A Full Weekend…A Reunion and a Wedding

We have a full fun-filled weekend!  This weekend we had the Kelso Family Reunion (Jeff’s Mom’s side) and Chance and Stefanie’s Wedding (My brother’s stepson).  

The Kelso Reunion was held in Oklahoma at the Texoma Christian Camp.  Corene was raised in OK and most of her siblings still live there.  Jeff, Matt, and Cole left early Friday morning to meet Jeff and Matt’s Uncle Bub to play a round of golf at Chickasaw Pointe, one of the top rated golf courses in the nation.  Brooklyn spent the day with me while Sherry spent the day at work.  I have to say, it was quite nice having Brooklyn here.  Her and Hayden played and played and I felt like I really got something accomplished.  You know, fun stuff  like all the laundry done and put away, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, cleaned the toliets, etc.  :-)  Don, Corene, and Yolanda went early on Friday to do some shopping and get everything ready to go!  Sherry, Brooklyn, Hayden, and I left late Friday afternoon to head up there.  Our car was packed full…all for one night. 

When we got there, we visited and ate sandwiches.  Then, it was off to get settled in our home away from home.  Gotta love  church camp bunk beds!  I can honestly say it worked out great.  We had our own “room”, everything was clean, and we were right there at the facility. 

Hayden loved playing with  his cars on every bed and zooming his cars on the concrete floors.

After getting settled in, visiting,

playing dominoes,

and eating lots of cookies,

 

LuLu, Matt, Sherry, Cole, Brooklyn, Hayden and I decided to go for a late night swim in the pool.  Jeff had already been up for about 30 hours so he went to bed.  Showered and put Hayden to bed around 10:00 PM and then it was time for the Phase 10 battle between the rest of us.  I love that game!  There was lots of trash talking (everyone except me of course) but I WON!!  WAHOO!  I did real good until close to the end and I almost didn’t win!  :-)  I think most of us slept pretty good except Sherry.  She was worried about the outside doors that didn’t shut, the light that kept coming on and off, the fan she didn’t hear, and everything else she could think of.  Ha! 

Saturday morning, we had one yummy breakfast!  The works…bacon, sausage, homemade buttermilk pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, etc. 

We spent Saturday eating, playing games, and visiting with everyone.  Hayden and I did sneak away for a couple of hours for a nap.   

The camp facility is right on the lake, so Hayden loved looking out the windows, going outside, and venturing down the boat ramp to check out the boats. 

Matt and Sherry wanted their picture taken and were giving Brooklyn a hard time about wanting in their picture. 

  

Love these…

I am pretty sure Hayden talked just about everyone into playing with his tractor before the weekend was over.

Before we leave we try to get everyone to take family photos.  Not always the easiest task!  I think we have about decided we need to do it first thing when you come in next year before we get all hot and sweaty!

Corene (in the pink) and her siblings (missing one). 

Mark, Clayton, and Grayson.

Matt, Sherry, Brooklyn, and Cole.

Us.  How do you like Hayden’s wild hair?  That boy played hard!

Family…

Unfortunately, I didn’t get pictures of everyone!  I am so sad I didn’t get one single picture of LuLu (Yolanda). I am quite sure that is because she spent just about every second in the kitchen cooking and getting things ready for the next meal.  She and Corene did so much work ensuring that the reunion was a success!  It is always fun to go, but we are all so tired when its over! 

I left a little early Saturday afternoon to head to McKinney to hang out with the Barner’s for a bit and get ready to head to Chance and Stefanie’s wedding that was in Irving.  Pam, I went right through Celina.  I had no idea I would do that or I would have called you ahead of time.  I though Celina was just beautiful!  And the high school…wow!  I felt like I drove all over the world by the time I got home last night (or the wee hours of the morning) from the wedding.  I’ll leave you with this picture and finish up that post tomorrow!  

Partying at Chuck E Cheese!

Today, Hayden and I went to Chuck E Cheese for  Kannon’s (My cousin Tony’s little boy) birthday party. 

