Cade is ONE!

It has been an incredible year watching you grow, Cade. We love you buddy!
Happy Birthday!

4th of July Celebration

Some of our dear family friends invited us to celebrate the 4th at their beautiful lake house with their children and grandchildren. I have grown up with this precious family and the weekend brought back many lake memories of times spent with their family growing up. It is so fun to now see our kiddos play together. Luke had a blast working a lemonade/popcorn stand with his friends (btw, they made a lot of money), roasting smores/hot dogs, riding the "Kangaroo" on the lake, swimming w/ his buddies, chasing little Gracen all around & watching a spectacular fireworks show in the yard that was literally right above our heads. Thank you friends for a weekend filled with great 4th of July memories! Much love to all of you...

Basket Fun

Hockey Star

Time to drop the puck!

Headed to the penalty box already...I thought hitting furniture was legal.

Shaking hands with my greatest fan....Yes, I will sign your pacifier.

This fan won't quit following me onto the ice. Does he want to lose a tooth?

Man, that's a rough game...I need a snack break.

Blessed....

Pa and Papa, you are the best grandpa's in the entire world. Our boys love you both to pieces & look forward to any minute spent with you. Anthony & I are also grateful for the examples you were to us growing up. We certainly never lacked for love from our fathers and for that we will always be thankful. It was great fun to be with you yesterday and celebrate how special you are to us.
And to the Uncles :), one day I know that you will both be spectacular dads. Until then, our boys are just really lucky to get your undivided attention and have two really fun & energetic playmates. Luke just loves his Uncle Blake & Uncle Mike. He prays for you both every night & looks forward to any time with you :)!
Anthony, you are the most amazing daddy. Our boys are so, so blessed to have you as their playmate, best friend, example and SUPERHERO (seriously, when Luke was asked on a preschool worksheet something special about his daddy, he told his teacher that his daddy was a superhero) :)! Luke and Cade are blessed to have a daddy who loves God & seeks His wisdom on how to parent them. Thank you for praying for and with them. I love how Cade arches his neck as far as he can to find you in any room - grinning from ear to ear. And Luke is ready for play time with his superhero 24 hrs. a day! Happy Father's Day to three very special men. We are indeed BLESSED!

Most Improved Swimmer

Well, today was the last day of Luke's two week swim class. After week one, Luke still had quite a few skills to accomplish before receiving his badge. He would come out each day telling me that he didn't swim through the hoop and didn't get his badge! He would head back to the gate telling me that he would tell the teachers to give him his badge. :) On another day after he told me he didn't get a badge, I asked him "why?", and he said, "I don't know mommy, you tell me!" Great news...determination and hard work is always rewarded! :)Into the second week, Luke came out with some of his teachers holding a Dipper badge. They said he had "exploded" that day and definitely earned the badge. Today we finally got to go see what the little fish has learned over the past two weeks. Anthony and I arrived having no idea what to expect remembering the day we took him to my parent's pool to "practice" a few weeks ago.... Luke was very attached to the floaties and was much more interested in playing pirates in the spa or showing us all the cool swimming tricks his toy fish, Sherman, could do. He was in no way enjoying the "practicing" part of swimming. In fact, he wasn't excited at all!

Today Luke received the Most Improved Swimmer award in his class. This is the only award given in the class and Luke was so proud. :) Mommy and Daddy were also happy that our money resulted in some improved swimming...and a little bit proud of the little fish as well. Luke can swim right through that water! It was great fun to see all the kiddos swim - in their own little ways!

RoughRiders & Famous Chicken

Last night we met some dear friends at the ball park & took Luke to his first ever baseball game!! Luke and his precious little girlfriend, Camie, had so much fun watching the game, bouncing in the bounce house, playing on the playground, meeting Daisy (one of the mascots), eating cotton candy/peanuts/hot dogs and watching the Famous Chicken who just happened to make an appearance! Luke got a game program as he walked into the stadium & on the front was a picture of the Famous Chicken. The entire game Luke desperately wanted to show his program to the Chicken and tell him that his picture was on the front. Luke kept holding the program up and trying to show it to the Chicken while he was out on the field. Luke really wanted to break the big news to the Chicken that he had a book w/ his picture on it. Luke went to bed w/ the program last night and has been carrying it around much of today. He still wanted to give it to the Chicken as we were leaving last night, but I finally convinced him that the Chicken "made" that book for him. That seemed to really make Luke happy and he never asked to give it to the Chicken again. Oh, and Luke also got a chance to give the Chicken a high five at the dugout, but there just wasn't time to show the Chicken his picture! :)
As we were leaving the ball park, Luke looked up and said, "But, I thought it was going to be my turn to go play out there." I think Anthony instantly got chills and nearly passed out! We told Luke that one day we would be glad to let him play professional baseball (and you can be sure that on the way home I made it very clear that we are supporting him now and when he hits it big at the ball park one day, he better remember his mommy and daddy). We definitely enjoyed our Summer night at the ball park. Go RoughRiders!