Noah comes to town!

Our cousin Noah spent a couple of days with us recently! His big sister, Kaitlyn, headed off to camp with her mom! It sounded like she had such a good time. She told me about eating in the cafeteria, swimming in the pool and sleeping on a bunk bed! All pretty exciting things for her first time at summer camp! Hopefully, Emma will go with her next year! When Jen dropped Noah off, he immediately ran upstairs to check out Gabe's toys. And I don't know how he does it, but he can find a new toy in about 30 seconds! He ran downstairs to show Jen what he had found. As Jen was telling him by and heading out of the door, he suddenly called out to her. We both turned, thinking he was probably a little upset about her leaving. But he just wanted to tell her how much he loved the new toy :) He loves spending the night with his cousins! We had a fun couple of day! We went swimming both days. And the kids had a blast!

Here is Noah!

Gabe, Noah and Emma

I wanted to go to the Dollar Tree to load up on workbooks for the kids. Emma has been asking to do "homework" all the time! She has been playing school with her Nana lately and loves it. So, the kids and I packed up and headed to the store. It is so funny, but my kids get sooooo excited when I take them to Dollar Tree and say, "Pick out whatever you want!" Of course, everything costs a dollar, but they don't know that! So, they each picked out a couple of toys. And I was able to find several workbooks for Gabe and Emma.

I tried to persuade Emma to pick out something else, but she insisted on this UGLY porcelain dog. It is covered in some type of fur. And can you see his red eyes? This poor dog looks like it has had a hard life! She brought it home, wrapped him in a blanket and gave him a bottle. Maybe she felt sorry for him in the store and thought she could nurse him back to health. So now, this mangy dog goes everywhere with us! If we are in a store and she doesn't want to carry him anymore, she sticks him in my purse. But she has to make sure his sad looking head is sticking out so everyone can see him!

Father's Day with Daddy!

We celebrated Father's Day with Jeff on Saturday. Daddy got to sleep in (believe me, that is a treat around here)! And he woke up to these two cuties waiting anxiously for him!
Jeff decided he wanted some things to organize his garage for his Father's Day present. But we had to get him a little something fun for his day! Jeff has recently taken up golf again. So, we found him a putting practice green for his study. The kids were so excited for him to open it up!

After breakfast, we headed to a local driving range. Jeff has been taking the kids lately to hit with him. I was pretty impressed with what he had taught Emma and Gabe!

So cute!

We headed to Sam's later that day to pickup a few things for dinner. We had a nice steak and shrimp dinner. We found these goggles for the kids while we where there. And they were a hit!

After dinner, we played a nice game of Sorry which turned into this...

Gabe and Emma love to wrestle with daddy! They are getting so big that I am starting to feel a little sorry for Jeff!

The kids had a bath and wanted a snack before bedtime. I walked downstairs and this is what I found! Goofy kids!



It was a wonderful Father's Day! The kids and I are so blessed by Jeff! He is such a wonderful father! We love you!

Father's Day Early With My Dad

We headed over to Grandma and Grandad's house for an early Father's Day celebration on Friday! Jeff had to work, so we went a little early to swim before dinner and he was able to get there right before we ate. I am so thankful for my dad. I really feel like we portray our heavenly Father similar to how we view our earthly father. And I am so thankful for the Godly father I have! He has always been the spiritual leader in our family. He has such a hunger for God's word (my mom does too), something I feel like I struggle with. But I know through watching my parents devotion to studying the Scriptures that I will always have the desire to grow in my knowledge of the Bible. My dad is a very strong and opinionated person, something I love about him. But he is also one of the most loving and kind people you will ever meet. So, I hope you had a wonderful father's day, dad! We love you very much!

Grandad and Gabe discussing the golf tournament on TV. Gabe thinks he is an expert on golf! He was watching Tiger on TV with Jeff and I recently and said, "Dad, Cheetah is holding the golf club wrong! He needs to hold it like this..." He proceeded to show us the correct stance ; We will work on the Tiger-Cheetah mixup!

