Fathers Day {2016}

Fathers Day 2016 was a great day!  Our little family started off the day by going to church.  After we met for ice cream to celebrate most of the dads in our family.  This Fathers Day was extra special, because Becky, Eugene, Katelyn, and Kyle all came to visit.  Here are four pretty great dads that I know - Uncle Lee, Grandpa James, Uncle Terry, and my dad. 

 Here's all of the guys in our family. =)  There are a lot of wonderful fathers in this bunch.

 I was so excited to see my sister Becky.  I think you can tell we're sisters. 

It was great watching all of the cousins catch up.

 After lunch, we went to Nana and Papa's house.  Aunt Becky gave Payton her old flute and gave her a lesson.  Payton was very excited.  She loves that she'll be learning on Aunt Becky's flute.

We couldn't stay at Nana and Papa's house too long, because we we had some last minute camp prep for Evan and Payton.  After evening church services, they were heading out to camp for the very first time.  Before they left, all of the junior campers sang the song they've been working so hard on for the congregation.  Addi's not a junior camper, but she loves to sing.  She'd been practicing with them and got to sing in service too.  She was so excited! 

Evan, Payton, Sarah and all of the other junior campers were so excited to leave for camp. After church, the craziness of loading up the trailers for camp started.  I kind of wanted to cry.  I think I hugged Payton 30 times and reminded Evan to be good at least that many. It's hard to let them go, but I know they are having a blast.  I hope they come back with their hearts on fire for the Lord.

After church, Karsyn, Addi, and I took Jason out for a burger.  We didn't get a full day in of pampering our main man, but I hope on Fathers Day and every day he knows that he is very appreciated and loved.

Friday Favorites

Today, I'm linking up here for Friday Favorites.  Click on the link and join in on the fun.

one.

Earlier this week, Mel from The Larson Lingo shared her recipe for Cowboy Salad.  Every recipe that I've tried of hers turns into a favorite of ours and this yummy recipe was no exception.  I couldn't find white corn, so I substituted it with yellow corn.  The avocado selection at our grocery store wasn't real great, so I only used two.  With those changes, I was able to make around 13 1/2 servings of 2/3 cup each.  That makes each serving have around 126 calories.  I served it with a black bean chipotle burger from Aldi's.  I can't wait to eat this for lunch today.

two.

Water balloons are always a summer favorite.  We had fun sending Jason texts letting him know our plans to pelt him with water balloons when he got home from work. The kiddos worked for about an hour filling up balloons.  They had fun chasing Daddy around the yard.  Jason loved it! 

three.

As you know, my favorite app is My Fitness Pal.  After a little over 8 months faithfully using it to count calories, I hit a major milestone this morning.  I've lost 70 pounds!!!  I really can't even believe it myself.  I was looking through old photos earlier this week and didn't even recognize myself.  I'm not where I want to be yet, but I am getting closer than I ever thought that I would.  According to my BMI, I am still overweight and it's my goal to get in a healthy weight range.  

four.

My #LOVED shirt from my sister Ashley is another favorite this week.  I got a lot of compliments on it - mostly from Payton. lol.  

five.

Summer break started off kind of rainy and wet, but this week, there's been a major turn around in the weather.  It's so hot that heat advisories have been issued almost every day. Evan and Payton were out spending time with cousins, so I took Addi and Karsyn to the splash pad for the first time this summer.  We had such a blast, that later in the evening, I took all 4 kiddos.  We can't wait to go back to our favorite summer spot.

six.

Going to the movies in the summer is always a favorite, but it's even better with friends.  We met some of our church friends to see Shark Tale this week.  We love that so many theaters have free summer kid's festivals.  

seven.

Payton's favorite thing to do is craft.  This week, she went to Aunt Kary's house for a "crafternoon" with Natalie, Emily, and Stephen.  They had a ball making initial letters.

eight.

Sunday after church, we stayed late to practice camp song specials.  While we were waiting, we played Evan's favorite game - Four Square.  Karsyn's pretty good and beat out a bunch of boys for the king spot. Evan and Payton leave for camp soon.  There's only 3 days that I won't get to see them, but I already miss them.  It's their first time to go to camp.  They cannot wait!  It's all they've talked about for months!  

Hope you have a great weekend!!!

Birthday Fun with Cousins

 Vacation week was a very exciting week and the fun didn't stop just because we came home.  Nana and Papa brought Jessi home to stay for a few days in Oklahoma.  We decided that bowling sounded like a lot of fun. J-bird is a great bowler.

 Payton also did a great job on the lanes.

Karsyn may be the babe of the bunch, but she is a serious bowler.  She lines the dino ramp up and truly tries her best.  She has some VERY competitive blood flowing through her veins.

 Evan has really upped his skills in the last couple of years.  He's improved so much!

 Addi, who's favorite thing about bowling is getting nachos from the snack bar, kicked all of our butts.  She very kindly let us all know that too. ha ha ha!

Nana and Papa were content with just watching the first game, but then they decided to shoe up for the second game.

 With form that out shined any pro bowler, Nana bowled for the first time in almost 40 years.  I've never seen a ball go so hard in the gutter.  I laugh so hard I cried. Nana knows I have a laughing problem and that I'm crazy, so it didn't bother her at all. Plus, she outscored me big time. lol.

 Papa also bowled for the first time since being deployed in the Pacific somewhere in the 1970's.  He did very well!

