Always a Princess

We have some really great friends, the Murphy's, who always include us in their fun activities! Every time Ryan and Bobbi Murphy come into town from Utah, we are able to celebrate their kids' birthdays and have lots of fun. This year, they surprised the kids with Tiana and Rapunzel.The princesses came with lots of fun games and prizes.The girls all dressed up as princesses or fairies and had a blast! They played games for about an hour...and learned all the princess poses!And then it was time to say good-bye!Bobbi made this cute Rapunzel hair for all the girls!And then Susan played a few more games with the girls. Avery was having the girls all wave like a princess here.I think Addie and Ashton have it down!Then it was time to sit down at the table...
where they enjoyed eating like a princess and getting fun goody bags, which included a cute little frog!
The girls had so much fun! Smiles all around!!

Happy Fourth of July!!

Happy Fourth of July!! July 4th is always a fun holiday for us! Being friends of the Vaclaw's, you can't help but look forward to this holiday! I believe this was their 7th annual firework show, and I believe we've attended every one!They've been doing t-shirts for the family for a few years now, but this year they sold them to everyone. It was actually a lot easier than trying to find red, white and blue outfits! Of course being all decked out, we had to grab a few shots! They have this great old barn that became a great backdrop! :)With, of course, our grand ole' flag! A new touch they threw in this year was after the Pledge of Alligiance while the National Anthem was being sung, they flew mini American flag hot-air balloons. There were probably 8 to 10 of them, it was very cool and a great touch! Addie and Ashton stuck around for a few extra pictures. Good girls!! :)
Of course going out to the Vaclaw's Firework show always includes lots and lots of friends! Each year the number of viewers grow and grow. Here is Ashton with our sweet little Kate Hubbard! Everyone kept saying how much Kate looks like Ashton. I babysat Kate for a year or so, so I always say it was because we hung out so much together!Here is Addie with her friend Ellie Christiansen...Austin and Mack Vaclaw...And Avery with MaryKate Vaclaw!We were so excited this year because Ricky, Anne and their family came over from Arkansas! We love and miss our cousins! We are so glad that they are back in Arkansas so we are a little closer! Here is Tyler with Addie.And look at these cute girls! Rachel, Taylor and Avery.And our spunky boys: Tyler, Austin, Tanner and Drew! It was great for Austin to have so many boys around!!We had so much fun hanging with Ricky and Anne! We went to Tulsa one day, went and visited Ryan and Jessica, went out to lunch, and while the boys were golfing Anne and I took the kids swimming. Bubba and Jenny also came up from Houston to hang out with the family! Jenny's family lives in town so I totally sympathize with them because I know how it is trying to fit both families into the small amount of time they were in town! But we enjoyed what time we did get! And I'm so happy to say that Bubba finally proposed and Jenny will soon be my new sister-in-law!! She's such a sweetheart! And of course we have enjoyed seeing Julie and her family lots and lots right now as we are living with Randy's parents while our house is being built. The girls! :)

Now, back to the firework show! It was amazing! Somehow they get better and better each year, even though I leave each year thinking they just can't get any better!

We are up so close that it gets pretty loud, but there is also great music playing while the firework show is going off. My favorite song each year is Toby Keith's Red, White and Blue song. After the show, we always hang around and chat for a while. The parking lot is crazy with hundreds of people all trying to leave at the same time. This year there were two entrances/exits, but it was still headlights as far as the eye could see! So Avery found Izzy Vaclaw to talk to for a while...
and Austin found Logan Vaclaw.

A big standing ovation for the boys who put it together every year!! Randy has really enjoyed being one of the boys who gets to set off the fireworks. Look how sweaty he and Tyler Vaclaw are! It's hard work!! I don't know if you can read the shirts, but it says "For Truth, Justice, & Blowing Things Up". Very well put!! But what was even more fun was the back of the shirts for those who were part of the crew...

Hope everyone had a fun, safe, fourth of July with friends and family!!

