{There's a WORM... in my FOOD!}

When we got ready to leave San Antonio on Sunday, we realized we had forgotten to get some little gifts for the girls.

So, at 7 a.m. both Mike and I perused the Texan gift shop, looking at all the margarita gumballs one could love, margarita chocolate balls (filled w/ liquor I'm sure), jalapeno chocolate, dead rattlesnakes... nothing caught my eye, until we saw these: a worm in the middle of a lollipop. What kid wouldn't love THIS?!

Then, I got to thinking about this. Why isn't PETA fussing about worms (dead worms, that is) in our foods? What about the scorpions in tequila? Why aren't they fighting about those? I mean, SURELY these little worms & scorpions have feelings, right?! *snort* Surely, these worms were killed so they could have a wonderful spot in our suckers, right?

I also found little red/yellow/black snakes in the form of gummy candy to give the girls. I know, I'm trying to scare them to death about this move to Texas, right? Nah, it was just the cheapest thing I could find in the store... we didn't need another shirt, and I sure as heck wasn't buying a rattlesnake!

So, we give them to the girls, and their expression... "EEKS!! Mom! There's a WORM in my sucker!" "Quick, Katie! Look! There's a worm in it!" "Oh, there's a worm in YOURS too?!" "OH, MOM!! This is a snake! And guess what? They're made of CANDY!?!!" Yep, out of the mouth of babes....

The girls were VERY careful about not touching the worm on their sucker... Maddie very carefully ate around her worm, and Katie, heaven forbid her tongue touched that worm (which it did... and she freaked). Mike kept trying to tell the girls "oh, that worm is made of candy it's OK to eat!". Yeah right DAD!

{Our New House}

This is .... THE HOUSE!

Where you see Mike, that's the door to get in the house. :) The front room has plantation shutters on it from the inside.

This is the first room you walk in, it's a large living room complete w/ fireplace.

Where Mike is standing, this is the opposite side of the living room, looking at the dining room area (it's all one room), and looking into the kitchen. The French Doors is to the right of this picture, to go outside.

The Kitchen, isn't it gorgeous?!
Our bathroom (actually, both bathrooms look like this)
Master Bedroom (again, French doors leading outside too)
Girls Bathroom

Girls Bedroom, complete w/ walk in closet (which I don't have).. lucky girls.

Girls bedroom

Going outside, has a covered porch, and a little tiny backyard.

Mariachi band singing "La Cucharacha"... imagine me remembering my fond Wiggles memory and singing along in my *uh-hum* broken Spanish ... if you can call it that. :)
More singers in the background (that's Mike's district manager on the left, and another property manager on the right)

The Riverwalk .. gorgeous! However, water is ugly b/c of Hurricane Dolly. It rained horribly a few days.

{The House}

We finally found a house... and it's about 2 miles from where Mike is going to work. I didn't bring my photo UBS cord with me, otherwise I'd download the pictures.


It's a cute house, but only has 2 bedrooms and 2 full baths. It looks incredibly tiny on the outside, but when you get inside, it's very big and spacious. Everything is tiled, has a fireplace, and the kitchen is really cute (complete w/ black & stainless steel utensils (stove, fridge, dishwasher). Most of those are brand new anyways.... so that's good. There are French doors leading to the backyard in both the dining room & the master bedroom. We have a small L shaped backyard complete w/ very pretty flowers/bushes. I'm sure I'll kill it all sooner or later.


The girls' school is just a few blocks away, and it was in the best school district San Antonio has, so we lucked out with that as well. The bedrooms are prtty big, and one has a built in desk in it. It has a two car garage, so Mike was thrilled about a place to put his tools and our food storage. Again, it's about 1500 square feet, not very big, but big enough for us. The dining room & living room is one huge room, but it has beautiful light fixtures in the house. As soon as I get home, I'll download pictures.

{The Wedding part 2}

The entire Nelson Clan ~ the ONLY great picture I have seen so far of all of us (and we're looking at the SAME time!! in the same direction!!, well, except for Presley ... we found it's hard to get her to look at the camera period.)

The new couple
Mike, Wesley, Tiffany & Marcie
Tiffany took these great pictures, and I haven't been able to upload them, until now. Enjoy!