Jason and my scores let us know that we won't be invited to join a league anytime soon, but we all had a great time.  That afternoon, the kiddos and I headed to Aunt Jennifer's house for a June cousin birthday party.  Our family has 5 kids that celebrate their birthday in June - Nushea, Payton, Jessi, Addi, and Silas.

 Karsyn got a birthday gift too, because of vacation, some family will be out of town on her day.  We all had a lot of fun!

 Saturday was Addi's actual birthday.  We loaded up and headed to the water park with Nana and Papa.  This picture cracks me up.

 My family always likes to make fun of my floppy hat.

So, I did my best to take a Kardashian picture.  I think I nailed it. LOL!

 Right before sun screening up, I took a picture of these sassy kids.  We couldn't wait to celebrate our birthday girl by having a day of fun in the sun.

Jessi was ready to jump in.

 We had so much fun water sliding the day away.  Addi said it was a great birthday.  Other than a bathing suit blowout for my mister (solved by him leaving to buy a new swim suit) and me getting sun screen in my eyes, we had a fantastic time.  It was a great way to celebrate our Addi girl.

Kansas City Fun

 Our final morning in Branson had us doing a lot of cleaning and loading.  Before we left, we took a cousin picture.

A silly picture was also in order.

Here's Papa and Nana before we headed out of town.

 We also took a few family pictures, but they didn't save to my phone.  WAHH!!  Before we left Branson, we ate breakfast.  Then, we headed to Kansas City.  Was it on our way home? No.  Did it mean a long day on the road? Yes.  Was it a ton of fun? Very much so.  After about a three hour drive we made it to Kansas City.  We crossed state lines and we were on the Kansas side.  (Payton was in the 3rd row in case you are wondering.)

 We went to Kansas City for one reason - IKEA.  Other than Nana and Papa, it was a maiden voyage for the rest of us.  We started off by eating a late lunch in their restaurant.  We really liked the carts for our trays.  Very handy.  We talked about how all churches should have those carts for potlucks.  lol.

The kiddos all liked their food a lot.  Jason got Swedish meatballs that were very yummy!  I got the Chicken Florentine, which I wouldn't recommend.  It was a wee bit dry, but it could have just been because it was a little late for lunch.

 Then we got down to shopping.  Karsyn requested and then posed this picture. lol.  She cracks me up.  Shopping at IKEA was a new kind of shopping experience for me.  You follow a path through the store.  For most items, you write down what you'd like and then go choose it from bins.  They have great prices and a lot of unique items.

 The girls thought this eye ball lamp was a hoot.

 Since our pictures that morning didn't save, we tried our best to recreate them.  Uncle Billy and Fam take the best family pictures.

 We've determined that sunglasses are great for our family pictures. lol.

 I also snapped a pic of our entire family before we headed back home.

 And with that we headed home.  It was a great trip and we had so much fun!!!!

Branson Family Vacation {2016} - Shoppin' and Golfin'

On our third and final full day in Branson, our little family had a great time.  The day started off with this kind of crazy.  Jason decided to represent both OU and OSU for the day. ha!

We had a day of outlet mall shopping planned.  Before we headed out, we went with Uncle Billy's family down to Tablerock lake to feed ducks.

The boat dock at our resort was the perfect place for the feeding.

We didn't see too many ducks, but turtles sure enjoyed the feed.  We saw close to 100 of these guys.

These cousins enjoyed their time at the lake.

After spending time at the lake, we headed to the outlet mall.  Our Addi girl loves to shop.

Payton's birthday and Books for Bucks money was burning a whole in her pocket.  Our super savvy shopper bought enough goodies to fill all these bags for under $38!  

We left the mall and headed back to the resort.  The men of the family were all looking a little tired, so Nana and I decided to take the kids out so that they could rest.  The resort was hosting a kid's ice cream social and we really enjoyed it!

What's better than ice cream and cousins?

We had a little turtle feed left, so we headed back down to the docks.  

This turtle had a full belly.

After we ran out of feed, we took the cousins for another swim.  Here's Nat and Pay.

 Karsyn worked hard to get her little self in the floatie. 

 We had chicken nachos for dinner in the cabin.

 After dinner, our little family went to play mini golf with Nana, Papa, and Jessi.  Payton and Karsyn had to save Jessi from a gator.

Evan got nibbled on too!

We went to play mini golf pretty late for our little family, but it ended up being perfect.  We didn't have any crowds to deal with which was great, since it took a little time for our big group to make our way through the 18 holes.  Evan looked like a pro.

 Payton got off to a rocky start, but half way through, she started doing great.

Jessi's game went the exact opposite of Payton's.  She got off to a very strong start, but somehow things went very wrong at the end. lol.

Papa hadn't golfed in ages, but he did awesome!  He got two hole in ones!

It was Karsyn's first time ever to play.  She surprised herself with how well she did!

 I think Jason's reaction captures how well I golf. ha ha ha!  If we would have kept score, his card would have shown that he got two hole in ones.  He's a show off. LOL!

Nana also has the bragging rights to two hole in ones.  She was awesome!

 Addi has mad mini golf skills.

There may have been a couple of cheaters.

I'm pretty sure that I have the cutest parents ever.

On the way back to the cabin, Jason, the kids and I decided that we want to do a mini golf tour the next time we go to Branson.  There are tons of places to play and we had a blast!  Our last day of vacation post is coming up next.