Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner Surprise Visit

I received one of the biggest surprises of my life on my 32nd birthday! My parents surprised me with a visit! I was expecting them the following month for a solar eclipse happening in San Antonio, so I absolutely had NO idea they were coming until I heard the doorbell ring and I checked the camera. I was super confused, thinking maybe it was showing me a recording from the past, but when I realized who was there, I was so surprised and happy! My parents were taking care of my grandma for so long, they couldn't up and go anywhere without a lot of work on their end to make sure she got the care she needed. Sadly (but not unexpectedly), my Grandma passed away earlier that year. This allowed my parents to do this!

Our first outing was trying La Tropicana and their many goodies that remind me of Mexico.

Noah's birthday is first, of course, on the 1st. Here is the birthday boy! He requested a green birthday, so that's what I did.

Along with his green decorations Noah helped me make a green cake. That's all he asked for! 

Green cake in question:

 

Probably not the most exciting outing for a toddler, but my mom and I took Noah to the river walk to go on a boat ride. The River Walk is always interesting with a stroller. We enjoyed our tour guide, but sadly, it's been long enough that I don't remember all the funny jokes he made. We also stopped by the Alamo because, you know, it's so close.

 

 

We properly celebrated his birthday when all the kids came home from school.

 

Happy Birthday, Noah!!

The next day was my birthday, and I requested we all go to the zoo since it's been years since I've been to the San Antonio Zoo. Overall, it was a pleasant day with fun animals to look at.

Komodo Dragon

King Cobra

Jaguar

Hippo

Gaboon Viper. They are my favorite snakes to watch move.

Gharial

Joseph's favorite exhibit and what got him into cryptids: el chupacabra

I've been eyeing this HEB cake and finally got to try it!

It was just so nice to have my parents over, and I'm incredibly blessed to have parents who take the time, effort (and money) to come see us. I love you guys!! When it was time to say goodbye, it was nice to know we would be seeing them again the next month!

From LA to SA

A bittersweet post ahead! I mentioned in my last post that the older kids went with Sam's parents back to Albuquerque while we headed back to Los Angeles to pack up and move. My parents flew in to help pack and drive Sam's car back. We were worried about our household not fitting in the truck, but my parents and Sam succeeded in their Tetris game! We also had the missionaries come and help, so the truck was loaded up quickly. 

That night we treated my parents to some Gelato at Century City Mall. I was soaking in as much of the atmosphere as possible since I didn't know the next time we would be able to be back to visit.

Look at this cute place!

Since the older kids were still in Albuquerque, we split up the next day. Sam and my dad drove all the way to San Antonio while my mom, Noah, and I would head to Albuquerque. My mom and I stayed back a little longer to also clean the house some, then we headed back later that day. When we got to Albuqerque, I noticed our older frogs dried out! I didn't hydrate them as much as I thought and two of them died. I was pretty upset with myself, but we still had the baby frogs. I decided not to travel with them anymore after that sad experience. 

My mom was still taking care of my Grandma, so another part of coming to Albuquerque was to resume that role for a few days. I remember how hard it was for my mom to go anywhere and it was always an ordeal to find care for Grandma if she wanted to see me. I'm so grateful to have a mom with such a big heart for caring for Grandma and making efforts to still help me when I need her.

Noah with his twin cousins.

While we were in Albuquerque, Sam and my dad, along with the help of our current ward, moved everything into our house. They even set up all the beds and unpacked a lot of things before we even got to San Antonio! That was so nice of them!

We drove back the day before Eden's birthday, so we immediately celebrated the next day. Eden got donuts for breakfast, a cake from HEB, presents, and a trip to Build-a-Bear.

Happy 5th birthday!

Eden's choice of cake.

Stuffed animals, her absolute favorite things to get!

Putting a heart into her new Stitch.

Her choices: Stitch and Toothless.

The kids had a great time!

Our Primary in our ward had a Pioneer Day activity. I was really shocked how much the primary shrunk since we came back. Still, the kids had some fun.

Three-legged race.

Wheel-barrow race.

Sack race.

I coincidentally was called to be the new Primary President not long after and got to know all these kids really well! 

