New layout, again.

After the posts I made last night, Jeana and were reading through them and my previous layout was unbearable to read. I decided to go back to a layout provided by Blogger. I like it better.

What Matters Most

Elder M. Russell Ballard made this statement in a recent talk in General Conference: "What matters most is what lasts the longest, and families are for eternity." He could not have said it any better.

Honestly, have you seen anything in life that makes you happier than Kate, a.k.a the "gench" (we pronounce that one jench)!



Or, how about those cute little cowgirl boots? Thanks Aunt Karen!



Now that we have our couches delivered, we were able to hang up some pictures in the play room upstairs to make it feel a little more inviting. Jeana's goal is to just keep getting as many pictures of the girls as we can to hang in their play area. This will do one of two things, or both: 1) make them egotistical and feel even more like princesses, or 2) show them how much we love them.



Here is a picture of our house as of last week. If you look closely under the window on the bottom floor, you'll be able to see the retaining wall bricks that we worked so hard to put in. We also transplanted a patch of grass on the corner where the sidewalk meets the driveway back when we planted the gardens. In just over a month, you can barely tell that it was a transplant. The tree in the picture died while we were in Utah for the Edwards family reunion. However, thanks to Audrey's diligence in trying to "save" the tree, the tree returned to life and sprouted some green leaves.



Maybe in a future post I'll take some pictures of edging around the grass - Texas style. It's not the normal way we did things growing up in Idaho.

We Love Visitors!

As I said in my last post, the Parkers came to visit us last week. They got here on Tuesday evening and I attempted to cook something for everyone. I think it tasted good in the end. I won't say what we ate, because then anyone who reads this would think, "What! You didn't know how to make that?"

Our new couches arrived just hours after the Parkers. Sadly the couches should have been here earlier that day before Jodi and Stephen's family arrived. I think they look great!



It was really fun to see Kate playing with someone near her age. I think my favorite thing was watching Olivia slapping Kate in the face while they were exploring each other a bit.



The night before the Parkers flew back to Idaho, we went out to eat at Rudy's to give Stephen another chance to have Texas BBQ. Stephen sure loves his brisket.



I had to work all week while they were here and I missed out on some of the fun things everyone got to do. I guess this is Mount Bonnell (pronounced buh-NELL, this was a topic of conversation at the end of the day).



We really loved having the Parkers at our house. Jeana and I stayed up just chatting with Stephen and Jodi late each night. I wish we could see them more.

Thanks ya'll for coming!

The Playground by Our House

Jeana took the girls over to the playground by our house last night while I was finishing up some conference calls for work. I was working from home and when I went downstairs after my last call, they weren't around, so I figured they went for a walk somewhere. I found them walking back from the playground, and Jeana asked Audrey if she wanted to show me her trick.



I was pretty impressed when I saw Audrey would jump up to grab on to the monkey bars.



The temperatures in Texas this week have really cooled down. In fact, tonight we went out in the back yard after dinner to put away the badminton set and when we walked back inside I commented about how that was the first time I've walked into our house when it was warmer inside than outside.



Tomorrow, Danielle, Peter, and Ivy are coming to visit for 10 days. Audrey is so excited to have cousins to play with again. Last week, Jodi and Stephen brought their family and spent a few days with us. Audrey absolutely loved playing with Lily.

I'll post some pictures from the visit from the Parkers.

My Half

I won't say much about this. Just wanted to post it.