life lessons in Texas

I have learned some valuable lessons since moving:

When something seems to be good to be true...IT IS!!

We had some minor scrapes on our fender from a slight "incident" 

when I rammed my car into Ben's car.  oops.  A guy on craigslist 

with "great" reviews quoted us an amazing price to fix it.

He did way more damage than he did good to the car...

we realized that after we paid him cash.  

 The circus really is the greatest show on earth!  This was the first time
we've been to the circus, and it did not disappoint!  Isaac stayed
with the Bird family, because let's be honest...he would
have hated it.  But Makenna, Luke, and Jared did NOT hate it.  So much
fun to watch the little dogs to their ninja tricks, and the trapeze artist fly in the air.
The tigers were unreal, as were the horse tricks!  The kids couldn't believe it!

Looking at the photo taken during the roller coaster 

is way more fun than actually going on the roller coaster.
I'm not sure who is more fun in this picture, though!  

The best way to cool down in this crazy heat is to strip down 

to the bare minimums (some have more leeway than others).
Isaac loves all things water right now.  First item of business when he wakes
up, is to lose his clothes and jump right in the pool. 

Homeowners policies tend to drop you when cute lil pit bulls live

on the premises.  Annoying.
But!  If anyone spent any time with Scout,
they would agree...he is the best dog of all time. 

keeping on

We moved to Texas (again).  The biggest lesson I've learned the past year or so is to never assume you are in charge of your life.  Isn't there an old adage about that?

on the forever drive out to Texas

My kids keep growing up, Makenna went to Young Women's today at church.  Luke is 8 and has been baptized, Jared starts Kindergarten in 2 weeks, and Isaac is a bonefied nursery member at church.

While moving so much lately has been hard, it has also brought many
opportunities for us.  Makenna, Luke, and Jared are friends.  They deeply love each other, and they know that no matter what state we live in, they have got each other.  I love the friendships that I see blossoming, and hope they forever hang onto those.

We miss my family and friends in Oregon a lot.

Ike and cousins, Michael and Alison

On the plus side...we've made great friends in Texas.

A beach camping trip, with 5 families.  The Wirthlins, the Walkers, the Samulians, and the Bird families.  The highlight of the trip was going ghost crab hunting, and the ice cream we made while we camped.  The worst part...the mosquitos were so bad.  No amount of deet would keep the suckers away.  The next day, I gave Jared some Benadryl before we left for church.  He fell asleep

on my lap, and I counted 90 mosquito bites from his knees down.  Poor buddy, he was such a trooper.