May 2018

May was full of a bunch of celebrations!  We kicked off Eli's birthday with a Rough Riders' game, which has become a May tradition for us.

Eli likes to bring a baseball and gather as many autographs as he can.  :)

Eli also asked to spend the night in a hotel, just the three of us, for his birthday.  I love this family tradition.  We gave him a gift (a fancy yo-yo that he wanted) and then headed to Bass Pro Shops to walk around and let Eli pick out a new rod and reel.

This process was super interesting for Eric and Eli, but the other member of our family found it a little boring.  ;)

We ate dinner on the lake at Primo's, grabbed dessert, and then headed back to the hotel to watch the Warriors game!

The next day we had the Howards, Elizabeth and CJ, and the Ninos over to hang out for a bit, play sports, and have cake and ice cream.  It was a fun, low-key party.

We are SO thankful for this dear group of friends!

My parents bought Eli "Currys" for his birthday (Steph Curry basketball shoes).  Eli was totally surprised and THRILLED!

More cake!

By the time his actual birthday rolled around, we were celebrated-out!  :)  We gave him one more gift, went out to eat, and then had the final round of cake.  We are so proud of our TEN year old boy!

This month Eli tested for his blue belt in karate.  These pictures always turn out terribly, but here are a few anyway.  :)

Karate is no easy thing...  there are so many physical skills involved, but they also incorporate Bible study, memorization, and public speaking into the program.  Eli EARNED this blue belt, and we're super proud of him!

Eli finished 4th grade!  He earned the "joyful character" award and all-A honor roll.  We adore his teacher, Mrs. Weems.  

5th grader!  Eek!

We went for a BBQ lunch at Hamm's Orchard to celebrate.

We finished up May by celebrating Memorial Day with the family, plus my uncle Ed and Aunt Kandi.  It was a great afternoon of swimming and eating and playing.  :)

And that's May!  Whew!  :)  We LOVE summer around here, and we're excited for plenty of time to have fun and relax.  Much love to you!!!

April 2018

Happy May!  :)  Here are some pictures from our April.  

April started with Easter!  

I love looking out the window and seeing scenes like this...

The big event of April was a trip we took to Big Bed National Park in southwest Texas.  It was unforgettable!

On the long drive (8 hours!) we made a couple stops...  

First was Monahans Sandhills State Park.  This place was so unbelievable- GIANT white sand dunes in the middle of the Texas desert!  You rent these saucer things and slide down the dunes with them.  It was a blast (and a workout!).

The next stop was Balmorhea State Park, which has a giant, super deep spring fed pool- one of the largest in the world.  Even though it was semi chilly, we so enjoyed swimming there!

 

We stopped one more time in a little town close to where we were staying to pick up groceries, and then we headed on to the little house we rented.  It was the coolest place!  It was literally in the middle of the desert and totally "off the grid," meaning solar power, rain water showers, etc.  We've never stayed anywhere like it.  We spent some time exploring around the house...

LOTS of cacti in the desert!  :)  The landscape in Big Bend was so different from anything we've ever seen.

The next couple days were spent hiking in Big Bend National Park.  The views were spectacular, and we so enjoyed being in such a beautiful place, spending time together!

We ate dinner a couple times at the Starlight Theatre in Terlingua, Texas.  Terlingua is an old mining town that is now considered a "ghost town," and it has this super cool, famous restaurant and live music venue (the Starlight Theatre) that is original to the old mining town.  The food was fantastic, but the atmosphere was what was the most memorable.  We'll never forget that crazy place!  

On this day we hiked down into a canyon that borders Mexico.  We loved this hike!

We saw gorgeous desert landscape and breathtaking sunsets from our front porch.

It was an unforgettable trip, and we're so thankful for the experience!  

Eli and Eric and the rest of the boys went camping this month too, but they didn't take any pictures.  :)  And that concludes April!  Love to you!!