Beach Vacation

Last week Payton and I were fortunate enough to be invited back to our good friends Rachel & Lilly's beach house. We had an absolute blast as usual, and the kids played from sun up to sun down. The weather was perfect and Payton was so sad when it was time to leave. Fortunately, we live in Florida, so many more trips to the beach will be in our future this summer! Thanks again Rachel for having us!!!

Random photos

I was going through my camera and found some funny, completely random photos that I wanted to share. These are in no particular order, but were taken over the past couple weeks...

Here is the crape myrtle in our front yard. It is in full-bloom, which is a sure sign of summertime!

And speaking of summer... the daily afternoon thunderstorms have begun. This stunning rainbow appeared over our neighbhorhood last week after a big storm and Payton thought it was a "beautiful painting from God."

Now that we don't have to rush off to school in the morning, Payton and I have had more time to relax and snuggle in our jammies. I savor these sweet moments with my rough & tumble boy!

And speaking of rough boy... when it was "Crazy Hair Day" at Vacation Bible School, he insisted on sporting a green "Ray-hawk". Everyone loved it!




Brian actually took this last photo and it was so cute, I had to post it! Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!

Father's Day

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Father's Day. Payton had his mind made up weeks ago that he wanted to buy Brian shoes for Father's Day. I have no idea where he came up with it, but despite my attempts at encouraging him to choose something else, he was set on getting him shoes. Pretty cute if you ask me.

So, Brian got a nice new pair of shoes from Payton for Father's Day and I baked him his favorite peppermint pattie brownies that he loves so much. I only bake them on special occasion because they're not from a box mix, which means I have to bust out all my baking supplies and make them from scratch (they were so darn good, I must say!!).

To round out the perfect Father' Day weekend, Brian and Payton went golfing. This time, instead of just going to the driving range, they actually got a cart and golfed 9 holes! They both had a great time, but now all Payton wants to do is drive the cart.

So, I just want to end this post by saying how grateful I am that Payton has such an amazing father. Brian is so hands-on and truly takes great pride in his role as "father." God blessed us with an amazing man to lead our family and we are so very grateful for that. We love you Brian!!

1st Day of Summer Vacation

Okay, so technically today is not the 1st day of summer vacation, but it is the first Monday of summer break, so today we celebrated with a huge batch of chocolate chip pancakes and a lazy day of doing whatever Payton wanted to do all day long. So much fun!!!

Summertime Fun with the Cousins

Summer kicked off in full swing last week when Payton's cousins flew in from Colorado. Zach (7) and Alex (5) spent the week with Grandma & Grandpa in Bradenton, so of course Payton wanted to do the same. We were fortunate enough that Brian's parents got us a condo next door to theirs so we could also stay the week.

Every day was spent going somewhere, but the highlights were definitely the Tampa Bay Rays game, Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise (out of Clearwater Beach), and a day at Bradenton Beach.

The week was so much fun and the boys made so many wonderful memories. Thanks so much Mom & Dad for all of planning, hard work, PATIENCE, and love that you put into the week!