Family Vacay

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Let me warn you...if that's true you are about to have 20,000 words flying out you. We left last Friday and came back Monday from one of the best vacations I have ever been on. I can't remember enjoying myself more. It was so nice to get away from responsibility, leave behind work worries, connect as a family, enjoy each other as husband and wife, have fun with a friend, and take in God's beautiful creation.

Here are the girls as we started our road trip to Possum Kingdom Lake. A precious family from church let us use their gorgeous (an understatement) lake house. Thank you Haywoods!

We road on their mule a ton while we were out there!

We fed the horses carrots every single day...

We swam and played at the pool. I love this next pic of Laney...it captures

her perfectly!

Daddy and Ashlyn jumping of the "cliff" into the pool. Yes, I did it too, but I'll spare the pic of me in my bathing suit. Ashlyn is our little adventure queen!

One of my very best friends in the whole world, Jen, joined in on the fun!

We love her dearly!

Yes, Miss Laney is actually swimming short distances on her own now.

Yahoo...I love it! So proud of her!

Ashlyn loooved the Hummer golf cart. Daddy even let her "drive."

We rented a pontoon boat one day. Jase and I dream of one day owning a

lake house with a pontoon boat...it was amazing to live the dream for a few hours. Reesie loved it so much it tuckered her out for over an hour.

We had to make Ashlyn get off the tube. She loved it!

Laney's favorite thing was just floating in the water...

however, after much coaxing, she enjoyed the tube ride too!

A family pic in their backyard. Amazing view, right?!

My beloved...

Goodbye Haywood lake house! We hope to be back soon. Seriously, it took

everything in me, not to cry coming home. I loved it that much!

July Fourth Weekend

We had a full, but relaxing fourth of July weekend. Every year our entire neighborhood puts out little American flags in front of each house. I anticipate it for days. We started Friday night by having our friends, the Moore's, over for dinner. Daniel, Carrie, and Alli go to church with us. In fact, Daniel and I work together. The girls couldn't get enough of precious Alli and passed her around several times so they could all hold her, including Reese. Here are the girls before they headed out for their Fourth of July Parade. They met up with the Lee family. Jase took them so that I could have a few childless hours to rest my ears :0) and clean the house.
We spent the rest of the evening at the Lee's neighborhood pool and then barbecued at their house with more of our friends from LifeGroup. And even though I didn't get pics of the fireworks we even got to see those too. We are so thankful God has blessed us to live in the USA!

Laney, Reese, Ashlyn and Jackson

Lauren and Rowdy (and baby!)

Drew and Emily (my amazing hairdresser!)

Chad and Amanda (thanks for hosting us)

He's gotten even better-looking with age! Jase throwing washers.

The girls before church on Sunday.

We were able to cap off the weekend by having Pastor Genesis in our home. He has some neat ministries in Cameroon. If you're one of my facebook friends check out his stuff.

Way Behind

Well, I knew that I was behind on updating everyone on our lives, but had no idea how many things had passed until I uploaded pictures from my camera. School ended for Ashlyn and she is officially a second grader, passing with flying colors! I'd like to give a loud "HOORAY FOR SUMMER! GOODBYE ALARM CLOCK!" shout-out to all my blogging friends. The week before school was out Ashlyn had her field day at school. Here are a few pics:

tug of war

one of Ashlyn's biggest fans!



the backwards scooter race

and the hippity hop race (which you can tell was way bigger than she!)

our cutie-patootie! She is talking up a storm and loves playing with "Ashey" and Laney!

We went to amazing Dr. Mendeloff's surprise birthday party. My mouth dropped when I saw on the cake that it was his 50th. We are so thankful God graced the world and our lives with this man for our Reesie.

We visited some of our dearest friends!

Ashlyn and her A honor roll award, as well as her trustworthines award. I finally got her to give me a smile...
All of us girls have gotten our cute summer haircuts!

Reesie got her first haircut ever! Just a trim...didn't want to cut off any of the cute little

curls that she's been blessed with. We have no idea where they've come from but they're adorable!

Family movie night was a hit! And apparently my "extra padding" comes in nicely for pillows for everyone in the family...dog included :0)!

We finished up Ashlyn's t-ball season which was a lot of fun.

Here are the girls with their amazing summer nanny. Lauren grew up in our youth group here at the church and is now a sophomore at OU. The girls are in love with her and she makes things so fun! Today she brought over 6 different purses for the girls to play with. Last week they made cookies, got to wear Lauren's old prom dresses and had Wacky Wednesday which included Lauren coming over in pj pants and slippers. She loves the Lord and loves my children. I can't tell you how amazing it is to have her! As you can tell, she is greatly loved in turn.

