Spring Break 2014

 Saturday Cody was in Temple stuck in a motel teasing me that I liked candy more than him. So I tried to go on a sweets fast and discovered I am probably addicted to sugar. I felt like the world was so un-fun! and I was so grumpy! We needed camp treats anyway so I did a portrait of Cody out of candy with the kids

Sunday we had post church dinner at Nan & Pop's new house. The kids used their moving boxes to make an awesome little house. We then went home & started to pack for our camping trip.

 

We went to Lake Ray Roberts. We've been a couple of times & were thinking about trying another part of the park but we've got a good thing going. The weather was amazing and our site was backed right up against the lake. My kids love sand which is part of the reason I wanted to come to Ray Roberts/ the sandy beach part.

It sounded like we were camping near the beach all night, with waves from the lake. I loved it. ITs even prettier in the spring when all this stuff is green, but you can't beat the no bug weather we had.

1 o clock vs 2 o clock ...Rowdy started digging, discovered mud. Cody suggests filling it w water, then helps them make a mud slip n slide. They were joined by other crazy campers too.

Thank goodness there were warm showers. Elliot wasn't into the mud. She liked the worms we brought for fishing though. Her "pet worms"

 The kids had fun in their own tent, and just running around exploring. but mostly eating camp snacks. I feel like Ezra had his hand in a Doritos bag or cheese it box most of our camping trip :) One of their favorite things was riding our scooters up to a park in the evening/ night where we played flashlight hide and go seek. Rowdy also loved the shower with a bench in it. Elliot is crazy good at riding her little scooter and was always excited to scoot to the bathrooom or on camp errands with me.

I am 7 months pregnant and was worried about sleeping and peeing and all that, but with our air mattress and my outdoor "skills" I got a pretty OK nights sleep. No worse than any other camping trip.
We made bacon in the morning....and honey buns... by default. I had so much fun planning the meals then forgot an ingredient from almost every meal :) but we ate well. Cody was the pit master. & pretty hot chopping wood & fishing with our kids. We went to a kids fishing pond & the kids helped with the worms & made "happy habitats" for them. The weather was so perfect it made for a brilliant camping trip.

We did decided to cut it a little short because of Cody's work, but felt like we got a solid 2 days of fun. We really would've only stayed to sleep n clean up the next morning. The children all had meltdowns when it was time to go.  Guess we need to do it again. We'll soon be needing a bigger kid tent.

Wednesday We went to Joe T Garcia's with the Bowler Adults. It was nice to laugh with everyone. Bobby and Tiffany had come up from Round Rock for the week. Then Rowdy spent the night at Nan's with the 5 boy cousins.

Thursday cousin Jill & Letti stopped by with just enough time for Lucy to hurt her foot on our trampoline :/ (first accident) then Tiffany Nan and I took a bunch of the kids on a hike to Eagle Mountain Lake. Another gorgeous day. Elliot did good! She was slow but never asked to be held. Ezra was cracking us up because on the way out I had grabbed a bunch of Peanut butter crackers for lunch only to discover Andee was allergic to Peanut butter. Ezra saw she didn't have to eat them so he decided he was allergic to Peanut Butter too. Andee was telling us about hives and goosebumps and Ezra somehow ended up telling Aunt Tiff all about he had eaten peanut butter and now his feet were "puzzled." which I think he was trying to say allergic or hivey or something. I don't even know but now he and Aunt Tiffany are best friends. The kids were all really good on the hike even on the hike back with wet jeans.

Later I went to pictionary at Letti's and had a great time. Cody and the boys went to a boy barbeque/ swim party at Uncle Tad's, where Rowdy ended up spending the night again.

Friday we had a family Soccer game.

 Go gett'em Ezra

Rowdy was loving it. He played the whole game. Even after getting pegged in the face

 Then we went to Chik-Fil-A

Saturday Cody was in OKC. I worked on a petition and flyers because I'm grumpy they may be building low income apartment in front of our neighborhood. Then right as a thunderstorm began Locke & Katie blew in. We ate chicken tortilla soup, caramel and made a sign for the Anderson house. The kids had fun jumping on the trampoline together in the rain and out of the rain. and sweet Katie did my laundry while I painted. I definitely got the funner job.

