Dressin' Jess up

During piano lessons once a week the girls like to dress up. This past week they decided to dress Jessie up too. I think she looks like a little old lady going to the store on a windy day, don't you think.

Jessica standing all by herself. A darling close-up.

Standing Jessica!

Just in the past week Jessica has started standing up in the middle of the room and then she squats several times. It is so cute to see her do it. She does it all the time. She tries to lift one foot, so I think she will start walking soon. It still amazes me how fast they grow and develop. Sorry it is so dark.

WANTED: More hairspray, please!

From "Time After Time" by Cindy Lauper to "Take on Me" by A-ha to "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi we are looking for the BEST of the 80's. Leave us your comments with your FAVORITE 80's bands and songs. Include as many as you can think of (so long as they're good), and get your friends opinions as well. When we have several ideas we'll post the results--and maybe even make a CD or two. In the meantime, break out the hairspray and spandex and bring back the 80's!

Well, maybe not. But lets talk about the music anyway.

More from Vacation (Post #100)

After camping we headed back to Waco to relax and visit with my parents and grandmother. Friday night we took my parents to eat at a steakhouse called Logan's for my Dad birthday. We had never been there, but we loved it. We had the servers wish my Dad a Happy Birthday. His birthday was actually this Tuesday, April 22. He turned a whoppin' 60 years old. It was fun! After dinner, my parents took the girls back to their house and Jason and I went to the dollar show. We had been wanting to see 'The Bucket List' (but you know how hard it is to get to the show when you have little ones). We loved it. I am not a huge Jack Nicholson fan, but I could tolerate him in this one. Of course I cried through almost the entire film, but it was refreshing(please tell me there are others who feel refreshed after a good cry!). Thanks Mom and Dad for helping us get to the show!
Saturday we headed over to the Mayborn Museum. It is awesome. They have a display of a cast of the Mammoth bones found in Waco. You stand on a glass floor and look down at it while they show a little video of their theories of how they died. They have Native American homes typical of the area, and of course the animals you could see also.
Then there is the Children's Museum. It is really cool. They have an animal room, bug room, bubble/water room, weather room, hieroglyphics room, heart room, eye/vision room, music/sound room(with a large piano you walk on the play--like on the movie 'Big'), dress-up room with cars and houses with gardens/ grocery store, school, fire station, etc. etc. etc. Cailyn was having so much fun. When we got to the Children's Museum they announced a puppet show was about to start. It was the story of the 3 pigs. Cailyn didn't quite make it to the end, but pretty close. Then about 20 minutes later they got a rabbit out and did a little presentation and let all the kids pet it. It was cool. When we got in the van to leave we realized that we had been at the museum for 4 hours. I guess it was fun!
I am sure you are all thinking, "OK. Where are all the great pictures?" Well, as it seems to be all the coolest stuff happens when you forget the camera. So, if you are looking to have a great time, leave the camera at home. If you just want good pictures and a mediocre time, be sure to grab the camera on the way out. jk Next time we head to Waco we will be sure to go to the Museum with camera in hand. Sorry!

Texas Spring

We recieved reports that another hail storm(and possible tornado) was heading our way last night. Jason's boss let everyone go home early because of it. So, we prepared the only closet that is tornado approved, and Jason took the camera out to take pictures of the incoming storm(of course--they are pretty though). He was literally outside for 5 minutes and the pictures he shot are proof that these storms come in quick.

Have you seen the movie 'Twister'? The sky is pretty green here. Scary!

I think the rain caught in this shot is cool.

I forgot to say that the last storm shut down Walmart. They were closed for 5 days. The baseball size hail knocked out all of their skylights and ruined everything in the store but the stuff in the freezers. Can you imagine having to replace the entire inventory of a Super Walmart. THAT is expensive. Wow!

This is for you, Kyle!

My older brother once asked Jason and me how much camping we do. Not IF we go camping, but HOW MUCH! He almost had a heart attack when we told him MAYBE once a year, which didn't include the past 3 years. So, this past week is for by big brother, Kyle.

Jason and I agree that the best time to go camping in Texas is the spring. The only thing you really have to watch is the weather, which is not very reliable, but if you can hit it right, you'll have warm days and cool nights(which means swimming and roasted marshmallows).

