We listed our house right before spring break. A recipe for disaster: All the kids home from school that week plus multiple showings nearly every day. Ugh! So we decided to make our house perfect. PERFECT. Then abandon ship and take our mess to Texas. We figured it would be better to trash the grandparents' houses than our own. Plus, it would be nice to experience a little spring, seeing as how it was still the dead of winter here.
Going to Texas was a great decision! It was so wonderful to feel a little sunshine and have some extra helping hands.
First we made a mess at my mom's house. It was great fun.
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| Little Sara on her first walk ever! She was like, "Air? Wind? Sun? What is all this?" Surprisingly, it was only in the 50's and 60's when we first got there. But that was probably a good thing because when it finally reached 75 we Wisconsinite folks were MELTING, baby included. |
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| Mary wore her Easter dress to church at my mom's house. |
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| Sara wore hers too! First time in a dress. (Besides her blessing gown.) |
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| I love this picture of Mary and my mom. Grandma Evie took us all to the Barnes and Noble in Highland Village so the kids could pick out books. Then we went outside to enjoy the books in the sunshine. Here is Mary reading Amelia Bedilia to my mom. My favorite detail is the Sea Life Aquarium medal around Mary's neck. One morning my mom took David and Mary to the aquarium while Greg and I went to the temple together. Greg's mom met us at the temple to take care of Sara while Greg and I were inside. (Thank you, Moms, for making it possible for Greg and me to attend the temple!) Mary worked hard for her medal at the aquarium, and she was quite proud of it! (By the way, David was running around reading his new book outside Barnes and Noble too.) |
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| Grandpa Mike was prepared for chess matches with David, which he got. But somebody else wanted to learn! |
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| So now Grandpa Mike has a new opponent. |
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| She's a tough one! |
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| As usual, the kids loved playing with dogs and helping to take care of them. |
We enjoyed being in Flower Mound. David and Mary were so happy to be outside a lot. And I appreciated the extra help. (And I think we all liked my dad's really big new TV Greg helped pick out and set up. New TVs don't happen often in my family.) It was great to see my parents! I loved visiting with them, and I am so grateful for their love and support. (Hey, Mom and Dad, because I love you so much I will not write about the Great Water Heater Debacle of 2013.)
Soon it was time to take our mess up the road to Greg's parents' house. We had a great time there, too.
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| Mary helped Grammy clean and arrange her fairy gardens. Mary loves working with Grammy on projects. |
Our big outing was to the Dallas Arboretum (which I love!). It was the perfect day to go--so perfect, in fact, that everyone else in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex decided to go too! As a result, we had to park in the overflow lot a mile or two away and ride a big huge bus to the arboretum entrance. The bus was a big hit with David and Mary! After enjoying the flowers, we all met Greg (who had stayed home to work) for some amazing pizza at
Grimaldi's. It made for a lovely day.
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| David on the bus! |
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| David and Mary were excited that it was Sara's first time ever on a bus. |
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| Beautiful blooms; beautiful girl. |
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| A big grassy area just begs to be cartwheeled on. |
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| David and Mary. There were lots of flowers...and lots of people. |
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| The Texas Pioneer Adventure area is always a big hit. |
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| David and the plow. I have so many pictures of him doing this--it's always his favorite thing. |
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| David relaxing on the porch of his favorite pioneer house. |
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| Sara took a little nap in her grammy's arms. |
It was such a pleasure to visit with Greg's parents. It is always a blessing to be in their home.
When Greg and I got married my parents lived in California. It was a year or so later that they happened to move to Dallas, where Greg's parents were. It has been such a blessing for us in so many ways to have them close together. Like being able to take our mess to Texas to spring break!
