Maybe Texas didn't want us back

When we got back to Dallas we were hit with an Ice Storm. It was our first. It was crazy! The ice was so heavy that it broke off of bunch of huge branches from the tree in our front yard.

 The ice was covering everything. It looked like everything was incased in glass. 

 The kids wanted to go outside but it was so cold we had to bundle them up nice and warm. Unfortunately we don't have gear for snow or ice so we had to make do. Elena was pretty cold by the end of it.

 Jesús tied rope around the kids and we used bucket lids to drag them down the sidewalk. 

 So since everything was just ice, they closed everything and there was no school or church for 4 days. It was fun at first then it started to suck. We were tired of being inside. I cannot tell you how happy I was when things were melted enough for us to go back to our lives. I have never had church cancelled before for any reason so this was a shock for me. As things would melt, the water on the roads would freeze over again in the night so there would just be more ice on the roads. I slid a little taking the kids to school for a few days but then the sun came out and melted everything and I felt all the anxiousness go away. I love the sun. Love it.

Thanksgiving, Keeping busy

When we woke up after an amazing day of Disneyland we packed up and headed to the beach. We walked out onto the pier and watched the waves and looked around in the tiny shops. We had lunch at base of the pier so we could enjoy some clam chowder. Real Clam Chowder. It was so good. 

 Ben had to work that morning so we went to his golf course to see him and meet Cannon, his dog on the course that gets rid of the ducks that make a mess on the greens. 

 Then we headed to Bakersfield. I loved watching the mountains as we drove by, even though they were far away.

 Then we made it. Bakersfield. 

 The night we got there we went over to the Buntings to meet little Max and get caught up with old friends. It was so nice to chat with them and for the kids to play with Sarah and Lincoln.

 Mom had lots of ideas to keep us busy. The kids made hot chocolate sticks with candy canes and marshmallows dipped in chocolate. 

We stopped at Jesús's old office to see Judy and cut out some paper. It was nice to see Judy and chat with her. I definitely wanted the kids to have a picture with her. 

 Then we played Grandma's bells and the kids did such a good job. 

 And I couldn't get enough of Afton. Would you look at that sweet face?

 We went to the park and enjoyed the warm weather and played soccer and played zombie tag. 

 Bryan was also pretty entertaining. The kids had a good time with him.

 We made street tacos and beans for everyone and they were quite tasty. 

 Dad had bought a couple of old motorcycles that we could all take turns riding. I was afraid to ride but it was fun when I did.

 Sara had planned out a whole minute to win it game and it was so funny to watch. 

 Jesús did a good job shaking it

 We went to The Crystal Palace for a date night and it was a fun time. Sara and I got the ribs to share and we did a little line dancing.

 We had to make a stop over at the Gabbitas house to visit and say hi. Patrick and Elena are always talking about Stevie and Michael and Sarah and Kate. They adore them. They were so excited to see them.

 Elena and Hannah played so well together the whole time. They were best friends and so sweet. I was sad to split them up.

 The day before we left we went to Katy and Tylers house to visit and see their new house. It was so fun. The kids had such a good time playing out in their backyard. I'm glad I got to see Katy too. We got married a week apart from each other, we lived next door to them in our first apartment, and our first babies were born a month apart while we lived down the street from each other. We walked together every morning. She's my good friend and I miss her.

 Then we left. I hate leaving. I'm not good at leaving family. Its probably the hardest thing I have to do. The drive home was a difficult one. We drove really far the first day because we were going to stay with my cousin Kristin like we did on the way there but her youngest was sick so we figured that it was a blessing in disguise so we could go farther. We got a hotel room in Deming New Mexico. The Hotel had only been open for 3 months so it was really nice. 

 We finally made it back to Texas. It was good to be home but hard to be away from my family. It was  such a long drive to get home and we were relieved to be there. 

Thanksgiving and Disneyland

Guess who I finally got to meet?? Afton!!! And guess what??!!??? I love her. No. Adore her. She is the sweetest baby ever. 

 The kids were so excited to go to Disneyland and even though we were worried that it was going to rain, we couldn't have been more excited. 

 The first characters we say were Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. We didn't want to wait in line to see them so we just kept walking.

 But then we saw Belle. Elena needed to see Belle. She was so sweet with her.

 It was so fun to be there while it was all decorated for Christmas. There was a barbershop Quartet singing on the steps and when they saw my Birthday button (Stephanie grabbed a some for us since our birthdays were all close) they had me come up on the steps so they could sing me happy birthday. They were super nice. It was fun.

The ride Patrick wanted to go one first was Indiana Jones since he has never been able to ride it before. He has always been too short. Elena still couldn't ride it so she went with Grandma Stephanie and Afton on the Safari ride. Jesús Ben and I took the boys on Indiana Jones. Patrick got a little scared and held on pretty tightly to Jesús but he thought it was so fun. 

 After Indiana Jones we did Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. This was my favorite part of Disneyland. It was completely changed into The Nightmare Before Christmas. Cool right? The inside and outside was decked out. Elena loves that movie but she was scared and nervous but she sat in between Stephanie and me so I think she was less scared.

 When we got out we saw Jack and Elena wouldn't even go near him. I thought he looked very cool.

 Then we headed to Splash Mountain because both kids were able to go on it. I don't think I prepared them enough. 

 Right as we walked out we saw Mark Whalberg sitting on a bench with his wife. I snapped a quick picture for proof then left him alone. I'm sure he was pretty annoyed with people posing by him for pictures. We saw him a couple more times and he said hi to Jesús. Pretty cool.

We headed over to tomorrow land for star tours since we haven't been on it since it was changed. I got motion sickness but it was still fun. Then we had to try on all the stuff in the store. Patrick was making the darth Vader sound with the helmet on.

 I love these pictures of the kids with the Star Troopers.

 Then Patrick and Caleb both got light Sabers and loved having battles.

 Then the kids watched the Jedi's and Caleb got picked to be a Jedi!! 

 He loves pictures with me, can you tell?

 The castle lighting up was very cool and I'm glad we stayed to watch it.

 Afterwards we headed to Denny's for dinner and Elena laid on my lap and fell asleep. It was a long day. When we got to the hotel our air conditioning was broken and the guy could not figure out what was wrong. So they moved us to another room and comped the night. That was so nice of them. I think they felt really bad. I think we all slept pretty well that night though.