1997 – A young and unsuspecting girl begins experiencing a lot of abdominal pain

1998 – Girl has her gallbladder removed days before meeting her future husband and feels much better

2004 – Same girl has an emergency c-section – for some reason doctors are more concerned with baby’s health than being careful and gentle with girl’s stomach

2005 – Girl has surgery to remove a tumor that made its presence known, and decided to go ahead and have a dead ovary removed for good measure 

2007 – Ah, another c-section in which the doctor said, “Oh, we’ll have to make the incision bigger to get this big baby out” – lovely

Somewhere between 2005 and 2007 – Girl’s body decides an umbilical hernia would be the next logical step

July 2008 – Since girl’s stomach hasn’t seen enough of an operating room, doctor decides to go in and repair aforementioned hernia to prevent any future emergency situations

Present – August 14 – Girl is under strict instructions not to lift her 2 children (or anything else over 15 pounds) because the fear of God has been instilled in her by her husband and mother…not to mention the surgeon

There you have it – that’s what I’ve been up to.  If anyone out there has a hankering to come and make a 17 month old feel loved by carrying her around and putting her down for a nap, you know where to come!

Thank you, Mimi, for coming last night to play with us and read us our Bible story.  We love you!  E&R

A couple of weeks ago my mom, Addi & Libby came to the pool with us.  I laughed thinking about how their personalities were so reflected in the few pictures I took.  Maybe you can identify with at least one of them!

Addison: Independent, confident, underwater swimmer, leading the pack, happy to be in her cute swimsuit, a little annoyed that Ethan didn’t want to go down the slides

Ethan: extremely cautious, had to be in the ring or stuck to me, loved spraying other people with water but did NOT want people spraying him, a little annoyed (okay, mildly panicked) that I made him go down the slide…once

Libby: a little fish, just happy to be with other happy people, tried to do everything Addi did, a little annoyed that she couldn’t do everything Addi did

Rachel: Sleepy, tired, exhausted, hungry, a little annoyed that the sun was so bright during her nap

I guess it’s no secret which two had the best time!

Last Friday night Clay and I took a little overnight getaway with the Pilgrims to Loyd Park in Grand Prairie.  We bought the camper for family bonding, but hey, nothing says family bonding like a rested mom and dad!  My parents graciously kept our kids, and Nicole’s mom answered the call to keep their kids and off we went.  It was hot as blazes and we really didn’t even care.  The guys didn’t get out there until after 6:00 Friday night, so that allowed Nicole and I to get nice and caught up on all of the celebrity scandals and goings on.  We grilled burgers Friday night, and apparently I packed our food in a hurry because we didn’t have ANYTHING to season the burgers.  My incredibly “inventive” husband decided to put barbeque bean juice on the burgers, and they actually weren’t bad.  We ate a lot of junk food and caffeinated ourselves into obliviion and delusion, and then had a really good breakfast that didn’t involve bibs, booster seats or spilled drinks.  We walked around the lake for a while and then headed back home to retrieve the kiddos.  While many people would not see camping as a getaway, it was just what we needed.

Our home for the evening

Those wonderful bean burgers

At the lake

Our traditional pose in front of the sign

 
(you have to click on this one for the full effect)

Do you see Ethan, Rachel, Lauryn & Allison anywhere in this photo?

Oh, no, that’s right – they were WAY more interested in the ducks outside of the pool than the brand new pool we took them to.  I wish I was this easily entertained.

I loved everything about the 4th of July.  This is the first year we’ve taken the kids to a parade, and the Arlington one didn’t disappoint.  We met the Davis’, Pilgrims and Glovers there, and really enjoyed watching the bands, floats, horses, and incredibly random cars driving by.  Does anyone understand those random people that just drive in the parade waving like everyone should know who they are?  Anyway, despite the heat it was a lot of fun, and we went to a 50s burger place for lunch. 





After naps Clay and I decided to take the kids to Hawaiian Falls for the rest of the afternoon.  (If anyone out there is curious, you get reduced admission if you go after 4:00, and 3 hours was plenty for the kids.)  We met Cara, Jack and Josie there and loved just hanging out together.  And the perfect end to the day?  A chicken finger basket and blizzard at DQ!  I had no idea there was an old Dairy Queen in Mansfield – we saw the sign on the way to the water park, and that’s pretty much all I could think about while we were there.  I really wish I would have taken a picture of all of us in Dairy Queen at 8:00 in our swimsuits on the 4th of July – especially since Ethan was wearing his England shirt Clay brought back.  Nothing like a little patriotism!

…and it feels so good