Kickin' it on a Saturday Night

So, I am sitting here goofing around on Facebook, checkin out the friend blog scene and it's just amazing to me how fast time goes by. I found a couple of old friends on Facebook and checked out their blogs and just have to say that BLOGGING ROCKS!!!! What a fabulous way to catch up with people and not have to pick up a phone. In the not too distant future, we will rely on phones less and less. That is my prediction! Write it down somewhere and save it cuz it's going to be a famous quote. Oh and just for the record, 50 billion pictures is kind of an exageration. I know I'm affectionately known as the "crazy camera lady" in certain circles, but really, it was more like 40 billion.

Random Thought: Cody Teare, if you ever read my blog, I just want to say that your wife has awesome taste in literature, music, movies, and shopping destinations. I don't know her, but I love her.



Here is a little funny story about the birds to your left. I am finding that there are some really smart people that live down here in Texas. While we were at the zoo on Labor Day, we approached these two macaws and a couple of ladies were talking about them as we walked up. Imagine this conversation taking place in very southern accents-it will be funnier-think Jeff Foxworthy but chics:
Chic1: "Ahh, Chic 2, them birds are sure pretty. What kind do ya think they are?"
Chic2: "Well there's a sign right here that says Birds of Peril, so they're Birds of Peril."
Chic1: "I don't think I've ever seen Birds of Peril before, I like em."
Chic2: "Yeah, me too. Kids. These here are Birds of Peril. Let's go see some more."

At this point Chic 1 and Chic 2 walk away with their 2 smaller chics. John and I are really having a hard time holding it together because all though we have never seen "Birds of Peril", we are pretty sure these aren't them. So we walk up to the sign and it says, "Birds in Peril" and it's the title for the article that follows about rescuing macaws from the rain forests that are being depleted in South America. At that point we bust out laughing. I mean the guy that called the meerkats weasels was funny, but Birds of Peril? That was HILARIOUS. Maybe you had to be there.

This weekend was pretty uneventful. John had a friend in town so he spent the majority of his time on the golf course. I had big shopping plans: Gymboree, Home Goods, Hobby Lobby, then possibly a splurge at Striderite, but realized there is absolutely nothing I need at any of those places right now. Generally that fact would not stop me, but I have done so much post tramatic move stress shopping in the past few weeks that I REALLY don't even know what I would buy. Crazy, I know. Wow. Just rereading that is shocking. John saw "Tropic Thunder" and I'm a little jealous because he said it was fabulous. I will definitely make him see it again with me.



Aidyn's 8th birthday was on Sunday! He is officially the age of accountability. We aren't going to baptize him until November because several family memebers want to come down and join the festivities. His special day was a little anti-climactic because we had already celebrated with his friends before we left KS. But we did find this great restaraunt to eat at not far from the new house called "Life's a Beach". Kinda catchy. They have great food and a super huge area with a massive sand pit for the little kids and a volleyball net for the not so little kids. We loved it!

Oh, here is some good news!!! Not only is my BFF Kerry coming down at the end of September for a whole week, but the season premiere of "Dexter" will take place while she's here so we can totally watch it together!!!! I am super excited. If she could only be here for the "Twilight" opening, life would be perfect (ok, if Olivia and Karina could join her then it would be really extra completely perfect;).





Addy had a really good week at school this week. The sporadic crying seems to be ebbing. Her teacher gives out an award every week based on performance and behavior called "Knight of the Week" (btw their school mascot is the knight). She got the award for this week! I thought it was pretty awesome considering it's the first "Knight of the Week" award given in her class. We celebrated at Bennihana's this evening. Her choice. PF Chang's was booked.





Avery started dance on Friday and loved it. She is completely in her element with tap or ballet shoes on her feet. There was an ear to ear perma-grin on her face the entire 45 minutes. I will post some pics after I take them next week. She also started preschool this week which was almost as exciting as dance. Getting ready for all day kindergarten meant putting her in an all day preschool class to prepare so she does that twice a week. It wears her out of course, but she loves it. My lil' social butterfly.





Aidyn is his normal awesome and attractive self. By the way, there's no charge for that. He encourages Addy to suck it up on a regular basis, plays with his lego minifigs, tells me random Star Wars facts about random Star Wars characters, and is just mom's sweet guy. I always tell him that I can count on him for whatever I need, and it's true.





By the way, if they could somehow start an elementary school program for boys where learning and Star Wars were incorporated, the results would be PHENOMENAL. They could call it, "Jedi Problem Solving", or "Let the Force Read with You", or "Anakin Can Spell, and So Can You", or "Young Padowans Unite" something like that. I should totally invent it....maybe for the Wii.





Anyway, hope y'all r doin good. This is the longest post ever about random stuff, hope you didn't get bored:)

Labor Day Fun at the Forth Worth Zoo

Hi its me Addy! ;) We had a great day at the zoo! Oh my gosh! It was so cool!! The orangutans were so funny!Like this one his face is so weird.We got to see them swing on the ropes too.My mom took like 50,000 pictures so im only going to put a few on here.anyways the gorillas were cool because they came up to the glass and stuff so we got to see them.We also saw a this cool owl (i love owls!) called a milky eagle owl.(top right corner)We saw the giraffes and mom just had to take like 50 trillion pictures of the baby giraffes.But we got to see the lion and a coyote. We had alot of fun! I hope we can go again i loved it!anyway i guess im done and hope to blog again! talk to you soon!

