Happy Birthday, Addie!

Wow! Another year has flown by! Addie was so excited for her birthday to finally be here! It's hard for Addie because all of her siblings have birthdays before her... so she feels like hers takes forever to get here. But for me, I can't believe she is four! We started the day at, where else, the doughnut shop!

After the doughnut shop we swung by Walmart for Addie to pick out a few things for her birthday. Next we hit the pool to hang out for the afternoon. This summer has been ridiculously HOT. If you are not in the pool, you are inside! The thing about Oklahoma heat combined with the humidity is that you just can't breath! But the pool was very refreshing and my kids LOVE the pool!

After lots of fun at the pool, it was time for lunch! Addie chose none other than McDonalds for her birthday lunch! They continued their fun in the playground area until it was time to head to Gum-Gum's house for a little birthday party for Addie with Nana and Gum-Gum (my mom and grandma). Addie was so excited about her new shirt, princess umbrella, and princess plate, bowl and glass. I have to make sure her dishes are washed everyday because she wants to use them for breakfast each morning.

Two plus two equals four!! This was one of Addie's special purchases when we went to Walmart! Happy Birthday, Addie!! You have grown up so fast! You are such a special girl and we love you so much!!

Family Fun Times

I took a million pictures while my family was all in town, so I figured the best way to talk about our week was to make a few collages. My Uncle Ed has a million hawaiian shirts and brought some for everyone, hence all the hawaiian shirts! One day was all for grandma. We let her know that this gathering was all for her and we sang happy birthday to her. My sister, Ann, made a beautiful quilt as a present. It was a crossword puzzle, which she loves to do, with names of her ancestors before and after. We also made one day about my nephew, Kyson, who is leaving on his mission to Bulgaria for our church in 2 days! We had Austin dress in a suit and missionary tag, while the cousins all sang "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission". We all signed a laundry bag for him to take with him.

And what is summer without swimming! We spent a couple HOT days over at my mom's condo swimming to stay cool!

And you can't come back to Bartlesville without visiting Woolaroc. I actually hadn't been out there for a long time, so I was excited. I don't know if the weather was cooler that day or if we were just out there earlier, but the buffalo, deer and longhorns were all over the road! I couldn't believe how close I was to them! I got some great pics! It was a great day!

And another Bartlesville classic, The Kiddie Park! There's something about the Kiddie Park that brings the "kid" out in you! We went on a great night... all train rides were FREE!!

Grandma's 85th celebration

It has been a really long time since our family has all gotten together. With my grandma turning 85 this year, my mom thought it would be a good excuse to get everyone together and celebrate her life. Even though her birthday is in March, we waited til July to celebrate. My family is very patriotic and one of my grandma's favorite holidays is the fourth of July, so we used that weekend to get everyone together... not to mention all the kids would be out of school. Most of our cousins weren't able to make it, but my mom, her two brothers and their wives and two of my cousins that still live at home were able to be here. And I was so excited that ALL my brothers and sisters made it for the celebration! This was the first time in 9 years that we were all at the same place at the same time. Miracles do still happen! We were just all glad that grandma has been doing so much better and we were able to take her out of the nursing home most of the days to join us in what we were doing. She even made it out to the Vaclaws for the firework show... which was AMAZING as always! I know it meant a lot to my grandma to have everyone there for her. She is such a special lady! Side note: She is now out of the nursing home and back in her house! She still has good and bad days but its nice to have her back at home. My mom has put in a LOT of time and effort into getting grandma's bathroom remodeled so she would have a safe walk-in shower. It looks great!

Brian Buttars Memorial Golf Tournament

So the first part of our summer we stayed super busy with camps, clinics and lessons. But I took a little break in the middle to join Randy on a "parent's only" vacation up to Utah for the golf tournament he was putting on to benefit Brian's kids. I would like to thank Dan and Jan for helping us get back out to Utah, and my mom for watching our kids so that I could be a part of this special event. And believe me, it was very memorable!