{Day One in San Antonio}

We left early this a.m. for San Antonio ... flight was on time, but we were in the last of the LONG line of people to board the plane. I really hate open seating. I had to sit next to two little girls who were 7 & 11... but they were great, so I can't complain. Mike sat with the two girls' grandmother and another lady. LOL Halfway during the flight, a lady in front of Mike had a seizure, so that was an event to watch. She was fine when the plane landed, but they speeded up the plane and we landed 20 minutes earlier than expected. She had to be taken to the hospital for evaluation, I guess.

Get to San Antonio, and it was a rocking & a rolling kind of airplane ride thanks to Dolly. It was raining cats & dogs.... literally. We get our suitcase, and get on the van to get our car (again, thanks to the pouring down rain, my hair was frizzy from standing in the rain). Then, we find out Mike's boss had paid for our rental car w/ her private credit card instead of a company card... UGH! That took awhile to get it straightened out, and we were off in a Jeep (much to Mike's happiness).

There are orange cone festivals happening everywhere in San Antonio. I didn't think much of the airport, and of course, w/ all the construction, even less of San Antonio at this point ~ simply b/c we couldn't find our way around! It was confusing! We finally figure out where we were, and go in search of Mike's property. It is in a great area. We were starving to death though, and we found the most delicious Mexican food restaurant down the street from where Mike will work. They have AMAZING salsa (if I can even call it that b/c it didn't look like salsa).

Then, for the next three hours we went through tons of neighborhoods up and down the streets looking for signs that says "FOR LEASE". Didn't see much. What we did see, was already rented out, or they wanted $1250 for a 2 bedroom house! Yikes! The neighborhoods we were looking at resemble Tiff & Dan's neighborhoods.

During this entire space of time, we had tornado warnings happening all around us, but it was pouring down torrential rainpour that came and went in spurts all afternoon. The streets here are literally flooded with water in the middle, and all of it goes in one direction.. (Mike thinks I'm exaggerating a bit, but I'm not). I guess they never get rain. Anyways, a tornado DID touch down, where? No clue. Somewhere around us, but we didn't hear any sirens go off (I don't think they have sirens here).

We finally got tired, and drove to the Havens to find our place. Since we ate a big lunch, we didn't want to eat dinner, but we did want to find some munchies at Walmart or something. We have a fully equipped kitchen, so that's nice. However, once we were out, we couldn't find a Walmart, Target or even a grocery store anywhere! We drove so far out, we reached "Amigoville" (aka town full of Mexicans)... and finally turned around. I asked Mike "why isn't there a Walmart or grocery store for anyone to eat or shop at?" His smart aleck reply? "because they can just steal it instead". ::rolling eyes:: **snort**

Finally an hour later we find a Walmart, and get some cereal and milk, etc.

Oh, you want an update on a house?

We finally called a realtor, told her what we wanted, and what area we wanted it in. She returned with 6 homes. Three of them we liked, one we REALLY liked (and we're hoping we get this one). It would be up close to the LDS temple if we get this house. It has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths (we were hoping for 3, but the 4 was a plus). I'll update tomorrow night (if we have time to email) on what we find out. Mike has to go tour the property tomorrow morning, and has some meetings. Tomorrow night we go out to dinner w/ his district manager.

{The Wedding}

Last week we had a chance to get together with the entire Nelson clan (aka Buhman/Cloud clan too). We were celebrating Wesley getting married to Alicia... a wonderful and beautiful gal! We sure love having her in the family.

Who the heck are these clowns??

We had a grand time getting together a few days before the wedding/reception ... swimming, playing, and of course, eating. We love to eat. ha ha

Cost of all outfits: $100+ (no clue, really)

Cost of pain in getting all 6 cousins together & smiling.... UGH (can you put a price tag on that?)

Satisfaction of looking at these 6 cuties and smile, knowing you've got a "decent" photo and that's the best you'll ever get with a 10 month old & a two year old to cooperate? PRICELESS!

Katie passing Presley off to Madison

Looking for bugs... they did this for a LONG time!

