Update

Well. We are back in Utah. The boys allergies just weren't getting better (they were both waking up at least 2 times every night and Dexy even seemed asthmatic) and Brian's sales were dropping rapidly so we decided that the best thing for our family would be to return early and get settled and ready for the upcoming semester of school at....wait for it.....Dixie! Brian has transfered to Dixie State and we will now be living in St. George in my parents condo across the street from Dixie High. My parents are kind of up in the air right now as my Dad is going to school and Weber but my Mom couldn't find a job up North and is therefore still teaching in St. George. So, they said we could live there and we'll work out whatever needs to happen as we go along. It a nice place, enough room for us, and the boys are at least kind of familiar with it so hopefully it will be a fairly smooth transition. The whole time we were in Texas, Ollie keep saying to me, "let's go home, Mommy!" so I hope he can feel settled there and like he isn't a Gypse child anymore. I, of course, I'm thrilled! Anyway. Here are some pictures of the end of our time in Texas.

We found this fabulous aquatic park in Lewisville. It had a little lazy river, a big water slide, 3 splash play areas around the pool, and a zero depth entry into this kiddie area with a water slide just their size. No where in the Dallas/Fort Worth area will let you take a child down a water slide on your lap and all Brian wanted was for Ollie to get to go down a water slide. That's why finding this place was so perfect. Ollie got to go down the little water slide all by himself, as many times as he wanted! It made everyone happy and was such a golden find! Too bad we found it right when our time was almost over.

Then we went to the Fort Worth Zoo with Heather and her family the day before we left. Wednesdays are half price there, so we planned our whole last week around going to the zoo together on Wednesday. The boys love animals and it was actually a cloudy, overcast morning so even the weather cooperated. We had a fun time. That night Brian and I went to the Dallas Temple. It took almost an hour to get there and then there were only 5 people, including the 2 of us, in our 5 pm session. I couldn't believe it! It was a good experience and it made me want to make sure that I'm not taking the Temple for granted.

The next morning, we stuffed all of our stuff back into our teeny Hyundai Elantra and started our long drive back to Utah. This picture was taken Thursday July 1, 2010 at 11:48 am as we headed out of D/FW. We drove all night long! Our car was so packed that Brian wouldn't fit in the passenger side, so we couldn't even take turns driving. Finally, at about 7 am the next morning, he switched me and squeezed into the passenger seat for about an hour and half of sleep before he's legs and feet were totally asleep and he had to switch me back. After what seemed like the longest drive of my life...

...we were almost there! We decided to go straight to St. George so that we could unload our car and spend the 4th of July weekend with Derek's family before we came back up North to play with Brian's side of the family at their traditional week of the 4th at East Canyon fun. But, all of that July 4th fun will have to be another post. The drive had been so long, about 22 1/2 hours with stops. The boys were actually fairly good and handled way better than anticipated, with the exception of Dexter throwing up all over himself at 2 o'clock in the morning in the middle of New Mexico! We eventually found a place and got him cleaned up and he went back to sleep. Ollie just wouldn't go to sleep, so I told him that he was going to have to sleep in his carseat and he said, "How do I do that?!" It was rather funny and he eventually got some good sleep, too!
Now, this picture was taken on Friday July 2, 2010 at 9:57 am after hours and hours and hours of driving. It was crazy, but we just wanted to get back fast. Nobody got very much sleep over that 23 hours period, but it's over now and we're glad to be back!