Emma and Aunt Pam

Jenny and Emma

Aunt Pam and I

The girls and I


My mom and Aunt Pam relaxing in the shade.



Kasey and Jeff

Grandad and the boys

My sister is going to be so made at me for putting up this picture! But it was so funny! I pointed the camera at her and she was telling me, "No, don't take my picture!" with her hand in front of the camera. When she realized I was going to take the picture, she stuck this pose so fast! She never takes a bad picture, so I don't know what she is worried about ;)

Happy Father's Day, guys!



We finished up the night with a few rounds of dominoes. It always takes longer playing with this group because there is at least one argument every round! Kasey made up a few of his own rules this game! But I will let it slide this time ;)

Can you see it?

Can you see what is in our hanging basket? A sweet dove has decided this is the perfect place to lay her eggs! It is right on our back porch. The kids absolutely love to watch her. She really seems to not mind us much. I know this sounds awful. But Jeff is still watering the basket every day. She flies off while he waters and then comes right back when he is done. I guess it is keeping her cool. :) Right now there are two eggs in her nest. So, we will hopefully be seeing some baby birds soon!

What a heartbreaker!

Gabe is already quite the little heartbreaker!!! He is very talented at winking ;) Several times I have looked across the room at him and received one of his winks! Pretty cute! By the way, the red on his teeth is strawberries. I think it just adds to the effect!

Our Anniversary Weekend

Jeff had planned a fun weekend to celebrate our ten year anniversary! I was so excited! We had originally planned to go on a trip for this anniversary. But my parents suprised us with two great vacations earlier this year. So we decided to stay in town :) A weekend of relaxing, shopping and fun restaurants sounded great to us! Jeff surprised me with two dozen roses delivered to our house. Aren't they beautiful!!!

We have stayed at the Omni Mandalay Hotel in Las Colinas a couple of times before. And we have always had a wonderful time! It is a gorgeous hotel! So, I was excited to find out we had two nights reserved here! When we arrived at the hotel to check in, the young girl behind the desk looked at our reservations and started acting very nervous and awkard. We got our keys and headed for the elevator wondering what had just happened. When Jeff looked at our room assignments, he punched in floor 28 (the very top). I laughed and asked Jeff if he reserved the penthouse for us. He said, "That's how I roll, Tiff! Only the best!" So, we get to the floor and start looking for our room number, 2815. We walk around a couple of times and can't find it anywhere???? I started to guess that Jeff had something up his sleeve. But I didn't say anything. Anyways, Jeff looks at our room info and notices the type of category says "PRES". He says, "No way..." He walks to the room labeled "Presidential Suite" and tries the key.... And it opens!!!! The first thing I thought was that he had planned this whole thing. And honestly, I was a little upset! Jeff is so conservative with our money and this was so out of character for him. I said, "Jeff!!! Why did you do this?" And he answered, "Tiff, I didn't do anything? This isn't what I requested!" This went on for a couple of rounds. And it didn't make it anymore believable because he was laughing. He laughs when he gets nervous ;) He finally said, "Tiff, look at the invoice! I paid $99 dollars a night!" I looked and he was right. We then found the letter from the hotel. They had given us a complimentary upgrade to their 2,900 square foot presidential suite! We were so excited!!! The room was unbelievable! We later found out that it costs about $3,500 a night! What a nice anniversary present!!! We are Omni fans for life!

This was my anniversary present! I love them!!!

We went to a great dinner at Three Forks, our new favorite steak house! And we saw a movie later that night.

And this was waiting for us when we got back to the hotel. So nice...


Jeff and I got each other the same card ;) We both loved what it said.


Jeff and I after breakfast. We headed out to Southlake to do a little shopping...

Of course, we had to stop at the Mac store! He wishes this was his anniversary present ;)

We watched the sunset from our balcony.

It was a wonderful weekend! Jeff said he will never be able to top this anniversary ;)