Bartlesville Rockies After-Party

After Randy got back from his trip to Utah, we enjoyed a fun get together with the kids from Austin's baseball team, hosted by Brandon and Kari Revard. We had such a great group of kids and parents that we all looked forward to getting back together again. Not only do they have a great pool (here is Austin with Bryce, Brady, Nate and William),

but they rented this huge waterslide for the night! It was a hit, as you can tell from the smiles on Avery and Kaleigh's faces! Addie and Ashton were a little hesitant at first but by the end of the night you couldn't keep them off! Instead of baseball, this night was all about basketball!I think I mentioned how great it was that all of our kids had friends to hang out with, not just Austin. Here is Ashton with Addison Revard.And Avery with a few a her girlfriends: Kaleigh, Grayson, and Riley. There was lots of food and fun!
And Rebecca Graham made an awesome Rockies Cake for everyone to enjoy!
Here are all the coaches! Randy had a blast with Byron Boles, Brian Vasseur, and Brandon Revard.

So, really quickly, I didn't take any pictures of swimming lessons this year, so I thought I would talk a little about it with this picture of Ashton! She's crazy! She loves having her face in the water at all times. Addie has been in starfish for two years now. Ashton joined her this year, and after just one 2-week session, they both passed starfish! But Addie has picked it up this year and its fun to see her finally get more comfortable in the water. After just one time in seahorse, Addie passed! Ashton is still in seahorse but I wasn't expecting her to pass that class so soon! Austin also did 2 sessions of swimming lessons. He passed dolphin and went into swordfish, but didn't quite pass swordfish after just one round. I think they want him to get a little stronger before heading into shark! I told Avery next year I wanted to put her back into swimming lessons more for a refresher course and excercise since she's already passed everything, but this year she enjoyed sleeping in!

2nd Annual Brian Buttars Memorial Golf Tournament

I'm so excited that Randy and the Buttars have decided to make the Brian Buttars Memorial Golf Tournament an annual event. Sadly, I wasn't able to make it up there this year. We just have had so much going on with building our house that it didn't work out, but we made sure Randy was there! Once again, he said it was an amazing day! They had another full turn-out with so many people saying it was the best tournament they've ever played at. This was the picture Randy sent me on the day of the tournament from his phone. Another neat touch was that they had Brian's truck which he loved out on the driving range. It's never going to be easy to be without Brian, but it sure helps to be around so many people who also knew and loved him. I'm hoping to make it next year!
Here's the other picture I received from Randy's phone! Definitely a highlight of his trip!! It was the day before the tournament and Randy was out at the golf course setting up. A man came into the clubhouse having trouble getting some range balls. Randy looked over and saw President Henry B. Eyring, a member of the 1st Presidency of our church. He told his friends that it was President Eyring but no one believed him. As they were driving away he called me and told me he saw him. He was sure it was him because he saw his wife in the car, googled her, and it was the same lady! I told him he had to go back, so he and Russ Madsen turned back around. It's not everyday that an Oklahoma kid gets to visit with a member of the 1st Presidency! Russ actually gave President Eyring a few tips which helped his swing. It was a great trip and we are both looking forward to next year!

Happy Birthday, Ashton!

Ashton was okay sharing her birthday with the baseball team because she knew that she was going to have a birthday party later that week!

We had her birthday party at the Sooner Splash Pad. It's a fun little water park in our town that's actually walking distance from Randy's parents house. Avery and MaryKate made sure to keep the water going by putting their hands over the starter!

A lot of Ashton's friends have older siblings that are her siblings age, so it worked out well that everyone had a friend to play with. Addie had both Ellie...

and Evie there to play with. But they are also Ashton's friends as they all play together! There aren't a whole lot of kids Ashton's age, most of them are a year younger or older, but she loves them all!

Sam is probably closest to Ashton's age, but look at the size difference! I think he's four months older but he's tall for his age and AJ is short! But she loves her Sam!

This party was actually supposed to be a few days before the baseball tournament. We haven't had any rain all summer, but the day of her party it rained! So we postponed it to the following week. Addison Revard is giving me her sweet "cheese" smile!

It was great having the older kids there to help with the younger ones! Addie and Ellie are playing ring-around-the-rosie with Kate Hubbard.

Ashton was playing "older kid" to her cousin, Taylor. I love this picture of Ashton taking Taylor into the water! Not that she needed help, Taylor was in love with this place!

We also had popsicles and bottled water to help cool off. Austin and Tanner enjoyed that!

So did Kate!

And it looks like Taylor probably had a blue popsicle from the looks of her face!

Ashton couldn't wait to turn three! She has been talking about it all summer! She is such a sweet little girl that I have enjoyed watching grow up.

She got a lot of really great gifts from some great friends! I love the expressions of the girls in this picture! Happy Birthday Ashton! I love you so much. You bring so much joy into my life and I can't imagine my life without you!