Brinley Rae is 2!!

Who would have thought its true, Miss Brinley Rae' is turning TWO! Well, I believe it...she is scratching the surface of terrible two's and her being a PRINCESS doesn't help that at all! Anyways, we had a small little party for her 2nd birthday party celebration coupled with a water slide and cupcakes!

 It turned out to be a gorgeous and HOT day so it was perfect for the kids, not so much the adults, but the waterslide was a big hit (thanks to my friends Marie and David)!!

Brinley was slightly cranky at the beginning thus the grouchy pics and then the party was such a whirlwind she didn't really take it all in till she was playing all alone in the kitchen with all her new toys!

I must say this was one of our more successful birthday parties, yet.

4th of July!

Then this year, we decided to have a small get together at my moms. It was a lot smaller but quaint and fun.

We got our feel of food, fun and fireworks along with fellowship and family! Happy 4th!!Our Fourth of July tradition is to go Ray's aunt Wanda's for a cookout with the whole Gardner family and then some. I absolutely love the atmosphere there! Their is a plethora of food, family, fireworks and fun!

Memorial Day, park dates, and lake days!!

Memorial Day (water), park dates (water) and lake days (more water)...see a pattern! Its HOT and we are cooling off in the water!!

Yeah, I'm back blogging and usual but moreover again because I skipped from the beach straight to Brinley's bday and forgot a few important events in between! :) I was just excited...

For Memorial Day we had over a few friends and family, cooked out, and set up a water slide. Of course the kids had a blast as well as us!

Normally, we have my mom's pool and my mother in law's pool but they BOTH decided to get new pools. So they tore the pools down at the beginning of summer and didn't get them in til the middle and almost end of summer. I must say we are grateful we have a boat and also that they both got bigger and better pools for us to enjoy! We LOVE the lake and especially this year because we found the best cove and hung out there for hours and let the kids swim, play, and eat all day! I remember the first boat ride of the summer like it was yesterday! We really enjoy water! :)

So we went to the splash pad a few times to help combat the heat too!

 

Myrtle Beach 2011

We decided we wanted to take a beach trip and go back to the same resort we love so much at Myrtle Beach, Mar Vista Grande! We went with my mother in law and sister in law with a couple other cousins and Aunt that came for just a few nights too. The kids absolutely LOVED it! They keep asking when are we gonna go back?! We met a little boy there that just thought he belonged to me and the kids enjoyed having him to play with. We also hadn't learned how to swim yet, thus I was on my toes since Ray couldn't make this trip due to his work schedule. Trust me I set up camp right beside them and we stayed out and enjoyed the fun in the sun.

What we also love about Myrtle Beach is Broadway at the Beach, we just love to walk and browse stores, eat, pick up treats, and just be tourists! SO the kids HAD to get the tattoos and ice cream!

Can't wait for our beach trip next year!

Baseball, Camping, Birthdays and more...

Well now that spring has sprung we are playing tball and baseball almost every night of the week! Colton is playing tball for the first time and Bryson playing coach pitch for the first time! Both teams just so happen to be purple! Oh well. Bryson vastly improved as the season progressed, he went from struggling to hitting the ball to smacking it to the fence! The outfield part was slow but Bry understands the concept of getting it to first for an out. Then, there is Colton, whom has NO interest in tball at all! Thankfully, I went to high school with his coach and was able to explain to her his temperament and they worked with him. Lets just say that tball is NOT Colton's sport. He was FUN to watch though.

As soon as Bryson heard about one of his friends camping it was a must that his Dad go and buy at tent to camp, and that he did! Good job, Dad. Well lets just say that is sounded much more glamorous than it was.. we pulled out the fire pit for a fire, set up the tent and blew up the air mattress for the boys to camp out for the night! I must say they did great, they slept in the tent until it just got too cold about 3 in the morning. Brin and I just made smores and then went in to sleep in the house! :)

We love, love, love Anchor Park and the boys cousin, Avner had his 3rd birthday party there. Unfortunately for it to be mid May it was quite a cooler day out. However, it didn't keep the boys from enjoying the Power Ranger themed party!

Easter 2011

I absolutely love Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of our heavenly father!! I must say just like I do with any other holiday I get carried away. I try really hard to be a minimalist and I guess its just not in me so I get carried away with trying to make sure our outfits coordinate and the kids baskets have to be perfect every year...this year was no different. I began trying to plan these outrageous outfits and then I decided to go more for comfort vs look.

 I must say I was pleasantly pleased at how our outfits turned out! We went to Park West for our service and had an awesome service and then we went to Ray's grandmother for Easter lunch followed by the annual Easter Egg Hunt..which included some cash incentives this year! We had a blast together as unusual. Oh yeah and for the pics this year..epic fail.