4th of July Weekend

We started celebrating the 4th early this year. On the 3rd, we decided to go tubing in Helen. Kristin and I did this with the kids last summer and we had so much fun we wanted the dads to get to go this summer too. All of the kids wore their tie dyed shirts we had recently made and we headed up bright and early. The first tube goes in the water at 9:00 and we wanted to be there for that so we left around 7:00 in the morning. It was the perfect timing! We had a blast once again.

After our two hour trip down the river, we all changed and had lunch in downtown Helen at the same restaurant we ate at a couple of NYE's ago. There is a spot on the river where you come down a little hill and some one nailed fake snakes on the trees. As you come down the hill, the river pushes you towards the trees and so many people scream at the sight of the fake snakes. It was really so funny and the kids were getting a kick out of watching this happen.

We headed back home and Lance's GPS took us on some really sketchy roads. Not sure what that was about!

One of our favorite nights is the 3rd of July fireworks so we headed home to rest for a few minutes before heading back out to see those. We got in the car to head that way and Hayes said his stomach hurt. I jokingly said, "Don't throw up in Daddy's new truck!" Famous last words because with in three minutes he was throwing up and some one was not happy! We think he was just exhausted from the day and probably a little dehydrated. We came straight back home and Lance spent a good hour at least cleaning his truck. I decided to stay home with Hayes while Lance took the other two to watch the fireworks.

He took a "Jet Bath" and then I put him to bed early.

On the 4th, Lance and I spent the morning cleaning out our garage. In it's current state we could not fit both the truck and my van in there. We worked hard and got it all organized and then took the kids to the pool for a little while.

That night we cooked outing played baseball at one house and then headed to another house to watch fireworks and shoot off our own.

It was exactly what you hope the 4th of July would be like!! Such a fun weekend with friends and family.

Ten Years in the Making

When I was pregnant with Reese, Lance drove a Dodge Ram. He loved that truck! But we decided that we needed more of a family car since we thought I would go back to work. We sold his truck and got him a car. Since that day, he has wanted another truck but we just never felt like the time was right. We even got rid of his first car and got him another sedan to drive. His commute is long and we tried to do what was best financially because at the time gas was super expensive and we still had three kids in car seats. 

BUT, the day finally has come! He is now a truck owner once again and I don't think he could be happier. He has spent the last two years looking at and researching trucks so he knew what he wanted when the day came around. 

We spent ALL.DAY at the dealership it felt like. And we finally got to drive that bad boy away!

Waving good-bye to his car in the mirror!

The kids had been at my parents house and we didn't tell them what we were doing. When we met up with them to pick the kids up, we pulled up next to them in the parking lot and they all just stared. They didn't know what to think! They were so excited!

We happened to run in to our friends at dinner that night and their kids were just as excited as ours.

It has been so fun for Lance to have a truck again and to be comfortable on his ride in to work each day.

The rest of June

The rest of June was spent much the same...swim team and baseball with a few other things thrown in the mix.

Back in May we realized, based on our water bill, that there was a leak some where. It took a while to find it but it ended up being in our front yard. These guys worked hard getting down to the pipe that was leaking which was seven feet down! Unfortunately as they were putting the yard back together it started pouring down rain. They left did the best they could but left our yard a mess.

Lance was not happy to come home and see this. He spent a lot of time over the next few weekends getting it back to its pretty self. You can't even tell now that it had looked like this.

It was Father's Day weekend that he was working hard in the yard. Being the thrifty wife that I am, I bought him a knock-off Egg. It works just the same and came with more accessories all for a much cheaper price tag. I need to learn how to use it so we can cook on it more.

The middle boys made their daddies these crowns for Father's Day at church and the Dad's were good sports to wear them.

Lots and lots of swim team.

We went bowling with one of Sam's friends and his family. Reese was so sweet with his little sisters.

Homemade pizza that we cooked on the new grill.

It was a rainy afternoon so Reese set up her hammock on the catwalk.

We met my grandparents and sister at my parents house one afternoon to visit. I got to snuggle sweet Elle.

Hayes was so excited about his new batting gloves!

 
His team made it to the championship for All-stars but lost their final game. He caught two pop flies during the championship game!

 So excited to have his big cousin there to watch him!

So we may be totally late to the game but my family and I found an app where we can all FaceTime together. It was pretty fun!

More swimming...

We have had a lot of work done on our house this summer. During the process of getting the leak fixed, we had a tree cut down in our front yard because we were afraid that is what was causing the leak. Then we had our roof replaced and our whole exterior repainted.

During the roof replacement day, we hung out with friends and tie dyed shirts.

Lance built and I stained the new shutters for our house.

Lance worked late one night so I took the kids out and we found a new trail to walk.

Date night! Dinner and then the concert on our town's square with some friends.

Whew! June was busy!