McKinney Falls State Park

Around Valentine's Day we had a free Saturday. We are not very good at exploring our new environment. If anyone were to ask us what are some fun things to do around San Antonio, good places to eat, etc...let's just say we're not the people to ask! So, to do something fun, we looked up "nature-y" things to do around us and we came across McKinney Falls State Park. It's in Austin, but it had great reviews and beautiful pictures, so we packed up our van and headed an hour northeast of us.

Even with the stress of kids, we had a really good time! It was the first time Sam taught Joey to pee in nature, too. There were beautiful falls and trails that we walked. The boys enjoyed the water the most and Joey decided to wade in it (sigh). Eli decided to collect every rock he could see and pick up while we walked. Sneaky mom had to put some back while he went looking for more!

Afterward we thought, "since we're in Austin, let's go to Ikea!" Turns out we were on the opposite side of Austin where it would be and would add an extra hour driving home. We'll just wait until next summer when Ikea comes to San Antonio.

I love the days when we didn't have a house to fix up or other obligations. Hopefully we will be able to explore the area fully before we leave in a couple years!

Eli enjoying the Falls area.

Joey's "adventure hat".

You had to have a hand on these boys at all times.
They loved coming to the edge to throw rocks.

A busy day at the Falls. And a classic attempt to get a picture with the boys.

Another attempt with a different parent.

I'm sure it is even more beautiful in the summer!

Lunch break.

The trails.

If only this place was closer, like in our backyard!

We Bought a House!

Toward the beginning of this year we were wondering what was going to happen to our housing situation as our landlord expressed either selling the house or moving back in after a year. We never really touched base with him, but it was Sam who said, let's buy a house! I was surprised, it came out of no where, but we weighed our options and felt good about it. Within that week we called our realtor from a year ago and we were set to look at houses. 

Last year we didn't have a lot of luck with houses. Even when we got an offer accepted, the house turned out having major foundation issues (something no one really wants to buy into), so we ended up renting since we ran out of time. We looked on the west side this time round, as well as the north. One house stood out a little bit, but it had its quirks that couldn't be fixed (being near a busy street, flood risks, small backyard). We looked at so many houses it wasn't fun anymore and I decided we may need to put an offer on this home that stood out. But one day a home popped up really nearby that looked really nice, nice enough that the realtor and I didn't wait until Sam was free to see it.

You know how pictures stage the house so it always looks better in the pictures than in person? This home managed to do the opposite! I walked in and knew we needed to put in an offer as soon as possible. All the things that we were unsure of with the other house was not an issue. And the price was not that much more. A winner if you ask me! So, with a video tour, I showed Sam and we arranged for our first offer on a house (this time round).

And it was accepted! We ran into a few hiccups with the process, things that our realtor never had to deal with before and lots of little weird quirks and issues that made it hard to get through. For example, the house had a lien on it, so that had to get squared away. Luckily it worked out in the end and we got to call this place our home! What's more is that it is really good condition for a 20 year-old home (no foundation issues whatsoever). Here are the pictures from when it was listed: 

Mature trees! Brick! A deck!

A fireplace! New flooring!

Granite countertops! Beautiful lighting!

Garden tub! Two walk-in Master closets (that aren't pictured)! 

Covered patio! Shed! 

 A shout out to our realtor, Catalina Garcia in San Antonio. I full-heartedly recommend her to anyone who reads this blog that is considering moving to San Antonio ;)

Catalina gave this to us as a house-warming gift! I happened to know the artist as well, haha.

 We still have our rental, so we are moving in slowly and we only have one month where we are paying double rent. Not too bad, so it allows us time to fix things up how we like it before moving in. We so far added a water softener, appliances, blinds, and are waiting for our new garage doors. Since we used a VA loan we had the money to buy these things upfront instead of putting a down payment down. Not the best picture, but here is our fridge and blinds that were installed:

We are so in love! If anyone wants to come and stay with us, SeaWorld is just down the road from us ;)

Baby Number Three

As I stated in the last post, we are expecting baby number three! We were unsure when to start trying again, and I totally did not feel ready to add another baby. Sam was talking to a resident a year ahead of him and was told the next year would be really difficult, so after some talking, we thought we needed to have that baby as soon as we could before he started. I was hesitant, but really there was no good time to have a baby while Sam was in residency so come what may. Now, with the other two pregnancies, I got pregnant before or when I wanted to. However, it took four months this time round, something I was not accustomed to. Very blessed, but still. There was one point my period was days late but no positive test was coming up. I dug up an old pregnancy test and I thought it said positive! I  even made matching baby and daddy shirts to announce to Sam. Then my period came and I realized I read the test wrong. My period was never a week late before, and there were times when I was early. I finally got an ovulation kit to help and it did the trick! (Sorry if this was TMI).