So, we loaded the camping gear and headed to a State Park. We have really enjoyed Dinosaur Valley in the past because we knew that there was water to play in if we got hot, and some really cool stuff to look at.

We traveled to Waco to visit my parents first because the only tent we own is too small for our family now, so we borrowed a bigger tent. This tent is almost as old as I am and needless to say a little worn. But, it is huge. We really could have set up our tent inside it if we wanted to. It was perfect. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Cailyn loved the open space to run around and check out all the sticks and 'magic rocks'. Jessica was tasting everything she could get her hands on. It was adorable to see them playing in the tent. I was happy to find that they both slept really well.

We saw lots of wildlife. We had a family of cardinals living in a tree near our site and they sang(or cursed) to us each morning. There were lots of dear, raccoons, squirrels, and many other creeping things through the camp. We had a little lost cat that adopted us, and if we stayed one more night we would have had some fine tacos(just kidding--but he was annoying).

Dinosaur Vally State park derives it's name from the fossilized dinosaur tracks embedded in the riverbed of the Paluxy River. We hiked down to the tracks and had to walk across the river to see them. It is really amazing to see evidence of the dinosaurs walking in the exact same place we were standing.

I am not sure that Cailyn understood what she was seeing and touching, but eventually she will. She had fun anyway.
A mile down the road from the park is Dinosaur World--a museum/nature walk with life size models of over 100 dinosaurs.

Jason had the opportunity to feed the T-Rex.

That T-Rex underestimated the power in a protective mother. Let's just say, that was the last person it tried to eat.

They provide a fossil dig for children. Cailyn found many real fossils and was allowed to take 3 home. Jason found some illegally and somehow they ended up at home also(just kidding).

It's raining baseballs!

This past week we went on vacation and while we were gone Mineral Wells got attacked by some ferocious storm. Texas thunderstorms can be pretty intense, but I have never seen or experienced something like the one they are describing. I am seeing evidence of it all over town, so I know that it is not an exaggeration. I am very grateful we were not here for it. I think that I would be quite terrified through the whole thing, not to mention my children.
Evidently for about 15-20 minutes during an already pretty strong storm, it began hailing and it continued hailing until the hail became the size of baseballs. (Can you imagine millions of baseballs falling from the sky and pounding the earth and everything that gets in its way?) So, everyone without a garage or carport has some serious hail damage. This includes shattered windshields. (unfortunately we left our other car in the driveway, so it has got dented up too)The car lots in town look devastating. It is interesting seeing everyone drive around town with beautiful cracks all over their windshields. I am amazed to see how many roofing companies are popping up all over town. That and windshield repair huts. They are definitely in need right now though. We don't know how much damage we have on our roof, but are getting it checked out by several companies. It is a pretty old roof, so I won't be surprised by anything. Here are some pictures of some of the damaged cars. This is not anywhere close to as bad as it got though. Our part of town wasn't hit the worst.






These first 2 pictures are our windshield.



These next 2 are our neighbor's.

Forgotten Story!

So I was very anxious to post last night to share a funny story from dinner. I was in a hurry because it was bed time for the girls, but Jason just took over(thanks babe) so I took my time. In all the confusion I totally forgot the true reason for the post. Please tell me that someone has done that before!

Well, we were going through the nightly struggle to get Cailyn to eat her dinner. Both Jason and I are trying to be stern and stick to our guns, then all of a sudden a pea flies across the table in front of my face. Everything stopped, we all turned to look at Jessica who is confused as to why the pea is no longer in her fingers(secretly I think she was trying to hit Cailyn--I think her aim will improve with time). Jason and I couldn't hold it in. We lost it. All 4 of us were giggling to the point that dinner was put on hold for several minutes. We ended up giving in and Cailyn got away with not eating AGAIN! That is when Jessica got to finish Cailyn's food.

When I told Jason that I had forgotten to share the story he just giggled and said,"Well that will give you something to do tomorrow." I am sincerely hoping that he wasn't implying that I just have tons of spare time flying around. None the less, here it is! I guess I do have SOME spare time.

Our sweet Jessica, what can I say. She is, what is the phrase? Oh yeah, a "bottomless pit." She eats all of her dinner and anxiously awaits the inevitable moment when Cailyn refuses to finish hers and then Jessie gets that too. I think that if she had the coordination to do so, she would lick off her tray after each meal. She has always been an excellent eater, which explains why she is bigger than Cailyn was at this age. I will say that she moves constantly now.

