Memorial Day at the Lake

Sigh, why can't all weekends be 3 days long. Think about how much happier and more productive we'd be during the 4 week days if we had 3 days of rest to look forward to? We had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend spent at my parents lakehouse on Lake LBJ in Kingsland, TX. They actually rent it out throughout the year and here is the link to the rental site if you are interested in a beachy getaway. I'm sure you can tell from pictures (if you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat... @ruthiehart1 on both) that the place is an absolute Oasis. A few rainstorms didn't stop us from having one heck of a weekend. My little family slept surprisingly really well in a 10 by 10 room together and we ate, drank, swam, boated, played games, and relaxed for 3 days. If you know Ford then you'd know he is a super safe kid so we've been hyping up swimming at the lake and driving papa's boat. I basically had to push him into the water because he was nervous and he ended up having the time of his life swimming, collecting shells, making mudpies and having fun with his cousin Embry. I think we have a fish on our hands this summer (a super safe one though). I forced him on a wave runner ride with me (don't judge, I knew he wasn't going to go on it willingly and he cried the whole time despite me staying idle and never putting on the gas). He did absolutely LOVE sitting on my dad's lap and driving the boat, it was too cute. We are going back in a week and a half to stay for 6 days and we are all really looking forward to the R&R! We did a huge shrimp boil one night... shrimp, crab legs, sausage, potatoes, corn, asparagus... to die for! Another hit of the weekend was drinking summer beer... and thus being in bed by 10pm ha. Now some pictures for ya friends.

Our 4th

Our 4th of July couldn't have been more fun! I loved that it fell over the weekend and Jon got Friday off of work. Friday and Saturday were jam packed yet relaxing. I'll tell ya, our social life is 100x better than before we had kids and it is FUN! We spent hours at Mimi and Papa's pool, Ford only got out for an afternoon nap. We hopped over to another friends party where we had planned on keeping Ford up for fireworks (his bedtime is between 7-7:30 so it would have been a really big push since it doesn't get dark until 9p) and at 8:30pm he found me outside and sat in my lap and said, "Mama go home, go night night". I love my scheduled little boy! Saturday we walked in our neighborhoods parade and spent a few hours at the community celebration. Ford and I went down a huge slide, he ate popsicles (a total of 3 bomb pops within 24 hours), squirted water guns, and ran around with his friends. I just love our neighborhood, it is such a fun place to raise our children. We went to another BBQ....more swimming, popsicles, and lots of attention from family and friends! We are so thankful for living in a country where we can say what we want, do what we want, and be who we want. We are also so thankful for the freedom Christ has given us, an everyday celebration! All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and I am sad to see it end. For me and Jon, life is so much richer and more fulfilling with children, these are days to remember. 

Such a smiley baby girl

Ford wanted to play with all the big kids so bad!

(Ford's balloon went to heaven...)

Lake time

Last weekend we spent Saturday with our missional community group at one of their families lake houses. If you've been following any Texas news, you'd know we've been having some crazy weather! A 7 year drought left the beautiful lake that is in our neighborhood basically a puddle and now it is almost full! I guess this is an "El Nino" year so that explains the massive amounts of rain. Back to our weekend. We've been blessed by this group of people in our lives, they were literally an answered prayer to a 3 year long prayer Jon and I have been praying. Brothers and sisters in Christ that live in our neighborhood that we can laugh with, cry with, pray with/for, bitch to, rejoice with, and walk towards Jesus with. We are a growing group with a baby joining us in a few short weeks, it is such a blessing to be able to raise our children alongside of people who love Jesus but are also FUN! It kind of felt like we were at summer camp, getting to spend an extended period of time with our friends rather than just 2-3 hours once a week. The rain didn't stop us from having a great time swimming, eating, drinking (Moscow Mules were the weekend drink), and getting to visit a nearby barn with horses and mini ponies. The kids were in heaven! Ford has never really seen a horse in real life and he thought it was so cool!