Thanksgiving 2010 With the Picketts!!!

There are so many words that can describe our trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving, Wonderful, fun, laughter, shock and awe (you would understand if you were there). We had such a great time. Girls went shopping, boys went golfing and shooting, went to movies, Arizona Zoo, Geicko Grill, Temple Christmas Lights, Pei Wei's, ran a 10k and spent some quality time with Penni and her family. It was sooo good to be with family for the Holidays. We have not spent anytime with the family for the Holidays since we moved to Texas 3 years ago!! Way to long. Thank You to Penni and her family for making it so fun and worth the 14 hour trip one way. We were also able to enjoy some fun times with the Mumford Family, I am sure they had a great time!!! With a house full of girls Carson sure enjoyed their boys!! It was a great relief to the girls I'm sure. Also I trained really hard to run the 2 mile with Kristine and followed that with the 10k. 8.2 miles total. It was my first organized run. It was so fun! Ben was such a support and want to Thank him for that. How far I have come since cancer. I felt a little emotional when I completed the race. I couldn't even walk 50 feet and not be extremely tired and have to lay down and here I am a year n a half later and I'm running 8.2 miles!! I am going to now train for a half marathon at the end of January in Austin!! Enjoy our pics from our Thanksgiving Trip!!

Off we go!!

Turned my head and a goat was getting really close!

Ben and I at the Arizona Zoo

Silly boys, they could fit right in at the zoo

Kids and I having a blast at the Zoo!!

I can see the finish line!!!!

My Sweetheart there to give me a proud hug!!

All of us who ran in the Turkey Trot!!

Ben cutting the Texas Turkey we had shipped to Arizona

Mesa Arizona Temple Lights, so beautiful!!

Todd and Zoe shooting

I think the highlight for Carson was shooting his brand new BB gun!!

Canyon loved it to!! What a fun Dad!!

Canyon loved all the Christmas lights at the Temple!!!

Happy Cousins!! What a trip!!! So worth it!!!

More Pics from Arizona Trip!

Canyon loves to ride on the Luggage cart, pretty Cute!!!

Getting our energy out after a long drive!

This is our new favorite spot, it makes the drive to family that much sweeter!!

Kids so excited to swim and see there cousins!!!

Halloween 2010

Halloween was so fun this year. Our ward had their annual Chili and Cornbread cook off and Carnival and Trunk r Treat!! They defiantly get a lot more candy at the trunk o treat. We had our 2nd Open House for our new church building which is a Stake Center so those non members that weren't interested in coming to tour the building they did come to our Halloween festivities. We had over 400 people there and 100 of them were non members!!! It was really cool to see. Our family couldn't even find a place to eat our chili. So the men got to work setting up more table and chairs. All of us had so much fun. Here's some pictures of our fun Halloween Night!!

My little Dragon, So cute

At the trunk o treat at our new building!

Canyon getting his face painted by Sister Willie

Only Texas would you have a target game at a Halloween Carnival!!

It was funny to see the Dads that only had little girls shooting acting like their little girls really wanted to go to this booth!!!

My two older Kiddo's, a Nerd and a Scary Clown!!

Ben and Jodi's 13th Wedding Anniversary 2010

As I reflect back on Ben and I and how we started out I didn't know quite how are future would be but I knew in my heart he loved me so much he would do all he could to ensure we were taken care of and would have a good life. He has absolutely confirmed all that I believed. Not many gave us much hope on making it far, but Ben and I knew. Does that mean it was easy, no but we both knew it was worth it. There were so many times we could of given up but we didn't. Those hard times made us stronger and wouldn't change any of it because it brought us here. I know without a doubt that being sealed in the temple made us persevere and fortified us to get through those difficult times. All those hard times and good times are the reasons we were able to handle the biggest trial of all, cancer. I knew Ben loved me but I wasn't even close to what he showed during our cancer journey. I am so grateful for him. I'm so blessed to have someone who loves the lord and loves his family more than anything. Does it mean he's perfect, no but the most desirable quality about Ben is his drive and commitment to make me and the kids happy and he is always willing to look at himself and be willing to change. I couldn't ask for anyone better. I love my partner and friend and hopefully if we live they way we should and follow our Savior we'll be together forever, here's to 13 years and more!! Pictures of our overnight trip to Austin!! Thank you for a wonderful time babe!

We had a private booth just for us!!

If you look you can see Ben pulled some strings and wished me a Happy Anniversary on the Menu, he thinks of the sweetest things!!

Ben is very romantic, everything has to be perfect!!

Aaaw!!! How cute!!

My hubby!!

Spending the day at Austin, unknowingly it was the Pecan Festival where over 350 vendors come and set up on 6th st. It was so fun!!

some pics of downtown Austin, such a fun place and cool vibe!

We had lunch at this Mexican Restaurant, the Iron Cactus, soo good! Fun times!

Canyon starts Pre-School 2010

How cute is he!! He literally gets this everywhere my little Canyon goes.

He started his pre-school the beginning of September and were so excited to learn that his teacher Miss Melanie moved up and he has her again. You could hear Canyon and I both scream with excitement when we found out!!

He absolutely loves pre school!! Here's some pics of the first day.

Here's my Canyon being silly and playing in my laundry basket, he looks like a baby chick with his spiky hair!

