More Camping Pics

 I snapped a few portraits while camping...

 My awesome mother-in-law, Gloria

 My handsome nephew, Carter

 My fav of him

 Sweet Ruckus Magoo

I am going to use this one as his 2 yr. portrait.  Love it!

Okay, this was not while camping, but I had to share.  

Oklahoma Camping Trip

We spent a long weekend up in the Oachita mountains of Oklahoma camping with Kyle's family.  With the Stringers, camping means trail riding horses everyday.  I had the best time.  I always really enjoy it, but it used to really take a lot out of me.  This is my first time to do this since my surgery and I felt awesome!  I would get up and hike with Seth and nephew Carter in the mornings and be ready to ride after that.  Blake was just in awe of everything.  He loved every minute.  Seth even rode on his own a couple of times and did really well - just around camp, though.

We actually got to see some fall color!  Can I just say that seeing Kyle on a horse - how well he works with them, not to mention how good he looks - was maybe 30% of why I married him?

 Carlton and Gloria - best in-laws ever!  Carlton bought me my own saddle!!  I love it.  Now, to get a horse... hopefully next year.

Kyle and his mini-me:

Seth burning a stick.  It was really cold the first night.  Well. It was in the 30's that night and that was plenty cold for me.  I live in San Antonio for a reason!  Even Dallas was too cold.  Thank you Auntie Sue for buying us that electric blanket for our wedding that we didn't register for, it has been used countless times.

Kyle's sister Kali has a miniature horse named Puddin'.  Oh. My.  The boys were in love.  Blake and Cullen were always on him.  Seth was a little big.

Any time you would go to get Cullen off, he would lean away and yell "Don't get me off!  Don't get me off!"   He would have slept there if possible.  By the way, don't you just love slack little baby muscles?  So cute.  I could just eat him.

Pedernales Falls Camping trip

First off, we went camping with our friends the Pattisons at Pedernales Falls State Park.  It was gorgeous!!  Even during extreme drought, when the falls aren't even flowing, there are still huge deep gorgeous pools of water that they inexplicably won't let you swim in.

You'll have to excuse different styles of the same photo.  I am having so much fun with Photoshop Elements.  For those of you who have Photoshop, or Elements are you aware of the FREE actions Pioneer Woman and Coffeeshop Blog offer?  They are amazing!  I have had and enjoyed PW's actions since last year, but I just downloaded about 15 actions off of Coffeeshop blog and am having fun playing around with them.

love the lens flare sunkissed look!

The falls from higher up

Do not be too harsh on our looks in this photo!  We have on no makeup and we all slept pretty horribly.    

We borrowed my parents tent since Leni and Nate don't have one, but we neglected to borrow tent poles.  So, Leni and I slept in the tent with all the kids.  Oh, did I mention I forgot a fan?  So hot.  Barely slept.  Cullen kept waking up b/c he was too hot also.  The men slept outside.  Preston and Seth slept in the trailer and when they woke up they woke Kyle up to tell them they were going on a bike ride.  Kyle looked at his watch b/c it was still dark and it was 3:45!!  They went back to bed.  Even without much sleep we had a wonderful time. We hiked and swam and listened to Nate play the guitar .

Cullen and Ruby mugging down. - PW's Lovely action

Sunkissed action from Coffeeshop

Blake's 4th Birthday

 Blake's 4th birthday was August 20th and for the first time ever I actually paid to have it someplace because it was just so hot!!  We had it at a gymnastics place and it was awesome!  I only wished I had been a little better healed up so I could goof off in the foam pit and on the trampoline too.  He wanted a "friend lion" for a cake so this is what we came up with.  Definitely not in the same league as previous cakes, but he loved it.  I cannot begin to express how much I love that little boy.  He is my little mirror for sure!  He of all the boys is the most like me and I get a glimpse of what I must have been like: affectionate, sweet, stubborn, a very slow eater, and messy.  Hmmm, maybe I'm still like that?

 Friggs on his first day of school.  He is at a new school and in second grade.  He is quite outgoing so he's made several friends already and likes his teacher.

I cannot keep this kid out of the spaghetti noodles!  Always worth getting in trouble over and climbing pantry shelves for.  Pick your battles, dude.

This is the Ruckus Magoo.  We have phased out calling him Nutters.  I'm not saying this is any better.  Ruckus Magoo has several songs that go with his nickname.  One song is to the tune of "The Princess Pat."  Anybody remember that one?  Blake has a song based on Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" but it's "Potentate"  Does anyone else do this?  My poor children are growing up with a skewed sense of normal...

What's More Fun Than Dirt?

Mud, of course! Of course it hasn't rained, but the boys made their own mud next to their little pool.

Dirt and Other Fun Things

What's fun? Sittin' in the dirt...

I already posted this on facebook so I won't retell the whole story, but in a nutshell, the boys climbed their bookshelf, made it snow, then went to sleep in a blue wonderland. Clean up time with shop vac: 2.5 hours.

Who doesn't love a little filth?

Saving a snack for later...

Who needs paper?

Birthdays

We did have a birthday party for Seth (7) and Cullen (2) back in May, but I never got around to blogging about it. They had a great time, but I didn't get very many good pics of birthday cake etc. b/c the person assigned to the camera took blurry pics. No pic of cake or even Seth! Fail! Oh well, here's what I got:

Cullen at 2 years

Me and my friend Alison

Mom and Andy. Keep those prayers coming for healing! I truly feel such a peace about her trial with cancer, that she will be healed and look back on this as a trial and a testament.

We actually got an inch of rain in July and this is our creek with water in it! Usually we have a pretty small pool about 10 feet long. After the rain, all the pools fill up with 2-3 feet of water and the whole creek had an inch covering it. And that with 1 inch of rain in an extreme drought! Imagine a wet year...

We moved Cullen to his big boy bed when we moved to the cabin.

It gets mixed results - this is nap time. We are training diligently! Really, I just take a pic first...

We got to go on our annual trip to the houseboat in Arkansas with our Aggie friends. This has become a yearly tradition that is only missed because of having babies or other major things! Our first trip was in 2002 and I meant to scan a pic of that trip but it has been misplaced somewhere (buried in a pile on my desk). I love these friends! God has blessed me so much through the years. While recovering from surgery Colleen (2nd girl from left) came and did my laundry, and Sarah (2nd girl from right) came down, took care of me, and froze me several meals.

I am recovering quite nicely from surgery. I got to keep both ovaries, a major victory. The doctor said my endometriosis was not bad at all - very different from my last few surgeries! It is weird, but with endometriosis, pain level does not correlate with amount of endo. I have had a tremendous amount of help from everyone. Such a testament of God's love! My sisters-in-law took care of my kids for a week. My boys did not miss us at all (a good thing!) they just had an awesome vacation. Then my church family and friends swooped in with meals, housekeeping, visitors, laundry. I have been so blessed. I am a month out now and as long as don't overdo I feel great. I can walk around, do laundry, cook, etc. but I still don't sweep or mop or scrub anything! I know my limits. Thanks to everyone who prayed me through. My endo pain is completely gone.