Summertime Fun!

After our short trip back to Idaho, we stayed pretty busy finishing out Kayden's basketball league and the rest of the school year. We have officially been on Summer Break for 2 1/2 weeks now; and it has been fabulous! We haven't done a ton of things but we have had some small adventures! We are getting really excited for our next, longer and planned trip back to Idaho...only 19 mores days to go!! 

Fishing @ Holland Lake

Pre-game Jitters! 

 A little Cinco De Mayo fun! (Kayden didn't want to have his picture taken)

 

Swimming with Friends!

 

Kayden made the Honor Roll!!

Sno Cones....Yum!

Fort Worth Botanical Gardens:

They were really pretty but the kids were complaining about the heat so we were only there for a few minutes. We want to go back soon to see the rest.

 Love
~The Downs

Berry Birthday Bash!!

We celebrated our sweet lil' Kiki's birthday, our first big birthday bash in Texas! It was so wonderful to be surrounded by close family and friends! Keirsten wanted a Strawberry Shortcake themed party, it turned out berry-cute, hee hee! On her "official" birthday, Keirsten wanted to go to Work-A-Bear-Workshop a.k.a Build-A-Bear-Workshop, get her ears pierced and go to Chuckie Cheese for dinner and games. It was so much fun and it amazes me everyday how grown up my little girl really is.

Unfortunately, I really stunk at taking pictures this year, so I will share what I have....

Party Table

Kiki requested no frosting but lots of sprinkles on her cupcake...silly girl!

Our beautiful Birthday Girl!!

 

 

 

Picking out her bunny!

Filling her with fluff and love!

Giving her a bath.

Finished product! She named her Kiki but calls her Melissa, haha!

They had a merry-go-round in the mall! And, yes that is her bunny on her own horse :)

Kayden enjoyed it too!

Not sure what was up with the face, we couldn't get her to smile, but her she is showing off her new earrings. Not even one tear...such a tough one!!

Love,
~The Downs~

Back to Blogging

Wow! It has been forever since I have logged in to start a new post. If it wasn't for our blog being the home page on our computer I might have completely forgot about it entirely! So much has changed since my last post...for starters we no longer live in Idaho!!! Who would have ever guessed that within the last year we would have completely uprooted our lives in Pocatello and move to Texas?!?! Seems pretty crazy to me and I'm the one that did it! But nonetheless here we are in the great state of Texas! 


Moving as an adult has been one of the biggest challenges of my life (kudos to my momma who moved us many times)! Every single ounce of comfort you had goes sailing straight out the window. You find yourself having to start from scratch with no one to talk to or to guide you in the right direction. There is no picking up the phone and getting a referral from anyone, its just you making all the choices, and that my friends can be terrifying!!!


Once the fear of not knowing where I am EVER passed, I can now genuinely say that I really enjoy the little town we live in. I am ever so grateful that Ryan made the wonderful choice of moving us to a town 20 minutes west of the hustle and bustle of Fort Worth. We really enjoy the small town atmosphere with also having the luxuries of a big city not to far away!


Despite my ugly depictions on what Texas was going to be like, it is really a pretty place that has trees and grass...all I could imagine was dirt and cacti as far as the eye could see. The thunderstorms are amazing, although the ones that include tornado warnings are TERRIFYING!!!


We are even more extremely lucky that we have family members who actually live in the same town as us and others only a few hours away! We are so grateful to have the comfort of family close by and are excited for new family get-togethers with them! 


I am also very grateful for the handful of other railroad wives and families that live in the same town or not to far away from us who also had the lovely experience of transferring down to Texas. Its wonderful to know that there are people who deal with the exact frustrations I do and who know what it means to live the crazy railroad life!


We also are living in a great neighborhood with good, fun kids for Kayden and Keirsten to play with. We have neighbors who moved here recently from Delaware that have kiddos the same ages as ours and even a dog who has become Champs new best pal! 


Crazy enough we are still settling into life here and every time I think I've got us completely settled in, something else comes up. It has been a grand adventure and I can say that I am excited and scared for all the adventures we have yet to come!


Love,
The Downs

Easter, Baseball and Birthday!

A 3 in 1 post...amazing! As I am sure you can tell from the title of this post we had a lot going on the last two weeks...not that, that is any surprise! 

This year we went to Utah to spend Easter with my Mom, Mike, Tony and Sarah. It was so great getting to see everyone; it has been awhile since we were all together! The kids of course had a blast coloring eggs and we only broke a few this year so the turn out was GREAT! 

This year we also decided it would be fun to shape Rice Krispy treats into eggs and let the kids decorate them. They loved it...both the decorating and snacking part of it! It was fun to see their creativity! Keirsten decided she would have a better advantage at decorating her Rice Krispy eggs if she sat on the table....silly girl!

Kayden informed us this year that the Easter bunny hid the eggs too easy last year, so we made sure that he hid them better this year! They both had a blast finding the eggs...and unfortunately it happened so quickly I wasn't able to catch any pictures! They loved the fun Easter baskets the Easter bunny brought them as well!

While we were in Utah we also got to spend some time with Dad. It was a bittersweet visit. Dad is moving to Baltimore so this was our goodbye...we are sure going to miss our Papa but are excited for the new adventure in his life. Love you lots!

Kayden has also started another year of baseball and of course he is playing for the Giants! I am not certain there is a sport out there that this kid doesn't love playing!?! It has been so fun to watch all the boys improve from one year to the next. He plays with a great group of kids and has some wonderful coaches!

And last but not least we celebrated Keirsten's 3rd birthday last weekend. I cannot believe that my little girl is 3! It always goes by so quickly and is so bittersweet watching them grow up. She is an amazing little girl and  our family would not be complete without her. She has the most infectious smile and sparkling personality. She is very independent and loves life to its fullest. Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you!

Love Always,

The Downs Family