Houston, TX

Our next stop on our trip was Houston, Texas!  Tyler's older brother and his family have lived there for a year.  Cameron, their oldest, was getting baptized.   Their youngest, baby Addison, was getting blessed. Plus, it was the fourth of July weekend!  Perfect for a Sherman family reunion!

Our van's A/C went out about 4 hours before Houston!  After a quick stop to a mechanic, we found our A/C problem was going to be labor extensive and costing plenty of $$$.  We opted to get the problem fixed once we got to Houston.  So we enjoyed traveling the rest of the way in the hot, Texas sun with windows rolled down! Once we got into Houston, the new mechanic gave us a courtesy check over our whole vehicle.  On top of the large repair with the A/C, the mechanic found two other repairs that needed to be done right then.  They were very large repairs, as well!  Not wanting to risk any problems as we traveled, we got everything taken care of.... $5000 later!!! We had the inconvienence of not having a car for 3 days, which was pretty much our whole visit in Texas.  We did a lot of shuttling with Scott and Errin's 2 cars, because we not only had our family to deal with, but we had 7 other people who flew into the airport needing rides.  We made it work and we were glad to get the repairs done (which some mechanic should have found a long time ago.) And that we got the van fixed while we were already planning on being in Houston.  It would have been mighty inconvienent if we had to have a 3 day repair done in the middle of no where as we were traveling. So we are counting our blessings!

So besides that little side story, we enjoyed our visit!  The kids enjoyed playing in the large backyard and with the swing set.  We had a water fight as well.  

 

 

We dressed everyone up festive for the holiday.  Mandy and I complained to each other about how our girls hate getting their hair done each day.  We decided we would try a fun hair-do on the girls and pretend like it's something we do all the time!  Ha Ha!  Lexi and Makenzie get along so well and were happy to be twins. 

Grandma, of course, needed pictures with her grandbabies!  

 Just the boys!

 Now the girls!

 The kids would gather to any electronic device that was on.  This is how we found them one morning when that was only thing they could access.

 

 Our Fourth of July got rained out!  (Same story as last year)  The rain was hit and miss in the evening, so we took the chance that the city would still do fireworks for us to see.  We went to view them at the church parking lot, and just when we were giving up, they lit the night sky. 

This is the whole Sherman Family (minus Mandy's husband who had to stay home and work)

I thought this was pretty cute.... our 2 little cat-nappers! Lilly did pretty well on the trip.  She would make her self comfortable wherever she found space.  Sometimes she would get anxious and meow, so we would put her in her crate. 
 

 

We took Lexi with us as we made the drive to Utah.  Everyone else flew home.  We had a packed car!!!  Just looking at this picture makes me so glad I am not in the car anymore! 

First Stop- Nashville, TN!

We hopped in the car just for a bit before we stopped to visit one of Tyler's co-workers at his new house in Lexington, KY.  

It was fun to see that they live on "Shermans Lane."

 

All smiles so far in the car!

 

First night in the hotel was a success too!

Our plan was to make it to Nashville, TN and spend a day to sight see.  The day before, we found out some old friends, Andy and Tabby Miller, (that we knew from Columbus, OH) now lived in the Nashville area.  Our other friends, Jay and Melani Talbot, who introduced us to them were also there in Nashville visiting from Montana.  Well, only Melani and her little girl.   It was such a coiencidence!  We decided to spend the day with them and catch up.   It was so fun! 

The Millers have a great set-up in their backyard.

A zip-line....

A tree swing....

Everyone had a chance to swing way up to the sky. 

Tabby got out her bow and arrow and gave us a few lessons.

Makenzie's favorite toy for the day.  

No surprise there!

 

All the kids played so well together!

  We missed seeing all of Melani's family, but it was a great "unplanned" visit!

Saying Goodbye to Ohio!

First off, Tyler has had a countdown to the end of residency since the beginning of the year.
He captured his last second of work....

Our last few weeks were busy.  The kids were excited to stay up late a couple times and catch fireflies; something that we will miss once we are back in the West.  

We invested in a new DVD player for the van before our long road trip.  

Tyler got it all installed one evening.  

The kids were mesmerized.

The moving company came and went in two days!  

They packed our stuff and hauled it away.  

It was quite the chore to get the truck up by our house. 

Our first experience with having professional movers! (It was a good one)

All our stuff fit into half of a semi!

The driver was so kind and let the kids each sit in the truck and toot the horn a few times before he drove off.

"Sleep whenever, sleep wherever."  

That has been the motto for the last month of being "homeless." 

After the movers left, Tyler left to go on a high adventure campout with the Boy Scouts.  That left me several days at home with an empty house.  We stayed busy visiting our favorite places one more time!

Donut run with Cara and kids. 

Visiting Shawnee State Park and the Nature Center. 

They always have critters to hold.

A fun little hike.

A beautiful site to see!

And last of all.... creeking!

 
The boys got brave and slid down the rock into the water, which was really only waist deep on them.

We had an opportunity to swim and play at a friends house one evening.  Ellionna just loves jumping on the tramp by herself.  Do you notice her guilty face? She just peed on the tramp.

I will have to find pics of Tyler's adventures with the Boy Scouts.  This is the only picture he captured.  They stopped at a place for lunch on the way home called "Hillbilly Hotdog."  Their hamburgers are famous! 

One of the last Ohio sunsets I captured. 

 We enjoyed an evening at a luau celebration with Tyler's co-workers.  

Jarod and his fiancee, Stacey, were the hosts.  They always go all-out!  These were the center pieces.  They picked the wild day lilies that morning from the side of the road.

 
As I gather up all the photos taken from our devices, I know I did not capture as many pictures as I wanted with the people that we love and will miss so much!  It was a lot harder leaving our church family and friends than I ever imagined.

The kids with the Ekin girls and Gabby Collis. 

 (Also known as the BEST babysitters!)

Makenzie got real close to Meghan Johnson over the last year.  

They were in the same Cirque D' Art dance group.

        Jen and Jen :)                    

 Cara.... This girl never ceases to amaze me!!

Her daughter Grace is just as spunky as Gavin.  

They had a love/hate relationship.  

Luckily it ended in love!!!

Gavin and the "Candy Man"

Bro. Brown loved our spunky and impulsive little guy.  He said Gavin reminds him a lot of what he use to be like as a kid.  Bro. Brown was always so patient, kind, and giving to our family!

Tyler with Bishop Cox.  These guys were like two peas in a pod.  They had soooo much in common and got a long so great!  Tyler served as Young Men's President the whole 3 years we were in Ohio.  Bishop was always there to support Tyler in so many ways.  We will miss him and his wife, too!

Hilda Spence and Gail Duplain are two women that I hope to pattern my own life after.  They are woman of faith, love, and service!  They both have served my family in so many countless ways.  We have so many good memories with them and their families.

We spent a lot of time at this building!!! It sat on a huge hill that we used for slip n' sliding and other activities.

We left Ohio after a fulfilling day at church.   

Thank you Ohio for being good to us!