A South Beach Wedding

My best friend Karalee, got married this past weekend. We were inseparable from the pre-school through high school. I left the kids with Tom and went by myself to South Beach, FL. It was quite an experience. I really had a great time. I was gone for 48 hours, but that's longer than I've ever left both the kids and been on my own since we've been married. I kept feeling like I was forgetting something everywhere I went. I did a lot of sight-seeing on my own. It was nice to have some alone time, I must say.

Karalee's husband, Sid, is from Conn. He is Jewish and they had a very traditional Jewish wedding. There were quite a mixture of people there. I'd say about half of us didn't know what we were doing during the dance where they have the couple up on the chairs, but then later they played "Hang on Sloopy" and all of us Buckeyes got out there and put up our O-H-I-O's. I've never felt so much Ohio pride! I got to reconnect with friends from high school and all of Karalee's extended family that was there. It was really fun. Congratulations Karalee, you were so beautiful!

I was happy to get home after though. I really missed my family! Meg was mostly excited for the presents I brought back for her (which I had to find at the airport, because South Beach isn't very family friendly, it doesn't exactly have a Toy R' Us on every corner, let's just say!). Tom and the kids had gotten me my favorite lilies and made me a beautiful card. I have such a sweet family and it was nice to be missed!

Tom loved being a stay-at-home dad for the weekend and would like to take over my job! They went to see a movie, went to the mall and played at the playland, ate plenty of chicken nuggets and played with their cousins. Tom had Meg doing quantum physics and Charlie writing his dissertation by the time I arrived, of course!

Austin

Last weekend we took a trip to Austin. It is a beautiful city. Tom had to go to a conference all day Monday so we drove up on Sunday and stayed in a hotel there. The kids and I love stuff like that! We were able to swim in the pool and eat some great Texan food! We went to a real Texas BBQ Sunday night. It was in the middle of nowhere outside of Austin. We had just had the time change so it felt like midnight to me but it was just before 8pm. We walked in and the place was packed. This was the day after Texas lost to Texas Tech and I could feel some tension there. Tom, of course, had an OSU shirt on and I was pretty sure the entire Texas football team was at this restaurant. It was a little scary! Tom found a Texas jersey to put on Charlie to protect us though, :). The food was delicious. We also checked out the outlets there. They are famous and have every store imaginable. Daddy spoiled his little girl with a beautiful Christmas outfit. Meg is dying to wear it, but were making her wait until we go home for Thanksgiving. Sunday night when we got back to the hotel, Daddy, Meg and Charlie were all wrestling on the bed like usual and of course someone got hurt. Meg fell on Charlie and her mouth collided with his head. The snap I heard was one of the scariest sounds I ever heard. I thought for sure it was Meg's jaw breaking. Luckily, however, it was the sound of her teeth crashing together. Both kids were screaming and then Tom found a little piece of porcelain on Meg's lip. Her teeth had snapped so hard together that the front part of her canine tooth broke off. Needless to say, after I calmed down and realized we weren't making a trip to the hospital that night, the tooth fairy paid us a visit while we were sleeping. As my dad says, "the price of porcelain is going up!" Even for half a tooth! Meg was so excited that the tooth fairy was coming that she forgot about the trauma and all was well.

The next day the kids and I were on our own and we did some exploring. We found a great park south of the city. It was enormous. There was a natural spring there that people swim in all year. You can see it behind Meg in the first picture. Meg also loved feeding the birds which were everywhere there. We played there for a long time and were all completely covered in dirt by the time we left. After picking up Tom that night we found a little Mexican restaurant to eat at before our trip home. Charlie was so exhausted from all of our excursions that he ended up screaming the entire meal and we had to take turns taking him outside. I had my first experience with a very rude person that night who was upset about Charlie's crying. An older lady cursed at us when we had first sat down and were trying to comfort Charlie. She later stomped out of the restaurant after we quickly took Charlie outside. I have never felt that feeling before and feel bad for those who have had more experiences like that. Why in the world would someone be so unsympathetic and mean?

Anyway, overall we had a great time and enjoyed seeing a new part of Texas.

