Fall Flew By!!! It's almost time for a New Year!!!

Fall is just a crazy time of year. Out of all the crazy times, November and December are two months full of family, fun, Holidays, and work work work!!! We were soooooo blessed to have my sister and her family visit for Thanksgiving!!! The Harrisons came to Texas and we had a blast. Erik and Skyler were able to stay for 1 week while Julie and Johnny got to stay for two!! We had a great time just enjoying family togetherness. Seriously!! Skyler and Avery are inseparable when they are together and I love watching the two of them play. Their personalities are so similar so they get along really well and enjoy taking turns. A couple of little divas, those two. Johnny gets cuter every day!!!! I can't believe how much he has changed just since summer time. Even after having three of my own, it is surprising to see him look so different after just a few months. All of his cute rolls and noises, and babyness!!! Johnny was blessed while he was here which was very special for all of us. Wish they could have stayed forever!!!

December has been a blur. I would like to slow down this time of year and enjoy spending time with my family more, but it always feels rushed. Something I need to work on! So nice to have my parents close by for all the festivity. They are such huge helps to us and we all enjoy their never ending selflessness. We are enjoying our last week of Christmas break right now, then back to reality. Here are a few pictures from the last few months....

Honey Badger don't care.....but Dozer does. "Thanks for the wrapping paper, Stupid!!!"

October Fun

I'm so behind I'm adding another post this week. We had so much fun in October!! Check out the pictures and I will comment about each one as I go.....

Addy had a little get-together with some of her friends. I am so impressed with all the young men and women in this picture. They have fun spending time together and being themselves in a positive, upbeat, and completely friendly way. Check out their carved pineapples. We love you Psyche!!!!

Hurray for the Exby family!!! Dan, Cortney, Owen (O-Dog), and Evan (Easy-E) came down to TX and stayed with us for the Halloween weekend. We love this family so much and we're so grateful for the time we got to spend with them. Dan and Cortney are so fun to hang out with and we loved seeing the boys and how they are growing. Where are we going, Cort????? Plan! Plan! Plan!!

Love these Halloweeners!!!

The next 2 collages are mostly Halloween fun. Aidyn had some of his buds over to trick or treat with and Addy went to a party with Bailee as "Zombugs". The Moffits came over and joined us for some Halloween festivities. Look at those three adorable Littlies, Avery, Brooklynn, and Sydnee!!!

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Fun with O-Dog.......Aidyn and his cute friends did such a good job of entertaining Owen. They played baseball with him and even offered to be the balls themselves!!

Hurray for Truplups!!! These three and their new baby sis, Bailey, get cuter every time I see them. NOM NOM NOM!

Avery, Katherine, and Sydney enjoyed a pumpkin patch outing a couple of weeks before Halloween. When the weather proved to be ridiculously hot for fall, we headed to the snow cone shack to cool off. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful families around us. All of my kids have amazing friends who have been raised by parents with good values.

Lake Powell 2011

Wow!! I am sadly behind!!! Fall is my favorite time of year in Texas but it's also the busiest with sports, school, activities, and all that jazz. We had the most amazing opportunity in September and I don't want to neglect blogging about it
!!! Our friends, Sam and Jaimee Moffit, invited us on the trip of a lifetime. Every year they go on a couples trip to Lake Powell Utah with a group of their closest friends. They have a HUGE, GORGEOUS, ENORMOUS, BIG, REALLY LARGE houseboat that up to ten couples take out for about 5 days to enjoy all manner of water sport fantasticness. It's GIGANTIC!! Seriously, I didn't know houseboats were that big. John and I were priviliged to meet some of Sam and Jaimee's closest friends. Namely, Heather and Brian Hotchkiss, Samantha and Joe Cheeney, Celene and Brandon Allen, Sara and Buddy Haws, Katie and Chris Lindley, and Mandy and Ryan Shaw. These people are some of the neatest and most hospitable we have ever met. They were kind enough to let us party with them and to take part in the joy that is Lake Powell. I never knew you could do so many things behind a boat!!! I waterskiied a little growing up. I've knee boarded once or twice. I've been tubing. But to see some of the coolness these men and women could do behind a boat took my breath away!!! Wakeboarding with a giant sail???? Flying through the air on a chair!!! Surfing behind a boat!!!! Yep, it's all true. These activities and more were part of this fantastic experience. Wow. Sam and Jaimee have some amazing water sport talents. Seriously, these people could be pros. This was an experience I will treasure forever and never forget!!! Thank you to everyone who made it possible!!

