i'm back

... and the only reason is because i have beach pictures. let's be honest, who cares what i type - the point is photos.

8 years is entirely toooooo long to wait to go to the beach. ben had never been to a real beach. he loved it. caleb and sarah were certain they were the ONLY kids left in Williamson County that had not been to the beach in over a year (i'm pretty sure they were right...)

weather was perfect, water was warm, kids didn't fight as much as i expected and we didn't get a ticket down there or back so it was definitely a successful trip.

these are just a few of my favorite pictures... the ones without me in them :)

i took a LOT of pictures because i got a new camera for my birthday and i could not be more excited.

summer is here. baseball has started, soccer just ended - and already started again so it looks like my new camera will be getting quite a work out.

20 + years

20 years....and that's just from high school graduation. these girls have known me a LOT longer than that.

our high school reunion was last weekend and i'm not sure what is more amazing:

1. we're still friends
2. we all like each other's husbands
3. the husbands all like each other
4. we ate mexican food for every meal
5. i didn't bring my camera
6. none of us wore pink to the reunion

the truth is, i pray my kids have friends like these. the kind of friends that after 20 years...lisa is still on time to dinner, kerry is nothing if not prepared, the only one with a camera and me, well, i was late to dinner and i downloaded this picture from kerry's blog.

some things never change. and that's not a bad thing.

"better than Disney..."

No, I'm not kidding. at least that's what our kids said.

this year we decided it was time to try camp. we figured since none of our kids have ever experienced camp we would go for family week. there are several families from our church who go to Pine Cove and seeing that the camp is in Texas we knew it HAD to be good.

we had no idea...

it was camp...lots of camp type stuff like crafts (my favorite!), swimming, zip lines, canoes, horses and songs. BUT THE COUNSELORS ... they are worth every minute/hour in the car down and back.

i could type for days on how the camp really worked for each of us...the speaker we had as parents, the counselors and how they poured into our kids all week, but the only way to sum it up, the only way to help you understand how good it really was...

kids: "but we don't want to go to Disney next year...we want to come back to Pine Cove"

us: "seriously? we want to go to Disney"

kids: "this is waaaay better than Disney"

check it out. www.pinecove.com

and yes, they have "theme nights" for dinner...and yes, you dress up. and yes, rob is wearing coconuts.

pump it up

you know that feeling you had when you were little and got that ice cream cone...two scoops. remember how excited you were...and how all that excitement drained from you immediately once the ice cream hit the cement.

i'm there.

ben learned to pump himself on the swings. just this weekend....i was very excited. i've been pushing kids in swings for over 11 years now...

plop.

now that he CAN pump....i find myself wanting to push him. (or hold onto him....)

back to the blog

you would think that with all my spare time blogging would be easy.....can't.....stop....laughing....

I am blogging my own iphone commercial. here are pictures that i have due to my new phone. i can no longer carry my phone and the bazillion other things i need and my large camera. i just can't....just like i can't keep up with laundry, get enough work done while the sun is up and lose 10 lbs.

i have a camera bag application that enhances my photos. of course it helps that my kids are incredibly cute. (just sayin)

please keep all hands in car while riding...

I have been held hostage by my new iphone....i think i'm in love. now if i can just fix the 'sender invalid address' i can work my e-mail too!

rob recorded this with his iphone ... ben on the roller coaster at Six Flags.

seriously the cutest thing ever. be sure your volume is on.

:)

happy birthday!!!

we can't BE there to eat cake and drive 'em crazy....but we can wish LAUREN A HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (of course it took a few tries)