5 Things I'll Miss About Texas

Hello bloggity blog.

It's been a mere 6 months since I have last said anything at all on here. Let's do a little recap.

For a while there, I was thinking that the small and annoying things in life were out to get me. In the span of a couple months we had what seemed like a million things go wrong. Most of them, in hindsight, were really no big deal, but the frequency of them happening were adding so much weight that each thing felt heavier. I just kept hoping that enduring through all of it would hopefully have a light at the end of the tunnel and sure enough, it did. Sometimes our trials sure make the good things that much better.

So, in October Brian got a job offer to a company in Michigan. He had interviewed at this small company and a company in South Carolina. We thought for sure the SC one was going to be it, but I felt so good about this whole Michigan business. It may or may not have been heavily influenced by the fact that Michigan does not contain one single fire ant in it's glorious borders...and South Carolina would have them plus the same annoying weather that Texas has. So...we flew out here while it poured inside and outside of our house in Texas and dreamed of months passing to finally move out of a flooding and overly molding house.

To be honest, our trip for 2 to Michigan was not the second honeymoon kind of trip we were hoping it to be...it was my fault. Brian is so laid back about everything and I stress and stress over living situations until the cows come home. Rent in Ann Arbor is astronomical and we did NOT want to buy a house because we had no money to buy a house. By the time we left Michigan....we put an offer in on a house. Good gracious. We had been here for a whole 4 days. To make a long story short, we bought a house and we are finally here! Hooray! Brian had his first day of work today and it just feels so right. Right feels so good. I think he'll really like it there and I think I'll eventually start to feel a little less claustrophobic amidst these trees and love Michigan. I love our house (Now that it's finally cleaned from head to toe from the previous owners and their disgustingness....another blog for another day). I love our neighborhood. I love that our house doesn't leak when it rains or flood for that matter. I love that we can't even hear the heater go on because in Texas it sounded like a short range missile was about to blow us to bits. I also love that 73 degrees actually feels warm because our house doesn't leak air. I love that we have carpet! CARPET! It's soft and wonderful. It's insulating. It's fun to vacuum. We can fall on it and not end up in the ER. I'm in heaven. I love that January actually feels like January. If you couldn't tell, I was not a huge fan of the weather in Texas...and that was kind of a huge thing for me. Sure, it was nice to have the occasional warm park day in the middle of winter, but for the most part, it's either too hot or too cold to go outside, so you're stuck inside for the remainder of your life. That's how it was for me anyway.

Now....Let's get to the point. Before you get the impression that I hated Texas, I actually did not. I hated the weather....


and the bugs. That's all. It was a blast to live in Dallas and do all the fun things that a big city has to offer. I will definitely miss it.

1. Heritage Park in Flower Mound
This is the world's most amazing, kid and mom friendly park. I call it the mom lazy park. There is one way in and out. I just parked my fanny at the entrance and didn't have to worry that my kids were drowning in the stupidly placed park pond each Texas park seems to have. This park is heaven on earth and I would move back just for the park.







2. La Paisanita
I swore I would never eat at this ghetto piece of junk....but it happened. World's best tacos people! If you ever visit Texas, do not believe the people about this so-called amazing Tex-Mex. I have yet to experience good Texan Tex-Mex. I was sorely disappointed every time. These tacos are the real deal.



3. The roads.
There is a freeway everywhere. I love it! Coming from Utah I was not used to so many helpful roads to get around and now I fear I will never be the same. Dallas roads are amazing. So far...Michigan's are funny. They are very....bumpy.


4. The Camping. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA....just kidding. There is no camping season. We desperately missed camping. Brian took Jared camping once and he pooped his pants twice, wet his pants. Ran out of underwear. Had a billion enormous bugs. Couldn't sleep because it was so hot. And....had a really funny story to tell by the end of it.

We tried camping two other times and only one was mildly successful.

4. Indoor Play Areas
The Ark. The Tubes. At least Texans know that the outside is unbearable, so they make the indoor places fun.

