Miniature Golf

Thursday of our week in Branson, we went to lunch at Applebee's.  

We really enjoyed having someone else make us food while we got to sit and visit.  We talked to Grandma and Grandpa about their lives--what was good, what was bad, what was hard.  We are so blessed to have grandparents who have lived good lives and have endured great trials.

George Dyer

The next day, August 21st, we went to another show--George Dyer.

He has an amazing voice!  I wish I had recorded him--not sure why I didn't--maybe because I was enjoying it so much that I didn't think about it.  At the beginning of his show he walked around the theater, shaking people's hands.  He came right up to us--you can see us in the big screen behind him--and I tried to snap a picture of him but it was really blurry.

The Bretts

Branson is sort of like a Las Vegas, but better. :D  It has lots of fun things to do there--mini golf, go-carts, water parks, etc. and it has tons of shows!  That is what Branson is known for--it's family-friendly shows.  We were excited to get to go to several of them throughout the week.  

Our first show was on Tuesday August 20th to see the Bretts.  They are an LDS family who live in Branson.  This was their 15th year there and they had a fun show to celebrate it!

Branson, Missouri

Our vacation was in Branson, Missouri.  Paul's maternal grandparents have a time share there at a resort called Stormy Point.  We were so excited to be spending a week with them in this cute resort spot in beautiful Missouri.

On Our Way to Missouri

Remember how we were subletting an apartment during the summer while we were in Texas?  Well our lease was up on Saturday August 16th and we had a family vacation planned for the next week--perfect! So we packed up the few things that we had with us in their apartment, put some in storage, and took some with us on our way to Missouri.  On our way out, we stopped at a local chicken restaurant called Raising Cane's.  It had really yummy chicken fingers!  

Happy 6th Anniversary!

A week after Glenn's birthday, Paul and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary!

Can't believe it's been 6 years already!

I'm so happy to have Paul in my life.  He is a wonderful man, husband and father.

We celebrated by going out to dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy.  Yum!!  We highly recommend it to anyone looking for good food.  We love the zucchini appetizer!  And we love the food deal even more--get one appetizer, two entrees to eat at the restaurant and two more to take home with you, and one dessert. It's such a great deal!!  And we have yummy food for another meal or two after the restaurant.

I love you Paul!  Thanks for asking me to marry you!!

Summer Reading

 During our few weeks in Texas, Glenn really started reading more and more.  I found this idea on Pinterest--to set up some sight words and have your child race to it with a car.  I decided to try it out with Glenn.  We had practiced with these words here and there and with reading short books.  He really liked this idea.  He felt so proud of himself and so happy when he found the words and had learned to recognize them.

Glenn turns 4!

Glenn was so excited for his birthday and for turning 4!  

He woke up happy, as he always does, and couldn't wait until his new friends came over for the party.  It wasn't time for that yet, but we did start celebrating by eating a birthday donut for breakfast.

Glenn loves donuts and was happy to be starting his day with one.

HEB Buddy Bucks

Here in Texas there is a store called HEB, or Here Everything's Better.

It is a regular grocery store, except for the Buddy Bucks.

At the cashier, if you have kids with you, they can get some Buddy Bucks.  Buddy is the paper bag character that you can see in the machine.  You take these bucks and put in them in the machine.  They get points and save up to 'buy' or redeem certain little prizes.

Glenn loves it!  And it helps him be good in the store too.

Peter Pan Play

On Saturday, August 3, we went to a free kids play of Peter Pan.

They had some cute hats for sale along with the kid's book.  We bought both since they were a good price and we knew both would be used a lot.

Glenn loves the story of Peter Pan and loves to pretend to be him.

Fun in Texas

We like to have fun anywhere and everywhere.  

Glenn got this little minion in a kid's meal somewhere.  We thought it was so funny.  We decided it would be funny to have this be on our blog, to start this post, showing how much fun we have together.

Convert Baptism

In our ward Paul was called to be a ward missionary.  There was a man, Cyprian, who was investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We have sister missionaries assigned to our ward, so they needed places to meet with Cyprian.  We loved having him in our home.  We loved having the missionaries in our home as well.  After accepting the invitation to be baptized, we were blessed to attend his baptism on July 27, 2013.  We loved seeing his happiness as he made this new step in his life.

Splash Pad

One of our favorite things we found while we were in Texas were the splash pads.  They apparently have these little water pads all over and it is so great.  It gets so hot here in Texas and it's nice to have several places that we can go to cool off.  And I think I like these splash pads more than pools because I don't have to worry about Glenn drowning or having to hold him the entire time because he doesn't know how to swim yet.

Fire Ants

Texas has a lot of bugs and pests.  We found out the hard way that fire ants' bites really hurt!

Glenn and I were playing outside when he hid behind a tree.  After a few seconds he came out screaming and crying.  I looked down at his feet and there were hundreds of ants all over him.  He got bit so many times and was in a lot of pain.

Lots of Rain

After arriving in Texas, we were expecting the heat...it was the middle of July after all.  Instead we got lots of rain.  It was fun to see different kind of rain.  I felt like in Utah it would start to rain and then be done in only a few minutes.  The rain here would come and come and come.  And come fast!

Back to Texas and Paul

We were so happy to be reunited with Paul in Texas.  He picked Glenn and I up from the airport and took us 'home' to the apartment where we were subletting for the summer.  My mom had a few presents from the previous Christmas that she hadn't sent to us--because of our move and all that craziness.  I also had a few gifts for Paul--kind of some early Christmas and birthday.

A Few More Visits and Good-Bye

Before Glenn and I flew back to Texas, we made a few last visits to other family members in Utah.  Our first visit was with Paul's Gramma J.  She shared some snacks with us as we played a really fun game of Sleeping Queens.  

Extra Pictures from July

Here are a few more pictures that were taken in July.  

Glenn loved playing at Grandma's house.  He also loved watching shows on their big TV.  I like the 'throne' he built for himself to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Ian's Baptism

Remember the family gathering for my cousin Ian's birthday?  Well it was a special one because he turned 8.  And as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 8 is when you can get baptized.  Ian chose to be baptized and we were so happy we were in Utah still to witness it and be a part of his special day. 

Devin's Injury

After Independence Day, Kirsta and Maren went to a friend's wedding in Wyoming, so Kirsta's kids stayed with us at Grandma Esther's.  We were enjoying a late afternoon rainstorm and the boys were having fun going out in the rain and being goofy.