Sunday my sunbeam Elliot was cray cray in class. We ended up at Nan & Pops house after church. It was nice visiting w Jill & Letti & Kellie. Nan was with the Carmacks in Temple because Craig's leg landed him in the hospital :( 

 Looking back on this week I already feel the gratefulness of keeping a record. These are sweet sweet times. Couldn't have asked for a nicer week.

Tomorrow I have a sonogram, protest to organize, and a St. Patrick's day to make magical...Its going to be hard to wake up.

Camping @ Ray Roberts

We went camping this weekend with some peeps from our ward. We kind of invited ourselves. It had been on facebook, but we all know that I am retarded at facebook, so I felt like I was inviting myself. 

The trip was awesome. It was just a 45 minute drive from our house and the campgrounds and the lake were beautiful. The only bummer was the car wasn't right next to our camp site and we didn't know that so it took a bit to haul out all the camping accessories.

Tee-pee anyone?

 I think Elliot had the time of her life. She was just roaming around everywhere, exploring and having a great time.

 Despite this face, Ezra had a good time too

 The campsites were really close to the lake.

 We were all enjoying foil dinners, smores and company when out of no where the wind started blowing and it started raining. So we all scattered and ran for cover. It was about a 20 minute thunderstorm. The kids said that was their favorite part. Well, some of us ran for cover :) Cody helped the Gandy's hold their tent down in the crazy wind and they all got soaked...but came out smiling. A couple other families not so lucky. 2 tents came down & they ended up going home. That was a bummer.
The kids and I stayed dry and we were cracking up at Elliot who found the marshmallows and was eating them as fast as she could before I took them away from her. As seen below.

 

  Ezra was loving the flashlights and Rowdy was loving bouncing on the airbed...which is probably why we ended up in a four person taco in the morning :) . It was pretty funny. Cody and I both woke up around four and were just laughing (Elliot slept on the floor) I actually slept pretty good considering.

But wow after the thunderstorm left there a beautiful full moon, and it was a really nice night. We shared a campsite w the Gandy's & that was really fun. & ate cobbler everyone had forgotten about because of the storm. I was so glad Cody got to come with us. I think everyone was. He was cracking us all up. We did a little walking and found a cool lake beach for Saturday activities.

 A Little football

 A little biking

 Little exploring...lots of roly pollies

 Here are the 2 Ezras

 Little swimming/sandcastling

 Baseballing

 trash talking :)

 

 lounging & visiting

It was great. Wish we could've stayed longer.

Redirected

This past Monday morning we were about to go meet the Carmacks, who were coming South from Oklahoma City, at Turner Falls, while Cody stayed home and finished up some homework. The kids were all in the car when I went to double check directions and Cody discovered the park was closed because of flooding! Thank goodness for the internet.

Well, you just can't waste preparations like that. So we had a mellow Monday at Grapevine Lake. The weather was amazing. I wanted to hang a hammock in between those trees... Even though I was feeling internally guilty about it being a Monday and thinking of all the responsible things I should be doing.

 but a week later I can't remember any of those things. 

Glad we stole this moment

We met a nice old lady with a big yellow dog who thought he was racing the boats. He would soar past us, then realize the boat waaay out on the lake was waay behind in the race so he would go back down the shore and start again. The kids looved watching him. They were all screaming with delight "Go Dog Go!" It was great.

The Deb Marv Visit

Cody's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Marv came to visit in April. We had a nice time. While at the stockyards a girl working the pony rides grabbed the little boys and gave them a free ride. It was pretty windy. We all ended up wiuth dust in our ears...

except Elliot

Saturday we went to Grapevine Lake

Lovely Day, Lovely visit.

I didn't even get a picture of Marv. Can you send me one Lynda?