First Day of School 2014-2015

Ready or not the first day of the new school year has arrived! I cannot believe that a 4th grader and 7th grader live in our house. What happened to my babies? Oh how the time flies once they enter school. Our days are filled with learning, after school schedules of activities, homework, family dinners and a quick bedtime. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with our scheduled days. Don't get me wrong, with every year I love getting to see the young ladies I am raising develop and take on a passion for different things in life. The problem is that with each year that is time gone forever and I am closer to a different stage of life that I am definitely not ready for yet. Enough of that reflecting...on to happier thoughts. A new year filled with new friends, old friends, opportunities, and a lot of fun! Of course, that also means another trip to IHOP for our first day of school breakfast.

Meet the Teacher 2014-2015

Well, just like that the summer is gone and school is starting again. Ugh! Tonight we went to meet the teacher for Campbell's 4th grade school year. (Kaylee will not have one this year since she is in junior high.) The Lord has continued to guide her into the perfect trio for her once again. Each summer I spend time praying for her to be placed where she can best learn and grow. Those prayers continue to be answered. We enjoyed meeting each of these precious ladies tonight and look forward to another amazing year.

 Mrs. McGaha

 Mrs. Donaway

Mrs. Zett

Happy 38th Birthday

Happy 38th Birthday to this awesome husband and father! We are so blessed to be able to call him ours. Life is so much fun with him. He even got to enjoy homemade cake that Kaylee and Campbell made for him. We love you babe!

ACU camps

 Summer is here which means it is time for another ACU camp week for my girls! Campbell is in Learning to Lead this year and Kaylee is in MPulse which means they will both be spending the night in the dorms for the whole week. What is a Mom to do? I am sure I can figure something out.

 It is so nice to drop them off here each year because they are always so excited to go. If you ask them what camp they want to go to each summer their must do is always ACU camps. 

I will be looking forward to pick-up on Friday when they both get in the car with endless stories from the week ranging from Jesus, to humor, to counselors who were their favorites. I am so glad that their are college students who have a passion for this type of ministry and make such a wonderful impact on my sweet girls.

Ski Apache in Ruidoso

 Our next adventure for our vacation led us to Ski Apache. It was so much fun to drive up the mountain and see all the untouched beauty of nature surrounding it. We also got to see the rain coming down on various parts of the mountain which delayed the gondola ride to the top of the mountain for about 30 minutes. That gave us enough time to get Kaylee and Campbell a long sleeved shirt since it was a little cooler than we had anticipated. The views from the gondola were like those out of a beautiful portrait. The ride in the gondola was a first for the girls and they enjoyed the views so much.

 They even had enough energy to hike further up the mountain to the summit with Cary while I hung back at the drop off point for the gondola. It was good for them to have a little Daddy/Daughter time and me to try to get warm.

 A little surprise visitor we saw on the way down the mountain.

Our family at the top of the mountain. What a great day to take in God's beauty!

Horseback riding in Ruidoso, NM

 Another one of our days in Ruidoso we decided to enjoy a little of the wildlife right outside our cabin before riding some horses and having our own adventure for the day.

 My sweet girls trying to patiently wait to ride the horses.

 Campbell got the horse named Mouse. He was a gentle spirit and perfect for riding around the hills.

 Kaylee had a horse named Cowboy who again was perfect for her. He had a little bit of an opinion of his own and enjoyed trying to eat the cactus. He did get her down the hill safely so that was a win-win.

 You can see in this family picture that somehow I ended up with the biggest horse name Pegasus. He towered over all the others and I thought I was going to have to have a step stool just to get on him. All four of the horses that were chosen for us were pretty laid back and fun to ride. It was definitely a fun activity for our family to do that day and something I feel like we would all want to experience again. Another day and another memory to take with us forever.

Kaylee and Campbell even got certificates making them official cowgirls!

Family Vacation in Ruidoso, NM 2014

      We decided to take a trip to Ruidoso, NM this summer as our family vacation. Our dear friends the Pringles have a cabin there that they graciously let us stay in while we were there. When I started researching things to do there I found the Flying J Ranch and knew that we had to go there. I have such fond memories of going to a Dude Ranch in Colorado with my grandparents one summer so those memories made this a must. In the end I do not know who had more fun, me or the girls?

 There are days I would like to put these two in jail if it would help them get along. Kinda kidding.

 The cool church that was built at the ranch. It had a beautiful stain glass window inside and shortly after we walked out the back door we saw some deer nearby.

 Kaylee and Campbell panning for gold. alas we did not find any but did have fun trying.

 Campbell riding a horse with a little help from a guide.

 Both girls did a little shooting and faired pretty well. You can definitely tell which daughter hunts and which does not.

 Kaylee and Cary at the chuckwagon style dinner which despite the look on Kaylee's face below was delicious. 

The Flying J Wranglers were extremely talented, funny and just fun to watch. We all loved every minute of it. I highly recommend checking them out if you are ever in the area. The memories it brought back to my mind were priceless. I love that the girls will share this memory for years to come. Thank you James and Cindy Hobbs for being such great hosts!

July 4th Fun!

We got such a nice surprise this year when our best friends the Ownbys came to town for a family reunion and stayed with us! These are two of the faces that we walked through life with before kids and after having both of our kids until a job moved us to Abilene. We went through both pregnancies together and each time had our children a few months apart. Stephanie and I have laughed together, cried together, and grown closer to the Lord together. She is my rock and voice of reason in a storm. We love these faces like family because they are family. Our life is definitely better for having them in it. We may live in different places and not talk as often as we would like but when we are together it is like no time has passed at all. The true sign of friendship right there. We love the Ownbys!

 Trenton, Kaylee, Trinity & Campbell

 Stephanie & Me

 Our crazy husbands mocking our chicken arm in this photo.

Campbell's 9th Birthday!

 Guess who is 9 years old? That's right, Campbell Grace turned 9 and I felt like we celebrated 9 different times. Who wouldn't love that? The first picture is from the family party we had with my parents when they came to town for Father's Day.

 Then we lit the cake on her actual Birthday the next day to celebrate with just the 4 of us...

 Then we had the art themed Birthday Party that she had been dreaming of...

 I actually found a place online that you could order all the supplies from which made the painting easy enough for all the girls to do without someone with actual artistic talent having to teach them. We all know I would not qualify for that job.

 Each girl took her painting very seriously and had a lot of fun! You could see each of their personalities come through in their artwork.

 Campbell's finished product.

I cannot believe that my baby girl is nine! She loves to read, sing to anything on the radio, play with her American Girl dolls, play tennis, do flips in gymnastics, and just enjoy life. I am so thankful for the past nine years of watching her personality form and seeing the young lady she is growing into each day. Happy Birthday to our angel girl!