I must have really been needing a vacation because I, of all people, forgot my camera! Obviously I was on the verge of loosing my mind as normally my camera is the first thing to be packed anywhere I go! Hopefully pictures will come soon, but I needed to post so I could start blogging again. Even though we were really busy making sure everything went smoothly at the tournament, it was still an AWESOME vacation. I recommend "parent's only" vacations once a year to everyone!

We stayed with Jared and Courtney Geisler and family, which was so much fun! I don't think I've laughed so hard my entire life. And our great friend, Russ Madsen, was with us most of the time too- joining in on all the fun. They always make us feel right at home and we love them to death. We played some golf (well, Courtney and I caddied), hung out at Russ' golf and hockey shop up in Park City, and ate great food all weekend long (oh Cafe Rio, I miss you already). I also got to meet some new friends, Eliza and Trent Guzy who were such a blast! Eliza even came over and did mine and Courtney's hair which I was so grateful for! Miles and Chelsea Lowder were able to hang out with us a lot too and I loved it because I felt like I got to know them a lot more... and they are hilarious! I did feel bad that our kids weren't there to play with Gabe and Jada, but again it was great to have a little time alone with Randy.

The golf tournament was amazing... we couldn't have asked for more! The golf course was beautiful, the weather was beautiful, and the staff was awesome! Randy has been a part of many golf tournaments and I always get to hear how good they turn out, but this was the first time that I was able to see it for myself, and boy was I impressed! Randy had been working so hard to make this a success... with GREAT help from Courtney and Jared and the rest of the family and close friends. We really had a hard time saying good-bye to Brian and not knowing what we could do to help out. When Randy came up with this idea to do a memorial golf tournament we could only hope that we would get support from family and friends... and they all came out! Courtney and I went around taking pictures of all the teams and everyone was so friendly and just having a blast being there. The prizes were amazing, lunch was amazing and everyone was there for the same reason... to support Brian and his family. When Randy was making his speech after the tournament was over he mentioned how this was his little joke on Brian. He had been trying for years to get Brian to pick up the game of golf so they could play together... and now he had no choice! We knew that Brian was there with us... we all felt his presence and knew he was enjoying the day right along with us. I could just see that million dollar smile!

As I said, the tournament was a success, Randy even received a standing ovation for all his hard work. I couldn't have been more proud of my husband! We were able to raise $2000 for each of his three children to put toward their college education. We are hoping for this to be an annual event where we can all get together as family and friends to remember Brian. June is a special month as it is Brian's birthday and Father's Day, and we already have the course booked for next June. We are super excited to do this again!

The next day we joined the Buttars at their house for a cook-out and to hang out with everyone. It was so much fun! And on Monday we took Miles' boat up to Park City for an entertaining boat ride! Miles and Trent are AMAZING on the wakeboard and I was so excited to see them do their tricks! Our trip came and went so fast! The Geislers are heading down to Oklahoma in October and we are all counting down the months to see them again! It's always so hard to say good-bye to them... we love them all so much!

Kickin' it at the Kiddie Park!

As I mentioned, we finally took the kids (minus Avery) to the Kiddie Park. It was SUPER hot and humid, so we told the kids they could pick 3 rides each and then we would go get some treats and ride the train. Addie and AJ wanted to ride the little airplane, but when we got there AJ chickened out. Addie was more than happy to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of!

But Ashton still wasn't quite ready to try it herself, so we went over to watch Austin ride the rollercoaster. It was fun watching him ride all by himself- he had a blast. I remember when I thought that was such a big, fast ride. It was my favorite thing to do... I know that's how he feels too!After watching Addie and Austin ride their rides, Ashton was ready to try it herself. She did great on the airplane until at the very end when it jerked from up high to all the way down. It kind of freaked her out and she started crying. Luckily the ride was over anyway. Addie and Austin had gone over to ride the big airplanes while Ashton was riding the smaller one, so I didn't get a picture of them. But after, they all wanted to ride the carosel. However, Ashton was completely opposed to sitting on the horse by herself, as you can tell in this picture! So...I had to sit with her on the horse! I was so worried it wouldn't work with me on it! But as long as I was with her she enjoyed it.Austin, of course, enjoyed the whole thing. He wouldn't get off the horse until it completely stopped. He was really wanting it to stop at the top so his horse was taller than Addie's horse.Last year Addie was really timid on the carosel but she was excited to ride this time!Ashton still had one more ride to pick and she chose the cars. This time she did really great. Now that she was comfortable with the rides... we were done and ready for the train!The kids picked out their treat and we went over to ride the train. It was a fun... HOT, night and we were super worn out by the time the night was over.

