Growing up next door to all my cousins was one of the highlights of my childhood.  another one was our annual "Conner Picnic's" that were held every summer when I was small.   The concept was we would have a big tent, games, ice cream, and a speaker that would share his testimony and the Gospel presentation.

life got busy as all the cousins got older, and for some reason, we stopped doing the picnic in the early 1990's.

until.

now.

last summer was actually the summer we brought the Conner Picnic back, and this past weekend was our second round/ second annual Conner Family Picnic.

The big tent came to town.

as did miniature horses.




and face-painting.



there was a dunk tank.


a bounce house

and joust.

swimming


and even a photo booth.  it was a real life carnie fair, I say!



can't even tell you how much i love this photo booth pic of my grandma.



This one is pretty good too. :)

what's a picnic without matching family t-shirts? :)  We went with a camo theme to go along with my Grandfather's WW2 book being released in November.

My dad and his brother's shared a bit about my Grandpa's story and about the book.

The kids had the time of their lives running all over the farm and playing.  we are estimating that around 350 people came!  crazy!  Todd and I loved seeing so many friends that came by, but we didn't really see each other much until the end!  We had to call and update each other where the kids were :)

It was one amazing day.  already looking forward to the next one.

and i vote adding hot air balloon rides for next year :)

to read a little bit of history about why i grew up next door to my cousins, go here :)

Project Life Week 31: Documenting the Olympics

This week's Project Life covers the week of July 30th- August 5th.

Last week at Elle's Studio I made a list of things I loved about my past Project Life spreads.  The purpose?  To take note of what I love and keep doing it.   No need to reinvent the wheel--focus on what works and what you love.   

One of the items on my list was that I loved seeing Current Events in my Project Life. 

Current Events were no problemo for this week-- the Olympics!!!   I created the Olympic rings using Elle's Studio circle tags and lined circle tags (they are retired tags that were still in my stash).   I punched out the center of these tags and layered them to re-create the olympic rings.

Lucky Lucky, Elle just added these very circle tags to the shop as printable tags!!!  You can purchase and print them TODAY.

 The Lined Circles can be punched out with a 2" circle punch.  If you wanted to create Olympic rings like I did, I would use a 1.75" circle punch.  $1.99 sounds like an awesome deal to me!! :)

Documenting the Olympics is so much fun.  I included some funny things Jonah said about the Olympics ("Mommy I can swim faster than Michael Phyllis") Yea he meant Michael Phelps.  It was so cute.  And really cool that he learned to swim around the time the Olympics were happening.  

Another current event I added was a bit about the ChickFilA Appreciation Day that happened that week!

My favorite is gymnastics.  So I picked up the USA Today after Gabby's big gold medal and included it in the spread.

On the backside of the insert, I added the sports section of USA Today-- loved the swimming photo and "London" title.

Something kind of silly that I noticed from this week was that we went through SO MANY band aids.  Seriously-- in one afternoon at the pool both of my kids stubbed BOTH of their toes AND Jordan got a bloody nose.  What in the world.  And that was just one day.  Crazy!

Another fun thing I noticed was that our pool side drinks photo mimics the Olympic rings (upside down).  Just kind of happened that way. :)

Thanks for swinging by today!   Make sure to stop by Elle's Studio to enter the Project Life giveaway.

Also linking up with The Mom Creative today. 

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First Day of Pre-K

And this week was a big week for Jordan too.

She started Pre-K at her preschool!   HOW CAN THIS BE???

She is growing up so fast.  And it makes my heart both proud and ache all at the same time.

She is full of life and spunk.  She is one of two girls in her Pre-K class. But don't feel sorry for her. She can hold her own in a room full of boys.

Monday was HER big day.  Her first day of Pre-K.  I tried to get a photo of both of them but as you can see, she was reminding me that it was HER day. ;)

Jordan I pray for you everyday.  That you will show love and compassion to others and that you will grow up to love and serve the Lord all the days of your life.  

That is my prayer for your Pre-K year, Jordan Nicole. 

First Day of Kindergarten

Yesterday was a big day for my sweet boy.

It was his first day of Kindergarten!!!

And he could HARDLY wait.  He woke up at 5am and looked at books in his room until it was time for breakfast.

All morning he was asking if it was time to go yet!!!!!

Our new house is a minute away from his Christian school (so nice!), so we went on over a bit early and were the second ones to arrive in his class.

We even saw his awesome PrepK teacher from last year!!  And Jonah showed her how he can do a back-bend now (in the middle of the hallway;).

Saying goodbye.

I'm convinced it's always hard no matter what grade it is.  It's leaving your heart in the care of someone else.

I am so proud of him.

And I pray for him everyday.  That he will be kind to others and he will grow to love the Lord more and more everyday.

That's my prayer for you for your kindergarten year, Jonah James.


P.S.  Elle's Studio released Back to School digitals this week!!!  Make sure to check it out here... perfect for Project Life or first day of school! ;)