Family Vacation

We always like to take our family vacations as soon as the kids get out of school.  This year was no different.  However, due to the time that we could rent our house in Florida, we decided to break up our trip down to Florida and make a stop in New Orleans.  On Thursday, June 2, thirty minutes after the last child got home from school we started our vacation and drove towards New Orleans.  It was an adventure getting there because of the rain.  Basically the whole way to our hotel it rained off and on with several periods of heavy rain and traffic.  We did make it not too much later than we had planned.

Our first night in New Orleans we ate at our favorite restaurant, Zea Rotisserie & Grill, which we found on our last trip to New Orleans.  On Friday we visited Oak Alley Plantation.  I have always wanted to visit a plantation and this one was beautiful.  I have always thought that plantations were wide, but learned that the ones here along the Mississippi River were long.  Many of the plantations next to each other were owned by the same family and gifted as wedding gifts to children as they married.  Before heading back to our hotel to get ready for dinner we had lunch at the restaurant on the plantation.  What is a visit to the south without a virgin mint julip?  Yummy!  For dinner we took the kids to Commanders Palace in the Garden District.  We all had turtle soup.  Alyson tried it, but didn’t finish it.  Dinner was a fine dining experience for the kids.  Bryon said that even though the food was good and he enjoyed going, it was too much for him. 

Saturday, we headed out to our final destination, Destin, Florida.  We saw a billboard along the way for Lambert’s Café and we decided to stop there for lunch.  We knew that there was going to be a wait, but decided that we did not want to wait at least an hour to be seated.  Therefore, we went back up the street to Mellow Mushroom.  After lunch instead of driving back up to I-10, we took Highway 98 into Florida.  We had more rain and traffic was awful.  We finally made it to our rental and loved it.  We were about three blocks to the public beach access.  We walked down to the beach and walked a ways at sunset.  It was beautiful with the white sand and the blue-green water.

Sunday, we went to church.  Since it was a Fast Sunday and we were in a ward where we would not see anyone again, both Bryon and Lauren bore their testimonies.  They both did a really good job.  After lunch we took a drive along 30-A.

Even though we had an itinerary for this trip, we made several changes along the way.  One major change was that we were on vacation and we wanted this to be a relaxing vacation.  So, instead of always being on the go we decided to sleep in as late as we wanted therefore, several of our morning plans changed.  Monday, we slept in and basically relaxed until it was time to get ready for our family pictures on the beach.  We decided to have professional pictures taken since the last time we had professional pictures taken was 19 years ago at the Dallas Temple when Scott and I got married.  Every other time we had pictures taken they were taken at Sears, JCPenney, Walmart or taken by friends or myself.  It was time to have professional pictures taken.  I am really excited to see how they turned out in about three weeks.

Tuesday, we went to the beach.  The water was a bit rough because of Tropical Storm Collin and swimming was not allowed.  (For those who are wondering, Tropical Storm Collin did not affect us.  We just had rain off and on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.)  We were able to sit on the sand next to the water and let the waves wash up on us.  We did wear sunblock, but apparently not enough because we all got sunburnt.  Scott kept commenting that it was a good thing that we had our family pictures taken before we went to the beach. 

Wednesday, we did some shopping and went to the Village of Baytown Wharf.  We were not at the wharf for more than an hour because it really wasn’t that exciting.  Yes, there were several restaurants, shops and activities, but nothing that really enticed us.  We did all have virgin daiquiris which really hit the spot on a hot afternoon.

Thursday, we had to get up early so that we could go parasailing.  Everyone was excited until the boat left the wake and sped up.  Alyson was getting really nervous and telling me that she did not want to go.  I was a bit nervous because of how fast the boat was going.  You could go up as doubles or triples.  If you went up as a triple you got more fly time.  So, we went up in triples.  Alyson, Bryon and I were the first group to go up.  Alyson was nervous about being pulled off the boat backwards, but as soon as we got up there she was a completely different person.  She let go and put her arms out loving every minute of it.  It was beautiful up there and it was so peaceful and calm.  Alyson said that we need to come back every year and go parasailing.  Everyone loved it except for Madeline.  She enjoyed it, but she loved the fast boat ride more and wanted to go ride a jet ski as long as she was the one driving.  She is my adventurous girl.  Madeline is the only one of the girls, myself included, that loves roller coasters and other such thrill rides.  After we came back to the house and cleaned up we went to see the movie X-Men: Apocalypse and to do more shopping.  We are having a hard time finding a modest and long enough dress for Lauren to wear to Matt & Katie’s wedding next week.  If we can’t find anything I just might have to make one.

Friday, took a drive down 30-A again and stopped for lunch at Nick’s on the Beach for lunch.  The sign said that they had the best shrimp on the gulf.  Their shrimp were really good.  Scott and I went out for dinner at the Beach Walk Café for our anniversary.

Saturday, we began our trip back to Houston.  It seemed as if everyone else had the same idea of heading home.  There was a mass exodus out of Destin.  There was so much traffic that a normal 5 hour trip from Destin to Baton Rouge took almost 8 hours.  We stopped in Baton Rouge for the night.

As we drove back to Houston on Sunday morning we shared the road with several people going to the Power Tour 2016 in Baytown.  There were several vintage cars as well as older model Mustangs and many other cars.  Who knows, maybe we will join the tour sometime.  Now it is nice to be home and not driving in this storm like we did at the beginning of our vacation.

Quinceanera?

