"The Chalmers Family Song"...On The Road...I LOVE Technology!!!!

Anyone that knows me knows how much I LOVE technology...this is all being done from the road on our trip to Utah for the Chalmers Family Reunion! We can't wait to get there...

Did I mention how cool it is that I can film the kids in the car...then post it to my blog all from the road! SO COOL!!!

P.S. - We've been in the car since 10:00 PM last night...decided at the last minute to go ahead and leave since we were ready; instead of waiting until noon today! Needless to say...everybody is a little silly at this point!

Sunday Night Dinners

Ever since we've lived in Texas we have thouroughly enjoyed our Sunday night dinner's with Mat, Emily, Kyle and Jason...and we always love it when April, Aubrey or Gini join us! This is pretty much what Sunday nights at Mat & Em's consist of...

We're most often welcomed with some cool message on Emily's little chef guy....since we will not have another Sunday night dinner for three weeks...this weeks message was a farewell...(BTW...one of Mat's many nicknames for Aaron is Clarabelle!) During the summer the kids usually bring their bathing suits and swim in the pool...they love to do all sorts of tricks off the diving board...(I think I had the camera out there before Kyle went outside...sorry Kyle.)

This was a random picture that Jocelyn took of herself!!!!

Of course I had to add a picture of the brothers! Aren't they cute!!!! This night was especially exciting...we had a super delicious meal...as always...but we had corn on the cob to go along with it...which loosened Addison's tooth enough for Aaron to pull it out!! That was fun!

Emily always cooks something phenomenal...she is a fabulous cook! Sunday night she made these super delicious Ice Cream Cookie sandwiches for dessert...rolled in chocolate chips and sprinkles! Seriously....they were awesome! (Oh and there's Kyle...he made an appearance for this picture!) Yet another reason we LOVE living in Texas is our Sunday night family dinners!

Sentimental Sunday***Thankful for a sleeping Addison & a family filled Saturday!

I heard about somebody recently who had a gratitude journal...I thought that was such a super idea! Since this is the closest thing to a journal I keep...I thought I would post each Sunday something that I am grateful for...

At the moment...I am grateful for a sweet sleeping Addison next to me! I think she is growing these days...she has been especially full of energy lately...which leads to especially tired by the end of the day. I have found when she gets especially rambunctious a nap usually does the trick...

Another thing that I was really grateful about this week was our day yesterday! We had such a great day...Aaron and I got up early and went for a three mile walk...then we came home...got ready for the day...we all went shopping (more returning than shopping)...we were out from 11-6:30 running errands...it got CRAZY at times...but it was so nice to be out together as a family spending time together! I love the times that we are all together!

Happy 11th Birthday Haden!!!

It's always hard to believe when one of the kids has a birthday that time flies so quickly! I can hardly believe Haden is already 11...leaving elementary school...moving on up in years...but still sweet and loving as ever (a lot of the time)! For Haden's birthday we followed tradition...woke him up with breakfast in bed...sat around the house for a while...went to Hawaiian Falls...then to dinner with the family at a seafood place....Haden of course had Salmon...his favorite. Then we headed to Aaron and Jason's softball game...then home for presents and cake (in the form of Chocolate Cream Delight)! We broke down this year and bought him airsoft guns...a lot of his friends and his cousin all have airsoft guns...Haden has really been wanting to join them in their wars! Happy Birthday Haden! We love you!!!!

FORGET TRYING TO CATCH UP!

I have officially decided that it is unrealistic to try and catch up before I start posting "current events". I have my weird way of posting and I like it all to be in chronologic order...but I'm realizing that I don't have the time to do that...so I am going to slip old posts in here and there when I can! I loved it when I was all caught up...and it is so much fun to look at other people's posts...I am tired of mine being from Christmas time....So here it goes....ENJOY!

At the Lake with Moogan's Family!!!

One of Jocelyn's friend's family has a house at a lake...for the life of me I can't remember the name of the lake right now! Thank goodness for editing...they invited us out to their lake house on Saturday! We had such a great time with them. They are a super nice family...we got there about noon and hung out for a while...then we went out on the boat...all of the kids tubed and got a chance on the wakeboard...I even got up on the wakeboard...Aaron wasn't able to get the picture of me up on it...but it did happen! Then we had lunch and visited some more while the kids played in the water. It was a ton of fun...such a nice relaxing Saturday! We LOVE SUMMER!

The Biggest Spider I've EVER Seen...SERIOUSLY!!!!the

OKAY...so Jocelyn comes in the house from the garage and says....Mom...there is a spider "this big"...well usually when I hear that it's a little bitty thing...we kill it and move on...NOT THIS DAY! I go out in the garage...it takes half the bottle of the bug spray before this sucker is even affected by it... I promise you...the picture is not a good indication of how GIGANTIC this spider was...keep in mind it is in the bottom of a PEACH jar...a PEACH jar...and it's legs are all curled up from the poison I sprayed on him...this thing was HUGE!!!! YUCK!!!

Dallas Zoo...

In an effort to keep the kids busy we headed to the zoo last week! Did I mention that it was about 105 outside...maybe a little bit less this day...it might have only hit 103! Truly it wasn't that bad...but we only stayed for about an hour and a half! The kids loved the exhibit with the albino alligators and all the snakes, ect. They were very excited when we found the misting machine on the way out!

Our Visit From Alex

We were lucky enough to have Alex come stay with us from Virginia for a week! Alex is one of the world's best babysitters! She and Angie were sitters for us the entire time we lived in Virginia... We had tons of fun while she was here...and hope to see her again very soon! Thanks Alex...we miss you!!! Who's next????

4th of July

We had a great 4th...we started out with our little neighborhood bike parade! It just so happened that a police car pulled in behind the end of the parade...we got him to follow the kids with his lights on...that was fun!

Then we went over to Mat & Em's and hung out...ate (Mat cooked on the grill in the blistering heat)...and swam! It is always a good time to hang out with them. A friend of ours from Virginia...Alex...was with us for the whole week before the 4th...it was so much fun having her with us...

Then Aaron and Jason played in a softball double header at Field of Dreams...it is a HUGE baseball park here in Mansfield...which also happens to be where the local celebration and fireworks take place...that was lots of fun...and the 105 temp wasn't TOO bad!

Then we had the best seats in the house for the fireworks! It was a great day!

Not sure whether or not the video will work...but here's a movie I put together of our 4th!