Early birds...

get to enjoy the beauiful sunrise!

I found this little gem of a picture on my good camera this morning.  My heart just fills up whenever I look at it.  Two of my favorite girls enjoying God's creation.

Hawaiian Falls

Lila and I joined our friends, Hayley and Sawyer, for a day of fun in the sun at Hawaiian Falls today.

The big kids had summer camps and I thought this would be something fun for us to do together.  We met our friends at the wave pool and then ran right on in.

This little fishy loved it!  She wasn't scared of the big waves in the least and would just laugh every time she got splashed in the face.

After chilling in the wave pool, we decided to go over to the kiddie pool to see what kind of fun things there were to do.  Lila told me at least five times about the "giant bucket" that dumped water out every few minutes.  It is crazy how much water rains down on you.  Thank goodness we didn't get unexpectedly drenched!

What we did do was slide.  And slide.  And slide.  These kids had a ton of fun on this little red slide.

We floated the lazy river at the end and it put this sweet girl right to sleep.  She was out in less than 15 seconds after laying back on my shoulder.  We did a few laps around the river and then got out.  The kid never woke up, even when I put her in the carseat.  I went to Sonic, picked up both kids at two different camps, went to the bank and then came home.  And she was still asleep.  Now that's tired!

We are looking forward to sharing these fun times with Jackson and Maddie later on this month.  I've just got to recruit some help before we go, though!

Bro Weekend

Lake Texoma is our home away from home this summer.  We just can't get enough of it. 

We love being there so much--it really is my happy place! This past weekend we invited Uncle Scott, Aunt Lyndsie, Uncle Andrew and Aunt-to-be Maria to join us.

We kicked the weekend off right by taking a boat ride to dinner. 
Lila loves her baby dolls and Aunt Lyndsie!

Jackson thinks Uncle Scott is super cool, too.

We met Daddy, Uncle Andrew and Maria for dinner on the patio at The Point.  It was a gorgeous night and we enjoyed the live music and good company so much.

After declaring, "I'm done!" Lila got down and ran around for a little bit.

After a bathroom mishap, she came out wearing only a diaper and sandals.  Her daddy just couldn't have that, so he promptly went to his car and came back with one of his t-shirts for her to put on.

Since the t-shirt was slightly too big, the manager took pity on her and gave her a cute pink tank top to wear instead.  She actually fell asleep on the boat ride home, so it doubled as a nightgown as well:)

The next morning the sun was out and we were ready to hit the beach.

This crew loves some good beach time.

After hanging out for a little while in the water, we took the boat out to go skiing.  Gigi and Boom held down the fort with the kids and they watched us from afar, waving every time we skied by them.

Both Jared and I skied, but we got no pics!  We'll have to remedy that next weekend.  We did get an action shot of Uncle Scott, though.  He did so good!

After dinner that evening, we decided to take another boat ride. 
The lake is so peaceful right before sunset.  And gorgeous.

Isn't that just beautiful?  It was the perfect ending to the day.

The next morning we were ready to hit the water again. 
We were in good hands with The Captain, Lil' Skipper and First Mate on our boat!

Tubing was the theme of the day.  It was Jackson's first time and he LOVED it.  I was so proud of him for facing his fears.  He was even the first one out there, too!

After J man went with me, it was Maddie's turn.  This girl is all about the adrenaline.  She kept telling Daddo to go faster and loved it whenever we'd hit a few waves.  Cracked me up the whole time!

Uncle Scott took both kids for a spin...

and then it was time for a swim break.  We just jumped in the middle of the lake.  Lila Lou even joined us!  She held mighty tightly to my arm, but she enjoyed herself. 

After a dip in the water, Maddie and Lila were ready to ride with Daddo.  They probably got the biggest waves, but Lila loved every second.  Thank goodness Jared was in the tube to make sure she didn't fly out!  Both girls were smiling and laughing the whole time.  They are such daredevils!

We could not have had a more fun weekend with these three.  Lake Texoma, we'll see you on Friday!  Get ready.

Happy 4th of July!

July 4, 2012



Happy Birthday, USA!



From this tall guy...

and these two sweet girls.

We rocked our stars and stripes...

and chilled in the pool.

The kids ran through Memaw's sprinkler...

relaxed on her raft...

and hung out in the shade on her nice hammock.

I decorated an angel food cake with pink icing, strawberries and blueberries and took it to our second swim party later that afternoon.

There was ball playing, more swimming...

and a few festive sparklers!

We ended the night watching the fireworks with friends.  It was a fabulous 4th of July.  Thanks so much to all of our gracious hosts!

Goofing around with Daddo

Jared actually made it home for dinner with the fam earlier this week!  We haven't been able to say that in a VERY long time.  Everyone was so giddy that they just had to have some play time after dinner in order to properly celebrate.

Daddo spent a solid 15 minutes being "Turbo Dad" and running around the house with not one, but two, monkeys on him.

They loved it!  The votes are in--Daddo should come home for dinner much more often!

My senoritas

My parents brought back these adorable dresses for the girls from their trip to Mexico.

To spice up their look, the girls grabbed Gigi's new hat and divided it up.  Maddie got the tassles and Lila got the hat.  They make me smile.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Andrew!

Yesterday we went to dinner to celebrate Uncle Andrew's birthday.  We had a private room on the second floor of Urban Crust in Plano and it was perfect.

Both Andrew's and Maria's families came to celebrate with him and we all had such a good time. 
Notice what's playing on that TV?  Let's just say that Jackson could not have been more pleased with the seating arrangement.

Before dinner, Maddie suprised Uncle Andrew with this picture that she had colored for him. 
He loved it.

Lila took a cue from Maddie and immediately got out her crayons to make Uncle Andrew one, too.

This was Jackson for 90% of the night.  Eyes on the game.  He kept everyone informed on how the Rangers were doing--his Poppi especially appreciated it since he was underneath the TV.

After pizza and pasta, Memaw broke out the chocolate cake!  J and M helped Andrew with all of his candles. It takes some help to get 29 of them to go out!

These two could not ask for a better Uncle and they are so excited to be getting another Aunt in only a few months!

After dessert, it was time for presents.  Madison modeled one of his presents from us--a Camelbak for  his newfound love of bike riding.  Too cute! 

Happy Birthday, Andrew!  Thanks for letting our crew celebrate with you.