New Car!  The van has been giving me enough troubles that we decided that it was time to get something new.  In fact, Erin has made that suggestion for quite some time now...I just never had the courage to lay down the money for a new car.  After lots and lots of soul searching and Internet searching I finally relented to reality.  This new to us car is a used 2012 Ford Focus SEL.  I drove it home from the dealership on Saturday.  All the kids now want to ride with me where ever we go, where as before riding in the van was a burden...



One of my requirements was that the car had to be a little 'souped up.'  I figured I was 37 and had paid my dues in beat up cars.  This one has leather everything with a ton of little gadgets and gizmo's.  In fact, Brigham keeps saying "this is the sweetest car EVER!"  I love his excitement.  I told him that this would be the kids car when it is time for them to drive!  He can't wait!



Here is the final shot of the car.  I won't bore you with all the technical details, but know this...it gets 37 MPG on the freeway which will be nice for us as we are 8 miles from ANY store and 21 miles from my work (one way).  I will admit, I do feel guilty driving such a nice car, but I am sure I will get over it quickly. 







I had to share this one.  Yesterday was lawn mowing day.  As usual, the kids fight over who gets to mow and when.  During Emilee's shift, Brinlee was helping her by keeping her cool with a palm leaf.  The palm leaf is from one of many palm like trees that we have in our yard.  Another cool thing to note is that we have 3 or 4 pecan trees in our yard and they are starting to ripen.  We have picked some and they are good!!!  Maybe we can bring some when we come back for the holidays. 

 

 

If you are wondering, it is still VERY HOT here. On my way home from church today, my car said the outdoor temp was 99F and when we went for an evening walk, Erin said that it felt every bit as hot today as any day in the summer. I say YE HAW to that because I am loving the heat. I am not a fan of the cold weather. I guess it was I.F. that did it to me.

 

If any of you wonder what I do for a living...here it is.  This is a wall mounted air conditioned mounted on an analyzer shelter.  The shelter is placed remotely on an oil refinery and it monitors the quality of the refining process at different stations.  The HVAC unit's job is to maintain an ideal environment for the equipment inside.  This product was the first developed under my tenure at Shield.  I won't lie to you....it was a breach birth.  In addition to it being a new design, I have been using the development of this product to introduce new design methods and standardization philosophies.  This produce really represents the future of our company.  I am proud of what we have achieved here although there is a lot more to accomplish.   

Here is another view of the HVAC unit.  What you see behind the screens are the condenser, compressors, and refrigerant piping. 

     



House and area around.

Here are a few more photos of the house and surrounding area around the house.

Front view of the rental house

Kids are facing the east side of the house.  They are sitting on our neighbors fence.

Here we are on the patio furniture under our covered patio.  The pool is right behind me.

The Guest Area

Since no one in the family is old enough to stay in the bedroom apartment above the garage, we decided that we would make it a guest area.  We put some elbow grease into the place to make it real nice for any and all guests that stay with us.  Grandma and Grandpa Jones put it to good use in August when they came to visit. 

Here are the stairs leading up to the upstairs apartment above the garage

Picture of the main room that we turned into the bed room.  The actual bedroom is used for storage.

To the left as you walk through the door.  Straight ahead is the bathroom, to the right is the storage area.

This is the entrance door.  There is an area for a sink and stove.  All that is there now is a cabinet and fridge.

More of the room...

Here is the bathroom

More bathroom

First day of school Aug 27th 2012

My kids are soooo Brave!  They all had to tackle something this year (at the ripe old ages of 11, 9, 9, and 8) that I have never had to do in all my life! 
They had to go to a new school!  They were a little afraid of what it would be like and whether or not it would be totally different than Lakeside but in the end they really enjoyed their first day!  

 

The kids are at 3 different schools this year!!! That is new!  Emilee is the oldest as third grader at the elementary school, B & B are the newbies at the intermediate school and Madison is officially in Junior high!!  It kills me!  Everyone was a little freaked out at the prospect of being separated but it is going ok so far.   We walked them in on the first day and they marched right in to their class rooms without looking back. Boo! (mom came home and called g-ma and had a good cry)

 Madison got through her first day with no snaffoos even though she only recieved her schedule two days before and when I picked her up she came waltzing up with a new friend and looking a good two years older than when I left her there that morning!  How does that happen?  She is thouroughly liking her teachers, classes and new friends!  She has to dress for gym and wear deodorant.  Hillarious!

