The Lone Star State

Well I know we are way far behind when it comes to blogging and so I figured I'd better do somthing about it.  I guess the thing that has been holding me back from posting anything is not having or wanting to deal with getting pictures ready to post as well.  But today I decided it is finally time to write something.  No pictures today but I will upload some soon and show some pictures of what we have been up to.  So far Texas is good.  We are all settled into our rental home that we LOVE.  I think a lot about whether you like a place or not has to do with two things.  Where you live, and whether you have good friends.  Those two things can make or break a place for you.  So so far we are off to a good start on liking this place.  Hopefully the good friends will come too.  We have been spending a lot of time at the base pool with some other people in our ward and that has been fun for me and the kids.  Wednesday mornings they have a play group at an awesome park here in town and I went last week and the kids had a blast.  I will have to take pictures this week so you all can see how awesome this park is. 
We have seen a few tiranchulas since we have been here.  Two crossing our street and a few others on some other roads.  Both Josh and Arlie have now been attacked by fire ants...Josh while mowing our lawn and Arlie stepped in an ant pile at the park.  She scrame bloody murder! 
The kids are adjusting well to the new place.  Once in a while Arlie will say she misses her friends back in MD but for the most part she has done surprisingly well.  I really miss my friends.  I wonder if I will ever make as good of friends as I had there.  I have a really hard time establishing close relationships with my friends.  It's hard for me to really open up to people most of the time.  But I had some really great friends there that I REALLY clicked with.  I don't know how often you find friends like that.  But for now I am going to try and be optimistic and open minded about everyone I meet. 

Anyway, on to other things.  We had a really great time visiting family in Idaho.  I ended up staying there extra long almost two months because we found out my older brother was getting married.  So I decided to just stay instead of drive back with Josh and then turn around 3 weeks later to come back.  So because of that I got to go to my 10 year reunion that I didn't think I would be able to go to.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone again and see how much some had changed and how others I could catch up with like no time had passed at all.  My brother's wedding was amazing.  I haven't felt that much joy and excitement for a wedding since my own.  I am so happy for Travis and his beautiful wife Ashley.  She is going to be an awesome addition to our family.  Their wedding was gorgeous!  I got to photograph all of it and we got some amazing pictures.  I will post some of those soon too. 
We had an awesome 4th holiday.  Josh flew back for the holiday and we spent the day at the parade in the morning and a BBQ with my brother Scott and his wife and family.  Then we enjoyed the fireworks together down by the river in IF.  I swear I haven't seen a better firework show anywhere else.  Deacon LOVED it!  Everytime a firework would go off he would yell WOW!! WOW!!! WOWOW!!!  Arlie loved it too of course.  And it was so nice to be there together as a family ejoying it.  It was the first time Josh and I have been together for the 4th of July since Arlie was 1.

Some updates with the kids.  I took Arlie in for her 4 year check up and she was amazing.  She asked me if she could go to the doctor and I told her well we actually do need to take you in for your 4 year check up but you are going to have shots.  She said yay for shots!  Which I thought was weird.  But she was exceptional for the doctor and really good for the shots too.  She barely cried.  Then she had to show off her Dora bandaids to everyone she saw.  She has grown a few inches in the past month so good for her! She is now 39 inches tall and I think 28.5 lbs.  She is now 35% for height when she was only 10% last year and 3% for weight.  The doctor since it was her first time seeing her was a little concerned with her weight so she wants me to start supplimenting her with carnation instant breakfast daily and then see her again in 6 months.  We'll see if it helps. 
As far as Deacon goes...he has started talking a lot more lately.  It seems like every day he comes up with something new.  His new word today was open.  When he wanted me to open his fruit snack he handed it to me and said open over and over again till I finally opened it.  He is cuter than ever and I just can't seem to get enough of him.  He finally said I love you the other day along with good morning.  It is so fun to hear all those words.  Also this boy is getting DARK down here in Texas.  He is my little brown baby with white hair.  And those baby blues just melt me. 
Well that's just about all of what we have been up to for the past few months.  I am sure I have forgotten a lot of the little details but oh well.  I am sure you have heard enough from me if you are in fact still reading this.  Love you all and miss you all so much!