Picture Day




Steve took pictures of Kelly (my sister) & I at the park. We had so much fun, laughing and being dumb! We also went to the temple did a session & were able to witness Michelle & Cliff's sealing, it was beautiful! I love the Temple. We had a great day!

Emma's 1st day of Gymnastics

Emma waiting for class to begin. She was so excited. She asked me everyday:" Is today the day for Gymnastics Class?"
This is Emma on the left. Her teacher's name is Julie and she is awesome. Very patient, positive and does a great job teaching the kids. We are so excited. The parents are allowed to come in the last 5 minutes so the kids can show off what they learned. Emma's trick of choice was the hopping on the balance beam. She has really good balance, I was impressed. This is just what my little busy body needs.Posted by Picasa

I look like my.......


Who do the kids look like. Jessica this post is for you!
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Sunday...Our Day





Sunday we took the kids to walk around near the Amon Carter Museum grounds. We explored the area. We played near the fountains, kicked the ball around & took pictures. We tried to enjoy the moment. Spencer found some fire ants and made friends. They did not want to be friends. Poor guy is covered in love bites. Although it does not seem to bother him.

Daddy Daughter Day




Steve took Emma this afternoon so I could clean and prepare for the shower. This picture was taken as soon as they got out of the car at their first stop, The Botanical Gardens. They also saw a "dog race show" live, ate lunch "with chopsticks", and went to Central market. Over all they had a fun day! What a great daddy!

Baby Shower for Baby Richie

Today we had a shower for Angela at my house (she is Emma's primary teacher). Her & her husband are in the process of adopting this cute baby. His name is Richie. We all had a great time. Thanks for everyone who could come.
April's husband made the yummy cakes. Homemade is the best!
Here is the table decorations, thanks to Teresa! And the yummy food, thanks Kathleen!

Rain, Zoo, Birds

Here is Spencer trying to catch a bird. It was so funny. He was loving it.
Emma got this bird on her stick all by herself. She was very proud of herself. She was so patient with them, it was cute to see her talking to them gently. She even told 2 of them to share the seed.
I took the kids to the zoo even though it was drizzling. They were very excited to be there!
It has been raining a lot lately. Plus side is our lawn is beautiful!

War In Congo, Africa

Warning the contents of this video are VERY DISTURBING:
Yesterday I watched 60 minutes on TV. I watched the following clip

War Against Women -60 minutes
& was so saddened I actually sobbed during this 12 minuted segment. This war in Africa is so sad and heart breaking. To see what the African people are going through upset me so much. I can't believe people can be so cruel. I just wish their was some way to stop their desperation. If this upset me I can't imagine how hard it is for Heavenly Father. He has the power to stop it, but he also gave us our free agency. I am sure he is very saddened by this war & the wicked choices some are making.

It is very interesting because the lesson that I taught in Sunday school yesterday was about all the Wars the Lamanites & Nephites had in the Book of Mormon.

It is also very sad that so many people don't even know what is happening over there. Please remember the people of Africa in your prayers. May they all be comforted in their time of need.

Tears & Sleep or the Lack thereof


Sunday was a horrible day from start to finish. My highlight was 1 hour of laughing with the girls in Choir. Thanks ladies!

Why was it horrible you ask. We have to begin on Saturday. Both the kids work up at 4am. Then they had a nap and went to bed about 9:30 because of a ward act. Anyways so by Sunday morning you would think they would sleep in. No, they both woke up at 5:30am, not too much better than the day before. (mind you mom did not get a nap sat). So by the time 8:30am rolled around we went to church. Emma & Spencer both were horrible in Sacrament. Steve eventually took Emma home to sleep. Spencer was perfect when sister was not their to cultivate the madness. He went to nursery and I taught my Sunday School lesson & went to RS. Then when we got home from church I had before mentioned choir for an hour. Then I came home starving and ready for a nap. Did I get one? No. Steve informed me he needed a treat to take to the seminary mtg that night at 7pm & we had no quick dessert things in the house. The only thing I had was the stuff to make homemade cinnamon rolls. Yes Yummy! Thanks LEXI for the recipe. But this meant I had to make it (in an already dirty kitchen). I was not in the mood to stand on my feet or have to think. But I did it. It took several hours to make because you have to let them rise 3 different times. So they were ready from the mtg and turned out good. I did get a short hour nap later on (not long enough).
During all this frustration of making the cinnamon rolls, Emma used the left over powdered sugar and a banana that she smashed to make a bigger mess making her own "cinnamon rolls". She said "they had to rise". I should of thought this cute at the time but did not even though I did allow it. Hey it was keeping her out of my hair. Earlier Emma dropped a small glass bowl & it broken into a million pieces. That just added to the grumpiness of our household. So the point of this very long post is........ amid the stress I turned on the Primary CD & Emma started singing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me, would I do the things I do?" I just about started to cry. Hearing her sweet little voice and knowing she knew the words to that sweet song, just touched my spirit.

