Leaving Houston for Albuquerque, Part 1

It’s been over a week now that we left our home in Houston, but we’ve been so busy.  In fact, even before we left, things were quite hectic.  I wasn’t sure we’d ever make it out of Houston. 

To sum it up briefly for those who aren’t aware, Josh decided to do his third and final externship in Albuquerque, NM.  His other ones were done in Houston, but he wanted the experience that the Albuquerque VA Hospital would give him.  He decided this back in September/October, but we were still trying to work out the details as of very recently.  It’s only for the summer, and then we’ll be headed back to Houston in mid-August.  At least we’ll be headed back with one degree down (optometry) and hopefully only a year more for the other (Ph.D.).

Our last month and a half in Houston was full of stress and worry, which makes being here in Albuquerque that much more of a relief to us.  At the end of March, our car’s engine had to be replaced, and we were told it would take 7-10 days to do so.  I won’t elaborate on all of the painful details, but we ended up being without a car for six long weeks.  After a LOT of patience and some assertiveness, we got it back with a week to spare before we needed to pack up and leave our apartment.  Unfortunately, there were still some minor issues with the car that made that last week crazy for us. 

I did most of the packing and cleaning while Josh tried to fix the issues with the car.  The main issue was that our safety inspection sticker expired while the car was in the shop.  However, for some unknown reason to us at the time, our check engine light kept coming on, which meant it didn’t pass the safety emissions test.  Once again, I’ll spare you the details, but after taking it back to the shop and replacing a couple of parts, the light was still on.  Meanwhile, I was trying to do everything I could at home (which is not easy to do all alone).  We were supposed to move Wednesday, May 4^th, but we asked the office if we could pay for one more night and move on Thursday.  They had no problems with that, and we were hoping in the meantime we could get that little sticker so that we could drive legally.  When that didn’t happen, I told Josh I’d just drive illegally (shhh…don’t tell) because we had to leave and didn’t have much choice.  Still, we ended up staying yet another night (thankfully our office management didn’t have any problems with that) and leaving on Friday morning.

We drove to Lubbock, TX, the first day, which was an incredibly long 10 hours.  The worst part was from Brenham to Abilene.  It’s a one-way highway with very little to see, but we chose that route because it had the least amount of miles.  Fortunately, Eli is generally an angel in the car, so there were no problems there.  UNfortunately, I had to drive solo with him because Josh was driving the moving truck.  We had been planning to tow a small trailer and leave most of our stuff in storage in Houston, but we couldn’t tow anything because of our new engine.  Thus, we ended up taking all of our stuff for just three months. 

As we were staying the night in Lubbock, Josh told me that we would probably have to drive back to Texas after getting the check engine light turned off in Albuquerque.  It hadn’t dawned on me that the inspection sticker has to be from the same state where the car is registered, and we didn’t want to register the car in New Mexico and re-register in Texas.  At this point, I was very frustrated (as if I hadn’t already been).  In no way did I want to drive four plus hours back to Texas after driving to Albuquerque.  Fortunately, thanks to prayer and a resourceful husband, the problem was fixed.  Josh got up early on Saturday morning, got under the car, and discovered that the mechanics had simply forgotten to plug a hose back in and obviously didn’t check when we took it back to them.  So, we got the inspection sticker in Lubbock that morning and drove to Albuquerque afterward.  Incidentally, Lubbock County doesn’t require a safety emissions test like Harris County does (due to population size), so we probably could have gotten the sticker even with the check engine light still on.  That’s irony! 

Easter Weekend

This past week Eli had a blast finding eggs.  He had two different playgroup Easter egg hunts--one on Wednesday and one on Thursday--and then of course he had the one we did here at home on Saturday.  I forgot to take the camera to both playgroups, so there are only pictures of the one we did here at home.

On Saturday morning we also got to spend some time with our friends Mike and Marci and their three children.  We went to George Bush Park for a hike and picnic.  It was fun, but unfortunately, Josh (he planned the hike) didn't take into account the fact that there would be four small children, so I think it was a little long for them.  Poor Ella (Mike and Marci's oldest) will probably never want to do anything with us again.  At least on the way back we got to see a baby armadillo, or as Preston (Mike and Marci's youngest) said, "An elephant." :-)

On Sunday Josh and I spoke in Sacrament meeting because Josh was released from his calling in the bishopric.  We have both learned a lot from his calling in the past 3 1/2 years.  Tears were shed, but change is inevitable and necessary. 

Change will definitely play a big part in our lives in the next few weeks.  We only have nine days before we move to Albuquerque, and we still have so much to do!  Josh takes his board exams on Saturday, we leave on Wednesday, and we still don't have our car back from the shop.  It's been nearly six weeks since our car has been out of commission.  That's a whole other post that I'll probably never get to, but needless to say, it's been challenging.  I probably shouldn't even be writing this post, but I knew if I didn't get to it now, the pictures would never be posted.  So here they are:

Mike brought his fishing pole, so Eli was excited to catch and release some fish.  I told Eli he'll need to go fishing with his Grandpa Grant one day, and he was quite eager.

