HaPpy BiRthDAy DYLAN!!!!

Happy Birthday Dylan!  We are very proud of you and love you "to the moon and back", using Alyssa's language!  Here are some memories of our fun times with you!  Hope we get to have more soon!  

We hope you have a wonderful birthday! Glad Isaiah gets to celebrate with you this year!  Have a blast!

Family Picnic at the Lake

It was so fun to take my family and some friends to the lake after church. 

We packed up some coolers with sandwich stuff, macaroni salad, drinks and cookies and set up our own little spot in the grass near the water. 

The food as good, the company was fun and I think the kids thought the swimming was great!

Thank you for letting us show you a little spot my family likes to sneak off to over the summer.

After the women took a quick trip to Eureka Spring some of us came back to this peaceful river.

Billy and I have been coming to this river since we were first married and we just love it there and are happy to have shared some time there with family.  Poor Taylor may never come back after his waders were full of the very ICY water though!  Crazy boy should have gotten out much sooner, but he did catch a fish to make it worthwhile. 

A Fun Saturday Afternoon Hike

While family was visiting we found a nice shady trail to ride our bikes and hike along right here in town.  Along the way we found some "Tarzan" vines to swing on.  The men and kids had a great time trying to hold on to the slippery things.

The boys rode their bikes the entire way while it was way too steep for Alyssa...so we pulled her bike along by the backpack strap on the front!  Can you see Breck's skinned knee above.  This happened very quickly as we began our hike and we had to wash it out in the creek.  He was super tough though.  I don't think I saw one tear!

This is the only picture I have to show I was on the hike. Alyssa took it for us and of course I have my eyes closed!  I had to wear a long sleeved shirt and leggings because I was so sunburned from a few days earlier.

We found this cool rock garden along the way, which the kids loved to climb around on.  Thanks for going on a hike with me and enjoying the outdoors!  I loved having you here to do it with me. 

Nay Cousins

Our kids have recently been able to spend time with their cousin's on the Nay side of the family.

We're reminded what a treasure it is to have come from such a  big family and how worth the effort it is to see each other as often as we can.  Here's a few memories for you kiddos!

Cousin to cousin

we'll always be,

special friends

from the same family tree.

 

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us,
we see the past, present, and future.

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends.

And We Finished Up Our Day at the Mall!

And the rest of our girlie day was spent shopping, which amazingly enough, was making Alyssa very happy.  After a very nice "mall cafe" dinner from Sbarro we browsed around until the place shut down.  I was ready to go though we had found only one small purchase.  Alyssa, however, started begging to go to Target "so we could just look at clothes and whatever we want".  We closed that store down too and she was still ready to keep going.  We drove home though because it was 10:00 PM! 
I've got quite the little shopper on my hands!

Alyssa said she put her hands over her heart because she loved me sooooo much!

She looks a little crazy here, but she was really having very good manners and ate a lot of food!

Girls Morning Out

While the boys are away we went out to play.

We hit the art festival where Alyssa got to make her own clay bowl, paint on a downtown mural, dance to the live jazz band and taste the cake-baking contestants treats. After the festival we had a picnic on our backyard deck and now we're heading to town for some shopping. A great way to spend a sunny Saturday! Hope the boys are having as much fun on their fishing trip! I bet they are!

Alyssa adding final touches to the new downtown art mural!

Making a beautiful clay bowl...

Happily eating lunch outside. She WAS happy even though she looks in pain!
It was a bit HOT outside.