adults to look at the same camera at the same time while smiling is an almost impossible task- but we try it everytime we all get together.

Arica and I had fun walking around Gardner Village and looking at all the witches. Eden had fun, but would not let me take pictures of her. This is the best I could get...

However, I have been told I need to get in front of the camera more often and post pictures of myself on the blog so here are a couple pictues of me for your viewing pleasure:

Just a couple of witches- I'm the one on the right.

I got a much needed haircut while visiting with my parents. Eden was eager to take my picture when I was done.

We had a really fun time but we were missing Andy so we headed back home...

Where has the time gone? Part 1

We've been pretty busy the past month or so and I haven't gotten around to blogging for a while. I have to play catch up now. I'm thinking this is going to take a few different posts- I have a lot of pictures!

We took a trip to Vala's Pumpkin Patch in October. We were told it is THE place to be if you want a great pumpkin patch experience (and we did, I guess). They had tricycle races, pig races, rabbit town, hay rides, storybook villages, an old mine, a teepee, campfires, camels, goats a couple of unidentified smelly animals, and a pumpkin smashing dragon. It was really a lot of fun, although we went on a really cold evening and I think we would have frozen were it not for the campfires and the hot cider. Eden had a lot of fun looking around but her favorite thing was the Sleeping Beauty display in the storybook village (no surprise).

We even managed to get a pumpkin or two!

Eden isn't so sure she wants to be here...

Really big rocking chair- really hard to get out of!
Ernie!!!

We met a few famous people...