Dominoes at Home

After doing dominoes at the library a month or so ago, Glenn decided he wanted to try some of the techniques at home.  He first set up some mini figures he had been getting in an advent calendar we have.

A New Rug!

So our new home has a lot of brown tile.  It is cold in the winter, and it made our home loud and echo-y.  We had some friends who had a rug that we liked and decided to order one for our living room.  It arrived in early December and we didn't hesitate to set it up right away!

In Vitro Fertilization

When we got back from Spain, we had some big decisions to make.  For the past several years, Paul and I have been struggling to get pregnant again.  We had been meeting with a fertility doctor, taking tests and trying to figure out why.  The tests came back showing there was nothing wrong with either of us, which was great on one hand, but also frustrating.  With nothing wrong, there was nothing for us to 'fix' in order to get pregnant.  Over the past year or so we had tried 5 IUI's--Intra-uterine insemination.  Each time was unsuccessful and disappointing.  We had tried one last time--the 5th time--just before going to Spain and we found out there that it too didn't work.  So we talked about other options.  I will be honest that there were times when I just wanted to give up and say that we had one kid--who was pretty amazing--and we could be okay with that.  But then there were times that I would cry and feel like a failure or that I wasn't giving Glenn siblings, or whatever.  I thought maybe we should just adopt because for whatever reason, we weren't having more of our own.  But Paul felt like we hadn't done ALL that WE could do.  So when we got back from Spain, we met with the doctor to see what we needed to do in order to start In Vitro Fertilization or IVF.

The first step, after ultrasounds to confirm that there were no cysts on my ovaries--I had to do that with every IUI too--was to take some birth control pills.  They needed to regulate my cycle and be able to make things happen on certain days.

November Misc.

Some really great things happened in November.

The first one was our new tables and chairs!!  We had been using a folding table as our dining table for about 3 years--ever since we left Utah and had given away our little round table.  So it's been a long time coming.  (The folding table didn't stop us from having lots of friends over for dinner, but having a real table will be even better!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our new home!

My sister Kirsta and her family came down from Dallas and we also sort of crashed another dinner.  Well, we asked to join with them and since we added another 7, we needed to do it at our house because it was bigger.

Thank goodness we just bought 2 new tables!  We pushed them together, moved the couches and other living room furniture and it worked out great!  All 19 of us fit around the 2 tables.  It was loud, it was crazy, it was wonderful!  We had good food and lots of great company!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Week Fun

Monday, November 23 my sister Kirsta and her two kids came down from Dallas to spend the Thanksgiving week with us.  Devin had the entire week off, so they came to enjoy the entire week--Morian, her hubby, had to work until Wednesday, so he joined us Wednesday evening.

We were sure happy to have them here with us!  Paul also got the time off from work, so we got to enjoy the whole week together!

Throughout the week we played LOTS of games!  I didn't really take many pictures of that because I was usually playing in them.  But just know that we all had a really fun time. :D

However, I did take pictures of one game--Funny Bones.  This game is always picture-worthy!

Little Passports Continues

I know it's a monthly thing, but Glenn really enjoys Little Passports.  This month Sam and Sophia went to Egypt!

Dominoes at the Library

November 16, the library had a domino day.  We watched a video about different chain-reaction things and then the kids were set loose to create their own chain reactions.

They had learned some different techniques--to put the tiles closer together on a curve, how to split the lines, etc.  So Glenn was eager to try them.

Happy Veteran's Day

November 11, Glenn and I went to Pfluger Park to attend a Veteran's Day Celebration.

Soccer Ends

Glenn's soccer season ended on November 10th.  There were so many rained-out games that I feel like we got short-changed.  But there isn't much we can do about the weather.  Normally they have games on Saturday mornings, but they tried to get one last game in--to make up for all the rained-out games--and had one on Tuesday evening.  

I was kind of surprised too that the association didn't provide team photos.  So we took this opportunity to take pictures of the team.  We were missing a couple of players that night, but this was most of them--along with the coaches (and mini-coach).

Happy Halloween 2015

Each year our ward has a Halloween party.  This year we were pushed inside because of bad weather. Glenn had wanted to be a vampire this year, so we all went with that idea and went as a vampire family.

October Misc.

October seemed to fly by!  We had soccer practice and games and all kinds of things.  We also had a lot of rainy and bad weather.  But we still managed to have a little fun!

Chili Cook-Off

Also on October 17th, there was a High Priest activity.  It was a chili cook-off.

Paul and I had been going through papers a while back when he saw a recipe for chili from a local restaurant.  It was different than the normal chili you might think of, so he cut it out and said, "I am going to win the cook-off with this chili!"

So he made the chili and guess what?!  He got 2nd place!!

I realize now that I didn't take a picture of the actual chili, but it was really good!  And it had a good color to it too.  So if you're looking for a good chili that's different than your normal, average chili, let me know and we can send you the award-winning chili recipe!

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.