July

Mid-July our brother-in-law and our niece and nephew came to visit. We only got to see them for a few hours but we loved seeing them! We went out to dinner, and it was the first time in almost 2 years since all of the grandkids have been together. We went back to Grammie and Papa's house and went swimming. Grammie ended up in the pool with all of the kids (and dogs).

A few days later, the guys were busy getting ready for the grand opening of my in-laws gym so Holly and I hung out with all of our kids.

Lately Zach loves reading. He will take any opportunity to sit in my lap or lay next to me with a book. And he doesn't rush to turn the page, he actually lets me read it to him which is different then the girls used to let me do!

I took Rylee out, just her and I, to go school shopping in mid-July. School already starts July 30!

The craziest dust storm we have ever seen rolled in one afternoon.

It started out tame at first, enough so that Scott thought it would be awesome to stand out in it. He regretted that choice quickly...

It then picked up intensity to the point that our whole house went pitch black, at 3 in the afternoon, and the windows were all glowing orange! It was crazy!

The pictures don't do it justice, but it was completely orange out. It was like being on another planet.

Rolling away from our house.

My Mother-in-law took Holly and I, along with her best friend to get massages and brunch! It was fantastic!!! It was a birthday treat for the 3 of us who have summer birthdays/the guys always go golfing so its our turn type of treat! While we were gone Scott took the kids out to lunch. They loved that!

At the end of the month, we took a week long vacation to the cabin. It was wonderful. Rainy and cool. Scott and the kids enjoyed the hammock often.

Zach "blowing" bubbles

My favorite part was eating all of our meals out on the deck. Once morning we woke up to rain and it was the perfect breakfast.

We attempted to go to the lake but when we got there it started rainging. We started walking down to the water but it was coming down pretty hard and it was cold!

We waited it out under the trees and Haylee and I shared Scott's jacket. =)

It cleared out and the kids were able to play in the water.

Zach had no interest in the water, which was strange because he loved it last time. He sat on his rock the whole time.

Cruiser was in heaven! He hasn't been on vacation in years and he loves the water. He swam the entire time and everyone around us loved him. He's seen here with his fetching water bottle that he found floating in the lake. He fetched that bottle until he couldn't swim anymore.

Scott built a ladder for the tree which the kids loved.

Just a cute shot of Rylee and Zach playing.

They loved walking on the "balance beams"

More hammock time

We went for icecream on our last day when boredom set in.

It was so hard coming back to the heat!

My Birthday

The morning of my birthday, I woke up bright and early and went to breakfast with Holly. When I got home, I walked into a fun surprise!

Scott then met us for lunch at Joe's Farm Grill so I could get my free birthday meal.

Then the kids and I met Holly and her kids at a splash park. The first one we went to was super lame. We spent 10 minutes trying to get everyone ready in the hottest humidest day this summer and when we walked over to the splash area, it wasn't even on! We waited a bit and finally 2 little sprayers came on and that was it! It was pretty crowded with little water so it just wasn't cutting it. We went to another one nearby and we had the same problem minus there was only one other family there! Only one sprayer would spray at a time. After 15 minutes we were hot, sweating, and done! We needed a pool at that point!

So we gave up and went and got ice cream!

Afterwards, we went home for a bit to wait for Scott to get off work. Zach fell asleep on my shoulder as we waited.

We then went out to dinner! I ate a lot that day, ha!

Speaking of eating a lot, Scott got me the giant fudge cake from Costco. Yowzer!

A Little July Randomness

We planted sunflowers in spring and they just bloomed. Two grew taller than the girls and almost taller than our fence! So cool.

Colby, Avrie and Tade, came to visit and we all got together for dinner and swimming. All of the grandkids rarely are all together so they loved it! We are missing 2 of the grandkids in this picture here but they were all having a blast. Especially when Grammie jumped in too!

Snuggling with Papa and Grammie.

Twins

Found this as a surprise on my phone one day. Can you tell they're related?

Scott's Birthday and 4th of July

Scott turned 29 this year! His last year in his 20's! We took him to Pappadeaux for dinner so he could get his favorite meal, Crawfish Etouffee.

He requested an ice cream roll for his birthday cake, his mom's recipe!

The next day, 4th of July, we had originally planned to go over to a family friend's house for a pool party and a BBQ but since it was rainy and windy all day we decided to postpone it for another day. We went over to Scott's parents instead for a BBQ and we hung out there all day. It was such a beautiful day, wonderful weather! We went to the Jr. High and parked to watch the fireworks over at the high school. It was a great spot, we were so close to where they were lighting them off. And the weather...It was beautiful! In the 70's!!! We all sat at the back of our van. Zach was super cranky though and Rylee fell asleep in our little umbrella stroller.

Rylee woke up for the fireworks and she enjoyed it. Haylee fell asleep and Zach screamed. He did not like the fireworks at all.

That Saturday we made it to our pool party! It was a lot of fun! My kids loved showing off all of their new skills. Still not swimming yet, I had to rescue Haylee multiple times because she would get to deep and go right under. I hate that feeling (as Im sure she did too!), can't wait until they figure it out and we can all relax more at the pool! (I borrowed these pictures :)

Swim Lessons

I took the kids to swim lessons again this summer. The girls were both in the same class and they improved a lot! They both were 2 out of the only 3 kids that jumped in the deep end. Rylee is so close to swimming. She floats so well and sorta swims in a panicked very splashy sort of way. Haylee does amazing underwater she just doesn't go anywhere when she swims!

Rylee passed to the next class (yay!) but Haylee did not. She was very bummed, as you can see. As I told her she's only 4, she's not even old enough for the next class yet. She was having major little sister blues that day.

Zach and I took a class too because I figured if I will be at the pool daily with the girls anyway, why not go swimming too! He did pretty good! He doesn't like going under though, and choked every time regardless of what I tried. He loved jumping in though to the point my arms would get tired! He improved daily on the other skills which was fun to see!

I miss it now, it was nice going swimming everyday!

The Cabin!

 My mom and my aunt bought a cabin up north so we now have a place that we can escape that heat anytime! It does need a lot of fixing up though so while we are there enjoying it we also are working hard! The second trip we made there, we went up with Tony and Holly (and their boys) so Scott and Tony could fix the ceiling of the deck. It was a major improvement, its amazing what a difference it made! They worked very hard!

Before and After

The cabin is unfurnished and it will take awhile to get everything that's needed. So at this point it has been kind of like camping in style! The first time there we all slept on air mattresses and sleeping bags.

We also use camping chairs as furniture. :)

Eating watermelon on the deck.

There is a neighbor boy who came over and introduced himself. All 6 of our kids and him instantly became friends and he hung out all day with us! They are watching a 3D movie here on our tiny portable dvd player, and he was so excited! He said it was just like being at the imax... ha!

When the boys were finally done working we finally got a chance to relax! We went to one of the nearby lakes for a picnic lunch.

Then played in the lake.

Afterwards we stopped and got ice cream cones

There will be many many more trips to the cabin in our near future, yay!!