Seriously. 6 guys behind a boat???? I have never seen that many different style of behind-boat-coolness happening at one time. Real men of genius!!!

This is what I'm talking about!! I mean, all of these guys could do circus like stunts that i would expect to see in some kind of water show at Sea World. Crazy!!!

Random awesomeness in this picture collage.

Lake Powell Ladies lookin' mighty fine!

We were boating one day and stumbled across this group of people cliff jumping. Highly illegal at Lake Powell above 15 feet!!! As you can see, the jumps these crazies made were well above that. As law abiding citizens, we watched from our boats in awe at their bravery/stupidity/fun-having.

These last two collages are pix from our visit to the Anasazi ruins. Lake Powell has done a really nice job preserving this Lamanite dwelling area. Walking where they walked was very cool. I highly recommend visiting this site if you ever get to go to this heaven on earth destination.

More Picture Fun from Summer 2011

Summer 2011 in Pictures

They speak louder than words, right?
Here are some highlights from our trip to California. It was soooooo fun to meet my new nephew, Johnny, and spend time with my sister, my BIL Erik, and my sweet nephew Skyler. I love and miss you guys!!!

Our Not Bummer Summer

Hey Everyone!! We are keeping busy this summer!! From the Cayman's to CA, the kids are having a blast. We are in Cali right now visiting my sister and her family. They had a new baby on April 1st and this is the first time we have been able to see him!! Baby Johnny is a tiny little bundle of adoreableness. I will post pix from our trip in the next few weeks. Below I am posting some pictures from Avery's dance recital, FHE fun with Gma and Gpa on Lake Lewisville, and a few of Addy and her friends gearing up for A-Kon.

Hey Mohn! We are back from the Caymohns!

We just got back from a relaxing, yet fun trip to Grand Cayman. From snorkeling to beach bummin' we made the most out of our great little island getaway. Check out some of the things we did and the places we saw:

The Cayman Turtle Farm has been in operation for over 40 years! They have helped grow the population of these beloved, adorable creatures and keep them from becoming endangered. At the farm, you can interact with the turtles by holding them, feeding them, and even swimming with them. AhhhH!!

We went snorkeling every day while on Grand Cayman. You can snorkel right off the beach anywhere on 7 Mile Beach and see tons of sea life. This was my favorite beach and snorkeling spot, Smith's Cove. I loved the beauty of this beach and saw such a variety of creatures while snorkeling...from squid to huge parrot fish, this spot is hard to beat unless you go out to the reef.

govenor's beach was a recommended snorkeling spot that we didn't see much at. We did however, have lots of fun in the sand that day.

Cayman Kai is on the North Side of the Island and the farthest point to drive from where we stayed. We wanted to check out the "quieter" side of the island and see how it compared to the west side where we were staying. We snorkeled this beach off the very tip of Cayman Kai, called Starfish Point by the locals. We obviously found a lot of starfish!! The area was beautiful, but we decided that our favorite part of the island is just south of Georgetown-the area that surrounds Smith's Cove.

This is the portion of 7 Mile Beach that we stayed on. It was right outside our condo and a nice place to relax and swim. The white sand, temperate water, and forever view are hard to beat on this beach!






We chartered a boat for a day and did a little fishing, some snorkeling on the reef, and visited Stingray City. Fisherman used to clean their daily catch on this sandbar and the rays began to flock to the area for free meals. When they see boats heading for the sandbar, the rays continue to follow the boats in anticipating a feeding and they are usually right. Squid is delish!

We had a blast and highly recommend this vacation spot for a close, carribbean getaway. The total flying time from Dallas was less than 4 hours. A Family of 5 can easily spend 5 fulls days enjoying the beach, water sports, and the other activities that this little island offers.