Grandma & Papa Nelson w/ all the grandkids.... no one is ever looking at the camera at the same time

Wesley & Alicia's wedding was beautiful. The reception was beautiful, so simple but yet so elegant! I was in awe of Alicia's mother's ability to bake... awesome! She is a caterer, so all her treats were to die for!

My darling niece, Emily

My mother in law & sister in law Tiffany did a wonderful job of matching all the kids' outfits together, and they really looked smashing together. Sadly, I cannot upload Tiff's picture of the grandkids w/ the grandparents.... I think it's too large to upload and I can't figure out how to compress the size yet on this computer. Once I get that figured out, I'll upload those.

After the reception, there was another reception going on, that I wanted to go to. A good friend of mine, Stephanie, had gotten married. I had taught her in Young Women's at church a LONG time ago. The four of us (pictured below) were great friends back in that day, and served together in YW (well, Gerri didn't, but we were still friends) (still are friends), and Debbie (the red head) came back for the wedding from Virginia. SO great to see her! Miss her a lot! They had a dance at that reception, so everyone is bopping to the beat!

Debbie & I

Anne, Gerri, Deb, and I

{Making Banana Bread}

Katie has been constantly complaining how bored she is this summer. She usually accompanies this statement with a classic case of eye rolling, throwing her head back and whines. I decided with my huge stack of spoiling rapidly bananas, to teach her how to make banana bread. I found this incredible recipe on allrecipes.com that was amazing! So delicious, that it's more a dessert than it is banana bread. She used her apron I made her a few months ago, and she already knows how to read a recipe.... and she was off!
Here is a link of the recipe (click on it) ... The only thing I did differently w/ this recipe is I used half brown sugar & half white sugar, added a little bit of cinnamon & vanilla. On the top of the banana bread before it baked, I sprinkled cinnamon & brown sugar on the top.

{Omaha Trip}

This past Friday we enjoyed a trip with my parents to Omaha. We left Friday afternoon for our exciting journey, only to be frustrated at the traffic, due to road work (where were the construction workers?? Never to be found!), and then to our worse fears, a throwing up kid. It was a good thing I had packed several small blankets, for the girls. They are usually freezing from the a/c, so Madison had one around her lap. She started complaining of a headache, laid her head down, then minutes later, said "I've gotta puke", and puke she did. Everywhere! So, we pulled off to a gas station where I had an enjoyable time washing her blanket in the toilet. Gag Gag!

We arrived in Omaha about 4 hours later (again, what was supposed to be a 3 hour journey, probably took us 4 1/2 hours?). We found our hotel room, hit the Hollywood Diner that was next to our hotel. Not many people frequented here, so we were unsure if this was a good sign, or a bad sign. It was a bad sign. My food was dropped, Katie had a hair in her food... blech.

Met up w/ our friends later that night for a little swimming fun, then on to bed. Saturday morning the girls had a dance competition. This competition was a brand new one (the first year), so they had some wrinkles to iron out (sound system, CD player didn't work, etc). It didn't help that it was raining as well. Bummer. Maddie did great, Katie did pretty good. She was disqualified from her sword dance b/c she kicked the sword (a major big no no). Then again, the sword handles were extremely high, so she wasn't used to this. Maddie danced all her dances, then took off playing with her friends, finding lovely caterpillars "Can we take him home Momma?" and eating all the Pringles. Katie did fantastic at her Fling & Seann Trius, but messed up on her Flora. After asking her to practice that dance before she went out, she said "no.". After she came back from dancing it she said "Umm... I think I should have listened to you and practiced it.". UMMM... YES! Oh well... a teaching moment for her.

We went back to the hotel afterwards, changed clothes for the girls, and headed to eat. We stopped at the huge Nebraska Furniture Mart, shopped for a bit. After eating, we went to the Winter Quarter's Visitor's Center. The new temple was across the street, with the cemetary next to it. We took the tour, and learned so much about the pioneers and the things they went through. Katie pulled a handcart, and when the sister missionary put a small stone in front of it, she really had a tough time pulling it. Maddie laid in a bed that was customary for the people on the ship who were traveling. Five people had to share one bed... whether by taking turns, sleeping every 2 hours in it, or what. Scary!

