Summer Happenings

This summer flew by so fast!! With all the transitioning, I barely had time to breathe let alone do all the blogging I hoped to do! I want to post some pictures of some of the every day things we did during summer once we got to Houston.

Ains and Daddy hanging out watching some Curious George (her favorite!)

On one of the Wednesday Nights this summer at Church the children's ministry hosted a Pirates and Princesses party. Our kiddos had a blast dressing up that night!

Daddy with his P&P's. :)

This kiddo is WAY into angry birds! Played and talked about them all summer!

Our Monkey's just hanging around. :)

As usual, we did a lot of swimming! Austin has become quite the swimmer and Audrey is on her way! JV has a great community pool and we were there as much as possible.

This was the first summer Ainsley really started to enjoy the water. Next summer we will do swimming lessons for her!

Summer 2011 was all about trying to get adjusted to life in Houston. Sad that I didn't take as many pictures as usual, but my focus was on establishing our 'new normal'. :) We have a great Church the Lord has called us to, a great community to live in and a wonderful rent house. We praise God for every day He gives us together as a family and are so thankful for how good He is to us!

Pine Cove Part 3

Audrey and Kinsey having fun at the pool. We spent every afternoon at there cooling off. It was a hot week!

Breakfast Trail Ride - Love my man on a horse!

Boat time! Our kiddos love the banana boats. Always a much anticipated event of the week. :)

Austin loves the fun slide and went down it as much as possible this year. :)

Austin and Daddy made a rocket together one day and got to shoot it off. Pretty sure it was one of Austin's highlights of the week.

Such fun memories!

Our little crayons on Crayola Night. :)

Comeback Kid with Austin. Austin followed this guy around all week. Very cute to watch!

Audrey and Kinsey (and thanks to Ms. Mandy for making the adorable hats for all our kiddos!)

Austin and Dax

One tired girl! (They all are so tired by the end of the week!)

Another cute pic of Austin and Dance Pants!

This is a pic right before we left to go back home with our devo counselor for the week - Band aid. Loved her!! It was truly an incredible week and one that we so desperately needing with the crazy summer that we had of moving from Dallas to Houston. We left encouraged and inspired to serve and live for Him and to always remember the great things He has done for us. This week is priceless to us each year and we already can't wait to go back next summer!

Pine Cove Part 2

Our family photo for the week :)

Austin moved up to Wild Kids this year and it was a big move for us not to have all three of our kiddos in Cove Kids (babies-preschoolers). He had an amazing week an got to do fun things without us like the zip line and banana boats. His counsellors were incredible and some of our favorites from last year. So crazy how big our boy is getting!

On a lunch date with some of our favorite people.

And continuing the Pine Cove tradition of bowling with the Helms.

This is Dance Pants and she was one of Austin's incredible counselors for the week. We love this girl and were so blessed by her both last summer and this summer. Thank you, Katie for pouring into our boy!

This is Bob and Ann Livesay and they were our speakers for the week. They were WONDERFUL!! Bob recently retired from a church in Houston not too far from us and they have a heart for pastors and their wives like us. Thank you, Bob and Ann for taking a special interest in us and filling our cups this week! We are forever grateful and love you both dearly!

Dance Pants and Austin having a blast at the pool. I am telling you! She was amazing and our boy LOVED her!!!

Austin took a stab at the high dive, but just couldn't quite do it. Next year, buddy! ;)

This is Comeback Kid and he was Austin's other counselor for the week. Cody, you are awesome!! Thanks for pouring into Austin. He had a blast with you!

Sweet Pitter Patter was one of Audrey and Ainsley's counselors for the week. Thanks, Ashlyn for loving on our girls!!

Austin's crew - definitely some fun and WILD Kids alright! ;)

Audrey and Ainsley's sweet little group - 'We love Jesus Yes we do! We love Jesus and how 'bout you?'

Pine Cove Family Camp 2011

For the past 3 years we have be going to Pine Cove Family Camp in Tyler, TX. This is such a special week for our family! We literally count down the days every year! Words that describe this place for our family: rest, fun, excitement, nourishment, intentional family time, growth, focus, thankfulness, and joy. It is truly a time for our family to reflect on all that Lord has done in and through our family the past year and what He wants us to focus on in our family for the upcoming year. It is an impactful and intentional time for us to be together as a family with no distractions. We always show up beat up, tired and weary and then leave refreshed and renewed ready to pour out again. WE LOVE IT!! I want to post some pics of the week and as usual I am posting way too many pictures. This blog is like a scrapbook for me. (Yes, I even get printed out in book form from this site! Makes it so worth the time!) Here are some pics from our first part of the week:

Here are our cowboy and cowgirls ready for a wacky western wound up!

Kinsey's family has joined us at PC for the past 2 years and we love spending time together! These two girlies are such sweet friends!

Love my cowboy!

Sand time with Dax!

Our best attempt at a family pic for the night. Please someone tell me, will we ever ALL look at the camera and smile at the same time??

A cute pic of a tired girl. ;)

The rodeo!

So thankful for this girl!

Such a sweet picture of Kinsey and Austin!

Down time with some cars on the porch of our cabin.

Date night!

The theme verse for the week: "Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live." Deuteronomy 4:9