Lake Murray Camping Trip 2009

We arrived home last night from the best camping trip we've ever had!!! Davy took off from work early Thursday afternoon and we headed for Oklahoma. It was Dawson's 10th Birthday and that 1st night we spent the night with David and Debra. Shane made Dawson the BEST birthday cake I have EVER tasted!! I mean, this was GOOOOOD!! We even got up the next morning and had the rest of it for breakfast, I told Shane he should open up his own business. It reminded of one of those Baskin-Robins ice cream cakes. After breakfast, we headed for Lake Murray to begin our weekend of adventure! The boys had been looking forward to this for a very long time. (so had we!) It would be Kelsey's 1st camping trip! A major milestone in our family. Her 1st time swimming in the lake. Her 1st time climbing Buzzard's Roost. 1st time roasting hot dogs. 1st time making smores. 1st time fishing...etc. etc. etc!!! I can say that she was a little late though. Davis was camping at 4 weeks I believe, Shawn was camping at 6 weeks. But she did beat Dawson, but only because Davy had just had his back surgery and we couldn't go at the time. But I've always been proud to say that I've been camping since I was 6 weeks old and now my children can say the same!! We had the most enjoyable weekend! No stress. Ok, well, with 4 kids there is always some level of stress, but we all had a great time. We have decided it was the best vacation we've ever had....even better than Sea World! Just the fact that we were all together and relaxing and doing little things together made it wonderful! We went fishing and walking and exploring. The boys and I went and found shells or "clams". I remember camping at elephant's rock the entire time I was growing up and the big "thing" was getting to swim out to the rock....and so this year Davis and Dawson were able to swim out to the rock with Davy and this was the highlight of the trip for those boys! On the last morning we were there, we drove over and kept our family tradition of climbing Buzzard's Roost alive! It was Kelsey's 1st climb....the 1st of many!! The very 1st time we ever went up, it was just Davy and myself....I was 8 months pregnant with Davis. We were telling the boys about it on the way up this weekend...they could not believe that I made the climb while pregnant! So far, we have kept the tradition alive every single year for the last 12 years, it's a family event! Here are some pics from our camping trip.....

Great Wolf Lodge 2009

Last week was a very busy week for us, as well as a very exciting one! Aunt Kay Kay took the boys to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Tx for a vacation with their cousin, Brooklyn! They got to spend the night in a really cool kids cabin suite with bunk beds and a playstation and everything, it was really nice. The entire hotel was "kid friendly" with just about everything you could imagine, even bedtime story hour by the big tower clock in the lobby. Of course the biggest hit was the indoor waterpark, huge waterslides, wavepool, hot-tubs, lazy river, and there was also an outdoor waterpark! It was more than any of us could have imagined! Kelsey and I met up with them on the 2nd day and spent several hours at the waterpark, it was alot of fun! I took 200 pictures! And when all that was over, Brooklyn got to come and spend the night at our house, which the boys really enjoyed. Then we all went to see the movie "Up". And we just love and thank Aunt Kay Kay for giving us the opportunity to do something like this! She is so wonderful and generous! She has been this way for as long as I can remember, it's always about the kids, making sure they get to have a good time no matter what. That is what makes her the heart of our family!!! Here are some pics from our trip!!

JUNE 2009

Well, it's June. Kelsey is almost 2 months old! Where has the time gone? The boys are out of school and our summer has officially begun. Tomorrow they are heading to Great Wolf Lodge with their Aunt Kay Kay for 2 days of fun-filled adventure! They are really looking forward to this, they will get to spend time with their favorite cousin, Brooklyn! And then Kelsey and I will join them on Wednesday to play at the indoor waterpark for a few hours, and then Brooklyn gets to come home with us and spend the rest of the week at our house! We can't think of a better way to kick off the summer!! Kelsey is now smiling!! I didn't think she was ever going to! Seems like the boys smiled alot sooner than she did. We also have one with a birthday coming up----DAWSON is about to turn the big 10--on June 18th.....my babies are growing up :( and there is nothing I can do about it! I tried giving them coffee to stunt their growth but it didn't work.... he will always be my cuddlebug..ALWAYS I say!!

Me and the kids were sitting home bored Tuesday night, Davy was at his business class after work, so we set up a homemade photo studio. We took a few pictures of Kelsey in her dedication dress. Although we took about 60 total, only a few turned out good. I am really wanting to get out and take her to the park or somewhere pretty and get some outdoor pictures of her. Everyday has either been too rainy, too windy, too cool, too something....and I don't want her to get sick. I've done good keeping her well so far, through all the illnesses going around. All the boys have been sick and I've had to shun them away from her during certain times, it's just too scary with all this swine flu stuff. Anyway, here are a few of the pics I picked out that were worthy of sharing. She is growing so quickly...already one month old....I can't believe it!!! She hasn't started smiling yet.....but she acts like she really wants to, she's thinking about it! She still loves her bathtime, yesterday she got a bath in the sink and she loved it as well. She is staying awake and alert way more now. She actually stayed awake for pretty much the entire church service last night, which is huge for her. And she is still sleeping so good at night, she gets up twice to eat, then it's back to dreamland. She is SUCH a good baby! And it seems to us that her hair is turning more red.....I think she is definetly going to be a strawberry blonde....and we couldn't be more tickled over it!!!

Mothers Day 2009

When Davy asked me where I wanted to go eat for Mother's day this year, I'm sure he already knew the answer. Our favorite restaurant is Saltgrass Steakhouse, and we go there for ANY special occasion, no matter what it is, we just love it! Here are a few pics from our Mother's day outing this year.

Our Trip to Oklahoma

This weekend we went to Oklahoma and spent the night with David and Debra. It was Kelsey's 1st official road trip. She had a blast! She slept with her granddad and grandma and gave mommy and daddy a little break. She slept like a log (and so did mommy!!) Saturday night Shane fried fish for us and it was VERY GOOD...Thank you Shane. And then we got up Sunday morning and went to church and had Kelsey's dedication in our old home church with Brother Duck officiating, it was very nice and she looked like a little angel in her dedication dress! I got lots of pictures (yah!). Kelsey got to spend alot of time with her family on her daddy's side and she just loved all of the attention! I think she would have stayed if we would have let her!

Kelsey: 3 Weeks Old

Kelsey is now 3 weeks old!! She will be taking her first official road trip this coming Saturday.....we are going to Oklahoma to see her grandparents! Grandpa David and Grandma Debra, and Grandpa Earl and Grandma Barbara. We are also going to our old church, Bethel Assembly of God. This was actually the 1st church we went to as a family and it holds alot of good memories for us. We think of everyone there as family and we love them dearly! I'm hoping to get LOTS of pictures while we are up there. It's not often that we get to go because of our busy schedule, work, school, sports, church, etc....with 4 kids it seems there is always something going on!!