Vacation Part 2

The thrird day we were there, we drove into Austin and went to a park to take the boys on a little train ride through a beautiful park in the middle of the city. It was full of people playing, exercising, swimming, and kyaking. Loved it!

Praise!

Remember a month ago when I asked you to pray for rain? Well, last night I woke up at 1:00 AM, I thought I heard thunder so I jumped out of bed and looked out the window. Nothing. I got right back in bed and heard it again...this time for sure! I jumped back out of bed, looked out the window and it was pouring!

We had a pretty big thunderstorm come through, and it lasted a few hours. I was SO excited, because this is the first time it's rained ALL year (for longer than 1 minute). The first storm! Plus it was 111* this past weekend.  We were all drained from the heat, the rain was such a fresh and cooling blessing for us!

We did however wake up this morning to our flowers turned over, our grill dumped out and turned over on the ground, and our patio cover....well it was upside down on TOP of our roof. I really wish I had a picture, but I don't. It took me all day to realize that I was missing a hanging Boston Fern from the backyard. I happened to look out a window on the side of our house and there it was, and a few feet over was the pot it's supposed to be in. Whew, what weather we have.

After all of that, I am still just most thankful for the rain! Thank you for your prayers, keep em' comin' please?!

Vacation Part 1

A few weeks ago we headed to Austin to see some precious friends. We stayed for 3 days at their GORGEOUS home. Really, stunning.

The boys had so much fun playing with their kids, and talk about them everyday. Great friends!

They spent the whole first day exploring the property.







This is the view from our room!!! Oh my!



More fun for the boys.











We spent the evening outside around a campfire, roasting marshmallows and chasing fireflies. It was simply wonderful.

Small Entry Makeover

A few years ago, we put down a wood floor and spent hours painting our entry. Last year, I found a bench I loved, and put it in the entry.



THIS year, I wanted to add some color to it all. I searched garage sales and found a giant frame for $2.



I dug through some fabric I had on hand, and chose my favorite one. I recovered the bench pad, and chose a color from the fabric to paint the frame, leaving some of the natural wood to show through.



I added some pictures to the frame. (My handsome husband tells me everytime he walks in the entry how much he loves the frame and pictures...yay!)



And...the fabric. Bright and colorful.




So for under $5, we have a whole "new" entry. It has added color and has a playful touch that I love living in a house full of boys!

Thankful

370. my precious family
371. getting to see and visit friends we haven't seen in years!
372. brothers reading together



373. summer time! (pretty much)
374. eating outside daily
375. new, green grass
376. this beautiful, playful pup, who just LOVES to roll in that grass



377. time to be still
378. serving such a faithful God
379. fun ideas that turn into reality
380. little boys asking to give all the money in their piggy banks to those who need it
381. a cool summer night

Lake Part II (Who We "Ran" Into)

Like I said in the first part of our lake adventure, we made one last stop before heading home. We happened to see something that caught our eyes, and man were we thrilled!



Isn't that SO fun!! They're parked right in front of the local drive-in theater.



And guess who?!

Saturday Morning Breakfast-Alfresco!

This morning I woke up and made homemade waffles for the boys. It was a surprise, so they had to stay out of the kitchen! I had them set the back porch table and I brought them these simple and sweet watermelon waffles.
We're getting  to that Summer Bucket List of ours! If you missed our lake adventure...here ya go!






With chocolate chip seeds:


And our morning Bible study




Watermelon waffle credit here (much cuter)

Day At The Lake

The other morning we opted to keep Jaiden home from school (year round school) and pack up a picnic, life jackets, and the boat. We headed for the first lake trip of the season, and man did we have a good ol' time!

Of course, it wouldn't be a lake trip if our boat didn't die on us in the middle of nowhere OR we didn't get stuck. This time we got stuck. We were unloading the boat into the water and one of the trailer wheels just sunk right down into the sand... like quick sand. We tried everything we could think of, and the people who were parked next to us came in off the lake and offered to help us push our boat (which is NOT in the water at this point) into the lake so that our heavy load would be off the trailer. We pushed for about 5-10 minutes and the boat went in the water, and we easily pulled the trailer out of the sinking mud. Nice.

After that, we headed out for hours of boat riding and raft pulling fun.









Then we parked it on Sandy Beach and played and snacked for a while.



 




I was realizing that I was in a LOT of pain. You see, I did put on sunscreen, but right when I was in the middle of putting it on Brighton had to go potty. When that kid needs to go...well you'd better get going! I slathered the little bit of sunscreen on my hands on to my thighs and headed to the potty. When we came back, I forgot to finish my legs...SO needless to say almost three hours in the 103* sun I was in serious pain. I literally begged to go home...I couldn't stand it any longer.

So, we stopped at Dairy Queen and headed home. I've been in my pjs ever since. We DID happen to make one small stop. Stay tuned and I'll show you who we "ran" into... 

On My Mind (links I love)

I just can't quite get over this...haha oh my! This had me cracking up...in tears. <-----Click it. really.

Been waiting to see this room...and boy o boy I love it!

A habit that can change your life.

Homemade bug spray. Can't wait to try!

Can't wait to taste test sun tea with the boys!

Started praying for these boys in our lives.

As usual I add more fun links and inspiring things in the sidebar ---->

Father's Day Gift

Our boys are outside playing on the trampoline with the sprinkler on and I have a watermelon to hand out as their snack, but I wanted to share what I was up to over the weekend really quickly!

I've been thinking about a truly thoughtful gift for my husband for Father's Day. I came up with 2, and started planning and saving up for the supplies I needed. The first thing is what I'm going to share today because, he already got it. Yep. I planned on totally emptying and cleaning and organizing the garage for him. We had so much stacked up in there. Stuff to donate and stuff to organize. No organization whatsoever. None.

Well the other day I overheard him telling his mom that he was going to clean the garage when he was off next. SO that made me panic a bit, so while he worked on Friday I went out and bought the supplies I needed ($40 worth) and Saturday the boys and I woke up bright and early and set out to do some cleaning.

I made a place for every single thing in there. I also made a place for pet supplies, to hang our ladder, a shelf for garden stuff, and auto stuff. (that is on the side of the garage not pictured below)

But here is the before....I'm so sorry you have to see this hehe



Yes. I have to say, that was completely out of hand.

My little helpers really did help me out so much....for about an hour...



And here are the afters which include and old table we had in our backyard used for tools on top and under. The peg board actually put to good use. And just a good cleaning and organizing and stuff that needed donated, actually donated =]



It took me 5 hours. My husband was really thrilled when he got home! My car battery died, so when he came home he needed the jumper cables to give it a boost. He walked into the garage and said, "oh wow!" Haha, then I showed him where everything was. It is so nice to go in now!

A Hard Days Work

Last Saturday we worked together as a family to lay sod in our backyard. We could've paid someone to do it, but we wanted our kids to know all the hard work it takes and that as a family we can do it together. The boys worked SO hard. We started at 11:00 AM.



He couldn't find the extra rake...





We shoveled a ton of dirt.





After a few hours, it was finally time to lay the sod. I brought the sod to him, he cut it if needed and pieced it together.



Halfway done. 100* outside...whew!



And finally, 7:00 pm. We.Were.Done.