A Day at the Lake!

I have several activities planned that are "musts" for the summer. We haven't done half of them yet! We have been super busy with 8 weeks of swimming lessons and other activities, but haven't gotten too many things checked off on our "must" list.

But, Friday we checked one off. We headed to a local lake with several friends. It was the perfect day for it. No clouds, a little bit of a breeze, and HOT HOT HOT!




It is the only "beach" experience that my kids have ever had. They love playing in the rocky sand and swimming in the water.





It was awesome.




Of course I love chatting with the girls the best. But, eventually we did move the chatting down to the water. It was too hot not to get in.





So fun.



Thanks girls.

Awesome get-away!!

***WARNING*** PICTURE OVER LOAD AHEAD!!! ***WARNING***


A couple of weeks ago, our good friends, Tory and Christy, invited us up to spend a night at Tory's family cabin in Palisades. We excitedly accepted the invite! Our other friends, Joe and Angie, also came. With 6 adults and 9 kids, it was a party!!! :)

We went up Sunday evening and fixed a YUMMY dutch oven dinner. Then the dads took all the kids out on a little 4-wheeler ride.




A night in the woods wouldn't be right without SMORES!




The next morning the kids were up at dawn with swim suits on and ready for a day on the lake.




The day was SUPER windy and the lake was really rough. But, the day was warm and was still fun!







We had 3 jet skis to ride while we were there. They were so fun! (Or by the looks of the pictures DAVE had fun on them!) :) He actually got a tan only on half of his hands because his fingers were always wrapped around the handle bar!! :) Ha ha!







The kids had fun playing in the water with life jackets and floaty toys!




Easton was able to try to water ski. He was soooo excited!




But, when he didn't get up on his first try, he was done! He got buried in the water a bit and it scared him. He swam back to the boat a little shaken up.



The water was so rough and choppy that we didn't get to do much behind the boat. But, the guys did "surf" for a while. It is Dave's new favorite thing to do. :)




And of course, there were a few falls! :)



And, since I took all the pictures, I am not in any. So, for future reference, and to prove I was actually there, I took a picture of myself. Brace yourself for the double chin shot! :)



We had such a great day!! Everyone was soooo exhausted by the time evening came. Our family was so tired that we decided to stay at the cabin an extra night. It was great just to sit and relax with good friends.

Thanks guys for the GREAT time!!

4th of July 2010

As always, we had an awesome 4th, or should I say 3rd, of July! We always start out the morning with the parade. Every year we wonder why we do it, but we always do. This year, though, it was actually chilly for part of the parade. Usually the worst part is that it is so stink'n hot sitting on the side of the road. This year was actually quite comfortable. I forgot my camera, but my dad took some pics for us...


Dave and his mom


Dave's dad and Uncle Dennis




My dad







After the parade, we had Dave's family and a few members of my family over for a bbq. We had set up the pool for the kids to play in, but it was just too chilly and windy! Crazy weather for the 4th! But, we still had a great time and had a wonderful meal!


My mom and sweet little niece, Sadie



My nephew pushing Buzz Lightyear on the swing, his FAVORITE toy!




All of the kids had fun playing on the trampoline.



At the end of the afternoon, Uncle Dennis was nice enough to fill up water balloons for the kids. They loved it! :) I stayed out of the backyard after that! :)

In between the bbq and the fireworks, Dave and I took our kids to see Toy Story 3. It was a really fun family activity on the 4th, I thought. The movie was cute, the kids really enjoyed it. Dave, however, slept through the WHOLE movie! :)

That night we met up with my mom and Dave's family for the fireworks. We had a great little spot to watch them. It was laid back and relaxed, just the way we like it!



The kids loved their glow-in-the-dark jewelry


Easton and my nephew, James


Paisley and Avery and our little niece, Addison


Our Family 2010

We were all EXHAUSTED by the time we got home. A good exhaustion. I love the 4th of the July. I love being with family and friends, eating good food, watching the fireworks and the parade, and everything else that goes along with it. Great memories, for sure!

I am back....and some T-ball stuff!

I am alive. Really. Nothing has happened to me or my family. I have just fallen off the face of the earth blog-wise. Sorry to you few readers. We have just been having a SUPER busy and fun summer and I have not felt much like blogging. But, I hopefully will be posting several posts in the next week or so to update on our summer fun!

Paisley played T-ball this year and for the first year, I was one of the coaches. That was a fun experience. She played on an all girl team which was very interesting! :) They really improved over the season.

Easton played his first year of pitching machine. He really had a lot of fun. It was a lot different trying to hit of the machine than the tee, but he did well. I really enjoyed watching his team.

Me, being a bad mom, did not take any pictures of them playing in their games. I went to 4 games a week for 5 weeks and did not take ANY pictures! Nice. (Any of you reading this who do have any pictures of my kids playing, I would love an email or something.) ;)

But, we had an end of the season party for Paisley's game and I did take pictures at that. So, here are some pictures of the water/slip-n-slide party we had with her team!






This is most of her team, plus a few siblings! A really fun group of girlies!