San Antonio

Since my last post, we have moved to San Antonio, TX. It's been quite an adjustment. The city is so big and spread out. I feel completely lost as soon as I leave the apartment complex. We invested in a pretty good navigation app and that has helped tremendously. We have had a lot of fun though. Right away I got to reconnect with a friend from Travis AFB, CA., Alisha. Her husband was a fire fighter with Sam and he is now a reservist for the Marines stationed out here in SA. She has a daughter, Audrey, and they are a month apart, exactly. Here they are pictured below in our living room at Travis AFB.

.... and here they are just a few days ago in San Antonio. Those two definitely hit it off like they haven't missed a beat in the past four years.

Kassandra and Sammy at the River Walk. We got completely lost and ended up there for over two hours. I NEVER want to go back there.

Natural Bridge Wildlife Park

We are all driving around the city a few days ago just trying to familiarize ourselves with the area and trying to figure out where we want to buy a house out here, when we ran across a drive-thru wildlife park. It was awesome. They gave us a bag of food for all of the animals, but as soon as you threw it out of the window, the animals came running up the the window. We saw one, lone zebra so we decided to feed it. He got closer and closer to the window and before I knew it, he had had his head in my lap, trying to steal the bag of food. I was screaming because he was rubbing snot all over me and he was just huge and strong. Poor Sammy was screaming in the back seat, crying buckets of tears because she thought it was attacking me. Needless to say, she is traumatized by zebras. So sad because they used to up there on her top 10 favorite animals.

There was also a petting zoo. Matt loved it, Sammy waited behind the fence. This was post-zebra incident.

Goodbye dinner w/ Papa Jeff

Sam's dad took us out to dinner before we had to leave. We had a great time. We also were able to say "Bye" to Aunt Dakota (Sam's sister). Sam's dad was so much help to us packing up and getting Sam's jeep in working order before the move.

This is pretty much the cutest thing ever. Matt and Sam's cousin, Rafael, at the kid's table at Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful dinner. Couldn't eat too much though because we also went to Mimi's for dinner (and chowed down there too :))



Matt has literally hit himself on the head and ran into things so much that he has a permanent goose egg. Here he is wearing an ice pack.


My parents and my sister helped us with the drive and move-in to San Antonio. It was a tremendous help. Here is Matt trying to be like Grampy.

I love mornings sometimes

I generally hate getting out of bed before 7am. Unfortunately, with kids, that's usually not an option. Samantha was trying to wake me up at 6:15 this morning and I sooooo did not want to get out of bed. At about 6:30 Matt started crying in his crib. Sammy ran right in there and started reading him his favorite books through his crib. Apparently he was really entertained because I got to enjoy and extra 15 minutes of sleep and I woke up to two happy kids. I walked in Matt's room to get him out of his crib and it was full of books. I took him out and set him down to get him changed and he crawled right into Sammy's lap for more story time. It was sooooo cute. Samantha is the best sister ever.

Ruidoso, NM

This past weekend the kids and I went to Ruidoso, NM with my parents. Sam was in Tucson for his guard duty weekend and we figured we would head out of town for some R&R. Unfortunately, Matt had other plans. He was pretty much awful the entire trip. I can't blame him though. He is used to his bed and he NEEDS his routine. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Sammy got to ride a pony for the very first time. His name is Peanuts.

Matt being crazy on the back deck of our cabin. We spent a lot of time out there deer watching. However, anytime a deer came close, Matt yelled, "dog dog!!!" (That's what he called them.)

Matt eating a plum. That's one way to keep him entertained. He worked on that thing for a half hour.

The kids and I.

Matt was too little to ride, but he loved watching the ponies.

My little nature girl.

Apples that we left for the deer on the back deck. They ate them right up!

Sammy made out like a bandit at the local craft fair. She got a beanie and a new apron. Thanks Grammy!

Exploring nature.

Even though Matt was a little terror, we still had a lot of fun. Thanks Mom and Dad!

It's about time...

... that I update this thing. I'm super lazy about blog updates these days. Since the last post, Sammy turned 4!!

We got her a HUGE dollhouse for her birthday. She used to play with it for hours, but I think the magic has worn off.

Random picture of Sam when he was a baby...kinda looks like Matt.

He loves this tricycle. His legs are barely long enough to use the pedals. For now I have to break my back pushing him around.

Splash pad at Ft. Bliss. I finally gave up and let the kids run through it. We had a really hot summer. Sammy was a little reluctant at first, but Matt jumped right in.

Baby in a bag.

This is why I can never get anything done...

It seems like it has been impossible to get anything done around the house. Matt is into EVERYTHING!!

This happens every time I try to fold the laundry.

He even gets his big sister to do things she normally wouldn't do.

These are the kids in Sam's "project." A Jeep CJ-5. They actually really like driving around in it. Don't worry, we just cruise the neighborhoods.

Ornery little Matt.

We set up the pool a few days in a row last week. It was crazy hot.

Sam's Graduation

Oops. Sam's graduation picture posted last. Just a few things... The weather has been nice in the evening, so we've been going to the park a lot and just hanging out outside.

Matt wants to be just like his sister. He insists on doing everything she can do, like ride a bike.

He can also brush his own teeth. He even knows to rinse the brush when he's done.

This is the new ride! I grew up with a wagon (the more dangerous kind with removable sides) and I loved it. The kids love the wagon too.

Sam's mom had a party at her house for a combined "May" party. Sam's bday and graduation, his cousin Ronny's graduation, his Aunt Becca's bday, cousin Hannah's bday, and Meagan's confirmation. The cake read: "Happy Everything to Everyone!" lol.
The pool was pretty cold, but everyone insisted on swimming, even Matt, which I wasn't prepared for (that's why he's naked.) The kid has like 10 pairs of trunks, but did I think to pack any? Nope.

Sam graduated! He still has 2 classes this summer and then he's officially done. He will get his BSN in August. He applied for the Nurse Practitioner program at UTEP and, if he gets in, he'll start in the spring. So proud of him!

Oh, and last night we finally got some RAIN! It 's been 115+ days with no rain, so it was nice. It only lasted 10 minutes, but I'll take it.

Matt's One Year Old Dr. visit

I finally got Matt to his one year old well baby appointment (3 weeks late.) He is 23 lbs and 30 in. tall. 55% percentile for height and weight. He's a little string bean, but growing right on track. Poor little guy had to get 5 shots. 5 SHOTS!!!! HE screamed his heart out and I had to hold him down with all of my strength. It was awful. They did give him a lollipop and he was a happy camper. He ate the whole thing, then fell asleep. He was a sticky mess, but it was okay. I was just happy that he finally stopped crying.



The kids hanging out with Aunt Lacy.

Early Easter

We celebrated Easter a little early because Aunt Kim, Uncle David, Ryan, and Uncle Mark left Saturday morning.

Easter bunny Dallas. She is soooo cuddly.

Matt and Aunt Kassy.

Sammy and Parker dyeing Easter eggs. It was so funny because they wanted to dip the eggs in all of the colors. We ended up with a lot of olivey-green colored ones.

Ashley reading to Dallas.

Excited over her Easter stuff.

Easter bunny Matthew.