I can see why a toddler would call this "an elephant."  Can't you?  They're certainly interesting creatures.

Eli threw the first egg into the dye, so I had to explain that the idea was not to crack them.

Eli Orson Pratt, Big Boy, Now 3-Years-Old

The title is in reference to what Eli tells people when they ask what his name is or how old he is.  He always says, "I'm Eli Orson Pratt, big boy, only two, almost three."  After his birthday yesterday, I told him he's going to have to take out the "only two" part.  He's working on it. :-)

He asked for a strawberry Peter Pan cake, so I did the best I could considering that Peter Pan is one of Disney's vaulted movies and there isn't a lot of easily available (and affordable) stuff out there.  There's a lot of Tinkerbell, but Eli is more interested in Peter Pan, Wendy, and Captain Hook.  Fortunately, he doesn't care about professionalism, and he loved it!

Eli kept begging to open his presents all day, and considering his age, I'd say he did a pretty good job at being patient.  However, we did turn around as we were preparing to light the candles on the cake to see him unexpectedly ripping the paper off one of his gifts.  There's only so long a three-year-old can wait. 

Just as he tells everyone, he is definitely becoming a big boy.  He now uses the big potty by himself.  He identifies letters and sounds, and he can count at least ten objects.  His memory is very good (or maybe I just think that because mine is getting worse).  He remembers the minutest details of both movies and books, and he consistently reminds me of things that I tell him.  He figures out most anything that's supposed to be childproof (yes, I know, he's a walking accident waiting to happen).  If he really concentrates, he can dress himself.  He knows how to answer a telephone, and he will sustain a pretty good conversation with you if he's in the mood.  He knows how to get what he wants without crying, and he's very good with his manners.  He's doing much better at sharing and playing nicely with others.  Though he is still messy when he eats, he is doing much better.  He does a pretty good job throwing a ball overhand.  He can ride his tricycle all by himself.  And, of course, there is so much more that I'm not including.  He is my big boy, and I love him so much.  How grateful I am that the Lord let him become part of our family!

Another Year, Another Rodeo

The Houston Rodeo just left town again, but not before we had a chance to go this past Saturday.  I never thought when we first moved here that we'd look forward to going to the rodeo every year, but we do.  I don't know if you have to live here to appreciate it or just attend once, but it's a lot of fun, especially when you have a little kid. 

We began our Saturday morning by watching what is called "Coon Jumping."  After watching it, I can tell you it's a bit of a misnomer because the coons aren't really the ones jumping.  The mules jump.  I guess it started in the backwoods of Kentucky when they were hunting coons and needed to jump fences.  Apparently horses need a running start, but mules don't.  Since it was dark and there wasn't room for a running start, mules were the animal of choice.  One day a bunch of fellas were bragging about how high their mules could jump, and now you know why the competition began.  Don't worry, if you're like me, you didn't have a clue that any of this stuff goes on.  But now you know, and I'm sure you consider yourself that much smarter for it. :-) 

After the coon jumping, Eli was dying to try out some of the rides, so he rode on a flying pirate ship (if you know how much he loves pirates these days--particularly Captain Hook--you know how much he loved it) and a dragon kiddie roller coaster.  I tried to convince him to no avail that he probably wouldn't enjoy the roller coaster.  Why did I think that?  We were at the park the previous day, and some older kids were on the seesaw.  Eli wanted aboard, and so they obliged.  At first he started saying, "Woohoo!"  Then, as they began going faster and higher, he looked at me with fear in his eyes and said, "Mommy, I'm scared."  That was why I was pretty sure he wasn't going to like the roller coaster.  But he insisted.  "It's scary," I said.  "No, Mommy, it's good.  Please?"  Well, I relented.  Sure enough, he was quite scared.  The first couple of times around, he was crouched down low with a look of terror on his face.  On the second to last time around, he turned to me and said, "Mommy, I want to get off."  Of course, there was not much I could do until the ride ended, but I couldn't help laughing just a little bit.  After all, it was kind of funny.  In fact, one of the kids in his nursery class showed up right after, and he too begged his parents to ride.  His parents told us he wanted to ride the big roller coaster with his daddy and older sisters and was quite disappointed when he couldn't.  But his ride on the kiddie roller coaster did not meet his expectations.  He was screaming and crying through the whole ride.  His parents laughed too, so I don't feel so bad.

After the rides (which Eli did not want to leave), Eli got to play pretend farm and see some of the animals.  Included in those were a ride on a tractor, which he wouldn't miss for the world, and petting the animals in the petting zoo.  Everything wore him out because he was quickly asleep in the stroller when we were standing in line for some yummy pecan cobbler.  Some of his first words upon waking when we got home were, "I want to go back to the rodeo."  I think that pretty much sums it up.  We had a lot of fun!

This is Eli watching the coon jumping.

This Is the coon jumping.

 

 

Can you tell he loved the flying pirate ship ride?

This is when the roller coaster first began.  Can you see the look of fear on his face?

This is near the end of the ride.  Can you see him mouth that he wants off?

The rodeo would never be complete without Eli sitting on one of the tractors.

The petting zoo