 

Yesterday my oldest daughter turned 15.  Fifteen!  Where has the time gone?!  Lauren has grown into a lovely young women.  She was our first child to be born in Houston, TX.  She is a very smart and creative person.  One of my fondest memories of Lauren was when she was three or four.  I would get the kids special Band-Aids just for them.  One time when I got Lauren her very own Band-Aids I found them all up and down both legs.  She did this again with stickers, but in addition to being up and down both legs they were all over her arms.

Lauren loves to bake and try new recipes.  Her specialty is banana bread.  I don’t know what she does, but she makes some of the best banana bread I have ever had.  This past New Years, Lauren and Scott set out to learn how to make churros and sopapillas.  After some trial and error, they made some really good churros and sopapillas. 

Lauren is also very artistic and crafty, which I have no idea where so got that gene from.  In eighth grade two of her art pieces made it to Jr VASE where she metaled on both pieces.  This school year she has had some creative projects for school.  As a result of one of these projects, Scott has banned Lauren from ever using glitter again.  Both my front porch and the back patio were victims of an overdose of glitter.

Lauren has a new hobby.  She loves photography and has and does take some really great pictures with her ipod.  She wanted a nice digital camera for Christmas.  Well, she got one and has been playing with it ever since.  She thinks about her shots and takes lots of really great pictures.  Most importantly, she is having so much fun with her camera.

When we found out that the NCAA men’s basketball final four and championship games where going to be played in Houston this year that is all that Lauren wanted for her birthday.  Scott bought tickets for Lauren, Bryon and himself to go to the championship game which was two days before Lauren’s birthday.  We all did brackets and with all the surprises most of our brackets did not fair very well.  Since Lauren was going to be turning 15, Scott kept teasing her that the game was her Quinceanera and that she would have to wear a big poufy dress to the game.

Lauren’s next big step in life is to get her learners permit and start learning to drive. Oh boy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February Evaluation

Time for my monthly goal check in.  This has been a roller coaster of a month.  Some days I am doing well and others I am not.  The good thing is that I am only being measured against myself and I can always do better.

1.       Scrapbooking – For the most part I am where I want to be.  Did I do a lot of scrapping this month, no.  Do I still have a lot that I could do, yes.  I am still trying to achieve that balance between being “caught up” and still having pictures to scrap. 

2.       Photography – This month I worked on black & white picture taking.  I have learned several things.  One thing that I learned was to not take black & white pictures on your digital camera.  You want to take them in color because the camera is made to see in color and then convert to black and white in the editing process.  Here is an example of color, black and white in camera and black and white conversion:

 

 

 

Another thing that I learned and am working to put into practice in to see in black and white.  Seeing in black and white takes practice, but I am enjoying to process. 

3.       Eating healthy and exercising regularly – This is the area where I struggled the most this month.  It is so easy to come with an excuse to not get up at 4 AM and go to the gym.  I need to just decide that that is what I am going to do and get up and go workout.  Which also means I should probably go to bed earlier.  Eating healthy hasn’t been too much of a struggle.  Although, I have had my moments, like today, I ate six cookies when one would have been better.

4.       Reading – I feel that this has been my best area this month.  I finished two non-fiction book this month.  Of course the second one was pretty short.  I read I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education by Malala Yousafzai.  I really enjoyed this book.  It was inspiring.  Here are a few quotes from the book that I particularly liked “If people were silent, nothing would change”, “if you want to achieve a goal, there will be hurdles in your way, but you must continue” and one last one “Malala, you have already faced death. This is your second life. Don’t be afraid-if you are afraid, you can’t move forward”.  The second book I read was Believe in What You’re Doing, Believe in Who You Are by Hilary Weeks.  This too was an inspiring book.  My only complaint is that I wish that it was longer.  Some of my favorite quotes from her book are “Don’t worry about what others think of you. Worry about what they think of themselves when they are with you” and “Scripture study is like cinnamon. It doesn’t take very much cinnamon to flavor a whole recipe and make it taste good. It takes just a little scripture study to make our whole day good”.

Even though I haven’t done my best in certain areas, I can just start from where I am and move forward.  I haven’t failed.  I don’t need to call it quits.  I am not a loser.  I start each day fresh and do the best that I can.

“Don’t count the days.  Make the days count.” – Muhammad Ali

The Big 1-0

Yesterday my baby girls turned ten.  I can’t believe that she is ten already.  So much has happened in the last ten years.  When Alyson was born, Scott started a new job and he was called to serve in the bishopric in our ward.  I had four children ages 6 all the way down to a new born with the 6 year old being the only one in school.  Needless to say I had my hands full.  Even with l the changes that came that year, I wouldn’t change any of it.

                Alyson is a smart, talented, caring and sweet girl.  She is my hugger.  She loves school and has lots of friends.  In Kindergarten, there was a classmate who sometimes had a difficult time behaving, but as long as he got to sit next to Alyson he was fine. 

                Alyson is my only red-head and a red-head she is.  It is said that the freckles that red-heads have are the souls they have stolen.  Don’t cross Alyson.  She will give you this look and steal your soul.  She is also my crazy child, so she fits perfectly into our crazy family.  At the dinner table when we all tend to get a bit silly, Alyson has this cackle that just cracks us all up.

                Alyson loves to read.  This year she is participating in the Book Club at school.  She has the opportunity to participate in the Name That Book Competition in April.  They have to read the 20 books that are on the list and be prepared to answer questions about the books.  She has already read most of the books on the list.  She has been challenged by some of the books because of subject matter or higher reading level.  Through this process she has founds some book that she likes and wants to read more of.  Who would have thought that one of her favorite books would be Dead City, a book with zombies?

                My baby girls is growing up!