Trick-or-Treat

For Halloween we went over to the Lyman's and Trick-or-Treat'ed with them. We had a great time. Their neighborhood gave out some sweet candy! It pays to live in oil country! Non of those marshmallows shaped like peanuts over there! Meg was Ariel and Charlie was Captain Hook. In the rush to leave our house however, I forgot Charlie's bucket and his puffy, ruffly shirt collar that was so cute. I was not happy! Everyone thought he was Prince Charming because I knew he wouldn't wear an eye patch or hat. He made a cute Prince Charming too though. Meg picked out her Ariel costume. We were hoping she would want to be Tinker Bell to go with Captain Hook, but she really like this outfit. She made a beautiful mermaid! They loved walking around Betsy's neighborhood. It was a perfect weather. Luckily Cameron and Makena were there, or else Meg would have been too shy to go up to the doors. The challenge of the night was getting her to say "Trick-or-Treat" and "thank you". She eventually did, even if the people couldn't hear her. Charlie mostly enjoyed all of the Halloween decorations people had up and kept talking about them. Instead of saying goodbye to the people at each door he would say goodbye to whatever decorations they had like, "bye pumpkins, bye lights, etc". They did great though and we got all the way around their loop without Charlie getting a single mosquito bite!

Tom's 29!

Unfortunately our camera battery was dead on Tom's big day (I wasn't prepared!). So, I went through and found some fitting pictures to commemorate his day! The first is back in our old house after his new bogey board arrived. He wanted to test it out! (I miss our old house after looking through all those pictures). The next is fun Daddy, taking Meg for a ride on our dune buggy out at the Kiehl's. Tom is the most fun dad I know. The kids worship him! The third picture is at my cousin Jason's wedding. I'm pretty sure Meg took it and I thought he looked so handsome. The last picture is on the Kiehl family vacation two summers ago after a long day. Tom is such a wonderful father to our kids and a great husband to me. He works so hard to support us and still has the energy to throw the kids around all night when he gets home. We love him very much!

For his birthday, I thought I would clarify...It was on Sunday so we had the Lyman's over for dinner. I made a pot roast, rolls and Lori Beckstrand's orange/banana/pineapple jello (yum!). Also, a German chocolate cake for dessert, Tom's favorite. (Mom Kiehl had written in her letter that we went to the Lyman's for dinner on Tom's birthday and I thought that made me sound like kind of a loser wife who made Betsy cook for all of us! HA!) We had a great time. The kids and I got him Rock Band and Seth and Tom rocked out the rest of the evening. It was hilarious. Betsy joined in at the end, we were all laughing so hard. Tom loves the drums and is already excellent at them, thank you George Edge! The kids love to play on the drums with Daddy, but the fight over who gets to hold the sticks. We all had a great time and I think Tom really enjoyed his birthday.

Meg's Storybook Parade

Meg's preschool had a storybook parade for Halloween (as not to offend those who don't celebrate Halloween). We felt that Ariel is also a storybook character and I was not about to try and come up with another costume. After stressing about whether or not Ariel would be appropiate for a storybook parade or not, we got there and found such storybook characters as "Stormtroopers" and "Power Rangers". Why do I worry?!?

Meg is by far the shiest kid in her class. As you can see, she goes to a very small school (only 7 kids in her class) but we love it. I'm not sure if she's actually spoken to her teacher yet. When I come to pick her up all the kids yell, "Bye, Meg!" and she doesn't say anything and just runs towards me. I hope she grows out of that (a little). We love our little Meg though. And I'm glad she likes going to school and doesn't give me a hard time about that.

Meg is VIP

I did several entries, so please keep scrolling or going to the next page. Also, I still am not good at this so the ones about my parent's coming to visit are in reverse order, so if you want to know what is going on you'll have to read them that way. Sorry.

Meg is the VIP for her school this week. She got to bring home "Jules the Giraffe" and take pictures with him doing different things she likes. Meg is a great help to me, especially in the kitchen. She is making pizza here and she rolled that dough out all by herself! She is a very big girl. We are proud of our Meg.