We were so excited for her to start crawling and I forgot all the stuff that goes with it. You know, the sitting up in bed without knowing how to lie back down, the wiggling and turning over during diaper changes, and following people into another room just to find out that they are ready to leave again. We are still adjusting to Jessie's new skills, but are very glad that she can move so much with all the food she eats.

Sometimes it is weird to look at our lives and see 2 children. We wonder where the time went, but we wouldn't trade it for all the worldly possessions that many hold so dear to their hearts. Children truly do bring JOY into our lives. I just wish that there was some way to tell people that who don't have children of their own, but they just wouldn't understand until they have them.

This poor little Angel gets so smothered by me all day long that by the time Jason gets home she is ready for some "sfathering".

Article of Faith #3

Everything these days seems to need a lot of coaxing and this was certainly no exception. I believe this was take 15.

How many Mindi Holloways?

My sister-in-law, Rachel, put this on her blog and I was interested to see how many Mindi Holloway's there are. I was SHOCKED to find that I am the one and only Mindi Holloway. Boy do I feel special and unique. So, for those of you who know me, congratulations!(just kidding)

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

My old friend the piano

I am beginning to realize that I truly miss my piano. Yes, it is still in my living room, but I don't get a chance to truly play anymore. I am not even close to being considered a pianist, but I have come to really love playing by letting the concentration of the music remove me from troubles, concerns, sorrows; the world I guess.

Jason gave me the opportunity to attend a rehearsal at the High School last week. It was an hour and a half of pure bliss. Weird huh? After about 17 years of choir rehearsal almost every day I thought that 10 months of a break would be nice. But, in all honesty that was a complete love of mine, and I miss it terribly. I love to see a new piece of music and figure it out, sing/play it over and over again until I master it. Competitions and concerts are not exactly my favorite thing, but preparing the music for them is rejuvenating to my spirit.

Cailyn can handle about 5 minutes of me playing. That is all fine and dandy but I am just getting started at that point. I could play for hours at a time with a new book to play and sing. But, my girls just don't have the patience for it. What ends up happening is they are screaming or crying and I am struggling to tune it out while I try to lift my heart. Then I am more frustrated than I was before I even started(kind of like an enormous craving for chocolate and you get a tiny lick and they take it away).

I am longing for the day when they either enjoy my playing and singing or they are away from the house long enough for me to have some private time with my piano.

Oh piano, I desperately miss you!

Another Milestone

Jessica started crawling about a week ago. We are so excited. She seems to be much happier. Although she doesn't like to be held anymore(I am pretty upset about that-my BABY is gone). I wanted to post a video earlier, but couldn't get a good one until now(that I was willing to share-you know-house a mess, Cailyn or me screaming). Tell me what you think about Jessica's crawling technique.

One of Jessica's all time favorite thing to do is twirl/spin. I think it is absolutely adorable. Cailyn was busy dancing in her Genevieve dress to ballet music. What am I going to do with these prissy little girls?

A Mom's daily words!

I got this video from a friend and laughed the entire time. I hope you all enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

Mineral Wells Branch

After 10,920 miles of traveling for church over the course of last year, the Weatherford Stake FINALLY announced the creation of a Mineral Wells Branch.

If you have never experienced something like this, it is very interesting. The Stake President stood in Sacrament meeting and released literally EVERYONE in the Weatherford Ward, then called a new Bishopric and the new Branch Presidency(and the Executive Secretaries). Then off we go, to start a new ward/branch.

As Executive Secretary of our new Branch, Jason has been very busy helping the new Presidency put together an entire Branch in 2 weeks. We have been very fortunate to have this happen the week before Conference to give us an additional week for preparations. The building we will be meeting in is small, BUT it is only about 5 minutes from our house. WAHOO! As Jason was preparing for a Presidency meeting, we had to carefully think about what callings were absolutely necessary for Church to flow. I have never experienced a new Branch/Ward so it will be very interesting to see it all fall into place. Not to mention the missionary opportunities we will have again. How exciting!

Needless to say, we are ecstatic about going to church in our own town. It has been almost 5 full years since we have been able to say that. It is funny how you take it for granted until you don't have it anymore.

I am so elated I can hardly wipe the smile off my face.