One last picture on the train ride. It would have been nice if Randy mentioned my hair was in my face for this picture! :-) Oh well, I was too hot to care!

Ashton's 2nd Birthday!

I can't believe my baby is 2! There are many good things about being the youngest child... but there are also downfalls about being the youngest. One of those downfalls is that I'm soooo done with birthday parties!! So for Ashton's birthday we made it a special day with the family. It started off with donuts, of course! However, since it is summer and the kids are diggin' sleeping in, I ran over to get them before Randy left for work. Ashton's favorite is still donut holes, so we stuck a few candles in them and let her blow them out.
Randy got Ashton to answer the question, "What's today?" with "It's my boor-tay!" SUPER CUTE! She just loved all the balloons and streamers in the house. My mom came to help with the kids while I ran out to pick up the young women in our church from camp. She got Ashton this cute dress and AJ had to put it on right away. When I got home, I took the kids to McDonalds for lunch and some play time.

After McDonalds, we went over to the nursing home to visit Gum-Gum. The kids are a big hit at the nursing home. Recently Randy and I went up to Utah (more on that later) and my mom took the kids every day up to see her. My mom said the residents would know what time they would be coming in and they would be there waiting for them. They not only would brighten Gum-Gum's day but everyone else there! Gum-Gum got Ashton a princess sleeping bag which AJ was sooo excited about! Addie has the same sleeping bag and when we got home they both got there sleeping bags out on my bedroom floor to "nap" and watch a movie.

When Randy got home from work, we took the kids to Mazzios for dinner. Avery had her own birthday party to go to so we dropped her off first. Grammy Alyson, our dear friend who has taken our kids in as her own, met us at Mazzios with some adorable outfits for Ashton for her birthday. Once again, Ashton tried to take her clothes off so she could wear one of them. However, this time we were in public so I had her hold off on that!

After Mazzios we went over to the Kiddie Park to ride a few rides. As you can tell from Ashton's hair, it was super hot and humid! This was our first trip to the Kiddie Park this summer and AJ was a little nervous about riding the rides, but she finally got on the airplane ride.
And here is my poor little two year old completely wiped out from a FULL day of fun and absolutely no nap! For the next couple of days Ashton would still say that it was her "boor-tay". She is so adorable and we are so lucky to have her in our family. Happy Birthday, AJ!! You are such a light in my life!!

Swimming Lessons

The YMCA was having a special promotion this year for kids going into the second grade to have one free session of swimming lessons! Luckily for us, Austin is going into second grade! I wasn't sure what class to put him in because the classes are different than at ConocoPhillips, but they said they would evaluate on the first day and put them where they needed to go. I was a little worried when I saw what they were doing their first day, but they kept him where he was and I think it really challenged him to do better. Here he is doing the breaststroke.

I have to tell on myself. I got in trouble for taking these two pictures of Austin. I guess you're not supposed to take pictures in the Y, even if it's your own kid. I was talking to one of my friends and I just can't believe how bad the world has gotten. It was just a few years ago that I was taking pictures of Avery and Austin with my camera AND video camera of their swimming lessons and in these few short years you can't even do that anymore.

So after my incident at the Y, I was really worried about having my camera at Addie's swimming lessons. I hurried and took one picture of her and then put my camera away! Addie is a starfish and she did so good this session! I was so proud of her. It amazes me how different kids can be from one summer to the next even though we never practice between summers! Addie has been the most timid of all my kids with the water but she had some great teachers and really learned a lot. I have Austin and Addie in one more session of swimming lessons- this time they will both be a ConocoPhillips. We'll see... maybe I'll be brave and bring my camera!