Muir to Love.: Texan Summer: Month 2

Well ladies and gentlemen we are now two months into this whole living in Texas thing. I know, it's crazy huh? It feels like we left Idaho a lifetime ago, but at the same time it has flown by (figure that one out). It's strange how time moves here...It's like we are in limbo. We have a nice apartment, but it isn't home. We have endless amount of exciting places to explore, but no time to do it. We have so much, but none of it is permanent. The only constant in our life is each other, so our few hours we get to spend together are now even more precious than before.

Kirby is still working his bum off and I am so grateful for his dedication and will to keep going and always do his best. (He had his best week a couple of weeks ago so three cheers for Kirb! Yay!)

I am still spending every day with my sister in law and cutie-pie nephews, finding any bit of cleaning I can to keep myself busy, and soaking up as many new books as I can fit into the summer!

(which reminds me...I need new recommendations for a good/fun book to escape into, so please share!)

Anyway, in the last month Dominic turned 3...so weird...oh and we almost had a tornado go right over us...obviously we're alive so it's whatever.
Also, I gave a talk the week after we were welcomed into the ward AND now Kirby and I are nursery leaders so that's cool. Oh and we went to Buc-ees. So life is pretty good around here.

Also, keep your fingers crossed that some day I will have something other than an iPhone to take pictures with...I am sure that would make sharing pictures a lot more fun for all parties.

But let's start with the night we almost starred in Twister 2.

The Tornado

At around 4:00 pm Kim and I were driving to the mall when the radio informed us that we were under a tornado watch. So I got online to see if we had heard right, and it turned out that just about every county around us was under a tornado watch...which I found it isn't a super huge deal. I had never had to deal with something like this before so I did my research and discovered that a watch means it is somewhat likely, but not for a while, it is more kind of a heads up to watch for the tornado warning. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and we were like "eh whatever, let's shop."

Later that night I was down at the gym with all the tvs on when a warning came on the screen letting us know that Burnet county (our northern neighbors) now had a tornado warning in effect. By the time I got up to our apartment the most intense lightning storm I had EVER witnessed was quickly moving on top of us...normally this would excite me, but knowing what it might bring took all that excitement away.

I spent the next bit of time at my sister in law's apartment watching as more and more counties were taken off of tornado watch and switched to a warning...including our own Travis county. We stood there, in the little 3rd story apartment for quite a while, unsure what to do. We knew it would be smartest to get somewhere safe, but with her little boys already asleep, waking them and finding shelter seemed like too large of a task if we weren't really in danger. So we waited.

There were several other wives in the same boat. Do we wake the kids up? Do we wait it out and assume we are safe? Are we even really in danger? That question was answered when the news reported a tornado that had touched down just northwest of us and was said to be heading southeast.

I threw together a quick bag of the important things (aka my laptop and the Frozen DVD) then helped Kim run across the parking lot with her two boys to the apartment's clubhouse where we were on ground level and a little safer. I then ran to another wife's apartment to help grab her three sleeping babes to take cover in our make-shift safe-house.

Pretty soon there were three families hanging out in the bathroom at the clubhouse watching frozen on my laptop (high five to me for some quick thinking, am I right?) We were surrounded by thick stone walls and absolutely no windows. Which kept us safe, but also meant we couldn't see what was going on outside. So we just watched the storm's radar on our phones. By the time it showed that the storm was right on top of us we didn't know what was going on outside. The power turned off a couple of times, and the thunder might have made me jump more often than I would like to admit, but that was really all we experienced. So we waited there until the warning lifted...then went home feeling a little silly. It must have gotten pretty windy here though because there was stuff blown all over...including all of the pool chairs which ended up in the deep end of the pool.

Oh and fyi my husband had been selling a couple hours away and wasn't even included in the tornado watch so I made him stay there and go out to a late dinner with some buddies to wait out the storm...he kept trying to come be with me but I wouldn't let him be the hero.

So anyways. We didn't see a tornado. Which... A) I am kind of disappointed about, it would have been cool to see one as long as the tornado was far enough away to not hurt us, B) I am happy to say that that means we are all alive, and C) if it makes anyone feel any better the tornado that did hit close to us mostly effected rural areas so no deaths...but it did lift a house off its foundation and throw it a couple hundred yards so...maybe we weren't over reacting?

Also, the kids had a blast. When we got back to the apartments Dominic brought a movie over to his mom and said "can we take this one next time?"

An unplanned slumber party.

When you think you might die, you snap-chat.

...and cuddle with cute girls like this little princess.

PIRATE PARTY

Pirates are fun, birthdays are fun, and spoiling your nephew is fun. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun at Dominic's pirate pool party palooza!

Uncle Kirby got to spend the whole morning frosting cupcakes and being a pack mule. We love him.

This is why he is more fun than their aunt.

The only cool party is a pool party.

So...there was a lot I didn't get in this pictures, balloons and streamers, a shark watermelon, kids in eye patches, cheesy cannon balls and more! But I had the honor of getting to help make some of the cute marshmallow pops so hip hip hooray! Kim definitely blew this pirate party out of the water!

I wonder who got him all that...? Also, cute ketchup face, am I right?

Showing off the cool toys.

Lately Kirby has loved having Sundays to read to Dominic, and Dominic has been way into his Thomas book with a monster in it. So, while I was fine with just giving him the T-Ball Set, Kirby became determined to buy him "Where the Wild Things Are" to read to him. What a cute uncle!

So obviously the party was a major success for everyone involved. Dominic is definitely one loved little boy...and if you met him you would understand why.

IN OTHER NEWS

A photo-dump from the last month. It's only appropriate.

Meet 4 of my best friends. The cutest little fishies in Texas.

Because driving to the gym is sometimes our only alone time.

When you can't find Linc, always check Uncle Kirby's closet.

So we went to Buc-ee's for the first time...that was very exciting. We are talking super gas station with a wall of gummy candies, fresh fudge, and delicious jerky. Obviously my kind of place.

Dominic got into a major stare/glare off with Kirby. Like we are talking he held this glare all night...and climbed across the table to get right up in Kirby's face. We were all dying. The video is priceless.