Summer fun and Spikey

If you know Kaden you know how much he loves to be outside and his love for bugs and reptiles. We have had many "pets". Even our neighbors found a frog in their yard once and brought it over for Kaden. Some of our "pets" have been set free and some have not been that lucky. One of his snakes is buried outside by our house and he digs it up every so often to see if its bones are left yet. :) My dad brought him a horny toad a few weeks ago that he found in West Texas. Kaden named him Spikey and that is who is in the picture. We had Spikey for a few days and tried to figure out what he ate because he would eat nothing. After Nick did some research on the computre he found out it is illegal to have a horny toad b/c it is an endangered species. I called the Fort Worth zoo and after talking to them several times they told us that they wanted Spikey. So, Father's Day, my sweet son, husband, and father loaded up and went to the zoo. Kaden very willingly gave them his horny toad. He will be in the animal hospital there for awhile and then they will breed him and keep him at the zoo. In a few months he will also be there for anyone to go and see!! YAY! We were all very excited and the zoo told Kaden they would call and give him updates and tell him when Spikey is released to be seen! :)

Spikey. The guy at the zoo told Kaden that Spikey is very unique b/c of some light green coloring by his arm that you can kind of see in the picture. They also said he is about 1 year old and most likely male.

Father's Day at the zoo. Giving Spikey away to the zoo's animal hospital.
Spikey...... coming to a zoo near you!


My precious Presleigh Joy dancing with "pink baby" in our living room.

Now we are feeding pink baby. How precious is this? "Pink baby" was given to my mom one Christmas when she was a little girl and then given to me about 18 months of age and then given to Presleigh at about 12 months. She has several baby dolls and she loves them all but pink baby is by far the favorite! :)

Chef Kaden preparing our coconut, banana, pineapple popsicles. They were very yummy but quite tricky to get out of the popsicle maker once frozen.

Working on another snack. These are delicious and so much fun and easy for the kids to make. I poured one box of instant pudding mix (we used choc. fudge but any flavor would work) equally into two baggies. Then I added one cup of milk to each of their baggies, zipped them up and they started squeezing and mixing. After a few minutes it is the consistency of pudding. I then cut the corner of the baggie and squeezed the pudding into an ice cream cone and topped it with sprinkles. So yummy!!

Kaden with the finished product

Presleigh eating her yummy snack!

Vacation Bible School

Sweet Presleigh Joy having fun at VBS!

My brave bull rider. :)

Going for a ride


This was taken this last weekend, at my best friend Melissa's little girls 1st birthday. This is PJ and Kaden and my dear friend Jamie's little boy, Caleb.

At Briley's 1st birthday party. This was the best of Melissa and I. All three kids are never looking! :) Melissa and I have been best friends since the 8th grade. What a blessing her friendship is to me! This was a busy weekend becuase the next day was Jamie's baby shower. Melissa, Ashley, and I helped throw it. The four of us go way, way back and each one of them is near and dear to my heart.

We had vacation bible school this week at my church. We had such a good time! I taught Presleigh Joy's class and enjoyed being with her and my niece, Lilah, so much. The theme this year was "Saddle Ridge Ranch". Kaden expressed how lucky PJ was to have me as her teacher so I may be teaching Kaden's class next year. :) I did Kaden's class when he was a baby though. Tonight was "family night" at church, to end VBS, and it was a blast. We took two hayrides and ate dinner together and Kaden rode a mechanical bull! They had ponies and Kaden rode but suprisingly our little horse lover, Presleigh, would not get on. They both enjoyed the big bounce house and slide.

Nick's trip to Alaska

This is Nick on his first mountain hike one day. The pictures that have him in it are taken with the timer on our camera. :) Pretty talented huh? :)

This is taken looking out towards Anchorage. This is when the sun was setting about 11:30 p.m.

How sweet is this?!!

I love this picture! It looks so peaceful.

Nick's second hike the next day.

Standing in front of the glacier in Alaska. Nick said the picture does not nearly capture its hugeness!

Nick got the opportunity to travel to Alaska last week on business. He volunteered to go and got to spend 2 days there. While he was there he made two hiking trips, one to see a glacier, and did some sight seeing. Nick is VERY adventorous and really enjoyed getting to go. It is so different there! The highs were in the 50's and the sun set at about 11:30 p.m. and rose at about 4:30 a.m. I am glad he got to go but was also very excited when he came back home! :) The kids were super excited to get their "surprises". Presleigh got a pink and purple moose, puzzle, and t-shirt and Kaden got a real fox tail and head and a puzzle and t-shirt.

Splash Park

Presleigh staying away from the splashing :)

"Bubba" and "Sister"

PJ loves Jack!

Running and splashing with friends!

Kaden "swimming" at Nana's

PJ at Nana's

Taking a break from the heat

They have just opened a splash park less than 5 min. from my house and it is great! I took the kids last week when it opened and we met our neighbors there, with their two kids, and our friends, the Tunes, again. Kaden had a great time! The other great thing about the splash park is the huge field right next to it and the giant grassy hill to run up and down. It does a really good job at burning off some energy. :) Presleigh liked to stay on the outside of the spraying fun mostly. She did not enjoy being in the middle of it so much. We will be going back soon. This may be a weekly spot for us during the summer.

1st Trip to the Lake

Presleigh playing while we wait for Daddy to load the boat up.

Kaden found another pet snake while waiting. :)

Cool Dude

You can't tell but she was dancing to a song on the radio.

" If I drop my crocs in the water will they come back?"

Nick showing Presleigh the water

The captain (and a good one at that)!

Our cuties ready for lake fun!

Although our first trip to the lake happened a few weeks ago I still wanted to post something about it and some pictures for those that have not seen them. We got a "new to us" boat this past winter and Nick has been working on it ever since to get it ready for the water. We bought it from Nick's best friend's (Toby) parents. It is neat b/c Nick has many memories on the boat from when he was much younger. We have been anxious to get it out on the water and although it was a very successful trip it was quite the adventure. I thought our car was going to sink right into the water along with the boat when we loaded it down the ramp because the water was so low. Then there was no dock where we were so Nick had to carry us each to the boat to put us in. I packed a dinner and we sped around the lake eating and enjoying a good time together. When we were done the kids and I played around by the ramp while Nick tried to load the boat back up. It took an hour. :) We have asked and will be trying a new ramp with a dock next time!

Trip to the zoo

Kaden and Julian getting ready to ride the train!

Petting the "lizard"

The King Cobra, one of Kaden's many favs.

So cool! Last time we went they were not this close.



Looking at the turtles and birds in the water. Check out PJ's pony tail, so cute!




Cheese!


Notice they are holding hands. Julian asked Kaden if they could hold hands. So precious! They walked along together laughing and playing.

We got season passes this year to the zoo and it has ended up being a great decision! The kids love the zoo and we have been twice in the last 2 months and still have not seen and done everything. We went with our dear friends, the Tunes. Julian and Kaden have been "playing" together since they were about 8 months old and Presleigh loves Jack! Kaden's all time favorite thing at the zoo is the snakes. Saying that he loves the snakes would be an understatement. He also got to pet, several times, a really cool and rather large lizard today. When you ask Presleigh Joy what her favorite thing at the zoo is she will say "elephants". However, she did pick a pink flamingo toy when we left today. I think she likes those too. Probably because they are pink!