Frio River Trip

We spent last weekend on the beautiful Frio River in scenic Texas Hill Country with Emily and Brian, Jeremy and Nicole, and Grammy and Grandpa. We stayed in a fun little cabin at Neal's Lodges. Dan and I and the kids arrived before everyone else, so we did some exploring down by the river.

Lorelei in front of the cabin

the next day was overcast and a little chilly, but that didn't stop the kids from breaking out the tubes and getting in the water. the path to the river was right next to our cabin.

Evan didn't last too long in the water, but he enjoyed throwing rocks

uncle Jeremy helping the boys with the rope swing. the older kids had a blast on the swing.

the colorful thing in the background is a huge water slide that Neal's Lodges built on their property. i unfortunately didn't get a photo of any the kids or daddies on it. but here's my little spiderman climbing the rocks.

these two are so cute

baby Ben was such a trooper on this trip.

after spending all day in the chilly water, the kids really enjoyed the campfire at night. we played games, roasted marshmallows, and told spooky stories around the campfire. such a fun weekend!

Lorelei

I love spending my days with this sweet little three year old! she says and does the cutest things.

baby ben is one!

my sweet baby boy turned a year old on the 17th! the year went by way too fast!

here's a few cake photos. he was very serious about his cake and ate every last bite

we love this sweet baby boy! we are so blessed to have him in our family

first day of school

Well, we survived the first two weeks of school! I say this every year, but I have the hardest time adjusting to the early morning school routine. This year is especially brutal because Elayna has to be at the church for seminary at 5:40 am. I'm already counting down the days till thanksgiving vacation!

Evan loves kindergarten! He especially enjoys riding the bus and sitting next to his friend that lives next door who is also in kindergarten.

Avery is in 3rd grade and so happy that her friend from church is in one of her classes.

Kyla is our big 5th grader. Kyla was not too excited about this school year, because she is going to a new school. (Our new home is zoned for a different middle school than the one she attended last year.) But she has started to make friends and is liking it more each day.

Elayna is a freshman in high school! How did that happen!? It seems like just the other day she was in kindergarten.

potty trained!

one of my goals this summer was to potty train Lorelei. I'm happy to announce that she now wears big girl undies both day and night and rarely has an accident. We are so proud of her! It is so nice to only have to buy diapers for one child now. Two in diapers is rough! Oh, and the cute stuffed animal turtle is her "potty friend" that grammy gave her. She loves it! :)

10 months

baby Benjamin turned 10 months on the 17th. this little guy is so active now, it is hard to get a photo of him.

he loves this stuffed animal puppy

he loves to reach up and play grammy's piano

recent reads

this is a non-fiction book about the ebola virus. truly terrifying!

this is the true story of a freak blizzard in 1888 that left hundreds dead, including many school age children. one of my favorite kinds of books are non-fiction that are written like novels. this is definitely one of them.

first beach trip

Last weekend we had our first beach trip of the summer. We met up with the Ochoas who were on their family vacation on Galveston Island. Unfortunately, it was a really yucky, cloudy day but the kids still had a blast playing in the water. Baby brother wasn't too sure what to think about it...

aunt Nicole and uncle Jeremy joined us too

Evan was so excited

baby Rae fast asleep

cousins having fun on the raft

can't wait for the next beach trip!

9 months

my baby boy turned 9 months old a few weeks ago. he started crawling last month and is now into everything. he can pull himself up to stand and has two little bottom teeth. he will be a year old before i know it!

father's day

so thankful for this sweet, loving, fun father. we love him so very much! here's a few photos after church on sunday

school's out for summer!

These three had their last day of school on wednesday! They all finished with straight A's. So happy to get a break from early morning school routines and homework! Love having my big girls home during the day!