Visit To Nana and Papa's Place

My mom and dad took the kiddos for a few days again this summer. They had a great time and I loved getting updates on their time at Nana and Papa's house before we joined them.

Lots of game time. :)

One of the highlights of the visit was getting to help with/see harvest. Although this was not our goal, harvest was a bit late, so they got quite the "field trip" while at the farm. Such a great experience for them as they were at the right ages learning how it all worked was quite interesting.

Uncle A.J. took them each on a trip to the grain elevator.
(As far as I know, Makin didn't really drive. ;) )

Pizza On Broadway is the local pizza shop and has some limited hours
(part of the small town charm right?) but Nana got them in for a pizza lunch one day.

Fun at the city pool. They love taking the floatie down the slide.

They shopped and put together Christmas gift boxes for The Orphan Grain Train.

After we arrived for our part of the visit, Brad and Makin spent part of the morning at the golf course.
These boys can't get enough golf.

This girl loved going out and capturing grasshoppers to watch for a while.

Belgian waffle breakfast.
Always an extra treat when mom cooks!

Makin loved playing frisbee.

There is a small--town museum about one hour away from my parent's house that Brad and I always intended to stop at but when we drive there we just don't make the stop. Mom and I decided to venture there one of our visit days and found such a Texas History gem! We had no problem spending two hours there and feel like we all loved learning a bit more history.

Butter churn.
(Am I the only one who always pictured these being the huge ones you churned on a big chair outside like in Oklahoma!?)

Huge arrowhead collection.

Amazing to see the history of tractors and how they have progressed.
This tractor was approximately 100 years old.

I was completely in love with the old printing press.

Seeing how they had their houses set up, especially during the dust bowl.
(Plates flipped over on table so they wouldn't get dusty...)
Its hard to see in this pic but there is a giant dust bowl picture on the wall next to them.

One of my favorite glimpses at history was the story of the town of how Perryton came to be. As the Santa Fe Railroad was being laid out, they did not put the tracks near the towns as they had hoped, so the towns of Ochiltree, TX and Gray, OK decided to move to the railroad and become one town. They literally picked up and moved their towns. As you can see, the story made big news. :)

Our horse-lovin' girl loved the livery barn replica.

Old fashioned store.

One treat during this visit was getting to see A.J. Since he was on summer break, he stayed at mom and dad's to help with harvest. He also stepped in as the fun Uncle and played games etc with the kids if he had any downtime. So thankful we got to see more of him than we have in a long time!

Thanks for a fun visit Nana and Papa!

A Few Kid-Free Days

My parents graciously took the kids for a few days and Brad and I enjoyed some kid-free time. Brad still worked during the weekdays, but it was a bit of a "staycation" in the evenings and then on Saturday.

We were so excited there was a theater that still had this movie!
We about fell over when we realized how cheap our night out was! :)

Easy supper after the movie...
one of my favorite parts of our staycation...I didn't cook once!

We headed out with friends one night. Yum. Yes it was as good as it looks.

Escape room fun with friends! This was Brad's first and my second.
He loved it and we can't wait to go again!

Saturday we drove out of the city to try a golf course Brad's cousin recommended.
One of my favorite couple of moments was seeing deer in the trees nearby twice while he was golfing!

Summer Fun - Father's Day, Golf Camp, Friends Swim Time

Father's Day
This year we really enjoyed our time together on Father's Day and Brad planned a pretty great day. After church we headed to Top Golf and just had lunch while we played. (I watched. ;)) Then we headed home for his "movie night" of choice which was watching The US Open.

After two hours...oh cant we stay longer?

After two hours. lol!

Since we don't typically watch much TV I really cherish the downtime when we do!
So thankful this guy still wants to cuddle with his mom!

Golf Camp
Brittany found a relatively affordable golf camp and asked if we would want to sign our kiddos up. We love that we have another GCA family interested in golf! Of course our kiddos always love more friend time! They went four days and seemed to enjoy it. Makin is absolutely in love with golf. Lorelei enjoys it too and we are hoping she continues to want to learn more!

The coach liked to ask them questions during water breaks.

Swimming With Friends
The Denmans arranged to have swim lessons twice a week at our pool. The kiddos loved getting to swim together!

These girls were so excited to match!

Late May and Early June

Wrapping Up Yearbook
After returning from our trip it was time for me to get back into work mode. I had blocked off the last week of May as a yearbook work week. This meant I basically worked on yearbook all day every day other than feeding the family. This also included a couple of days going into school to work with the high schoolers to finish up their spreads. I was hoping to be done by June 1st, but ended up working on it most days until June 8th. I was thankful for friends helping out to get us through it, but it was definitely

not my favorite couple of weeks. I basically wanted a book similar to what I grew up working on, but that was five days a week with a staff of twenty people. This was one day a week with six students who had never done this type of book before...but hopefully, everyone will enjoy their book this year at GCA! (And really by this point I just hope nobody's name is misspelled.)

No surprise this guy came to the rescue for me countless times throughout this whole process.

Autumn and Christi came to edit and catch mistakes. There were lots. So thankful.

Brad is following a Paleo diet and the idea of figuring out a birthday treat for him was doable but a bit overwhelming, especially with minimal prep time. Emily feeds her family paleo and kindly offered to bake Brad's cake!

Keeping Cool

Lorelei and Maci loved the lazy river at Jack Carter Pool.

Summer Reading
We love all the extra time we have to read in the summer!

Brad's Birthday
Brad took the afternoon off and we had an afternoon golf outing. Then we enjoyed some cake.

Lorelei sewed this for him this year.

Sunday Sundae's
The kids love any excuse for ice cream. (They take after their mother. ;) ) We may end up with having some each Sunday if we can remember.

Park Time
The weather has been surprisingly cool for June in Texas so we fit in some park time!

Fourteen Years
Brad and I celebrated our 14 year anniversary by going out for supper. Christine even volunteered to watch the kids so we could go out kid-free.

Peter Rabit
We caught Peter Rabit at the theater for their $1 summer movies. This has become one of their favorite movies and really make them laugh.

Lego Headboard
This has been a work in progress for some time and Makin was so excited to finally get his headboard up!