Our house can't come soon enough

Taylor went to our house today after church and took some photos.  The kids loved going.

This will be our back patio.

The front of the house.

Easter Sunday and petting zoo

 I love Callie's poses!

 Sisterly love.

Our neighbor's son works at Chick-fil-A just down the street and they told us they had a small petting zoo in the parking lot.  It was something fun to break up the night.

 It was funny seeing sheep and turtles right beside each other.

 Paige liked standing on a stool looking into the pig pen.  I  love her blue eyes!

 Callie looking at the smelly cows.

 The little piglets were so cute.

This is our house!  They finally poured the foundation this week.

Conference Weekend/Easter Hunt

Conference weekend we went over to Taylor's sister's house in Dallas.  Taylor's other siblings came and his parents.  We had a great time.  We watched conference and had dinner together, (the traditional Texas meal, brisket from the bbq) yum!

Helping Paige find eggs.

 

Since the move to Texas I have been doing my hair wavy.   With the humidity I have more curl.

Texas Tornadoes!

Thanks for your many, many texts and phone calls this week about concern for our family.  We were okay during the many storms around Dallas/Ft. Worth but some were not.  This house is a family friend in Arlington, about 30 minutes east of here.  Their home was hit on Wednesday and is a complete loss.  The house has a basement which kept them safe during the storm.  Wouldn't it be weird to walk out of the basement and see the sky?  The neighbors next to them had a lot of damage as well and also across the street.  A few houses down had no damage.  Tornadoes are crazy that they can destroy one house and not touch the house next door.  Many ward members were helping them get all of their belongings.  It was an unbelievable sight.  There were pieces of siding hanging from the tops of trees and a 2x4 protruding from a brick wall.

Cousins and Fort Worth Zoo

Austin and Paige riding the 4 wheeler

Paige trying to touch the sting rays.

Riding in Preston's, teachers stroller.

Preston loves turtles.

They watched a show at the zoo about texas weather.  It had rain, thunder , and lightning .  Paige got a little scared.

Albuquerque, New Mexico

On our move out to Texas we stopped by our friends in Albuquerque.

We have known Lance and Kylee since college.  We went to eat at the Melting Pot.   It was delicious.  It was a new experience for us.  

Paige sleeping in a little chair, just her size, at Lance and Kylee' house.

Our kids loved riding this battery powered car.  

Paige was so cute riding in the back.

Our hotel in Albuquerque had a slide into the pool.  We planned to stay at a different hotel  but our friends suggested this one.   

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Secret Ingredient Tomato Soup

Secret Ingredient Tomato soup (I halved the recipe and still had left overs)

3 tbs. olive oil

1 small onion diced

5 cloves garlic minced

3-14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes

2 cups chicken stock

7 oz. prepared pesto 

1 tbs. sugar

1 bay leaf

1/8 tsp thyme

s & p to taste

1 cup fat free half & half ( I used heavy whipping cream)

Directions:

 

In large pot, heat oil over medium heat.  Saute onions 3-5 min or until soft and translucent.  Stir in garlic and cook another minute.  Poor in tomatoes, chicken stock, pesto, sugar, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes.  Remove bay leaf and puree using an immersion blender or regular blender.  Only add 1 cup at a time  to blender and cover with towel in case it splatters hot soup.  Stir in half and half or heavy cream and serve hot.

Our goodbyes to friends in California.

 Good bye to our house and friends.  Callie and Bryce (neighbor).

 Callie and Skylee are friends from church.

 Lilly and Paige.  Believe it or not Lilly is only 2 months older but way taller!

 Some of the ellsworth kids.

 Katy and me.

 Callie crying in the back seat as we drove away from our house for the last time.

 We finally arrived to Texas!

 It is very windy