Trip to Texas

THis is our sweet Payton in her adorable little night gown at the Lake House. I'm pretty sure she was in mid-sentence for the photo....no telling what she was trying to say!
My best friend from high school, Kelli, and her family came to the lake for an afternoon. Of course Maya and Preston wouldn't allow us to jet ski without them! It was a fun afternoon, but very windy on the lake.

We were fortunate enough to drive to Abilene and spend the night with Darron's college roommate, Jody, and his family. We took some time to drive around town and rehash great memories made while at ACU. In the background of the picture is where the magic of Darron and Jen all started! See the middle brown building? Darron and his roommates lived on the left while my roommates and I lived on the right. This was not planned, and we were not dating at the time....far from it! But, thankfully, the Lord had a plan and within the year, Darron and I were in love and I was preparing to make my first visit to Alaska. That townhouse holds alot of wonderful memories for us (keep it clean guys)! :)

We also spent some time walking on the ACU campus and reliving our wonderful college years. We both agreed those were much less stressful times in our lives, although we probably wouldn't have thought so then! They have made so many changes on the campus and it beautiful. It was so nice to be back there.....some of the best memories of my life were made during those years. Here's a shout out to all of my ACU friends.....thanks for the great memories of laughter, silliness, deep talks, tears, Bible studies, discovering who the Lord really is, and just plain fun! I love you guys!

While on campus, we also spent some time indocterinating (spelling?) Preston so he would grow up knowing where he is going to college! :) No, we'll let him make his own choice but we'll also do what we can to "encourage" ACU!

This is for all the ACU friends. We were lucky enough to eat lunch at Harold's BBQ!! It was SOOO good.......rough part of town, hole in the wall joint, but the BEST BBQ you'll find! We told Harold we came all the way from Alaska for his brisket....it made his day! :)

And is my sweet girl and how we found here on many car rides. She was such a trooper. She got much less sleep than normal but she was happy and just took naps when she found the time!

We went to a FT. Worth Cats Minor League Baseball game with my parents one night. It was my mom's company picnic night so we joined them. It was also my mom's birthday and I think she enjoyed getting to show off the grandkids. Preston enjoyed the game and it was a beautiful sunset with the Ft. Worth skyline in the background.

Payton and Maggie on a boat ride at the Lake House. Payton wasn't a huge fan of the boat because she couldn't walk around....but she made the best of it and Maggie enjoyed the snuggle time.

Preston driving the boat with Darron in the background and Peepaw just out of the picture giving Preston directions such as, "A little right....no I said right.....a little more right.....no, right....." I think Peepaw quickly discovered Preston doesn't know his right/left yet. But by the end of the trip, Preston was beginning to understand! :)

Preston and one of the many fish he caught. He is an avid fisherman. Standing on the dock with a pole in the water was all this little boy wanted to do! I guess he takes after his mom and dad since we both love fishing! Preston's job was to catch the minnow out of the bucket and then let us bait his pole. He could cast his own pole and reel in his fish. Peepaw also taught him how to grab the catfish by the tail to throw it back in. It was so fun fishing with him!

We had a WONDERFUL trip to Texas. Very busy and full of lots of good family/friend time, fishing, relaxing, and eating great food! Thanks Maggie and Peepaw for such a great visit! Wish we were there now!

Next to come....hopefully in the somewhat near future....Disneyland pictures!

Preston's First Soccer Game

I can't believe my little boy is old enough to play soccer this summer! Preston played in his first soccer game on Wednesday night. His team has actually already had three games, but we missed them since we were at Disneyland. The organization we are playing in, Spyder soccer, is pretty disorganized, but they stress kids being active and having fun. And they seem to be having a great time!

Somehow I ended up being slated as the "co-coach" for his team so I was pretty busy during the practice/game too. How hard can coaching three year old soccer be, right?! :)

Here are a few snapshots from Pres's first game. This picture was actually the very end of the game. For some reason (probably no nap and over excited), Preston had a melt down at the end of the game and didn't want to shake the other teams hands. This is him sitting in time-out taking a break to calm himself down. Once he heard there were snacks, he was good to go! :)

I love this picture that Darron took!

Coach Jen giving a pep talk to Preston and his cousin Max before the game! :) Notice Preston clearing out his sinuses so he could breathe good during the game?

Preston and cousin Max before the game! There are also three other little boys from our church that are playing on the team, but they couldn't make the game that night. The boys were so excited to play together.

They are truely like brothers. I hope this is the start of many sports seasons together!

