A Special Baptism

A few months back I had been called to be a Ward Missionary for my church.  That meant that I was to help the missionaries assigned to our ward and go to lessons and such with them.  One of the people that I was privileged to meet and attend lessons with was Lindon Walker.  He is an amazing man!  He has been blind, basically since birth, but that hasn't stopped him from doing so much.  He recently lost his wife, who was also blind, to cancer.  She had been the one to first invite the missionaries over, but Lindon felt strongly that he needed to listen as well.  Then when his wife passed away, he really felt the need to listen and take the missionaries' message to heart.  And when he did that, he knew he needed to be baptized!  So on October 17, Lindon Walker was baptized!

It was a beautiful ceremony and I was so happy to be a part of it!  He had asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  I had a hard time getting through it because of the Spirit we all felt.  After being baptized, Lindon said, "It's like drinking Austin water your whole life and then getting a taste of pure, mountain water.  This is good.  This is real.  This is true.  This is right."

What an incredible man!

Soccer Saturday

Glenn continued to play soccer and have games on Saturday mornings.

Pictures at the Thinkery

Our friends invited us to the Thinkery with them one afternoon.  We used to have passes but the year was up and we just haven't renewed yet--much to Glenn's disappointment.  

But we did have fun with them and seeing the new things the children's museum had to offer.

A Visit from Dennis and Robyn

At the end of September, we got another set of visitors--Grandma Robyn and Grandpa Dennis!

They were able to find cheap flights, so they took advantage of that and came to see us.

Their flight brought them to Austin pretty late, so Glenn and I didn't see them until the next morning.

We had taught Glenn how to play Cribbage so he could play with Grandpa Dennis.

Swim Goggles

For his birthday, Glenn got some goggles.  He had been learning this summer to swim--just with Paul and I--and getting brave enough to go underwater.  He takes after me--not really liking going underwater and all that.  But he was excited to get the goggles.  

Since it wasn't really swimming season anymore--I don't know why they close the pools so early when it is still so hot out, but whatever--Glenn got some goggle practice in the bathtub!

Little Passports Continues

Glenn loves his Little Passport!

Whenever we check the mail, he asks if he has a package.  And he is always so excited when he has one from his pals, Sam and Sophia.  He looks forward to reading about their latest adventure!

Devin's 7th Birthday

One of the benefits of homeschooling is that we don't have to limit our travels to the weekends or holidays.  Cousin Devin's birthday was in September during the week and Glenn and I were able to travel up to the Dallas area to celebrate with him and his family.

Devin still had to go to school, so Glenn and Mackenzie and I went to the park to play during the day.  I got some cute pictures of them while they played together.  

Glenn Starts Soccer

At the beginning of September, Glenn joined the Wells Branch Soccer Association.  He had a week or so of practices and soon started playing official games.

Saturday September 12, Glenn had his first soccer game!

Glenn's team was called the Wild Ones and they wore green jerseys.

Glenn's Birthday Party

This year, Glenn asked for a Super-Hero birthday party.  

And a Super-Hero party Glenn got! :D

Paul and I spent a lot of time planning and figuring out how we were going to do all the fun things we had imagined.  It took some time, but after all the cutting and gluing, and all the furniture rearranging, we were finally ready for the party.

Saturday September 5th we finally hosted Glenn's birthday party.  (We wanted to wait to have his friend party until we were in our new house--thus allowing us to invite more friends and to have more space for the activities.)

New Bed

I've had lower back pain a lot of my life.  Our mattress used to be comfortable to me, but not anymore.  In the last few years, I would feel worse in the morning after having slept on it.  I don't think it was a bad bed in general, but something wasn't right for me.  

Paul had heard ads on the radio for a new bed called the Casper bed.  After watching and reading reviews, we decided to give it a try.  September 1, it arrived on our doorstep!

Misc. in August

I know the title of these blog posts aren't the most exciting, but sometimes I don't know what else to call them.  They comprise all the leftover pictures in the month--pictures that I'd still like to share, but don't know if I want to do an entire post just about them.

So you get them all here, together.

And why not start out with some pictures of my cute boys sleeping?  I probably could fill up an entire post just with those pictures, but I won't. :D

Kelly Clarkson Concert

Saturday August 29th, Paul, his sister Cheryl and I drove out to the Austin 360 amphitheater for a Kelly Clarkson concert!!

Mu Sool Won in August

In August, the kids were learning some weapon skills.  

They first had to learn how to respectfully accept the weapon from the teacher.

"Thank you sir!" with their hands outstretched.

ANTS!

We had been in our house for only a couple of days when Ants happened...

We Bought a House!

I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but when we came back from Spain we started looking to buy a house.  We had been looking at houses on Zillow while in Spain and when we got back we found one in a neighborhood that we liked.  That house, unfortunately, wasn't available after too long, but it got us in the market.  We found a Realtor and started looking.  Well, I started looking.  Glenn too.  Paul was home in bed with his foot propped up--remember he stepped on a nail?  Then he got the flu and was really sick.  So he didn't come out looking with us.  

I'll admit it was stressful and I didn't like not having his input on the houses.  One day our Realtor, Angela, showed us a house in the neighborhood where we liked that other house.  It was a great house and we looked at it a couple of times that day actually.  I really wanted Paul to see it though.  But there wasn't time.  So I had to decide.  When I got home I told Paul about it and we looked at the pictures online.  It was a good house in the neighborhood that we wanted and it was a newer home--only 2 years old!  To be honest, I wasn't in love with the house, but I liked it better than the other ones we saw.  And I knew it would go fast.  Everything was.  More than a 100-200 people move in Austin every day--at least in the summer!  Crazy!!

So we decided to put an offer on the home, without Paul actually having been inside it yet.  I was apprehensive and almost had us back out of it, but we decided to move forward.  And they accepted our offer!  So we were on the road to buying a home!

Things didn't go real smoothly, but in the end we signed all the papers and got the keys on August 10th.  We were home owners again!

Glenn Turns 6!

July ended, August began and Glenn turned 6!  

Kirsta and her family had just moved to Dallas in July so they were close enough to come for his birthday.  We were so excited and happy to have them!

The morning of his birthday we played with balloons and ate breakfast--Glenn had asked for Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.  

Misc. in July

July was a busy month for us.  

I managed to take a few random pictures throughout the month though.

I love Glenn's imagination!  One day I came into my room to see that he had made a throne out of pillows.  That looks a lot more comfortable than some other thrones I've seen...

Uncle Mark's Retirement Ceremony

Uncle Mark retired from the United States Air Force this summer.  

The ceremony was held on July 16 in San Antonio.

 We were fortunate enough to be able to attend the ceremony and the family gathering afterwards.  

Mu Sool Won in July

Glenn has been learning all kinds of new things in Mu Sool Won.  One of his favorite games was the Bomb Game.  The mats would be out and Master Kevin would choose which spots had 'bombs'.  If the kids jumped on a square with a bomb, they had to go back to the beginning.  The first one to the end, won.  

Short Visit from Mom and Dad in July

My sister and her family moved to the Dallas area over the July 4th weekend.  My brother in law, Morian got a new job there!  My parents drove out with them to help with the long drive and the two cars and kids.  They decided to come down to Austin for a short visit to see us!

Monday afternoon we went to Glenn's Mu Sool Won class, and then we went to dinner at The Salt Lick.  It's not the original one in downtown Austin, but it's just north of where we were living.