Population 80,995 PLUS 4!!

YAY!!!  We are here!!!  As we approached Bend we were welcomed by the crystal clear snow capped mountains in the distance.  The astounding beauty that surrounds this little city is intoxicating.  Every time we experience its charm and splendor we can't help but feel so lucky to call this place home.

Love at first sight. (corny, I know, but one day we might be happy we took this pic)

Our home for the next few months.  :)

I think we made out with this home considering we picked it from craigslist while in Houston.  

The day we arrived it was in the 60's!  The girls loved playing in their new yard!

Joss wanted to take a pic of us drinking out of our new holiday wine glasses from my sister.  These glasses however weren't filled with wine, but were filled with locally crafted beer!!  I am not a huge fan of beer in general, but Bend has the best beer I have ever tasted. 

One of our first priorities after moving into our new home was getting ready for Christmas in less than a week.  After getting the tree, we started making ornaments. We had a blast!

Here we are baking dough ornaments which we later painted outside.  The one thing we have noticed about Bend is that even when the temperature says 30's it really feels like high 40's or even 50's.  It never seems to get cold here.

Our finished tree!!  

Down the road at a local cafe they had an evening of Christmas cookie decorating.  

Getting ready to start decorating!

Autumn couldn't say no to more and more icing on her poor cookie.

Joss and her little masterpieces.

Heading home all sugared up.

Our makeshift dinner table until our furniture arrives in mid January.  It has been fun making do with what we have.  

The Home Stretch

We left Houston for our final journey back home, to Bend Oregon!  We decided to take the southern route so as to miss any bad winter weather along the way.  Our first stop after traveling all day was…Texas.  Texas is freakin' BIG!!!  We made it to the only stop between San Antonio and El Paso that had any kind of civilization whatsoever.

Our next stop was Tucson.  Oh how beautiful!  Tucson had the cleanest air and such beautiful scenery. We totally took note of its beauty and decided to consider it for our place of retirement one day.  We stayed at one of the most adorable places, called Lodge on the Desert.  It was the perfect little oasis.  

Loving the cacti!!  They are just stunning against the brilliant blue skies of Arizona.  

Arizona was one of our favorite states to drive through and visit!!  Full of stunning hillsides covered in cacti and other pointy vegetation.  Just magical.

Next stop.  VEGAS!!  The kids had such a fun time looking at all the lights.  It was hard keeping them away from all the slot machines, it was like torture to them.  Finally we let them sit at them, but were then yelled at for doing so two minutes later by the authorities.  Oops!  At least we got the shot.

Hanging out at one of the nightclubs ;)

A picture with Mickey and Minnie, which doesn't come for free in Vegas.  

Admiring the beauty of "Rome."

Dancing out in the streets of "Paris."

After leaving Vegas we headed North through Nevada.  Here is a picture of the route we took through the mountains.  Never realized how beautiful of a state Nevada was.  

Stopped to pick up some lunch for the road in Austin, Nevada.  It is a small cowboy town filled with stores that sold turquoise jewelry.  The kids were excited to play in the snow.

Lovely little town!

We decided to drive all the way from Vegas to Oregon without stopping.  We made it to Oregon!!  We stayed in Burns, Oregon, two hours outside of Bend instead of risking it on the icy roads.  We are sooo happy to finally make it home!!!

Holidays in Houston

Thanksgiving in Houston was lots of fun.  Lots of scrumptious food, yummy egg nog and wonderful company.  Kids had a blast running around crazy all day.

Here they are calming down at the end of a successful Thanksgiving day.

Joss meeting the newly born calves at the farm we have been getting our milk from in Houston. 

The cutest calves I have ever seen!!

Ready to open up some early Christmas gifts before the Grabowskis hit the road and make their way to Bend, Oregon.

Everyone was so excited with their gifts.  Joss loving her cowgirl boots.  

Auty opening up her cowgirl boots.  :)

Everyone admiring Abigail's make-up job.   

This is how Santa arrives at NASA...T-38 Talon.  I guess Rudolf and Co. were resting up for the big event.

Autumn so excited to meet Santa for the first time.  

Santa came with a bag full of gifts for all the "good" boys and girls.  He came to give each of them an early Christmas gift.

Although Auty seemed a little nervous at first, she did enjoy her time with Santa without one tear.  

Joss was all smiles while sitting next to Santa. What a fun morning for them both.  

Final Destination…..

Someone once said, "All good things must come to an end"…. but we believe even better things are to follow.  After being on the road for 8 months, traveling the amazing country side and brilliant big cities of this country, we have found ourselves in Houston, Tx where we will spend the holidays with some familiar faces.  It has been wonderful reuniting the kids with their cousins and watching them bond all over again. My sister, Rebecca and her husband, Randy have graciously opened their home to us to give us as much time as we needed to figure out the next chapter of our lives.  Over the last week we have made lists of pros and cons of each place while reliving all the incredible memories we have created.  We feel so blessed to have been afforded this opportunity which has left us with experiences that have helped us grow as a family and as well as individuals.   After we contemplated where the next phase of our lives would be, we took a vote, even Autumn voted, and we all unanimously voted for…..

BEND OREGON!!!!

Don't Mess With Texas!!

Looking back at the Rockies as we leave Colorado and head on down to Texas…Yeehaw!!

On our way down to Austin we spotted a truck with fresh kill...

I am starting to see a theme here in Texas..

While in Texas do as the Texans do.. :)

Our first stop in Texas on our way to Austin… The Big Texan…house of the 72 ounce steak…

Loving their cowgirl hats...

Lovely…

Enjoying the warm weather outside The Big Texan Restaurant...

We're here!!! The city of Music..Austin!! Their motto "Keep Austin Weird"

Drinking kombucha from the farmer's market right down the road..  

After settling in, we took a day trip out to The Oasis, a wonderful suggestion by my sister, Rebecca.

Christmas in Austin.. The Oasis was so beautifully decorated for the Holiday season… Kids had a blast seeing their first Christmas decorations of the season.

The way they say it in Texas.

Autumn was not so sure about Santa.. She was in no way going to touch him or get any closer.

Here is the reason they call it Oasis..  Wow!!  Stunning views while sipping on a delicious margarita.  While sitting enjoying the view kids were getting restless because they weren't given any crayons to color in their kids' menus.. When we asked the waitress for some crayons, she said they don't have crayons, only pencils because crayons melt..  Oh, really.. Just how hot does it get here Austin?

Looked like it should be the coast of Italy.. Gorgeous!

Cheers!! To a fabulous time in Austin thus far!

Solitude!!

While strolling down 6th Street after some good Mexican food, we came across a bull riding bar.  Lucky for us no one was really in the bar yet since it was still pretty early.  Joss was soooo excited to try it out!  Autumn wanted off the minute she got on.. Smart girl..

Yeehaw!!!  Joss was quite the bull rider….

And so was Erik…  The next morning Erik was complaining of inner thigh pain, not remembering he rode the bull for about 60 seconds the night before.. lol!!

Our little fairy making a huge mess.. but having fun..

Our last night in Austin he finally made it to Congress Bridge to see the bats..  It was pretty incredible to see over a million bats fly from under the bridge at dusk to go feed on mosquitoes.  Each bat eats about 600 mosquitoes an hour!  In total they eat about 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of mosquitoes a night!  Even with all the mosquitoes they eat, our kids are still getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes. What the..?

We also had our first encounter today with fire ants.  We realized why they are called fire ants..because they burn when they bite you!!  Joss and Erik found out personally..

Tomorrow morning we are off to Houston to spend the holidays with my sister and her family.  Very excited to be with family.  :)