Ike Brings on Another Mosquito Attack

Saturday night Charlie got another mosquito bite on the back of his ear even though he was sprayed with OFF from head to toe. They found a small area that wasn't covered behind his ear! We didn't know it until Sunday morning when it had swelled up as you see. I thought he had pulled his ear out of place or something. Tom had gone to Galvaston with the Stake for a big clean-up effort and I thought I would be taking Charlie to the emergency room until I realized it was just another mosquito bite. His ear was big, hot and red the entire day, sticking out from the side of his head. I took the kids to church on my own and got so many stares, it was pretty funny. Charlie didn't mind it at all though. Go figure.

We were worried about Tom down in Galvaston with his asthma. They were "mucking" out houses and there was a lot of mold, etc. He said that the smell was worse then he could have even imagined. We threw away the clothes he was wearing when he got home, we were so worried about staff, etc that could have been on them. He was fine though, and had a good time, I think. He was so tired though and went to bed very early. They worked very hard and I think they were very appreciated. They all wore bright yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" t-shirts and stood out from the rest. I think the locals are learning to look for the yellow shirts, they know who will get the job done!

Old McDonald's Farm

More of the tame deer. They were very odd! Charlie loved it!

Old McDonald's Farm

Meg got to go on a pony ride. Again, you're sort of just in charge there. So, Grandma put her on the horse and off they went. Meg was pretty nervous, but as you can see Charlie is the foreground could care less that there is a horse coming up on him. He loves all animals. Can you see his sweat-soaked hair in the last picture? He didn't even care how hot it was.

Old McDonald's Farm

While my parents were here, we went to Old McDonald's Farm where you pay a lot of money and then are sent out on your own to experience their wildlife. It was exciting to say the least. Also, it was 100 degrees outside and we were dying but the kids had the time of their life! When we first got there they had us buy some animal feed in a bag then you walk around the corner and are unexpectedly attacked by their oddly tame deer! I sort of freaked out which really made Meg panic and she started crying uncontrollably, but Charlie just went right up to them. He wasn't scared at all. He was the only one! They had a little train the went around the area that they rode on. Check out my dad's sunglasses! They're hot! Have I mentioned that he was the president of the chess club in high school!?

Grandma & Grandpa Rayburn's Visit

We had a lot of fun when Grandma and Grandpa Rayburn came to visit us. The first picture was our trip to the pool in our complex. Charlie loves riding in the wagon, while Meg loves being in charge of pulling it. We went down the the Houston Zoo. It is in a really pretty area near the Medical Center (I think that's what it's called). We think Charlie is a little "Mini-Me" of Grandpa. It was a football Saturday and we got a lot of looks from the Texans because Tom had us in our Ohio State garb. HA!

Meg's First Day of School

Meg started at a new pre-school this year that is just down the road from us. It is very small, but we love it. I wanted to show everyone my little OCD girl. Notice how she laid out her clothes the night before school started. They were right next to her bed, so when she got up in the morning she could put them on right as her feet hit the floor. Even the underwear and socks and laid under her skirt and shoes. That is a small example of how her room looks. Everything she owns has a special home in her room and if you dare to move something, she will know and it will be back in it's proper location the next time you enter. Charlie now knows that he is not allowed to enter her room (she's worried he might disturb her organization) so he just stands in her doorway and yells, "MEG!" until she comes out. Poor Charlie!

Our Trip to Dallas

The day after Tom got back from Norway he had to go to Dallas for the re-opening of the National Boy Scout Museum, something his partner wanted him to do. So, we decided to go with him. While he was at the museum I took the kids to the Dallas Aquarium. We had a lot of fun. We walked around part of Downtown Dallas for a little bit and got something to eat and then went to the Aquarium. I thought Dallas was really nice. It was a beautiful day as well, which made it even better. The kids loved the Aquarium. Especially the turtles, the big fish, and the giant river otters. They liked being right up against the glass while the animals swam by them. Charlie would just scream, "here they come" and "hi turtles" or "hi fishy". They were hilarious. When Tom picked us up we went to Costa Vida for dinner before our drive home. Costa Vida has close to the same food as Cafe Rio, a restaurant we loved in Utah. Kind of like Chipotle, but yummier! We had such a good time together! I love days like that!