Texas part 3 (pool party at Nana’s)

 

This is one of my favorite pictures from our trip.  The boys had a great time with Uncle Matt.  He is a bigger kid than they are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I usually have more pictures of Cayden than Braxton but for some reason Braxton was unusually willing to pose for me so I took advantage.)

 

                

 

 

 

No Nana pool party would be complete without a water gun fight.  She even bought a new arsenal of guns just in time for our visit.

 

 

 

 

Steve had to join in the water gun fun too of course.

 

 

 

You can tell by the devious look he was up to no good.

 

 

 

The other favorite game of the day-trying to ride the beach ball.   Many tried, no one succeeded.

 

 

It was so hard to leave Dallas! We love you guys!!

Texas part 2

It is about 1100 miles from West Fargo to Dallas…but when you miss your family and haven’t seen them in several years, it feels like Dallas is on another planet. We were so excited to spend a weekend with my family during our trip.  We ate a lot of great food, relaxed by the pool and tried to catch up with everyone. 

 

 

 

This is my brother Matt and his wife Angie.  They have been married a year already and we had not met Angie until this trip.  Thanks guys for inviting us into your beautiful home and cooking us a wonderful dinner!  The boys LOVE Uncle Matt and always have…he lived with us for a time when the boys were young.  The funny thing is, it seems like literally yesterday that Matt was just a kid. 

 

 

 

This is my sister Melanie and her boyfriend David.  She is such a strong, independent, smart, beautiful person (inside and out) and I am so proud that she is my sister.  She also just passed her CPA exam!!

 

 

 

 

This is my sister Jenny and her husband Shannon.  Jenny and I are close in age.  We helped each other survive high school and tried to keep each other out of trouble-no small job!  Too many miles between us and too hectic lives keep us out of touch but it was good to get together and catch up. 

 

 

 

We spent most of the weekend in Nana’s pool.  I will try to wade through those pictures next and post soon.

Texas part 1

 

Did you miss us?

 

We were in Texas!  The boys and I spent the last two weeks in Texas.  Steve spent the first week with us but had to come back to work.  We spent most of our time in Amarillo but did get to spend a weekend in Dallas.  I have tons of pictures to share.

 

I was so glad to get the chance to spend some time with my best friend Tina.  It is so hard to have a long distance friendship but when we get together again it somehow seems like we have never been apart.  She makes me laugh, and cry, and she encourages me, and she gives me a kick in the butt when I need it.  John is so grown up, so stinkin cute.  The boys loved playing big brother to John, especially Cayden.  Tina and I took the boys to Wonderland Park amusement park.  God blessed us with an unusually cool night and we had a blast.  Cayden took John on all the kiddie rides and I am not sure who had more fun. 

 

It’s good to be back home but looking through all the pictures I took in Texas makes me miss my “real home”.  Funny, but you just can’t take the Texas out of the girl.

 

Texas part 2 coming soon.

Hunting and Fishing

There are two new past times in our house.  One involves something I swore on many occasions would never enter our house.

 

 

 

 

Air soft guns.

 

 

The guns shoot small plastic bullets.  The “official” purpose of the guns is target practice…the unofficial idea of course is that the kids are the targets.  Steve and I asked around and did lots of research before giving in.  So far, the boys are good about wearing goggles.  The neighborhood boys meet up for air soft wars but the boys swear the bullets don’t hurt when you get shot.  It’s still not my favorite idea but the boys are getting older and I am attempting to “live and let go”.

 

 

 

 

 

The other new activity is much safer.

 

 

 

 

The boys love to fish and don’t get to do it as often as they would like.  Braxton, in all his ingenuity, found a substitute.  Steve and the boys often sit in the driveway and “fish” with washers not hooks.  They try to see who can get the farthest or who can hit the mail box.  It’s nice peaceful fun for our gorgeous Fargo evenings…and good practice casting for the next real fishing trip.

 

 

 

Hope you are enjoying your summer too.

Recent pictures of the boys (and Max)

 

 

Braxton

Braxton is feeling

 

a little

 

                                

 

BLUE!

 

He passed his blue belt test for Taekwondo last night.  It was a hard test and he had to work very hard.  He is now on a definite time schedule for testing.  He has 12 weeks to complete his blue level skills.  Once he does he will become a purple belt…once you are a purple belt you train right beside the black belts and and I know he is looking forward to that.  He will compete in his first tournament in early fall.

 

 

              

 

 

 

                   

 

 

 

                

 

 

On a side note, we are headed for Texas soon.  I am working on another post and hope to have it up soon but things are starting to get kind of crazy here.