Sweet Home Texas.

I love home.

I love our family because we play so hard and never stop. The fun started the second I walked off the plane and literally did not stop until I boarded my plane 5 days later. I was exhausted moving from one adventure to the next but that is what I love about our family, the fun never ends! It all started with a trip to the zoo with the cutest kids on the planet. I love the zoo. I was more amazed about the animals than any kid in the whole place.





I woke up the next morning to the sound of a back hoe moving up and down our drive way. Once again another Hickson Adventure: refilling the sand volleyball court. All the kids came for back hoe rides and motorcycle rides. It was quite a deal, dad on the 4 wheeler pulling a homemade rake contraption, the back hoe killing the grass, snakes through moms toes, and seeing Cash's big eyes light up every time he said "BACK HOE". All this fun ended with frog hunting in the catch pool.






The rest of the trip was filled with jet skis, boats, play dates with the kids, lunch with girlfriends and a lot of fun. (I am having blogger issues with the rest of the pics). Thanks for the fun, can't wait to be back in Texas!

Valley Forge.

A couple weeks ago Heather came to visit for the weekend. I had so much fun hanging out with her, I'm grateful we can live so close for the summer. The weekend was full of diet coke/dr pepper, midnight milky ways, laughing, chatting and exploring. We went to Valley Forge National Park which is absolutely beautiful. I was literally obsessed the whole next week and always thought of excuses to go...picnics, games, reading...

Thanks for the fun Heather, please come back to play! Love you!

The Keystone State

We have officially said farewell to Utah and fully embraced Pennsylvania as our home for now. After a graduation celebration with family we embarked on the longest drive across America. Just for the record...most of the midwest honestly should not exist!

On a 32 hour drive across Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and finally Pennsylvania...here are a few of the things you might see:

Long, straight roads that never end with nothing around.


A million windmills.


Weird billboards.


Even weirdER billboards.


Car accidents that create stupid traffic.


Cool bridges.


Cooler tunnels.


Beautiful sunsets.


Tommy's 24-hr diner with giant rooster.


It all led us to -


Bobby is working his hiney off; he is the hottest sales rep out there! He is doing great and is such a hard worker. As for me, I am loving my free time! I have been spending hours cooking, baking, reading, exploring and definitely relaxing. For the first time our laundry is caught up, dishes done and we just might have the cleanest bathroom on the block!

BYU Alum

I can't believe it finally happened...I am a college graduate! Many, many times I thought this day was never going to come and now that it has, I can hardly believe it. As excited as I am to be done with late nights of studying and writing papers, a part of me is a little sad that this time is over. I loved college and all that it taught me, physically, mentally and spiritually. I learned a little bit about a lot of different things (one plus to declaring just about every major offered) and learned a lot about myself. There are many things I am going to miss about my college days but I have already promised myself I will continue learning. One chapter closed and another opened...

Graduation was a bit crazy, although a total blast! I am so grateful my whole family was able to come out for a last minute play and celebration (we missed you terribly Chris!). I know it was a crazy time for everyone to leave home and work but it meant the world to me to have my whole family there to celebrate. I can't believe I am the last college graduate of my family, we are growing up!!

Glorious Day!

Its official - the Pssat is out of our lives FOREVER!! Prayers really do get answered (even if it takes a year)!!

Bobby's BIG Day

Bobby's very first Grappling Tournament. Thanks to Throwdown-- my husband wants to be a fighter. It was a very interesting experience for me, but in the end it was a really fun day. Bobby had a blast and did really well for his first time. Here is how the big event went:
(P.S. Grappling is a style of fighting/wrestling that involves no punching or kicking. Basically just choking, dislocating limbs and flat out exhausting the opponent)

Friday Night - The big Weigh In

Saturday Morning 9am - Check In
10am - still waiting...

11am - finally his name is called!

11:15am - First Match Bobby won this match with a guillotine headlock! YAHOO!!!


11:30am - Second Match

Unfortunately Bobby lost this one, but he is allowed one more loss before he is out.

11:35 - Third Match


I accidentally deleted this video, but hopefully you can tell from the pic that this dude was freakin ripped! This was Bobby's longest match and he almost had it but he was so exhausted; he had zero rest time from his second match to his third. Unfortunately he lost this one too so he was out of the tournament. He ended up getting 5th out of 9 guys! People kept coming up to him telling him how good he did so he definitely made a good first impression!

Thank goodness we escaped without any major injuries - just a small busted lip and a couple scratches (and lots of sore muscles)!
A picture of the war wounds-
Thanks to all our great friends who came out to watch him, it was fun to have your support!

Happy Birthday Jenica!!

On Jenica's birthday she invited us to a bonfire up the canyon. It was a great last minute decision to ditch the homework and party! The boys found an abandoned Christmas tree and used it to start the fire, bad idea. The flames were huge and were hitting the tree above us. We were all ready to run to the car in an instant if the tree caught on fire!

The fire was sooo HOT, we couldn't get close enough to roast our marshmallows!


The boys thought it would be cool to run through the fire, once again not a bright idea.


The girls - Jenica, Courtney and Me.


Bobby and I.