Livvy really wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday. So, we invited a few friends and off we went. She had a ball and was totally in her element! Loved hanging out with her friends and opening presents. She was also adamant that she have cupcakes rather than a birthday cake. Perfectly fine with me.

Our last week in Vegas was filled with a lot of goodbyes. I didn't get pictures of everyone, so sorry if you aren't posted here, we still miss you though. This move was a little harder than the last because we felt like we were saying goodbye to EVERYONE. Friends and family in both Vegas and Utah. Luckily we have amazing technology and are able to stay in touch. We are excited for new opportunities and meeting new friends and keeping in touch with old ones!

After we arrived safe and sound in Texas, we closed on our house and then Phil had to leave on a business trip again. So the girls and I hung out at the hotel near our house until we were able to pick up the keys and let the movers in. It happened to be Super Bowl weekend and since we didn't get to spend it with Phil, we had "Spa Day" at the hotel. We ordered room service, gave each other facials, massages and pedicures. Then off we went in search of a mall and found it (it was kind of scary) and did a little shopping. On our way back we stopped at Chili's for some football food and watched the Super Bowl. Allie started at her new school on Monday and off we went. Our life has been hectic since to say the least. I think that we all need another "Spa Day". Enjoy the pics.

In my groove...

FINALLY...I am in a good groove. We are mostly settled into a routine again. It's Saturday morning and I just got done running and I feel FABULOUS. I left the house under a cloud cover with the intent to run 5 miles. I felt so great! I haven't felt that great for a LONG time. I ended up running 6 at a 10 minute/mile clip. My knees are a little sore but, it is a really good feeling to be sore for a good reason. Mentally, I am high (naturally.) My kids were all up when I got back and we made blueberry muffins. When Philly gets home from his run we are going into Dallas to go to Great Harvest (YES, they have one here), go to a fun candy store and to the airport to pick up Uncle Jeff. We have our first visitor coming today and we're so excited to see him. Ahhhh I am in my element!

P.S. Open invitation to all those who would like to visit! :)

Really, this blog is going private...

If you are a reader, are not psycho and would like to continue to read this blog, please email me at pachasefam@hotmail.com. I've sent invites to those of you on my email list and those of you who have requested but, I'm sure that I've missed someone. I'm going to close it on Friday the 20th. Love ya'll.

What's new with you?

Just updating again, long post ahead. Yes I am still planning on taking the blog private. It is taking me some time to get it all done. (It's really a pain!) I'm still trying to get my house put together but, blogging is my way of feeling connected, especially since I'm feeling so disconnected right now. It's really my cheap therapy. My dinosaur computer is so incredibly slow, so pictures will have to wait. Well, what's new? Lots, I'd have to say. Allie started school and has been quite the friend magnet in her new class and the other third grade classes too. It's kind of overwhelming to her but, it will even out soon, I'm sure. Her teacher is a really sweet lady. She is older and is very calming. I really like her and so does Allie. We signed Allie up for a girl's running group. She absolutely loves it! (Much to her mom's delight!) She looks forward to it and seeing her friends there. The group will run a 5K together in April. (She says it will be easy as pie.) The running group is awesome, they talk about girl's issues, nutrition, physical fitness, etc. So, it's not just about running but, geared towards the overall health of the girls. What a great idea huh? Allie will also start guitar on Monday. Ashlie has been enjoying being the princess of our new "castle" as she calls it. She has been playing dress up non-stop since I opened her dress up box. She is a tornado in her own right, in that everywhere she goes there is a trail of dress ups following her. She will be starting preschool again on Tuesday. I had to take her to the doctor for a physical and to update her immunizations before we could sign her up. She knew she was going to have shots and the anticipation just about drove her (& I) insane. She screamed bloody murder until it was over and then said, "that wasn't so bad was it Mom?" Little Miss Drama Queen huh? Alivia has finally decided that going potty by herself is really neat. Yay for me! She has been so good about it. She is our little crack-up! She's always teasing me and joking around. One knows that with a daddy like Phil, one of our kids would have a great sense of humor. So far, Texas has been good to us. (With the exception of a scary thunderstorm/tornado possibilites, see post below.) I met a great new friend last week. I actually was looking online for someone to come help me clean my house, after feeling incredibly overwhelmed. She was the first responder and I checked out her references. So, I decided to have her come last Friday. Turns out she was born in Utah and went to Utah State. So, next question was, are you LDS. Sure enough. I had so much fun talking to her and enjoyed a clean house afterwards. We have a great connection! She offered to tend the girls that night and so we took her up on it. She is married and has two adorable babies. We've at least texted, if not talked everyday since. I'm sure that there was some divine help there. Anyways, all is well here. (The girls have watched HSM3 probably 6 times in the last 24 hours and I'm singing all the songs with gusto.) Gotta love it.
P.S. Check out my brother-in-laws new blog here! I love it! Fun reading and thinking material.