As sad as it was to leave Los Angeles, I still love our house in San Antonio and we settled in quickly. I missed our huge tub, and bath time is definitely more fun here than our last house! Joseph also has his own room now and he is loving it. 

What was hard coming back to was the weather! It was over a hundred degrees for what felt like weeks! It was the hottest summer in recorded history. So, yes, I miss my beautiful SoCal weather. I felt pangs for weeks just thinking of California, but we are at the point here in San Antonio where I feel very settled and I like it here, too. We'll go back and visit someday, but meanwhile we are enjoying our day to day here in Texas and soaking in our family time.

Fairview Cabin 2023

We were invited back to Jared and Jenny's cabin in July of 2023 and had a great time. Joseph called this his favorite place to be at one point. I forgot many details, but I'll try remembering everything we did!

When we arrived, we were able to check out the new turf installed for lawn games and other shenanigans. They made foam swords for the kids to play with!

Joseph with his favorite dog, Chloe.

Swords in action!

Noah is never one to miss the action.

Group photo!

Jared got the leaf blower out and we got the best photo from it!

Jess and Seb's family arrived a little later and we enjoyed spending time inside the cabin.

My niece lives an hour north of the cabin, so we naturally had to go see her and her cute kids! Poor Calvin broke his arm but he is always such a happy kid it didn't seem to bother him. We went to Cafe Rio to eat some yummy food and meet little baby Nixon.

Calvin and Hobbs!

There she is 😍

We all got t-shirts from this reunion in the colors we wanted. I chose green for the boys and pink for Eden and me. When we got back, Jared and Jenny took us for a ride in their new fancy UTV. This area is beautiful!!

Sam and I enjoying the view.

Thanks for the ride!

Sam spent time with Mario catching up on life and talking about good books.

Jacob and Shauna arrived and we got to celebrate some birthdays. Sam's already passed but Eden's was coming up!

Eden opening her presents.

Celebrating with rice crispy treats!

Happy birthday!

Cheers!

Eden spending time with her aunt Jessica.

Grandma and Grandpa with their progeny. 

We spent a lot of the next day hanging around and doing different things around the cabin.

Enjoying the hammock!

Milo and Eli really getting along!

More sword action!

A true princess.

Making homemade ice cream!

Da boys.

Noah and Dad went on a hike to the rock shelter.

Swimming next to the river instead of in it!

All the girls wore Wednesday braids.

Movie night with a projector. We watched Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken.

Next day, I took the older boys to the rock shelter.

My wildflower bouquet.

Such a pretty area!

We then enjoyed doing some yoga on the turf.

We took a hike up to a pond in the "rich person" area. 

We later went into town to checkout the Fairview Museum. They had a lot of fun history and even a mammoth skeleton!

Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

Good Ol' Lincoln.

Woolly Mammoth Skeleton.

Joseph really enjoyed seeing this rock!

Playing rummikub that night.

Jacob and Shauna left the next day (they had been traveling for a while before arriving in Utah), but we got to enjoy the Pioneer Day parade.

Family picture!

A rare family photo with all of us in it.

Noah's new favorite game.

Took Eli out on the UTV.

Parade time!

Eden is dressed for the occasion.

Jenny and Eli.

Sam with his mom, Jared, and Noah.

Pageant winners.

I always enjoy a good marching band!

A float tossed out some otter pops for the crowd to enjoy.

They take Pioneer Day very seriously in Utah.

We ended the day with a quick meal and karaoke, and then some of the family went to the Demolition Derby that night while our family stayed home and packed up.

Sliders and watermelon, yum!

Eden and Sofia having good cousin time.

The Dunlaps' new addition, Buddy!

Enjoying the Karaoke!

Thank you, Jared and Jenny, for being wonderful hosts! We can tell how much effort you put into everything you did to make us feel comfortable and have a great time!

We moved almost immediately after this trip, so to help us out, Sam's parents took our three oldest kids to Albuquerque while Sam, Noah and I drove back to Los Angeles to pack up the moving truck. Sam's mom sent these cute photos to us:

They always been pretty good on road trips!