Family Sunday

Today we went to the Jacksboro Lake. We spent time together, just the 3 of us. This is the view, pretty isn't it!Here is Rachel as we were getting ready to eat our picnic.She is a tomato fanatic. So she wanted me to get a picture of her eating one.Here she is on the pier. I love this picture. She is so sweet!!After lunch, we went over to the playground, and played.
It got so hot out at the park, so we went to Freds (Jacksboro for "Walmart") to get a little pool so we could cool off.

Rachel had a lot of fun playing in the pool. After I sat in it for a bit, I got out and tried to get some sun on this WHITE, PALE body.

We got out and dried off. I just had to post this picture, I LOVE HER BEAUTIFUL FACE!!!

She didn't really rest a whole lot during her rest time movie, so she was worn out after our full day.

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!

I have not done this in a while, but I ran across this picture and just had to post it.

It is one of my all time favorites. We took Rachel to the zoo in 2006 and I got this picture. She used to have this deep laugh that was SO not feminine. I loved hearing it. She doesn't do it anymore, so every time I see this picture, I hear that laugh and just smile.

Playing with Picasa

I heard about this program and I wanted to play. I love this picture and this is what I wanted to do with it. After taking pictures of the 6 cuties, I thought of how much fun it was to take creative pictures!!! What do you think????

Memorial Day 2009 Warning LOTS of PICTURES!!!

Well, here are more pics of our Memorial Day fun!!

Rachel ready to walk out the door to go swimming. My big "CHEESE!!!"

Swimming with her ring. She just kept saying "Mommy, I can swim all day!"

Until it got TOO cold!They took a break from swimming to jump on the trampoline.

They took a break from jumping to have a snack. Cheerios, MMMMM!!!

When the Cheerios ran out, they were on to Captain Crunch!

One of the many games they played were Ring around the Rosie and after they got tired of falling down they decided to throw their towel in the air!!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE BY THE WAY!

The Texas sky is BEAUTIFUL!!!

My sweet girl ready to get off the trampoline!

Man I love her. We had a blast. I was so proud of her playing with the "Big Girls" and just doing whatever they were doing. She is growing up SO fast!

Rachel's New Pet **Update

If you read THIS post,

you might just be wondering WHAT IN THE WORLD THAT THING IS!! I had a few comments about it and they wanted updates on him. He has gotten a lot bigger, so here is the updated picture of our new friend.

No Erica, it is not in the toilet. Although that would have been MUCH MUCH funnier!

Kerrville Trip

Right near Hunt, there is the Ingram Dam. Directly across from the dam, is the Dam Shopping Center. Now, 9 years ago there was the Dam Store, a Dam Cafe, and a Dam Laundry! Now the cafe and laundry have changed names. Lo and Behold the Dam store is still there. I got me a shirt that say "I am one of the Dam People" I love it. If you are ever that way, you should see all this great stuff.We also went to Gibson's General Store. It is by far the BEST STORE IN THE WORLD!!! I hear this is how most stores were a long time ago, and I vote we go back to this. You can find housewares and paint next to each other. Sewing stuff and plumbing. From food to guns and ammo. WOW, I LOVE IT!!!! I want to have one in my town.Here is the pool toys across from the cowboy hats and jeans, and in the aisle next to it is electrical. I KNOW, fascinating!!!!!My maiden name was Cooper, so we are a bit partial to this BBQ joint in Mason, TX. There is also one in Junction, TX. Stop by if you can, BBQ is AWESOME.After all this fun, I was TOTALLY aware of the beauty God gives us to look at every day. I usually take total advantage of it, but Sunday I just kept thinking of how wonderful He is to let us look at this nonstop. So, I took this on my drive home! FABULOUS VIEW!!!

CLONEHENGE in Hunt,TX

This was a fun weekend with only one regret. I WISH LANCE AND RACHEL WERE WITH ME!

I spent the night in Kerrville, and went roaming around on Sunday morning before I came home.

I went to visit "Stonehenge II/Clonehenge" with my parents, and really enjoyed standing next to it. I felt so small in this HUGE world. The view was BEAUTIFUL!!!!This is one of the statues out there. I hate to say they were not nearly as impressive as the Clonehenge Here is Clonehenge!! That is what we called it when we lived in Hunt for a summer. We didn't know it really had a name.

The inside of the structure. It was just amazing!!! Really breathtaking. I can't imagine the real thing. This one is only 2/3 the size of the original.
Saturday was my parents anniversary, so I took this pic of them at Clonehenge.

They even have Clonehenge benches.

Austin Pics

We take our 4th graders to Austin every year, and go see several things around our beautiful capitol. We started at the Visitor's Center, and saw this replica of the gate that used to hold the Deceleration of Independence.We also saw this replica of the inside of the top of the capitol.

We learned that they ran out of room in the capital, and they didn't want to change the look of the outside, so they dug 4 stories underground to house all the offices and all the extra space they needed. This is the view from underground.
This is the floor of the Rotunda as seen from the 2nd floor.

The Texas Senate and House only meet every other year, so this was the first time I go to see them in session. Representative Hardcastle invited us to watch and even introduced us to the rest of the House. He then came up to the gallery and sat with us and talked to the kids. It was really special to them, and me of course. I felt like I was around a celebrity!!! This is during one of the votes they did. They went through a lot of bills while we were watching.

This is Representative Hardcastle introducing us to the House of Representatives.

This was a view of the capitol from the front lawn where we had lunch.

We sat near this memorial, and it was beautiful. It is for all the Texas Peace Officers.
This was at the Bob Bullock Museum.My brother came to hang out with us in the museum, the kids LOVED it!! Thanks for coming Dustin.
I don't know how this picture got on my camera, because my camera only left my hands once in the museum. So, I can only guess that God took it for me. Isn't it beautiful?

God also gave us this sunset on the way home, this picture doesn't do it justice AT ALL! The dirty window of the charter bus is bad too, but still I know God sent that to us too!!!

Chuck E. Cheese

We went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch and played a ton. We had to leave after a little while to go to the Dr. We headed back later to finish up the fun. I was a bit addicted to the Deal Or No Deal game. I won over 100 tickets on it. Isn't that what these places are about, winning tickets so you can buy some tiny piece of junk toy?

She wanted this cup pretty bad, so we got it and boy was it cute to see her as Chuck E.This bowling game was pretty cool.

She loved feeding the dog too. She talked about this one to Lance when we got home.Now, this one took most of the tokens, well, next to Deal or No Deal. We raced aliens around a track by spinning a ball. It was fun and we played it at least 6 times.The Ticket Monster "game" was her next favorite. She loved putting the tickets in and hearing it munch on them. It was also a topic of conversation when we got home.

All in all we had a BLAST today. I loved it, and I know Rachel did too. I can't wait to do it again!