Nash-vegas or Bust!!

I realized I haven't blogged about our trips this year so I am going to try to get that done before things with school and church get too busy!  We moved back to TX the thrid week of May and by June I was VERY homesick!  So, after spending many days figuring out how the kids and I could get back without having a vehicle to drive, we finally headed back in two groups.  Bella actually went a week earlier with a close friend and spent a week with my mom and sisters.  Then the boys and I headed down with another close friend.  (Thank God for wonderful friends! )  We had such a great visit!  Since we were there for 2 full weeks (Bella for 3 weeks) we got to spend time with so many of our family members and it was REAL quality time.....not that "hey we're here for 3 days and gone" stuff!

Our first excitement was getting to celebrate 4th of July with our Wharton family at Mimi's!  Fireworks and yummy desserts!

                                      Cousins!!  (minus Grant)

Bella and her cousin Ryan!  Born 6 weeks apart...He called her "Boola"  and she called him "Rylie" when they were little!

Then we got to see where Zia and Uncle Adam are building their new house!

                                     Bella hanging out in what will be Zia's foyer...maybe??

                                 Uncle Adam and all the boys down by their pond

                                   Lolli and her Will


 While we were there Zia and i took all the boys to the Discovery Center!

Carter, Will and Blake in front of the Wetlands

Getting creative in the Art Room

Our Construction Workers!

Climbing the treehouse

                     And singing karaoke!!


Extra bonus...I got to be with my sweet nephew, Blake so much!!

Later that week, we got to go play legos at Nana and PaPaw's house!

 One of our favorite things to do!

And Nana took us to see Toy Story 3!  (Papaw couldn't come because he was getting the air conditioner fixed so we would all sleep good that night!)

At the theater!  (Bella looks a bit  drunk on popcorn butter! :-)


We also loved doing puppet shows at Nana's!

(Sorry it's a little dark!)

We got to go to Chick- Fil A and see Mrs. Linda who inspired Bella's dream of being a Chick-Fil-A helper when she grows up!!

Braden, Blake, Will, Carter, Bella and Mrs. Linda!

As an added bonus, when we got to Chick-Fil-A we got to see two awesome ladies I taught with at TGBC last year, Kelley and Dorothy AND we got to see sweet Kennedy who was in my class last year and her mom, Michelle, who became a great friend of mine!  We miss them all!

One of our highlights of the trip was getting to take swim lessons with Mrs. Terri at her new house!  Terri is one of my mom's best friends and our families have "lived life" together for years and years!  She used to teach swim lessons in the summer but quit a few years ago.  She wanted to make sure she got to teach all our sweet kids though!  The kids did GREAT!!  After only 3 or 4 days they were jumping in the deep end and treading water and swimming across the pool and we haven't looked back.  We left all our floaties there for the younger kids to use and the kids have improved every week since then.  Now they are diving for things at the bottom of the pool!

Carter swimming to Zia!

Terri working with Will

You are amazing, Terri!  We love you and miss you!


We did so much I'll have to break this into 2 posts and finish later!! :-)