NYR

Last week, we were at NYR (Nationwide Youth Roundup) in Colorado. It was a great week with many inspiring and convicting sermons, classes, and music. We saw some friends that we hadn't seen in awhile (some since last year). We went to Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, and swimming in the river during the week. Here are a lot of pictures from our week. There's a lot!!

Garden of the gods

Near the base of Pikes Peak

Sara, Kylee, & Scott

At Nationwide

Kylee & Dianna

Kylee & Cambell

Kylee & Cambell - This is a little girl that is 6 weeks younger than Kylee. They have played together for the last couple years.

Jared & Kylee - He was at our church camp with us this year and also rode part of the way with us to NYR. She was extremely excited about that because she likes him a whole lot!

Boating fun

My cousin Katie and her husband James were at our house at the end of July. They spoke to the church here about their long term missions plans in West Africa. It was so nice to spend time with them. On Saturday, Josh's cousin (also Katie's cousin) Cassie & her husband Grant invited us all to go boating with them. We had a great time out on and in the water. We all slept real well that night!

Josh & James

Esther & Katie

James on the wakeboard

Esther & Kylee

Esther & Katie

Kylee & Katie

Lawn Mowing

Our lawn was getting quite long, so Josh (with Kylee's help) mowed the lawn last Friday. Kylee was happy to have her own wheelbarrow and rake just like her daddy's.

Then she insisted that Daddy use her rake and she use his.

Tagged by Betsy

I was tagged by Betsy about a month ago! Oh well. Some things take me awhile to get to.

A Attached or Single: married for 9 years on July 31st
B Best Friend: Joshua
C Cake or Pie: Pie ususally
D Day of Choice: Friday
E Essential Item: water bottle
F Flavor of Icecream: Bryers Strawberry
G Gummy Bears or Worms: I guess worms, although I rarely eat them
H Hometown: Reno, NV
I Indulgence: Starbucks
J January or July: July
K Kids: Kylee Paige
L Last movie I saw at a theater: Indiana Jones (Josh's Pick!)
M Musician: Barlow Girl, Chris Tomlin and others
N Number of Siblings: 1 sister
O Oranges or Apples: both
P Phobias or Fears: small spaces, spiders
Q Quote: "Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." -Anon
R Reason to Smile: Kylee, Snow (I live in Louisiana), Coffee, dates with Josh
S Season: spring
T Tag: Dianna, Kari
U Unknown fact: hmmm....
V Vegetarian or oppressor of Animals: neither
W Worst habit: Interrupting people (I make Josh get after me when I do that)
X Xray or Ultrasound: I've had both
Y Your favorite food: Fresh Fruit, Bulgogi (Korean)
Z Zodiac sign: Leo (I had to look it up!)

4th of July

We spent a relaxing day together yesterday, took Kylee to a park near here that has some crocodiles in a cage (good thing), met up with a friend for lunch, and then went to the fireworks with some friends from church. I'm always impressed at the fireworks here, especially since Crowley is such a small town.

Church camp

We were at our church camp all last week. We had a great time, but were very ready to be back in our own beds again. The night we got home, Kylee was playing in the living room and then went back to her room where I thought she was playing, but when I went to check on her, I found her asleep in her bed. She must have missed her bed, too!!

Noah, Gracie, Billie Jo, & Kylee playing in the rain.

The sand hill that the kids loved to play on.

Kylee absolutely loved the pool this year. I put her floaties on and all she wanted to do was to swim by herself (with her floaties on of course).

Babies sleeping!!

The other day I went to see what Kylee was doing because it was way too quite in her bedroom. This is how I found her!!! I had to take this picture quietly because her babies were sleeping while she read to them (not sure how that works!!).







We have a crape myrtle tree in our yard and it is beautiful when the flowers bloom on it. I just had to take picture of it this year.

A visit from friends

It hasn't been quite a month since I blogged last, but pretty close to it. Wow!

The day after Father's Day, some friends came through Crowley on their way back home from visiting family. They stayed the evening and night with us. They brought a kitten with them which Kylee was absolutely thrilled about. We had a great time and hope they come back through soon, or we get to take a trip to Alabama in the near future.

Mara & Kylee

Kylee and the kitten (they hadn't named it yet)

Ben, Michelle, Josh, Esther, Mara, Kylee, & the kitten