I can hardly remember the last time I went to Chuck E Cheese.  Probably early childhood sometime.  I am pretty sure that Hayden and I were both on sensory overload the moment we walked in.  Saturday at lunch time is quite crazy around there!  It took about 10 minutes before Hayden would let go of my neck.  He didn’t know what to think.  We finally mingled among the games and played a little.  He was interested in riding all the rides (monster truck, car, tractor).  Except, for the riding part.  He only wanted to sit.  As soon as they started going, he was diving off.  We did play some skee-ball too.  That is always my favorite game!  I didn’t get any pictures of us playing, because it was all I could do to keep up with Hayden, tokens, and tickets.  Much less a camera. 

After playing, it was time for some pizza!  Hayden was loving him some red sugar-filled drink (I honestly don’t know what it was).  Ha! 

Although it was pretty crowded, the staff there had it together!  Great for a low-stress party! 

They did a great job celebrating the birthday boy!

Wonderful Wednesday

Today was one of those days where everything just went right.  By that, I mean Hayden and I had a really good day. Not that every day doesn’t go right.  But, you know what I mean, right?  We spent the morning outside.  We played, and played, and played.  Hayden’s favorite new words, “Mommy, play” with whatever random toy he might have at the time.  We played with our pet grasshopper.  We absolutely do not like grasshoppers around here.

We danced.  We jumped.  We bounced balls. We read lots of books.   We put together puzzles.  We learned new words.  (Well, he learned,  I taught). 

We learned how to do new things.  Like bake a cake…

We blew on the hog call.  (His Daddy taught him that while I was gone last week.  Lord help us.  I am glad it isn’t noisy AT ALL.) 

We went to the grocery store and went straight to the deli to get a cookie.  We chased each other.  We laughed and laughed and laughed. 

We simply had a very good day.  One I am so thankful for! 

Just because…

Just because I never posted them with our vacation pictures…

 

Hayden’s hair cracks me up.  Robin had a hard time trying to take our picture 1.) because Hayden wouldn’t smile, sit still, look at the camera 2.) because she was laughing so hard at Hayden’s wild hair blowing in the wind. 

 

Me and Robin!  Love this girl!  SO glad she was able to go with us!

Wrapping Up The Week

This has been one great week!  I left Wednesday headed to Ohio for the Thirty-One Conference.  If you don’t know, I have the opportunity to share Thirty-One and celebrate and encourage strong, virtuous, hardworking women like yourself!  I absolutely love my second job!  The first being a mommy and wife.  Being a part of the Thirty-One conference this year, made me that much more thankful!  I feel blessed to be a part of a company that puts your family and faith first while being able to stay home with Hayden.  One of the many highlights of conference was our founder/CEO’s husband, Scott Monroe, leading 8,000 ladies in worship before we ended one night!  If you didn't’ know, Thirty-One is a faith based company that got it’s name from the verses of  Proverbs 31.  If you haven’t ever read that chapter or need a refresher, you should take a few minutes to read Proverbs 31: 10-31. 

Let me tell you, I certainly missed my family, but having a slumber party for 3 nights was just what I needed to come back feeling refreshed and motivated!   Oh, and I got to celebrate my 31st birthday at the Thirty-One Conference too.  Cool huh?  ;-)

There are so many NEW products debuting July 25th that I am in love with.  But this just might be one of my favorites!  A new ruffle cinch sack!  We also have a new matching ruffle zipper pouch!  Isn’t it SOOO cute??

Hayden got to spend a lot of quality time with his Daddy, Nana, and Paw Paw this week.  I am pretty sure he didn’t get spoiled one single bit. 

I have to brag on him for a minute! 

Hayden finished up his last two days of swim lessons with his Daddy on Wednesday and Thursday.  They had a final test on Thursday.  They took Hayden to the deep end with out any flotation device and dropped him in the water to see what he would do.  He came up kicking and doing exactly what he should be doing without crying or being upset.  I have to be honest, I am quite glad I wasn’t there.  Not sure I could have handled it.  But, we are so proud of him and his progress in just 7 days. 

I hope you have had a great weekend!! 

Final Vacation Post-The BEACH!

As I have said previously a few times, the Beach in Galveston is certainly not ideal.  But, we made the most of our time there and enjoyed every minute of it!