Welcome to Texas...

The other day someone made the comment to me, if you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait until tomorrow. We've had a few good rainstorms since we got here that were pretty impressive. But, nothing that compared to last night. Allie told me last night that there was supposed to be a thunderstorm. I knew that she was worried about it and so I did my best to soothe her fears. I put the kids to bed at 9 and by 9:15 they were all out (very rare.) We usually have at least one getting out of bed several times. I was getting ready for bed and looking forward to reading a little bit. Well, that was when all hell broke loose. I saw the first flicker of lightning and thought, oh I hope that was it. Then it was as if this huge thunderstorm was dropped right on top of our house. The neighbors car alarms were all going off and the wind was fierce. Allie and Liv woke up scared, so I brought them into my bed. Ashlie must have been really tired because she slept through the entire thing. This storm rolled on for about an hour and it was seriously non-stop lightning, the loudest thunder I've ever heard and raining so hard you couldn't see out the window. (I was actually scared too.) Come to find out, there were tornadoes just 30 miles Northeast of us and 50 miles Southwest of us and the loud sirens we kept hearing were the tornado warnings. Wow what an initiation! Phil missed all of the action. He was in San Antonio. This morning we woke up to clear, blue skies and bright sunshine. So, I guess if we don't like the weather in Texas we'll just wait until tomorrow.

Back running again...

I'm so glad to be getting settled once again. I can start my running routine again. At least when Phil is not travelling. I can usually get at least 3 days in a week though. I ran 4 miles on Saturday, 4 yesterday and 4 today. This is definitely a different climate to run in (more humid.) It can be totally cloudy outside and you think it's cold until you start running. I'm sure that people here think I'm crazy to be running sleeveless and in shorts, but it's warm to me. Mostly I've felt really good. It's amazing to me that when you get out of a routine you almost have to relearn how to do certain things. For instance, my breathing. I've really struggled with abdominal cramping the last few runs. It's because I've forgotten my breathing. Cardiovascularly and strength really haven't been a problem but, the abdominal cramps can make a run or break it for me. Thankfully, I've been able to work through it. Oh, also I've come across a few blogs that have totally inspired me. http://willrunfordesignerjeans.blogspot.com and http://runningfarstrong.blogspot.com/ Maybe, just maybe I'll be registering for a marathon here shortly. I definitely need a goal to keep me going. An incentive like the one on willrunfordesignerjeans, seems to be right up my alley. :)

Great weekend...

Finally a somewhat normal weekend. No travelling, a little more unpacking and doing normal weekend family things. Just what the doctor ordered. Phil came home from Kansas City on Friday afternoon (the first time he's been home since we moved in.) We had a homecooked meal together and believe me it was so nice to not be going out to dinner. I normally love to go out to dinner but, after two months of doing it, I'm ready to eat at home. I think that secretly the kids are too. Saturday Phil and I both got to get out and go for a run. (Not together but, at least we got to do it.) I felt so great on my run and I came home feeling inspired to register for another race. (I'll post more about that later.) We hung out at home in the morning and went into Dallas to check out one of the malls later on in the afternoon. They have really great malls here with tons of variety. After that we took the kids bowling and had a blast with them. They had so much fun too. (Sorry I left the camera at home.) We got a kick out of Ash. As you know she is incredibly independent. (no ramp for her) She hefted her 7 pound ball and threw it on her own. Then she would sit down cross legged on the floor an wait for it to mosey on down and knock a few pins down. It was so funny. Allie did great and bowled an 88. Liv was pretty chill about it and just took her turn not really caring about where her ball went. I did alright, had a few strikes and then lost my umph. Phil did great, as normal athletic guys do. Someday I'll kick his butt at something. Ha ha. All in all we had a nice weekend. Looking forward to more. :)
P.S. Remember I'm taking my blog private. I would love for those of you who are normal, sane people to keep reading it and staying in touch with me. Just shoot me a quick email and I'll add you to my list. I may add some of you anyway. :) Love ya'll!

Going Private...

After discussing our blog, Phil and I have decided that now is a great time to make it private. If you would like to still view our blog, please send me an email at pachasefam@hotmail.com and I will add you to my list. I will leave it open until February 9th. Thanks and love you all!

