In Which He Takes Over The Blog

Seriously...I should just put him in the header or give him his own little corner on the blog.  BUT, over Thanksgiving, my gorgeous sister and her gorgeous family did a little photo shoot. 

So in no particular order, here are a few of my favs!!

If only he knew how crazy and awesome his parents are.  :-)

Family, Friends, and Fun

The lake wasn't just about the kids wake boarding the whole time.  :)  We also have friends and family down.  Robert's brother and his fiance (of 2 weeks) got to come!  SO great to see them, hangout with them, and hear all the fun details of their engagement!!

The kids miss Uncle Kyle and LOVED having him around!

We also did a little go carting.

Sweet AR just hung out the whole time!!

Brothers....

Andrew is having lasik on Friday so he's had to wear his glasses for the 2 weeks before.  He's got these sunglasses that go OVER his glasses.  I don't think anyone can take him seriously with them on.  :-)

Tubing with Uncle Kyle.

I got to tube the brothers...it was FUN to say the least.  :)  I even went a little easy on them.

As soon as we pulled in from tubing, the sky opened up and it poured rain for like 15 minutes.  The kids love swimming in the rain!

Sunday we had to say goodbyes.  :(

The newly engaged couple and all the kiddos!   We loved having y'all!  Can't wait to celebrate y'all next year!

Ok, I cannot believe I'm posting this next picture.  Well, I can because everyone else looks good in it.  But I still have my "travel pjs" on (i.e. cute pjs i wear on trips instead of what i wear at home) and not a stitch of makeup, and my hair is un-brushed and pulled up in a bun.  And I'm sportin' a nice sunglasses tan too.  I could have at least put my bathing suit on!

But, here we all are!

I think that pic of me wins "the most embarrassing picture I've posted of myself online" EVER!  But it's just too cute of everyone else, so I'm willing to sacrifice a little.  :)

My Little WakeBoarders

Before we headed to the lake last Friday, Robert calls me and tells me he found a youth wake board on clearance.  And he bought it.  The kids were excited and talked a big game.  But I thought for sure they'd back out once we were on the lake.  BUT NO!!!   Landon hopped right in FIRST (which is huge) and gave it 100% effort!!  I don't think I can emphasize how big a deal this is.  This is the child that would not even get in the water 2 summers ago at the lake.  Maybe even last summer.  He's the child that we had to FORCE on the tube because we knew he would like it.  Then we couldn't get him off.

Anyway, I was a super proud mama!  Even though he couldn't stay up very long, he definitely could get up very easily.  He's SIX years old for crying out loud.  Do you know many 6 year olds that try and wake board???  It was so stinkin' cute watching them back there.  I really enjoy pulling Robert and the kids behind the boat. 

I'm sure by the time he's 8 he'll be giving me a heart attack trying tricks back there. 

Robert would stay in the water with him for some runs.  But he actually had his best run when he started out by himself. 

Olivia popped right up as well.  She's been skiing for a couple summers, so she has a little more experience behind the boat and knowing how to balance.

Saturday evening, our neighbor came over with his super cool wake boarding boat.  He was SO nice to pull Olivia and Landon.

Olivia was very good at taking instruction.

So cute out there!

By the end of the weekend, she was learning how to move around a little bit back there.  You pull the handle toward your hips to move.  She even got a little wild and did it one handed for a bit!!!

Here is Olivia in her best run that we caught on tape.  Then a little commentary from one of our friends.  :-)

8 Decades...What Do You Do?

Even though we celebrated Sugar's 80th birthday last weekend, this past Saturday was her ACTUAL birthday.  So what do you do after 8 decades???

You ride 4-wheelers, sea doos, and go tubing!  Right!?

Photo courtesy of Lovey's iPhone

We waited for Sugar to come by on the tube....

A little friendly, parent supervised, wrestling.  Robert was keeping score.  Can't remember who one.  But it was funny.

Here she comes!

Do you know of any 80 year old great grandmothers that tube?!??

"Hey Shu Shush!"

Go Sugar!!

Taking a dip.

After a day floating in the water, we decided to meet up with friends and tube/wake board/slalom/ski. 

Don't these two look so much alike here??  So cute.

Then we headed back to our place to cook out and ski some more.  The lake was so smooth on our way home, we decided to book it!

Lil wouldn't even open her eyes.  I know I've never told y'all about her, I promise I've had a post waiting for MONTHS about Lil.  Maybe I'll post it this week since I can't edit pictures - and if I can't process them, what's the point in taking a ton anyway.

SLOW DOWN ROBERT!!

I'm hoping we can get Landon wake boarding one day!  I think learning it young is probably MUCH easier.

I actually slalomed this weekend.  It took my I think 3 or 4 tries to get up!!  AWFUL!  But once I was up, it was good.  I have no proof though so I'll probably do it again before summer's up.  I try and do it at least once a summer!

FOJ'11 (2)

More hanging around at the lake.  Lots of pictures....

Lillian was feeling brave and wanted to tube.  Not so much once she got out there.  I give her one more year before we let her get away with hanging out in the boat the whole time.  ;-)

Obviously, Olivia and Landon really enjoy tubing. 

Sunday night we shot some fireworks.  We had a couple of REALLY great ones.  We are learning which ones to get from the store!!!

We also got to hang out with sweet Ashley and meet her fiance Chris!!  SOOO glad to see them and hear their "love story".   Don't they make a gorgeous couple?

It's after hours that things really get interesting. 

And those are the only two pictures I can show ya! 

Na, we were good.  Mostly.  But is sure is fun getting all the adult couples and cousins together!!  Fun times!!!

Now who wants to get tickled???  ;-)