The Holidays

ok, it's been awhile and it's time to catch up.

Adelaide is growing up way too fast. She's got 2 teeth, and loves solid foods especially bread & cheese. She sits up by herself, arm crawls a bit, and is starting to pull up on things as well. Let it be known that Adelaide said Mama WAY before Dada ;) and she likes to jabber quite a bit. She loves being tickled by her big sister, and bath time. And she still gets super anxious if anybody that isn't Brett or I gets too close.

Ellie is growing up too. (thank goodness because 3 has been a tough year) She can get dressed (most of the time) by herself, go to the bathroom by herself (when she's not afraid of the dark), and she's getting better at a few little chores that help me immensely - horray!!! She loves playing with friends and cousins, and helping me make cookies for choir. She is also obsessed with all animals. Ellie is actually a pretty good little singer and is SO excited to be a sunbeam because she wants to go up and sing in sacrament meeting at church. 

We spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family in Houston this year. We had a little reunion and stayed in cabins and the Retreat to Artesian Lakes. We saw alligators, alligator snapping turtles, bluegill, and raccoons. It was fun being outside; riding bikes, canoeing, fishing, etc. 

We said goodbye to an old friend, and welcomed a new one.

My Dad built me my dream dining table and delivered it to my door.

Brett's been interviewing every other week and we decided we didn't want to be without him anymore so we tagged along. ROAD TRIP! We loaded up our van and drove to Little Rock, Arkansas for the first time. Ellie loved the "ho and tell" and had a big bed all to herself which was fun. Brett interviewed all day and I took the girls to the zoo, state park, to find giant Christmas trees and get pizza. It was a little cold, foggy, and rainy but we still had a blast.

Whew! This is a long post. Then Christmas happened. We spent the holiday in Houston again with my family and it was filled with graham cracker houses, talent shows, giant family dinners, walks around the loop, urban air, reunion with friends, Old MacDonald's farm, nativity stories, matching pajamas, the Muppets Christmas Carol, the Christmas pole, The Last Jedi, game nights, Kleiner cookies, and lots of playing with cousins. Ellie was spoiled with tons of new toys that she loves and Adelaide just loved watching everyone. Bring on the New Year!

 

Big Bend

Brett here. A few weekends ago, I had the chance to go to Big Bend National Park with Jeff and Mike. Earlier in the year we decided that we needed to take a camping trip together before we potentially end up in different places for residency.

After an 8 hour drive, we camped at Chisos Basin Campground, which was up fairly high in the mountains. We did a hike called "the Window".

The next morning we were able to do a few more hikes. We started off by doing the "Lost Mine Trail".

My poor attempt at a panorama shot. Hard to capture all the sights in one picture.

Later in the day we walked across the border into Mexico for some lunch. A certain person named Jeff forgot their passport, so he had to stay behind.

Unless you want to swim, you pay a guy $5 to row you across the Rio Grande

Our small but noble steeds.

 I don't think Jeff can ever say we haven't done him a favor. We carried Coca-Cola and a plate of tacos on a donkey, across the desert and the Rio Grande for him.

We then drove across the park to Santa Elena Canyon, which was definitely the prettiest part of the Rio Grande river.

It was a full moon while we were there, so we decided to go on a quick night hike to the aptly named "Balanced Rock ". I'll be honest in saying I was pretty stressed as we drove down this horrendous dirt road through the desert during the night to get to the trail-head, but it was fun.

Mike and Jeff feeling the love.

There you have it. Even though all of us grew up in places with "real mountains" as we sometimes say, we were all amazed by the grandeur of Big Bend, and it was a fantastic trip.