Last Days and First Days

We finished our 3 months of rotations in Salt Lake City and now have 3 months in Texas.  That means Matthew drove to Texas and I flew with the kids down to Dallas.  I get to stay with my parents the whole time and Matthew will be traveling around the state and will be able to come stay with us on some of the weekends.

The last couple days in Utah I wanted to make sure we went to the Salt Lake Temple to see the Christmas lights.  We went with Aubrey and her kids and had such a great evening.  I think one of the highlights for the kids was the train.  We took the Trax to Temple Square and all four of the kids we just so thrilled to be riding a real train!  Simple pleasures! It wasn't crowded and it wasn't freezing so that was a win-win for us.  I love the feeling around the temple and am so glad we were able to go before we left Utah.

The next day we got a huge snow storm. Tons and tons of snow!  It was so pretty and such great timing!  Austin and Kensley were in awe as this is the first time they remember seeing snow.  Living in AZ for the past three years didn't give us much exposure :)  We got bundled up in borrowed snow gear (that's why Kensley is in a boy jacket) and went outside to play.  

 This is a fire pit that they are sitting in.  Makes it look like they are hot-tubbing in the snow.  Haha

Kensley really enjoyed trying to make snow balls and throwing them.  That is until she did a face-plant in the snow and came up looking like Santa.  She was done after that!  Austin and Aaron made snow angels and had a snowball fight.  I loved that we could play in it for a couple of days and then leave for warmer weather!

Traveling with 2 kids by yourself is never any fun but considering Kensley missed her nap that day and had an ear infection, we traveled pretty well.  After 12 hours of traveling we made it to my parents house.  I think the hardest part was our 3 hour layover. The kids were so bored and I wouldn't let them get the ipad out because I was saving it for our last flight.  

We probably spent about an half hour in this little shop:

 Kensley was building towers with the tampons and Austin was racing cars on an empty shelf...

But hey it kept them entertained!  

I thought by coming to TX that we left all the cold, bad weather behind but no, it came with us.  The night we got into town, Dallas got slammed with a huge ice storm.  Had we landed about an hour later we would have been stuck on icy roads.  It was raining slush and freezing as it hit the roads.  For the 3 days we were homebound.  The whole city shut down too. My little sister Alyssa ended up getting school cancelled for Friday and Monday.  Church was cancelled on Sunday.  Half of the city lost power for a few hours.  TX doesn't really handle ice and snow very well since it is so rare. All they do is pour sand or salt on the roads and hope for the best.  

I think the saddest part of this ice storm was the amount of trees we lost.  The trees were covered with ice and it was making it so heavy and weighed down that several trees split and broke.  Actually everyone on our street lost some trees and driving all across the city we could see broken trees everywhere.

But after the ice melted we have had some great weather.  Like perfect 68 degree, playing outside weather.  

We have had a great time in TX so far.  I love being able to spend time with my parents and with my little sister Alyssa!

Thanksgiving 2013

We were able to spend Thanksgiving week with both our families this year.  Of course we are living with my in-laws so we were already with them but my parents flew up to Utah since most of my sisters are living up here anyways.  I realized most of my pictures are from my side of the family. But we love taking pictures and the Graffs- not so much. But we really did spend time with both sides.

Black Friday Shopping.  I am pretty sure it was only fun since my whole family was there. None of us had any real, serious objective but it was fun to hang out together at 10pm at Target.  And we did all score the same exact jacket at half off. :)

We had one afternoon where it was warm enough to go to the park.  My kids had the best time with their aunts.

 

My dad, my sister Kayla and I all ran a 10K race Thanksgiving morning.  It was so fun and motivating to be able to run with them.  Kayla sped ahead but my Dad and I were able to stay together for most of it. We froze but such a great way to start out Thanksgiving Day.  Matthew's dad and Grandpa were so nice to come watch me cross the finish line.

 

 Austin tried pumpkin pie for the first time and loved it!  He had his fair share (as did I!)

 

 Matthew and Kensley were pretty worn out after our first Thanksgiving Dinner with my parents.  After they woke up we enjoyed a second dinner with Matthew's parents.  So perfect to see everyone in one day.

 

 Kensley loves Mimi and enjoyed some bonding time.

 

 The other cousins did a holiday building project.  They had such a great time.

 



Thankful for my dad going to build with Austin as Matthew had to leave for his next rotation before Thanksgiving weekend ended.

 

Poor grandpa had just finished racking these into a nice pile...

 

Sisters!

 

We sure had a great time with family during this break and are so lucky and thankful to be able to live with both of them during this year of traveling for us.