Our First Ice Storm

OK, so this post is mostly just for Becca because before we moved we were talking about ice storms and Becca didn't know what they were exactly, so I took the best pictures I could, but it was 19 degrees outside when I did and I was cold and the wind was blowing so I didn't take to many.

This first picture is from our balcony, and it's all the ice on the ground. I know it looks like snow, but it's not and it's super slippery.

These are the bottom steps of the stairs up to our apartment. They got iced over and Brooke had to hold my hand when she went down stairs or she would slip and fall. The rails were covered in ice too!

See the icicles hanging off the bush? That's how it was on all the trees and street signs. It's really pretty in the trees when the sun shines on it.

Just more ice. It was all over the sidewalk and street. It only melted after it warmed up and the sun was shining on it. If it was in the shade, it stayed there all day. And at night everything refroze if there was still water on it.

The car covered in ice.

Do you like the icicles hanging from our car? It's sort of weird to see.

And this is from my bedroom window. The rain froze to the screen like that. Funny, huh?

Anyway, for the most part that's what it was. Ice just blankets everything. And we stay inside. It depended on which school you went to, but some were closed for two days and some only for one. And the day after the ice storm there was so much fog that I couldn't see the water tower that's right next to our apartments. Luckily no one lost their power. Sometimes the ice gets so thick and heavy on the power lines that it knocks peoples power out, and then it gets really cold inside too. Anyway, so now you know what an ice storm is Becca.

We love and miss you guys, and the warmth. So enjoy the nicer weather for me!

Family Pictures

Before our move we had family pictures taken by Amy and they turned out so cute! I thought I'd post some of them for you guys to see. Honestly there are so many that we love I can't share all of them, but Brooke and Nixon are so cute and fun to have pictures of... but again I am a biased mother. I love his expressions! They crack me up and they change all the time. And as for Brooke she is a little camera hog, Wendi knows. Brooke loves to have her picture taken, whenever anyone gets a camera out and she's near it she wants to be in the shot!

Brooke loves her dad!!! She had fun with him and gave him a wet willy. Thanks for teaching her that Sean and Keith!

Brooke can't get enough of Nixon!! She loves being a big sister. Anytime he gets up or cries she wants to be there to see him or take care of him, or make sure that mom's doing her job taking care of him!

Adjusting, it takes a while...

It's hard to find everything that you want right when you want it when unpacking, but I finally found the cord to my camera so I could upload pictures onto our computer. We are learning to adjust to life in Wylie. I lose track of time very easily and before I know it my day if half way over. Last week and this week JD is off to an event, the nice thing is that it's in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Last week he was only 15 minutes away from home so he came home one night and then we went and visited him twice. This week he is in Fort Worth so we are going tonight and spending the night with him and then we won't see him again until Saturday.

This is the front door to our lovely apartment on the third floor!!! I was so excited to put my Valentine's sign on the door, until one night when I woke up in the middle of the night because it was banging on the door so hard due to the wind. So it only goes up on non-windy days, which seems to be very few.This is the view from our stairs. It is so flat here!! Actually it's a little hilly, but I am use to seeing mountains in pretty much any direction you drive, so that's something new to get use to. And I don't think I have ever seen so many water towers in my life. I thought I would be able to easily find JD's work when we visited in November because it's right by a water tower, no there are so many, and you can't see it, but there is one off in the distance and there's another one you can see from our apartment further west.

Nixon just started on solid foods and likes them, but he loves to eat. At first he isn't so sure about what I am giving him, but he's had carrots and squash. He's getting so big and loves to be on the floor and scooch around, He'll probably be crawling sooner than I'll be ready for it.

Brooke is doing well, she has made quite a few new friends very quickly. She misses everyone and asks if we can go to Grandma's and play with Chloe or Brandon. She always talks about everyone, it just depends on what we are doing. It's been sort of cold and windy lately so we haven't played to much outside, but she has come to love playing the Wii and is getting better at golf, so look out Keith she's going to beat you! We went to a playgroup last week where they had bouncy castles and fun things like that, but Brooke didn't want to do that, she played air hockey with a boy from the ward for most of the time.

She also loves to be on the computer, she was really tired that day!!!

Our apartment is still sort of messy because I haven't found a spot for everything just yet. Hopefully when JD gets back from his trip he'll be able to help me a little. But we will keep taking pictures and posting them for everyone to see!

