Ashton's Birthday Interview

How old are you? 10

What is your favorite color? Baby green

What is your favorite animal? Dolphin

What is your favorite book? Anything animal

What is your favorite show? Dr. Oakley- vet show

What do you like to eat? Chicken salad and fruit salad

What is your favorite game? Set

What is your favorite thing to do? Go on hike

Who is your best friend? Lyra/London/Kate

What do you like to do with Dad? Go on rides (Joseph is the one to ride the rollercoasters with the kids)

What do you like to with Mom? Crafts

Where do you want to go on a vacation? Jewel Cave National Monument (she's doing a research project on it so wants to go now. Unfortunately, it's in South Dakota. It will be a while before we're in that part of the country.)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Teacher/vet

What is your favorite song? A Million Dreams; she just sang it in a talent show

What is the best time of day? Morning, after breakfast

What makes you happy? My friends and family

I Love to See the Temple

The temple in McAllen, Texas was finally ready for the open house! We have waited a few years for this. The timing of the open house wasn't great- right after school started and in the Texas heat. So I had the big kids miss a day of school to go. We drove 6 hours south and stayed the night in McAllen the day before the open house began. We were there at 10am for one of the first tours on Friday. After the temple, we drove to South Padre Island. We rented a beach house for the weekend. It was a great trip.

The kids enjoyed the temple. Gemma shared a sacred experience with me afterwards that I hope she will remember as she gets older. Ashton liked seeing the baptismal font as she is only 15 months away from being able to attend the temple as a youth.

After the temple and drive to the island, we visited a turtle rescue/rehabilitation facility. The kids loved it all. Then we spent Friday night and all day Saturday at the beach. Having the beach house right there was nice so we could walk back and forth for lunch and breaks when we needed it. The beaches and water were so much nicer than Galveston. We even found a sand dollar, along with bags and bags of seashells.

We drove back Sunday after going to a small branch in the area. The people there were so excited to have a temple nearby. The kids did great on the trip as well. We found out at the branch that this temple is a huge blessing to the area it was built in. There is obviously a customs border check at the actual Mexico/US border (maybe 30 minutes away) but there is also one an hour north (that we hit on the way home, complete with drug dogs and lots of border security officers). This means much of the area's population due to their illegal immigrant status are unable to leave the area due to the risk of crossing a checkpoint. This limits their ability to attend any temple- US or Mexico.

Tanner's Soccer Team

Last winter, Joseph was approached by another coach in Tanner's rec soccer league. He had seen Tanner play over the last two years and wanted Tanner to play on his club soccer team. I immediately said no when Joseph told me. I don't like competitive sports at such a young age and I don't want to pay that kind of money. Even the rec league is a little pricey for me. But then Joseph explained it to me. The coach finds business sponsors to offset fees. So there was no expense to play on the team. We decided to try it out.

The coach enters the team in little 3v3 or 5v5 tournaments. Some are local and easy to commit to. Others are farther away and require hotels/travel. We also made it clear we wouldn't play on Sundays, which wasn't an issue for the coach. Tanner enjoyed playing with the boys and liked that he was finally on a team of players who understood soccer. The coach is definitely stricter and more focused on skill development. 

The team qualified for a regional competition in Austin. Since it was on our way back from Arkansas and a Saturday-only tournament, we went. Tanner's team took 3rd place in the tournament, which made them eligible for nationals. It was crazy! Tanner was playing against teams that pay over $1000 a month for the coach/equipment and Tanner's team was beating them! His team has committed to going to Nationals in Alabama so that is our Thanksgiving plan.

After that, the team will go back to local tournaments. It's been a good balance for our family- nothing too expensive or high commitments but higher level soccer for Tanner. He loves it too.

Arkansas

 I took the big kids to Arkansas this summer. We wanted to do more hiking without as much complaining when we take the littles with. So I planned a fun trip to Arkansas. My sister flew into Houston and joined us for the first half of the trip. That was nice to help with the driving as well as the river float.

The first day, we found some fun hikes. I wanted waterfalls and we got more water-trickles. I want to go back some spring break and see the big waterfalls. We had fun just exploring caves and natural areas.

Then, we spent a day on the Buffalo River. We rented two canoes and did a 4-5 hour float down the river. The kids did well with the float. The water was a little low so we got out a few times to help the canoes through the water. We stopped at the sandy beaches and a little creek. Tanner loved the creek as we did leave races for a long time.

The final day with my sister, we drove to Little Rock and visited Little Rock Central High School. We read a ton about the high school and desegregation before the trip so the kids were pretty good about learning more at the visitor's center and seeing the school. We said goodbye to my sister who was flying out the next morning.

The kids and I kept going to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We visited the national park there and did some hiking in a nearby state park. We also went horseback riding.

Saturday was a tournament for Tanner back in Texas so we finished our trip off with the tournament.

Our view from our cabin.