Labor Day Weekend

Besides the baptism, this is how we entertained the masses over Labor Day weekend:

We went to the Capitol of Texas Zoo,

grabbed some burgers at P Terry's (yum, good choice Angie), then headed down to the Congress Bridge to catch the flight of the bats. The black smoke in that picture is actually hundreds of bats heading out for the night. But Andrew was more interested in Angie's new growth and spent the weekend rubbing her belly and asking searching questions.

Then we had various other forms of entertainment like the park, meditation, flight lessons, Steed faces, and balloon battles

I held the kids over those last hours with some Face the Cracker (from Minute-to-win-its "Face the Cookie"- get the cookie/cracker from your forehead to your mouth without using your hands) but that was probably more to entertain me than them.

Thanks to everyone for coming and playing with us and supporting Emma! We loved having ya'll!

A Special Day for a Special Girl

It's Great to be 8!

Emma turned 8 and got baptized over Labor day weekend. She's been excited and preparing for this big event. Our bishop extended a challenge at the beginning of the summer to read the Book of Mormon by September 2. I thought that was neat, because that was the day Emma turned 8. Emma had already started reading but accepted the challenge and picked up speed and even finished a couple weeks early. What a great way to prepare to be baptized! She amazes me! Nana decided the little dear deserved special scriptures and bought her a nice little quad with her name engraved.

We were so blessed to have so much family to celebrate Emma's special day! We are so very spoiled. Look at that nice-looking group of Steeds. So glad you guys could make it!

And of course Texas has become a popular stomping grounds for Cannon-folk. Thanks goes out to the Liddiards for hosting my parents along with their own. But for anyone ever wanting to visit, I have found we can hold quite a few here and give beds to most.

Can you just tell how special this moment was for Andrew?

He's thinking "I'd rather be rubbing Angie's belly"

Love this sweetheart! She makes me want to be a better mom. Congratulations Emma, we are well pleased!

I hope she doesn't mind me sharing but I thought this was cute. She was filling out pages in her baptism book and this is what she wrote for "My thoughts on my special Baptism day..." (and keep in mind that she is very literal, so she really wrote down the thoughts that went through her head that day): "The water is warm. I have to do what's right now. I wonder what will happen next. Maybe they will give me the Holy Ghost. I can't believe that Nana is crying with happiness. This is a special day."

School's in

Actually, school started several weeks ago for us so these guys are pros by now.

Emma's a big second-grader and pretty confident. Emma's a good student. She worked hard last year and was almost disappointed to see how quick and easy her homework was/is (compared to the four pages a night from her advanced class in Vegas). She quickly latched onto a nice friend from last year (from her 5 weeks in TX). I don't worry about this sweet girl.

Weston's a crazy kindergartner now. Never know what we're gonna get when he comes home. Sometimes he comes home with his scalp covered in black dirt or a big hole in his shirt because "some kid" (that he didn't see) cut a hole in it. Or he's got a ice pack on a big red bump on his head from running into a bookshelf (actually, he was a victim here) or a lunchbag still full of food. And I have never seen such filthy clothes! Sometimes I wonder if the boy just rolls in compost that still has uncomposed food in it. And knowing Weston, that's not a long-shot. Boys.... I don't care what people say, it is nature, they just are what they are. And Emma was beside herself trying to pry information from the kid the first couple days. I had to hold snacks hostage until he'd tell me some stuff about school (one grape for every tidbit). Apparently he has the Vegas mentality, what happens at school stays at school. Yeah, except you're bringing half of the school home on your clothes every day. Oh well, just keep the cheeks clean because I still think you're my snuggly lil boy.

And Andrew had to jump in front of the camera and grab some attention. As we visited the classrooms for Open House he kept asking where his class was and which one was his desk. He kept leaving me while I filled out paperwork to wander down the hall and find his room. He loves the idea of school and was thrilled when Emma's teacher handed him a book and Weston's teacher let him play with the math manipulatives. I don't know that I can hold him off for two more years. He doesn't mind having mommy all to himself though and is a happy little errand-runner.

Slip n' slide

I bought a slip n slide on clearance but it wasn't exactly the ripcurl it advertised and the kids weren't getting far so Jamie decided to help them out

This one looks like a take down

but don't worry they were lovin it

By the way, this was pre-wildfire water waste. And for those who've been watching the news and worried about us, we're fine. Sunday there was a fire 5 miles from here that burned a couple houses and Tuesday there was an apartment fire 2 miles from us but Bastrop is where they're getting the worst of it and that's an hour from us.

Austin Adventuring

The kids had never been into the city before so I decided the last week of summer would be a good time for an Austin adventure. First we took the train in (the Metro) and checked out some cows and horses, trees and cactus. It's still weird to me to see lots of cactus growing alongside lots of oaks. I'm from the desert so when I think of cactus I think of sandy barren lands, maybe some Joshua trees or pine if you're by the mountains.

Then we walked around downtown

I like downtown Austin with it's charming older buildings,...

modern hip vibe,...

unique artsy Texas flair,...

weird Austin pride,...

and we're so proud to be the lone star state embellishments. Gotta love the Texas capitol!

Then we made our way to the Children's Museum.

Played, designed, played and had a good time.

They had a diner where the kids served up trays full of healthy plastic food for me to eat. Beware though I don't think the food prep is entirely sanitary.

Emma and I liked the design center full of recyclable goods to create masterpieces with.

Weston liked pig parachute launching and both boys enjoyed the golf ball exhibit with ramps, mazes, and roller coasters to play with.

The Importance of Being Gina

One of my first blog posts I wrote was about my name. So my family's always called me by my middle name, Rochelle but since elementary school I've been Gina everywhere else. To confuse matters more I took the name to college met my husband and went from Rochelle Cannon to Gina Steed. I've been Gina Steed for quite some time now and many people know me by no other name. With each move and transition in my life I consider how I might fix the problem, change the name with a fresh crowd. When we moved to Texas the only people we knew were my SIL's family and being a family connection they knew me by Rochelle and introduced me at Jamie's work as Rochelle. So when the ward showed up to help us unpack we decided on a whim to introduce me as Rochelle. Oddly enough there's another Rachelle in the ward and she's got quintuplets so everyone knows her and her kids are my kids ages (by the way there's also another 5-yr-old Weston and a couple Jamesons in the ward but no Emmas- weird huh?). Then our records arrive at church and they ask me to say the prayer in sacrament and they put me in the program as Gina, the name on my records. Then the ward's like, "who are you?" and I'm like "I don't know!" And I try to send e-mails to Texas people through my gina account and I sign papers Gina but tell people I'm Rochelle (because all legal stuff and bank accounts are under Gina). I'm living a lie! It's like I'm in the witness protection program but I'm really lousy at covering my bases. So I guess it's time to pack up and move to another state (just kidding Angie).

Fun Fourth with Family

We weren't ready for the 23- hour drive up to the Cannon Ranch for all the family festivities I love so we took a shorter drive to Jesse's to enjoy there company, good food and our own rodeo/olympics. Thanks for hosting the holiday guys!

Went to the park for their ward breakfast and slip n' sliding. I like the pic of Jamie bowling with Andrew. Go see Jesse and Deborah's blog for Jesse's video of the fun activities (they're way cooler than me).

And it was nice to see fireworks which we wouldn't have got back in Austin with the burn ban still in place.