Happy 9th, Finley!

My precious girl is NINE today!!! How in the world is this her last year in single digits!?! She has been a blessing to us since the day she was born! I wish you 99 more birthdays! Love you!!!

Ceta Canyon '15

If you want to know what it feels like for your heart to be outside your chest, then put your firstborn child on a bus and watch it drive out of town. Mama Smart had to cut the apron strings let me tell you. It's just hard to let this precious little person you've done every single thing for and loved more than anything in this world, get on a bus and leave. Prayer. It takes lots of prayers. 

 Slade, Bob, and Preston packing all their junk under the bus.

And the whole group headed to Ceta Canyon. On the plus side, he made it home safely and he loved his week. He told me that he didn't really miss us, and wish he could have stayed another week. I say that's the sign of a great camp when you don't want to leave! Third trip to Ceta Canyon-check!

Braces, Fireworks, Anniversaries, & Fun!

It is July! How is this possible??? I want to cry because a month of summer is gone. Sighhhhhh. Whether we like it or not, we've started July out with a bang! Hello 4th of July fireworks! Ha!

 We went to see Inside Out in 3D. Loved, loved it! Even great for adults! I just don't usually love kids movies, but this was a great one! Slade went too, but he was already in the car.

 Finley was super pumped to get her top expander AND her top braces off!!! Yay! She's had her share of tears and pain, but she looks so happy. It really is extraordinary what they are able to do with teeth. They are so straight on the top now. This was phase #1. She will wear a retainer at night now and she still has the bottom expander. They will now wait for her to loose more teeth and her mouth to grow more till phase#2.  I think they were worth EVERY. DARN. PENNY!!!

 We kept our sweet friend, Laney, one day and she needed a matching side bun like Finley.

 Poolside snack break with Gunnar, Logan, & Laney.

 My sweet honey and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on June 29th. I like to call this the photo BK (before kids). Yes, before our three children, we were so fresh and well rested..........

 We got a sitter and went out and had a nice, quiet dinner. I did not have to cut up one thing or clean up a spill. It was glorious.

 I had to take pic of myself with makeup and hair done. It is few and far between this summer.

 In other exciting news, we traded in the Burb. It served us well since Gunnar was a baby but it was a beast to back up in tight spots. I will always be grateful for the years it gave me. Many children, groceries, dirt, and food morsels were carried in this car.

 And 21 inches smaller(which is HUGE when one is backing out of the grocery store!) meet our new friend, Smokey. I drove over Friday and picked her up. She's a GMC Denali and she is very nice and sassy.  Yay! I can even call people with my voice!

 Happy 4th of July!!! Gunnar, Logan, Laney, Camille, & Finley. Slade and Payton were running around somewhere.

 Watching the fireworks show.

 My patriotic table scape which is code for pulling things out of the closet 15 minutes before our friends arrived to eat dinner. Nana's red tablecloth and a few blue vases from my hutch. Done.

 Beth and I enjoying the show and mosquitos and children running amuck.

And last but not least, I made mom's YUMMY potato salad. It was soooo GOOD!!!
No matter what, we still have the greatest country in the world. God Bless the USA!!!
(P.S. I do have a twelve year old son. He does live with us. I have no idea why he's allergic to my camera.)