My due date is August 1st, and although we didn't get pregnant before Sam starts his ophthalmology residency, we feel it worked out alright! 

A real positive! Get ready!

Four weeks, pretty fresh.

I recommend not being newly pregnant during the Holidays. I mentioned this last post, but it was awful. In fact, even though I am past the nausea and dizziness, the thought of Christmas brings a wave back! I can't tell you the worst pregnancy, but I think I did the best with Joey, the least nauseous with Eli (although I got pretty sick with non pregnancy things), and the most tired, nauseous, and dizzy with this one. So glad I got past that!

My first ultrasound was by myself. As much as it is nice we get free healthcare through the military, I miss the easiness, choice, and the bells and whistles with Medicaid. The ultrasound clinic, for example, did not have a screen for me to see the baby, just the technician's screen (which she wouldn't let me look at until she was done). I got like three pictures and two were unclear. But I got this little gem and that was all I needed:

There's a baby!

Our announcement to Facebook.

Growing quick! Can't hide anymore.

As far as gender, I was pretty sure it was another boy. "It's a boy" almost immediately popped in my head after taking the first test. This was followed by dreams of a boy and prayers where I could not help but pray to accept having another boy. Sam was able to come to the next ultrasound, so to make it fun, I looked away during the scan "down there" while Sam looked on. Next, he filled a piñata that would be filled with either pink or blue things. When Joey got home from school, we headed to the park and busted that baby open. Here is the video:

                                                    

                                           


 It's a girl! I was very surprised after all my intuition pointed to a boy. But I am so excited! She is healthy active, and very loved. It makes the thought of having three kids less daunting but more exciting. Of course it will be the most difficult thing I will be doing up to this point in my life. But we have faith that everything will be fine, even with Sam's crazy schedule, being away from family, and having more kids than hands. Hopefully having Joey in school full time will help the craziness (or it might make it worse, haha). We love you baby girl!

Best birthday gift!

Nothing there ;)

Realizing I will only get bigger from here on out (sigh).

The Holidays

I knew it had been a while since the last update, but Halloween?? Of course, there are the birthday letters, but as far as for our family, there has been a lot that has happened since the beginning of November. To start off a long string of posts, I will go all the way back to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I told Sam I was going to Albuquerque with or without him for Thanksgiving, but luck would have it he was on an easy rotation (Burn unit? it's hard to keep track what he does each month). He got the okay to leave and headed to Albuquerque for a week. Before we left, I made sure to finish my advent calendar before December. Not perfect, but pretty close to what I envisioned:

Jessica and her family were leaving really soon after we arrived, so we caught them before they left for California that day. We met at McDonald's and enjoyed cousins and a fast food breakfast.

Missing the photographer.

Attempt to get the cousins.

We made it in time to see Mason's baptism. It was a really cold day but we managed to get a family photo (Zach was photoshopped in since he wasn't there, the stinker).

The week before Thanksgiving included seeing some friends, movie watching, visiting family, and probably a visit to the zoo (I don't have pictures of that, so I can't be sure).

Our BFFamily the Boyacks. Impossible to replace them. :'(

Don't remember the movie, but it obviously been out for a while
since we were the only ones in there.

Of course it's been a while since Thanksgiving and there are no pictures, so I don't remember the day itself. I do remember going to play the cello for my Grandpa with Sam (we had our instruments to practice for a musical number that coming Sunday). It was a sweet moment as that would be the last time I would play for him before he passed away in March.

Sam's mom always always has presents ready for any occasion at least one month beforehand, and this year was no different. We celebrated Eli's birthday a month early, and he loved it.

Still loves and carries those cars around.

