88 Young

 My grandpa celebrated his 88th birthday on April 14. We celebrated with a birthday lunch to celebrate him! My aunt and cousin came in from Illinois. We snapped a few pictures of Grandpa with three of his four great-grandkids. Cayson and Taryn completely adore him. I'm grateful that they are able to have a relationship with him.

A Jolly Holiday with Mary!

We got to experience a fun, cultural event over the weekend - Mary Poppins! It is such a neat thing because I introduced Dusty and the kids to Mary Poppins about a month ago. Afterwards, I heard the musical was coming to the city area but tickets were sky-high out of our price range! Last week, low and behold, a friend texted me offering to sell 5 extra tickets that they had. Awesome!

So, we took Mom along and headed to our first musical. I was a little anxious about Taryn's ability to sit still through the entire production but she surprised us and behaved very well for a two year old. She took a 10 minute nap during the show but was otherwise mesmerized by the singing, dancing and acting.

The kids loved hearing the familiar music from the movie. I definitely think it was good for them to see the movie beforehand so they knew what to expect and were a bit familiar with it.

Cayson was surprised when one of his best buddies was there! I forgot to tell him beforehand. He & Nick had a great time sitting together for the show.

It was a fun day... filled with Panera, Dollar Tree, Mary Poppins, Target and Jersey Mike's. :)

4th of July 2012

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays... I love celebrating our freedom, our country, the soldiers and our flag! We live in a blessed country that we often take for granted. This year, Dusty had to work but I went ahead and had a little get-together for our family and a few friends.

We started off the day with a quick shopping trip to hit some local boutique's sales... you know, that screams Independence Day, right?

After lunch and naps, we had some pool time... now that does scream Independence Day to me! My sister, brother-in-law and mom came over to swim with us.

Taryn now prefers to give a pouty face instead of a smile when I take pictures. Stinker!

Uncle Keith was lots of fun!

Rebecca tested out the underwater feature of my camera. It works great! Ha ha.

 
I got absolutely no pictures of the food and eating part of the day. Oops! We had a huge spread of baked beans, pasta salad, watermelon (yum!), charcoaled sweet corn, hot dogs, hamburgers, homemade ice cream, chocolate chip cookies and lemonade cupcakes. Whew! It was delicious!

We headed out to watch the local fireworks to finish off the night! Fun, fun! Thanks to all who came over and thanks to all who have fought for our freedom!

Memorial Day 2012

Memorial Day is an important holiday to me - a day to remember those who died fighting for our freedom, those who have served our country and those who are currently serving the U.S.A. I am proud to have several close family members who have served in World War II, Vietnam, and the Korean War. I am so proud of the veterans in our family! You can read more about my grandpa here.

This year, we headed to a small town south of our town for their Memorial Day program. Grandpa was the main speaker so we were excited to hear him speak! It was a very neat program with patriotic music, speakers, and patriotic refreshments afterwards. A great production for a little town!

The kids and I

Grandpa speaking

He was given an honorary citizenship for the town.

Taryn and her granddaddy

The kids both really love their great-granddaddy. We are blessed to have him around and that they have such a great relationship with him. He's 87 years old!

We stopped by a wheat field on our way home to snap a few pictures. What is more patriotic than a wheat field and beautiful blue skies?!?!

Redneck Speed Demons

You would have thought Granddaddy offered the world to the kids... the Dixon lawnmower rides brought big smiles from both kiddos. 

 

They each got to drive by themselves. Cayson was very good at negotiating the yard and turning using the levers. Taryn drove as slow as a tortoise. She loved it though!

These are the memories they'll remember - fun afternoon lawnmower rides with Granddaddy.

Zoo Time!

We made a little trip to the wonderful zoo last week for some great fun! It was a cold day.... Momma didn't dress appropriately and ended up borrowing Daddy's hoodie for the day. Oops!

Cayson loves maps and loves being the "navigator" of everything! His favorite part of the zoo trip was the tram ride. He always looks forward to the tram ride and asked about it all morning long until he finally got his wish! I do love how the tram is an easy way to see a lot of animals!

The Children's Zoo and petting zoo was fun for both kiddos this time around! They loved the goats! 

 

My dad is a little infamous for his love of fair type food - especially ice cream and funnel cake! He shared some funnel cake with Cayson at the same spot we always had funnel cake growing up. 

My favorite part was seeing the new baby elephant! We got a perfect view of it on the tram ride... wish I had my camera ready because it was the cutest thing ever! Precious!!! We also saw a funny spider monkey who put on a show and a goofy orangutan.

Memorial Day Weekend part 1

We had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend – it’s hard to believe that another weekend is upon us! We were excited because we got to spend time with both of our families plus friends!

We spent some time in Carnegie with Dusty’s family on Sunday – which I don’t have pictures of. Sarah=fail

After some time with the Jarnagins, we headed to the lake to cookout with my family. Cayson was so excited to get to fish!

The Grill Master- Rebecca

 

Miss Taryn chilling

 

Fishing time!

I will admit that the lake was a little too natural for me. Ha ha! I’m just not fond of dirt, sweat and bugs. There was a spider incident… we all know how much I despise spiders.