Trip to New York, Part IV

On our way home, we decided to make several stops. Lexie was very excited to see her best friend, Kristen. We took Kristen's family out to dinner. We had the best time! Here is a picture of Lexie and Kristen.

Here are Kristen's siblings. (Cuties!)

Michael eating pickles with Kristen.

Zachary with his 'twin', Brandy.

All the kids saying goodbye in the Walmart parking lot.

Church picnic and more

On Saturday, a man and his son came over with a horse and left the horse in our pasture to wean her baby off. On Sunday morning, the horse got out and started down the road. Dad got on the 4-wheeler and chased down the horse and brought it home. After it was put back in the pasture, Dad watched it get out again to find the hole. Dad got on the 4-wheeler again, brought the horse back, and tied her up. Knowing where the hole was in the fence, my Dad stayed home from church and fixed it.
Mom, Mike, Zach and I went to church. After church, I went to a friends house instead of going home. (My Mom and I had made cheesecake and broccoli salad on Saturday for the picnic.) Mom and the boys went home to get Dad for the picnic. The church picnic was a lot of fun! I got to spend a lot of time with all my friends. Sorry, no pictures.
Love,
Lexie

Silver Dollar City

Well on Thursday, we went to Silver Dollar City (an amusement park) with some friends. They got us in free. (Thank you so much, Mr. Chris and Mrs. Rhonda!) We left at around 10 am and we got home around 9:30 pm or something like that. We went on a lot of rides.

Levi, Zach, Lacy,Me, Ezra and Mike.

Us on a big chair.

My Mom and Mrs. Rhonda on a big chair.
It was the best day I had in a long time!
Love,
Lexie

Birthday party

On Sunday, we went to our friend, CJ's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. There was a cool picture booth thing. I had all my friends take a pic with me. It was so much fun!

This is a pic of my friend, Rio and I.

Mike, Mom, me and Zach.

Mike, me and Zach.
Happy Birthday, CJ! I love you!
Love,
Lexie

Trip to New York, Part I

The kids and I had a wonderful time on our vacation! As I already posted, I got to meet my new niece. What an honor to be there for her birth!

On our way to New York, we stopped the first night in Terre Haute, Indiana. I was just too tired to drive any further. The second night, we made it to Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, where our friends Mey and Grant live. We had a wonderful visit with them and I got to meet their newest addition, Anaja.

Before we headed to NY, we went to Hershey's Chocolate Factory (YUMMY!) and out for BBQ. My kids posing with their boys, Thor, Vladamir and Conan.

On the tour through the factory. Back row: me, Grant, Conan, Mey and Anaja. Front row: Lexie, Thor, Zachary, Vladamir, and Michael.

Trip to Tulsa

The kids and I spent Thursday and Friday in Tulsa visiting with friends. It was so great to see Kelly, Cory, and Livvie and to finally meet Chase! We enjoyed visiting the Oklahoma Aquarium and eating at Gina & Guiseppe's on the Riverwalk. Thank you, Shawna, for the recommendation!

This is a picture of my kids with our friends in front of the aquarium.

The internet ate the rest of my pictures. I will post them later.

A Visit From Friends

Yesterday, we had a wonderful visit from Tammy, Becky and family. I lured them over with the promise of blueberries! They brought us some hand-picked blackberries. I got a bunch of Hunnicutt steak out of the freezer and had Andrew grill it. Then, I convinced them to stay for dinner. Lexie wanted me to mention that she seasoned the steak with her own special seasoning. Yummy! We had a wonderful visit with them! Oh wait, I already said that! We can't wait to see them again! We missed you, Stephen!

Wonderful Surprises

March was a month of seeing old friends. On March 13th, I was on the phone when a white van, which I had never seen, pulled into the driveway. Out stepped a young man in a cowboy hat. I knew it was our friend, Stephen immediately. We've missed seeing Stephen. When we were stationed in San Angelo, my children and I spent a lot of time at his mom, Nola's farm. She taught me a lot about country life. Stephen, his wife, Becky and their cute baby boy, Ty were up from Texas visiting Becky's family. Becky brought her mom and four of her brothers with them. We had the best time visiting with them and were happy to learn that Becky's family doesn't live too far from us. I really enjoyed meeting Becky's mom, Tammy and I look forward to seeing her soon. It's always nice to meet a new friend. Here is a picture of our families before they left. (Lexie took the picture.)



On March 27th, my dear friend from high school, Beth, came to see me. During our afternoon of catching-up, we realized that it had been 16 years since we had seen each other. Wow! Thankfully, now she lives in Missouri and we will be able to see each other more often. Here is the picture Andrew took of Beth and I.

Why a dome?

Andrew has wanted to build a monolithic dome for about ten years now. While we were stationed in San Antonio, Andrew took a course called "Drafting with AutoCAD". He decided that he would design his own dome. He designed several hundred dome floor plans, all of which I found something wrong with. I think it was a lesson in patience for him. We finally agreed on the FINAL plans about three weeks ago.

From what I have learned about domes, they are amazing! They are an insulated concrete shell, so they maintain their temperature quite nicely. They are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They are also fire, earthquake, and tornado proof. Andrew and I went to the annual Monolithic Dome Conference March 6th-8th. We toured many different domes. We looked at domes built as school gyms, and they double as the town's emergency shelter.

Here is a picture of the gym at Avalon I.S.D. in Avalon, Texas. Thank you, Coach Davis, for the wonderful impromptu tour!



Other highlights from the weekend were:

meeting Marty Heaton, our dome builder,
meeting other like-minded people,
being stuck in a blizzard in North Texas,
eating Texas-shaped waffles for breakfast,



and visiting with old friends.



It was great to see you, Dean and Jen! Thanks for dinner!
Your children are wonderful!

We also celebrated our anniversary during the weekend.
Thanks to the best Mother-in-Law in the world for staying with our children!