Keller

We went home to Keller for our church's VBS. It was the perfect week to go home. The kids got to hang out all week with friends, and I got to see my friends as well.  It was a great week!

7 years ago our church had a major "baby boom", starting with Hudson in Dec 2007, ending with Ben Caudal in Dec 2008.  There were appx 17 new babies that year! We captured it with a pic, and this July, we tried to re-enact it (with the kids who are still around):

 Here they are, smiling nicely:

We finally got to meet our niece, Cora.  Halle and Cora hit it off immediately. It will be so fun when they're a bit older (and we move back to FW, since they live there now)!

The kids enjoyed swimming at my mom and dad's apartment...and Charlotte enjoyed watching TV with my boys. 

As always, we enjoy visiting my grandma. She has gotten very frail, but my boys love her so very much.  William especially enjoys spending time with her...and he always wants to brush her hair.

Taos, New Mexico

Our trip to Taos over July 4 weekend was fabulous! We stayed in a condo right on the river in Taos Ski Valley.  The weather was perfect, the views were amazing, and we just really enjoyed getting away just the 6 of us: our first vacation as a family of 6!

The kids didn't waste any time the first morning there. This river was literally 15 feet from our backdoor, and the boys took full advantage of it!

Dave took William and Hudson white water rafting.  They had a blast!

Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good burger.  And this one, at a local burger/bar in Taos, did not disappoint.  YUM.

We did a great 4.5 mile hike to William's Lake.  The kids did GREAT, and the views were breathtaking:

On the 4th of July, we drove 2 hours to Chama, New Mexico, to take a train ride on the Cumbres and Toltec. It was so pretty (a little chilly!), and the kids thought it was a blast riding on an old fashioned train.  We were served dinner at the 1/2 way point....and then when we arrived back into the station, we got to watch a phenomenal fireworks show!

Dinner in Colorado.  It was COLD!

One last time in the river before we head back to Amarillo!

Relentless

At the end of June, it was a big moment in Dave's career. The helicopter that he's been working on for so many years...and what brought us here to Amarillo, flew for the first time.  It didn't get much above a hover on it's "first flight" day, but it was still very exciting!

Waiting...

Summer 2015...June

We had a great summer here in Amarillo.  We enjoyed many days at the park, the golf course, the pool, hiking in the Canyon, William and Hudson having a lemonade stand, a visit from Grandma, bike rides, traveling to Taos, Keller, and Oklahoma...

Here is a summer of June:

Pets????

The day we got back from our camping trip, we noticed 3 teeny tiny kittens in our back yard...actually living under our house.  No sign of the mother! I let the boys give them milk because they were scrawny and crying....stupid move on my part.  They wouldn't leave after that!

After much begging, pleading, and gnashing of teeth, I decided to let the boys keep one of the kittens (the one William is holding in the first picture).  They were allowed to keep it on a few conditions:

1) They will take care of it, not me

2) The cat will never enter the house.  When we move back to FW, we will likely have to find a home for him, as most neighborhoods do not allow outside cats.  I am NEVER having an indoor cat again.

So far, so good. The boys named him Nelson, as we are currently working our way through the Cosby Show series, and these cats happened upon us just as the twins Winnie and Nelson were born...

We "surrendered" the other 2 to the vet, and there you go.  We have a pet.

Camping Trip 2015

When life deals lemons (RAIN), you make lemonade (buy rainboots, and play in the rain!).

We had our first rainy camping trip, but we didn't let that get us down! Everyone brought rainboots, and we made the most of it.  It wasn't ideal, but considering there was 100% chance of rain for the entire weekend, we felt very blessed.  It really only poured on Saturday night (and the campers ended up in the garage). People were able to camp in tents Friday and Sunday night.  There were a few bouts of heavy-ish rain during the day, but not much.  A little drizzle here and there was it.  The kids had SO much fun trampling around in their rainboots, catching crawdads, digging mud holes, getting absolutely disgusting, and loving every minute of hanging out with friends.