A little bit of everything

We have been staying busy enjoying the last few weeks before school starts with gymnastics, swimming lessons, lots and lots of swimming at the pool with friends, and

climbing on the cows,

playing games,

bowling!

A quick trip to The Woodlands so see family and go to church,

and eating ice cream (trying to stay cool!).

Kids Cook

Today we went with our good friends The C's to Kid's Cook.

The kids first got to decorate an apron to wear while they were cooking.

Kendall, D, Taylor, and A

Next up was making their own pizza's. They had to push/knead their dough, add sauce, cheese, and toppings.

While they were cooking, they got busy frosting and decorating their cupcakes.

Kendall with her decorated cupcake

The kids enjoying their hard work- YUMMY!

The kids had a great time and it had a super cute store in the front that had tons of awesome cooking extras! We will be visiting there again!

Road Trip Home

Sunday we loaded up and got back on the road.

On the road we did a lot of this

sitting in the front seat watching the scenery

playing games and DJ on the IPAD,

laying around

and playing games.

We drove to Alamogordo the first night.

We made dinner and S'mores for desert!

Do you think she liked it?

Monday morning Nanaw cooked us breakfast, the girls requested pancakes so of course she indulged them.

We loaded up and headed just up the road to White Sands, New Mexico and made a stop White Sands National Monument. We stopped in the gift shop and picked up some sleds!

We actually took this picture on the way out, the girls had to change clothes after collecting half the sand out there!

It is so amazing that in the middle of the desert there is all this beautiful white sand.

We drove in a couple of miles looking at all the dunes and trying to find the perfect "hill" for sledding!

Ready to go!!!!

Here I come...

Taylor

Watch out!

Kendall

Some how I got the fun job of climbing up the hill and pushing all the girls down, while Jennifer and Nanaw stood at the bottom taking pictures! I think I may have ended up with more sand in my clothes than they did!

Avery (and me face first at the top!)

I couldn't let them have all the fun I had to try it out, so much fun.

It was super sunny out there and hot but the girls wanted to do it over and over again.

Nanaw and all her girls

It was a great pit stop on the way home and now if it ever snows again we have sled to play with!

That night we drove and stopped in Van Horn, TX again to stay the night. Then Tuesday we were back on the road HOME!

In all we traveled around 1,995 miles on this trip!!!! It was great time and made lots of memories.

Phoenix!

I am going to apologize for the LONGEST post ever but I want to remember what we did.

So the afternoon we got to Phoenix, we visited with my grandparents for awhile, unpacked our stuff from RV and moved into the house. My cousin, Gavin, had an All-Star baseball game that my grandparents were going to and once the girls heard the names Gavin and Shane there was no way out. So loaded up with Papa and Mama Edson and headed to the baseball game. The girls were so excited about seeing the boys. Gavin was playing so the girls didn't get to see him much but they hung out the whole time with Shane and some of his friends. I got to catch up with B.A. and Amy while watching the game. Gavin's team won and we headed home.

Shane, Taylor, and Kendall

The next morning, the girls were dying to swim. After swimming, we all packed up in the ABA van and headed over to the offices. We toured the offices and meet up with B.A. who was working but took off with us to grab some lunch.

Then we headed home and all laid down for a nap because we had a full evening of baseball games ahead of us. Gavin and Shane both had games so of course we had to go watch. Let me remind you that it was like 108 degrees outside and we were out there from 5:30 to at least 10 but it was something that we never get to do since we live so far away. The girls loved going to the games I think because their Uncle B.A. let them keep going back to the snack shack for as much junk as they wanted and they got to roam around with whichever boy wasn't playing.

The next morning Shane joined Jennifer, Avery, Nanaw,the girls and I on our little outing. Our first stop was the Great Arizona Puppet Theater. Amy and B.A. loved this place when the boys were younger so we were excited about going. We saw Old McDonald. It was cute and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Next up was the Children's Museum of Phoenix. This place was AMAZING! You walk in and there is a third story high "climber".

