Tuesday, September 28, 2010

University of Texas shooter

I'm guessing it is hitting national news by now, so I thought I'd let you all know that Tom wasn't up on campus yet this morning when the gunman showed up.  Campus is closed so he won't be going there at all today.

We keep getting texts from the university and it sounds like they're looking for a possible second suspect.  Please pray for all involved.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Looking back at August

A horrible thing happened today.  I somehow erased the contents of my photo card.

That's what I get for procrastinating getting my photo organization done for, well... months.

I got a bunch of it back, but certainly not all.  I tried... oh, how I tried.

I lost the month of July in its entirety.  So, you'll just have to picture dance parties with all the Balderree grandkids and lots of swimming at Willard Bay.  We had some good times.

So although I have backed up all remaining pictures, I feel the need to quickly blog about our crazy month of August.  It felt like we were all over the place.

We did lots of driving, and saw beautiful scenery... (the spots you see are my dirty windshield)



We got to see a bunch of Tom's family, including his grandparents on the Montoya side...



And his grandparents on the Sowards side...



Finally landing in Austin, getting acquainted with all of our old things, and feeling at home in a nice, new, non-crusty, non-moldy apartment, WITH air conditioning.  August saw us become quite comfortable here....

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Fun flash back

I've been neglecting my photo memory card for a while now, so it's time to do some organizing.

I found three short little videos left over from our time in Jerusalem.  It was so weird to watch them.  I thought I'd post them here so I always have them.

This first one was taken on accident.  I meant to take a picture, but my camera was on video setting.  It's looking down into the cave where Christ was born.  It was about a million degrees too hot because there were way too many people.  A tourist group is just getting done singing songs....



I really wish this next one was longer.  When I was finally able to take Tom to Bethlehem at the end of our two year stay, a Christian Palestinian wedding party was coming in just as we were leaving.  So cool....



And this last one I took the day we packed up to come home.  The kids were at a friend's house (hi April!) so we could do all the last minute packing and cleaning.  I was waiting for Tom to come down after locking up, and decided to take a quick video.  It starts out looking around outside, then I walk up the stairs a bit to get one last look at our crusty old front door.  I won't lie - my heart started to pound a little when I watched this.  It's very weird to suddenly go back to the place you went through so much....

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Playing catch up....

Three things -

1)  School

Both kids are now in school for the year.  Joni is in the local kindergarten all day and she LOVES it.  It's such a contrast to what school was like for her last year in Jerusalem.  Every single day was a huge struggle.  But now she gets excited when it's bed time because it means she's that much closer to going to school the next day.  When people ask her if she is liking school, she often says, "Yes, it's in English!"

First day

Also, some moms in the ward asked me if I would like to do Joy School with Jackson, so I jumped at the chance.  He loves it so far.  He feels all grown up.  Speaking of Jackson...

2)  Jackson's birthday

My baby is 3!  I can't get over how big he has gotten.  He loves to say hilarious things like, "Yes, sir!", "Oh my gosh", and "What-ev-er".

For his birthday he got a Superman costume, a train set, a new swimming ring floaty, and a little Cars container to hold his all important goldfish crackers.

This picture taken while he was opening his presents pretty much summarizes how thrilled he was all day.

Whenever Jackson or Tom is in need of a haircut, their thick hair starts sticking up in weird ways, especially first thing in the morning.  Joni says it looks like they have plants growing out of their heads. :)

The race car birthday cake

3)  Free time

If we ever have free time (and if Tropical Storm Hermine isn't crashing down on us), the kids' first preference for fun is swimming.  They LOVE it.