Remembering Billy

I just got off the phone with my mom. My cousin (by marriage) died in Iraq yesterday. He was stationed in Hawaii and went to Iraq in December as an Army medic. We are not sure at this point exactly how he died. He leaves behind a wife (they haven't been married long). He was only in his 20's. I know he was brave and fought for our country with everything in him. I urge you to pray for his family and friends. We will miss you, Billy.

**Update: He was traveling with four other soldiers and their vehicle hit an IED. Billy was killed and the 4 others he was with were hurt. I am not sure how seriously, but so far only one fatality.

Date Night!

Daniel and I had a date night (last one was so long ago, who can remember the date) on Saturday evening when we went to see a MLB game. We had bid on a "family fun" basket which had these two tickets in it at the girls school spring carnival back in April. We bid on the tix mainly b/c Daniel really wanted to see the visiting team, not the home team play. So as you can imagine, he is one of three (I only saw two others) with visiting team apparel on. We didn't care! We had lots of fun and I enjoyed spending time with my husband w/o kids! We had decent seats, but I got a call today from the lady we got the tix from. She apologized for the seats saying that the umpires (her husband) usually get great seats but since it was a sold out crowd, the MLB messed that up. So she offered us two more tickets free when her husband umps again! I am very excited and now I know I have at least one other date with my husband soon!

**PS...I forgot my camera....again, but I did have my cell phone with me. I took some pics on that and I just need to figure out how to get them from my phone to the PC...hmmmm

Evening of the 4th

On Friday evening, we headed back to "W" to see the fireworks show. It was a lot of fun having most of the family there. Andy, Alyssa, and the boys came and Dan and Carol were there too. Trey took his "daddy ears" (which are the ear things Daniel wears when he mows) so that the fireworks wouldn't scare him, but he refused to wear them. Luke wore some too, which I think helped. Trey was tired as he had only slep about 30 minutes for a nap. So as you see in the picture, he was pretty tired. It was a great night with beautiful fireworks!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! So far, our day has been fun and very patriotic! We went back to our old "hometown", the big W to see the local parade that we love so much. As Trey has a HUGE love of lawnmowers and tractors, I did not want him to miss the lawnmower brigade. I was very positive this morning when I woke up to rain, that by 10am it would not be raining....and sure enough, as soon as the parade started, God provided a window of no rain, so that we could enjoy all the tractors, lawnmowers, and, of course, the neigh neighs bringing up the rear. Trey was in love with the neigh neighs (horses) and when we went over to the campground, the local college equestrian program was giving **free** "pony" rides. Naturally, they were not pony rides...Trey rode a horse that was taller than me....all by himself! He enjoyed every minute of it, laughing the entire way! He was not happy to be done and kept calling out "Neigh, neigh!". I had left the camera in the car (***stupid me!!***) due to the rain at the very beginning and we did not go back to the car before we walked to the campground. Oh well. The memory of it was definitely precious! I thought for sure he would have been scared being so high up, but he sat in that saddle and was so happy! He sure does love those neigh neighs!

I will try to take pics at the fireworks tonight....praying that the rain stays away!

Birthday Party #3

Lily had her friend birthday party last night at a local pool. I rented the shelter and there was a playground nearby for them to play on. It was a cool day (for June), but the kids didn't seem to care. They wanted to go swimming (although their teeth were chattering afterwards). Lily had a great time and so many of her friends came! She is such a social butterfly!

And So It Begins....

Saturday night, we went to a picnic at Ms. Brenda's house to celebrate the rising 6th graders moving into youth. It was a lot of fun...good food, friends, and water fun. Brenda got up and said a little about each of the kids, pointing out some of their gifts. Andy said a few words and then it was on to the water fun! They all had a good time even if the water was cold! On Sunday night, it was CREAM night for all the new incoming youth. Meghan wore her old clothes and was prepared to get messy. Of course, her uncle Roo was her CREAMer, so she got it good! Hard to believe my baby is old enough to be in youth, but I know she has been looking forward to it. She is already trying to talk Lily into letting her big sister CREAM her when she gets to youth. I am not so sure about that!.....

Hanging Out

Here are all the cousins (minus Rori) at the park before James and Erin left on Monday evening. You can see more pics at Erin's blog here. It is always nice to get everyone together....wish it could be more often!

This week has been slow, thankfully, and that has been nice. We have been to the pool and we have eaten *free* breakfast at CFA a few times too! We have been busy planning for Lily's birthday party this Monday evening at the pool. She is so excited, but got a little carried away on the invites....but this is her first "real" party, so I figured next year will be a little more low key. As soon as her party is over, I will have to start planning Trey's. His will be at home and a lot less chaotic!