Primary Activity & our day



This morning Emma had a primary activity. They first had a talk on service from our Bishop. Then they gathered & sorted school supplies for the needy. Then they got to do water games outside. Too bad it was 78 degrees outside (not a usual August day in Texas). We left a little early because my kids got up at 4:00 am this morning.
I tried to go home and put them down for a nap at about 11:30am but they were not tired enough. So we decided to go to Khols and use out $10 we got in the mail. My sunglasses recently broke so I got a new pair. They were originally priced at $26 then on sale for $10.40 so I ended up paying 40 cents for my new NINE WEST shades.
Then we got lunch and took it to the park. The kids played till Spencer was rubbing his eyes. Emma met a little girl her age Sofia and they played so well the entire time. She did not want to leave. Then on the way home we called Grandma Fowler to wish her happy bday! We love u!
The kids are now zonked out for naps. It is working out great cause we have our ward Pool Party tonight from 7:30 - 9:30pm and they need to be rested for that.

Primary Activity


Primary activity

FW stockyards




I took the kids to the FW Stockyards today. We got to see Cowboys take a herd of cattle down the main street. We walked through the museum (waste, if you ask me). I liked all the little shops along the main street. As you can see the kids had fun trying on the Cowboy hats. Then we had lunch at one of the fun little western places. Emma wanted to ride the mechanical bull & they said she could but I decided I did not want to waste $5 for a 8 second ride. Over all it was a fun day with lots of walking.
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Back to Life, Back to Reality


Well back to life for me. I think I am the last person on the Planet Earth to finish reading "Breaking Dawn". I loved it fromTo
I will not Spoil one bit of it for others, except to say it is a MUST READ!

Swimmmmmmmming






Hope Lana does not mind me stealing this picture from her blog but I forgot my camera. This is Emma jumping of the brick wall at Friday swim days. It was a the Petty's house today. Lana' s husband was nice to let Emma jump with him. But she also did it by herself many times. She love it.

If the Savior stood beside me

Last night we had Enrichment at church. It was a very spiritual night. First we had a slideshow put to music with pictures all about the Savior. It was nice to have a time set aside to just think about and focus on the Savior and all that he has done for others and myself. I was really impressed when I saw the picture of him when he was about age 10 and teaching the doctors in the temple. I thought about boys I have known that are age 10 & wow what a difference. I thought if the Savior served others at any time in his life then I better not make any excuses about my situation in life. I should just serve. Also someone said "Jesus did not plan to serve, he just "went about" serving.

Cabin Fever


Well my husband mentioned he thought Emma & Spencer had a little cabin fever so today I took them to Chuckie Cheese. I really hate going there but they had fun.

I also went with my friend Colleen to visit our friend Holly who is in the hospital. She had her baby Tues. He is such a cutie. We had a fun visit with them. Oh darn I should have snatched a picture. I love holding newborns. It sure does make me want to have another. ok maybe not.

Girls Night Out

Thanks for a fun Girls Night Out! We went to see Mamma Mia! It was so fun it made you want to get up and dance. I just wish Peirce Brosnan had a better singing voice. But it was great fun!

