Hangin'

Aunt Colie came to visit us for a few days this month.  The kids did their usual fight for all her attention, and she was full of energy to play with them as always.  They love whenever she's around!

And we went to Austin with some friends for one night.  It was completely last minute, but a fun retreat for a night.  We ate dinner Friday night at Sandra Bullock's restaurant Bess Bistro.  Its always good.  And then we went out for a while that night.  Saturday we only had a few hours to do some shopping and then we had to get home to the kids.

Andrea and Brandon Martin

Lance and Esther Boyer.  Esther's 40th birthday was just a couple weeks away so we made this trip a bit of a celebration for her.

Shaye's Big 10

July 9th Shaye moved in to double digits!  10 years old!  She wanted a swimming party so we did one on her birthday.  She had 8 friends over to eat, swim, and play, and then 4 of the girls spent the night.

Even with all her friends here, Shaye took time to play with Paige.  Paige just loves her big sister.  Whenever Shaye comes home she runs to her and yells Shaye Shaye!  Shaye is such a big helper.  She watches the little girls a lot and  makes sure they're okay whenever she's around.

Some things we would like to remember about Shaye at this age:

- She loves music and is often dancing with her ipod.
- She enjoys running and will run along side when we take the kids for a bike ride.
- She likes to watch tv too much. :)
- She is really getting into shopping and isn't interested in toys.
- She likes to draw and paint and be creative.
- She still sleeps with her yellow blanket she has had from birth.
- She has a terrible sweet tooth like the rest of us!
- She's becoming more independent and is often upstairs on her own or in her room.

Deep Sea Fishin'

Sam got a group together and went out for this year's deep sea fishing trip on July 2nd.  A handful of dad's from our ward went with him and everyone took along a kid or two.  Jaxson had a great time as usual. 

Unfortunately, a big storm had recently come through and the seas were pretty rough so a few people spent the day sick.  But they got a big catch!  And we'll have fish to enjoy for months.

Sam and Jaxson went out on July 3rd with Sam's dad.  Luckily neither of them got sick, and they had 2 successful days.

Independence Day

July 4th was full of friends and fireworks.  If only the afternoon rain would have held off it would have been a perfect day.  We swam during the afternoon when we could, and then headed to the Taggarts house for a barbecue and fireworks.  

Kim Peterson and Melissa Callaway

"Take my picture" she always tells me and then gives me her biggest cheese!

Stacy Richards and Andrea Martin

York Richards and Brandon Martin

Paige loved the fireworks.  She wanted to be out there in the middle with all the big kids.  We had to help her with the sparklers because she kept wanting to grab the flame.

Sydnee, on the other hand, spent most of the time in a chair or on Stacy's lap covering her ears and saying she wanted to go home.  I finally got her to hold a sparkler but when it let out a few sizzles she passed it back.

Sydnee goes to the DDS

Sydnee and Jaxson had a dentist appointment on Monday, June 25th.  It was Sydnee's first time to go to the dentist.  I took her to a pediatric dentist office called Kids Healthy Teeth here in Katy.  She loved it. The hygienist was so nice and did lots of fun stuff with them.

They brushed and cleaned the teeth on some animals first.  Sydnee got to use the tools and play with them a little.

Then it was her turn.  She did great holding still and getting her cleaning.   Her teeth looked great and her and Jaxson both loved their goodie bags full of cleaning supply, stickers, and balloons.

Splashtown

For Sam's company picnic this summer, they took everyone to Splashtown.  They provided barbecue, drinks, snow cones, and snacks.  Then you were free to play in the water park with your family.  It was a lot of fun.  I love water parks!  Sam and I took turns taking the big kids to ride slides and the little girls enjoyed playing in the pools and sliding on the toys available for them.  We all loved the lazy river!

This was all Jaxson's idea.  He wanted to ride the big slide, usually called The Edge.  Shaye wasn't interested, but Sam went with him and together they did it.

And this is where my heart about felt out of my chest because it looked to me like he was trying to raise his head up.  He swears he didn't and that he had his eyes closed the whole time, but I'm just glad it was over quickly to ease my anxiety.