Birthday, 7 yr Anniversary, and Vacation!!

Last Friday, my sweet husband turned 28 - to celebrate, we had dinner at the Hula Hut with Nick and Jada. Now we had a really funny experience while we were there. While we were waiting to be seated, all of us were talking about how we really hadn't seen the "weird" side of Austin culture since we had all moved here. No sooner had we finished that conversation, Nick looks out towards the area where the boats were docking and said, "Don't look, there is a naked man running up the dock towards us." Well, you know we all had to turn around and look and sure enough, there was a naked man. What cracked me up was the amount of people taking pictures. Really, you want a picture of that? Anyways, at least now the four of us can truthfully say we've seen a little piece of the weirdness everyone talks about.

On Saturday, we left for our annual family vacation - this year to Bandera, TX. Our first stop was at Cabela's. Really, they should charge an admission fee. Our boys loved it. While we were there, we bought Kade and Kamden each a pop gun since we were going to the "Cowboy Capital of the World." Have you ever listened to two pop guns going off non-stop for 7 days straight - from dawn until dusk? Keith and I have. I think we are going to get pop guns for all of Kade and Kamden's friends for their birthdays so that their parents experience the same joy that we did all week :)


On Sunday, we went to SeaWorld. Sunday was also our 7 year anniversary - without being too mushy, I am more in love with my husband than ever. I can't even put into words what an incredible husband and father he is. The Lord has brought me so much joy in my marriage. I am truly overwhelmed with thankfulness. Was that too mushy?

Kale actually started clapping while we were watching "Believe," the Shamu show. He was so proud of his newest trick that he performed it for us all week.
We spent as much time as we could enjoying the outdoors. Bandera is in the hill country, which is just gorgeous! Our favorite spot in Bandera was the City Park, where the Medina River passed thru the city. Here we are enjoying the river and blowing bubbles at the park on Tuesday evening.



Wednesday morning, we went back to the park, but this time found a low water crossing in the river so that we could play in the water.

Keith taught me and the boys how to skip rocks. This was really the highlight of the trip for the boys. They could have stayed there throwing rocks all day if we had let them.
It rained a lot of our vacation, but we did enjoy some sun and pool time on Wednesday afternoon.

It was really rainy and wet on Thursday, so we took the boys to the local museum - The Frontier Times Museum. There was a sweet lady who did a really good job of keeping Kade's attention the whole time. Kamden and Kale, on the other hand, were not as impressed. Here they are on one of the old saddles that was displayed. I don't think we'll try to take them to anymore museums in the next couple of years. That memory will do us for awhile.



Here is a pic of Kale I took today while he was standing by the train table. He is growing up way too fast for us. I haven't taken any pictures yet of his teeth, but he now has two on the bottom.


Well, I think I've caught you up on our lives thus far. We came back from vacation to enjoy the Memorial Day holiday. The boys and I have really gotten spoiled to having Keith home with us all day. But tomorrow starts regular life again and we are looking forward to that too.

Special Visitor

We were so blessed to have Nanny, one of the boys' great grandmothers, visit us for dinner on Wednesday evening. We were also blessed to get to spend time with Bonnie Kay, Keith's aunt, and dad. They stopped in for a quick dinner after attending a funeral for nanny's brother-in-law. It's not everyday for most people that you get to have your great grandmother over for dinner, so this was very special for our family. Here are some pics of nanny while she was here -

As you can tell, Kale really enjoyed our company. He entertained everyone with his newest trick - a really cute wave. He also showed them how loud he could scream while we were all eating dinner. I have never heard a baby scream as loud as he does. We are really having to work hard at teaching him that he does not get our attention by screaming. It's really hard though, because honestly, I would do anything to make him stop screaming. I guess he thinks that screaming is the only way to really get someone's attention when you're the youngest of three.

We went to Dallas on Monday and Tuesday because a close family friend passed away and Keith did the funeral for her. The boys got to spend some more time with e. and papa and granny. Here are a couple of pics taken while we were in Dallas.


On our way back home, we decided to break up the trip with a little stop at Baylor University, the college where Keith and I graduated from in 2001. We went and showed the boys the bears. Then we all went to the bookstore. While Keith was trying on hats, the boys found their own hats to try on...


Are they not hilarious? I know Keith probably gets tired of me always taking pictures, but some things are just too good to pass up. Kale also surprised us while we were at the bookstore by pulling up for the first time. He has since pulled up a couple of more times. But I actually got a picture of his initial pull up - which is very exciting for a scrapbooker.

O.K., it's almost 12:30 at night, so I think I better go to bed now. The boys will be up in 6 more hours, ready for another day. To all my friends and family who are moms - Happy Mother's Day! Isn't God so gracious to allow us the privilege of being a mom? I am constantly amazed at the blessings He has poured out on me and just pray that I glorify Him in my roles as wife and mom. Goodnight!

All in a Weekend

Whew! What a weekend! After Keith finished his DWAP Bible study Saturday morning (a 6:00 a.m. Bible study at the house for some of the men in leadership at the church), we got the boys ready and headed to the Round Rock Gardens Nursery where we picked up a Mother's Day present for E. and began to hunt down the perfect trees for our backyard. Here are a couple of pics of the boys at the nursery.

We met E. and Papa at the house in time to load everyone back in the car to go to Kade's soccer game. This is what they got to see at their grandson's soccer game-
Kade doing front rolls on the soccer field! Yep, that's our son - performing gymnastics when he is supposed to be kicking the ball. What fun! The game wasn't until 11:00, so Kade, along with most of the other boys, really struggled to focus at all on the game. All Kade wanted was lunch..and to be able to jump in the mud puddles with his brother...

Kamden had so much fun in the mud until he realized how dirty his shoes had become. Then he wanted papa to hold him the rest of the game.

Kale got to enjoy a little one-on-one time with his E. at the game.

And Kade had a couple of other visitors at his game also - Douglas brought Kinsey to watch while Darin was at a baby shower.

After lunch at McDonald's, E. and I went to put the boys down for a nap while Keith and dad went to buy a couple of trees. Here is my strong man digging a huge hole for one of the trees. Our first surprise we had for dad was that he was going to have the blessing of helping Keith plant two trees in our backyard...


As if that wasn't enough surprise for one day, we surprised him again with our plans to grill out in our front yard in the evening with all of our neighbors. God was so gracious to us by providing the perfect weather and sweet fellowship with some of our neighbors. We had all of the families bring their own meat and a side and we provided the rest. We set up the bounce house for the kids and then showed Happy Feet on the garage door when it got dark enough outside. A couple of families from our Real Life Group brought stuff for the grill out and stayed to get to know our neighbors too. I just can't thank the Lord enough for the sweet relationships that were started last night and/or strengthened. I could go on and on, but instead I will stop and tell you individually about how we saw God's hand on the whole event. Here are some pics from the event.


Have a blessed week!