Conference Weekend

 From the looks of the little girl's faces, you can tell conference weekend was a good one.  We headed up to Dallas to spend it with our dear friends the Valenzuela's.  I feel like half of my blog posts will be with them because that's when we get out of the house and do fun things! Gabe and Abby took us to an awesome restaurant call Babes Chicken Dinner (yes, dinner not diner :)  It was one of the cutest restaurants I've been to and all the classic fried Texas food you could ask for.  They even had dancing for the littles in the isles and musical performers.  We were not prepared for colder weather that weekend coming from the 90's in Houston, so thanks again for outfitting us Valenzuela's.

The next morning we headed to the park with the girls and for a walk in the country side. The girls had no intention of coming back with us.  When we did get them back, we made an awesome conference breakfast.  Abby is such a good cook and we love eating her food.  It was hard to stay awake for conference after full bellies.

Here's to another weekend full of good friends, good food, and good words!

Friend Visits in Utah

I love that Landon's buddies have been friends since the 3rd grade and have stuck together through the years.  We missed a few people at our get together but were so happy to catch up with the ones we could.  No offense to Landon's buddies, but they all married up :) Their wives are beautiful, kind, and I am glad we are friends through our husbands.  Brooke's Dad is awesome and let us swim, BBQ, and play volleyball at his home which made for a great night.  Our time in Utah is always packed full, but I'm glad these guys could make it work! 

(Top: Isaac, Ladd, Zac, Landon, Ryan, Randon, Cory)

^(Megan, Capri, Marianne, Brooke, Cheyenne, Skylar, Isabelle, Sarah)

^This is probably one of the many reasons Capri loves her Uncle Steve.  He gives so much of his time to make her smile. Glad he could stop by for awhile! ^

^Capri loves any kind of ball and didn't like it when I sat down to visit with the ladies because she wanted me to play with her.  Aunt Skylar gets a big portion of the credit for Capri's name.^

^These guys had so much fun playing on Monday, that they got together again later in the week without the wives and babes.^

 ^Jill and Tyler took their lunch breaks with us so we could catch up.  Landon and Jill have been friends forever too and life guarded together in high school.  I first met Jill at Lake Powell and I'm pretty sure she out swam Landon! ^

^I feel like I've known Sienna, but this was actually the first time I met her! Landon and Sienna went to high school together and then Sienna's family moved to Thailand.  Landon and I stayed with her family for a few days in their gorgeous Bangkok home when we were in Thailand and felt so loved and welcome. Breanna finished high school in Thailand is going to BYU now so it was great to see her again.  Sienna and her husband have been living in Trinidad for the last few years and are in route to DC to prepare for their next assignment in China. They are so amazing, the world is lucky to have them and they are doing incredible work for the church.  We would love to be their neighbors one day doing an expat assignment of our own. ^

I also met up with Jennika and her cute baby Tessa for Nelson's custard one of the days, but forgot to take pictures dang it.  We missed seeing a few good friends this trip and hope to catch them next time.  I think we need to rent a car next time so we can pack more visits in without imposing on our families and their vehicles. We feel so lucky and blessed to have the wonderful associations we do.

Sweet Little Girls and Wicked!

Capri got to practice being a friend this week when the Valenzuela's came to visit.  There were many sweet moments shared between these girls, but we still have lots to work on before baby number 2 arrives! You never know what you are going to get with Londyn's sweet and sensitive personality and our spirited Capri.  My rockstar friend Abby just finished the certification to become a Body Pump Instructor here in Houston. It worked out perfect for them to come stay with us and play in between her classes. I can't even work out for an hour right now, I don't know she did full days of it!

^The giant night brite board was definitely a highlight of the Children's Museum for the girls.  They looked so dang cute doing everything. Oh I hope sleeping in a carseat is more comfortable than it looks.  Lucky for us when these girls napped at the same time.^

^I just love water babies!^

^^I got to see WICKED on Saturday with my darling friends Lyza and Christi from church.  I've been wanting to see it for years and was beginning to feel like I was the only one who hadn't seen it.  The music is incredible!  Even though it was so hot outside, I insisted on putting on my blazer to hide my 19 week (only 19, even though feel like I'm measuring 29 weeks) pregnant belly. I didn't quite get the jacket and shirt combo on right for the second picture, serves me right.^^

^^Saturday was a busy day- Abby had her Body Pump classes, Gabe was still at scout camp, and I had a friend's birthday lunch and Wicked, so that left Landon to watch the girls by himself that day.  I was secretly hoping Landon would get a better idea of what being a full time mommy is like- how fun, yet how exhausting it can be.  Well, once again he proved to me that he is better at everything!  I walked in to find out the girls had been to the pool, fed, napped, and redressed with matching clothes and hair bows. Gabe arrived while I was gone, but the boys had it so under control that Landon sent tired Gabe to take a nap and recover from scout camp while the girls happily watched a movie.  I love that he got out the rocking horses to ride while watching the movie (in a clean house I might add!).  He's a keeper.^^

 ^One last park visit and lunch before the the Valenzuela girls headed home. Capri might begin to expect these lunch dates with girlfriends, she totally enjoys them.  We learned that salad bar is the way to go to keep these girls happy!^

Galveston and Good Friends

We count our blessings, and in Abby's word's lucky stars to have met the Valenzuela's in grad school.  They are some of our best friends and we can't believe we only live a few hours from them here in Texas!  I still remember Abby calling me shortly after we moved to AZ on a day I was feeling lonely and asked if I wanted to go on a hike with her.  On our hike we talked about whether or not we wanted our husbands to do the Thunderbird modules abroad and if we would go with them, future babies, etc.  It's so fun to look back on that conversation barley knowing each other and think of all the things we have done together since!  Our "Cruise Family" memories will never be forgotten, traveling around Prague and Budapest together, both coming home from our travels expecting girls just 6 weeks apart, and spending many weekends laughing, playing games, and eating good food together in Arizona.  Yes, we are indeed lucky and can't believe Gabe and Landon both landed jobs here in the big state of Texas after school.

This weekend Gabe, Abby, and Londyn made the drive down to Spring and we all headed to Galveston together.  Because I don't have a cute chalkboard like Abby, I taped this ^sign onto our front door.  We were able to put our new car to it's full use. Gabe strategically packed up the small SUV so we would all fit with strollers and beach gear around us.  It was so fun looking in the rearview mirror and seeing the six of us, our "Cruise Family" expanded.  I'm kind of sentimental, but I felt so proud of us while looking in the mirror and seeing us all together- we have come so far since we first met a little over two years ago starting grad school and wondering where we would end up.  I could go on about our fun memories forever, but instead I"ll post about the ones we just made this weekend!

 ^ Capri trying to give Londyn a kiss

^I think this is one of my favorite pictures.  Capri ran straight to the water and laid on her back and let the water come up around her face.  The camera didn't come out soon enough, but Landon just jumped right in with her and the had a blast.

^These two played and played until they were tuckered out.

The next day we made breakfast, lounged around, and then headed over Old Town Spring.  It was so hot, so we only made it into five or six shops before deciding Texas BBQ in an air conditioned restaurant was a good idea.  I loved Old Town Spring and will go again with Capri when it cools down a little bit. 

 ^The girls loved bumper highchairs

^ ^How cute are they?  We didn't pose them like this I promise. Well, Landon did set Capri on the stool so the girls could watch the dog through the fence.

What a fun weekend.  We ate yourselves sick and had a great time visiting. Feels good to have family away from home.