Shout out to Linda...

My great friend Linda from Vegas has been taking care of her terminally ill mother-in-law for the last few months. It has been hard for her and her family to watch their mom and grandma slip away so fast. My own mom went through this for the last year with my grandparents. Her sweet mother-in-law passed away this morning. I just want to send a shout out to Linda and my mom and everyone else who has put their lives on hold to take care of a loved one. You should all be 'sainted'!

UPDATE TIME...

We are finally in Texas. We left on Wednesday night, drove to Flagstaff, AZ and drove the rest of the way on Thursday and arrived on Friday at about 12:30am. We really didn't have to stop too much. Just for potty breaks and dinner. The kiddos did awesome, thanks to the DVD player and their Nintendo DS. It was so long! Especially from Albequerque on. We are happy to be here and are looking forward to moving into our house on Tuesday.

Here is our new house. There are a few cosmetic things that the builder will be taking care of by Tuesday. For example the big empty space on the upper right hand side will have some shutters. I have a ton of pictures to put on here from the last month but, I just don't have access to them at the moment. So, I will be updating more later.

Christmas Vacation...

Our Christmas vacation started a little bit early this year. We planned to spend it in Utah because we knew that getting back to see family after the big move would be a bit harder. My Grandpa passed away a week before we were planning to leave so, we left a few days earlier for his funeral. The funeral was really nice. My aunt and uncle both spoke and my mom played her flute. To top it off it was a really beautiful day! We will miss my Grandpa so much! The night of the funeral we spent some quality time with family that we don't get to see very often. My cousins moved away when I was about 13 years old and I was so happy to spend some good time with them. Below are some pictures of my kids with a few of them. My kids adore them and have talked about them non-stop since.

The girls with Kait. Kait is such a fun gal! I miss her even though I haven't seen her for years. She is getting married this coming summer and the girls have been invited to be a part of the wedding. We're so excited for her and Simon!
The girls with Josh showing their "strength". They teased him and had such a ball with him!

Here's Cam, the cutest RM I know. He is such a great guy! The girls got a kick out of him too.

We played a new card game that was so much fun. (Thanks to Alison and Wayne!) It's called 99. We even got my uncle Reed to play and we all had a blast together. Trash talking and laughing so hard. I'm sure that my Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed watching us from heaven.

(See more posting of our vacation below)

Continuation of Christmas Vacation...

Phil and I left for Dallas the day after the funeral. We left the kids with Phil's parents, Margaret and then Sue. Thanks to you all for your help!!!! It was fun to go on a little trip with Phil and get a feel for what Dallas is all about. We saw some really great houses and spent some time with our good friends Barry and Susan. When we got home we went to Phil's parents Christmas party for all of their kids and spouses. It was fun and we all had a great laugh at the"12 Days of Christmas". (Sorry I didn't get any pictures.) And on to Christmas Eve. We spent the evening with Phil's parents and his sister Ann and her family. We had a nice dinner, very yummy! Then we did a little talent show. Allie played Santa Claus is Coming to Town on the piano, Ashlie did a dance and Ann and Abe recited "The Living Christ"(which was truly amazing.) Grandpa sang O Holy Night (my favorite Christmas song.) Then we did the Nativity. Grandpa read it, while the girls acted it out. John and Mel came by later and we had a great night.

Last Christmas Post

Christmas morning we woke up to this beautiful scene. I love it! I love white Christmases. I think that my dad gave me that. He always wanted white Christmases too.

Livvy got her Leapster and her Bitty Baby that she asked for.

Ashlie got her (DOS) and her Bitty Baby. She wanted a Nintendo DS but, always called it a DOS. It was so funny!

Allie got her DS too and her American Girl doll. They all had a really fun day!


We spent the afternoon and evening with my family and had a really yummy ham dinner and played the Wii. It was so fun! I forgot to grab my camera and didn't get any pictures. :( My mom and dad even have a cute little puppy! The girls and I are headed back up there next weekend for a Birthday Party, so I will post some pictures later. The day after Christmas we all flew down to Dallas as a family and house hunted some more. It was fun and the girls did great on the plane. We were so beat from all of the travelling that we picked up Daisy and left right away for Vegas. We were glad to be sleeping in our own beds again. However, we didn't get to spend very much time with our family and friends. So, that is why we are headed back up there. Phil left this morning for Dallas. We were sad to let him go but, are glad to be moving forward and getting closer to being settled again. My blog will most likely be neglected for awhile. So, until next time CIAO!