TEXAS

We are finally here! We left Mesa early Monday morning and got in late that night. I don't think we knew just how long of a trip it was going to be. Luckily, Jill and Kevin had offered to fly Nixon over for us, which was a great blessing for us!! It was fun to have them here for a couple days. We moved into a two bedroom apartment, which is an adjustment from our home in Queen Creek, but we're getting use to it. We live on the third floor, I know crazy, but Brooke loves going up and down the stairs all the time, at least for now. JD's new boss had some guys from his work come over and help us move in, as did Kevin and Jill. It made it go really fast. Now we just have to unpack everything, or atleast the things that we need for now. It's really pretty here and cold, for me anyway. I've always loved coats and sweaters so this could be a fun thing for me to get all bundled up, and not have to have it be so cold that is snows.

We miss everyone a lot! Brooke is everyone's Mii on the Wii, so we have fun with you guys that way, I guess. I've met a lot of the guys and their families that JD works with and they are really nice! We went and played games with them on New Year's Eve and then last night we went to Joe and Alisha for dinner and watched to Rose Bowl. (Joe is JD's boss). I'll take pictures of where we live so I can post them for everyone. We love and miss you all like crazy! Hopefully we'll be able to come and visit in a few months.

I think we've gone crazy!

How many people do you know that move right around Christmas? Now how many people do you know that would do it twice? Yes, we fall in the category of twice, and hopefully we'll chose a different time of the year to move next time! We moved four days before Christmas two years ago and this time it'll be four days after! So our holiday season will be spent packing our wonderful decorations into boxes so they will be ready to go! JD makes sure that during all our craze of packing and getting things ready to move that we take time out to do something fun to help us remember the Christmas spirit. We are really grateful that we get to spend Christmas home in Mesa before moving and with family!

A lot happens at our house

I know I'm a little behind on things that happen at my house, but the past month has been really crazy! First of all it's hard to keep up on everything with Nixon. So many things change with him constantly, he is continually growing and learning new things. He's started to roll all over but not just from his stomach to back, but also back to stomach, so when he's on the floor he rolls until something gets in his way and stops him! He also started eating rice cereal, which he loves! We've always called him our little piggy, he'd eat all the time if I'd let him.

We had fun celebrating Halloween! Kristin and David invited us to go to their trunk-or-treat so we went with them and Brooke had a blast eating, playing the games and going to each car to get candy. There was also a small little "haunted house" (how scary can it be if it's in the church building), but JD went through it with Brooke and Allyse. Brooke didn't care for it and I'm sure Allyse had a great time screaming the whole way through it! Then we went to the carnival for Casey and Amy's ward party. (It was the carnival I talked about it the previous post) Then on Halloween we went to a chili and soup dinner at Casey and Amy's, and after dinner we went trick-or-treating. We had gone about two blocks and Brooke got tired so I got to piggy back her back to the Fraughton's where we watched a movie outside. When she got home she laid down on the couch and fell right asleep. We had a blast stretching Halloween out as long as we could. After Halloween we had a couple little birthday parties for Brooke, one with the Fraughton family and one with the Burns family. For the party with the Fraughtons we made a cupcake cake that looked like a pumpkin, JD really did all the work on this cake! Then for the party with the Burns family Brooke had to have a Barbie cake so she and I had fun decorating it, with her telling me the colors of the dress and what color she wanted the flowers to be on the cake!This past weekend JD and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. It's amazing how fast time flies, but we have loved every minute together. It's amazing all the wonderful experiences you can have in that short period of time. Our favorite ones have been when Brooke and Nixon joined out family. But unexpectedly we found ourselves in Texas on our anniversary. It was not a fun little get away, but rather a very short trip to find a place to live. We will be moving at the end of December. JD got laid of last month, but before that ever happened he was offered a job by a friend that he had met on his mission. Heavenly Father works in very mysterious ways, but we are very grateful for all the blessings that we receive! It was both our first time to go to Texas, so even though it was a quick trip and we had a lot to do, it was fun to see a new place and how pretty other places in the country are! Happy Anniversary JD! I love you!

Happy Birthday to Brooke

I know it's a day late, but better than never right. Yesterday was our little Brookie's birthday. She turned 4! I can't believe how big she is getting! We had such a great day! She had her favorite breakfast, french toast sticks from BK. Then she had her favorite meal for lunch, macaroni and cheese and green beans. Later we went to a carnival with her cousins and she had a blast. She got to ride on a pony, probably her favorite part of the night, and now she wants to get a pony for Christmas. She got to play a lot of game and go on a train ride. She had a blast. Thanks for the fun Fraughtons! Happy birthday to our princess Brooke!