Sidewalk Chalk Cousins

the kids were drawing with sidewalk chalk the other night but I didn't see these cute chalk cousins until today and it made me smile!

Cousins

Yesterday afternoon the world's best uncle stopped by to borrow our car carrier for their trip to Creede over July 4th and fix Emily's bicycle tire (thanks Uncle Ryan!!). The kids were having such a good time playing together and had gotten out almost every toy in the house in a matter of about 20 minutes we decided he should call Aunt Cami and they should go to dinner while the kids kept playing. Aunt Cami picked up In-n-Out Burger for dinner and then it was time to play!!!

We haven't had much time to visit, play and get to know Joseph and Solange since they came home in April it was fun to have them all here to play! You can read about their adventures on their rocking blog!!

The girls had fun playing with the American Girls and the strollers, while Emily, Bryce and Joseph rode bikes and scooters.

I didn't know I had jungle gym in my front yard but the tree turned out to be a lot of fun!

Tempe Town Lake

I wanted to take the kayaks out again last weekend and decided to stay a little closer to home. Emily took a spill on her bike earlier in the week and wasn't up to paddling. We met Bill and Jon at Tempe Town lake and Bill and I took the kayaks out on the lake while Emily and Jon read, took pics and enjoyed the shade on the shore.

It was really neat to see Tempe from the lake love Frank Kush Stadium in the background GO DEVILS!!





Looking west toward Mill Ave you can see the old flour mill on the left.

Bill paddling

Happy Father's Day!

Hi Dad Happy Father's Day!
You've always been there for me right from the start.....











You taught me how to dress, how to be cool....











and how to have fun!


You are also the best pepaw any little girl or her mommy could ask for!






Hi Grandpa,
I appreciate everything you do for me, I love you, you are the best pepaw I could wish for!
Love, Emily

Thanks for everything you've taught me dad!

I love you!

-Christa

Summer Fun

We have been having so much fun with our new kayaks and wanted to go out again last weekend, so we decided last Friday night to take a quick camping trip up north to Blue Ridge Reservoir. We got up Saturday morning packed the car, made a quick trip to the grocery store and headed out!

We found a great camp spot and set up our tent and unpacked before heading down to the lake.

Emily takes a peek out of the tent....

We spent a little time paddling the lake and exploring. There were lots of boaters and kayakers camping along the shores lake, it looked like so much fun! We need to go back there soon, as the lake is huge and we barely made a dent in seeing any of it!

Emily enjoying the lake...

Emily made chili for us for dinner on Friday! Yum!

Sunday morning we just hung around our campsite and enjoyed the beautiful day before heading back home. We got in some reading

And decided that there is no rule against having smores for breakfast when you are camping.

Hope your summer is off to a good start!

Tonight....

I know where we will be tonight...

Sonic is giving away free root beef floats tonight from 8 to midnight!

Yummmmmy!

Locks of Love

Emily decided a few weeks ago that she wanted to cut her hair. I made her wait a few weeks just to make sure she really wanted to do it and that she wasn't going to change her mind. She has the most beautiful thick blond hair that she has only had trimmed in the past few years and it had grown about halfway down her back. Knowing that it was going to be a lot of hair to cut we decided to see what the details were for donating it to Locks of Love. Fortunately she more than met all the requirements for donating!

Yesterday was the day! Emily had an appointment with our FAV hair stylist Jason, and he wasted no time getting started.

Very quickly the pony tail was cut! YIKES! The salon even did the paperwork and sent the hair off to Locks of Love for us!

Then Jason took his time and gave Emily an adorable new haircut!

It came out soooo cute! Emily did get a bit emotional as soon as we were in the car and cried for a few minutes wondering what did she do! But over the rest of the day and today she seems to be loving her new style, and we hope someone who needs it will get a beautiful blond hairpiece!