It is made up of a series of tubes, stairs, walkway, a flying bathtub,

a dream boat,

a fish walk, a recycled rocket, and much more. I promise the kids could have played on it all day! We had to make them leave so we could see what else there was.

Some of the other "rooms" we explored were

Building Big

A room with filled with sheets, columns, beams, clips, you name for the kids to build/add on to the fort

Noodle Forest

Oodles of noodles suspended from above offer sensory immersion in a unique and engaging environment. Yes, those are hundreds of foam noodles hanging from the ceiling!

So much fun running and hiding in them!

Not easy to find all of to move on to the next exhibit but I caught up with them in the middle and grab a pic

Pedal Power

This part of lots of different types of tykes/bikes to ride through the "car wash". They got to ride and find their way through soft brushes, hanging strips and blowing fans.

They looked a little funny ride such small bikes but it didn't seem to bother them one bit.

Shane

The Market

Never to old for the Market! Grocery shopping at it's finest.

Art Studio

They had five different tables set up with different art activities for the kids to do and take with them. Anything that involves art/paint/drawing/coloring is always a hit with my crew.

Some of the other exhibits were:

The Pit Stop

Whoosh

This wonderful contraption is a freestanding jumble of connected tubes where children feed scarves in a rainbow of colors into the transparent, air-powered structure. The colorful scarves shoot up through the pipes at high speeds, to heights of 20' or more, and are released in a burst of energy from high above.

The Pit Stop

There was more! We had a blast there and could have spent a few more hours but had to get Shane back home in time for another baseball game!

The kids got home and crashed! We let them sleep for as long as they wanted since after the game (we skipped this game) everyone was coming over for a swim/bbq get together.

The kids had a blast swimming.

Gavin, Shane, Avery, Kendall, and Taylor

It started lighting so the kids had to get out of the pool but the girls started doing gymnastics on the putting green and soon after they were giving lessons to the boys. It was hilarlious.

I know it is dark

The next morning we had breakfast, hung out, and said our good byes. The girls and I were sad to leave, we were having such a good time.

Probably my favorite picture the whole trip

Road Trip

On Wednesday morning the girls and I loaded up and hopped in my grandparents RV with my sister and Avery for a road trip to Arizona.

It took two days to travel 933 miles there! The girls were really good on the trip, they played games, colored, sang, danced, and hung out. It was really nice that they could go to the restroom when they needed to, get a snack, and walk around as they pleased.

Wednesday we drove to Van Horn, Texas and stayed at an RV park. The girls got to swim and released some energy.

Nanaw swimming with the girls

Getting them to bed was a tad tricky since all five of us were sleeping within a 10 feet area. But after awhile they all chilled out and crashed. The next morning we got on the road again and made it to Chandler, AZ!

Happy 4th!

July 4th we spend most of the morning/afternoon at the pool with a bunch of friends. We ordered pizza for lunch at the pool, swam a lot, and hung out. It was a very relaxing fun day.

I didn't get any pictures from the pool but I snapped one the day before in their festive outfits.

I'm

31! That is just not a nice sounding number. My Mom has always said "that age is just a number" and I could not agree more.

I got to sleep in that morning and then the girls woke me up with my birthday present an IPAD with a red cover!!! I was super excited, I have been wanting one. So of course the girls and I laid in bed playing around with it and take pictures for awhile. While we laying there Kendall told me "I wanted to cook you eggs but Daddy said no but I told him you eat eggs with hot sauce every morning"! It was hilarious but she was right!

I spent the rest of the day hanging out and doing a little shopping with my girls. Then that evening Ryan planned a birthday dinner with some of our good friends to celebrate my birthday at my favorite restaurant Steiner Steakhouse!

The group! Some of my favorite people ever!

We sat outside and listened to some great live music, ate WAY to much amazing food, and enjoyed each others company.

Girls- Rachel, Paige, me, and Carly!

It was perfect day! Thank you G for setting up the dinner and for being the best husband. I love you!

Ryan and I on the patio, it was a gorgeous sunset! And you can see the lake (and how low it is right now) in the background.

And thank you to all my terrific friends for coming out and spending the evening with us, I truly have been blessed with wonderful people in my life.