David Jody Payton and Elly in Katy

My bother David and his family came for their first visit to Texas and we all had an awesome time!  They arrived on Saturday Dec. 21st and on Sunday the 22nd we all went to a Broncos vs Texans game.  What a great way to start the week!

Watching the volcano in PJ's

The kids had a blast at JumpStreet

This girl!  She will attack her brother every chance she gets!

Livy and I watching Payton make cookies for Santa

Payton and Elly's first time seeing the ocean.

Christmas 2013

Ike had his first Christmas program at preschool.  It was adorable!  He was to scared to sing, but looked like such a big boy standing up there with his whole school.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  It was our first spent in our home in Katy.  Grammie, Grandpa, David, Jody, Payton, and Elly helped make it extra special!

This was the first year Ike understood what was going on and all about Santa.  He asked Santa for a lollipop!

Ike love the space shuttle Santa left so much he didn't care when Olivia took the sucker out of his mouth and finished it off.

Thank you Grammie and g

Grandpa for the baseball mitt and ball.

Thank you Nanna and Papa for the legos, dump truck, clothes and everything else.

Santa's gifts were a hit.

I managed to miss getting a picture of Elly and Payton opening their santa gift, but Elly loved her new purse and Payton loved her new crimper.

Vigil Visitors

We spend 5 wonderful days with Denny's family.  They traveled some dangerous winter roads to catch their flight in Denver to come visit us.  We are so happy they made it here and back home safely.  Thank you for coming to Texas to see us!

The crew:  Grandma Molly, Aunt Elaine, Aunt Loretta, and Nanna

Everyone up early and getting ready to go home.

Livy loved hanging out by her Great Grandma Molly and sharing her food.

Denny and I were able to enjoy a nice evening out at his work Christmas party while we knew our littles would be very well taken care of.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had planned on a Thanksgiving in Berkeley, CA with the Vigil family this year, but after thinking about the plane ride and two hour time change with Olivia we decided to stay much closer to home. We were sad to miss out on all the Vigil fun, but baby girl will only get easier so hopefully it won't be to long before we get to CA again.

This year we spent two nights at Lost Pines Hyatt which is about a two hour drive from home.  It is a perfect kid friendly place to stay.  They had activities going on all day for kids and we had a big Thanksgiving meal when we got there on Thursday.  Then we had breakfast with Santa Saturday morning before heading home.

Unfortunately, both kids were quiet sick so there was a lot of coughing, snot,crying and little sleep involved in our weekend, but it was nice to get out of the house.

Family picture....At this point (the end of the meal) I think Ike's face describes how we were all feeling.

Livy feeding herself and making a HUGE mess!

Ike was NOT happy at our Thanksgiving lunch.  He just sat bundled up in the stroller.

dancing

coloring

train rides

Livy and I sitting on a Longhorn.

The kids loved this horse in the lobby.

They had a basketball court!

We went to a bird show and Olivia is pointing at the owl right before it landed right next to us.

Ike....poor guy!

I guess this is how Santa arrives in Texas!

Last year Ike was screaming in the Santa picture.  I was still unsure but Olivia was NOT happy.