5. Our friends.
The friendships we have made in Texas have been pretty incredible. It almost feels like we had been there forever. We loved our ward. We loved our callings. We loved our missionaries. This has been the hardest part of moving, of course. I only wish you could bring the people with you.










6. If Brian were to choose one thing to miss, his first answer would be the Dallas Mavericks. MFFL. I told him we could name our next child Dirk....I think he really got hopeful at that one. Not even a possibility, sorry hon.

Next up will be pictures of our house.....if I can ever get the pictures up on the walls! :)

Car Accident

So, the day before my mom and my brother came into town, I was driving to the doctor's office and I got in this super lame fender bender. Luckily I had just dropped the kids off at a friends, so they weren't in the car with me. We have these lame/nice frontage roads in Texas and they're by every freeway, so yielding to freeway traffic can be a little....frustrating at times. It's hard to see people coming in our van, so we really have to look and be very cautious. There was a car in front of me, which I saw. She was going slow, but I knew she was there and no one was coming off the freeway.  I had glanced over to see if there was any off coming cars, and when I turned around and saw that she had stopped for no one, I slammed on my breaks, but it was too late. Her's wasn't even a quick stop...like a stop and go. It was a stop and sit. I wasn't going very fast, but I hit her maybe going 15-20 MPH. I was super bummed, but we were both ok and that's what's important. I actually barely felt it, so when I got out and saw what my car looked like, I was shocked. It was so much worse than I thought. Maybe it was the angle I hit the car? 

Awful way to start the day, but my car still worked, so I drove to the doctors and made arrangements to take the car in a week later after my mom and brother left. I needed the van to fit everyone in one car while they were here. It still worked, so I saw no rush. 

After we drove my mom to the airport (5 days later) and remarking that I felt the transmission was shifting weird, things started to get a little crazy. I've had a transmission go out before and I've also had the transmission repairmen misplace cables, which then burned through on the hot engine and made driving scary and crazy. This was the same feeling. We were all driving home from Brian's work praying that we'd just make it home. The car wasn't shifting gears, felt like it was going to quit at any moment. We had 6 people, 15 miles away from home on the freeway, and it was nearly 100 degrees outside. Not really a big deal as far as life in concerned, but it would have been majorly inconvenient. So, we made it home and it died in the driveway. 

Had the car towed the next day awaiting inspection. I really thought that the repairs would be no big deal, but now I had this pit in my stomach and really wasn't surprised when they called to tell me that my big, beautiful van was totaled. Sad news. A real bummer. Insurance adjuster said that he couldn't believe I was ok because the front of the car went under the battery, punctured a hole and leaked battery acid all over the engine. AND I DROVE IT FOR A WEEK! I didn't tell him that I drove it around tarnation, but chose, "Wow! I can't believe I drove away from the accident" instead. He agreed and we started our hunt for our next car. We had very limited time because our now 1 car was a rental and we had a very small window to shop. We bought a car the next day....very fast purchase. I don't like buying a car that fast nor would I want to do it again unless I had to. I like shopping around and looking at various options. 

I'm pretty happy about it what we got and we just pray that it lasts us longer than one year. :) I miss my blue van, but this one is pretty much the same, a year older, a little more miles, and a different color. The kids were excited for a new car and said, "But it's the same!" as soon as they got inside. Yes, dear children, nothing exciting for us. Haha. 

I wish I would have gotten a picture of the outside with the bumper on, but I was too upset about the whole ordeal to take a picture. It made me really upset. There is supposed to be space between the battery and the radiator....there's not. There's also that huge tube that's supposed to be connected and it's not either. Don't know how I drove it for a week....

The inside. Totaled and in awesome condition. Insert small sobs.

Goodbye old car, hello, "new" car.

Family Vacation

I'm nearly a month late on posting this, but I take that as a good indication that life has been happening and hopefully I'll just have more to blog about. One can hope, right?

So, Jason and my Mom came to visit us last month and it was busy and wonderful and WAY TOO FAST. We now have an Anderson vacation disclaimer: If our family wants to visit, it must be no less than 7 days. Seven actual days. Not, "Well, I flew out on day 7". That doesn't count as a day. It was too short for me. I needed about 3 more days to really soak in them being here.