Our Adventure to the Natural Bridge Caverns!

This was such a fun family filled day. This is a must see when you come to San Antonio!! It is amazing to see what is below the earth's surface! It's a whole new world under there! This is what we did Labor Day weekend and it was so beautiful. I didn't want to screw up all the details of the Natural Bridge Caverns and the discovery of it so I copied and pasted the info from their website. Also after they discovered the caverns the owners of the land try to give it to the government to preserve but the government didn't think it would be successful!! Another stupid choice by the government. Lets just say the land owners have millions due to this discovery, oh know Americans didn't need the money! Anyway it was so fun. Also finding out that most of Texas at one time was under warm shallow sea! This did make me very curious to what other wonders are lurking below us. Take time to read the info below to see how this amazing discovery of the caverns came to be! Hit the slide show to full screen and you can see the caverns better, Enjoy the Slideshow!

In March of 1960, Orion Knox Jr., Preston Knodell, Al Brandt and Joe Cantu, four college students from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, obtained permission to explore the area that is now Natural Bridge Caverns. The students were convinced that large underground passages existed under the amazing 60-foot limestone bridge. On their fourth expedition, Orion felt a cool draft from a rubble-filled crawlway. Such air currents often indicate the presence of additional rooms or passages.

The explorers made their way carefully climbing and crawling through two miles of vast cavern passage. After making this amazing discovery, they returned to the surface to tell the landowners. The discoverers knew immediately what an astonishing find they had made and the land owners decided to develop the first 1/2 mile, the most spectacular part of the caverns, for the enjoyment of guests from around the world. That first 1/2 mile is now the Discovery Tour. Natural Bridge Caverns Discovery Tour was developed with two main goals in mind: preservation of the cavern environment and comfort of its guests. The result is one of the world premier show caverns, and one of the most popular attractions in Texas.

Visitors to the caverns walk through different layers of limestone, a sedimentary rock. Geologists theorize that during the Cretaceous period, a warm, shallow sea covered much of Texas. Sediments and dead marine organisms collected on the ocean floor, compacted and formed the different limestone layers. Geologists give different names to the various layers, and visitors to Natural Bridge Caverns will find the Glen Rose and the Kainer (Edwards) layers. The Glen Rose, as the oldest rock layer, contains the lowermost chambers, while the Kainer forms the Natural Bridge.
Perhaps around 20 million years ago, a number of faults formed in Texas due to settling of the costal regions. These movements created an extensive series of faults known as the Balcones Fault Zone. The eroded face of the Balcones Escarpment marks both the fault zone and the beginning of the Texas Hill Country. In addition to creating the faults, the tectonic stresses also created joints, or cracks in the rock. Underground water moving along the joints eventually carved the passages at Natural Bridge Caverns, one of the main sources of San Antonio fun.
The cavern formed by an underground “river” moving slowly through cracks and pores within the limestone. Rainwater seeping through cracks started dissolving the limestone. In time, the original narrow cracks or joints enlarged to form huge underground conduits or passages.
Perhaps due to changes in climate, vegetation, or other natural forces, the water drained to lower levels within the earth. As the water left the upper passages, it moved deeper and started forming a second level. The water eventually moved to another level even deeper within the earth. As the water left the lower level, stresses within the rock led to many of the layers collapsing to form break-out domes. This final stage of collapse led to the creation of the passages our visitors now see.

Carson's 10th Birthday

Oh yes being born on the 4th of July definitely lends itself to the name Firecracker. I can't imagine not having Carson in our family. He's full of life and energy and makes us smile. When he looks at me with those blue eyes, they melt my heart. He loves sharing his Birthday with ALL of the family especially his cousins. He has fallen in love with Texas so he wanted to fit the part. For his birthday he wanted to look like a cowboy. He makes a pretty handsome one. Love him so much!

Family Trip to Idaho 2010

So grateful that I was able to go to Idaho for almost a month. Although it made it hard to come home knowing you won't see anyone for awhile, I think we made some great memories. These are the times that help us get through not seeing each other. My kids loved being there and enjoying there cousins and all there Aunts and Uncles and most of all Grandpa and Grandma's on both sides. It was so good to be with all of you. I will never forget going through for Troy's temple work. It was beautiful and spiritual and only we would be laughing in the temple as well!! Oh Penni!! I will never forget the look on your face when I turned around and saw how you were struggling, I am seriously laughing right now. I have the image burnt in my mind!! FYI you had to be there! Here are the memories!

Family Trip to Idaho 2010

Ok I know its been AWHILE!!! Well its time to get to my blog and let you know whats been going on in our lives this summer.
I have to go back a bit since I haven't done any posting since we've been back from Idaho. I have so many pics that I am going to put them in slides. This slide is pics on our way to Idaho. We lost some because I didn't back up my phone but the highlight are we had 2 stops on our way and those were Las Cruces New Mexico and Cortez Colorado. We loved the little town we stayed in New Mexico and have found a must have stop when we go to Idaho again. That is the best Frozen Custard ever, Caliches!! I would seriously make the drive just to have me some more. Those are some of the pics I lost but there is one of Canyon eating it in the slideshow, soooo DELICIOUS. We stopped at the Continental Divide, 4 Corners which is the only place in the U.S. that 4 states touch and Route 66.