This Is Where The Cowboy Rides Away

Late in July, my Grandpa Chuck went to be with the Lord.  This is one of my favorite pictures of him.  It was from Christmas Eve a few years ago.

Grandpa was a hard working man's man.  He loved training horses and going fishing.  As tough as he was, he had a soft spot for his great grandchildren.  Here he is with Grandma Paula, Kyle, Katelyn, Addi, and Karsyn. 

 We celebrated a life well lived as well as said our goodbyes earlier this month.  We will miss him very much!

My heart is sinking like a setting sun.

Setting on the things I'd wish I'd done.

Oh, the last goodbye's the hardest one to say.

This is where the cowboy rides away. 

(Cowboy Rides Away - George Strait.)

Summer Days Drifting Away

 Our summer days really feel as though they are drifting away.  It always feels like we go from celebrating Independence Day to back to school prep in a matter of a few days. So, here's how we've been soaking up our summer days since the last time I posted.  A couple of Thursdays ago, we were at Wal-Mart buying a few things for Evan to have a buddy over, when we had to take tornado precautions in Ladies Apparel.  

No tornado swept through, but we did have hurricane strength winds rip though our area.  We were very fortunate that little damage was done to our home, but we were without power for 2 days.  We were very blessed that it did get too hot on those days.  It was also a huge blessing that we had so many family and friends who invited us to come over, but we couldn't leave our house. We had to wait for the power company to come and do some checks. The neutralizer on our power line was damaged, so there was no regulation of voltage coming into our home.  This caused our neighbors house to catch fire - they caught it very quickly and were okay.  When we tried our power, our house started making the same loud popping sounds and light bulbs started bursting.  It was scary!  We borrowed Papa Floyd's generator and a couple of window units, so we stayed nice and cool the second night.  I jokingly told Jason that I wanted to take the kids camping this summer, but never expected to do it in our own house.  Here are the kiddos playing Clue by pop lights.

A couple of days later, we were back to our normal summer fun.  We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks at the Free Kids Summer Movie Festival with our friends.

Payton made a new and rather interesting friend. =)

We've also been busy doing our back to school appointments.  Addi and Karsyn's peepers checked out just fine.  Evan and Payton both ordered new glasses.  

We heard on the radio one day, that women over the age of 34 should not take selfies.  I decided to break the rule.  Because, why not?  

We had Emily and Mr. Stephen over for a swim.  It's not summer for our little family unless we spend a lot of time with our cousins.

We spend a lot of time in the pool.  Karsyn can swim the length of our pool underwater.  I think she's part fish!

Addi is a girl who loves the water too!

Karsyn's best friend celebrated her birthday.  We had a lot of fun at her party. The girls are a little less than 3 weeks apart, but as you can tell, there is quite a bit of size difference.  Karsyn's a tall girl!

We had a fun family lunch out.  

Hoping to soak up the rest of the summer.

Of Cows and Cousins

 Tuesday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chik-Fil-A.  Which meant, that if you dressed up like a cow, you got free chicken.  We were so in!!! I thought we all looked moo-velous. 

The Chik-Fil-A's in our area are always busy.  I anticipated them being extra busy on Cow Appreciation Day, so I thought it would be best to get there for lunch right at 11:00.  On our way, we picked up the rest of our herd - Emily and Stephen.  As we walked up to the restaurant, the workers started ringing cowbells and cheering for us.  It was great!  We were actually able to walk right up to the counter to order our food.  We went at the perfect time, because it started to get really busy once we got seated.  Before we knew it, we had our food.  I got to sit by these cute boys! (Can you spot the girls at the next table?)

As we were eating, this little cow cutie came to our table.  

Karsyn loved her!!!

 Before we left, the staff asked to take a picture of our herd.  Here we all are!

Before we left, I had to get a picture of these beautiful bovines. =)

 Our free fun was far from over.  When we left CFA, we headed to a local bakery to cash in the free cookie coupons the kids had earned from completing the library summer reading program.  

 We stopped for a quick wardrobe change, well for some of us.  Addi and Karsyn wanted to stay in their cow clothes.  Then, we met some friends at the skating rink.  To go with the theme of the day, we used our free skating passes. =)  It was Addi's first time to skate.  With a skate mate, she did great! (The pictures aren't the best quality, because it was dark and I was on skates too. lol)

Here's Mr. Stephen with Karsyn.  Stephen's a pretty good skater.  It was also Karsyn's first time to skate.  She started off in regular skates and had a skate mate. She was doing okay, but she wasn't doing as well as she wanted to do.  I switched her out to kiddie skates and then she owned the place. lol.

