We're Back!!!

These last few months have been crazy around here for us.  We left at the end of April to go to a rotation out in Oklahoma.  We flew into Texas though to stay with my parents for a few days to say goodbye to them before they left on their mission to Cape Verde (off the coast of Africa -- I wasn't sure how I felt about them getting called half way across the world for 2 long years but we have been able to skype with them quite a bit since they have been out there so it hasn't been as horrible as I thought it would be :) I love modern technology.) They are loving their mission and are speaking Portuguese which Dave was very excited about - my mom not as much but she is doing great and will learn it :).  It was fun to be able to spend some time with them before they left and to hit up our favorite Mexican Restaurant in Houston.

Ava & Ella love Mexican food too!  They left a pretty great mess for our poor waiter...

We were also able to get together with our wonderful friends, the Parkers.  We miss them! It was so fun being able to see them and meet little Luke!! We can't wait to see them again.

Here are the new missionaries!

From Houston we headed up to Dallas to visit my sister and her family for a few days.  Dave had already left for Tulsa so we were working our way to see him.

We said our goodbyes to mom and dad in Dallas..

See you in 2 years! We love you!

The girls and I stayed in Dallas with my sister and her family for 10 days.  It was basically chaos as she has 3 girls and having 5 children and 3 adults in a 3 bedroom house was a little crazy.  It was a fun adventure but I am pretty sure I didn't sleep very much and was a pretty grouchy and tired mom most of the time.  It is hard being out of your element at any age but it was still tons of fun and thanks Jessica and Rod for letting us stay with you. I took some pictures of their family.  They didn't turn out as great as I wanted and I forgot to charge my camera before we went so we had to cut it pretty short...

Of the 5 children these 2 were definitely the craziest and silliest! They are both little teasers and have a love-hate relationship which can be really funny except when you're sleep deprived and then it isn't as much.  They have a lot of fun together and are completely crazy!

We headed up to Tulsa for the last 2 weeks of Dave's rotation.  We had to make some fun there as I didn't know the area at all but it was fine and we still had a great time especially being together with Dave.

 Ava decided to try on Dave's shoes and walk around our apartment... She is so silly! And yes she does normally carry around that much stuff with her...

 The OK Aquarium was tons of fun!

 Ella LOVED it even though she doesn't look too impressed in this picture :)

 They could have stared through those glass windows all day looking at the sharks.  Supposedly it is the largest collection of bull sharks.  They were pretty creepy and I definitely would never want to see one this close without the glass...

 I love Ella's face in this picture.  She is so funny!

 She screamed when we left the shark exhibit she loved it that much!

 Ava on the other hand is really into turtles. She was really excited to see them.

 Here they are next to the alligator gar picture.  They had a real one there too and that is another thing I never want to see up close.

We loved the Aquarium! It was the highlight of Oklahoma!

 We love these 2 silly little girls!

 Here is the hospital Dave was at.  St Francis Children's Hospital.

We were happy to be home after a long month away but it has been crazy too.  We just got a new fridge since ours went out right before we left (a huge blessing it didn't happen while we were gone...).  We only had a mini fridge to use for the last 3 weeks (Thank you Fowlers for letting us borrow it!! You are our life savers!).  You never know how much you need a fridge until it is gone.  We are so happy to have a new one though and glad Sears gave it to us! It has been a big 2 weeks though with potty training Ava (which she has done awesome with!) and trying to get our little 16 1/2 month old little Ella to learn how to walk... We don't want her to go to nursery and not be able to defend herself.  She is such a tiny little girl.  She actually started taking a few steps yesterday so we are hopeful it will happen soon.  They are so fun and we love every stage and watching them grow up.  Although sometimes we wish we could just freeze them at the stage they are in because they are so fun and funny!