I've also gone on a week long mission trip to San Antonio with a group of 8th graders which was wonderful. My brother, Andy, and his family came up to Dallas and we got a quick visit with them.

If you know me at all you know I love summer! Seriously, no alarm clock! Girls Bible study at my house, lots of time at the pool, getting tan, time to do extra fun things with the girls. Have i mentioned no alarm clock? We are even going to get to slip away at some wonderful church friends beautiful lakehouse in a few weeks. I'll be back soon to share some things God has been laying on my heart, but at least you have a little more idea of what is going on in our lives! Blessings to you!

A Little Venting and then the Promised Sea World pics

Okay, I am going to get a little somethin' somethin' off my chest and then onto happier things, such as our wonderful trip to Sea World that we now took over a month ago.

Yes, I am a mom of three girls. I am a proud mom of three girls. I am blessed beyond measure to be the mom of three adorable, sweet little girls.

It bugs the snot out of me when people make comments, such as:

• You need to go for a boy now!
• Today's comment..."Three girls. Expensive!"
• 90% of males desiring to have boys whenever they have children.

First off, beyond a shadow of a doubt I know that God knows what is best for each family. Secondly, while we are 95% sure we're done (okay, I'm 95% and Jase is 99.9%) having children, even if we had a fourth I actually would desire to have another girl. Thirdly, I have worked for over 10 years with teenagers and have a brother, and other than weddings, I don't believe girls are more expensive. Fourth, I look very forward to having sons one day. I am guessing and praying that I will have three sons one day...all who love Jesus greatly and cherish my daughters second only to the King. But I look forward to these sons joining my family as adults. Men who know how to aim for the toilet, who don't need to hit, jump, yell or shoot most objects nearby, and have a little more control over their bodily noises.

Please all my friends with precious sons, don't hear me putting you down in any way. I am so thankful for you. You are raising the godly, precious sons that my daughters could one day possibly marry. If for some reason God were to bless us with a son now we would be so excited. I'm just saying, please people, don't act as if the world isn't aright if a family is blessed with all daughters. I feel blessed more than words can say.

Now that that is off my chest...

Here we are at Sea World.

My absolute favorite, the beluga whales. Aren't they so cute?
A daddy and a couple of his precious big girls!

This year my best friend Rachel and her sweet family joined us. Love her! Love them!

A picture of all 5 girlies!

This is how Miss Reese was all day long! She was tuned in and loving every

minute of it. She didn't sleep a wink, but was out in the car before we made it out of

the parking lot that evening.

Jase scoped us awesome seats for the Shamu show. We were up close and

personal this year.

Right before leaving. Everyone tired but all smiles.

Heart, Teeth and Ears

Yes, I am quite behind on blogging. Yes, things are good. Yes, we are busy, busy, busy. Here is a quick update on how big my girls are getting. Soon I'll be back to post about our fun trip to Sea World in San Antonio we took three weeks ago.

Notice anything different about the big girl?

That's right! She lost both of her bottom teeth last Thursday. At school...yippee for Mommy! I'm telling you these things had been hanging on by a thread but since Ashlyn is blessed with two parents ooked (yes, I know this isn't a real word but it gets the point across don't you think?) out by losing their own teeth when young, much less by helping someone else pull their teeth out...it took awhile. I'm telling you, just thinking about loose teeth brings a gag reflex to the back of my throat.

Seriously, where has my little girl gone?

Laney too has been asking people for the last week and a half, "Do you notice anything different about me?" Wanna know why? She got her ears pierced! Thanks Uncle Andy, Aunt Kelly and Drewster for the birthday money. I have to admit I was a tad nervous that we'd end up leaving the mall with one ear nicely pierced and the other...well, not pierced.

But she was phenomenally brave. She followed her big sisters ways and there were no tears. Just a big smile.

Here is her after shot...on a fancy lip-gloss kind of day to boot!

And let's not leave out our little princess. I had to snag this shot of Reesie with her purse. It was quite hysterical the other day when we were leaving and she stopped, sayed "purse, purse" and went to grab it before we headed out the door. She wasn't even copying a big sister at the time. Too cute, isn't she?

My little pianist in the making had her first cardiologist appointment in 6 months this past Tuesday. Dr. Kort listened to her heart, said it sounded perfect, looked at her EKG and said it looked perfect and sent us merrily on our way. He said we didn't even need an echo this time around and we don't have to come back for another 6 months. I don't say this lightly...Praise the Lord! He is good!

Like I said, I'll try to be back soon with Sea World pics. May God make His face shine upon you!