Visitors!!!

My sister Jamie, her husband Rich and their 4 kids (along with my Mom) came from Utah to visit back in August. We had a fabulous time with them. Thanks for trekking all the way to Texas you guys! We did so many fun things but here's a short recap:

Logan and Ezra modeled their coordinating Buzz Lightyear jammies, all the rage this season.

Ezra cuddling with Grandma Lillie

A great day at the beach at Padre Island!

We explored the cool Texas Rangers Museum in Waco, complete with a dress-up section and a tribute to Chuck Norris.

Ezra is currently addicted to puzzles so he loved assembling this pistol at the museum... over and over and over again. Notice the look of intense focus..

The big hit with everybody was Rock Band. We had a rockin family home evening.

We had a great week together! Who wants to come visit next???

Way back in the summer...

Right after the 4th of July we took a day-trip to one of our favorite barbecue-and-swimming- spots, Llano. This was back when Ginger the puppy was still tiny. Now she's not. She's huge. And getting more huge every week.

Other July highlights: Max had 8 root canals and 8 crowns put on (yes, I said 8) and my sister and her family and my mom came to visit. We love visitors!!! Pictures to come.

3 Things to Share

1. Max insisted on getting all dressed up for his friend Caroline's tea party birthday (side note: Caroline claims they will be getting married and having 4 kids)

Not entirely sure what's going on with his pose

2. We had a great vacation to Sea World and South Padre Island

3. After 5 years of begging, Ephraim got his way. We got a dog. This is Ginger. So far, so good.

Cap'n Crunch and Kissing Goats

Way back around Memorial Day, Ephraim's parents paid us a visit. We picked blackberries and ate cobbler, ate barbecue, ate at Elvis' favorite Texas drive-in, ate yummy Mexican....anyone sensing a theme here? We need some less-fattening hobbies. Anyway, we had a great time and can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa again!

After picking berries and digging new potatoes, we checked out the goats, donkeys, and horses at the berry farm. Grandma kissed the baby goats and of course, Ezra had to kiss them too.

On June 1 Ephraim was promoted to Captain. It was really nice having his parents here for the occasion. We only wish the ceremony could've been held in the air conditioned building versus the blazing hot parking lot. Grandma and Grandpa told Max he has to call Ephraim 'Captain Dad' now but instead, he's taken to calling him Cap'n Crunch. I suppose that's a little catchier. Thanks for coming to visit Grandma and Grandpa!!! Come back soon!

The Story of 2010

Does anyone else realize we're nearly half-way through this year? Wow. Crazy how slowly time went last year without my husband and how quickly its going now. Here's a quick recap of some events I've been meaning to blog about for a while now:

January: For Ephraim's 30 days of leave, we headed to Virginia for his dad's promotion to full Colonel at the Pentagon. It was great to have all of Ephraim's family together, minus Elder Jacob in El Salvador. Sorry we spread the 24-hour-flu to 13/21 of the family.

Next the Garner Family Reunion continued in Georgia where we had a blast staying at a beach house on Tybee Island and touring Savannah. Great food and great sites!

We also had some family photos taken. Thanks Sara!!!

Also in January: Max entered the Sunbeams class at church. He came downstairs one day and told me he was going on a mission that day, complete with a tie and a Book of Mormon tucked in his waistband.

February: Freakish Texas snow storm on the same day as Ephraim's PRK corrective eye surgery (which was a huge success!)

We had a great time at a train museum in Temple.

April: We celebrated Jessie (sister of our sister-in-law) and Tony's wedding with a crawfish boil. Thanks for inviting us Sara and Alex! We had a great time. Ezra was fearless at grabbing the crawfish and the boys loved seeing Jensen and Kiki!

May: My mom, Aunt Diane, and Aunt Carolyn all came to town. We had a great time at the beach, eating great barbecue, and braving the famous Round Rock Texas Donut (as big as your head).

My mom was also in town for Mother's Day. We had a great day (notice the beautiful chocolate-dipped berries!). I was spoiled with a DQ ice cream cake, a Wii Fit, and a nice nap. My mom also cheered me on at a 5K I ran and visited our favorite children's museum with us.

More May: Ephraim completed all the requirements for his Expert Infantryman Badge, which entails a pretty rigorous week of events. We're so proud of his hard work. He was one of seven who passed everything on the first attempt. We love our soldier!

Its been a great 2010. Now I'm pledging to be a better blogger.

The Top Three Best Things About Texas

I love Texas. Here's why:

1. warm weather

2. amazing barbecue

3. bluebonnets

Combine those three and you have one perfect day.

Sweet Berry Farm

We had a great time picking our own strawberries the other day at a farm in Marble Falls. The boys loved feeding grass to the horses, donkeys, and goats and Ephraim is more determined than ever to have the goat farm he's been dreaming of for years. We had a lot of fun and now we have loads of jam.

Max is 4

Max officially turned 4 on April 7. Crazy, I know. Max is a fantastic little guy and we sure love him. He has an incredible imagination and is so much fun to be with. He's always saying hilarious things ("For crying out loud!" "That's so not cool!" and other gems) and he's friendly to everyone he meets. I've had so much fun teaching him preschool at home this year and I'm not sure I'm ready to let my little buddy go in the fall...(our school district has full-day Pre-K for 4 year olds...with a bus and everything!) He's growing up, whether I like it or not. For his birthday breakfast he chose (drumroll please....) leftover mac and cheese. He even wanted it cold. What the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets I suppose, even if it makes his mom gag. We had a great afternoon at the park having a picnic and playing on the scooters Grandma and Grandpa Garner gave them.

Here are the boys dying eggs and after their egg hunt. They're both newly obsessed with making silly faces in pictures. We had a wonderful Easter and General Conference weekend together.

Birthday Season Continues

On Friday, Max had a GI Joe birthday party with 11 of his closest friends. As you can imagine, with 13 preschoolers we had some crazy moments but we had a great time. The kids made treat bags, played some games like pin the helmet on the GI Joe, throw the soldiers in the bucket, and some GI Joe inspired relay races. The big hit of the party was the cake, decorated by the resident GI Joe authority at our house, Ephraim. Who knew cake decorating was in his repertoire? It was a painstaking process but it turned out well, I think. Some of you may remember it as the groom's cake at our wedding.

Ezra is 2!!!

In an effort to get started on blogging the last 3 months of our lives, here's a re-cap of Ezra's 2nd Birthday. Its hard for me to believe he's not a baby anymore. We celebrated all weekend with a special breakfast, a camp-out (which the boys LOVED), and a fantastic dinosaur cake that Ezra didn't stop growling at. He loves his new playdough and bubble gun. Ezra is hilarious, mischievous, and adorable and we sure love him. We also hope he quickly outgrows his fascination with dumping things on the carpet...such as gallons of milk, boxes of cereal, and huge containers of bubbles. (P.S. I'm happy to finally know how to make collages that you can click on to make bigger!)