Gearing up for Halloween.

Today is the first day I've felt a chill in the air here. I love that it has cooled off some. Makes it feel like Fall has finally arrived. Last night we were invited over to Matt and Nicole's home to carve pumpkins. It was a lot of fun. The girls are going to have a craft day tomorrow. Nicole is going to introduce me to a friend of hers that lives near by. Chris has to work tomorrow so it should work out nicely.

Getting started

Having fun doing the carving

Finished products

All tuckered out

Another update for mom.

                                       Here are a few photos of us "airing out the diaper rash".

This is for you mom!

Missing work.......

Good times in Urology!!! What can I say? I ROCK the green shiny Middleton lead!!!

Our first neighborhood stroll.

As the sun starts to go down here the temperature is beautiful! Hudson hasn't been feeling well these days and the dogs are antsy (Moving and all). So tonight around 6:30 we took our first neighborhood stroll. Most of the houses look the same. Not many trees. There are a ton of cars parked along the street. Most people we saw outside took a moment to wave. Two sets of kids yelled out, " hey, can we pet your dogs?" I hope to take up an evening walk ritual. I think we can all benefit from it.

Pumpkin Patch

Maybe I'm just the mom, but this kid's face is priceless. He loved the pumpkin patch! We even took home a pumpkin just for him!

Trying to get settled.

We have been in Texas just over a week now. So far so good. We have found a place. (Slowly moving in) Chris has completed his first week of work. We went to church today with Matt and Nicole. They just rearranged the wards here so we're still not too sure where or when our ward is.

It rained so hard here last night and this morning. I woke up to thinking Chris was in the shower. Nicole said she was having a dream about taking a nice long shower, when she woke up she realized it was because of the rain. This storm was complete with thunder and lightning. Rocko of course freaked! We ended up bringing the dogs into the garage around 2:30 this morning. This rain was much needed for drought laden Texas!

As you know we had to sell a ton of our big furnishings to be able to get here on a budget. I know my mother has been rather worried about us having things for our home here. Well not to worry mom, have been able to replace some necessities. My interior designer sister-in-law, Nicole has a client who is moving to Austin. He is getting rid of a few things.  She told him she has a great home for his things. We pick them up tomorrow. There is a really cheap bed store here. (Billy Bob's Beds) We picked up a queen sized bed to hold us over until we find a great bed, then the queen will occupy the guest room. We found a sofa and love seat on Craig's List here. I was skeptical at first to buy off of Craig's List but we got a great set for a really good deal. So far we're happy with that purchase.

The POD will be delivered tomorrow morning. Between Chris working late and me working with Nicole in Austin we'll try and get it unloaded as soon as possible.

As always there will be more to come........

Little buddy's haircut.

Hudson has had a full head of hair since the day he was born. I have "trimmed" it but he was due for a professional cut. While Chris and I were out exploring our new city last night we noticed a "kids hair salon". I took Hudson back this afternoon. He sat in a 4x4 jeep and played with a rubber chicken. He did so much better than I expected. While he was sitting occupied I got a call from a real estate agent telling us that they approved us for a rental property we wanted. (YIPEE) All in all it was a good hour of my day.......

Getting started

Before pic

Daddy asked if that was a doggy chew toy.

That was a good Chicken

Handsome lad!

He got a balloon and sucker for being good.

All done.

We've arrived!

I was fortunate to be able to get my last day of work off. We headed out of town one day early. We left Wednesday and drove to St. George. We went to the shop to get a vehicle to pick up Nautica. (our's were packed to the brim) I took her shopping, then went back to the shop where Chris had been waiting with Hudson and the dogs. We had dad check out the A/C in Chris' car before we left there. He got it working!!!! (Thank you dad!) We called in an order to Cafe Rio. (Had to eat there before we left.) Then we did some more shopping with Nautica because I had to get her home. (School night) We stayed the night at mom and dad's then left St. George around 11am.

Definitely a slow start to a long day. We had hoped to get into Albuquerque that night but we stopped two hours short in a little place called Gallup, New Mexico. Our stay at the Howard Johnson was so bad we bolted from the place at 5:45am. On the road early, Hudson passed out. (good thing). We stopped in Albuquerque around 8 and fed Hudson breakfast and picked up some things at Target.

Our next stop was in Roswell, New Mexico. Yes that's the place where the said "alien crash" happened. Gas was $3.10 there! We ate lunch at Whataburger. From there it was a long boring drive into Texas. after we crossed the border it was a long boring drive into San Antonio.

We arrived at Chris' brother's home at 11pm on Friday night. Turns out we were on the road for approximately 16 1/2 hours that day. Hudson wasn't great but he wasn't as bad as he'd been the day before. I felt it was better to push through, than to torture the baby for another day by cramming him into his car seat.

We where absolutely out of our minds when we arrived! Needless to say, I don't think we'll be making that drive again in the near future.

So begins the process of looking for a place to live and me looking for a job. Chris starts work in the morning. I think he's pretty excited.

Saying some of our goodbyes.

Grandma Annie was having a hard time letting Hudson leave.

We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Shinsel for two nights before we left.

Nautica saying goodbye to her little brother (for now)

Me and my mother