First Day

Here they are - ready for their first day. Olivia is in 1st this year, Cam - 4th and Lane is going to 6th - MIDDLE SCHOOL!!! Crazy! Ryder and I are going to do some bonding this year. He is glad that I am staying home with him, but not glad at all that his crib-mates are gone. Now that I look real good at them - they all look overdue for haircuts!

Relaxing Wknd

This past weekend we went to my Uncle's lake house in East Texas for a little relaxation before the big first day of school. The kids had such a great time jet skiing, 4-wheeling, snake & frog hunting and all the other fun stuff that come with being out in the woods.

Salutation to the Dawn

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty.
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
but today well lived makes every yesterday a
dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision
of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation to the dawn.

Quote taken from a book I read recently. Good stuff.

Hiking

The other day we decided to go hiking to a creek near our house. Good times.

The creek was a little dry ;-)

The excitement of the journey was Cam's catch.

He was so proud

Ryder had a skateboarding accident the other day.

At least his lips were watered.

Capital Picnic & Imax

Today (yes, I am posting the day OF!) we went w/ some others from our church to an IMAX movie and then over the the capital for a picnic. Good times. Good fellowship.

The kids loved all the squirrels, squirrels didn't love the kids.

Cuties!!!







Birds love cheetos

Terrible picture, way underexposed, but too good to pass up. This is a picture of Sydney in her IMAX glasses.

Training early

Prego

Kimbo and her boys came into town last weekend for a visit. She is mego prego w/ boy #3. She is all belly. I was all quadruple chins, cafeteria arms, elephant ankles, etc. It went everywhere except the belly... the fat - not the baby. Kimbo is just the cutest prego and I can't wait to hold baby? I am rooting for Cannon Coy!

Random

I took this picture at Christ Chapel Church in Fort Worth. These doors are so gorgeous and huge! I just couldn't pass it up. Jason Miley - I just saw that you are a fan of doors and this is your home church!

More fun in July

We went to Aquarena Springs in San Marcos the other day. I remember going to this when I was in middle school. My dad dragged me there. It was way too educational for my taste at that age. A lot has changed at Aquarena Springs since then. First off, like everything is shut down but the springs. No more diving pig. No more underwater submarine. It was a little disappointing, but we actually had a ton of fun. The glass bottom boat was so cool. Everyone loved it - Ryder (2) on up to Lane (11). We were a little sweaty since it was about 180 degrees. We were very tempted to jump in!
This picture is great~ The first one I took everyone is smiling so big and Lane looks like he is about to cry. So, I told the others to get him to smile. It worked!










Hungry Turtle

Hungry turtle fighting for his food.

My love. We just celebrated 13 years!!!

Catch up

Here we go. Our month of July summed up. I have quite a lot more pics to come. But, this is about all I can do for now. A lot of these pictures are taken w/ my little point and shoot, some are taken by family and all the others are straight out of the camera. We have had a good summer. God has been SO good to us. We have been able to spend a lot of time together playing and bonding. There is so much to do in Austin and the surrounding area for kids and families. We just love being back here! The older boys and I just returned from camp at Highland Lakes with our church. We had a ton of fun. I will post some pictures from that soon. And I will try and do better at keeping my blog up more consistently!

Random




Science Museum in San Antonio

We went to this great museum in San Antonio(that is free on Tuesdays, although you have to pay like $500 in gas to drive an hour to get there!!).





Bowling at The Union

Ryder was infactuated with the glow in the dark shoes and kept doing gymnastics moves. He wanted to roll the ball all by himself every time. It took about 5 minutes for the ball to roll down to the pins (is that what they're called? I'm not too up on my bowling terminology ((sorry Joe!))

Swimming at the country club w/ Papa



The Riverwalk in San Antonio (not sure if I already posted about this trip or not)

Lots of trips to Barton Springs



Finger Painting...gone bad!

Rope Swing at Town Lake















Good times at Unka Chad and Aunt Taylor's


A weekend with our sweet friends visiting from South Africa. We lived in Seminary housing at the same time and our boys (Lane and Hannes) became best buds. They moved back to South Africa about 6 years ago. The dad, Gideon is back just for a semester to complete some more courses at Seminary.

This is one of the sweetest families I have ever met. Spending time w/ them is like spending time w/ Jesus. They are so loving and peaceful. I felt so refreshed and renewed when we left their home. Spending time fellowshipping w/ other believers, praying w/ one another, encouraging, etc. needs to happen more often. It just feels right.

Lane and Hannes




The Drag



A trip to Fort Worth to see friends

Lane and his friend, Jake. They had just returned from a 5 day camp at ACU.

Cam and one of his buddies, Nathan

Random Shot of shoveling food in his mouth. Of course the others laugh at him when he does this so it happens quite often.

More Barton Springs The first one is of our dog, Blaze. He didn't like the water so much. The second one is of me, Blaze and Cam. Luke is usually really good taking pictures, don't think he hit the focus button on this one)