Family Camp

We got home late Sunday night from an amazing week at Family Camp in Branson, Missouri. I absolutely cannot say enough good about this place. They ministered to us from the minute that we walked on campus until the minute that we drove away. The counselors poured their hearts into my kids and our family and were such a blessing. The accomodations and food were wonderful, and we enjoyed every minute of our time there. If you have elementary age kids or younger, I highly recommend this as a family vacation. Check out this website or feel free to talk to me if you are interested or want to see more of the hundreds of pictures we took!




There is so much to do that it is hard to know where to start- putt putt, swimming pool, water park with slides and lazy river, playground, jumping pillow, crafts, archery, bb guns, canoes, pontoons, bluff jumping, water skiing, etc. Every morning we left the kids in their class and got to go to a seminar with Greg Smalley that was fabulous. Then the afternoons were ours to do with as we pleased. The evenings all had activites to participate in too- luau, parties, pirate night, date night for parents, gospel walk, and island olympics! We were completely exhausted every night by the time that we fell into bed. We loved the time with friends and the time with our family. I could go on and on.


Here are a few of the highlights from our week!

The family outside the water park.

Playing putt putt right outside of our room (Carter's favorite).

Hanging out in the hammocks.


Pontoon ride.

Joe cool on the pontoon.

Swimming in the lake- we jumped off the boat.

He seriously drove the boat back to camp.

Mike jumped off this tower into the 57 degree water.

All dressed up for pirate night.

Carter posing with one of the counselors on pirate night.
Evyn on pirate night- it was soooo hot.

Carter and daddy playing "monster golf."

Going on a canoe ride.

Carter and daddy in the canoe.

Shooting BB guns. I actually was a pretty good shot.

Carter doing a little archery. He actually hit the target all by himself.

Date night! The kids had activities while we had a candlelight dinner and rode a boat to the Branson landing where we watched a water show and shopped. Super fun.

Evyn chilling in a hammock.

Having fun with the family.

Carter in the "muscle beach" competition at the Island Olympics.

Our family in our Tech stuff for "be true to your school" night.

Some of the countless counselors that invested in my kids this week (David and Callie). I cannot thank them enough for the way that they blessed my heart by genuinely loving my babies.

I seriously have countless stories and several more pictures. We had such an amazing week. I feel completely refreshed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are already planning the trip for next year! Anyone else interested?

The Many Faces of a Fireman

Every now and then Carter decides that he likes having his picture made. This was one of those lucky days. It is with pleasure that I present the many faces of a four year old fireman.

Mister Mysterious and Miss Priss

Carter (aka Mister Mysterious)

Evyn (aka Miss Priss)

The Great Outdoors

We love camping! On Tuesday afternoon, we headed out to Roaring Springs and packed as much fun as possible into 24 hours! It was so nice to be away from home for just a bit- no phones, computers, TV, or dishes to wash! It is so much fun to watch Carter soak up new experiences- we have taken him camping before but I don't think he remembered it. And Evyn, of course, was an absolute doll.

We set up camp, went swimming, cooked dinner, played in the creek, went to the playground, made s'mores, caught fireflies, watched the stars, caught bugs, collected cicada shells, caught a pollywog, went on "adventures," and had an all around wonderful time. We saw a ton of wildlife including a deer, rabbits, raccoons, frogs, lizards, catfish and croppies, pollywogs, and lots of different kinds of bugs.

Here is the crew setting up camp.


And testing out the air mattress.

Collecting his cicada shells. Please notice that he is wearing his "smokey the bear" button with pride. He would wear that thing every day if I would let him.

This cicada must have latched onto our tent bag and come out of his shell overnight. We thought that was cool. Carter caught the bug in a bottle and took it with him all day. We finally talked him into letting it go so it would not die and we had lots of tears after our "launching" ceremony. He is nothing if he is not tenderhearted.

Eating dinner. (Please ignore how camp-licious I look in these pictures.)

Playing in the creek.

Evyn discovered her love of graham crackers.

Carter with his ladybug friend.

Cooking marshmallows. (Check out that squat, Brigitte.)

A picnic breakfast of donuts. This kid was in heaven.

We have decided that we might be getting too old to sleep on the ground so if anyone has a pop-up that they would like to donate to our cause that would be great! I think that this will be a summer time tradition for a long time! We had a wonderful time just being together. I am blessed with such a sweet family and the opportunity to watch the ordinary become extraordinary!

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I love that there are no expectations for the day. I love having unstructured free time to just enjoy my family. And I love the food- watermelon, corn on the cob, cookouts- you name it. I love fireworks (Carter unfortunately does not share my enthusiasm for them). I love it all. Today has been fabulous! We had a lazy morning, did some shopping, took some pictures, went out for pizza, and now everyone is napping before cooking out and watching fireworks with friends tonight! Good stuff.

We had a heck of a time getting both kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time, but this is about the best that we did!

Carter.

Evyn.

Both of my babies.

Here Carter is trying to gently coax Evyn into smiling. She is having none of it.

Sweetness.

Mommy and her babies.

My whole world.

At this point Carter was completely disinterested in having his picture made, but I thought this was a sweet picture of the girls.

My first love. We never have pictures of just the two of us and after taking this one we promised that we would be better about taking pictures without kids!

Almost a good family picture. If only Evyn had been looking at the camera. . .

Happy 4th of July!

Life is Good

Life is so good. I cannot express how much I am enjoying my kids this summer. They make me laugh every day. This is Evyn's current favorite toy and she is quite the rockstar. She has mad tambourine skills already. And you can just see the intensity in her eyes with those drumsticks in her hand.

Just for grins, here is Carter at exactly the same age (8 months) with the same toy. This seems like yesterday.

Life is good for Carter when mommy lets him pick out his own cereal at the grocery store. He is eating Fruity Pebbles, but he calls them the "colorous" cereal. Today he ate his cereal while staring at the box. I completely remember being mesmerized by a box of cereal when I was a kid! Kind of takes me back. Maybe I will try staring at my Crispix box in the morning.

This girl just makes me smile. And check out those curls! She is a natural beauty.

Carter has recently discovered Tom and Jerry cartoons and thinks they are HILARIOUS. He just sits and giggles the whole time that he watches them. Here, Uncle Mark is joining in the hilarity. And nothing makes a violent cartoon more enjoyable than watching it in only underwear and cowboy boots. Life is good.

This is Evyn's sweet friend, Grace. They are big buddies and especially love to swim together. Here they are proudly sporting their shades! Life is good when you have friends like Grace (and Ashley).

And here they are today getting ready for a dip. Please note that Grace has on one of her FIVE swimsuits because every 8 month old needs a variety of swim apparel to choose from. Today a lady at the pool completely asked us if they were twins. Nothing says separated at birth like these two!

I have decided that Ashley is like the reverse tooth fairy because the first time we swam with them Evyn cut her first tooth that day. And tonight I noticed that Evyn cut her second tooth! We better slow down on the swimmimng before we hit the molars. Seriously, I love this little girl almost as much as Evyn and her mommy has been such a blessing to me.

Mike is just returning from going to the grocery store for me and brought me a cup of coffee! Life is good!