The Stevens' Family in Dallas

Well, we made it and it has been a tough week for all of us, mostly Addy though. Texas is where we ultimately wanted to end up so we can't complain that Heavenly Father has answered our silent prayers and blessed us with this opportunity. But none of us thought it would be quite so soon after moving to Kansas. We all miss our friends dearly, especially Addy who literally cries spontaneously several times a day because she misses Madeline so much. It's so hard to find a pea from the same pod, then have to part ways. My heart goes out to my sweet daughter and it makes me so sad to see her unhappy. I pray every day that she will find peace and make some new friends quickly. I know Madeline is not replaceable (which I would never even suggest!) but I hope Addy can find someone she likes even half as well.

This week was full of errands, sign-ups, and lots of running around. God bless tele-nav! It has been a life-saver this week. Since our house won't be ready until mid-September, we are staying in an apartment until that time. It's not ideal, but it's only for a few weeks and the kids are being really understanding in that regard. We go check out the house every couple of days to see what's been done, and that's fun to see. We went over today and all the tile has been put in as well as trim work painted, granite set, fence up, and lighting fixtures in place.

Our new ward here in Dallas is the Lake Cities Second Ward. We met so many great people today at church and the kids were thrilled to spend a few hours with kids their age. All 3 were greeted very warmly and seemed to enjoy new teachers and classes. We even got a dinner invite for this evening! Much to our children's dismay, John and I were too exhausted to accept.

All 3 kids have met their school teachers for next year which got them enthused to start school Tuesday. Well, Avery won't start til next week, but she is the most excited of all 3. She will

start preschool and you'd think she was going to Disneyland the way she talks about it.

I got great news on Saturday as well!!! We are pregnant with our fourth!!! Just kidding. That wouldn't actually be great news cuz I'm so done. But I really did get great news. My Kerry is coming to visit me at the end of September!!! It was the best news I could have possibly recieved yesterday after such a crazy, exhausting, and emotionally trying week. I got her text and seriously almost cried. Kerry is one of the those amazing people who lifts your spirits without even trying. It is harder to make friends as you get older and I feel so blessed to have forged the strong bond of friendship that Kerry and I have at this point in our lives. She is like a sister to me in all the good ways. She is just so awesome and even though she is pregnant with her 3rd (BOY!) and will be going into her 6th month, she is coming to visit us. You are the greatest Ker, I love you!!!

Amidst the chaos last week, we were able to do a few fun things. The pool at the apartment is super fun and we did some swimming. We also made a trip downtown to the aquarium. It was awesome! The kids had a blast and there was quite a variety of animals both land and sea. We particularly enjoyed the manatees, river otters, and butterflies. Check out our pictures!

Love you all and will post soon!

Our New Texas Pad

Here are some pics for your viewing enjoyment....The first is the "Chooch" crew minis, Jack and Avery passed out on the couch due to late night parental-gaming-blisss. The second is Avery and her BBF, Mia. The third is Avery and her new baby pony, CC, fresh from the DFW. The fourth is going on record as the best picture of me EVER! Is that hot, or what? We were lighting off fire-works in the church parking lot.....I mean um, some, um random deserted parking lot out in the boon-docks of Missouri with no Christian orientation and Cortney caught this sassy shot of me enjoying my sparkler a little too much. NICE! And 5th, Addy and her BBF Madeline at the same random unknown parking lot post fourth of July celebratory event. Good times, people, good times!!!

Well, John and I spent a very long weekend in Dallas looking over at LEAST a million different houses. Ok, maybe 50, but it really felt like more. We finally settled on one of the first that we looked at. We just didn't want to rule out any options! Our house is nestled in the beautiful master-planned community of Lantana. Lantana is just North of Flowermound. I'm adding a link so you can check it out:

http://www.lantanatexas.com/

As sad as I am to leave my friends here in KC, it sure feels good to have some direction. Here is a link to the model home of our builder, Newport Homes. Take the model tour (it's in green on the far right side of the page with a little house icon). The floor plan is the same as our home, but the elevation is a little different: http://www.newporthomebuilders.com/neighborhoods.php?id=1

I listed a bunch of furniture on Craig's List last night and my phone has been freakin ringing NON-STOP. I have literally sold almost everything I posted in less than 24 hours. I must have priced stuff way too low. Go Craig's List! It is most awesome.

Hey, guess what else! I have decided to have my dining furniture faux painted a distressed off white. I am really excited! Hopefully it won't turn out completely heinous.

Oh, and I just finished the most hillarious book ever. I really like Christopher Moore even though the language can be a little rough. So if you are offended by a few f-bombs here and there, you shouldn't read this book I am recommending even though the awesomeness is off the charts!!! It is called "You Suck" (a vampire love story). Seriously, I was laughing the entire time I read it. He is the most enertaining author I have ever experienced. If you want to check it out, I picked it up at Costco (my shopping haven). You know it's an addiction when all the cashiers call you by your first name.

