happy spring!

Today is the first day of Spring.

Spring? Pshhhh. Apparently Texas skips over it and jumps right to summer.

Do you know how much I hate hot temperatures? So much, in fact, that in high school while hubs & I were dating, we often talked about living in Alaska.

Talking to my friend Erin the other day and said "it's been SO hot in our house that I have come very close to flipping that a/c switch on..."

She chuckled and said "oh, you're not from the South. March is when the a/c does come on."

Rest assured that yes indeed, the following day, our a/c was on. Hey, I never claimed to be a tough guy.

Everything's bigger in Texas... including the price of your electric bill.

Exploring the city.

Our car was broke down for a few days this week, so once Tyler had some time to fix it, Jaxon and I spent the next day out on the town ... we were thankful to not be under house arrest anymore! While we were out, I found this really cool shopping mall. It's not your typical mall ... it was a huge warehouse that they remodeled and turned into one large shopping area, so instead of each store having it's own 4 walls, every store was out in the open and you just roamed from place to place, not even sure if you were in the same store as you were just 5 seconds ago or not. Some stores were blocked off with curtains or decor, others were not. It was a little overwhelming at first, but once I figured out what was going on I really enjoyed it. Then, no matter what store you bought from, you paid in the same place up front. It was an interesting concept and I'll definitely be back... they had some really cute stores and just cute stuff in general!

Here's some pictures I snapped while there ...

{sorry for the picture overload, I didn't realize how many I took until I uploaded them!!}

Cute maternity section ... too bad the plain t-shirts were over $70!
{everything else was super reasonably priced ... just this particular boutique was crazy!}

All the jewelry was $2 each!

Granted, it might break tomorrow, but at least you only spent $2 on it.

Awesome stationary/graphic design area

Cute little cafe ... they have a $5 lunch menu and everything sounded yummy!

In the back corner {where you see black/white words} was where I got my eyebrows waxed ... it was cheap, only $12 and she did a really good job.

Wish I had the time/energy to scrapbook or do anything creative for that matter ...

sigh, maybe someday.

Know my sister would LOVE this section ... cute cute clothes!!!

Loved all their home decor ... I could have done some damage there to my bank account, but I resisted. :)

Lucky for my husband for me, these are the only things I walked out with ...

4 necklaces for 8 bucks. Not too shabby.

Just part of my plan to dressing cuter ... figured a few accessories might help!

{29 weeks, 2 days - in case you were wondering!}

I was in a hurry that day as I had to be home to make dinner before Tyler got home, but I easily could have spent a lot of time there and hope to go back someday soon ... it would be great to find a friend to go with ... hopefully someday.

Guess you know what we're doing when you come visit us, huh? ;)

It aint so bad.

I was a little sad the other day after looking on my phone for a frozen yogurt place in Waco, only to find a bunch of frozen custard and ice cream places show up on the map.

Then I came across an article called "50 reasons Waco doesn't suck" {seriously!} and what was #42?

Mr. Snow’s self-serve frozen yogurt.

A simple, fun, and healthier hands-on food experience. Walk in, grab a cup and fill it up with as much frozen yogurt as you want, then top it off with fruit, candy, syrup or all of the above. You’re charged by the ounce, so what’ll it be? Vanilla yogurt with crushed Oreos? New York cheesecake yogurt with fresh strawberries? Something funky like a mix of Yellow Cake Batter and mango yogurt? Or will you go down the wall of flavors, squirting in a sample of everything? Located on La Salle by the Baylor campus, students are lining up to help themselves to their own frozen yogurt creations. — KM

It was a little tough to find the place since the article doesn't give an address, and the name of the place does not show up on our Iphones, but we went for a drive and eventually found it. And as soon as we pulled up, I heard the angels singing.

My yummy-ness.

Tyler's ... don't you love how he put fruit on his, and mine is covered in chocolate?

Haha, blame the baby.

Jaxon clearly approves. :)

Storms.

Yesterday afternoon, Waco got hit with a crazy storm. It started out just as a thunderstorm, but soon enough the winds were so strong I couldn't even see out my front window or back door ... I love rain, and especially love sleeping in it, but not this kind of rain. Jaxon was crying, terrified of the thunder & lightning, and then to find out my husband was on his way home during the storm only added to my panic.

But eventually the storm stopped, Tyler was home, and we went outside to check out what happened ... only to find this:

This huge branch is hanging upside-down in front of our house, seriously barely hanging on. Glad the tree guy is coming today to cut it down!