Sunday we went to the famous Omaha Zoo. Very cool, have to admit! They had a huge Desert Dome, and we spent a full hour inside. We saw the bears, gorilla's, and of course, the famous aquarium, where we walk under sharks swimming above our heads. Ultra cool!

We made it home in 3 hours, thanks to mom's speeding (JUST KIDDING MOM!). No, she didn't speed. We had a fantastic time, and a major big thanks to Mom & Dad for going with us!

{My Favorite Thing}

OK ... this is one of my favorite things EVER... Tetley Herbal Pure Peppermint tea. I found this tea at a hotel in Dallas, and had been on the lookout for it ever since. I can only get it online, as they only sell it in Canada and Europe. Thankfully, a dear friend in Canada found it for me and sent me a canister of it, and I rationed it like crazy. If you like peppermint, this is the thing for you!! It soothes your stomach at night, if it is hurting, it makes your breath smell sweeter (or at least I think it does)... and it's just yummy tasting!

I post about this because my mother in law and I went to Big Lots last Thursday night, and within minutes of the stores closing, I happened upon it. I almost tore the entire cardboard stand down looking for all the canisters of Peppermint.. they were only a buck a piece! They're normally $6!! I found 6 canisters, so I'm in HEAVEN!!! I'm on the lookout for more, this is truly the best. So family .... next time you go to Big Lots, PLEASE (with sugar and a cherry on top) get me some more of this stuff!! I do need to stock up on this for my year of food supply. :)

{Happy 4th of July}

Last night the girls reminded me of our yearly 4th of July tradition... red toes with white polka dots. I started this tradition about 5 years ago (maybe longer?), but originally used a toothpick dipped in white out, which didn't work. Then another year I bought white polish, which also didn't work, then I tried french manicure white fingernail polish, which didn't work well also. Finally last night I remembered I had boughten a white marker used for scrapbooking... and that worked PERFECTLY!!

Enjoy our annual red/polka dotted toes!

{Shopping}

Today the girls and I took a small trip to the Town Center Plaza in Leawood.... the super nice and fancy part of town that resembles the Plaza. They have the neatest stores that are "oh so expensive" but fun to walk through!!

We went through Bath & Body Works, where they were having their "Up to 90% off sale!" summertime sale. I had $35 in gift certificates to spend there, and somehow.... somehow I spent a majority of it on everyone but me. The girls each got an American Girl lipgloss for $2 (clear of course), and some shower gel ($2 something). Plus they are sharing some Freesia lotion ($2.38)... and some shampoo for $1.87. I managed to get some shower gel for $2.37 & some of my favorite lip treatment (Cinnamint by Bigelow), and some tinted lip gloss for $2.00. Can't beat that.

So, we walked down a ways, and Katie spots Limited Too.... I had never gone inside before, never had a reason to go inside. But I guess Katie's getting to the age where clothes are a hot commodity for her, so we went inside to check it out. Oh my, were they in clothes heaven or what?! They were "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" over everything. They were acting as the sisters I've always imagined they would be like as teenagers. Imagine this conversation:

Madison: "OOH Katie! Look! Isn't this precious?"

Katie: "Ahhh! Madison! That would look so good on you! and look! it's your favorite color!"

I searched for my favorite section of the store, the clearance part. :) They had a 40% off the lowest price marked, and I found the girls each a shirt that was "oh so cute!" for $10 a piece. I think I'm gonna have to tell Daddy it's time to go "back to school" shopping soon. There were so many cute stuff there, and if we go to San Antonio, this stuff would be perfect year round.

Then we walk to Pottery Barn for Kids. They start squealing over all the pinks, blues, purples, yellows..... everything I've always wanted to decorate their room with, but haven't. Maddie kept saying "oh, I want THIS bed".. then later "No! THIS is the bed I want!" Very cute stuff, but oh so expensive!

I enjoyed my time in Williams Sonoma, imagining myself making foccacia bread or some other fancy dish, with all the wonderful utensils they offer there to make your life easier. I was rudely brought back to earth when Maddie started complaining "this store is SOOO boring Momma! Let's go!" OK ... will have to make another trip withOUT that little blondie.