Jared was delighted to have Uncle Jason to play with all the time. I think Uncle Jason isn't used to being climbed on all the time and he's probably basking in his kid-free life of not being touched every second of the day.

With so much help around, I found the time to paint and hang this beautiful eyeshadow magnet board. It is amazing. It cost me a whole $3 for the picture hanging kit and $3 for the magnets and it the most incredible thing in my bathroom. I could go on and on about how useful and amazing it us, but I'll just post a picture. 

My mom and I also finally made it over to Bare Escentuals to do a make under. So fun! It's probably my favorite free thing to do. I told the girl to do whatever she wanted so she contoured using only bronzers. Kind cool. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like with that dark brown, it it turned out awesome. 

               

The second day Jason, Brian, and I went to Six Flags. Where did my pictures go of us standing in line???? I don't know. (Jason will contribute....right??? Then I will update.) Anyway, Six Flags was incredible. The lines weren't long, we went on all the rollercoasters. I nearly cried at how fun the  Mr. Freeze ride was and definitely cried laughing at Brian being afraid of heights. He will go on almost any ride, but pulls the most ridiculously hilarious faces. I'll have to post them all one day. We had SO MUCH FUN! I haven't done anything like that in what feels like ages and I wish I wouldn't have had any responsibility that I felt like I needed to get back to. I would have stayed all night long. Thank you Jason! 

Friday was spent with my and my mom going to Sam Moon. That store. Sigh. I always spend too much $$ on cheap jewelry and it's why I limit myself to going twice per year. We had a blast. Then we went to the outlet malls where my mom got outfitted in a new dash of awesome at Anne Taylor. Going shopping with kids just isn't the same though. At one point I had to run Jared to the bathroom and told Jason, "Stay here, I'll be right back." Three short minutes later, they were not in the store and they had my phone. I wanted for almost a half hour, finally went to Banana Republic and called them. They had walked to the bathroom a billion miles away when there was one right next door. Silly family. Never leave a brother with your phone. :)

Friday night was our "big" race day. We did a night time race and it was super hot and super fun. I'm glad it wasn't hotter, but we were just big sweaty messes by the end. It was Jason's first race and I thought he'd for sure place, but he came in fourth in his age group. He was so close. Luckily I run with the slow girls and I came in 2nd in my age group. 

Getting ready to race.

Warming up. I couldn't help taking pictures of them. :) 

Lookin' good, guys! 

Siblings.... 

I love my mom's face here! I laugh every time. 

In my head, this picture looked so much cooler. You can only do so much in the dark with an iPhone.  

Darn! I thought I took a picture of my time. I think it was 27.23. Pretty positive anyway. I was really hoping to get under 25.30. Next time. It was just so hot!

 On the fourth of July we kept busy going to the Irving parade, which was way more awesome than I thought. I haven't heard good things about it, but it was totally a small town parade....and I love that! There was so much candy throwing, so my kids finally got to learn what a parade is supposed to be. Some parents don't like their kids getting that much candy, but I try to take it from a kids perspective and that means it was awesome. We are still eating away at it and it makes Jared so ornery when he doesn't get some, but that's all part of the game. :)

After parade slurps

Look! Spiderman is on "God's Team!" Oh Texas....

Fireworks that night. Brian's not a big 4th of July person and we never go watch fireworks, so I was really excited to have a reason to go. They were kind of underwhelming, but oh well. Maybe next year. Maybe by then the kids will care instead of watching one and moving on.

We had a little Birthday party for Claire while the fan was in town. We made her favorite pie and she got an easy bake oven. She loves to bake and share with everyone. Brian usually cringes at her concoctions, but we'll eat them and say they're amazing. Fortunately the kids eat every bite and love it.

Of course everyone gets a present when Grandma comes to visit.

I was NOT ready for these two to leave. I think they were ready to go home to their piece and quiet, but I thoroughly enjoyed them being here. COME BACK! I miss living so close to family.

I'm