all afternoon.

happy find at the consignment shop. the lite bright cube. they did this for hours.

Athens Recap

A few more photos from our weekend in East Texas. This is Neal and the kids at the Shelby Chapel in Athens. Neal's ancestors were holding services in their home until the land was given for this church and it was built in 1895.

And Neal's leg was being attacked by fire ants.

Combing cemeteries was a common theme. We visited four, and they were all kind of hard to find!

Neal and the kids with Neal's great aunt Zilla (his grandmother's youngest sister), her son, Jack, and his lovely wife, Jeanne. They don't live far from here, so we hope to see them more often. We had lots of people asking about all of Neal's brothers and sisters, y'all need to come next time! I think we're now officially reunion regulars. We'll be there next year.

Grateful Sunday

pretty unsuccessful at the gravestone rubbings we attempted. but we got some good photos of them for records' sake.

This Sunday, I'm grateful for:

• a fun and interesting trip to East Texas this weekend. We met some of Neal's extended family and heard some great stories. Our fervor for family history research is officially renewed! More on the trip later.
• the fun we have together with our little family. We had a giggle-filled night in our hotel room, all of us in 2 queen-sized beds and spending time puttering around a little town.
• air conditioners in the house and car. Even though our house's unit is suffering, 79 degrees inside is better than 104 outside.
• the planning and everything that has gone into our upcoming July 4th weekend with Neal's family. We're off to Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. We've heard great things, so we're really excited!
• swimming. I am grateful for swimming.

off to Athens

James Madison & Amanda Ann Henderson Shelby. Cool picture.

We're going to Athens, Texas for the weekend to meet some distant relatives and soak in the historical family atmosphere. Much of Neal's dad's side of the family settled in the area in the mid 1800s. This house above belonged to Neal's grandfather, Rollin Johnson H, but it has since been dismantled. We'll be doing some photo taking, maybe some gravestone rubbings, and hopefully some information-gathering for the H family history blog. I'll let all you family members know when it's been updated. Wish us luck with all those Riddlespergers!

I keep picturing them all looking like this:

some of the R family in 1894

various vacation photos

. . . because my blog has had a serious lack of attention lately! We spent about ten days in Utah with some family on both sides. Unfortunately, Neal was only there for three days of our trip. Sometimes happens with daddies and jobs, I suppose.

Here are a few faves:

boys in pjs taking a hike

Audrey swinging at the D*'s incredible home

the celestial view from their pool

boys climbing things

Neal and me, together. Yay.

Audrey on a fake horse in Aspen Grove

cousins!

other cousins!

One last walk through Paradise, in my parents' back yard.
If you really want to, you can click here to see all my other pictures.

Grateful Sunday

The kids and their handsome daddy today. And the gift they gave him this morning.
For his super-blah office. :)

My dad and me in Big Bear, CA. 1979 or so, I'm guessing.

This Sunday, I'm grateful for:

• my dad and all he is to me. If you know him, you know what I'm talking about when I say he is truly one in a million. He has been there for me in hard times and good times, always there to give a thoughtful, loving word and a big, huge hug. I love you, Dad.
• Neal and the wonderful, doting Daddy that he is to our kids. They're so lucky to have someone so crazy about them as their father.
• Neal's easy dinner selection (oven-fried buttermilk chicken & blueberry pie) for his special day. Easy enough that I can still take a nap today!
• A fabulous trip to Utah. I'll post some pictures soon. We spent 10 days with family and loved every single second. We're still a bit down that we had to leave, but Arkansas and Alaska promise to be wonderful.
• The lady who gave up her seat on our return flight so I could have all three kids near me. I told her thank you three times, but still, I really appreciate people who do that for us moms.
• My parents for taking care of us while we whiled away the hours in paradise, I mean Sundance.
  
• Prayer and the priesthood. Two things which are bringing comfort to either me or my friends this week.
  

Second Grade? Check.

Audrey added a few to her school awards collection last week. We're so proud of her, she's a wonderful little girl. On a side note, I'm always amazed at the kids who get the Perfect Attendance award. Can you imagine not missing a single day of school? 

with her fabulous teacher

reading olympics gold medal

Grateful Sunday

Me and my inadvertently matching boys at Parker's Kindergarten Graduation

This week, summer finally arrived. Hooray! I'm grateful for:

• the two mornings I've been able to snuggle with Miles until after 8:00. A great way to start out the morning. We're back to eating breakfast while waiting for the big kids to wander out of bed. I love summer!
• my friend, Cindy, who kindly informed me that my skirt had split in a really bad spot before church services started this morning. I had to run home and change. Thanks, Cindy!
• plane tickets for Utah this week. I'm mostly grateful that we're not driving!

interview

A blog friend of mine, Katie, interviewed me for her Blogger-to-Blogger series. It was lots of fun. Read it here. She picked out a really cute outfit for stick figure me.

an "outside" kind of girl

How is it possible that our little spitfire is a third grader as of today?

Party Time

My friend, Mary, and I were both having motherly guilt a few weeks ago. The two of us had put off having birthday parties for our precious sons for at least a month. Every so often, Parker would ask when his party was going to be and it was becoming clear that he wasn't going to forget about it. Mary's son, Max, who is in Parker's class at school, was in the same sad boat as Parker. So we came together, called a bounce house and the pizza guy, rounded up about 20 little boys and got a party going. It was super fun.

The birthday boys. Luckily, they both were cool with a Star Wars theme.

Me with Mary. It felt so much better having a belated party with someone else. :)

I love this picture of some of the kids in a tree. Isn't that a great climbing tree?
This is starting to sound like Go Dog, Go.

Audrey had fun, too, I think. There were a few pouty moments due to the fact that she was the only girl in attendance. Pity her.

What Afternoon Piano Recitals Do To Little Boys

Especially when your sister is the 37th student to perform. We reminded Parker of all the t-ball and basketball games Audrey has endured on his behalf.

He didn't make a peep. Even before he fell asleep.

and why are all my photos from that day fuzzy? dang.