Week-end in Hot Springs....

We really had a fun time this week-end. Whitney, Evan and I decided to take the eight hour trip to go visit Brad's parents in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The day or so before Whitney decided to ask Mary Catherine to come along, too. She had been there before with us and what's one more when you only have two kids and you're used to four! We decided to try out our new GPS thing. It took me a different route than we're used to and got there at least forty-five minutes faster. Of course, we made quite a few stops for food, snacks and restrooms.

Evan and Mary Catherine relaxing at the table. Maybe they were waiting for dinner? We probably all gained at least five pounds in the three days. Mary and Jerry served us homemade burritos, barbequed chicken, grilled hamburgers, homemade vanilla ice-cream, cookies, etc... It was all delicious!

A great big thanks to Grandpa for spending many, many hours pulling the kids around the lake! Here are Whitney, Mary Catherine, Devon and Emily waiting for the adventure.

Cousin Time: Devon and Emily are getting so big and we got to spend alot of time with them. Lots of hair done, cookies eaten and house played... So fun!

Emily is the queen of accesories! She just finished kindergarten and it's always different bling.... fancy necklaces, glitter head-bands, high heels...Adorable!

Another round on the tube. I told Jerry immediately that the screaming would not stop with these two, but that it meant NOTHING! Some people just enjoy screaming, I guess. The ride got wild and intense later for sure, but this was taken at the very beginning of the ride.

Love this shot of Whitney and her Grandpa!

The kids spent alot of time floating and relaxing in the lake. Their house is right on beautiful Lake Hamilton.

We lived in Hot Springs for a few years in the late 80's when we just had the older kids. In fact, Taylor was born there. Sunday we decided to go visit our old Church. It had been several years since we went there and it was SO fun to see everybody. It's been about twenty years since we moved away but we saw some dear friends and got to visit a little bit. We headed home Monday. Whitney drove 90% of the way home which was very nice. I couldn't exactly relax enough to sleep but it was great to not have to drive. So thanks, Mary and Jerry, for putting up with us. It was sure fun......

Scenes from summer so far....

It's kind of amazing how this seems just like a normal summer. We've fallen right back into our summer routine of late nights and lazy days! We've really been enjoying ourselves. Here are some photos of our comings and goings........ Friends and Jo's Party House cupcakes.....
Like always, the Fourth of July community band concert and fireworks at the Civic Center over the lake. (OK, this photo is from google images but they really were good this year)

Whitney added a fun red strip to the back of her hair for summer.

Just a shot of some of the remnants of about 8 young men staying over with Evan and playing video games all night long.....really, no sleep whatsoever.

My very favorite thing, lots of crosswords. Thanks to Susan for the whole stack of "whole", "unedited" People magazines!

Taylor Z. in his thobe and ghutra that Whitney brought him from Saudi! They are headed to the mall like this. Not sure what ensued there but sometimes, it's just best not to know.....oh my goodness!

Girl's nights! We've had several late nights with the girls, talking and catching up. Here's a shot of Andrea with her yummy fruit pizza. Nobody else wanted their picture taken but it was fun.

A closer up shot of the red strip.....

Ivy came to visit last week-end and we hit the Bluebell pretty hard.....

Whitney, Lenae, Sydney and Alex at the fountain cooling off and having fun.....

Ivy with Whitney and Evan before we had to bring her back to the airport! Look at her CUTE little baby bump!! That's my grandchild and it's adorable already......

OK, Ivy.......

Come on, we're ready................

Whitney's Utah trip.....

Whitney had a fun trip to Utah. It all started when Andrea and I figured out that the kids wouldn't see each other for two weeks after we got home. We decided that Whitney should fly out to Utah to meet them. They had driven their motorhome out there for a vacation and then drop Alex off at the MTC. He'll be going to Madagascar (French speaking) for his two year church mission. Anyway, Whitney was excited and it was a big surprise for the Zachary kids. Maybe Andrea will post the video later of when they saw each other. It's adorable.

Kristin was nice enough to ride with me over to Houston to drop Whitney off at the airport. We ate some yummy Mexican food close to the airport. I was so glad she went with me because we got to chat and catch up the whole way. Whitney and Mary Catherine- Besties!

Taylor Z. and Whitney in front of the temple.

Sarah Beth, Mary Catherine, Lily and Whitney.

An "air hug" for Elder Zachary! So proud of him and know he will do a great job.

Another tire mishap.....

One of the first days back we met up with friends at Casa Ole'. Here are Whitney and Evan with Mitchell, Trevor and Elaine.

Unfortunately, Whitney and Elaine had a blow-out on the way to the restaurant. Luckily they were barely moving when it happened and were able to get into an empty parking lot. So that was a unexpected surprise- buying new tires for a truck that is driven a few months out of the year. Not too fun....but thankfully it wasn't worse.

My goodness, I had never even seen a tire do this before.

A cute shot of Whitney and her friend since birth, Elaine! They were born three weeks apart.

Welcome home messages...

We got home to see our cars and trucks decorated with Welcome Home messages from Lenae. It was really cute and fun. I eventually washed my van after about a week, just because I got tired of people trying to read it going down the street. Whitney and Brad's are still like this!

We also had big Welcome Home signs inside courtesy of Mary Catherine. For some reason I didn't get a picture of that before it fell down. But take my word for it, it was cute. Whitney's truck said "I missed your guts". We missed yours, too! Thanks for the warm welcome home, girls!

New Flower Beds....

It was so wonderful to come home to freshly manicured flower beds with new bark and new plants. Thank you "Bishop Aaron". You aren't quite as cheap as our "yard-boy" in Saudi but you did a great job. They look awesome. Lynetta, tell him his work is now published.