Steve's Soapbox

Okay, so about two weeks ago we got cable, or AT&T U-verse. This was due to a switch that AT&T is making in the area, away from DSL based internet to their U-verse based internet (which is fiber run closer to your house, not to your house). As part of the switch they threw in their top-tier TV package, free for a month. Originally I was just going to tell the installer to just do the internet and leave the TV stuff alone, however, once I saw how easy it would be to remove I consented to let him hook it all up. So we've had cable for the past two weeks, including a DVR (Tivo) that can record 4 shows at once, and over all it is a fairly well executed setup, kudos to AT&T.

However, I have some issues, and while a few of these are specific to AT&T, most relate to cable in general (I didn't grow up with cable, so I've gotten to watch it in burst at friend's houses or at hotels on trips):

  1. With the number of stations that we have (500+) we sometimes have a hard time finding anything on. I don't think I would consider ever paying for this many channels full of nothing. I think the whole cable TV industry needs to change to a more on-demand model. Instead of me having to worry about setting my DVR to record some series, paying for the channel when there is only one show on it worth watching, why not let me purchase series, or episodes for cheap and watch it when I want to. Additionally, since U-verse is IP based I should be able to watch my TV on my TV or my computer if I wanted to.
  2. What is with the commercials? If I understand AT&T, we would pay almost $100 a month for the package that we have currently. Yet we still have commercials. What's up with that?
  3. Why can't we copy shows we've recorded off of the DVR? We've paid for the TV service, we should be able to record TV and watch it on the TV, or for instance on our computers (like on the laptop on the train). If I ever did this long term, this would be a must.
  4. Why so many reruns? We've had this for two weeks and have seen more reruns then shows that are new, or even new-to-us. The solution to this is in number one. It is time to rethink how TV services work, thankfully the internet is going to force their hands (Hulu). No wonder the cable / telephone companies are so slow to roll out faster internet speeds.
Now, I can't say that the whole experience has been bad, it hasn't. I've gotten watch shows that I wouldn't otherwise get to see: Top Gear and When We Left Earth (1 , 2).

Okay, stepping off of the soapbox. Here is one more interesting thing, amazing pictures of the LHC.

Mondays to do list:


Today I am finishing up on the project Steve worked on Saturday. He built more shelves to go in our office closet. For those of you that have seen that closet it was not a pretty sight! Everything was thrown in there because there was no room for things elsewhere. Now we are painting the closet and new shelves white. He did most all the work. I just did the finishing touches this morning. I am excited to get it in there and organized. No the closet does not look like this but maybe someday it will. HAHA!
On another note. I saw Phantom of the Opera about a week or 2 ago on our "free" cable. I have never seen it before & always wanted to watch it. Well I loved it. I dream of the day Steve can take me to see a production of it. Speaking of Play/Operas, as I am typing I am listening to Les Miserables & I am really wanting to go to a production. We actually sang this one in my high school choir & I have fond memories of that. Love it! Believe me that is just part of the list of plays I want to see. Others are Mama Mia (never seen),I want to take Steve to see Spamalot because he LOVES Monte Python. Oh man there are so many I can not list.

Tell me your favorite Broadway play!

What we did last week...


Tuesday- I went to a baby shower for T.C. We had a fun time talking, getting a chair massage, & some people swam in the pool. It was fun ladies only night.

Wednesday- Steve had seminary training. He is getting excited and not for seminary to begin again.

Thursday- We fed the missionaries. Then after they left our home teacher came. It is our Bishop & he brought his wife. We had a fun visit.

Friday - I got my hair highlighed. I love it!

Saturday - I took the kids to Dallas to my nephew's bday party. They rented a bounce house water slide. It was nice to visit more with Lavonda's side of the family. My mom & Kelly are loosing weight! Good job girls! They look great!

what we did last week



Teresea's baby shower was so much fun last week. Here are some pics from it.
Also Saturday the kids and I went to my nephew Jacob's 2nd bithday party. They rented a bouncy house slide with water. Emma had a blast on it. Spencer just played with the toys. It was fun to talk more with Lavonda's family & get to know them better. Sorry I left my camera at home.
I got my hair highlighted and I am happy with it. We fed the elder & Bishop& his wife came for a Home teaching visit all on thursday. We really enjoyed visiting with them they are really neat people.
Thats about it.