And where was Payton during the soccer game? She was attached to her Aunt TT that she hadn't seen in three weeks. She would hardly leave her side....until the end of the game. While passing out snacks, we noticed she was missing because she wasn't right in the middle of the food. We looked around, and she had vanished to the other end of the field with the other team. Uncle Scott ran down to get her and found her in the middle of the team with three juices and two snacks tucked away in her arms! That's my outgoing, carefree, eater of a little girl! :)

I'll try to post some Texas/Disneyland pictures later tonight or tomorrow so be sure to check back. But for now, it's off to more laundry and cleaning on the house. Does it ever end??

It's Been Awhile

For the few people that actually check my blog, sorry I haven't posted in awhile. We have been in Texas visiting family and friends the past two weeks. We leave in the morning to head to Disneyland for 6 days. Preston is just beside himself with excitement! The kids are worn out from the fun we've been having with Maggie and Peepaw.

I have some great pictures I will post when we get home in another week so check back. Until then, did you notice I FINALLY figured out how to get a better background? It wasn't hard, I just finally spent the time doing it! :)

Hope you're enjoying your summer....

Summer is here!

We have been have BEAUTIFUL weather lately! It has been sunny and warm the past couple of weeks with a day or two of clouds and rain. When I say warm, I'm talking high 50's to low 60's. That's summer weather for us! :) That's comparable to high 70's to low 80's for Texas weather.....seriously. The moods of people have changed....the sun is out until 10:30 or so, people are out and about running, walking, playing, cleaning yards, etc.

We've been taking advantage of the weather by going on walks, cleaning the yards, and playing at the parks. The was last Saturday at a playground area. Notice the cool shades Preston is sporting!Uncle Craig and Aunt Becca met us at the park. Uncle Craig brought a bat and ball to teach Preston how to hit. He started getting the hang of it after lots of practicing and a small melt down of frustration. I kept telling Preston is was bad pitching from Uncle Craig! :)
My mom mailed a purse to Payton several months ago. I finally got some great pictures of her carrying her purse. She LOVES it! She carries it all over the house! She always loops it on her arm and generally holds her palm up so it won't fall off.

We put things in her purse for her to take out, but I have never seen HER put anything in her purse....until last weekend. I was upstairs changing clothes in my room and Payton crawled up the stairs to find me. My cell phone was laying on one of the steps with my car keys. I few minutes later, I hear my cell phone ringing. I thought, "Hum, that sounds like it's in here, but my phone is on the steps." I listened closer and realized my phone was actually ringing in my room. I looked down to see Payton, with her purse on her arm, walking in my room. Low and behold, there was my phone....in the purse! She was so proud of herself! Thank goodness it rang or I would have been looking forever!

Maggie, see how happy this purse makes her?

Although summer weather has hit (and very early this year), it hasn't stopped our excitement of heading "to the lower 48" in a couple of weeks (yes, people in Alaska actually refer to the other states as the Lower 48)! We will be in Texas for two weeks and then hit Disneyland for a week on the way home. We can't wait to see Maggie and Peepaw and some good friends! It can't come soon enough....

Easter

We had a great Easter this year! We started by going to Good Friday service at church Friday evening. Payton and I were in a little "drama" together and, although it was past her bedtime, she did great (aka. she let me carry her onto the stage without crying)! Preston and I colored eggs on Saturday morning and then the Easter bunny made his visit while the kids were sleeping that night. We had a wonderful church service Sunday morning and appearantly Preston learned that a tow truck moved to stone so Jesus could get out of the cave! :) Hmmmm....I may have to talk with his teacher! :)

After church, we met the rest of Darron's family at Grandma and Grandpa's for some great lunch, playtime with the cousins, and of course, an Easter Egg Hunt. Thankfully, it was "warm" and most of the snow had melted from the driveway! :)

Here is Preston and Max (his cousin/best friend/stand in brother).

Payton got to hunt her own eggs on the porch. After picking up two of them, she was ready to chase the big kids around!

Maggie sent Payton a purse a few weeks ago so she has been practicing carrying things on her arms. When she saw the Easter baskets, she got really excited! I think they reminded her of her purse! She carried them all over! (That's Darron's mom in the background taking a picture)!

Grandma had these plastic eggs out for decoration. They decorated Payton's mouth and hands great all afternoon! :)

And here is a quick picture of my cheezy little girl and her cheezy little grin. She's just started smiling by wrinkling her nose up and showing her teeth! It's hilarious!

We truly had a great weekend full of time with great friends and sweet family. Throughout the week we tried to teach Preston the true meaning of Easter. That night he prayed, "Dear God, thank you for the bad guys that banged Jesus on the cross for my bad choices. Amen." I've found it's REALLY HARD to teach a 3 year old why someone had to die on a cross to forgive us of our "bad choices." Then again, I've realized it's really hard for even ME to understand that! But I'm so grateful Jesus did!

I hope you had a wonderful Easter also....