Memorial Day Weekend

We have had a great weekend! We have spent most of it outside - playing and working. The kids have been swimming and playing with their outdoor toys. And we put down sod and cleaned out all of the flower beds in the front.

Mason and Sawyer also got to meet their cousin Chloe! She is such a cutie. Chloe was born about a week before M&S, so they are so close in age. I am so excited that they will have a cousin to play with growing up that is their age! None of the kids were wanting to take a picture so we ended up in it too.
More playing outside -

Putting the sod down -

So here was what I started with -
And here it the finished product -

Some of the front flower beds -

More Backyard Work

My parents are here for the weekend and we are working on the backyard. We are going to finish this weekend. Today we smoothed out the dirt and my dad dug out the tree trunk!! I couldn't believe it. We are going to lay down the sod tomorrow! I am so glad that this is finally going to be done. I also found an awesome 2 slide little tikes play thing on craigs list for an awesome price. I can't wait to see it all done!


We have been playing outside a lot lately. I hate being hot, but I love the great weather. The kids love being outside.







Mason and Sawyer got to meet Will the other day. They weren't real sure what to think of him. But they didn't attack him or hurt him so I was happy. They kinda just clung to me.
I got these super cute onsies at the M&M factory in Vegas.

Happy Birthday Eric!

Today is Eric's 29th birthday! I have been giving him a hard time since he will be 30 next year. This afternoon I surprised him with Creme Brulee and Rock Band World Tour. We are going to have dinner with good friends tonight and go see a movie.




Happy Birthday to a great husband, father and friend!

Messy Kids

The other day I realized that the kids had gotten really quiet so I went to check on what they were doing and this is what I found.
Mason had pulled all of the wipes out of the very full box and Sawyer was walking around the room using them to clean. She loves to get rags and clean everything. What a mess!

Here are a few pictures of Papa and Mimi with the kids. I always forget to take pictures of them playing with the kids.

And here they are playing with a few of their new toys. These kids are so spoiled. I think they got at least 5 new toys and 20 new outfits during this one trip. Only grandchildren....

Baby Will

While I was in Galveston last Saturday Lauren had her baby! I couldn't wait to get back to Abilene to meet him. We got back on Friday and I immediately went over to visit. Then Rachael got to come to town and we all got to hang out a little bit. I am so glad that I have such good friends! Lauren helped me out SO much after I had the babies. She is such a great friend and I don't know how we would have made it without her. She went to the grocery store for me more times than I can count. So I can't wait to return the favor and help her out now!

My first time to meet Will -
Rachael with my kids -
William David -

While we were in Vegas...

The kids stayed in Kingsville and hung out with Grammy and Grandad! They had so much fun and were sad when the kids had to leave. It was nice to have a great place to leave the kids so that we could have some time to ourselves again. I missed them so much while we were gone though. Here are a couple of pictures from their time there.

Vegas

Jennifer (Aunt Jaffy) will be graduating from medical school (WOW!!) at the end of this month. So while she had some time off we wanted to take her to Vegas for her graduation present! Kim, Chrys and Jenn hadn't been in about 20 years, so things had changed quite a bit and we had a lot of sites to show them. We stayed at New York because it is such a fun and easy hotel (in the past we have stayed there once, Mirage once and Bellagio 3 times). This was also our first trip away from the kids. I had never been away from them for longer than it took me to shoot a wedding (the longest was 12 hours). About a year ago Eric planned this trip. So I knew that it was coming and that I would have to have them weaned by then. When we planned it I Lauren wasn't pregnant yet and I did not know that her due date would be while we were gone. She had the baby on Saturday while I was in Galveston shooting the wedding so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

When we got to Vegas we checked in and rested a little before our first show. Eric and I went to see La Reve because we have been wanting to since it opened and it has been dark the last 2 times we were there. It was great! A little like O, not as amazing, but still great! It was a water stage like O, it had the 2 sting men like Mystere, a round stage with seating all around like LOVE, but there was more dancing than the cique shows. In the picture below you can see the stage behind us at the end of the show. While we were seeing La Reve, Kim, Chrys and Jenn saw LOVE and loved it!

Other things we did while were there were going to the Aquarium at Mandalay, walking through the hotels and seeing the sites, getting Mason and Sawyer M&M onsies at the M&M factory, seeing the old downtown light show and casinos, ridding a limo to go see O (all of us), watching the Bellagio fountains, eating at PF Changs 3 times, and my favorite part - shopping! Eric saved up money and gave me a shopping spree for mother's day. Best. Present. Ever. I finally found some clothes that will fit (most are too big or too small right now). And I really enjoyed getting to shop with Jenn. She has a much better sense or style and is much more helpful than Eric :)

So here are some pictures from our fun trip...
The stage of La Reve -
Going into LOVE -
Old Downtown -



M&M factory -

Up next are Kingsville and Baby Will!