We had a fun time with Sam's parents along with Jacob and Shauna's family one day. We enjoyed a nice day at the park followed by lunch at Azumas (?)

He got big really fast!

Grandma's always prepared with sippy cups.

Don't know what's happening in this pic but you're welcome.

Lastly, we opened all our Christmas gifts from Sam's parents before we left. Joey got this awesome Paw Patrol boat.

We got home safely and it became full Christmas mode! Or that was the plan...

Baby Number Three!

 After a couple months of trying for baby number three, I found out I was pregnant shortly before getting home and within the week morning sickness kicked in, along with spells of dizziness. I still tried my best to make this a magical time for the family (even if Sam started working nights -insert puking emoji-). San Antonio helped us by having its first real snow in twenty something years!

Joey exclaimed "It's Christmas!"

Of course it was almost gone in the morning.
We tried to build a snowman.

Other activities for Christmas included the Ward's Christmas party, Joey's school's breakfast with Santa,  friends' Christmas White Elephant exchange, lights in Windcrest, and SeaWorld on Christmas itself.

Let's start with the school breakfast. It was a fundraiser, so I paid $25 for a pancake breakfast and a picture with Santa...which we never received. I don't know if the teacher was supposed to get it for us, if we were supposed to pick it up, but I was never told and it never showed.

Luckily the Ward's Christmas party had the exact same Santa show up and I got a picture anyway. I'm not mad, just wondered what happened. Sam couldn't come, but we enjoyed ugly sweaters, a potluck, and fun little Christmas crafts.  Joey and Eli didn't mind Santa, and this was the first year Joey totally got the idea of Santa. He kept asking me "Santa coming on this day?" That's why I made the advent calendar, kid. We implanted the idea that he wanted a play house, because that was what we were going to get him, so that's what he asked Santa for.

Complete with Mrs. Claus!

On Christmas eve we had the boys open their Christmas pajamas after a wonderful Christmas Eve Sacrament meeting. After that we headed to the neighboring town of Windcrest to check out lights. I didn't get pictures, but that neighborhood is lit (literally). They even had horse carriage rides! It was too cold for me to consider, but I recommend seeing this neighborhood in San Antonio if you are around here Christmas time.

The boys opening their Christmas pajamas.

I couldn't find the video of Joey and Eli seeing the house or opening presents, but we decided to head to SeaWorld for the rest of the day. Unlike DisneyLand at Christmas time, SeaWorld wasn't that packed and had some wonderful things going on.

The Orca Show was different from all the other shows we seen in the past, complete with live singers! The Sea Lion Stadium had a different show, and the lights and decorations were really beautiful. The problem was that it was really cold, so we didn't stay too long. That, and my dad flew into town that evening to drive to Albuquerque the next day!

Look closely at the snowflakes and you can see they are orcas.

Joey enjoying the decorations.

 My dad was so kind to fly out because Sam couldn't come down to Albuquerque until January 1st and I wanted to have a little more time than that with family. We both were feeling pretty crappy, so we tried to make it to Clovis on the 26th. If you ever drive between Albuquerque and San Antonio, the drive to Lubbock (almost exactly halfway) is the longest 5 1/2 hours. Somehow, once when you get past Lubbock, there is a second wind. My dad and I still felt we could go farther and we ended up in Albuquerque late that night. My dad said that if I told him we were driving all the way through that day he wouldn't believe me (we were both feeling yuck).

The rest of the trip was not as packed as Thanksgiving. I wasn't feeling good (mainly dizzy) so I took advantage of the extra help and just laid down the majority of the time. But I did do things! We celebrated Christmas with my family and exchanged gifts.

Joey with Max, Heidi's new puppy.

I also went to the zoo with my family, and had to get the classic BioPark chair shot.

We met Jessica at the aquarium another day. Everyone had to go back to school a week earlier than we had to so this trip was a lot more low key. I think we got sick too? Sam and I also went to the theater a few times to watch the Greatest Showman and Star Wars. I decided Christmas and Thanksgiving back to back is not the best way to spread our vacation days. Sorry family!

That, and these poor boys spend a lot of time in the car, haha. But we don't regret it. It is always fun to see family and friends and Joey still talks about Albuquerque and everyone there. Until next year.