Brigham and Brinlee are in separate classes for the first time in their lives!! The fourth grade operates in pods of three classes that rotate teachers and they are in the same pod but different individual classes, which I think will be good for both of their sakes.  They have also met some really nice friends and are learning to adjust.  Brinlee doesn't like loud people so her and the principal haven't hit it off (seriously loud lady- i mean even louder than me!) but she is the wonder of the playground with all of her sweet bar tricks (apparently they don't do that here).  Brig is loving not having a built in spy in class (aka brin).  We have to really drill him for any information about his day but he likes the boys in his class (and one sweet girl) and they have a snack bar on fridays that he is totally loving!

Em doesn't like being at the other campus but she loves her teacher and being the oldest in the school!  She makes friends well naturally so its no wonder she already has a whole list of besties!  The only thing putting a crimp in her style is the chick that sits across from her doesn't like their feet to touch so Emilee just smiles sweetly and says "OK" while thinking "nutjob" (she told me that-hee hee).

Mason is liking being home alone for the time being but he always starts asking around lunch time if it's time to go get the kids yet! Um..not yet buddy!

 

Good job kids!  I'm so proud of you!  Keep up the good work!  Only 175 more days to go!

There is so much to post and talk about.  So much that there is no way we can keep up with it.  So we have two choices one, abandon the effort or two pick up where we are.  So, I am choosing number two (this is Steve speaking here) so we can do our best at keeping everyone informed of what we are doing.

The previous posts are some photos of the family playing in our backyard.  We love the pool area and the fun we have had there.  I would say on average the pool got 2 -4 hours of daily use this summer.  Each child has deep tans and abrupt tan lines.  They have loved the pool like no other.  Mason hates Sundays becasue there is no swimming.  I would be a liar if I said we have obeyed the no swimming rule EVERY Sunday.  One time the kids were in the pool and our branch president stopped by!  That was fun!

We have been to the beach 4 times this year.  We have gone to Galveston each time and the drive is about 1 1/2 hours.  The water is sooooo warm and a muddy brown color instead of blue like the pacific ocean.  However, the warmth makes up for it.  It is like swimming in your bath tub.  The second time we went, there were some Jellyfish close to shore and each child came away with several stings.  We learned the best treatment for Jellyfish stings is vinegar, but some other acidic bodily fluid can help in a pinch.  Ask Maddie and Brigham about that one the next time you see them! 

Yesterday we went to Galveston again and enjoyed an oil rig museum, a dolphin spotting tour in Galveston bay, seafood dinner, and then about 2 hours on the beach.  The weather was overcast and there were some HUGE waves.  It was FUN!




Madison getting ready to body board




Brig is ready to have fun




Brinlee is ready to rock



 




Emilee loves the beach!

 

Mason has a blast on the body board with his life jacket.  You can't rip him from the water!

Everyone got buried.

After burial...good thing washing off is easy!







 

Pictures of the house...

Rain in Texas!  This is part of our backyard in the pool area.  One thing about Houston....when it rains it RAINS!




Emilee is mowing the lawn!  Since we have 1 1/4 acres we had to get a riding mower.  The kids love to help mowing the lawn.  That is great for me!




Nice Dive Brig!  The pool has a deep end and a diving board.  The kids spend hours doing all kinds of flips, dives, and other tricks.  Notice Mason has no floatation devices.  Erin spent the first two weeks of our time here making sure he can swim without them.  Now he is like a fish.  He can swim from one side of the pool to the other. 




King of the tube!  Most of our toys only last a few weeks.  Rough play and Chloe result in enourmous holes in them!




All kinds of creatures!  These are cicada husks that we find all over the place.  Houston is full of bugs and stuff.  We are discovering all kinds of wild things here.  At night, the kids chase toads, frogs, and lizards.  They never tire of catching them.




Dad has declared war on the pocket gophers!  Sadly, our lawn was full of annoying pocket gophers.  Mounds of dirt were popping up all over the place.  A nice stroll through the lawn almost resulted in a broken ankle due to all the underground tunnels.  This device is designed to distribute poison into their lair's.  I am happy to report that I AM WINNING!.





Rain schmain!  We're swimming anyways!




Here is a look at our pool area...

From Texas:

A lot of water has traveled under the bridge since our last post... and that is a huge understatement.  The biggest event is a move to the Houston, Texas area.  Steve is working with a company called Shield Air Solutions, Inc in Houston.  After his MBA, a small company came to him with an offer that he could not refuse!  So we are in the midst of what Steve calls the G.T.E. (the Great Texas Experiment) and we are growing as a result.  We are having a great time with many new adventures.  We live in the country instead of the city...we go to church in a branch instead of a ward, and we are currently renting a home instead of having bought one!  Life is in a constant state of change!  Crazy!  The kids have loved our swimmming pool and making new friends in the branch.