This tree literally snapped in half (look at the size of the trunk!) and fell onto their house ... it was just a couple of homes down from ours.

Pictures don't really do the storm justice, but the 70+ mph winds were so strong that they tipped a car over down the street.

Tyler and I joked that the easiest way to meet your neighbors here is to go on a walk ... everyone is always hanging out on couches on their front lawns (yes, i am being serious about the couches!). And after this storm, everyone was out roaming around checking out the damage.

Gotta love the south!

Changes.

Well, my sister finally convinced me to make the switch from Wordpress to Blogger. I am not sure why I didn't do it earlier, but cheers to a cuter and easier to understand blog.

We made it to Waco! The past week of our life was a complete whirlwind ... but we're here and finally getting settled into our new home. We looked at a total of 5 houses to rent and by the end of the day, we chose the one that we thought would fit our family and our budget the best! It is an older home, which I love ... has lots of old home charm! Definitely the polar opposite of our last house. I loved that one too, but this one just has more character. I do, however, miss my dishwasher. We didn't realize until AFTER we signed the lease that this new place doesn't have a dishwasher! Oh well. I miss the open layout of our old house and the big bright windows in every room, and going from 2200 sq feet 4 bedroom house to a small 2 bedroom home has definitely brought some "where the heck am I going to put this?!" challenges, but so far, it has all worked out. Luckily this house came with tons of storage (garage AND a shed) so it has been fine.

My biggest obstacle has been decorating ... having enough stuff to decorate and furnish our old stuff, and not wanting it to be cluttered in the new house has been a little tough. It's hard to find a balance between it being OVERLY decorated to feeling empty, so I am struggling trying to find a happy medium there. Right now it doesn't feel homey to me, and I think it's just because of the white walls. Our landlords weren't keen on us painting, and with me being 7 months pregnant and having Jaxon to worry about (I can just see a paint can spilling as I type...), I dropped the subject and decided to just grin and bear it.

Anyway, overall we are really happy with the house and I know the longer we're here the more like "home" it will feel. Plus, the saying is definitely true: "Home is where they love you". And I have two (and a half?) boys that love me immensely here, what more could I ask for?

Be back soon, and with pics ... I promise :)

Howdy, y'all.

Do I really have to start talking like that?  I refuse to say those two words ... howdy, and y'all.  Because they are both made up, and I am the grammar nazi.

Well ... Tyler accepted a job in Waco, Texas!  We are excited for lots of reasons.  First and foremost, it is a stable company and the job is NOT a contract! (hooray!)  They have incredible benefits, including 15 days of vacation a year as a newbie, excellent medical benefits, they take 10 days off in-between Christmas and New Years (and that doesn't count against your vacation time) AND they are paying for us to relocate.  Not only that, but all of those benefits start on day 1!  And with a baby coming in a couple of months -- ::gulp:: -- that itself is definitely an answer to prayer.  What else could we ask for?  Well, I guess we could ask for it to be in Kansas City or in the Midwest, but obviously God has other plans.  And we are okay with that.

Stability. Finding a house we can call our own.  A husband who comes home every night after work.  Perfect, perfect, perfect.

It is such a bittersweet thing.  I think this move is harder on me for one reason, and one reason only ... my boys.  I want so badly for them to know their grandparents, not just know OF them.  It kills me to lose my support system that is just hours away.  Okay, I guess I shouldn't say "lose it", because I know I'll never lose their support.  They just won't be able to rescue me when I have a 22 month old naughty boy and a newborn on my hands.  And not just their grandparents, but their aunts/uncles and cousins ... I know our families will always be apart of our lives, I have no doubt.  I just wish they could be apart of our everyday lives.

The second reason it will be so hard is because of our friends.  We have established a second family here in KC through our church and small group.  These people are irreplaceable and will forever hold a spot in my heart ... seriously.  I know the friendships we have with them will not die, and we can only hope our paths will cross again someday (soon).  And our friends that aren't apart of our small group but are still here in KC, including the newlyweds Brian & Angie that we adore ... tears ...

I have a feeling this move will be similar to our California move ... we lived there for almost a year and found work back in the Midwest and moved back 'home'.  Right now, I can't see this being a permanent, forever and ever and ever "until we retire" sort of thing.  Although, if Texas is where God wants us until we grow old and die at 99, then Texas it will be.  We have always prayed for His will to be done, and that will always be our prayer first and foremost.

We are loading the truck early Saturday morning and will leave for that hot, tornado-filled, snake-infested, red dirt state first thing on Monday.

This is definitely going to be an emotional weekend ahead, I can feel it in my bones.