In fact, she pulled Evan all around.  LOL!

Our friend also helped Evan. 

Payton was having a little trouble at first.  She took over Karsyn's skate mate and decided that she LOVES skating.  That made me very happy!!

Miss Emily is a fantastic skater!

I always love seeing these sweet cousin moments. Karsyn is the youngest cousin by quite a few years, but that has never stopped her from having a tight bond with all of her cousins. It's such a blessing to me.

We closed the skating rink down....for the afternoon public skate anyways.  We hopped over to Sonic for a drink.  Then, we took Emily and Stephen home.  That evening, the kiddos and I hopped in the pool.  This might end up being my favorite picture of the summer!

I love these summer days.

Sweet Summer Time

This summer is going by a little too fast, but we won't let that keep us from enjoying it.  Last week, we had a cousin cookout.

Jason fired up the grill so that Aunt Kary, Emily, and Stephen could join us for an afternoon of hot dogs, popsicles, and pool time.

We had such a nice time.  The following day, I finally got the kiddos signed up for the Summer Reading Program.  Addi loves reading at the library.

The kiddos have enjoyed a snow cone or two this summer.

We headed into T-Town and visited a library there.  They have some pretty awesome libraries.

The kiddos have been reading books EVERYWHERE!!!

We've been enjoying our Friday night dinners at our favorite deli.

We have one more month until school starts and we are going to soak up the sun as much as we can.

Every Heart Beats True For The Red, White, and Blue

Our little family started celebrating Independence Day on Saturday by remembering those who could not celebrate with us this year.

Nana, Papa, the kiddos and I all went to the cemetery to decorate Grandma Shirley's grave for the 4th. It's one of those times when her not being here is just hard.  She loved everything about the 4th and we loved everything about her.  When Jason got off work in the evening, we put flags out in memory of his grandparents.  We spent many of our first Independence Days together at their home eating homemade ice cream and enjoying fireworks.  On Sunday, we enjoyed an ice cream social at our church in the evening and then took on a fireworks show in a nearby town.

 The next morning, we got up early to get ready to celebrate at our house.  Before we got started, we took our annual picture.  I love these red, white, and blue cuties!

We finished all of our inside chores and headed outside to find that our pool was green!!!!  GREEN!!!!  We quickly switched gears and decided to have a sprinkler and water balloon party.  I was pretty disappointed.  We weren't only celebrating Independence Day, we were also celebrating our Karsyn and Jessi's birthdays.  Once we started decorating, I knew we'd all have fun.  

We had quite the crew show up.  Grandpa James, Uncle Terry, Uncle Lee, Aunt Mel, Nana, Papa, Aunt Ashley, Jessi, Billy, Kary, Natalie, Emily, Stephen, Floyd, and all 6 of us.  Here we all are.

We kept the menu super simple.  Jason grilled hot dogs and we had chips on the side.  Nana brought ice cold watermelon.  It was delicious!!!

After we ate, the kids played in the water for a bit.  Then, it was cake time!

Karsyn made sure that she got the "Happy Birthday" sign.  

After cake time, it was the moment the birthday girls had been waiting for - present time!!! Addi was really sweet and read Karsyn all of her cards.  

 The reality of just how fast our little firecracker has grown up really hit me as she was looking at this card.  My baby girl is a 5 year-old!

Soon after presents and another romp in the water hose, our guest started slowly heading home.  We got cleaned up and went to Grandma and Papa's house.  Uncle Brian and Aunt Stephanie met us there too for some more 4th of July fun.  I love $5 Old Navy Flag tees. =)

We had all kinds of Independence Day goodies.  Papa's homemade orange sherbet was a huge hit.

After we ate and played a game or two, it was time to put on a show.  These two little ladies like to use headphones to block out some of the noise.

Evan loved doing pop it's on the porch.

Payton loves hanging out with her Aunt Stephanie.

Jason, Uncle Brian, and Papa put on a pretty good show.

We wrapped up fireworks and called it an evening.  I feel so grateful to raise our family in a country where we know freedom.  It's a huge blessing!  Hope you had a wonderful time celebrating!!!