Finally we know

Well, it has been a long and grueling summer of wondering "are we" or "aren't we". First we were, then we weren't sure, and it seems like it took forever to go through the process with relocation to get a buy-out. Then negotiations with Sprint and finally we are here. We found out yesterday; we finally have clarification that we ARE moving to Dallas. There are definitely some mixed feeling going around at our house. As glas as we are to have an answer, we are all really, really bummed to be moving away from this area right now. We had really hoped that we would get at least another 2 years here. But we have been praying since March that the Lord would lead us in the direction we need to go so we have complete faith that Dallas is the right move. John and I will leave next Thursday to go house hunting and the kids will stay with friends. We aren't sure when the official move will take place. Definitely by the 3rd week of August, but I am hoping to get us down there by the first week of August. The kids start school on the 25th so we need to get out booties in gear. Pray for us to find a house on this upcoming trip. Please pray that all the other relocation procedures go smoothly for our family as well and that there are no more hang-ups. Since this is our second relo within a year, we just want to get over with and move forward. All right, enough sad stuff.

We had a super fun fourth of July! The local minor league team in KC is called the T-bones. They had a game on the 4th so we went out there with our friends, the VanOrmans. When we got there, the GA seating we had purchased tickets for was completely filled. There was absolutely no where to sit on the lawn where we were supposed to be. But, thanks to some awesome sweet talking by Karina, we got the best seats in the house. We sat right above the dug-out for the entire game! The kids absolutely loved it and I got some great pics I will post. After the game, we got to watch an amazing fireworks show! They let off the fireworks from the Nascar stadium which is right next to the ballpark. It was one of the best displays I have ever seen. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Happy Independence Day!

Texas, Here We Come!

Did I portray sufficient enthusiasm with that title? We are not feeling super enthusiastic about moving, but are happy to finally get back to the Lone star State. Our move will probably take place the first week of August, possibly the last week of July. I sort of want to just get it over with, but at the same time, I want to maximize the time the kids have with their friends here, and I want to do that as well. I guess we will see. A lot will depend on when we find a house. John and I will most likely head down to Dallas in the latter part of June. We have heard a lot of good things about the area from people who have lived there.

Tonight we are on tornado watch. That is one thing I certainly won't miss about KC. It's crazy to me that people live like this every "tornado season" which is essentially May through September. I no likey. The weather forecast says that 9-16 tornadoes will touch down in the Kansas City area tonight. Better get my camcorder ready.

We joined Lifetime Fitness this week. It's a health club that's more Midwest. It hasn't quite hit the East or West coasts yet, but everywhere in between. They have pretty much everything including a restaurant, full service, spa, and indoor/outdoor pools with water slides. The kids are loving it. The exercise equipment and classes are top notch. Luckily, they have Lifetime in Dallas as well, so our membership fee will transfer.

It's nice having the kids out of school and some warm weather. They have been enjoying the giant inflatable water slide we got at Costco, and loved the Lifetime pool when we went the other day. We are hoping to go camping this weekend, but we'll see what the weather does.

Hope all of you are happy and well!

Not Much New...

John and I got to enjoy more Hawaiian sunshine last week while in beautiful Maui. We totally met Hyde from "That 70's Show"! Since I forgot my camera, I have no pictures EXCEPT the picture the photographer took of me and Stephen. Pretty sweet, right? No swimming with sea turtles, no Spinner Dolphins pirouetting by the Katamarran, no beautiful sunsets on the beach, just me and Hyde hangin out. A big thanks to the wonderful Wallace family for taking care of our kiddies. They did a great job and the kids didn't even seem to know we were gone. Ok, that's not entirely true, but they had a great time with the Wallaces. John and I had fun, too.

We are still in limbo about our move. We have decided that if we are "allowed" to go to Texas, we will move, but if Georgia is our only moving option, we will stay. The staying strategy is kind of a gamble, but we really don't want to move all the way to the East coast. Kansas is already far enough away from our families.

Avery celebrated her 4th birthday on April 28th. Yeah Dolly! Here she is with two of her friends, Sage and Mia, at Pump It Up. She bounced around with 7 cute little girls for 2 hours and had the time of her life. Being the center of attention is where it's at.

Addy and I attended the Bon Jovi concert at the Sprint Center in downtown KC on April 23rd. It was awesome! We got to sit in the Sprint suite with fab seats and free eats. That Jon can still shake his thang! We both had a blast.

The kids only have 2 weeks of school left and they are pretty stoked. I am pretty stoked. Sleeping in until 9 for 2.5 months!!!! Sweet!!! I can't think of anything else exciting. Kerry, it you read this, I am sorry for not calling on your birthday. For some reason, it just totally hit me that your birthday was last week while I was out of town and I am feeling really guilty and lame right now. I should definitely call you in the very near future....like tonight.....or tomorrow. I saw on Lex's blog that you got 2 more cats and I'm feeling a little bit hurt about that...I will never be able to have a sleepover party at your house now):