Family visit/knoxx2

JOhn's family came to Houston for  Ammon and Kira's new baby, Evelynn's, baby blessing.  We went to the Blue bell ice cream factory on the first day and then john took the big boys hunting.  the girls and the little boys all had a big sleepover at a condo that was near Ammon and Kira's house. We have learned it is cheaper and easier to rent a vacation home for everyone then stay in  a hotel.  the boys got back from hunting and fishing Just in time for Knoxx to turn 2.

We celebrated KNoxx's 2nd birthday!!  I made him this Gretta Cake.  It was really yummy and he liked it.

The condo was near Sylvan BEach and so we went there for the day. So we went to the beach during the day and then that night we had a birthday party. We had a  yummy dinner and then had him blow out his candles. 

Rocklond love helping Knoxx open his presents.

I think knoxx liked his presents. HIs favorite one was a wooden train that his grandma gave him. 

the next day we drove up to Rock's 2nd to last soccer game.  He doesn't like the pressure of the games and usually wont play but he looks so cute.

then we drove to the pickets favorite place to visit. Brazos BEnd state park.   I bought a state parks pass last time they were all in town and boy has it been worth it.  we all got in for free with our 2 passes. :)

everyone loved playing on the vines.

and looking for alligators. there is a good size on in this picture of Rocky. can you see it's tail?  (Rockland and his cousin had a little piggy back accident and rocklond ended up with a great scrape on his forehead.)  

Rocky and his cousin Brynn

then that night Viktoriia (who had been at youth conference the whole weekend) and I went to Pasca at the Russian Orthodox Church.  it started at midnight and goes until about 6 in the morning. we just stayed for an hour.

inside the church.

everyone brings baskets with bread and eaggs and things to be blessed by holy water

The women need to cover their heads and so here we are showing off our scarves.

Here is the church from the outside. Viktoriia said the one she goes to at home is about 4x larger, but this was the only one here is Houston.  It was great to go to Viktoriia's church. she has come to our church (the church of Jesus Christ of Later day Saints)  Every Sunday all year and I thought I should at least go to hers once.  and it was so cool to see it on Easters eve.

Then the next morning back at My church little Evelynn was blessed

then Sunday night everyone JOhn's family flew back to Utah.  We have just spent the day recovering from lack of sleep and trying to clean up.   Here is  Knoxx taking  a nap. ha ha   What a fun weekend

Trip to Utah March2014

        It has been a while since I have posted. We have been without a computer for about a month now. And before that we were in various stages of making our old laptop keep limping along. Well now we are back with our bran new Sony Vaio. 

 

 Sony has been good to us and so we decided to stick with what we knew.   I bought a new computer desk because our old one wouldn’t fit this new larger desktop. We are still learning how to use everything since the laptop we had was about 7 years old which in computer years is about 50 years old.   Like since when can I get apps on my computer!  Where have I been? Haha

 

Anyway we aren’t just back in the computing world we just got back from our trip to Utah!  It was a 2 ½ week trip to paradise. We had a really good time and especially loved showing everything to Viktoriia.  

car seat arm covers are the perfect rocklond sizes shoes. 

 

 

We started off in Las Vegas for our good friends Ross and Illiana’s wedding.  I was a really out of it and never put my memory card in my camera so I don’t have hardly any pictures form the temple. But it was a beautiful wedding and the temple was a breath of fresh air after spending three days wandering in and out of casinos. 

 

Our good friends Keith and Julie were there and really hooked us up with a great place to stay. We had so much fun spending time with them and their 2 kids.

 

 

Then we went to Cedar city.  We saw a gymnastics meet and toured the campus.

John, Austin and I took Viktoriia Skiing.  It took her a while to get the hang of it but by the end we were going down bigger and bigger slopes.

We went to Brice canyon,

 

and sledding,

and best of all we went to the Grand Canyon.

 

 It was about a 5 hr drive from Cedar but well worth the drive.

 

 

We took our time getting there and enjoyed all of the stops along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed in Williams AZ and tehn drove back thru the canyon the next day. It was all full of fog and you couldn’t see a thing!   

 

 

Soon it was time to go up to SLC.

 

 My sister Emily and her 3 kids and my Aunt Dianne drove out from Denver, Co  to join in our visit.

 

Since they were staying at my parents house we stayed with Johns aunt Sandra. She was so sweet to take us in.   Knoxx slept on the floor and every night would wake up under Rocky’s bed.

Hill air force base.

 

 

We went to Park city,

 

 down town SLC,

 

 temple square,

 

My best friend from high school Chelsea came over with her two kids for a visit.

 

 and the best day was when we went to BYU.  Rocklond and john didn’t come with us this day and I felt really bad about that because it was a really cool day.  We went on a golf cart tour. Had lunch, listened to my brother, Billy, give a small performance with his horn quartet. Then my mom and dad watched the kids and Emily, Dianne, Viktoriia and I went and saw the exhibit sacred gifts which is a collection of famous paintings of the savior from around the world. It was really good.   Then Billy came home with us and we spent the weekend hanging out with him.  

 

One day I organized a sister’s activity. We had 9 girls there who were all related either by blood or marriage or exchange student.  We all went and got our nails done at a little beauty school in Taylorsville.

 

At night we all enjoyed playing Dominion, and eating ice cream and cheesy fries.

All to soon it was time to come home to Houston. We were so sad to leave, but ready to get back to our own beds and house.  The next time we go to Utah will be when my sister comes home from her Mission.