State Fair of Texas

Every year the kids get these free tickets to the State Fair of Texas from school. This year, I decided we were actually going to go to the fair. We decided to ride the train and we went the first day of the fall break. Travis had football and work, plus he had already been the week before with his pie, so he did not come along, and Corey was working. 

Everything at the fair cost money, so we set aside some money to use.  We did get to a see a free show, which was a marionette puppet show.  Mostly we just walked around and looked at everything.  We did try some fair food, most specifically a crepe and also some corn dogs.  The corn dogs have always been super hyped up and they were, sadly, disappointing.  Not quite as good as I had imagined.  The younger kids seemed to think that riding the train was the best part.  That was really nice to not have to worry about parking.  It seems a lot of other people thought the same thing because the train was packed on the way down.  But I think we'll definitely do this again.

 

The Big Freeze

We had a pretty bad winter storm come through Texas this week.  When school got out Friday for President's Day weekend, they sent home packets to do on Tuesday because winter weather was predicted and it was just in case it snowed and school had to be canceled.  But what happened instead was that it got so cold that the power companies couldn't keep up with demand and the whole state went through cycles of lost power.  The cold and snow lasted ALL week, so we had power going on and off for about four days.  On Sunday is when the storm started and church was canceled because the roads were covered in a layer of ice, as shown in the first picture.  We did church at home and then the kids did primary by watching the primary videos that our chorister makes every week to help the kids learn the songs for when we might ever go back to a full two hour church schedule.  We spent the week bundled up and learned how to use our fireplace.  Cooking was tricky because we never knew when the power would go out and come back on, so we learned to cook as soon as it came back on and then eat when it was out.  Work was canceled for Corey and the boys all week as well.  Interesting times!

 

Fall Colors

The leaves on our trees out front were such pretty, bright colors this year that I had to get a picture before they all fell off.  Of course, my phone camera doesn't do the colors justice.  They were so many shades of yellow, orange and red.  It was really incredible.  Usually we don't get such a variety of colors here in Texas.

Fun and Football

This week in preschool, we learned about Texas.  We also talked about the letter B, so we made bluebonnet painting since bluebonnets are the state flower.

We finally had a varsity football game!  Yay!  They only have four on the schedule but I don't think they'll do makeup games for the ones that have been canceled due to covid.  We were very excited to go to a game and watch the band.  I hope next year we have a real season. 
 

A Farewell Swim Party

Maggie and Kaori are heading back to Japan soon, so we had a final family swim party to say goodbye. Too bad that Travis couldn't swim with us because of his broken shoulder.  Maggie has done amazingly well with her back surgery and recovery.  I truly impressed with the determination and grit of this young lady.  I'm glad we were able to spend time with Kaori and Maggie while they were in Texas for her surgery.  They will be missed, but will hopefully be moving back to Texas soon.  It's possible they could be back by the end of 2020.  Fingers crossed!

 

Mesquite Championship Rodeo

When I saw an ad on Facebook that the Mesquite Championship Rodeo was still open and seats weren't terribly expensive, I decided to go for it. It ended up being Corey, Westley and me all going together. This was the first time for me to go to a rodeo in Texas. I've been to rodeos before, but only in Utah. We had a good time and I was glad we were able to go.

 

Swimming at Home

Before we left on our trip, our pool had not opened for the summer because of Covid19. One of the reasons we went on our trip was to spend a lot of time in Arizona swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's pool.  But the HOA board had met and opened it up the very week we left for Arizona.  That's okay, we still  had a great time in Arizona.  Since we've been back, we've been trying to go to the pool every day.  We just really love to swim.  And we have only one child left to still learn how to do it on  his own.  Won't that be nice when they are all swimming independently?

 

New Haircut, Visitng Maggie, Park Play and Swimming

With things opening back up, hair salons have been among those things and I needed a haircut. But when I researched what restrictions salons would have, such as wearing a mask and gloves the whole time, I decided to find someone who cuts hair from home to do it. A lady in our stake, Denise Urish, cuts hair from home and had started back up with doing it, so I booked myself an appointment. I was super happy with the result.  I really like myself with short hair better than with long hair.

 

On Tuesday, we went over to make muffins with Aunt Paige to take to Maggie because Maggie really wanted some blueberry muffins.  Aunt Paige added a few twists and we made banana-blueberry-chocolate chip muffins for her.  I was able to drive the muffins down with the kids to give to Maggie at her rehab center where she was transferred last week.  She is recovering well from the surgery, but it's slow going and she has to relearn how to walk, which is super challenging because she still does not have feeling in her right leg and only some feeling in her left leg.  We are praying for her to fully recover and Travis and Eliza are glad that she is in Texas even if they can't see her or spend quality time with her in person.

On Wednesday, I had signed Eliza up for a craft class taught by the Lamarche girls in our stake at their house, so I took Jonah, Annmarie and Nathan to the park to play while she was at her class.  Jonah loves to climb trees.

And we've been swimming a few more times at Paige and Austin's with Paige and the kids.  Austin even joined us before leaving again to go on the road.  We've had some racial tensions in the U.S. after another white cop killed another black man senselessly and this has led to rioting and violence.  Truckers have become a target of some of the violence, so Austin came home for a few days to stay safe.  With coronavirus still going spreading, life is sort of nightmarish at times.  We are now accused of being racist simply on the premise of being white and that's hard to deal with.  I wonder if people were all seeing each other in person more instead of online if these things would be worked out better.  Who knows?  It's looking more and more like school will be some weird hybrid of online and in person in the fall with the requirement of masks and sports and activities like choir and band being canceled.  I will be so frustrated if that happens.